One Crazy May

         So, I will share all about my church's project next month because this month has been a very, very full month. I spent a total of 9 and a half days at home… It has been a month of working together, of seeing what others on my team have been doing and how they have been living. Next month most of the team will be traveling to visit ministries in another country and as soon has they are done with that half of the team will be saying their good-byes as they are going back to Germany on the fourth of July. So in other words I am so glad that we have been able to have all this time together this month before our friends leave.

           

            First, the whole team (all 10 of us) met in Katiola for a tagbana bible dedication. It was really cool to see a celebration for a newly finished bible. I really would like to come back for the Nyarafolo bible dedication when it is finished. Katoila is really close to Niéméné, so the whole team went to  there to help with the kid’s day that Carina and Haylei had organized. This was amazing. It started right after church the day after we arrived. We started with a game similar to sharks and minos. We said “Qui as peur des blaches?” (who is afraid of white people?(many really young children are afraid of white people here)) and they responded “parson!!!!” (nobody!) The scene reminded me of those epic battle

scenes you see in movies like Lord of the Rings. Lol it was great. Then there was a message given by the Sunday school teacher (Ivoirian) and we served them food. We fed 190 children with just 2 tubs of attieké (kind of like couscous but a little more bitter), none of us can see how that was possible except that God stretched out the food for us. Everyone ate plenty. Then there was a sort of field day after a couple of hours. This was simply blessed chaos. We had 8 stations, each person on the team did something else. Balloon games, three-legged race, pange volleyball, water games, rice sack races just to name a few. There were over 300 children, most of whom didn’t speak French (only Jimminy or sometimes a few words in French). We divided them into groups for each station and sent them to another when it was time. I don’t know how it all worked, except that God made it work. It was much smoother than it should have been with 300 excited kids and only about 20 adults. Also that weekend, we all enjoyed being together and visiting our teammates in Niéméné (we were there 2 days).

            Unfortunately one of my teammates, a sister and friend, Lina had malaria at this same time. God gave her strength and she did the kid’s day, but perhaps this was a bad idea. She was taking medicine against malaria, which she finished the day we were leaving. On the bus she said, "oh I don’t want to go back, I have a fever and feel really weak." And yep she still had malaria (it should have been done with the first medicine). I thought about it, prayed a little about it and said, “why don’t you come with me to Ferke and stay at the Hospital at a missionary’s house? I will cook for you and take care of you.” (The missionary is in the States but offered her house to me to use, so sweet!). She almost cried, it meant a lot to her. She thought about it for a long while then paid the bus driver for the rest of the trip to Ferke. Her plan was to go for a couple of days to regain strength then go home. We saw the doctor the next morning and he said that the malaria hadn’t left and she needed to take another medicine. This other medicine is like the “hammer,” it is very hard for the body and completely wiped her out. I was so glad I was there with her to help and encourage her. She didn’t leave the house for three straight days. The doctor came to visit often (he lives across the road) and when our set day came he said “no, you need to stay here.” It really was best that she stayed the whole week. The doctor was needed and she really needed the un-interrupted rest. The day we left she felt much, much better, though we were both tired. I stayed with another missionary for another night to regain some energy too then went back to Tiepogo for 2 days.

            I was only there for two days because Emily and Lina (yeah she had just been sick) had organized a girl’s day in Niakara that all of the women on the team were invited to go help with. This was also very blessed by God. There were 32 girls who came (there is a girls bible study group there run by our teammates). We had just enough food (again God provided) and the message that our dear friend Leah gave was amazing and really touched their hearts, she gave it in French and Jimbara Senefoul (very few of the girls speak French well enough to have understood the whole thing). I just saw their eyes light up when Leah started teaching in Jimbara Senefoul also. Before and after the message we had 4 stations of different activities for the girls also. We had a pedicure station, bead bracelets, a photo booth type thing, and bible covering. Carina and Lina washed feet and painted

toenails; this was something that really spoke volumes. So many girls commented on how they didn’t say anything about how gross their feet were, not even a weird look. All of us ladies left Niakara the next day. Some us went to Boundaili to visit David and Eric. They are both about to leave their families for good and it was pretty much our last chance to see Boundaili and meet their families. We were all so glad that we went. On top of that, God helped us all stretch our money to go. Now we are all in Bouake for a seminar (a very good one I might add) and are catching up on emails, applications, blogs, letters ect. too.

            So there you have it. God has been so good to us all this month and I have been so blessed to see what the rest of my team is doing in Côte d’Ivoire and what’s more, to help with a few things. He gave healing and strength, grace and provision, and many lasting memories and good times together. He even blessed my nine and a half days in Tiepogo. For the first time I was able to visit neighbors with a translator and my project has a good start also. In the next blog I will write all about my project. I am super excited about it, but I will warn you, it is nothing glamorous. So now that I have almost written 2 pages and way more than I meant I will leave you with a blessing.