A Day in Our Bush

There is not much of a schedule here; time is a concept Africans pay no attention to. However, I've kind of developed some consistency in my life here simply by routine. Below is a typical description of day in my village:
4:00am~ the mosque's call to prayer announced on speakers so all can hear it. It woke me up the first few nights, but now I don't even hear it that early anymore.
5:30am~ Good Morning! I wake up and atrat my day. It's still dark outside but I get my headlamp out, stay in my mosquito net and begin my day with God... talking to him, seeking His heart, and growing deeper in his word.
6:00am~ I can turn my headlamp off. The sun begin to rise and light up the sky. All the animals begin to wake up too- roosters crowing, cows mooing, goats, sheep, and donkeys all making their nosies too. The Africans also start waking. I still lay in my net spending time with my loving Father.
6:30am~ Dani gets out of bed and goes to get a bath.
7:00am~ I put our nets ad beds inside our house and Cerifa comes to sweep our house and yard.
between 7-10am~ I go to take a bath. We eat breakfast. Greet our neighbors. Study Zarma. and go to the pump to get water for the day if it is open and we carry it back on our heads :-) All th Africans come out to watch us white folks try to be like them.
between 10-12~ We go tell people about Jesus and visit compounds. After greeting the people we ask them how we can pray for them and then pray. We also tell them a Bible story and let them listen to a cassette of th story of Jesus' life before we leave. All of this is done in Zarma- the communicating, the praying, and reading! This is why it is so important for me to learn the language and at the same time it feels like an obstacle I can't overcome. I pray for God to speak through me and may his presence be among us, because without him I could do nothing! Each day and moment is a new opportunity God has given us and with that I'm encourage. If all these people ever see is the love and joy of Christ in our lives here in Africa, then I know it would be worth it all for me to have the privilege to live here for two months!!
Noon~ Dani and I have been getting out and seeing more of what is around us by prayer walking. This has also been a wonderful getaway time for ourselves.
between 1-3pm~ Fulanzam! our resting time Most Africans rest during the hottest part of the day, so we go along with the culture and try to take a nap too. however, for one thing its hard to sleep being so hot, sweaty with flies all around you. I usually doze off for a maximum of 30 minutes before being woken up by a visitor. Some of our teammates can take 2 hour naps though- wow!
3:00pm~ we spend he rest of our day in our compound with our "family" We take our mat out and just sit, talk, laugh and have a good time. We also have many visitors tha come and go throughout the afternoon. Dani and I are the first white people to ever live in this village, so they find us interesting, unique and watch us intensely.
8:00pm~ the sun goes down and it gest dark. With no electricity or city lights, its amazing how much light the moon gives off. It is really awesome and we mainly use our flaslights inside our ouse because it is so dark.
9:30pm~ I take my cot outside and set up my mosquito net. I brush my teeth and wash my face all over the small bowl in our back room. Then I fill up my water bottle and take out my fan to lie under the stars for another night in Africa! ----- nights: are good here, but loud!

Though so much more happens in a day here. This is the basic layout of what I normally do, so maybe yall can get a glimpse of what life is like over here :-)

~Safia (This is my African name and what I answer to. Even Dani and I call each other by our African names. Its just by habit now.)