We have returned from our glorious mission from Cote d' Ivoire over two weeks ago. We have since been able to have a "reunion" dinner last Thursday night at the lovely home of John and Maria Larson (Thank you again for your wonderful hospitality!!). We were able to share again the memories, feelings and PICTURES from our time in Africa and building relationships with the people of Dabou and Abijan. We invite you to share with us our time of service and fellowship by going to the website which has been developed - here you will find an article prepared by Renee Teel for the Texas Annual Conference website, videos and photo slideshows representing the people that we encountered, our times of fellowship, the sites of Cote d' Ivoire, the celebrations that we had the blessing of being a part of, the friendships that the team formed, and finally the work that we performed while at the Dabou Hospital.

Thank you for all of our loved ones that provided us the opportunity to answer the call, those family and friends who followed our blog, prayed for us, provided donations of money and gifts that so richly blessed the recipients, and for all of those that provided blessings in so many other ways! We felt your prayers and loving arms....even with the distance between us.

Please visit the website by clicking on the link "Mission Website" under Information Links.

Also....

Please join us to see a video presentation on Sunday, June 13th from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. and hear the stories of our Cote d’Ivoire Mission in Africa. Here’s a quote from one of the team members:

”We sang as we worked, smiled as we sweated and felt His Spirit lift us up with each new day. We are grateful to God for the opportunity to serve and be near Him and are filled with memories of the people of Dabou…they will be in our hearts forever."

More information see June 13th under Information Links

Abijdan and Grand Bassam today

Note: The pictures at the beginning are from the previous post - rainy season, tool shed, and screens :)

Hello from Abijan!!! We have now left Dabou Hospital feeling very full of confidence in God's ability to perform miracles. From where we were on Monday - without a plan, supplies, and direction on what exactly priorities were - we have now ended the week with scrubbed rooms, painted walls, all new screens and mosquito netting, repaired roof, ceiling fans, and fabric for new curtains, among many other improvements. We were able to visit both the orphanage (although no tour) and the children that we were able to see, were given much love in the short time that we were there - we left at least seven bags of toys, coloring books, and other fun items for the kids. We visited the pediatric ward - and know that our work is very necessary for these young wards.....many of which have malaria, pneumonia, and other ailments...least of which is HIV. We had much fun with the children coming home from school....all gathering to sing "Jesus Loves Me" We ended Thursday with a wonderful dinner (albeit outdoors!) of more fish and chicken at "Cafe Havana" hosted by the director of the hospital. The next day the hospital personnel presented individually wrapped gifts, selected for each one of us - artifacts of Africa....we then exchanged gifts for them as well.

We are off today to Grand Bassam - a beautiful city by the beach - for relaxation and shopping in the market. We are all looking forward (well, except for maybe the guys....) to seeing how they do it in Cote d Ivoire.

From the entire team, we have felt very blessed to have been given this priviledge to serve God and his people even 8,000 miles away. We are very much looking forward to getting home and having some beef - ha ha.

Change is Visible!

It's been two full days since our last post.....mostly because we have been doing God's work and starting to see real changes from our hands and hearts....not to mention being exhausted at the end of the days. For the last two days, we have had wonderful lunches prepared by the hospital staff - most of the guys, especially, were in heaven, finally getting their stomachs full. The plan is in full swing - having, scraped, scoured, bleached, scraped again, swept, and now painted all of the trim work and paint brush work in preparation for the rollers tomorrow. We have built new mosquito screens for all of the windows, purchased fabric for all new curtains to separate beds, new ceiling fans for the entire wing, and new glass replacement for several broken louvered windows. Shopping in Abidjan was a real adventure with two of our team heading out early in the moring and not arriving until 8:00 that night - there is no such thing as "Home Depot" in Africa :)

The rainy season is upon us - although we have been most fortunate to only have one day of real downpours - this time lasting for quite some time. God timed it perfectly though as we were able to do all of our cleanup using rainwater coming from the roof!! We are most blessed to have been given our own storage room for all of the tools/supplies - this will be instrumental in preparing other teams for work as soon as they arrive in Dabou.

Good night and blessings to all - tomorrow is a busy day with much to be done before departure to Abidjan. We also visit the orphanage tomorrow morning with so many toys and fun items for these kids - thank you again to those that helped with this effort.

