Seperated

Dear you,

Racheal left me. She packed her bags, took the kid, and left me. No, we did not have a falling out. Much the contrary. We made a baby. It's been almost two weeks since she left to go to Senegal, West Africa where there is higher medical care. She is due to deliver September 17 or so (depending on which doctor you ask). Rightly so, our mission gives pregnant people two months of maternity leave and one month to their babies' daddies. That being said, i'll rejoin Racheal, Fisher, and River (in utero) about three weeks from now (September 10th, tentative fly date).

I've been stalling writing a blog entry because of the BIG NEWS that's arriving late September. Nevertheless, things are happening here that are so awesome i can't wait to tell you all.

The other day i was talking with some young men at the river port in our town that work most days in neck-deep water, shoveling sand from the river bottom to a wooden boat above their head. They then drag the loaded boat back to shore and pile the sand to sell or to mix into cinder blocks. These guys are ripped. I mean, they have muscles popping out of their eyeballs. I introduced myself and asked if they by chance ever wrestled. Wrestling is very popular in other parts of West Africa, but not in Usus land. Nevertheless, they had the frames for it. That expressed a desire to wrestle, but had no one to teach them. You could have seen the "divine appointment" light bulb click on above my head. "Well, in the United States i was a wrestling coach." They replied with glee, "Would you teach us?!" Long story, short, we are practicing every weekday at 5pm in a sand pit outside town. Right now is Ramadan (the month of Muslim daytime fasting), so most of the guys have expressed desire to come starting next month. We're already planning the first tournament in mid-December, to be held in the community center a hundred yards from our house.

I decided as i learn more and more Usus language, i could still do some ministry in the market/taxi stop, also a hundred yards from our house. I just showed up one day last week and sat on a bench beside a group of men and women, many selling fruit or waiting for their taxi to fill up so they can make their long journey to another city or town. Many of them are drivers themselves that have found it hard to find work during the rainy season, when the roads are totally are almost impassible. They have nothing to do except sit around and talk about the weather... and listen to God's word being read aloud. It's funny. People here are almost all folk-Muslims. It's Ramadan so even the less faithful, are doing their best to appear devout (In Christianity, you might call them "Chreasters," the people that come out twice a year... Christmas + Easter.). So several have asked me to come back every afternoon and read to them. When i get there some unashamedly sit next to me and read over my shoulder, even help me pronounce. Most sit within earshot, facing to one side, trying to not appear to the rest of the market as interested. At this point, we only have the New Testament translation finalized, so i started with Matthew 1 and i'm just reading through. I never would have thought i would start a presentation of the Gospel with a long genealogy. Reading a list of 42 hard-to-pronounce names in any language is not my idea of good time. But, in this part of the world, that genealogy is just as meaningful as the story Jesus feeding the 5000 or the Last Supper. Go figure.

Prayer ReQuests:

• Pray for Racheal and company. It's been very hard to rest with a fetus that dances all night (I think he got that from my mother-in-law, Renée) and a 23-month-old that wakes up at 5am shouting "COREY! COREY!"
  
  
• Pray for Racheal and i as we are apartt. That we would use this time to seek the Lord. That our minds would be quickened against the Enemy. That we would be able to glorify the Lord even when half of us is 450+ miles away.
• Pray for the wrestlers in Usus land. Pray that this sport would give way to build relationships. Pray that those relationships would give way to the Gospel.
• Pray for the men and women at the taxi stop. Pray for them to understand God's Word as i butcher the Usus language (I've been told that may be a blessing in disguise as people have to listen more intently than if i read perfectly).
  
  

'til the whole world hears,

corey reid pendergrass