I have been in Côte D’Ivoire for two weeks now. It’s a weird feeling because our stay here is about halfway over and I feel like I just got here!
I wanted to talk about the ministry that we are involved with while we are here. Everything that we are doing for this month is what our hosts do on a regular basis here.
Every Wednesday we have Children’s Club at one of the communities here. Here kids gather in the afternoon into four different areas throughout the community based on age and sometimes gender to learn about Bible stories, memorize Bible verses, and sing fun songs. This isn’t obligatory at all for the kids but they really enjoy coming each week.
One Thursday we went on a prayer walk. Here is a list of what we prayed for:
The following Thursday we distributed tracts and told people “Dieu t’aime (God loves you) and Dieu te bénisse (God bless you).
Every Saturday there is a Children’s Club at a school in another community. Our team split up, and one group stayed at the school, while the other group took a boat to another club happening simultaneously. I stayed at the school the first Saturday, but the second Saturday I took the boat. They take the planks on the side and set them across to become benches. It was sort of rickety but it was cool.
On Sunday we alternate between going to church and teaching Sunday school at the community we go to normally on Wednesday. This past Sunday, since Alyssa, who is normally our point person for French, was with another group, our host had me translate the entire lesson for my other team members. I did not know that I knew enough French to be able to do it but somehow I was able to get the message across to my teammates. It’s funny because the lesson was for the kids but our host was so concerned with making sure I understood everything to be able to relay the translation to my team members.
We taught the children two songs in French. Jésus m’aime (Jesus Loves Me) and Louer le seigneur (Praise Ye the Lord). The kids had so much fun with these songs and I’m glad we were able to teach it to them in their own language.
Lastly on Friday we joined another team here in Abidjan and evangelized to truckers. So people from the surrounding countries like Mali, Senegal, etc. wait for days or even weeks to get loads to be able to take back to their country. So that day we first met at a church nearby where the leaders explained a step by step process of sharing the gospel, being that many of the truckers in the area tend to be Muslims. It was an interesting experience, talking to Muslims about their religion, the differences between what we believe about Jesus and what they believe about him, and even just thinking through some hard questions about the implications of changing their beliefs. Then all our groups gathered together to report our individual results. That Friday we collectively shared the gospel with 37 people and 5 people decided to become followers of Christ!
We only have two more weeks left in this country. I can’t believe the time is going by so fast! I’m still in the process of raising funds to be able to stay out here, and if you are able to give toward that, you can do so here!
Jessica
