Fall in Bouake

Thanksgiving

Play day wth Songimay

Painting class at Centre Providence

What if our world's leaders were truly selfless?

If, for a US college student to go to Canada for a leadership conference, it meant taking an over filled bus, leaving 5 hours late because the company was unreliable, and sleeping overnight at the border because you arrived at 6:30, half an hour after it closed (it opens again at 6 am), do you know anyone who would make the journey? I’m not sure I do. But I know 4 Ivorian students who did, to go to Accra, Ghana. I had the opportunity of going with them.

In the US, 1 in 3,700 women die in childbirth. In Africa, 1 in 16 women die in childbirth. Half the children I know quit school at the age of 8 or 9 because their parents needed them for housework or selling food, clothes, or themselves on the streets. The University in Bouake hasn’t been running for 5 years because of the war. Right now, because several professors live in Abidjan, when one comes to Bouake they have classes for a few days, then not again for several weeks. The inequalities in health care and schooling are far greater than we can wrap our minds around. What would Africa look like with Godly leadership?

There’s an organization called the HuD group (www.leadershiphuddles.org), a not-for-profit movement, which started in Ghana, with a man named Dr. Yaw Perby. Currently living in Montreal, he runs training sessions for young people in several countries, with a mission to, “engage hearts, enlighten heads and empower hands of Emerging Leaders for global impact and God’s glory”.

”You can’t tell me that you love your people so much that you’re willing to kill them,” yelled Dr. Perby, emphatically, to a room full of students from Cote d‘Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Benin. In Sierra Leone, innocent people were asked, “do you want long or short sleeves?” That meant, where should I cut your arm off? In Cote d’Ivoire, rebel factions threw bombs into church courtyards, to try and rile the people against Allasane, a Muslim, when Gbagbo (a said Christian) refused to leave office. 3,000 people died because one man had too much greed. Africa needs leaders who will give their lives for their people. This continent’s issues often feel like Goliath, and the youth are as small as David. But Jeremiah, Jesus, and Samuel all heard from God when they were young. Contrary to the popular belief here in Africa, life doesn’t start at 40. A girl from Sierra Leone, Christiana, stood up at the end with tears in her eyes and said, “we don’t need leaders for tomorrow, we need them today!”

With statistics like, “it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become a genius”, and the Beatles played 1200 times before they got big, the crowd was charged to start early, walking in Godly principles, and seeking God’s purpose for them in their countries. For, “it is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young,” Lamentations 3:27.

“The kings of the gentiles lord it over tem; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you shall be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves,“ Luke 22:31.

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday of this past week, I sat in a guest house at the University of Ghana, with a small group of students from Cote d’Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, and Benin, plowing through workbooks and sharing our own experiences. One of the Liberians, Sartu Doe, told me that his family stayed through the entire war. In fact, at the age of 12, he saw his own father shot before his own eyes. Yet, he came all the way to Ghana because he believes that he can be part of turning his own country around. Are you getting this???

For once, I understood everything (because they speak English in Ghana), and I often translated for my friends from RCI, assuring them that I knew their struggles, first hand. I understand better now why Jesus often answered questions in parables. I found myself translating concepts like “bearing fruit” by painting a picture of a grapefruit tree. And everywhere I went, people were encouraged when I told them that I learned this much French in a year. I remember one night, when I was laughing and chatting with Mai before bed. One of the Ghanaian leaders came in and said “Stephanie, you’ve only spoken French for a year? That’s amazing.” My friend Timothee told me that he was proud to be my friend.

But perhaps the greatest joy for me of this trip, was to hear my Ivorian friends introduce me as American by nationality, but Ivorian at heart.

Timothee later told me that he said this because he saw me share in this experience with them, awful bus trip and all, accepting everything as it came. Then, the last night, we all shared about our countries conflicts over the past year. My team talked about our recent civil war: the numbers who died, people in Abidjan who were trapped in their houses with 2 loaves of bread and a sardine can, and the frustrating paralysis that students faced - unable to do anything to stop it. Then someone turned to me and asked how I saw it. And with surprise, I realized that I had been in the country during the conflict, I had experienced the frustrations of a society whose banks were closed for 3 months and people had no motivation to work. But knowing my Ivorian friends and family like Timothee, Mai, Pierre, and Tenan reminded me that, despite what the news portrayed, life went on as normal. And today, I want to see this country rebuilt as much as they do

If you would have told me, back in October of 2010, that I’d be traveling to Ghana with 4 Ivorians a year later, I would have laughed. But with God, all things are possible.

