Child-like Faith

Bonjour from Cote d’Ivoire!


We’ve been here for a week now and to say we love it is an understatement. We both expected that there would be a time of adjustment and awkwardness while bonding with our team, but we came and felt at home and found new brothers and sisters in Christ right away.

After a 3 hour plane ride, a 7 hour plane ride, a 5 hour layover, another 7 hour plane ride and a 5 hour drive in the dark, we finally got to Bouake, Cote d’Ivoire at 1am on December 3rd. We’re living on a campus that used to be a missionary kid school until about 2005 when it was right in the middle of the war. It’s a beautiful campus that keeps reminding me of the Garden of Eden (I picked my own grapefruit to eat for breakfast this morning off a tree out front our dorm).

We started French class on Monday and have been learning so much about language and culture ever sense. I’m just going to post a bunch of pictures because I can’t really describe it here in words.

The biggest thing we’ve been learning is child-like faith. Since we don’t really know the language (or the accent that they use), we have to depend on others for everything: to get us a moto taxi (everyone rides on the backs of motorcycles – seriously, a family of 6 can fit on one), help us buy clothes and food, schedule our French lessons, even things like teaching us how to cook or use the restroom (no toilet paper for Ivoirians). Because of that, we have to trust that these people know what they’re doing. That they’re going to get the best price for us (it’s rude not to barter for taxis and clothing). We have to trust that they’re not going to tell us false things about the culture.

Anyway, faith has been a huge thing this week – as we learn the language little by little, I more understand the “being sure of what we hope for and certain of things unseen” Heb. 11:1. Because I see that the Journeyers who have only been here for 4 months and the ones who have been here for a year can get around and are really having no trouble, I can be sure that we will figure this language/culture thing out, but there are a lot of unseens – what is our ministry here? What family are we going to be put into? Am I going to figure out the language by the time we get put in host families? What does it look like not only to be a Christian in this culture, but a Christian couple (we’re the first couple to do Journey Corps)?

Both Steve and I have learned that we need to trust God for these things and follow and trust Him, just like we've been trusting our friends, who know more then we do about this culture and language.

Anyway, we have internet about once a week or so, so we’ll try to keep you updated! Please keep praying for us, here are some prayer requests:

• Language – our French teacher, Timotee is getting married at the end of the month and here the man is the one stressing out about all the details, so he’s probably not going to be around much. Pray that we can get another teacher lined up.

• Culture – pray that we can know, understand, and embrace this culture. It’s an amazing one full of traditions and protocol (more on that in another blog).

• Team – we have a team of 3 returners (who have been here a year), 3 girls who have been here 4 months, and then us. The girls are in host homes and the returners are training us in. Pray that we can learn to work with one another and learn from one another.

• Service projects – the campus is getting ready to be rented out to med school students. There’s a lot to be done, pray for efficiency.

Okay – it didn't work to post pictures onto here, but here's the link to our facebook album...we'll add pictures from Dec - Jan as we go:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.595807810320.2068805.110900884&type=1&l=4a63a6e4dd

Tickets in Hand

We are finally and actually going overseas. We've been planning and preparing to go for so long that is seems crazy that we will actually be in Cote d'Ivoire in less than a month. We are so excited to start the next segment of our lives.

It has definitely been a time of transition. Both Jess and I have been home for the last 4 weeks and didn't drive each other completely insane, which is a miracle. I am currently sitting in an almost empty living room because we had Karen and Tom take a load of living room furniture to store. It has been odd getting ready, and even for us it feels like it is still not real, but we are leaving in 3 weeks. When we found out we could leave earlier rather than later it went from looking at all of this from a distance, to being right smack in front of it. Such an odd feeling.

We started shopping for all of the things we will need while over in Africa. Some of them are fun and exciting, like a hand pump water filter and sandals (because that's pretty much what we wear all the time). Other things aren't, such as a year’s supply of tooth paste and deodorant. It is so different to try and have everything we will need for 2 years packed in suitcases, that's what closets and Wal-Mart are for, right?

