It's been a long time........

Sorry that it has been so long since the last post!! It has been the usual around here, we sometimes feel like we are never going to get out of french learning! Of course, that is probably right....even when we reach our level; we will still keep learning. As most people learning another language, we have days that we think, "Wow, I'm starting to get this," and then there are the other days (which we seem to have more of :) when we say, "I have almost been here for a year and this is all I can say!!" But we have to go back and look where we was when we arrived on the field.....we couldn't even say hi! But now we can carry on a conversation (sometimes it might sound like a 3 year old:), we are sharing the gospel, and can actually have a small conversation on the telephone (wow, that one is hard!). It may take us FOREVER to make our level, but God has been faithful to us and has allowed us to minister while we are learning!

Autumn has returned from the states. She had a really great time with family! I don't think she forgot the name of one restaurant that she ate at while she was there.....she rubbed everyone of them in! But we did send an empty suitcase with her, and she brought it back filled with goodies that we can not find in Abidjan. It was like an early Christmas present! I was told that I would be more homesick while she was gone, and they was right! I was a little jealous that I didn't get to see family and friends, eat all that good food, and go to Walmart! God willing, we will all be on a plane next summer and will enjoy the states for a short time!

We did have some excitement in West Africa this week! Our team mates, Mike and Heather, welcomed a baby boy, Benjamin! We haven't got to meet him yet because they had to travel to another country for the birth, but we hope they will arrive back in Abidjan within the next month. It will be exciting to have a little one around!

Enjoy your fall like weather! Wow, I miss this time of the year....it's my favorite! It is beginning to heat up around here, no chance of a white Christmas! :)

Love,

Teresa

Time is flying......

Wow, I can't believe it.....next month we will have been in Africa for 1 year! Time flys when you are having fun! :) I can say that it has been both a hard and rewarding time. The times of homesickness is becoming less and Abidjan is starting to feel more like home.

Hope everyone enjoyed their Labor Day weekend! Here in Abidjan it was french learning as usual, for some reason they don't celebrate all the US holidays! :) Jon and I are sitting home alone wondering what we ever did before we had Autumn. She is on her way to the states to spend a few weeks with her grandparents and family. I know they are very excited to see her, and I am already missing her! Being across the ocean from her is such a different level than sending her from Missouri to Arkansas for a week! But we know that God is good and He will watch over her! Any of you guys in Piggott that see her the next few weeks, give her a big hug for us!

As I said, french is continuing....we have a language teacher 5 days a week, 2 hours a day. The rest of the time we spend studying or out in the community practicing. The other day when I met a young girl I introduced myself and.....she giggled! Ok, I didn't say anything funny! Oh well, I guess that I will never loose that southern accent! You can pray for our upcoming evaluation in October, we really pray that we will be at our level by spring.

The storying group has been going well.......this past Sunday we had 9 guys! Wow, that was great! They are really getting out there and sharing their stories and inviting people. Pray that God will make it clear who is becoming the leader of the group. You can also pray as Jon is planning on taking one of the guys to a village in a month or so for evangelism.

Thank you for praying for my muslim friend. She has been real open to hear the stories. She has been visiting my house often lately, and I am thankful that she trusts me enough to call me a friend. Pray that God will work in her heart as I continue to tell her about the love of Jesus.

God Bless,

Teresa

Seeking God

Saturday started the month of Ramadan. This is where the muslim people fast and pray from dusk to dawn for the forgiveness of their sins. You can go all around Abidjan and see the many people that are seeking God as they pray and read their Quran. I am so thankful for the work that Jesus did on the cross! Please take some time this month to pray and/or fast for the muslims across the world. The muslims are seeking God during this time, and we pray that God will make the truth clear to them. Please pray for my friend who I story with each week, that God will open her eyes that Jesus is the only way.

Our small group is continuing to go well. Each week we are understanding more and able to communicate. This is very encouraging! It still seems like it will be forever before we will be at our level, but it is coming.