We know, “He is able to do immeasurably more than we all ask or imagine, according to his power, that is at work within us,” (Ephesians 3:20). So, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful,” (Hebrews 10:23). So that others will say of our lives, “(Steph), a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God - the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son,” (Romans 1:1-3).

Pictures from are Ghana adventure:

Pierre, Tenan, and I

Timothee, Mai, and I

I like this quote. I think it describes Journey Corps

Gilba (Sierra Leone) and a Ghanaian sister

Youth Power conference

My Ivorian brothers: Tenan, Timothee and Pierre

and my sister in Christ, Mai

Isaac (Sierra Leone) and Sartu (Liberia)

Pierre (CI) and Isaac (Sierra Leone)

Tenan told me that he was dancing like an American. He was showing me how we're gonna dance at my wedding. He's a riot.

Pierre, Dr. Perby, and Mai

Our training group: Liberia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Cote d'Ivoire represent!
Sneak peak - next blog: fall in Bouake

Two Different Worlds

Have you seen the movie “Night and Day”? The past week of my life has felt a little like that. Except, instead of sedatives, I’ve had doses of Paris, huge metropolitan supermarkets, plane travel, airport security, lack of sleep, and an all night veille in an Ivorian village. Is your head spinning yet?

Last Monday morning, I was wondering around Paris. I went to an art gallery for the first time in a year - l’Orangerie, to see Monet’s water lilies. That night, I babysat 3 adorable, bi-lingual boys whose parents (Jonathan and Karen Finley) are missionaries with WorldVenture in Lognes, just outside of Paris. Tuesday morning, I went to a huge supermarket (like a super walmart) with Karen. It was a holiday and full of people. We turned a corner and found a traffic jam of bright red shopping carts. As I followed her, weaving through moving buggies, she asked if it was a little like the market in Bouaké. Suddenly, in my mind, the carts turned to motorcycles, cows, sheep and Djoula women selling vegetables, soap, snails, pagnes, sugar, and plantains. I laughed, realizing it was a lot like the Koko market that I often walked through on my way home from church. Only much less dusty and with a lot more choices. That night, I went to H&M, one of my favorite stores in the US. All I wanted were a few t-shirts, but somehow it took me an hour to pick them out. It was pretty overwhelming.

Two days later, I was in Dabakala, a small town Northeast of Bouake, at an all-night funeral for one of the first pastors in the Baptist church of Cote d’Ivoire. Suddenly, I found myself trying to convince a little boy, who most likely didn’t speak French or English, to keep his shoes and pants on, in the middle of a dusty village, with people dressed in pagnes and bright white dresses rushing around to prepare for the burial. I later walked past to see his pants and shoes on the ground. He either didn’t take my advice or didn’t understand my French. Around 8 am on the 2^nd day, after a few hours of sleep and no coffee, I found myself sitting on a little wooden stool, washing spoons and plates in large basins of water, in the middle of a chaotic village courtyard. Women who only spoke Djimeni were passing me rinsed plates, and I washed them with a fish net sponge and a large, round cake of soap. The funny thing is, this setting is more normal to me now than the supermarkets and shopping malls in France. For lunch, we were invited to the mayor’s house to eat. There I was, sitting under a canopy of trees in front of a mansion, eating salad. Their bathroom had toilet paper and a bathtub. Had I somehow woken up back in France again?

In Bouaké, yesterday morning (Sunday), I walked into the church courtyard to see the monitors and kids standing in a circle, singing and dancing. Everyone greeted me with “bon arrive!” as I joined them. In the afternoon, I biked across town to visit my host family. I hadn’t seen my host mom and little brother in over a month. I remember the smile on my host dad’s face when I walked in the door - huge and welcoming, happy that I was home again. It was Tabaski, a major Muslim holiday. I visited my Muslim neighbor, Coulibaly, to say “bon fête” and they tried to get me to stay longer to eat some grilled lamb. When I saw my friend Mami there, she attacked me with a huge hug and kiss on the cheek. Finally, I stopped feeling like I was in some sort of hazy dream state. I biked home thinking, “this is why I am here.”

Here are some pictures to better describe this culture shock:

Paris

Heidi, CJ, n I

Lyss's face is priceless

Kati and I

Dabakala. Friday night, the beginning.

They asked to take our picture. I said, "only if I can take yours."

All the grandchildren dancing around the casket

Dishwashing Saturday morning

How many Ivorian women can one wagon carry?

What does it mean to follow Jesus?

J’ai décidé de suivre Jésus
I have decided to follow Jesus
Pour toujours, pour toujours
No turning back, no turning back

I think back to August, when Naomi and I got baptized in the river behind the ICA campus. We stood on the river bank with all of the campus staff workers, as Sarah (an Ivorian sister in Christ) sang this song in French, and then in Bombara. What does it mean to follow Jesus?