We have started saying our goodbyes to all the people we know and will continue to get together with people through November 23rd (let us know if you want to get together). After that we will spend Thanksgiving and our last few days with our families.

We hope you will continue to be excited for us as we depart, we will post as much as we can while we are in Africa and will have plenty of pictures. Feel free to email us or comment with questions. Next update from either Colorado or Cote d’Ivoire!

OCTOBER UPDATE

I'm starting to realize that we're in a process - a process of the Lord giving and the Lord taking away. He's given us new eyes for Him, new eyes for the lost, a new passion for this mission, a new outlook on life, but in that He needs to take away some things. He needs to take away our comfort, our security, our future. In order to follow Him in what He gives, we need to surrender the things He's taking away. It's not easy, but it's so good to say, through the good and bad, hard and easy, MAY THE NAME OF THE LORD BE PRAISED!

Just an update for you guys on our lives. Steve had tried to extend his contract to into November. Because my mom moved closer, we didn't feel like we needed as much time inbetween. God had different plans - although his boss was totally okay with that, the project he was working on got shut down, so Steve is done after this week(CRAZY). We are praying that we will be able to leave mid-November. We need about $600/month to order tickets and $900/month to leave. God has given us about $800/month more in the last two weeks (He is Good). Keep praying!

 

Prayer:

• That we would surrender ALL - our future (or what we think it will be), our comfort, our money, our time, our way of life.  
• That we would be material that is being "built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit" (Ephesians 2:22)
• That we would have a crazy love for God that doesn't make sense,but is following HIM whatever the cost.
• The people's hearts would be open to giving to God's ministry in Africa - a ministry that He picked us for. Pray that we will have a good understanding of our timeline (if God wants us to) by the end of this month.

Praise:

• Wonderful sermons that have been LIFECHANGING from Sir Reverend Larry Willman :) I don't know if you know that God has been speaking through you to change our lives in a big way.  
• Continued people serving God through giving.

Thanks so much for your prayers - they are felt and heard by the Lord Almighty. We are blessed by your prayer ministry for us!

Praise-tastic!!!

This is my happy face.

I'm having one of those weeks - the weeks where it's hard to be around me, because I can't stop smiling and I have to tell EVERYONE about how God is blessing us this week.  The week where I've been saying cheesy phrases and words like "Praise Update" and "Praise-tastic" just so that I can talk about how good God is.

Then I realized that the ultamite way to blab this to the world is blogging - oh, internet, how I love thee :)

Here goes the "praise-tastic" news:

• God is building our financial team in a big way!  We have 7 new partners in the last week (we haven't seen a jump like that in quite a while).  We have seen generousity in ways we've never seen before - I think God is booting us out of the states, and we're ready to be booted.
• We've been given the go ahead to leave in November - it's a VERY long story, but there was a little worry we wouldn't be able to leave when planned, now we're good to go as long as we have the money (see first bullet).
• God PROVIDES!  Should I ever doubt that?  And He provides for things that we never prayed about as if to say "See!  I know your needs before you even talk to me about it."  We found out that we didn't really understand how our health insurance works and we have a chunk of money sitting in our health account for the needs that we were worried about.  Enough to cover my dentist appointment yesterday, enough to cover the two fillings that need to be done, enough to cover a dentist appointment for Steve, glasses for me, and any immunizations that we need to do before we leave!

And those are the extra special blessings - we should be praising God like this everyday because we have another day to worship Him, love Him, and tell others about Him. 

I know that this blog won't let you comment on it, but I would challenge you to share with us your blessings - whether they're in the midst of a "blessing storm" (where everything seems blessed) in the midst of a hard time in your life.  His mercies are new every morning either way.  Great is YOUR faithfulness, oh, God!

Have a BLESSED weekend (and make sure to count them and name them one by one)!

