Had some requests for an address and I've been deflecting them, but here is an actual address.

Ok so our house actually doesn't have an address, because our street isn't actually named... come to think of it most of the streets don't have names, just the big ones. So this is actually the post office box for the guesthouse... they check it 2-3 times a week. One intern got a letter last week... took three weeks to get here and it cost $1.00... but if you want to send something here is the address... there is also the option of sending things to a team that's coming out. Not that I need anything, but letters are always welcome or email if you want to do that route!

B.P. 13.021
Hopital de Bongolo
Libreville, Gabon

Love you and miss you!!!

My first wedding...

No Dad, I didn't get married, but I did go to my first Gabonese wedding this past Saturday. It was awesome!

Here is a video of the ladies dancing for the couple, they may be older but they can still bring it! Then you will see some guys dancing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww0Bia4UCrk

The wedding was fairly similar to American weddings with just a few differences:

First of all the pastor said it was going to start at 4pm... most people arrived around 5pm along with the couple, and the wedding started around 5pm. We started with some singing and dancing, then Pastor Jean Jacque preached for close to an hour. After all this we got around to the standard ceremony. We finished up around 7:00pm and headed to the reception.

At the wedding a lot of the people wore the same fabric. I don't know if just anyone can buy fabric, but it was definitely more than just the people on stage. They didn't have bridesmaids/groomsmen but there was a lady dressed in white that attended the bride. They buy the fabric and then have it made into a dress (women) or a shirt (men).

Darcia (daughter of the pastor) and her friend. Hung out with me and kept me company when everyone else was working hard.

They decorated the Bible School for the reception (he is a student there). These are palm leaves that they used to create an enclosed area.

This is the head table at the wedding. There were other tables all around with a server at each table - will show you those girls later. The female youth of the church were the servers at the tables and the male youth were the ushers (security as it is called here). The ladies of the church cooked for the meal. Fabulous and plenty of food!

The happy couple cutting the cake.

Here is the cake... notice the server ladies kneeling around the cake table. Don't know the reasoning for it, but thought it was cool.

The youth sang pretty much the entire time. The closest in the picture at the microphone is Sandra. She is the daughter of the pastor. I go with her to youth group most of the time. She got her hair cut and straightened for the wedding so I didn't recognize her at first!

Darcia took this picture of Martha (one of the youth at the church) and me.

Tebo (I think), Darcia also took this picture, but the thing I wanted you to notice was the tag still on the suit. Yes, Armani - but before you are too impressed they have a lot of knockoffs here. D&G are everywhere. The funny thing is that they don't take the tag off. They also use up to the edge of the fabric as well, so at the bottom of a skirt you will see a white border where the print ended.

Pastor Jean Jacque and his wife Mama Collette. They are fantastic! They have welcomed me and and taken care of me!

Me, Franck, another guy, and another youth from the church. These guys escorted me home at 11pm. Franck and the other guy are wearing the fabric for the security detail. Franck is cool, he comes by the house a lot and helps the guys doing construction work here.

Why are you yelling?

Sometimes different cultures do things a different way...
I think I heard somewhere that the Jewish culture repeats things to signify importance - "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty"
Just learned that the Gabonese relate the volume of the voice with the importance of the message. This comes from when the chief (pronounced chef) comes through the village yelling something so that everyone could hear.
So this is why they yell sometimes during prayer. Everyone prays during prayer "preons a Dieu"... then one person usually closes the prayer time. But often during prayer their will be a few people praying louder than others... I always thought - do they think God is hard of hearing?
No, it turns out that they are just passionate and want to convey the importance of their prayer. I like learning these cultural differences... to see things the way they see them and not from my American colored glasses. And that our way or their way isn't necessarily better or worse it's just different.

Praise the Lord

New video from our last medical mission trip...

Pastor Jacob playing the guitar (he is awesome!)

Pastor of the local church, some other guy, Tim, Torey, Lindsey, Danielle, Meredith, Hannah, Marley, and Zach.

Singing Praise the Lord

It was really incredible... just sitting around singing, praising God, enjoying life!

Pay attention to the background as well, behind Pastor Jacob is where we did the medical clinic the next morning. Notice the mosquito nets... yes we slept outside under the stars, with the roosters, with the dogs, next to the road - which all seemed to make noise at night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PRc8xjTEAo

Pray for me

As one of the Dutch CMA missionaries told me... when you move to a foreign country you become a child again. I am learning to listen again, actively listen… most of the time I can figure out how to say what I want to say in French, but I have a hard time understanding what they are saying. Reminds me that I need to actively listen to God as well. You are learning a new language, a new culture, new people, etc. and you have to humble yourself to learn. Leanne’s not so great at humbling… never knew how much of a know it all I was until I moved here… learning to shut my mouth. As the team can probably testify, learning is a process and I am not there yet.

Short video

A video from a village medical trip... girls playing some game that I have seen others play as well. It's short and you can tell at some point they caught onto the fact that I was recording them...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TAUCM8cROM

Pictures of Medical Caravan

So it takes a while to upload pictures and I never really feel like doing it... so these are actually old - sorry. This is a picture of the medical team that we go with to the villages.


Here is half of our medical team walking to the village... the other half is in the truck... we ended up taking a taxi.

Just a nice view of the landscape... everything is green here.

Everyones here!