Oswald Chambers excerpts from My Utmost for His Highest:

October 31st Then God withdrew his conscious blessings in order to teach you to walk by faith.

November 1st Why shouldn’t we go through heartbreaks? Through those doorways, God is opening up ways of fellowship with his son.

November 2nd The Lord does not give me rules. He makes his standard very clear, and if my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without any hesitation. If I hesitate, it is because I love someone else in competition him: myself. […] If I obey Jesus Christ in the haphazard circumstances, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God.

November 3rd “I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” (Galatians 2:20). These words mean the breaking of my independence with my own hand and surrendering to the supremacy of the Lord Jesus. […] Is He going to help Himself to us, or are we taken up with our conception of what we are going to be?

November 4th To act on the truth of God.. Once a man acts, he is never the same. It is the foolishness of it that stands in the way of hundreds who have been convicted by the Spirit of God. Once I press myself into action, I immediately begin to live. Anything less is merely existing.

God’s voice to me in this past week has been inescapable, irresistible. I wish I could describe it to you. I’ll try. It’s a little like trying to deny that morning has arrived when all you want to do is stay in bed, attempting to ignore a child who has her heart set on your attention, or trying to sleep at an all night veille when the balafones are playing in your ears.

I just arrived back in Cote d’Ivoire, after a week in Paris with the team I came with in October of 2010. We ate lots of cheese, enjoyed French wine, met some seriously awesome people, saw some of the beautiful city, and encouraged one another - sharing how we’ve seen one another grow in the past year. It was the perfect end to a year of God given fellowship. On the last night, my team encouraged me in my desire to go straight back to RCI, to follow Jesus no matter the cost. There were a lot of tears.

And as Monday, the 31st drew near, the day they would all get on a plane to the US, I started praying for God to prepare my heart. I asked for His strength and knowledge that He was in control. I prayed for a renewed passion for His people in Cote d’Ivoire. What He gave me proved that He is faithful.

Those excerpts from Chambers may seem like simply a list of statements, but they are what God has been speaking to me. I asked for comfort and strength, and He gave me freedom to follow Him. I am learning that sacrifice means more than I once thought. "You are not your own; you were bought with a price." (1Corinthians 6:19). And while it hurts to see my teammates leave, it hurts even more to give up my own plans. I guess I was holding onto them more closely than I realized.

But here is what this all comes down to: God is faithful. I expected to grieve for days over the loss of CJ, Jason, Chazz, Naomi, Heidi, and Holly (save Devin and Alyssa who are coming back). But, instead, God has moved me to pray continuously for them as they enter back into Western culture, with friends and family who don’t understand why they miss the sound of a balafone, peanut sauce, or their Ivorian families. And He has filled me with the sureness that I want nothing more than to live my life for the purpose of His redemption. I don’t know what that means yet. But I do have a stillness in my heart, a knowledge that my life is completely safe in His hands. Complete and utter surrender means that my plans may not work out, but I finally have the courage to believe that His are better. There are tears in my eyes, as I write this! Mostly from joy and realization that I am out of my mind, for the sake of Christ (2 Corinthians 5). I have a restless excitement in my bones. I know there is an adventure ahead. I’ve got nothing but the clothes on my back and Jesus as my companion.

Tonight, I’m going to Daboukallah, to attend an all night funeral, to celebrate the life of a major pastor in the Baptiste church, here in Cote d’Ivoire. Can’t think of any better way to jump back into Ivorian culture!


Prayer requests:

Heidi, CJ, Chazz, Devin, Alyssa, Holly, Naomi, and Jason as they enter back into the US. Pray that God will give them the words they need to describe their lives in RCI, and God will lead them into what’s next.

Alyssa and Devin as they prepare to come back at the end of this month.

Steve and Jessica Wilman who are coming to join us for 2 years at the end of this month!

On Tuesday (8th), I am taking a bus to Abidjan with my friends Timothee, Mai, and Tenan. On Wednesday, we’re going to Ghana until the 18th, to attend 2 conferences on business and leadership in West Africa. Pray that it will be a great time of fellowship and hearing from God

Pray for Cote d'Ivoire's rebuilding projects. As I rode through Bouake this morning on a moto, on my way to the internet cafe, I passed countless piles of rubble on the side of the road. Bulldozers are plowing down boutiques, clearing up the roads, and the city is planning to build a big market, like the one that burned down years ago. Crowds of people are just standing, watching it happen. It's sad, to see people's shops destroyed without their concent. Pray for the country's future.