Many of you in Piggott will be seeing Autumn soon! She will be there in September. This is a early Christmas present for her (it may have to be for her birthday, next Christmas, etc :). She is very excited to see family, she also has a long list of restaurants that she wants to visit! Of course, she keeps rubbing it in, but Jon keeps telling her that he can change her ticket until we can all come! But she doesn't seemed to worried, I think she knows that we would be in big trouble from the grandparents if we changed our minds now! She will be speaking (well, this is Autumn...so it will be short:) at Emmanuel on a Saturday night at Eric Fuller's mission night.

Make plans to come visit us, we have room for you! Come in the months June - August, the weather is wonderful!

Au revoir,

Teresa

Life is becoming very busy!!

Hi everyone! Sorry it has been so long since the last time I blogged! We have been very busy lately. Autumn started 9th grade this week. She is enrolled in an online school, Northstar Academy, and we have stayed busy getting it all figured out. It seems to be a great program, she actually has teachers that send her all the work and I send it back to them. I am hoping after this first few weeks, that it will become easier on me! :)

Our small group has been going very well! As I told you, the guys has decided to start meeting on Sunday afternoons so the people that they invite may come. Last Sunday we had a total of 8 guys! They seem really eager to learn the stories and share with others. They keep Jon busy and always have many questions. We all are currently learning Creation to Christ. After about 8 weeks, the group will have a summary from creation to the return of Christ that they can go out and use for evangelism. Continue to pray for their growth and that we can get some women involved! You can see some pictures above from the past Sunday.

I have been telling the weekly stories to a muslim friend of mine. I didn't know at first if she would let me share with her. But she has let me tell her the stories and this week when she came to visit me she asked if I had another story for her. Please pray for an open heart has she hears the word of God. Again above, I have posted a picture of her with her newborn baby girl.

Thank you for the prayers concerning our language learning! We have seemed to finally hit a point where we have more good days than bad. Continue to lift us up!

Our health has been pretty good. But there has been a lot of mosquitos lately, so pray that we continue to stay healthy. We don't have time to be sick! ;)

Send us a comment to let us know how you are doing!

Teresa

Vacation to Ghana

our cabin at the beach
the view from our room

Autumn riding the waves
Jolie enjoying the sand

Hi everyone! We are home from vacation. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at the beach in Ghana! We didn't do anything exciting except resting our minds and enjoying the oceanview. As you can see Jon and Autumn enjoyed riding the waves at the beach. Jolie and I enjoyed digging in the sand! :) The resort was really nice and best of all we got to speak English all week!! But I have to tell you, I think Jon is forgetting English. For some reason he couldn't understand anything the people at the resort was saying, so I was his translator! :) We did enjoy our time off from french, and have felt so refreshed since returning. Before we left we was at a point that we wasn't able to understand or say much because we were exhausted, but we have came back and it seems like the rest was exactly what we needed.

While we was gone, the group that we have been storying at decided to change their meeting times from Tuesday to Sunday. They decided this time would be best for them, and also for people that they have been inviting. This is a step in the right direction! So, starting next Sunday we will be worshiping with these new believers. This will be an learning experience for all of us. Pray that this group will continue to grow in faith.

This morning we visited a church in the city with another missionary. It was a good service (we even had our own translator). But, we did have our first....we was pulled into the dancing line.... All of us, even Jon! Wish you could have seen Autumn's face when the guy pulled us out! Well, we made it around one time and then escaped back to our chairs! We try to tell them that these white people can't dance, but I think it amuses them! I was in front of Jon and Autumn, wish I could see how they was moving! ;) I think we all just clapped our hands and followed the line.

Well the summer is almost over and it will be time for the kids to get back to school. Autumn will be beginning her freshmen year. Wow, where has the time gone?? As you have been enjoying the hot weather :), we have been enjoying the cool season; but I hear that it will be ending around September. Can't say that I am ready for that heat again!

