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

Abidjan, finally!!

Our first Christmas tree in Africa!

Snowflake

Day at the beach

It feels great to finally be in the city that God has called us to! We really like Abidjan. It is much different than Bamako. When we got off the plane we saw grass, it was great! It is much hotter here because of the humidity, but they say we will get use to it someday! ;-)

As many of you know, Jon got sick the second day we was here and spent most of the day in the emergency room. He had malaria symptoms but the test came back negative. The doctor said it sometimes takes 24 hours for the results to show so he went ahead and treated him for malaria. After losing two days (he can't remember much about that weekend), he was doing much better and we had a good Christmas with the other missionaries.

It was a very different Christmas this year. We were homesick to see family, but God was faithful to send us a great group of people to spend the day with and Autumn even got a rabbit for Christmas! On Christmas eve our guard found one roaming down the street so he put it in the yard to see if anyone came looking for it. Well, no one has and now Autumn has her first pet in Africa! She named it Snowflake (wishful thinking!), and the silly thing is already spoiled!

The day after Christmas we headed to the beach for the day! I bet most of you didn't get to do that! ;-) Abidjan is a coastal city on the Atlantic Ocean.

Abidjan is huge and the driving is just as crazy here as it was in Bamako. Jon says it is better because you don't have all the motos, but there are many more vehicles here! And there is no lines on the road...people just drive where they feel like it. I just don't know if I will ever get use to this! We have been learning our way around (with the help of our teammates) and can finally get to some places alone. We will start back with a french tutor next week, this week we are shopping around for all the things we need to get settled in. I was amazed the first time we went shopping! Abidjan has malls and they have about anything you would like!

When we get our home set up we will post some pictures. Leave us a comment to let us know what is going on with you.

Happy New Year,

Teresa

Moving to Abidjan

This seat gets really hard after about three hours!

Lipton, citron, and beaucoup sugar (delicious!)

Making tea, a true art in West Africa

Our village sunrise

Hello everyone,

We will be moving to Abidjan in the morning (Thursday) which will be about a 90 minute flight. We hope to get settled in before Christmas and start making this city our new home. However, I want to update what has been happening here in Mali.

The weather has been nice with much cooler temperatures. This past weekend, our family went to a village with our leadership to spend time with the village pastor and a couple of missionaries who are living in the village. It was good to spend a couple of days and experience village life and fellowship. We stopped and picked up two live chickens on the way and the pastor's wife did an excellent job preparing meals of chicken and rice. The pastor and his family are a very small minority of believers in the village. There were less that ten people at church service Sunday morning from a community of around five thousand people. It was a blessing to see this pastor's faithfulness in a less than accepting environment of the gospel. (See Autumn's blog for pictures and more info on our village trip)

Teresa had her first experience of a moto hitting the vehicle she was riding in. Teresa wasn't driving but she had gone to a village with two other women and was returning home when a moto smacked into the side of the vehicle. The driver of the moto was not hurt so he kept going and did not stop. If you could experience the driving here in West Africa, you would wonder how we are not in an accident every day. Thank you for your prayers of safety.

I am posting a picture of my friend Joseph making tea. Joseph is a believer and has been so helpful and graceful in my cultural transition. It's hard to explain but he has suffered a certain amount of cultural rejection because of his association with me. Joseph makes sure that I understand the motives and hearts of people, both good and bad. There is so much potential for Joseph to be such a powerful witness to his own people. Please pray that God will continue to work in his life and Joseph will become a faithful laborer in the field where God has placed him.

Other prayer request:

1.) For our travel and transition to Abidjan

2.) For God to send more laborers to West Africa.

Lastly, we want to thank everyone (especially our parents and Emmanuel Baptist) for the care packages that were sent. We feel so blessed to be supported by all of you. Our ministry is truly a ministry of the entire body of Christ.

Blessings,

Jon, Teresa, & Autumn

First village experience

Sorry we are late blogging this week, our internet has been very sporadic. Our time in Mali is coming to an end soon, we will arrive in Abidjan next week. We are excited to arrive in the city that God has called us and get settled in our home. We will miss the friends that we have made in Mali and continue to pray that they will seek the truth.

I had my first village experience this past Saturday. Along with two other ladies, I went to a nearby village to do a storying group. It was harvesting day for the village so we were not able to tell a story, but we spent three hours building relationships. Of course, I couldn't understand a word they said because they do not speak french in the villages. The local language of Bamara is spoken in most villages. It was neat to sit under a tree and talk about what is going on in their life. I got my first village tea experience (yes, we all drank out of the same glass!). As you see, I got lots of pictures of the children. They were so excited to get their picture taken. I also posted a picture of the machine that was in their village that day to harvest their rice. We will go as a family to stay overnight in a village this Saturday. We are excited about the experience!

Continue to pray for our language learning and our move next week. We will try to post some pictures of our new home and neighborhood next week.

Enjoy the cool weather ;-)

Teresa