Et la vie continue...

If you've taken a gander at the news lately you saw that Côte d'Ivoire is in a political pickle, to say it lightly. Two men have claimed the presidency after the run-off elections last Sunday, in fact both had themselves sworn in yesterday. If you want to know more check out the BBC news page here.

In past week I have had some interesting experiences: I've visited with a mourning young widow and family of a man who died from malaria, a family who had a small fire in their house, a woman whose father is in Abidjan trying to get chemotherapy and I attended my first Ivoirian burial of a man about my age who died in a moto (motorbike) accident. I think it's interesting that the week that the country is in political turmoil, I have had many experiences with the pain and heartache of 'normal' life. While the world has finally turned it's attention to Côte d'Ivoire, I've seen the tears of a woman who's husband died too soon, prayed with a woman who is scared for her fathers health, and heard a father's cries as he buried his son. Life goes on, even in the midst of this political mess. Not to say that life hasn't been affected by the state of the nation, it certainly has.

My perspective of it all has changed. In the last few years, I have studied, prayed for, and read the news stories about these types of situations. And when I did, I defined people's lives by whatever national issue was affecting them. It was easy for me to think that a country is made up of some uniform group instead of individuals who are simply living. Individuals who mourn, love, get scared, celebrate, laugh, visit, sit, sleep, rest, play, cry. They live.

God sees the nation and its problems while simultaneously seeing, knowing, and loving each individual. He knows all the issues in their complexity and HE is the answer to the problems. He doesn't forget each person as we pray for peace, for the elections, for reconciliation.

And so I am asking for you to pray for this country, for peace. I am also asking you to pray for Ivoirians, whose lives in many ways are strangely the same as they wait and watch and pray for peace here. Pray also for those whose lives may never be the same after this past week.

Weekend November 19/22

Hey all, just wanted to share a bit about what I've been up to lately. Last weekend was a pretty event-filled couple of days.

Friday a few of us had the opportunity to visit the orphanage where our friend Katy (another resident of campus, from Germany) volunteers nearly everyday. When we arrived the older ones were still at school and it was bath time for the 1-3 year olds. So we got to help, and I had the job of getting them dressed. They were so unsure of all these white strangers, smiling at them and speaking to them in English.

One of the last children I dressed was named Dieudonné. He seemed very unsure of me at first, but when we walked outside to play he took my hand without hesitation. He sat on my lap for a bit, but I could not get him to look at me, let alone smile. We got out a mini parachute and some jump ropes and started to play with them, and with play most of their timidity evaporated. Despite not seeming to like me in the beginning, Dieudonné became my shadow for the rest of the time, either resting on my hip or pressing into my legs. Thankfully, I finally got him to smile; I tossed him into the air and his face did not look pleased at first, but when he was safely back in my arms he would giggle and wrap his little body around me in a bear hug. We only had a short visit to play with all of them, but it was definitely worthwhile.

The next day I had the chance to talk about the orphanage with Rod, the Journey

Corps director, who is essentially Ivoirian trapped in American skin. He isn't a huge fan of orphanages in Côte d'Ivoire. It goes against the very ideals of traditional ivoirian culture; no one is ever an true orphan because there is always a family member or neighbor to pitch in. In many of the ethnic languages here, there is no word for cousin because everyone is considered brother or sister, so not only do your parents raise you, but your aunts and uncles as well. If your parents are no longer alive or are not able to take care of you, there is someone else who steps up to take over. So these children should have had someone come forward to help care for them, but instead they've wound up in an orphanage.

Dieudonné and I

My visit to the orphanage has left me grateful, mostly that these children have a place to lay their heads at night and food to eat. But it has also left me feeling unsettled: What has happened that these childrens' families haven't taken the proper Ivoirian responsibility? And what could be done so that these children receive more love and mental stimulation so that they wouldn't be so developmentally behind?

