I find myself in a state of waiting and praying: I have hope and desire to continue my ministry in Cote d'Ivoire, but as before in my life, the means are in God's exceptionally capable hands.…

I just returned from West Africa where I meet with our pilot team. I heard many stories about God's faithfulness. Do you know that Scripture text that talks about God being able to do more then we ask? It goes like this, "Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,".  Well that is exactly what God did in West Africa this past year.  I desperately want you to see it for yourself,  but you…

So after three weeks of going to the classroom to learn French and a little bit of going into town, we decided to have some more hands-on French lessons. So we stepped outside the gate of Ecole Baptiste and walked just a little ways down the road to a rice field. The thing about planting rice is, it’s hard work but it’s not super tiring physically. But mentally, I was exhausted. Normally, I’d love any chance to spend some time playing in the mud. However, once I was in the rice paddy, I…

Our church will soon be getting electricity. There was a holiday, so all the youth of the church came out and dug a trench from the nearest power line to a concrete shed that will house the meter. We still have to go from the meter to the church, but that was left for another day.  I was able to snag a few pictures from the…

People keep asking me: “So how’s Africa?” And that’s a bit of a hard question to answer. So here’s a list of some things about the culture and what it’s like to live here so far.



-People assume that Africans are dirty. That’s definitely not true for the Ivorians. They bath twice a day and always wash their hands. They have way better hygiene than I do.



-You always greet people, and shake the hand of every person in the room. That’s been a little hard getting used to, when…

We have been taking French lessons with an Ivorian lady named Awa who lives on the mission campus with us. She has a hard time speaking English so she will talk to us in a mixture of English and French. I thought for a while I was doing pretty well with the language but now I am starting to struggle. Our Journey Corps leaders want us to learn French as quickly as we can so we can get into host families. So, we have been having French class with Awa every day this week. Today, in French class…

Wow, just read Naomi's amazing blog.  Take a look:  http://theivoryjourney.blogspot.com/2011/08/23-and-feelin-free.html

Phil and I are so excited to be a part of this incredible ministry.  Right now we're sitting in a coffee shop in MN. working on prep for a missions conference next week.  It's been fun to share the Journey Corps story with everybody. 

Last Thursday I had the eagerness of naivety to volunteer to help my friend clear the rice field of the overgrown weeds. Little inside me gave thought to the work, and to me it was just another opportunity to spend…

"Ministry is worship! Thankfulness for Christ's willingness to enter our messy world will make us willing to enter someone else's. Our worship and theology will always be on display in the way we treat others." Tim Lane and Paul Tripp in Relationships

A couple of days ago I had to opportunity to go and visit a widow and her son at the hospital in Bouake. The widow goes to the church I have been attending here and her son is sick. He is 4 years old but looks like he is about 1 year old. He is mentally handicapped, has a heart condition, and is always sick. The widow is poor and has a hard time taking care of him and getting the special medicine he needs. When we got to the hospital we had to wait in like a waiting room before we could go…

Hello again,

This last month I think God has been teaching me to be patient and wait on his timing and not mine.

It's been a busy month. I've been going to the orphanage helping with the kids and just spending time with Nestor and the staff as well. The frustrating this I haven’t been able to get any chickens yet. The place that sells the chicks is not able to get them for some reason. So I've…

I had my solar oven and all the ingredients for cornbread at my house a week or so (except butter which becomes quite messy without a frig and is available at the boutique on the corner), and everyday was overcast for…

I have been here in the Cote d’Ivoire for about a week now. I have learned so much about the culture from asking questions and observation. I have decided to not try and fight against the culture but instead to try to understand and accept it. I have learned a little more of the language, but have been told we will take off in the language once we are placed in a host family. I can’t wait until I am able to break through the language barrier. This is going to take lots of practice and…

I have been here in the Cote d’Ivoire for about a week now. I have learned so much about the culture from asking questions and observation. I have decided to not try and fight against the culture but instead to try to understand and accept it. I have learned a little more of the language, but have been told we will take off in the language once we are placed in a host family. I can’t wait until I am able to break through the language barrier. This is going to take lots of practice and…

Just the beginning of my journey has already been quite the adventure. So much has been packed into less than a week, but not in a bad way. You’d think with no TV and internet life would be so boring, but that definitely isn’t the case here especially with so many other people around. I’ve been learning so many new things and seeing so many new sights in so short a time, yet it hasn’t been overwhelming. There has been a lot to take in but I haven’t  for a second felt the slightest bit like…

This is the first week I have been in Africa. The trip went really well with no problems. So far I have been learning a lot about the culture and language. We live on the mission campus right now with other jouneyers who have been here for 9 months. They have been very helpful in telling us about the culture and helping with the language and just getting around town. One of the very differnet experiances I had was on the bus ride to the campus the bus stoped to get people go to the bathroom…