Thank you for the prayers!

Blessings,

Teresa

Upcoming trip to Ghana

Jolie's visa ;-)
Autumn, Louise & Jolie
Jon & Autumn

Sorry that it has been so long since we blogged! Nothing new and exciting has been happening in Abidjan. We are still in french classes and it is still raining! Sunday we are going to the beach in Ghana for 5 days. We are really excited to vacation in a English speaking country! 8 1/2 months of French and we are exhausted! (mentally and physically) We have hit a time where we can't seem to get caught up on rest and our brain is mush (when you are studying french in your dreams....it is bad ;-), so we decided that it is time to relax. After all the work just to get into Ghana, we are going to need a vacation from our vacation! First, we had to get visas to Ghana and then we needed updated visas to get back into Cote d'Ivoire. And since Autumn doesn't think we can go on vacation without the puppy....there was a vet visit for a certificate of health (we call it Jolie's visa;), buying a dog carrier and supplies and giving her a haircut. There was tons of paperwork for the vehicle, etc. We are very thankful for our missions office that completed alot of the paperwork for us! Now, if we can make through all the road stops then we are beach bound!

We are beginning to build some relationships in Abidjan. We still have the Tuesday afternoon storying group and it is going well. Jon has been doing a great job learning the stories in french, and I even took a week of telling the story last week! My story wasn't long...but you can only imagine how hard it is to memorize a Bible passage in another language! But this is greatly increasing our Biblical vocabulary. Above you can see a picture of Autumn and Louise. Louise is a friend of ours that makes some really great African meals! She loves Jolie and believe me Jolie is always waiting at the door for her! Most Africans are scared of dogs, and Louise was a little afraid of Jolie at first until she realized the most Jolie would do is lick her to death!

We had a great 4th of July! We attended a picnic at the US Embassy on Saturday. We met many other Americans, and lot of them was missionaries from other agencies. Autumn also met another teenage girl. They hung out for about 3 hours and I think Autumn is going to spend some time with her after we get back from our vacation. That is an answered prayer!

Prayer requests:

1. Our border crossings

2. health

3. and of course.....french!

Thank you for all the prayers!

Teresa

A boat is needed!!

Nothing new is happening in Abidjan. Just more of the same: french, french and more french! We couldn't wait for the rainy season to arrive so the temps would cool down and it has been so much cooler! I think you in the states are suffering much more then we are now. As you see from the pictures, our street doesn't drain well (not well at all!:). We need a boat to go to the office!

Autumn has completed her 8th grade year and will be a high schooler when August rolls around. She is enrolled in an online school and will be able to communicate with her teachers by email. This is good because she is beginning to get into some hard subjects!

Enjoy the 4th of July celebrations! I would so like to be there for the big Piggott picnic! We have been invited to the US Ambassador house on Friday, July 3. Don't know yet if we will attend, but it would be a good way to meet other Americans in the city!

Prayer requests:

1. Continue to pray for our french learning.

2. Pray that we will continue to stay healthy (with the rains comes more mosquitos!).

3. Pray for the small group that we have taken over on Tuesdays.

4. Continue to pray that Autumn will find a close friend.

Blessings,

Teresa

Crazy week!!

Hi everyone! It has been one of those weeks! I came down sick last week, and was out of commission for most of the week. I put off going to the doctor as long as I could until I was up most of a night sick (kept Jon up also...that didn't go over well;-). So the next morning, I called the doctor and she came to the house. I didn't even have to go sit in the clinic for hours (which is what is normal here). You can't beat that! Finally today, I can tell that I am on the mend...but then what do I go and do?? I fell this morning and jammed my big toe! So, now I am hobbling around and nursing a swollen toe. Great way to start the week! But, God is good and He is increasing my faith that even though we will get sick here (with things that you would never imagine in the states); that He is in control.

