No big news to share today – just a few little things:
Although when we wrote 2 weeks ago, we were \’under the yellow flag\’, things have been relatively peaceful since. Then again last night, we were informed that we are \’under the orange flag\’ because of 2 separate incidents elsewhere in Cote d\’Ivoire. They don\’t seem to have affected us here at ICA, other than a little more hassling at the roadstops (on the way into town, etc.).
Two of the commanding officers of the new French troops are protestant – not muslim or catholic – and are interested in attending our services, along with some of the other soldiers. Sunday, their chaplain – who is a member of the same protestant organization in France to which some of our missionaries belong – read the Scripture passage in french, and we sang several songs in french. It is possible that we may be doing more and more of the service in french (as well as English) in the days ahead so that more soldiers would be encouraged to come.
A friend just returned from the states with new parts (motherboard, etc.) for our network server – all purchased through funds given to ICA from a VBS. This server upgrade with allow the teachers to move into more online course offerings that can even be made available to home schoolers in West Africa – once we finally have internet connection from campus. For now, these options will be used to supplement the current coursework. Lois is excited to have new toys to play with even though there is lots of work ahead – rebuiding the server AGAIN.
Internet connection/telephone land lines on campus – well, it seems we\’re no closer to this than we ever were, although we regularly hear of \’progress\’. Caught between political maneuvering and theft of newly installed equipment, the solution seems to be far in the future. Even more than being an annoyance (daily trips into town to do e-mail), this is a security concern for us. Please pray that we see these phone lines on campus – to stay – in the very near future.