I arrived back in Cote d'Ivoire earlier this week.  My time in Benin was short but it felt long in light of the dwindling days before my departure for the US.  The month I spent in Benin was a good time to reconnect with friends, and I was kept busy working much as I did before; putting my hands into whatever gooey grease substance I could find.  I was thrilled to again fix their small bulldozer, work with it a week, break it, and then fix it again.  The time was busy for my boss, balancing…

The youth camp last week created a unique mix of emotions. There was the shared excitement of participating in the conference, not as a separate participant, but alongside other youth from my host church. But solidarity brings repercussions; like a six o'clock whistle to wake up to and an enforced prolongation of bedtime until after twenty-three o'clock. However in the…

Since coming back to Cote d'Ivoire from Benin I have been busy, but nothing takes up an entire blog. So, here is a summary of whats going on with some pictures.…

As much as I love the Beninoir guys I worked with, it was a struggle to not get frustrated certain days working with them. There is no use explaining the various reasons why, because I have already stewed over it on those days at the risk of bitterness. But knowing how poorly I can bear with my…

This is from the first week during a Monday training session for the technicians.  The device we are working with is basically a high voltage version of a voltmeter.

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Benin has been good to me so far.  With wide strokes you can paint it the same as Cote d’Ivoire, but stopping to look reveals divergences.  And it is the differing details that make me feel like a stranger, or at least stranger than I expected.  I stare at every pot along the road wondering which of these familiar yet unknown foods she is selling there, and more importantly, how to get some on a plate without knowing its name or price.  I do not know how at home I will feel after only two…

Father, thank you for the struggle within me.  It molds me and reminds me of all that I tend to forget when life is easily managed. 

The decision to stay indefinitely in missions (mostly easily done by seeking appointment with World Venture) will always feel like a decision too big for me.   Even though whatever we do should be rendered to God, missionary seems to require an Old Testament style calling.  At the same time, I do believe waiting for a guiding pillar of fire can…

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…

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…

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…

Greetings again from Cote d’Ivoire.   The first week has been pretty busy for all of us.  Rod and Angelika left last Monday for a field leader conference in Bamako, so I have been bouncing between working on campus and helping orient the new couple (Steve and Jessica).  Within the midst of being caught between two schedules, the joy of seeing friends again brings a freshness to life. 

I was able to have lunch with my host family last Sunday.  Mom and Sephora were not back yet…

The voyage to Bamako was not as I had imagined, but nor was it without purpose. I thought my host father overreacted to the worn-out bus waiting at the station, where as I thought it possessed a romanticized promise of adventure. What started out as a slow but bearable pace, became a trudge, and then a stop and go. I…

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…

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.…

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…

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…

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…

First, I am sorry.  June went by fast and I did not believe it had been over a month since my last blog until I sat down to write this one.  This blog tries to cover the entirety of the month, but a second entry will soon follow to address more current inklings.



June was a whirlwind month with lots of traveling.  The month started with a trip to Korhogo to replace a motor for a cement mixer being used to make a new girls school and would later be needed for a church work day…