Jon, Autumn and I have taken over a Bible storying group in our neighborhood. The missionaries that started the group are moving to another country. Our team mate, Mike, is helping us until we get confident in our french. You can see in the last post the men that have made professions. Jon storied for the first time in french last week. He did a great job! We will be learning the Bible stories in french weekly now....they say this will greatly increase our language skills. Also, pray as I have been learning Creation to Christ in french. It is going well. Pray that God would put the women in my path that he wants to hear of His love.

You all need to consider getting a team to come over for a mission trip next year! (It doesn't take a large group, 3 to 5 people is a perfect size group) By that time we should be at our level in french and eager to reach this city. Pray about it and see where God is leading you!

Miss you all,

Teresa

Baptism in Africa

Kevin and Lubin
Lubin and Rogere
Lubin and Justen
Lubin and Raymond

Hello everyone,

Here are a few pictures of a recent baptism that was conducted in the lagoon surrounding the city where we live.  These four men have made recent professions of faith and are attending a small group study every Tuesday.   The missionaries who have been discipling this group will soon be moving to another West African country so pray for us as we begin teaching the scriptures and working with these men.  We appreciate your prayers and wanted to share with you the fruits of the Lord's blessing.   Have a good day.

Blessings,

Jon

Happy Mother's Day!!

                                                       Jon with the small croc
                                                        He had lost his mind here!
                                                       Autumn holding the small croc
                                                       standing on the back of a big turtle
                                             Jon wasn't brave enough to hold the bigger croc!

I hope all you mothers had a wonderful, relaxing day!  Jon and Autumn were very good to me. They cooked me breakfast this morning and then are taking me to my favorite restaurant tonight. I have been blessed with a wonderful daughter and husband!

I also thank God for my mom and mother-in-law, Carol.  They mean so much to us and we really miss being with them today.  Have a wonderful day, we love you!

I have attached the pictures that Jon promised on the last post.  I don't understand him!  Who in their right mind would hold a crocodile, and on top of that a boa?!  Well, apparently his daughter takes after him....but she wouldn't hold a snake.  Yep, I wouldn't touch a thing!

Blessings,

Teresa

Rainy season is here!

                                                    Jon and Autumn in the ocean
                          Jon caught a gecko in our room at the beach!
                Jon trying to get the gecko down so he can catch it..
                                                   Jon and Autumn 

Hello everyone,

I hope all of you are having a good week.  We are just starting our rainy season so that means the heat will be replaced with downpours.   We will have more mosquitoes with the rain which causes thousands of malaria cases each year in Africa, we are currently taking a weekly malaria medication that helps keep us healthy.  We have had three families leave in the last week or so and move to another part of Africa.  The mission board is going through alot of changes right now for future church planting strategy so several people are relocating to other places. 

Our days are still full of language learning.  It is really encouraging to know that people are starting to understand these strange sounds that are coming out of our mouths.  It takes the average person at least a year of full time study to obtain a good level of conversational French.  I think we are on track but it will also take years of living here to become fluent in conversation and understanding.  I usually just throw out what words I know, most people laugh but it is a gracious and understanding type of laugh, many people here have had to learn a second language themselves.  

I have been able to share a little with some of the men who live close to our neighborhood.  Many are Muslims, many are religious, but many do not understand how to "know" God.  When you share the gospel, the conversation usually turns to personal good works as a way of salvation.  There are also many who fully understand but just aren't interested in our message.  However, it is very encouraging to find several people who are truly seeking to know God.  I had the privledge of seeing the fruits of another missionaries labors when they prayed and made a public profession of faith in Christ.  The missionaries who are working with this group will be leaving next month so our teammates will help us transition into helping this group with discipleship and the goal of eventually reproducing churches.  Tonight, I am meeting with a young Muslim man for tea and Saturday night I am meeting with another young man who wants to know how to follow Christ.   You can probably imagine what some of these encounters look like with my limited French but God is powerful and able to save.  

