Cote d’Ivoire: a summary
So, month one is in the books and I’m not really sure how that happened so fast. I am truly starting to understand the World Race slogan of “slow days, fast month”. The days spent in Zepreguhe have felt so long, and yet this month has felt so short. Without further ado, here is a handy breakdown of my month living in the Ivory Coast:
Team/Housing/Ministry
Team Talitha Koum- Sara (TL), Annie, DJ, Grace, Christine, Katie, and briefly Leticia (SQL)
Housing- Our own house, two bedrooms, four “beds”. We had large buckets of water that we used for bucket showering and flushing the toilets. We had electric fans in our rooms, and a large central area for eating. Favorite place in the house was the porch, we would hang our enos on the pillars and stay outside all day
Ministry- In the mornings we would lead small Bible study groups, sometimes with the women, sometimes with young adults, sometimes with the church leaders. Lots of times it turned into Q&A with some really tough questions, leading to some really great discussions. In the evening we would walk around the village and visit people door to door. We got to know our neighbors, played music and played with the kids, and learned a lot about the lives of the people in the village. One man, who had lost his vision two years ago, would come to our house morning and night with his children and some of his friends. He would sing worship with us, tell us stories about his life, and ask us to pray for him for healing. We still believe that Jesus will use the people in his church to heal him soon. In the meantime, he has been the greatest testimony of faith and joy despite circumstances. We also loved getting to know the women of the church who would help us with water, teach us how to do laundry, and cook our meals. In this culture, women are not seen as highly valued unless they are married, so it was a really cool opportunity to come in as seven single women who showed these ladies that they have value just as they are.
Food
Breakfast: some combination of instant coffee, oatmeal or rice porridge, bread, scrambled eggs, potato fries, fruit (papaya, banana), millet
Favorite Breakfast: coffee and oatmeal with condensed milk and banana
Lunch: rice or fries, sauce with chicken or whole fish, hard boiled eggs
Favorite Lunch: fried rice with veggies and spicy orange sauce that tastes like hibachi
Dinner: chicken stew with sauce, fried rice or plantains, potatoes or cassava fries, salad/veggie mix with vinegar and mayo dressing
Favorite Dinner: chicken with sauce and fried rice or plantains
Weirdest food: whole fried frogs (tastes like chicken and fish mixed), fufu (plantain and cassava mushed together into a dough, rip apart and dip into stew)
Hardest Parts:
– adjusting to the heat and humidity, dealing with heat rash
– sleeping while sweating profusely
– flies. constantly.
– malaria
– feeling a little ineffective the first week
– language barrier/cultural differences
– not really being able to leave the village
– having little to no independence
– dealing with relationships at home and learning to balance staying present and being connected
– feeling dirty ALL. THE. TIME.
– feeling restless and struggling with God
– adjusting to ~community living~
– hand washing laundry
BEST parts:
– resting
– having quiet time
– ministering to Kouame (blind man)
– getting to know the church women
– fried plantains
– playing games with my team (mafia and bananagrams)
– leading worship in church
– hammocking on the porch
– herds of goats/chickens/pigs/sheep/cows walking through at random
– playing guitar and singing taylor swift and wonder wall for the kids (and they LOVED it)
– hearing my teammates testimonies
– “spill the tea time” good talks with my teammates at night on the porch
– happy/crappy/sappy’s
– listening prayers
– slow, quiet mornings
– movie nights
– RAIN- the only day we had a rainstorm, we ran around town like crazy people and it actually felt cold for the first time!
– meeting Martha, she spoke english very well, such a joyful person
– going to a field to get cell service and hiding from the crowd of children that followed us everywhere
– chatting with and getting to know our translator, Joel
– getting weave braided in our hair
– going to a cacao farm and hacking the fruit with a machete
– teaching Joel some guitar
– finding Nutella!
– going to a swimming pool for adventure day
– meeting the doctors at the hospital, talking with Eden- one of the midwives
– sharing the gospel with the Buddhist chief, Barnabee
– receiving two live chickens as a welcome gift from the chief
– drawing water from the well and attempting to balance it on our heads, and getting teased endlessly by the women
– snapping a fan blade with my weave
– African drum lessons and dance parties
– all the puppies and cats
– all of the new friendships and lifelong memories
– so much more that I’ve already forgotten
What God taught me this month:
- He wants to give me good things
- He speaks to me more than I realize
- He wants to teach me how to be loved
- He wants me to believe what He says about me
- He is pursuing me
How God loved me this month:
- Sent me precious cats that remind me of my baby Nelly cat
- gave me rest on nights when I thought I wouldn’t be able to sleep
- sent cold rain
- gave us working fans
- fried plantains
- gave my teammates words to comfort me when I was sick
- cool mornings
- cold water in a big bottle
- bananas and papaya
My Word for this month: Provision
To sum it all up, here are my top 5 takeaways from the month:
- Sometimes you have to choose joy
- Jesus is teaching me how to be loved
- Jesus shows me He loves me in little things, like rain
- I am stronger than I know
- My teammates cheat at bananagrams
That’s it for MONTH ONE folks! Stay tuned for debrief adventures and Month 2, coming in HOT!