The next day 2 of the other Journeyers (Holly and Alyssa) and I went alo

ng with Angelika (Rod's wife) to the Jour de Femmes, basically Women's Day for all of the churches from our association in the Bouaké area. It's a day of fellowship and worship for the ladies. There were some official greetings, a sermon given by one of the local pastors about worship, a potluck style lunch, a testimony given by one of the women, and throughout all of this there was worship by singing and dancing. The entire day was translated. First t

he person would speak in French and then another woman would translate into Dioula (the local trade language) because many of the women understand very little French, although most men in Bouaké understand French well. Then Angelika would translate for us. Some of the time, I could understand and translate for myself, which was pretty exciting.

Waiting for the Women's Day to start

The style of dancing is that of the Senefou people, one of the many ethnic groups in Côte d'Ivoire. A song is started by one or a couple women, the balafon players will join in (basically like a marimba with gourds attached to each note). The women will all join in the singing and most will go out to the middle and dance in a big circle. Often during these dances the women bend at their wastes and continue dancing hunched over. After watching it for one song I decided to join in. I just followed the woman in front of me, both her steps and the way she held her arms and body. It was so fun to worship God this way! And apparently I did ok, because when the song was over many of the women started grabbing my arms and holding them up in the air (their way of celebrating me, of saying Bravo!).

Giving Senefou dancing a try

Besides dancing, another part of the day that really impacted me was the amount of laughter. The ladies were constantly telling jokes, teasing one another and playfully bantering. Even though I didn't always understand the exact meaning of the jokes, it was impossible not to smile along, the ladies just had so much joy.

In all it was an eye opening weekend; this past week has had some notable moments as well, so should be posting something else soon!

Les petites différences

Salut et Bonjour (Hey and Good day!!)

Right now we have 6 weeks of training/learning/preparing and then we’ll be sent out in small groups to different villages to get involved in ministry. This involves a lot of learning about and trying to understand the culture and language, as well as the other members on our team.

To give you a better idea of what I'm seeing everyday, here’s a some things that characterize living here:

-Côte d’Ivoire runs on a different schedule. The latest you should get up is 6am. a ‘siest’ (like the Spanish siesta) occurs everyday from after lunch until 2:30 or 3. Doesn't necessarily have to be a nap, but at least something that keeps you out of the sun until until the worst of the afternoon heat passes. Dinner is at 7 most nights and people are in bed by 10.

-We live on a compound that was an International Christian school until the war. So there are days where we can almost forget we’re living in Africa. The reminders of Africa in the compound are more subtle: the many fruit trees around campus, the Ivorian employees and residents on campus, the food we eat, the heat. You need no reminders in town, Ivorian culture and language surrounds you.

-I see 8inch lizards outside about the same amount you’d see squirrels or pigeons and small lizards inside about same amount you’d see a pesky mouse.

-It takes less than one hand to count number of times I’ve eaten dairy here.

-The other morning it was in the low 80s and Nema, our Ivorian culture guide, says to me, “It’s cold today, no?”

-People are the most important thing here. Therefore, you always greet people, whether workers on campus or cashiers in stores and visitors are always welcome.

-The small back corner of our compound is inhabited by 15ish French military members. We don’t see them constantly, but about once a day they take off/land their helicopter on the soccer field.

-There are absolutely no street signs in town, so hopefully the landmarks you remember don’t change too often.

-The bank only gives money our in 10,000 CFA bills (the exchange rate is around $1=500CFA), so change is a rare commodity. In the market you’d better have exact change because they won’t give you back anything. In actual stores some people will still refuse to give change.

-Côte d’Ivoire is the top producer of cocoa and also produces a lot of coffee beans, yet finding chocolates or (non-instant) coffee is difficult.

-We are encouraged to be extremely introspective. We should have personal quiet time, a journal, a French/culture notebook. We have many opportunities to reflect, pray and read God’s word together.

So that was just a brief glimpse. More to come!

Á bientôt!! (‘See’ you soon!!)

En Afrique, a Bouaké

After saying a lot of goodbyes to friends and family, I left on October 24th for Denver and training. Training was an absolute whirlwind, jam-packed with a tons of information as well as meeting the other 9 journeyers. On Thursday (the 28th) morning, we left for Côte d'Ivoire. We arrived in Abidjan after 36 long hours of travel at 9:30pm. We spent the first night in Abidjan and left early the next morning for Bouaké. We got to Bouaké in time for a late lunch and then got a tour of our new home: Village Baptiste!! Village Baptiste is actually an former boarding school campus, known as International Christian Academy before la guerre (the civl war).