Please pray for a man named Sedou who is Muslim and a young man named Raymond.  These are two men who I will be having weekly contact with in the near future.  The prayer is for me to communicate the gospel clearly and for them to understand clearly.  I have also enclosed a few pictures from the beach we went to a couple of weeks ago.  I will try to post pictures in the near future of our trip to an alligator farm.   Thank you for checking in with us, we are encouraged by you always.

Blessings,

Jon

Easter in Africa

                                               Jon & Autumn before Easter services
                                                          Autumn & I with Jolie

Hey everyone!

I pray that you had a blessed Resurrection Sunday!  We worshipped with other African believers at a local church and afterwards enjoyed a fellowship meal.  We were the typical American Baptists...we went to CFC (Country Fried Chicken...real close to KFC;)  and bought some good fried chicken!  The chicken didn't last long!  We were talking last night about our attitude when we first arrived at church.  Truthfully, none of us was real excited about going because we knew that it would be another long service in french that we wouldn't understand.  But during worship God showed us these Africans had such joy (shown in their singing and dancing;-); and that we could worship even if we don't understand all that is being said.

This is a sad month for us here in Abidjan.  We have 5 families that will be leaving the next few weeks.  These people have become family and we will miss them greatly!  They have taken us in and made us feel welcome.  They will be serving in different areas and we hope to get to visit them someday.  They told us in ILC that the life of a missionary is a life of goodbyes....I really didn't realize how true this was until arriving on the field.  But now some good news, we have learned that we will be having an addition to our team this October.  Our team mates, Mike and Heather, are expecting their third child. We are very excited for them, and hope to get the opportunity to babysit! ;-)

We are going to the beach for a couple days in the morning.  We excited for this time to relax.  We will take a lot of pictures and will post them next time!

Send us a line to let us know how things are with you.

Blessings,

Teresa

Bedrock Bowling!

Looks like Fred Flinstones

It's a long way to the ground!

Chopping the seeds from the pods

All that work for these!

Hello to everyone,

Just wanted to give you an update on our progress here in the city. We just had our first language evaluation and everything went fine, we have a better understanding on how they work and where we are at in the process. It is encouraging to know how far we have come but the evaluations also serve the purpose of showing us what we must do in the future to learn the language well. We appreciate all of you who helped us by praying for our evaluation time.

I have posted a few pictures to give you a visual on how things are somewhat different here in Abidjan. The bowling ball at the top has a small chunk missing but believe it or not, it still shot down the lane fairly smoothly. Several of us celebrated a friends birthday at a hotel on Thursday night, the hotel is closed but they still have their bowling alley open. There are about ten lanes but only about four of the lanes work (or I will say they are"workable.") The distorted bowling balls, uneven lanes, and the fact that you could order a horse burger made the night a blast for all of us (I passed on the horse burger).

I took the next three pictures in our front yard. The man climbed the tree with only a machete and a vine. I thought he had a rope around his waist but later realized it is a large vine tied in a knot that he used to scoot up the tree with. He would have surely died if the vine had broke. It cost about two dollars to have him cut down the two large pods and inside the pods are hundreds of "seeds." The seeds are processed and smashed in a wooden bowl using a wooden mallet until it is mush. The mush is made into a sauce and is served over rice. We had fish (the whole fish, head and all) in ours and I kind of liked it but Teresa and Autumn didn't seem too hungry that day!

We have a week of church planter training coming up soon and as Teresa posted in the last blog, we are hoping to go the the beach for a couple of days after that. We really miss all of you so much but I am so thankful that God provides all that we need here in Abidjan. We are not in short supply of anything here including friendships. God had been so faithful to Autumn as well and has heard all of your prayers specifically for her.

Earlier today, I was reminded of our hope in Christ as I listened to the song "Days of Elijah." We used to sing this song all the time at Emmanual Baptist and what an encouragement to know that this world is not our permenant home. Jesus is coming back and what grateful hearts that should give all of us. Thanks for being our co-laborers as well as our friends.