Work has begun!

We started the day without any specific plan, knowledge of what we should do, and without any substantial construction supplies. However, by noon - that had all changed and wonderfully so! We spent much of the morning creating an action plan with our limited project monies and limited time....and by 2:30 we were in action (see picture). We had gone to 6 different places in Dabou to purchase much of the necessities to prepare the general medicine wing for new patients. Off to Abidjan to the HOME DEPOT for additional supplies, including paint, drills, and glass for the louvered windows, and several other items. The team was so upbeat and excited this evening, even after having worked extremely hard in the heat...and doing not so pleasant tasks. Keep the prayers coming - and we'll keep moving forward with our mission!

Live from Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire

Full of Celebration!

Another wonderful church service this morning - THIS one only 3 hours long and in Dabou (Temple Bethel) - but again what joy the congregation has in worship, praising...and giving. FYI the "giving" at both of these services lasted at least 30 minutes, while everyone is singing and dancing as they come to the front twice to provide their offerings. The choirs - both youth and adult were glorious as they sang familiar hymns and other praise chorus in french...and we sang along in English. The church was packed - and we were the only attendees to arrive in a car - everyone here walks....with the streets packed with all ages of the people of Dabou. We were mobbed by all of the children of the church as we left the service, all so loving, smiling, and loved getting their picture taken and shown what they looked like. We arrived at the hotel to a lovely lunch of tilapia (uh...yep...the entire fish...although they were kind enough to remove the eyes :)....rice, and LOVELY green beans!! One of our team has succombed to a stomach ailment - but is doing much better now. We are all attempting to follow the eating rules - but have lots of medicines for any such challenges. The funny thing is that for all of the mosquito preparation that we had - I think collectively we have only seen two! Very sure that this will change rapidly! The hotel that we are staying in Dabou (Akparo Hotel - means "Welcome") is amazingly new, modern, and an extreme departure from really everything else around us in Dabou. We are grateful for their hospitality - even though the "internet cafe" has yet to have internet :( So for those that were expecting news via email - we are trying to work with the hotel to reset modems....troubleshoot as well. SO....keep an eye on the blog for updates. We have one laptop here, that we have been able to connect through - but connection is very slow....thus the lack of pictures to date. This area of the world has incredible lighting strikes, and both nights the power has gone off several times - one of the challenges even at the hospital - they have four computers - three of which no longer operate due to lightning strikes....the basics of surge protection, and advanced networking, etc. is very limited. So Sunday, being the "day of rest" we are doing exactly what the bible commands....resting - after the long plane rides, and extremely full day yesterday - we are getting ready for a strenuous work week. We can use your prayers - Houston has nothing on Dabou regarding heat AND humidity....needless to say, women are "glistening" in pictures - supposed to be a good thing!! All for now - more late tonight as we strategize for our work week :)

Now we know how to celebrate a new church!!

What an amazing day this has been in so many ways! We started the day by attending the dedication of the new Jerusalem Temple (church) in Abidjan. It was the most glorious and joyful celebration most of us have ever had the priviledge of seeing in person. Dancing in the streets, all of the congregation were dressed in traditional custom made dresses and shirts with fabric that specifically celebrated the event. Every know Methodist dignitary was in attendance, including Bishop Boni - and WE were treated like special dignitaries as well - photographed and videoed, as well as the press wanting our interview. The music was nothing that we had ever heard before -we really thought we were standing in the midst of a chorus of angels. They treated us to a tasty, traditional Ivorian lunch along with many of the other honored guests. After the 4.5 hour service (yes...you really can celebrate for 4.5 hours....), we loaded in two vans and headed out for our ultimate destination of Dabou. The drive was challenging in that we saw live what we had only seen in pictures, but beautiful in so many ways. We arrived at our beautiful Akparo hotel, checked in and then off to the hospital. It was as anticipated - in much need of repair - much beyond our capabilities for our short stay....however, we feel very blessed to be able to review and prepare future teams and plant the seeds of how great an impact their service will be. We had a lovely and intimate dinner at our hotel - and are looking forward to a great night of rest. Tomorrow brings the rain and another church service. We will try to upload pictures and videos tomorrow, as we are still working out internet access. Blessings from Dabou!