Thanks so much to those of you who prayed for our 4th of July picnic and for our trip to Abidjan to pick up our co-workers. Our trip was blessedly uneventful, and we\’re very glad to have Dave, Anora and Ereina here at ICA with us.
When last we wrote, we were busy preparing for our \’fete nationale\’ to which we had invited the french military who are on our campus. We are very pleased with how the day turned out. Our picnic started with a welcome, followed by the flag-raising and national anthem and then a prayer for our meal. Next we all enjoyed grilled \’american\’ hot dogs, various salads, boston baked beans and texas sheet cake while american oldies played from a sound system. After the meal, we played a few games (balloon toss, 3-legged race) before the highlight of the day – BASEBALL. We (both french and american) had lots of laughs as we tried to explain things we didn\’t know needed explaining (like not running on a fly ball, advancing bases, etc.). Throughout the day, throughout all the activities, there were little conversation groups between \’them\’ and \’us\’. One question that seems to come up a lot: \”Why are we here?!\” We like that question; it gives us a chance to explain who we are and why we do what we do.
But that was only one day of our busy time here. Most days are more mundane, filled with cleaning, repairing, sorting through pilfered belongings, discovering new ways of doing things, etc. Lois was blessed last week to have an alumni show up and offer to help her with the network and computers. They are creatively combining parts from computers to come up with working systems.
We\’re anticipating a visit from a workteam of 7 from our sending church. Please pray for them as they prepare to come, collecting all the things we\’re asking them to bring (for us and for the school). Pray for safety as they travel, both to and within C?te d\’Ivoire, and for no confusions with their luggage. What a blessing they will be to us and others here at ICA!