Blessings,

Jon

Life in Abidjan

We just completed 5 days of One Storying Training. As tiring as it was, it was a great time of learning! Most of the people in West Africa are oral learners, so we learned how to take the scriptures and tell them in story form. You think no problem, I know these stories, but don't realize how much of the stories you don't remember. We went out in a local neighborhood and shared the stories (with a translator). Through this time we made many new relationships. Please pray for Raymond, he seems to be really seeking. He has agreed to allow Jon come back and tell him more stories. We prayed for an interpretor and met a man the next day that has agreed to do this. This man may know the Lord, if he does then Jon will be training him how to share God's word and if not he will hear the stories also.

The day before our training started we went to get our Ivorian drivers license. Wow, was this a process. We left the office at 7:30 am and returned at 5:30 pm. We spent 9 hours in line! Must I say, outside in the heat! We didn't realize that it would take this long, so we didn't take any sunblock, water, etc. So, I was cooked when we got home.

On Thursday we will be starting back in our French learning and two weeks after that we will be having Church Planting training. After our CP training, we are going to take a few days vacation and go to the beach. We have been very busy and are ready for a break!

We are so ready to be able to have long conversations with the people we meet! Continue to pray for our language learning and the relationships that we have made.

As always, we love to hear from you. Shoot us an email to let us know what is going on in your life.

Blessings,
Teresa

House church

We just enjoyed a great time of worship at home! One Sunday a month we have family worship. The other 3 weeks we attend an African church, but currently can't understand much of the sermon. This morning we listened to a sermon online from Adrian Rodgers and was greatly encouraged by his words. He spoke about being real toward God and others. God knows our hearts and we need not to act like something that we are not. God blessed us with his presence and a wonderful time of praise and worship!

Everything is going well in Abidjan. We have got ourselves on a schedule and are beginning to make some relationships. Please pray for my friend that I go sit and practice my french with 4 days a week. She is muslim. She loves for me to come and talk "small talk" with her but I don't know yet how open she is with me sharing Christ with her. Pray for me as I am trying to learn Creation to Christ in French so that I may be able to share with her soon. Jon is making some contacts in the area that we think God is leading us to labor first. Pray that God will show us that person of peace that will open his/her house for a Bible study, etc.

Our homesickness is getting better, but we still would love to come and visit you! This has made us even more eager to learn french because we can not leave our region until we have reached our level in the language. We pray that we will be able to visit you about this time next year. I know, that is a looooooong time; but, you can come and visit us at ANY time, we don't have to be fluent in language for you to visit! ;-) Seriously, if any of your churches would like to come for a mission trip to Abidjan, let us know. We would love to have you!!!

I hear that most of you got some snow yesterday.....boy, am I jealous! I wish you could just send a little of that cooler weather this way! The hottest time of the year is here, but the rainy season will be here in a couple of months. Hopefully, the rain will cool us down a little!

You can pray for us tomorrow as we met with the West Africa homeschool consultant. Autumn will be in 9th grade this upcoming school year (wow, I will have a high schooler!), so we need to look at what we need to do to be sure her schooling is done through an accreditated program. Our other option currently is the missions school in Senegal, and none of us is ready for that just yet! It looks like a great school, but we are still adjusting to being in Africa and aren't ready to be separated. Continue to pray that God will send Autumn a friend. We went to the American Embassey (very impressive) this past Wednesday to get our Ivorian drivers license and found out that there are several americans in the city. They gave me an email address to contact concerning things for teenagers. Pray that this contact will lead us to a friend for Autumn. She is very content right now, but we all know how important it is to have a friend your own age. God has blessed her with other younger MK's that she can get out and play basketball or a board game with. We are also very thankful for the internet. Autumn talks to her friends daily on Facebook and they stay up late every Friday night to talk over skype. All these little things have been a great blessing!

