April has been a month of travel for my team and I. The
first week of the month we went to Burkina Faso for the week to visit a game
park then most of us stopped to see waterfalls also. This was the first
vacation really that the team has taken. We traveled a long way but it was good
to see the animals and be together. We went to Nzanga Wildlife Park on the
eastern side of Burkina Faso. At the park we saw monkeys, elephants, wart hogs,
various African antelope and even a crocodile or two. Unfortunately there are
no known wild elephants in Côte d’Ivoire (RCI) and very few of any other large
wild animal for that matter. Wildlife conservation has not really been on the
radar at all in this country and as a result practically nothing is left here. This
was pretty much the case at one time in our own country. Someday perhaps Côte d’Ivoire will
began to protect animals more just as we finally realized we should in the past.
It isn’t too late, there are animals in neighboring countries that if protected
here can migrate and start a new population in RCI.
We also said goodbye to a good friend this past week. One of
the Journeyers from the last team had stayed to help us learn French and the
culture, to help us adjust. She is headed back to the States now (by way of
Germany). We will all miss her so much! She needs to go back to do school but
plans to come back in the future to work in Côte d’Ivoire (long after we all
leave though). We all went to Bouaké last week to say goodbye. Most of the
Germans in our team are leaving in just a couple of months too; so all the time
we can spend together now is precious. Some logistical things were also taken care of
there, especially by the Germans who are planning what they will be doing when
they leave.
When I came to Côte d’Ivoire, I was planning on staying here
for two years. The reasoning was that the first year is for learning and the
second year is when journeyers really are able to use what was learned. I
wanted to use what I learned, do ministry with it. But God has closed
the doors for staying here for a second year so precisely that it cannot be
mistaken. I will be leaving in September this year now. I have 87% of my
monthly support and I have student loans that I saved up for, both turned out
to be enough for just one year. At 87% I only need about $200 more a month to
be fully funded. At this point if I were to be fully funded I would be able to
use the money for a project in Tiepogovogo. It has been amazing how God has
been providing for me though. If someone can’t help one month He has someone else give
a one-time gift, always the amount or more to make up for the missed money. I
am learning that it is truly God who supplies, he just likes to use people to
do that. So if you are partnering with me here in Côte d’Ivoire, thank you for
being apart of what God is doing here. He is working to make himself known and
it is a joy and privilege to be apart of that, I hope it is for you also!
I have an idea for a project in Tiepogovogo. It stems from
what the church is already beginning to do there. Unfortunately I can’t announce it yet.
Though I would like to, it hasn’t been approved by any party yet. So just to
give you a teaser, I will tell you that I intend to use my training in regional
planning a little to help make it happen. If it all works out, it will be
absolutely something souly in the hands of the church there in Tiepogovogo and
in RCI, and I want to make sure they can keep it up on their own. So there is
your big teaser and something to pray about if you will. Oh and I am still
teaching and I absolutely love it! I want to keep that up until I leave for
sure!
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