The excitement of my week came yesterday when I had four moles removed from my back, side and stomach. A doctor flew in from the U.S. to work in a mission hospital down in the forest. He agreed to remove the moles before he left for his post. So off I went to a colleague’s home where the doctor removed the moles.

Really, it was quite a sight. I laid on a plastic table in the dining room, David sat on a sofa beside me reading a magazine and drinking a coke, a maid was cleaning, the washer was running, the doctor’s wife was preparing dinner, another person was on the computer checking email, and a friend was handing the doctor the instruments from the dining room table… all in just two rooms of the house!

At some point I asked David if he would have had four moles removed on a dining room table in Guinea. He said probably not, but we both agreed that it was far more sterile than any local hospital, and despite the untraditional location and atmosphere for this minor surgery, the doctor was extremely professional.

Pray for favorable lab results, against infection and for quick healing. The stitches come out in a week.

They were catching crabs. I love the joy.

One afternoon last week I went to buy a few last minute items for that night’s dinner. As I left the boutique, I noticed a little girl about two years old running full speed toward a very busy main road. Quickly searching for her parents, I saw her mom chasing after her with a pot on her head, not able to catch up. I ran as fast as I could over to the little girl; preparing to swoop her up before she got hit by a car. At the sight of me running toward her, she froze stiff, screamed and ran back to her mom. All the vendors, her mom, passers by, and I burst out laughing. The mother said the little girl had not seen a white person before and the sight of me scared her to death (err… perhaps to life?)

This is the second child that has been scared of me due to my skin color. Another morning I greeted a neighbor’s daughter. The next afternoon her mom told me to not greet her because it took 24 hours to calm her down! Amazing!

There are thousands of dragonflies buzzing about Conakry today. I’ve always liked dragonflies even though I don’t know much about them. Here’s a link to get you started if you want to know more about dragonflies:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonfly

Last Wednesday morning I went out to feed the deer potato and carrot peels from Tuesday night’s dinner and found that one of them had died.  We don’t know the cause of death.

Traditionally, the nationals would immediately kill the other deer and eat it so it wouldn’t die of the same cause.  Thankfully, deer isn’t our favorite dinner and we have no plans to eat her anytime soon.