I’m not quite sure how I can possibly describe my first week in Cote d’Ivoire to you in one short blog considering I currently have an average of one single-spaced page of journaling (typed) for every day I’ve been here, but this is my attempt. For now, I am going to cover some of the interesting things we have encountered so far, and I will probably share more about our ministry after we have been a part of it for more time.
- Africa is actually hot like many of you probably already knew. You’re welcome for the new information. We are definitely much closer to the equator here than you even would be in Florida or Mexico.
- Every time I get in a taxi here (which is basically every day), it’s truly a rush to see how close we can get to the cars next to us and still get by without touching them. It’s a fun game I wouldn’t recommend trying at home but seems to somehow miraculously work well here. Stop signs really mean don’t stop, and traffic lights tend to be mere suggestions. Oh, and on top of the crazy driving, you have to factor in the hundreds of people crossing the streets wherever they feel, walking alongside the streets, or biking down them. It’s nuts. Welcome to Abidjan.
- I love our apartment! The very best part is that I have only seen one tiny cockroach, but bugs are almost non-existent at our place, and I’m really praying I didn’t just ruin it all by saying that. Prayer request #1 for you all (but actually). I will hopefully be posting an apartment tour video within the month!
- Our hosts are so kind. Gregoire and Gisele have been in Cote d’Ivoire for around 30 years (they came from Togo), and they do children’s ministry in a few different places in Abidjan. We went to the first location on Wednesday and the second location on Saturday. The kids were SOOO excited to see us, and it’s been really fun to play with them and see their contagious smiles. I’m excited to see what ministry with these kids will be like for the rest of the month!
- Since we only have ministry twice a week, our hosts planned other things for us to do as well. For example, they have taken us to the markets, are going to show us how to cook African food and are going with us to the port where we will share the gospel with Muslim truck drivers. Gregoire and Gisele do not know much English, but thankfully we have a few girls on my team who are decent enough at French to help us out tremendously. I do think one of the hardest things so far has been the language barrier, but I’m sure I will get used to it as time goes on and I’m able to find other ways to communicate.
- My team is wonderful! We have team time almost every day, and it’s been so fun just hanging out with them and getting to know them better. They have made me laugh uncontrollably for the last four days in a row, so we must be doing something right!
- I have to admit I was worried about food coming to Africa, especially after training camp. But since we are cooking most of our own meals, we have choices at the supermarket. The main foods I have eaten so far are various vegetables (carrots, potatoes, green beans, onions, etc.), fruits, bread, eggs, rice, and noodles. And that’s mainly what our hosts have made for us when they have cooked as well, so it’s definitely not as scary as I thought it would be! And it’s been so good for me to stop eating sugar allllll the time. And not be eating out allllll the time. Yay!
Well, there is your quick overview! One morning, we did a prayer walk in the community, and our hosts provided us with a list of things to pray for (shown below). I would love it if you would choose some of these things to pray for as well!
P.S. – I tried to do captions but the formatting is off. The gross picture from the market is an Agouti rat and is a delicacy here (yummy…..). One of the pictures is the view from our apartment and the next one is us having team time in our living room. The last picture was at ministry hanging out with the kids!
