The team and I left the states on the 7th, and hopped on a plane to Cote d’Ivoire. We ended up flying through the night and arriving into the country the next afternoon. The country was hot and humid, and everyone was speaking French. We definitely made it to the right place. A lot of our team went to go get sim cards, and we ended up waiting in the airport and extra two hours before being able to head back to our host home. We were supposed to be staying a five minute walk from the church we’d be working with. We would be in some local apartments for the duration of the month. However, things rarely go as planned, and everything fell through while we were on our way back. I’m not entirely sure what happened, but our original host home could no longer accommodate us. We had to stay at a hostel for the night while we figured out where we would be living for a month. The hostel we were staying at was pretty nice, but way over budget, and on top of that, we were now a 40 minute walk from our ministry.
We tried taking taxis the first few days, but that was way over budget as well, and we simply could not afford the hostel and the taxis. Our leaders worked with our ministry hosts to try to figure something out. We ended up being moved up a floor in the hostel, and this is our permanent home for the month! It was hard getting used to a new country, climate, culture, and settling in while everything was up in the air. It didn’t help that right after travel day we moved around a fair bit. We are now settled, and I am very grateful for how things turned out. We have electricity, working fans, six hours of AC a day, a shower, and a stove. A lot more than I thought we would have the first month.
The ministry we are working with has a set schedule for ministry days. On Monday we get a day off from ministry. Tuesday our team, hosts, and translators all go down to the ports, and get to know the people of the port. We share Bible stories with them, pray for them, and just spend time with them. On Wednesday they have a class for new believers who are seeking to know more about Jesus. Thursday is another day off. Fridays are our big ministry day. We spend a lot of time praying with people, and trying to find people who are seeking and sharing Jesus with them. On Saturday we go down to the port and show the Jesus film. We get to walk around and invite people to watch the film with us, and spend more time in the community with the people. On Sundays we go down to the two ports and have church and bible studies with new believers from the ports.
This is a general overlook of our weekly life for this first month, and I couldn’t be more excited to see what the whole month has to off us. It has only been a little over a week, and It has beyond amazing diving right into the world race. Walking around for miles everyday, seeing people give their life to Christ, and working alongside alongside our ministry homes has been such a blessing. Every challenge has led to opportunities for us to grow. I’m not yet sure what the future holds, but I am beyond excited to share it with you once I find out.
