One Last Update from Abidjan!

This will be the last post in the city of Abidjan before we head to Yamoussoukro for two weeks (June 28-July 11)! We worshiped on Sunday in the church in Abobo where we've visited before for the daycare and The Jesus Film. We made the children bracelets out of the salvation colors and explained what they meant. They loved them!

After Sunday School we sat in the three hour service! Berènjè translated for us, and it was a great message with a dynamic pastor... I thought he was going to lose his voice!

On Monday we cleaned the headquarters where the school, church, and HIV/AIDS clinic are located. The amount of dirt, sand, and dust on the floors was unbelievable, so I really felt like we accomplished a great deal by the time we finished.

Sarah and I had been seeing World Cup commercials promoting Africa United. The commercials take famous players from all of the African teams and they have on awesome yellow shirts that say Africa United. Everywhere we drove, we kept an eye out for the shirt so we could buy them, but they were no where to be found. On the news we finally caught a glimpse of people wearing the shirts in an area called an African United Village. It looked like a huge festival with music, soccer games, and activities. We asked Parfait and Berènjè about the shirts, and they told us they were only promotional, not for sale. Before we began cleaning on Monday, Parfait told us we might be able to get the shirts... We were so excited! We got into taxis later that evening thinking we were headed for the black market, but we pulled up at the Abidjan African United Village!! Berènjè said he had spent the afternoon trying to get the shirts and it was very difficult... Not knowing what to expect, we followed the guys over to jumbotron where a World Cup game was playing and at least 600-700 people sat in chairs watching. We met the general manager of the village and were escorted to the VIP tent! A few minutes later, Berènjè walked over with shirts for all of us!! At half time, everyone turned their chairs to face the opening in front of the tent, and two men with mikes, a camera person, and girls with tshirts came out. The crowd went crazy trying to catch a shirt, and they brought a few out to play a game and win prizes... The the camera turned to the Americans in the VIP tent and they approached us! We were given a microphone one by one and had to answer questions about where we were from and what Cote d'Ivoire players we knew, all while hundreds of people looked us on the huge screen! Needless to say, we looked like quite a troupe after having cleaned all day and hardly being about to answer in French... But we got our shirts!!!

We spent the day yesterday outside Abidjan in an old French town and at the beach! We'd never seen 20 foot waves before, but they were incredible!! Sarah and I enjoyed the water from a little farther back so we weren't swept away :)

All the guys at the beach!



I've also been meaning to share the Scriptures God laid on my heart in El Paso. I've been reading Isaiah 61 and Psalm 37 daily, and I'm in the book of Acts right now. It reminds me of the church here in Cote d'Ivoire that is vibrant and passionate for Christ. God is moving here!!