Hi there!
We are approaching Week 3 of life in Africa.
Some general observations from the last two weeks in Cote d’Ivoire:
- “Africa time” is a real thing. Even the Pastor apologized for it. If a car is supposed to arrive at 1 to take us shopping, we shouldn’t plan to leave until around 3. This is the only reason we didn’t have wifi installed until 10 days in. This is still taking some adjustment, because my initial reaction to being late is worry/panic. I haven’t observed many locals panicking here. Or yawning, for some reason.
- I’ve taken my freedom for granted. There’s a reason why our compound is gated, and we are not allowed to leave without a local as a guide. I definitely agree with this rule—it’s virtually impossible to get around if you’re white and don’t speak French—but some days it begins to feel like Alcatraz. If Alcatraz had goats.
- Communication is much more difficult than I expected. Everyone speaks French here, and we’ve only met about four people who speak English fluently. Some of the youth can speak a bit of broken English, but otherwise, our conversations are limited to “Hello,” “How are you?,” “What’s your name?,” and “Jesus loves you,” because that’s all the French I’ve picked up so far.
- Speaking of communication breakdown, “Elizabeth” apparently sounds a lot like “Roosevelt” because FOUR people have mistaken my name for a US President’s. I don’t know if this is a common female first name in Cote d’Ivoire or my enunciation is particularly terrible. The winner was a girl who, after I conveyed my real name to her, commented, “My mother’s name is Elizabeth.” Still not sure why Roosevelt is the initial guess, but I am impressed by their knowledge of our presidents, especially because I don’t know anything about theirs. Needless to say, some of the squad has found it quite funny and now call me Roosevelt too, which probably isn’t helping clarity-wise.
- Bucket showers are great—time savers, environmentally friendly, simple. I’m a fan.
- I no longer find it strange to see goats, cows, and chickens wandering by, though the first day was quite a shock.
Ministry update:
Our ministry has taken several different forms this month. We attend church services three times per week and prayer meetings M-F. We also do evangelism in the local neighborhood with the youth from Mission Ephrata. This generally looks like us listening as the youth speak in French. Only a few can translate for us, so we’ve mostly been there for moral/prayerful support. White people are a draw (I’m still getting used to the stares and shouts of “Blanc! Blanc!”) so sometimes we feel like bait, but whatever works. It’s been wonderful to get to know the youth—they love the Lord so much and give a lot of their time in support of the church. One of Pastor Zacharie’s goals is to build up the youth because they will be responsible for the future of Mission Ephrata.
Our other big project for the month is the library/bookstore on the compound. Our team (Ethereal Flames) and another team of women (One Pulse) have been working on taking inventory of thousands of books for sale and sorting/categorizing the library. Luckily, many of the books are in English! I’ve really been enjoying working in the library—it’s refreshing to do a task where we can see our physical progress and we have a tangible goal. I think one of my teammates is making a time lapse of the room, which will be super cool. Also, I’m so excited for these resources to be open to the public; I don’t think anyone’s used the library in years. Plus, I just love books—I’ve already seen a few I might borrow 🙂
I had the privilege of speaking at the church service last Sunday along with two other squad mates. I shared a bit about how I encountered a relationship with God and why I decided to spend the year telling others about Him. (It was actually wonderful to speak with a translator because I was forced to pause often and use simple language…. Plus I didn’t have to stand up alone on the stage.) From our (broken) conversations afterwards, I think many of the congregation found encouragement and excitement from our message. My prayer for this month is that we are the type of missionaries who bring lift to the community and inspire others to consider missions as well. It’s SO cool to think that God could be using us to raise up other missionaries who will continue to reach this country long after we leave.
Prayer requests:
- Our time in Cote d’Ivoire is quickly coming to an end. Please pray that we finish well! We are so excited to go to Ghana at the beginning of September, but it can sometimes make it difficult to remain present here.
- Please pray for Mission Ephrata. God is doing great things here and I know He will continue to do so.
- Please continue to pray for our general health. There is a 24 hour virus that’s going around the whole squad and I’ll spare the details, but it’s definitely no fun. Praise God for no serious, prolonged illnesses!
- We will all be traveling to Ghana in two weeks! Please pray for safe travels and communication with our new ministry hosts.
Praises:
- My team is so awesome! We’ve had such a blast getting to know each other and doing ministry together. I am so looking forward to spending the year with them. God totally knew what He was doing, placing us together.
- (as of 8/26/16) We have finished the library!! An estimated 60,000 books categorized and alphabetized…. can I put this on a resume? 🙂 Praise God for giving us energy and focus–we finished in one week!
- We met two new friends, Nissi and Shammah, who have been incredibly gracious and acted as our guides around Abidjan. Today, we visited a REAL AFRICAN MARKET and it was very exciting. We also had dinner in an American-style restaurant and I had a cheeseburger. Praise God.
Thanks for your support, comments, and prayers!! Much love from Abidjan!
P.S. Check out Facebook for upcoming photos…it’s too difficult to post pictures on here.