Yahweh

This morning while doing my devos I was reading out of the book "Praying the Names of God," and this week is all about Yahweh (LORD) and the reading is from Gen 22:15-18 where Moses sees the burning bush.

It's silly how some things stand out when you hear a word.  Whenever I hear Yahweh I think of a chapel speaker I had in college.  He repeatedly said "When you hear NO WAY, think YAHWEH!" He had us repeat that over and over again and it just stuck in my mind.

Here is an excerpt from the book:

To the Egyptians the name Yahweh would have been a terror - a name to forget because it conjured plagues, darkness, defeat, and death.  But to Moses and the Israelites Yahweh would forever mean deliverance, freedom, promise, and power.

I love those ending words.  Deliverance, freedom, promise, and power.

As we go on our journey - a journey that we hope and pray will lead us to the Ivory Coast in a month and a half, there has been many doubts in my own mind.  Not others saying that there's no way that it will happen, but my own mind saying that the money amount is too big and that the amount we can do is too small.

However, in the last few months, when my mind is saying NO WAY, I've been able to lift it up to the LORD and say "Yahweh".

I pray that God is showing you that in your own lives, in your own struggles.  That when life seems too big, God is bigger! 

Blessings!

Excitrafied

I recently had an appointment with a student for my work at Northwestern. He had spent the last four years (since graduating from high school) doing different Discipleship Training Schools and different projects with YWAM. His parents were missionaries in India.
We started talking about Steve and I going to Africa and how we were excited/anxious/happy/nervous and they said "We have a name for that...Excitrafied." It was a perfect way to explain that excited/petrified feeling in my stomach these past few weeks.

Steve started a contract with Medtronic that ends on October 14th, in order to give us time to do those final things before leaving in November. I put in my notice yesterday and will be done at Northwestern on August 19th, leaving 3 months of not working to do full-time fundraising and ministry.

It's all coming together and really coming alive in our lives. It's crazy. It's something that God's been working in us to prepare us for this, but it's finally here.

My mom said it's like having a child - you spend all this time saying that it's TAKING FOREVER for this baby to come, and then two weeks before, you start getting all nervous about the future and how you're going to be as a parent and everything, and then when it happens, it's just a whirlwind and everything works out fine.

We're in the nervous phase...please pray for us. We know this is what God wants us to do, we know He's going to provide what we need, but sometimes it takes us a while from that to go from our head to our heart.

Also, we're in the last 2 months of support/partner raising. If you've been meaning to join us, but you've been putting it off, click HERE to join us in Africa through giving - we're looking for monthly partners of $25, $50, or $100, but any amount will be a blessing!

My Heart Will Sing No Other Name

"Oh, I'm running to Your arms, I'm running to Your arms, the riches of Your love, will always be enough. Nothing compares to Your embrace. Light of the world, forever reign"
We sang that song at church on Sunday and it concludes with the words "My heart will sing, no other name, Jesus, Jesus."

When it got to that part, it started making me think. What other names does my heart sing? Does it sing money? Friends? Acceptance? Appreciation? Steve?

It seems as we raise support, so much of the focus in on money. Now, both Steve and I have never been "money" people. What I mean by that is that neither of us care about how much money we make, or ever being rich. Because of that, it's new to us to have to focus on how much money comes our way for Africa. It's weird because all of a sudden we have a glimpse of what it means to be a "lover of money."

I don't mean to say this in a bad way - we have learned so much about God's character and His power throughout our support raising, but it's been difficult finding a balance. When we rejoice, we've needed to learn to rejoice in God's provision (not just that we see our support go up another 1-2%). When we get anxious, we need to learn to give it to Him and know that He has our future in his hands and that this is HIS ministry and HIS timing, not ours and not go back to trying to raise support with OUR strength, but HIS.
My heart will sing NO other name, Jesus, Jesus.

Remember that as our hearts are deceitful, they wander far away from singing the name of Jesus. I just want to pray that as Christian, we can all focus on singing that one name day in and day out, in the good times and in the frustrating times!