I want to leave you today with a song that we sang this morning:

Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary
Pure and holy, tried and true
with thanksgiving, I'll be a living
sanctuary for you

To the nations, we follow you Lord
be exalted, be adored
Come Lord Jesus and lead your people
to the nations, to all lands.

I pray as you go to church this morning that you will open your heart to the word the Lord may have for you.

Blessings,
Teresa

A trip to the Basilica

The Front Door!

Autumn and her friends

Autumn and me

Teresa and Autumn

Looks small from a distance but the columns are the ones pictured above.

Hello everyone,

We have recently finished our two weeks of urban church planter training and are now back into the swing of learning French. We visited several areas of the city with a veteran missionary from Mexico City and discussed so many possibilities in seeking God's wisdom for our work here. The city is divided by a lagoon into different sections so the layout is somewhat different from most cities. Our top priority this first year is to learn French well enough to do what we need to do, the city of Abidjan is second only to Paris in the number of French speakers in a city. Teresa and I have chosen one area of the city called "Treichville" and will spend time each week walking the area, praying, meeting people, practicing our French, ect... Treichville has a few hundred thousand people but I'm not sure the exact number. I was in the area today just looking and seeking God's specific will, we also are looking for those who are searching for truth. It is amazing to think that there are non-believers today who will be saved by God's grace and be future leaders for this city.

I am posting a few pictures of the Basilica in Yamoussoukro, Cote d'Ivoire. We traveled there with our team and our friends from Mexico City. Guinness World Records list it as the largest church in the world. The church cost 300 million dollars to build and has air-conditioned pews (which were not on when we visited!) The visit in itself was amazing because of the sheer size and design. The place is amazing but what a reminder that God does not dwell in buildings made by men but dwells in those who are born again by faith in Jesus Christ. A spectacular thing we saw but no comparison to the eternal life that is within us.

It has been some time since all of you have heard from us but please know we are quite aware of the blessings we receive because of your prayers, we have "breakthroughs" of various sorts and we know it is because the Lord has heard the prayer of those who belong to Him. My prayer for you is that God will strengthen you in these days ahead to pray and enjoy His presence. I know that you have many of the same struggles and the same enemy as us, but what refuge we have found in Christ. Hope you have a great week.

Blessings,

Jon

New addition to the family!!

Autumn got a early birthday present this morning.....a Yorkie puppy! Jolie ("pretty" in French) is 2 1/2 months old and a bundle of energy. Everywhere we walk she is at our heels....even when I am washing the dishes she is snipping my heels! I have to admit it makes Africa more like home with a dog running around.

We have been in urban church planting meetings the last two weeks. They have been very good and we have received a lot of wisdom on how to reach the city. We would love for you come and visit to see the city God has called us to labor in!

We have been out of French class for the last couple of weeks, so we are afraid of what we have forgot. We are eager to get back this Thursday so we can be sharing the gospel in french soon! Continue to lift our language learning up, we covet all your prayers.

Nothing much exciting has been happening in Abidjan...the heat is back after a week break! They say the hottest time of the year is just beginning! Wow, I thought it was always hot! Rainy season will start in April, maybe we will enjoy a little cooler days then.

I better go...the puppy is trying to chew on my computer cord! Send us email and let us know how you are doing.

Teresa

Life is busy......

Sorry that we haven't been as good on our blogging the last few weeks! We are finding that life is getting busier as we are settling in. We are still deep in language learning. Today I am really encouraged with our french, of course that is today...we will see what I say tomorrow! ;-) My mind changes everyday whether I am learning anything or not! We are out of our regularly scheduled language classes the next two weeks, we are spending these weeks learning about urban church planting. Pray that we will remember all that we have learned to this point!

I think culture shock has finally hit me...the last few weeks have been tough. I have a day where I am really homesick and then have a good day. Thankfully, we all have our days at different times. I realize this will be part of it, but the good days are always a blessing!