I'm sorry that I'm only giving you a basic overview of the last week. I am truly tongue tied when I try to think of what to say here (hard to believe I know). To tell you what these days have been like, what Côte d'Ivoire has been like, what JourneyCorps has been like so far, it feels almost impossible. Right now I feel like a sponge, soaking up all I can and I haven't started to process it yet. I guess that will have to come later.

So let me try to answer the rest of the basics:

There are 10 journeyers, 3 guys: Chazz, Jason, and Devin and 7 ladies: Heidi (my roommate), Steph, Naomi, Jamie, Holly, Alyssa, and I.

Our directors are Rod and Angelica Ragsdale. Rod is American and Angelica is German, both are veteran missionaries in West Africa. People describe Rod as an 'Ivorian with white skin' and he and Angelica were some of the only missionaries who stayed during the war. They are amazing, so willing to teach and disciple us. There are also 3 leaders who were here preparing for us and 3 leaders who came over with us and will only be staying a week.

There are Ivoirians who work and live on campus. Nema is here to teach us about culture. She is 28 and speaks English, French, and Dioula (the local language).

The weather here is hot and humid. It's rained nearly every day, not a light sprinkle but big boisterous thunderstorms.

I've been remembering more french than I thought I would, which is exciting. We all practice on each other as much as we can. Ivoirians speak quickly and with a very different accent so it might take a while for me to get used to.

The internet is limited and slow. I will try to get on as often as possible, hopefully a couple times a week, at least for now. I would love any contact though, and will write back when I can!!

I hope I can get on again soon to give more details!!!

Yard Sales: Not for the Faint of Heart

Here is the amazing story of what happened at my yard sale!!

The week of September 19th-25th was completely insane. My support raising yard sale was on Friday and Saturday (24th/25th) so most of

the week was spent preparing for it. We told everyone to try and get their donations to us no later than Wednesday so that we'd have enough time to organize and price it all. By Wednesday night it looked like it was going to be a pretty big yard sale. We'd visited family the previous weekend and gotten a lot of great stuff to sell, and a lot of friends and church family had given too. And then things got even more interesting.

Thursday: Day before the yard sale = SO much to do!! Got a lot done and got even MORE donations (this was turning out to be not just a big yard sale, but an absolutely gigantic one). Also got a huge financial donation from a member of my friend Steph Verenski's church! He's never met me and gave me $1,200, which put me at needing only $2,600!! Mom and I were up until 2am pricing things and getting everything ready for friday.

Africa and Côte d'Ivoire flag cupcakes Hannah made!

Friday: Mom and I were up again at 5:45am to get the yard sale started by 8! As soon as we got a couple tables out at 7, people started coming so we (mom, my sister Hannah and I) had to attend to the crowd and try to get the rest of the stuff out of the garage and set up. It was absolute chaos, for about 2.5 hours there was anywhere from 30-50 people there! By mid-morning, my grandparents came from MD to help out. Around lunch time things settled down and we had an average of 8 or so customers for the rest of the day.

At 5:30, right as we decided it was time to close up for the day, a huge tree branch fell on our yard sale tent!! It smashed a bunch of merchandise and bent one of the metal poles of the tent. Thankfully the only person standing where the tree branch fell (me) sprinted to safety after my mom yelled an incoherent warning. So we spent the rest of the evening figuring out if we could still have the yard sale in the same spot on Saturday, which we thankfully could.

After all this mayhem I counted our earning for the day: $1,600!!!!

Checking out the tree branch that fell on the tent

Saturday: Had a lot more helpers this morning, so thing

s went a lot more smoothly. Not as many people as on Friday, but we had a steady stream of customers all day. Pretty uneventful day in comparison. Towards the end of the day my mom, Hannah, and I counted out the earnings:$1,000!!! Hannah had to remind my mom and I (who's brains had succumbed to exhaustion) that this meant that at first count we had $2,600 for both days. That was only $60 away from EXACTLY what I needed to go!!!!!

