Oh Africa

Dear family and friends sorry I have yet to write a blog about Africa It's hard with the Internet situation and it also was because I was to lazy to…. So here we go.

So I shall start off by sharing living conditions. I have lived in my tent for the past 2 months and will continue to live in my tent until I return home. We have no running water, we have to walk to the well to get water it's about a 1km there and 1km back carrying 20 litres of water. We also have no electricity, however we go to bed around 8pm anyways so not that we need that much light at night anyways aha. 

So for the first 3 weeks I didn't really shower because I didn't want to go fetch water so I would just swim in the lake and shower in a real shower on our off day when we went to hang out at this hotel resort. Then we were lucky to stumble across this hotel resort about 10 minute walk from our house. So we now go there to shower and charge our things. So instead of just walking up stairs and jump in the shower I have to walk 10 -15 min in the hot African sand to take a cold shower. 

Now for food when we got hear we didn't eat very good. We usually got 2 small onions and 3 small tomatoes for 30 people to make a sauce with our rice or sema. Sema is just corn flour and water for those of you who were wondering and it is the grossest blanest thing I have ever had. So I am not going to lie I hated life the first couple weeks here only because the food was horrible. It has gotten better we still eat the same but we get more veggies with our meal now which is really good. 

So during the day it gets really hot but at night time it cools down which is so nice! So the whether is pretty good.

So our ministry contacts are building a bible school on there property and a bunch of things so they are just starting so there is alot of manual labour. Also all the villages around us are all Muslim and they don't speak English. So for me my ministry here is to help yohan the guy who runs the place. Where ever he needs construction done he comes to me and I do it for him. So for me all I do here is help wherever needed and help bless him but doing labour even though it's not always the funnest thing. Not to mention Our bodies are so physically drained and exhausted it is hard to always work in the hot sun. Since there is so many Muslims around where we are it is hard for the guys to do ministry there because if we talk to them then there husbands get mad and think we want them and all that stuff so I just stay away and let the girls do the talking to them. However we have built alot of relationships with the guys who sell things, so I always hang out with them love on them and justctrycto be Jesus. My friend nick always hung out with this one guy and they would play bow (African board game) and just by him hanging out with this man, the man noticed something different and he became a Christian not to long ago it was so cool. So that's what I do ministry wise around here.

so there have been some crazy things happening there is a which doctor who lives near the well and we pass by her house everyday to go to the well and the funny thing is her name is joy and she is really nice but still a whitch doctor. So there has been alot of spiritual warfare going on around here. A couple weeks ago there were wolves spotted on the property not real wolves but just demons and there is alot of sickness and life has been hard but the cool thing is with all that there is always angles on the property keeping us safe and surrounding the property. People have seen the angels and they are here always with us. So it has been crazy with all that stuff and I was scared and fearful sometimes but now I just don't care because I know I have Jesus and he already defeated satan once and he will do it again and he will keep us safe so there is no need to be scared. Jesus has our backs! 

So yea life has been good and I have really grown closer to god being in Africa with all the devotions we do and also all the worship, however I do miss the worship at FGT and I am so excited to come home and worship with my home church again. 

It is April 1st tomorrow which is crazy I will be home so soon. Yes I do know when I will be home but I will keep that to myself for a little bit longer. All I have to say is it is after may 1st but but before June. It is coming real soon. 

This has been a crazy journey I left home September 2nd and I have been in the go for the past 7 months and God has done some great things. I have had high times and low times. God has taught me things and this will deffinatly be something I never forget. i have changed for the better and i sm excited for you guys to see the change. however i can tell you this i am still the same old crazy riley somethings will justcnever change aha, but will all that said my time to go home is quickly coming and boy am I so excited. I miss my Mom, Dad, Sister, other family, friends, fgt, and just alot of things, and I will see them so soon. However the day I leave Atlanta and fly to Detroit is going to be a bitter sweat moment. It is going to be sad to say goodbye to the 21 other people I have been living with for 9 months and I mean living with 24/7 and there will be people that I will probably never see again but at the same time I am going home! So that day will be filled with lots of tears of sadness and joyful tears but I'm ready. 

I will probably not blog anymore this month because I am going to be busy and just trying to finish strong and not focus on getting wifi, unless something crazy awesome happens then I will let you guys know. I hope that this helps you guys get the feel of what life here in Africa is like. When I return home I would love to grab coffee and tell you guys more but for now this will have to do. I am off because my weekend of being off is over and I am going back to my tent. 

I ask that you will continue to pray for me and my team as we finish the last month off going strong. Also pray for sickness people have been getting sick and there is a girl who will be going home soon because of some sickness that they can't fix here so pray for her as she travels home by herself that god will keep her safe and when she returns back home she will be on the road to recovery! 

thank you guys for all your support I miss you guys and I love you guys and I will see you soon! 

Yours truly Riles