We are starting to get our house set up. We finally got a table and chairs and a hutch for the dining room. We also got a lazyboy recliner from a missionary that was leaving. Now we all fight over it! In the next couple of months, we will be getting a couch and the remaining furniture that we need. It will be good to finally get the house set up.

Continue to pray for our language learning and for Autumn a friend. There are two other teenage girls in the city for the next two weeks. Autumn has been having a great time with them. We know that God will provide in just the right time.

Teresa

Life in Abidjan

I know its small.....

Hi everyone! We are settling in well. Our teammates have been great, always willing to show us around or take us shopping. We are back to a schedule with about 6-7 hours a day of french. This consists of 2 hours with a tutor and then the remaining hours on our own studying or out in the community trying to practice what we have learned. I have a friend in the neighborhood that has a vegetable stand at the end of our road, she lets me come and sit with her to practice my french. Its feels good to actually be able to have a conversation (well, a small conversation;-). French is a tough language to learn but it is coming.

We had our second visit to the medical clinic this week. This time it was Autumn. She started running a fever on Monday night and it continued to get higher, so Friday morning we decided to take her to the clinic. She had a virus that caused blisters on her throat. After the visit we got her some medicine and she is doing much better today. I don't know what is wrong with her and Jon, they are usually the healthly ones and I'm usually the one always sick! Of course, I'm ok with staying well! ;-)

Our excitement for the week was a snake in our bathroom. It was small (ok very small, but a snake is a snake to me!). It was about 2 in the morning when I saw it. It looked like a worm, but it moved around like a snake. I went and woke Jon up....of course he said, "It is only a gecko." Well, when I finally got him up to look at it, he decided it was some sort of snake. After searching the internet, we found that it was the worlds smallest snake called a flowerpot snake. Of course Jon didn't want to kill it...he just wanted to let it go outside. You can see a picture of how small it was above.

Continue to pray for our language learning and for us to find Autumn a friend. She is suppose to go play soccer with a girl that lives down the road this afternoon. Please pray that it will go well. At the end of this month another missionary is coming to train our team for two weeks in urban church planting. He will be bringing his two teenage daughters. This should be a good two weeks for Autumn.

I have posted a couple pictures of the outside of our house. We love the screened in front porch! When we get some furniture, I will post some pictures of the inside.

Enjoy your cold weather! If it gets too cold for you, get on a plane and come to Abidjan! ;-)

Teresa

Settling into Abidjan

One view of Abidjan

Hello everyone,

It has been some time since I have done a blog. We have been trying to get into a regular routine (not really possible) and everything is going well. I was sick my first night in the city and spent most of the next day in the emergency room, the doctor ultimately treated me for malaria but they were not for sure the exact cause of my sickness. Many of you want to know what an emergency room visit is like in Africa but I will say they took good care of me and I was thankful in my distress that the hospital was here. You would not find this type of medical care in much of West Africa but Abidjan is very modern for the region.

The past couple of weeks, Teresa and I have been setting up house for the long term outlook. We are in a nice and spacious home and are using furniture, ect, from the mission board that they have allowed us to use. We will soon have everything replaced with our own stuff. Our teammates have been showing us around and teaching us all about Abidjan. Mike and Heather have two children and arrived one year ago, we will join them in what they are learning and doing in urban church planting. They have also just finished their one year of French learning and will soon start learning a second African language which we will also do after one year of learning French. As you can see, much of our first three year term is about learning the city, the people, the culture, and the language. That seems like alot to learn but all of this will be saturated with opportunities to share the gospel.

We hope and pray that all of you had a great Christmas fellowship with family and friends and again want you to know that we covet and appreciate your prayers on our behalf. I know many of you have given to the Lottie Moon offering this season which makes such an impact on our lives and ministry in Africa. We are able to live, drive, eat, set up our home, educate our daughter, and share Christ because of your giving. Thank you for this support that we see everyday and also for the spiritual support through your prayers that make so much difference.

I will blog again soon and give more insight into a typical day here in Abidjan. Have a great week.

Blessings,

Jon