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!

We Made It!

We made it!!! We are in lovely Abidjan - just had breakfast at 7:30 a.m. and getting ready to head to a church service and dedication here. We will travel to Dabou after lunch and the service to tour the hospital and understand more of what our mission will be here in
Cote d Ivoire. All arrived safely with adventures and lovely baguette sandwich lunch in Paris airport (see pic of Linda) :) Blessings to all and more on our journey and mission to come.

Here is one of the quotes/comments that I wrote in the journal from one of our party as we waited with patience :) at the Air France ticketing...."We all live by geological consent, subject to change without notice". Of all the challenges that we may have faced preparing for the trip - and that we may have faced during the trip - who would have ever thought that VOLCANIC ASH in ICELAND would have now delayed the trip - ha ha ...you just gotta laugh - and that's actually what we all did. It was a supreme example of teamwork, problem solving, and christian action. I wrote an email earlier in the day prior to departure, that it is not the things that go right sometimes that you will remember - it is the things that go "not so right" that will provide everlasting memories and experiences. We had a little adventure attempting to contact our travel agent (who would have thought that there were two luv2travels!), we picked up a lost lamb, Christine, a Welsh school teacher) along the way that had been stranded in Houston trying to get to the UK (thank you Carl for your cell phone/help in trying to contact her family and Susan for graciously opening your home!), and we had a wonderful experience of Christian love with our Air France desk agent (she worked for at least 1.5 hours with the group desk to review ALL possibilities for rebooking our trip (no - you REALLY can't get to Cote d' Ivoire via Dubai...at least without the challenges of flying out of Nairobi). We ended our day with a lovely team dinner at Cafe Adobe - figured we would not get much Tex Mex where we are STILL going next week!! As I reflect back on the events of Friday afternoon I marvel at God's blessings and visible signs and both in our fellow missioners as well as those that were placed in our path along the way. Although we were disappointed in not leaving when planned; somehow I think that this may all be part of the "plan". Check out the pics, continue praying that the Ash stops or diminishes - not only for our group, but all the other challenged travelers wanting to continue to their own destinations. Blessings, Deb

Ash in Europe is threatening postponed of the trip - so bummed...but all works in God's plan.....we'll be on that plane I am sure :)

Gathered final donations from many good people - pictured are John Balusek and Mark James from Lowes with their construction goodies and Christine Juker from Transwestern with toys for the kids. Thank you to both!

What a GREAT group of women that I have the honor of meeting with each Tuesday morning for Bible Study...and more. This morning they provided $$$ for supplies and LOOK at what they came up with for the kids :) Love you guys!

What a wonderful Sunday morning and being commissioned at all FOUR services. Morris had the congregation come up and lay their hands on us and prayed over us. We presented Morris with our Cote d' Ivoire team Tshirt (he made a funny joke about "I went to Cote d' Ivoire and all I got was this Tshirt :) We are now almost ready to head off on our mission....last minute shopping...team dinner tonight..finishing gathering supplies and toys for the kids...and then PACKING!!

Family and Friends - April 16th to April 27th, eleven of us will be embarking from Christ United Methodist Church (Sugar Land, TX) to Cote d'Ivoire, a country along the coast of Africa (formerly known as The Ivory Coast). We will be traveling and working for 12 days, and will be the first team into Dabou to restore and rebuild a hospital that is crucial to the community and surrounding areas. I feel very blessed to be a part of this adventure and ability to give of my talents, gifts, service...and time. Many have asked for more information on where and what we will be doing. Attached to this blog is a great video link and article which gives great pictures and story of the hospital.

As we travel and seek to be God's servants, we will update this blog as possible with stories and pictures of the trip!