Have you ever traveled 59 hours with 50 people?
Let me set the scene for you.
There’s 7 boys and 43 girls walking around with MASSIVE backpacks or, if your backpack is in an airporter, it looks like body bags. We also had a slightly smaller backpack on their front (There’s obviously no more space on your back) and potentially another smaller purse. Yes. We did sign a contract to travel the world for a year so it makes sense… we gotta have a year supply of junk. Just so you know… my bag was 52 pounds which was JUST THE RIGHT limit to go on the plane. AND I could do a squat with it on my back. Score.
These 50 people also had the joke of arriving to the Atlanta airport being told that Delta had problems with their computer and that we might have delayed flights. Way to start the race. (but jokes on them because we get $200 flight credit!)
Don’t worry! The flights continued to New York on time, then to DUBAI! The flight over was amazing. So many TV shows and movie options, face masks and ear plugs, tons of yummy food AND coffee. It was the flight of a lifetime. It literally almost lasted a lifetime.
We arrived to the great place of Dubai at about 10pm Dubai time. Couldn’t tell you what time that was in Nashville. I still couldn’t tell you what time it is in Nashville. We were STILL treated like Princesses because we got a HOTEL in Dubai! We had to be at the airport at 4:45am and it was 11pm. We had just slept the whole time so why layover in Dubai when you could PLAY OVER in Dubai!
We got to see the world’s largest mall, largest building, SHARKS in a mall (in an aquarium) AND snuck in an hour nap in an actual bed. I would say it was a successful night.
We then continued to our next flight which I like to call the ICE CHAMBER FLIGHT! I’m 1,000% sure that I got a cold because it was an ice chamber in that flight. Two blankets, a jacket, and wool socks (thanks Emirates Airlines) later, I slept a total of 2 hours on a 9hour flight. Needless to say I was POOPED!
We finally arrived on the BEAUTIFUL continent of Africa. Have you ever been to Africa? It’s amazing! Once again, fifty people with massive packs/body bags really stood out in the airport. You know what stood out more? Putting those packs on the top of two vans AND squeezing fifty people in those vans. It was an adventure for sure.
The first thought of Abidjan: WHERE ARE THE LINES IN THE ROAD?! Seriously. There aren’t lines. None. Well in the majority of places that I was looking. Cars just honk if they are coming over. There are not turning lanes. If you want to turn right but you’re in the left lane, YOLO! You just honk and turn right! If a car is going slowly, you honk, flash your lights, and go around them… even if on-coming traffic is ahead. I honestly don’t understand the traffic lights. People don’t use them. Yes. I’m not kidding. It’s both terrifying and thrilling at the same time. Many more taxi/transportation stories to come.
Another fun fact about Cote d’Ivoire is that people are SO welcoming and willing to serve. We went to a church where some of the other teams are at this month. It is in a massive compound where they have the church, a food area, and a small hotel type building. They fed us this three course meal of all Cote d’Ivoirian food. I was in love with them! They were so kind. They did not speak English but still loved to try and talk to us.
Then we went to our VILLA! Picture this. 13 of us (two teams put together) living in a gated community in the city with the cutest houses with courtyards. All the houses looked different and were painted different colors. There’s even a park where all the neighborhood kids play! Our house is a cute white and mint green color. It has a massive wall that surrounds the house and gives it a courtyard feel. There are four bedrooms in the house, a big living room, kitchen, and porch. The porch is the best spot because there’s a little breeze and shade. It is never really hot here. We walk around in short sleeves and skirts or pants and we feel fine! We are all very thankful for our home away from home for a month. My favorite quirk about the house is the pink bathroom. The toilet, sink, and shower are all in the same room. You can turn your shower water on, use the bathroom, feel if the water is warm while still using the bathroom, then shower. It’s amazing.
Our first two days went like this: wake up at 1pm. Eat lunch. Walk around the neighborhood. Go to the grocery store. Try to figure out the currency while also trying to speak French. Come back home. Say the only phrase we knew “Bonjour.” (don’t worry. We know so many more words: bonswa (good evening), merci (thank you), marche (OUTSIDE market), super marche (super market), and TAXXXXXXXXI (taxi). All of these words are useful but MAN it’s hard to communicate! The majority of people do not speak English.
Yesterday (Saturday) we woke up SO excited because we were going to CHURCH! This was our first time meeting our ministry host and we were all looking forward to it. We realized a few times before this that Africa time was a real thing. If someone tells you that they will pick you up at 3pm, they mean 5pm. This happened to us yesterday. We all loaded in a van and drove to the church where the rest of our squad was! We went to the church. It is the CUTEST church ever. There’s a building in the front with a courtyard and a bigger building in the back. We found out that the front church was the English church and the back church was the French church. We were in the English church last night with our squad and some local church members. I noticed that it was all younger people in the congregation, but we came in late so I didn’t really know what was going on. The pastor was preaching in English and his daughter would translate in French. It was beautiful! At the end of the night, we found out that it was the young adults study. We got to hang out with the men and women that we would be doing ministry with for the rest of the month! There are about 30, maybe more, young people who will be taking us around the city to minister to the homeless (Tuesday!) children in the hospital, and children at the local international school. We talked to the man who would be in charge of the two groups and he said something that gave me chills: “Our God is the God of the world and He has been waiting for you here.” That really struck hard. I have been preparing for this trip around the world for almost a year. I have said goodbye to my job and students, gone to training camp and met my new friends, said goodbye to friends and family, travelled for 59 hours and was sitting in a church in Africa talking about how we wanted to serve the church and community well alongside the youth of the church. HOW BIG IS GOD! He HAS been waiting for us here and is going to use us this whole month. It still amazes me and makes me giddy. Our goal is to show Jesus not only to the community of Abidjan but also to the men and women of this church. YESSSS!
