We are a week into our first month in Africa, and Cote d’Ivoire is incredible. I love it here. To say my heart is full is an understatement. Last month was a hard month and though we are thankful for all we learned last month, we are also grateful for what we are enjoying here in Cote d’Ivoire.
We arrived late on Wednesday night, April 12th and enjoyed a late dinner of chicken and rice, a common meal here, of which I am grateful. We were introduced to our wonderful host family, a large family with names I won’t begin to try to spell out. They live in a very nice house that is enclosed in a solid thick wall that keeps us very safe. Their house is lovely, and we are staying in a guest house almost connected to their home. We have two bedrooms for the 8 of us, and a toilet room and shower room. The water is not warm, but that is perfect for us because it is very hot here. The average weather temperature is between 90 and 95 degrees. My body has grown very accustomed to the heat in the last few months, so it’s not something that seems too oppressive anymore. Our first month, Colombia, was the hardest as far as heat goes, and since then I think I’m just used to it.
Our host family serves us breakfast every single morning, and it is usually fried eggs and bread. That is what we’ve been served five out of the seven breakfasts we’ve had thus far, the other two mornings we had oatmeal, much to my enjoyment. (I love oatmeal!)
The other two meals we eat across the street at Madam Koffee’s house. She is our ministry host, and is so friendly and sweet. She speaks French, but understands a lot of English, though speaking it is hard for her. We love her, and have grown to calling her Mama Koffee, as she treats us like her kids. She has three of her own children, but recently told us that now she has 11 children, because the 8 of us are like her new daughters.
My team is a team of 7 but this week we’ve had the pleasure of having one of our three squad leaders, Danae with us. She’s come to ministry with us and spends intentional time with us individually, just to check in with us, encourage us, and help us in any way she can. She’s awesome!
Our ministry this month is preaching. Almost every day we have a church service to attend in the evenings. We take turns preaching, and more often than not we are split into more than one team so that we can go to more than one church per evening. So far, we’ve been to four different churches and been given the opportunity to preach to many people.
We got to spend Easter morning preaching, singing, dancing and praying with a congregation, and before I knew it, we were being asked to cast out demons and evil spirits. The Holy Spirit took over for us, using us to proclaim freedom and to even pray healing into some people. The experience was incredible, people who were suffering from demonic spirits and spiritual oppression were shouting Jesus’ freedom and their thanks by the end of the service, demons were sent back to where they came from, and the Spirit was heavy in the church.
Something I’ve learned on this race is that demons and spiritual warfare is real stuff, that the devil uses anything and anyone he can to defy God and get between people and Jesus. Something else I’ve learned is that love really does cast out fear, and sometimes after commanding a demon to flee and be gone the next step is to hold the person you were praying over and speak life and love into them.
I was asked to pray over a little toddler, all I understood was that someone was dreaming of his death regularly, and that I was to pray for liberation and safety and blessings over him. I didn’t really know what to do, except to declare life and love for the little guy. I gathered him into my arms, began to pray and began to cry. I held him close, rebuked the devil and made sure he knew he had no place in this little boy. I truly believe that from there on, the Holy Spirit took over for me, because I don’t remember what I prayed or why, but when I said amen, tears were in my eyes and the little boy did not want to let me go. After kissing him and giving him back to his mother, I thanked God for giving me the words to pray.
All this to say – this month is awesome. We are finding so much joy and restoration here, while also fiercely fighting for the people of Cote d’Ivoire’s freedom in Christ. We want these people to know Jesus, we want them to walk in liberation, and we want the devil to shake in fear when he thinks of the people here. So far, I’ve seen amazing things, there is no doubt that God is working and moving here.
My team all send greetings to all my friends and family back home. I miss you all, and I’m so thankful for your prayers and your well-wishes. I think about home often, about the people I miss in Colorado, about my family and community in New York, about all my friends across the country that have loved and supported me so deeply. Seriously, guys, it doesn’t get much better than this. It’s month four, I have seven more months to go after this, and I love it here, but a part of me is very excited to be home and with ya’ll again.
It’s a really special thing; to experience this kind of love. An immense love for this adventure I’m on, a deep love for the world God’s showing me, and such a sweet love for the people who I’ve left behind. What an honor to have so many people to love all at the same time. It’s overwhelming, beautiful, and like I said, my heart is very full. I love you all, miss you, and thank you for being a part of this kind of love.