So now we have all of the interns... there are nine of us so it's pretty packed around our dining table, but we like it that way! We've been busy getting the addition ready for the teams that are coming in 7 days! We've got one more big room to paint and some bunk beds to build. See some of the pictures on the Brokopp's personal photo's page for April 2009.

http://web.me.com/brokopptm/Site/bonjour.html

I am supposed to be helping them paint the last room, but instead I am inside with a guy taking an English test. He's the second guy I've had come take the test, but I have three more scheduled tomorrow. We had a Gabonese English teacher call the people who said they were interested so things should be picking up here. They also announced it in church yesterday and a bunch of people came up to Tim after church, so hopefully we'll have a class soon. First things first though, we have the students come over and take a test to tell us which level each student should be in (for our curriculum there are five levels). Once we have around 10 people for a level we will start a class... could be next week, but could also be in three months. Patience... still learning patience :)

Ok since I've started this blog I've had three more girls show up to take the exam.

Bongolo Trip

Went to Bongolo for a few days this week... Amanda had Red Congo fever so she wasn't feeling great, but still did a fantastic job taking care of us! Amanda and Tim are the STMO (Short Term Missions Organization) team for the Bongolo Hospital - same thing as Tim and Meredith here in Libreville (hosting short term teams). First day there we went around town to find tubes in the morning and then tubed down the river that afternoon. It was awesome! To just sit back and listen to the sounds along the river, to see the jungle on both sides, the hills, the occasional person (maybe 7 in 3 hours). Good time just talking, throwing the football, and just hanging out!
The next morning Lisa (nurse at the hospital) gave us a tour of the Bongolo hospital. Check out their website!
http://www.bongolohospital.org/
That afternoon we cleaned out part of their attic so they can take the ceiling down. Can you say dust? Then we took a dip in the pool before dinner. After dinner we had a bonfire over at Lisa's - smores!!! When their was only a few of us left Serge (Hospital Administrator for Bongolo - Gabonese) came driving up and talked to us about goals and leadership stuff. It was neat to try to listen to Francais, but also to listen to a leader taking initiative to make sure their church and ministry is operating well; has structure, goals, vision, etc.

Trip to Bongolo

Nascar isn't needed in Gabon

Roller coasters are not needed in Gabon

That off road race (don't remember what it's called) is not needed in Gabon

Why???

Cause we already have all those things... it's everyday driving in Gabon.

We went down to Bongolo again - took the interns so they could know the place and also have experience with dealing with a taxi driver. What an experience it turned out to be with the taxi driver!! His name was Rowan, and he claimed to be a singer moonlighting as a taxi driver. He drove 15 passenger van (in the US it would be a 10 passenger van). When I say he drove it... I mean he DROVE it! I think he has potential either with Nascar or the off roading circuit. At one point we were going 145km/hr (somewhere around 90m/hr). But the amazing thing was he never lost control of the vehicle even while the wheels squeeked on every turn... and there are a lot of turns in the roads here. I really don't understand why they are against straight roads here, but apparently they are.

Gabon 3 Togo 0

What does that mean to you... probably not much unless you follow African football (soccer), but to me it means a sleepless night and a lot of noise! Taxis are driving down the streets pressing their horns, more than usual I should say, and shouting out the windows. Many people have painted their faces with the colors of the flag - green, yellow, and blue. The Gabonese are tres contente (very happy) because they won the football match against Togo today in Libreville. I mentioned to Tim about going but he said females don't normally go, mostly because it can be dangerous. He said something about 16 people getting killed at a match in Cote D'Ivoire and suddenly I lost interest. They also don't have assigned seats so it sounds like it could be a workout just to be a spectator.

So I went to youth group again today, but today was a little different because they had a guest speaker - guess who the guest speaker was... three guesses and the first two don't count! Apparently I thought that my french was better than it was. After I tried to communicate in french, someone else had to tell my story for me... translate my french into french they could understand! But it was good and in the end they heard my testimony :)

But as you may have guessed things are always an adventure in Africa... maybe not for the locals but definitely for me...

We left at 2:15 and got to the school at around 3:00... walked the whole way (first time for walking the whole way - yes Dad I'm getting exercise!), but it isn't as far as walking to the church. We sat under a tree and prayed, sang, and listened to some american girl try to speak french! Awesome time worshipping the Lord, on such a beautiful day!
On the way, there was a guy ahead of us herding his bulls, with the horns and all - along the railroad tracks. I don't know why I have stopped carrying my camera with me, but I have got to start carrying it again... hold on I'm going to put it in my purse right now...I'm back.
Ate some flan after the meeting... good stuff... reminds me of my last roommate Michelle, she introduced me to the delicious custard!
So on the way back, we were probably 100 yards from my house and Rachelle sees someone she knows who is waiting in a car. Since her house is farther down the road and she is tired we catch a ride with them. Only we have to wait a few minutes for the driver to get back. So not to offend anyone I squeeze in the back with 3 other people and wait a few minutes to drive the last yards to my house.

Intern Adventure

For those of you that don't know I'm lazy... it's what makes me a great industrial engr - figure out an easier way to do something! Anyways, Zach has written a great narrative about what happened last night so I'm just going to point you to it. Gabon '09 Oh Friday Nights in Gabon (on the right is a link)

Tim & Meredith had a night out so we went out... when the cat's away the mouse will play (except when Gentile [our cat] catches you and eats you - also happened today).
Only a few things I would like to add to Zach's chronicle (as he calls it)...
2000-3000 CFA is about $5-6
I think Zach meant to say he was sitting on the gear shift and he could either move into Yoann's lap or come to the back to sit with the girls... you will read about his decision in his blog... check it out!!

Non-related... I'm starting to think in French... today I was talking to someone on skype and had to think what a reunion de jeuness was in English (youth meeting). She also mentioned some thing sad and I thought "C'est triste". But I still can't understand 80% of what they say!!!