Today we played “handball” with the high-schoolers from church. They are our Côte d’Ivoire-ian best friends. They typically spend evenings with us, exchanging French and English, also dance parties, in the in-between moments of the schedule. We once spontaneously participated in a random Choir/Dance show at another church together; though not quite by choice, it was definitely the best choice.
Anyway, playing handball in a very dusty soccer field, running like fools in the hot hot heat was most magical! Sadly we had to leave, but I speak for all of us when I say we could have run around that dusty field long after the sun went down and the stars started to twinkle and the moon was winking at us and the shadows all melted together.
I think it was because in that hour we were so free. Nothing but feet hitting the dirt, and laughter bouncing around the little field. No bodyguards, bless their hearts. One glorious hour of our hosts not hovering and worrying about us.
On adventure day we adventured our way to a lake. We were told not to swim in it, but optimistically put on our bathing suits under our clothes in very high hopes that we could convince our host Abraham that we were swim-worthy.
When we arrived, we went from “not even your feet!” To convincing him to let us stick one toe in, to finally prancing about in the water. I mean I understand, because [mama don’t read this] we were standing on toilet paper and clothing…and mostly we knew it because of the sense of feeling, because God knows we could not see it in that murky water.
Favorite day, by far. We got caught in the rain, and ate ice cream bars, snuck rocks into our friend’s bag throughout the day, climbed walls, played cards, stayed up all night.
Mangoes, pineapple, chocolate milk, French fries, and rice pudding. These are a few of my favorite things!! It is such a special moment the second we lift up the lid of our food and see what our beautiful hosts cooked for us! They refuse to ever let us help. Of course sometimes it is slightly terrifying, because in between those foods, is the fish that I toss down with water, exactly like a pill. It’s a new trick and it has saved my life. Little piece of fish to the back of the throat, big gulp of water, and you could never even know it was there.
And though it was not served at meal time, two of us convinced our translator to get us a little piece of cooked RAT, also known as “bushmeat”. So yes there was a long moment in time that I had a piece of rat making its way through my body. I felt invincible.
The little angel children, wild little feisty angel children, fill up my heart. They jump up to help with anything, even trying to take over our laundry when they saw we were less than capable, apparently. They also pop up anywhere and everywhere. Loyal little fans, they are. Sometimes they surround and pull us back into the street when we try to get to our compound.. and in their excitement to touch our hair, they sometimes just come up and pull real hard. And the entire time is spent laughing when they are with us!
Walking through the village is quite the journey, always crowds of children follow and we dance and sing on our merry way. There has only been a couple moments where I thought, “you know, I don’t actually want to hold anyone’s hand right now, I want my arms free and swinging.” Then I grab their little hands and realize LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. Love God love others, and let each minute be as beautiful as it can be!
