As you may know, last Wednesday was my birthday. I turned the big 2-0. (How does that make you feel, Mom? Your baby isn't a teenager anymore!) So what did I do to celebrate? Well on my actual birthday, not much. I had French class and rode my bike to Holly's house to visit her, I had a great day nonetheless but it wasn't my actual birthday celebration. Since the Bouake team always comes to Ecole Baptiste on Thursdays anyways, we were waiting until then for the surprise that they planned for…

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One night Tricia and I went to visit Clana and his family (they are an Ivorian family living on the ICA campus). When we get there we found out that a man was staying with the family and we were introduced to him. He is a Biochemistry teacher from Abidjan and he is in Bouake to administer an exam for high school students. Clana and he both know English pretty well. The man told us about himself and then asked us questions. He asked us what we plan on doing after we leave here. Tricia…

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In this culture it is customary to go and greet the parents of a new baby. So, a few days ago I went with Angelika (my directory’s wife) and Tricia (my fellow Journeyer) to go and do this. Angelika had met the father not too long ago outside one of the orphanages where he was selling art. He is a really good artist and dancer. He had invited Angelika to come and greet his new baby on a certain day. She decided to take us along with her. Now, we have gone and greeted new babies before. It…

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God has given me the desire since college to help the poor through starting a Micro Finance Bank. This bank would give out small loans to the poor and small businesses to help them start/expand a business. They would be charged an interest rate to help cover costs of running the bank and so more loans can be given out. I feel this is a great way to empower the poor and give them a way out of poverty. However, if this is going to work Jesus must be the reason it is all being done. This can’t…

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So quite a bit has happened in just the last two weeks. First off, on the 30th we left Bouake and drove up to Korhogo, which is a city where five of the Journeyers live. So while I was visiting there, I stayed with Alyssa’s host family for four days. Even though I had already done a home stay this was a different experience because I was there longer and it was a completely different living situations. Alyssa’s family isn’t very well off so they have no running water or electricity. You’d…

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Hello again. Thank you so much for your prayers and support.





So I think this last month I've been learning how perfect God's love is for us. There is no flaw in God's love. I think about how many times I have forgotten this and will still probably forget in the future. If God's love was anything less that perfect then I and none of us would be able to reach it. It's just kind of blowing my mind once again that God loves me so much.





Well here you… Continue

So the solar oven is not a flop, but rather the timing of its completion was poorly arranged. There are no days with consistent sunlight, but through salvaging my first attempt to cook at home I got the idea to make an "oven" that rested on the charcoal stove. Rod and I welded together a steel frame; wrapped it in…

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