Nana and Hannah taking care of the clothing area

So, I think maybe God wants me to go to Côte d'Ivoire this October :) The yard sale was completely exhausting, my mom and I were absolute novices at yard sales, and we got so many donations that we didn't have the time or the space to organize and price it all! Multiple frien

ds (who are also avid yard sale people) said that if we did really well we might make $1,000. Saturday night, I felt a lot like what I imagine the disciples must have felt like after Jesus fed the 5,ooo: complete amazement, it felt like the money was multiplying in my fanny pack, and utter humility, for I could have never done that on my own.

I am so thankful for all the people who gave me (such generous) donations and came to help out on the yard sale, whether to teach my mom and I how to price, help sell hotdogs, or simply buy something. I am especially so grateful to my family members who helped out, it would have been impossible to do it without them. And I know that the average girl doesn't have a mom who would take off of work, stay up until 2, and work both days as if it were her own yard sale.

And so, off I go!! I leave for Colorado the Oct. 24th for training and then my group will head out for Côte d'Ivoire Oct. 28th!!! And so, now is the time of packing, loan deferments, visas, and goodbyes.

To-do lists, surrender, and a yard sale

This is the 6th day that I've known that I have a plane ticket to Cote d'Ivoire this October. These last few days have been interesting and there has been a lot of rearranging. Early last week, I was finally getting used to the idea of staying in the U.S. until next March. I was taking a french class at Shippensburg University, starting to look for jobs, and researching different volunteer opportunities in Chambersburg. I am now in full time support raising mode. I dropped the french course (and thank the Lord, got a full refund!) and have started making seemingly endless to-do lists.

These days have also been ones of surrender. Staying here until March hadn't been my first choice but I had had a plan, I knew what the next 6 months were going to look like and I liked that feeling. Now I'm uncertain: I could be leaving this October or next March. I am back to being in a place where the only thing I can do is trust in Him, because I have no way of knowing what my life will look like in the next few weeks, this Christmas, or next year.

He is teaching me to rest in Him and not in my plans. It is hard, but He is so good.

Like I said, support raising has been kicked into high gear. Right now I am organizing a Fundraising Yard Sale for September 24th and 25th. I'm asking for donations of pretty much anything that can be (re)sold. I'm hoping a lot of people will donate, the bigger this yard sale, the better!!

I'm also revisiting my original list of potential supporters, trying to think of churches and organizations I haven't thought of before. It would be amazing if most of my next few sundays were filled with visiting churches to talk about my future ministry.

If you know any person, organization, or church that might be interested in supporting what I'm trying to do, please, direct them to my blog, send me their info, or send them mine. I would really appreciate it!!

Like I said in my last post, I have exactly $5020 left to raise. This can feel like a LOT of money, but on Sunday my mom talked to a friend at church who once raised $40,000 in five weeks when he was a missionary!!!

October Departure!! (and the support raising continues)

I really do not know where to begin. I haven't been able to update here because I haven't known what to say. I still don't know how to succinctly describe these last two weeks. They have been stressful, some days I have been making plans about staying here until next March because it didn't look like I was going to make the support raising deadline. Other days, I would hear new information from JourneyCorps and wonder if I could actually leave this October. What I am learning is that God is in control (a truth that's easy to say, much harder to live by).

Some of you probably saw that last week that if I had raised 90% by this past Tuesday then I would be able to leave in October (otherwise I would continue support raising until next March). Yesterday I got an email from JourneyCorps saying that while I currently do not have 90% they still bought a ticket for me to leave late October. As in next month, NOT next March.

I have until I leave to raise 100% of my funds. Thats about

6 weeks to raise $5,020.

In the last month or so, I have had a lot of new deadlines, and they have been a bit confusing. However, this is not just another deadline. There is a plane ticket with my name on it and it's for next month. It still hasn't truly sunk in that next month I will be leaving for Africa, right now all I can think about is support raising and practicing french and loan deferment and packing and planning and my eternal to-do list. I would definitely appreciate any prayers for God's peace and guidance. I am in desperate need of them.

These next 6 weeks will be interesting, keep a look out because I will be updating about my support raising adventures, the newest one being an upcoming yard sale!