OK.  We won't be much of a splash but we are really content to finally have our plans to get to the field in May.  The exact day isn't decided because we are waiting for tickets.

We have been feeling blessed along the way.  While this interim of building our partner team has seemed slow it really has been fast.  Some take years.  But being an impatient person has made it seem like it was slow.  I loved my "impatience". I think there is a lesson here.  We hear again and again…

Last Saturday I took my older sister Rachel to the swimming pool. It was her first time ever being in one. In the beginning I had a hard time getting her into the pool. She was very scared and I wasn't sure she would get in.  Finally, she got in but she stayed on the low end and held onto the pole. Linda (new Journeyer from Germany) and I tried our best to explain to her in French how to swim. Not easy. Thankfully there were other Ivorian there who were swimming/learning how to swim who…

As many differences as I experience every day there are some things that never change despite the country or culture. Sure my house doesn't have running water, I eat rice every single day, everybody is always late, and if I eat in front of someone I have to be sure to invite them to eat with me. However, I still find similarities all over the place.

Such as the protective big brother. I have a neighbor who is the definition of creepy and a fetisher, he really wants to marry me…

Last week our group voyaged to Abidjan, little Paris compared with the rest of Cote d’Ivoire, for a seminar on the values and perspectives of West Africa from a Pasteur Sougalo. He is a pastor of one of our churches and teaching at a seminary in Abidjan. He works too hard but took the time to brief us on this vast subject. I would like to convey to you what was not just interesting, like most new information is, but an enlightening of how I see the world through the window of comparison. My…

Lately I feel like I've had so much going on but when I actually think about it, it's really not that much. In my mind it just feels like it 1) because everything takes extra thinking when you're not in your own culture or speaking English, 2) I've had a lot more to do than last month, and 3) I've just had a lot to think about.

Right now my life consists of going to church on Sunday, then visiting people and finding ways to occupy my time on Monday and Tuesday, working at a…

We have a great team out here right now. From left to right: Steph, Devin, Trish, Kelly, Jess & Steve, Almut and Linda. They all need our prayers. I was inspired by Paul asking the Roman church to  to join him in his struggle by praying to God for him. Rom. 15, 30 - 33

Please pray for…

As I sat in the marquis, people started standing up, pacing, throwing chairs down on the ground, cursing and yelling that it was finished. Their cheers and horns, once played with enthusiasm, were lost. Cote d’Ivoire lost to Zambia in a shoot off, player against goalie, standing 11 meters apart. This was after two 15 minute overtimes. The crowd walked away, somber and dejected.

I would have loved to see us win.…

The Journey Corps slogan is “Everything will change”. It’s prophetic, because everything has changed for me and this is why… Six days ago my host mom asked me if I wanted to go to a funeral in the village. This is the first time she had asked me to go and I really wanted to because she was so excited for me to see it and dance with her. That morning though I was feeling a little off color. I had a little diarrhea and my body ached a little bit. I wasn’t sure what I had. I thought it might be…

Last week was mostly spent in the northern city (Korhogo) which is the other city where journeyers are living and that I frequent to help with different things.  The new Journeyers spent the week living with an Ivoirian family (Soro Zana); a of the host families of a previous journeyer.  Us that have been here longer came together throughout the week to visit families, pastors, and to familiarize the new journeyers with the city and the people.  While in Korhogo I stayed with an old friend…

"For I am convinced that neither life nor death, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

So our team has been studying the book of Romans together. And although I've read it before, reading it here I get different things out of it than I did before. Like the…

Hey everyone!

I'm new to doing missions as I have previously posted online. I was curious as to what West Africa is like? I can't wait to go and join the team that will be put together. To be honest I'm super excited to go but I'm a little nervous I've never been away from home for a year. But I know that I can do it with God's help. I feel very lead to do a missions trip I feel that is this one. I'm praying on this everyday. Is there anyone else that is going on the mission trip to…

In way of an update...we've had a great holiday season with our family in Colorado.  Mimi and I are back in the frozen tundra of Minnesota.  Over our time in CO we gained five new financial partners!  We have five others who have committed to start giving soon.  It would seem that in spite of ourselves we will be able to deploy to Benkadi some time in the Spring.

I've been thinking about how blessed we are.  Let me recount some of the blessings.  First, my brother Greg and his…

Lately God has been teaching more about the Holy Spirit and his role in my life; how he guides and encourages. That he is the power of God living in me. I have surrendered my will over to him and have been asking him to use me to glorify Jesus. Last night a cousin of my host family came over to visit. He goes to school and is about the same age as my sister Bintou. His English is pretty good, but could use some help. So, I offered to practice English with him so he can get used to my accent,…

My little 1 1/2 year-old brother Enoch is the my main source of entertainment at home. One night, he was just lifting up his shirt and staring at his bellybutton and walking around. He walked up to me on the couch and showed it to me and then turned around and walked away, still looking down at his bellybutton. He kept walking right smack into the wall, turned, and continued all the while just staring at his bellybutton!

As funny as he is, Enoch is a fussy little guy. But he…

May God bless you and fill your hearts with His inexhaustible joy. 

Our team came together in Bouaké Christmas and New Year’s. The week before Christmas we had a seminar looking at God's plan to redeem all of creation and Biblically what should be the Church's role.  It is a saddening and daunting subject to reflect upon seeing the damage sin has already done, even through the hands of the church, compared to the end we will someday reach.  Along with that, it is not easy to…

Cross-cultural Learning



We are community deprived. Statistics show that young Americans value relationship above everything else. In Thom Rainer’s book “The Millennials” he tried to determine what makes millennials tick. He concludes that Relationships were the most valuable thing to that age group. How does relationship become such a universal value?



I…

hi mimi, i really enjoyed you post on'' trying to control outcomes''

i have and had a problem of my own as in control. many times i found my room not to my liking when checking into a hotel. recently my son and i were checking into hotel in Cincinnati,o. we parked underground an drode elevator to lobby to ck in and i ask for a higher room. we took keys and got back on the elevator and pressed the floor button. and much to my surprise the elevator started going down. i…

Here are some questions Carrie McNew's students had for me and I thought they were really good and wanted to post them here.

What kinds of food/drinks do you eat there? Food: Ivorians eat a lot of rice and sauce. I eat rice and sauce almost every day. There are different kinds of sauces. One of my favorite sauces is like a peanut sauce. Many Ivorians love to use a lot of oil in their sauces. They really like to eat fish because it is cheaper than beef or chicken. They…

So I've been living in my family for about three weeks now and I realized that in my last blog I described all my family members but I didn't tell everybody how day to day life works in my family and what things are the most different.



Every morning at 5:00 a.m. I wake up to the sound of the call to prayer coming from our neighborhood mosque. I don't really know how to describe the call to prayer but it is not a pleasant sound, especially at 5:00 in the morning. The first few days I…