After the youth service, both treasurer (me and another girl) and two guys went to the grocery store. We were completely out of food at the house and we knew we had to be quick. It was probably 8pm when we were going to the grocery store and most stores were closed. Guy (the man who comes to our house to pick us up and takes us places) was trying to flag down taxis. For some reason, no taxi wanted to take us (I think now it is because we were traveling farther away to the only super marche that was opened. He finally got a taxi. It was our new friend Paula in the front seat, me, Jon, JJ, and Meagan in the backseat and then Guy speaking (or yelling) in French to the taxi driver. All the Americans were just sitting in the backseat wondering what they were saying and exchanging looks. Usually when we trying to get a taxi, Guy will yell “HERE! HERE! HERE! SIT! SIT! SIT!” and we will all pile in. Sometimes when we get in he will yell “OUT OUT OUT!” and then we will pile out. We almost always never know what is going on. So Guy is still yelling at the taxi driver from outside of the taxi when finally he tells Paula “MOVE!” and she yells “Jesus Christ just this ONE time!” (she speaks English and French so she has been a massive help” and they both squish in the front seat. So there are seven of us in a small taxi bouncing around the streets of Abidjan. We hit a massive bump in the road and Guy’s door slowly comes open. All of us in the back scream while the people in the front act like it’s normal. So Jon and I are stuck sticking our hands out the window holding Guy’s door while we drive to the super marche. We couldn’t help but laugh and I also cringed a few times thinking about the door coming open and slamming my fingers while we were riding.
We finally make it to the market, buy the food, and return to our EXTREMELY HANGRY team with loads of food. I have never seen people eat pasta so quickly before in my life. The whole trip to the super marche gave me a massive headache and I snapped at two or three or maybe everyone on my team that night, BUT we still laugh at the cab drive and this has to be one of my favorite stories so far on the race. We were all exhausted and hungry that night but it showed that sometimes you have to laugh when things don’t always go your way.
We also went to church Sunday! It was a beautiful service where an AMAZING woman from Canada came and sang. The French church is in a building with massive walls that are open so you can get a breeze during worship. We couldn’t under the lyrics to the worship music but it was fun feeling the joy that people had while singing. After the worship music ended and the sermon began, we went to the English church. We met a few people who attend the church and speak English including some people who are from America or Australia who work at an International School.
We also experienced our first ever REAL FUN Cote d’Ivoire restaurant! We walked there after church. It was in between some food stands tucked back in the corner. It was an open building with chicken and fish cooking over an open fire in the front. It was the world race people mixed with our new friends from the church. We had yummy chicken, fried plantains and bottled water.
Last night I was thinking about what our ministry was going to be this month. We talked about going to the children’s hospital, working with the homeless, and going to the international school BUT we also have the opportunity to meet new people in Abidjan and work with them on getting to know their community more, too! What is a better way of getting to know people than worshiping, praying, and ministering to others with people in the community! I have been blown away by the youth so far and it is only our first week. I know that we are all excited to get to know them more over the next few weeks!
Lastly, I get the opportunity to live with 50 of the coolest people out there. I have currently bonded with 13 of the coolest people already. We have:
- Started working out together which is AMAZING! It is really refreshing to go for a jog around the neighborhood and working out in our courtyard. It is also fun to yell BONSWA to all the neighbors that are out. They laugh because they know that is the only word we know.
- We have a tally of how many times our hydro flask water bottles drop on the ground and make a MASSIVE loud noise. It’s usually three times a day and it’s obnoxious.
- We have a new obsession: Nutella mixed with corn flakes. It sounds bad but it’s our new late night snack.
- Presidents is the game of the house. Tonight I was President TWICE!
- We watch fun movies (while eating Nutella and corn flakes) at night.
- We have kids knocking at our gate all day asking us to come play.
- We celebrate birthdays with cakes made out of wafers and ice cream bars.
- We are best friends with Amie (a guy who comes over often to help with the house) and Guy (I don’t really know how to spell his name or if we are saying it right but he is AWESOME!)
- I can successfully pay for a taxi and say “no, bonom (good man), 1,000 francs NOT 1,500 francs for this taxi!” We figured out that the red taxi means you can pack the car for 1,000 francs and a yellow taxi is pay by miles. So we ALWAYS get the red taxi and cram six of us in the taxi.
- I know everyone on the team’s weakness for food. We all spend personal money on different food items. Mine is bananas. We bought 8 bananas at a marche for 500 francs or less than a dollar compared to a super marche where they are 2500 francs! (SEE! We are all learning)
Thankful for all of you guys praying for me, my team, and the people we are meeting along the way. Thanks for joining us in this journey!
