My Trip to Koutiala (by Thom)

Sometimes we don't post here as often as we'd like because not much is happening. Other times it's a result of too much going on. The last week has been the latter. I ended up making a rather eventful trip to Koutiala alone to do some bookkeeping work there this past week. Because Amanda has a new language teacher she felt she couldn't afford to skip her classes and come with, so I made the 4 1/2 hour trip alone. Getting there wasn't a big deal, except I was sick (flu or bad cold, I think). Upon arrival, I found the missionaries there a bit fatigued from all the week's goings-on. To back my story up, Monday saw the first birth at the mission's new hospital there. It was the new son of our friends Shawn and Becky McCabe, Aiden Kevin. After the birth, another missionary was in a very serious accident on her bike (details are still a little fuzzy). She is miraculously doing better now, but it was a day or so before we knew if she would make it. I arrived in Koutiala about 40 hours after all this happened. The new birth was certainly something to rejoice, and I believe the tragedy was something that the Lord used, and is continuing to use, to draw His people closer to Him. Betsy still has a long way to go on her recovery, but should be ok.
About my trip, the whole reason I went to Koutiala was, as I said, bookkeeping-related. It's hard to believe, but Amanda and I will be having our first furlough in the US next year. As it looks now, we should be coming home in about 9 months. This means I need to start planning things for our absence and this trip allowed me to start training my replacement bookkeeper during our three months home next year. I also had a lot of time to work with the bookkeeper for the hospital. He is a very nice Malian man named Jonathan. I was able to teach him a bit about our system we use, but mostly it was a nice time of bonding and fellowship. It was a bit challenging, too, because it was all in French.
My trip home was a different experience altogether. I think I'm going to save that for my next post. It was something else, and completely unexpected!