For the last seven months, I’ve wondered what ministry on the World Race would truly look like. And I’m far from having that answer for you (I’m sure you’ve been wondering too), but I want to let you in on what is happening here in Cote d’Ivoire. French is the main language spoken here, which can sometimes be intimidating and difficult in ministry when you know a whopping 10 words, but God transcends those barriers, and I’m excited to share how I’ve already seen God working!
My team is in Abidjan working in children’s ministry with our hosts, Gregoire and Gisele. Every Wednesday, we go to an area of town that is very impoverished. The second our taxis pull up, kids start flocking to us, giggling and waving shyly. The last few times, we have listened to them recite verses, sing songs, and learn about the Bible. They are learning about Daniel right now, and it’s so cool to see their smiles while they sing and their dedication to memorizing Scripture.
On Saturdays, we go to a school in a different community and the set-up is very similar in that they recite verses, sing songs, and learn about the Bible, but we also play games with them there. The first few times we went to these locations, we observed, but our hosts have started having us teach the kids songs, give the lesson or lead the games. We learned a French version of the song Jesus Loves Me with actions and taught it to the kids; it’s been a hit. We also tried out the song “Praise Ye the Lord, Alleluia” in French (that one where you have one side sing Praise Ye the Lord and the other side sing Alleluia and then you sit and stand – if you grew up in church, you might know what I’m talking about) The kids really enjoyed that one because what kid doesn’t?!
Children’s ministry has been fun because the kids just want you to be their friend and you don’t even have to try. Just a smile is enough for them to come and hold your hand and not let go. I love seeing the joy on their faces, and I’m even okay with hearing “blanche” (French word for white) repeated often whenever we walk by. Yes, I do in fact know I am white and thank you for the reminder ?? It’s funny how seeing a white person is so strange to some of those kids. Many times, while some little girl is holding my hand, she is mesmerized by each finger and just keeps stroking them and staring at them. Whatever entertains them I guess!
Since we only have our “actual” ministry on Wednesdays and Saturdays, our hosts scheduled other things for us to do as well. One day, we went down to the port and handed out tracts to people going to and from the boats. We simply greeted them and said “Jésus t’aime” which means “Jesus loves you” and gave them a tract. Almost everyone accepted them and seemed intrigued, and I was glad to see a few people reading them all the way through as they continued walking. As far as I know, Gregoire and Gisele regularly hand out tracts in different places around the city.
Last Friday, we met up with the other team from my Squad also staying here in Abidjan. Their main ministry is evangelizing to Muslim truckers at the port. The goal of this ministry is for these truckers to accept Christ and then be able to bring the gospel to much of West Africa since they truck goods from the Abidjan port into those countries. This organization has locations in Mali, Ghana, Togo, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Cote d’Ivoire currently. They hope to expand to Mauritania (where Bibles are not allowed) and Senegal.
After learning about how to approach the conversation, we were split into groups and took taxis to the port. I ended up being with one of my Alumni Squad leaders and two Cote d’Ivoirians, Angeline and David. We approached three men sitting by their truck waiting for a load. Angeline and David did all the talking, unfortunately in French, so I didn’t understand much of what was said or how the men received it, but I just stood there praying my little heart out that God would reveal himself to these men in such a powerful way and they would no longer be blind to the truth. It felt like such a long time we were there talking with them, but eventually, David told us two of the three men wanted to accept Christ!!! WOW! The third man was very interested but not ready to commit. We prayed with the men and then kept walking until we came across three more men. This time, Angeline started the conversation but then my Alumni Squad leader shared the gospel with them and David translated. None of these men accepted Christ in that moment, but at least one was very interested.
Guys, how cool that this ministry happens here and in many other locations every single day?!? I could see how hungry these Muslim men were for the Gospel just by how willing they were to listen to some random strangers who intruded into their space. They claim the Islamic faith, but really don’t know what it means. They try to do the right thing and follow rules in order to reach God without realizing God has already reached out to them through Jesus! I couldn’t believe the first time I was even a part of this ministry, I had the privilege and honor of seeing two men make a decision that will change their lives forever.
All the teams reported back after having talked to truckers for about an hour, and in that time, our group shared the gospel with 37 people and 5 people accepted Christ! It makes my heart so happy to know this ministry is ongoing and so intentional in sharing the truth with Muslims. Even if the truckers do not accept Christ, they are given a card inviting them to a showing of the Jesus film and giving them contact information if they ever have questions. My team will be going back to the port one more time while we are in Cote d’Ivoire, but since this ministry is also in Ghana and Togo, there is a chance we could be connected with it in the next few months.
Lastly, I want to share something my team is starting to see as a wonderful ministry opportunity. We live in an apartment complex with a big courtyard in the middle (as pictured in my last blog), and almost every night, a lot of the kids are out playing soccer. Two of my teammates, Hannah and Jennifer, started playing soccer with them even though they don’t know a lick of French and had no way to communicate with them other than pointing and nodding. The kids LOVED it, and one of them started writing notes and leaving them at our door. The notes all were asking about the next time they would be playing soccer. Hannah and Jenn played soccer with them maybe three times, but then the notes started asking for ALL of us to come play. HA! SO CUTE! They knock, slip a note under our door and within two minutes, they knock again to get an answer. Yesterday they came to our door and were not taking no for an answer; those kids are determined we will play soccer with them!! The other night, five of us went and played, and it was so much fun. I’m terrible at soccer, but the kids could care less and are just thrilled to have us play. And we basically have a stadium full of fans watching from the apartment balconies – so funny!
I would love if you would pray for us to have an opportunity to use our relationships built through playing soccer to bring Jesus to these kids and their families. We are hoping to show all the kids the Jesus Film in French and invite some of the families of the kids to church.
Thank you for reading my blog!! I’m so thankful for all of you and your prayers!
