Let me tell you about Assafou.
That’s the small village I lived in for the past month. It was full of wonderful people; lots of children and families with the best hospitality. When we arrived the children swarmed the car singing and cheering to welcome us. It’s something I will never forget. There was no wifi or electricity where we lived which was great and honestly it allowed me to be present with the people on my team and the people of the village. It was hot-I’m talking 95 degrees in their winter and you never stopped sweating. It was absolutely beautiful, challenging, and exactly what I needed for month 1 of the race.
Who did we meet?
My team and I traveled over two days to get to our village in Cote D’ivoire. We met our hosts who were truly some of the most incredible men. They love the Lord and taught me what it looks like to sacrifice.
Ezekiel was our host and translator who is the most patient person I’ve ever met. He took us to the city an hour away many times just so we could get wifi! He’s very thoughtful and lives his life unashamed. He also lives about 9 hours from the village and left his family for a year in order to serve God. He and his family understand the heart of God in a way I haven’t seen before; which is beautiful. Ezekiel was also hilarious and full of laughter and didn’t mind clucking like a chicken with Morgan.
Father Abraham is a beautiful soul who is constantly praying and has such a servant heart. He didn’t speak any English but I feel like he learned a bit while we were there!
Pastor Alexander is wildly kind. There is just a kindness about him I can’t quite explain but when that man preaches-it’s fire! He let us charge our phones at his house and nap under the trees there.
The Baoule people fill this village. The people group is originally from Ghana but they moved to Cote D’ivoire about 300 years ago. In Cote D’ivoire they primarily speak French but in our village they speak Baoule. They have the most generous hearts, great hospitality, and good food.
What did we do and what did we eat?
Most mornings consisted of a 5am prayer service. We went to the church and prayed with the people over the village. We worshipped by singing and dancing together both Baoule and American Style. We have Church service on Sunday and Friday nights. Some church services consisted of translating all three languages, English, French, and Baoule, which was really cool to be a part of. We had “teaching” and kids service where we played/ hung out with the kids-they taught us Baoule and we taught them English! We sang a lot, danced a lot, KT created a skit we all did, Jordan taught us and the kids the motions to the song King of my heart, and we Preached about Jesus daily. We evangelized (had conversations about Jesus) and prayed over the people in the village. We also had outreach services where people who cannot attend church can attend in the village. We again danced a lot and sang and preached. We went farming one day and harvested yams. I pulled out a yam that looked like a pair of pants!! We spent time learning about our hosts, the Baoule people group, and each other. We also had a lake day! It was our day off to relax so we went to the lake. I sat in a boat. We also came to the YWAM (youth with a mission) base in Bouake for a couple of days before leaving for Ghana.
We ate a lot of yams, rice, this cous cous looking thing, some fish, some chicken, cassava, plantains, some vegetables, and a little bit of eggs, a lot of bread-literally had bread and chocolate spread for breakfast every day- drink lots of fresh well water and had hot chocolate for breakfast every day too (my love language). That’s basically all we ate!
Where did we sleep and more!
Well we slept in a little house with three rooms and a dirt floor. The hosts were kind to get some foam mattresses from somewhere and mosquito nets that were donated by a nurse in the city. The bathroom was a little cement building with a wooden door that was a short walk away from our home. It had a wall that divided a western toilet that flushed with water and an area for us to shower. We showered out of a bucket and water we got from the well! The land is very green and honestly reminded me a lot of Puerto Rico in some ways. There are lots of trees. No wildlife- unless you count chickens, goats, and some roaming cows. All the roads are dirt with a lot of “pot holes”. We rode into the little city or short distances in this thing that looked like a motorcycle pulling a flatbed. They added benches for us to sit on in the flatbed. If we weren’t riding in that, we would get a van to taxi us an hour to the big city.
Next blog will have fun facts and things I learned from the children!
