Only a Week Left!!

Again, I can't believe how quickly time is flying by!! We finished our last weekend in Yamoussoukro and are now back in Abidjan for the remainder of our trip. Logan was pretty sick on Saturday this past weekend, so we all laid low for the day. The Sellers had us over one more time to say goodbye and we enjoyed dessert and watched A Knight's Tale! To finish the night, we all joined hands and Mr. Sellers prayed over everyone. On Sunday we headed to church where Jordan preached an awesome message! God truly spoke through him.

After the sermon, Pastor Prowell told the congregation that we were an example of sacrifice for coming this summer... But to me, the way Ivoirians give to the church, share meals with us, and even give us gifts is a much better picture of sacrifice. On Saturday one of our favorite church members Betty gave us dresses and dress shirts she'd made for us, so we wore those to the church service! Then after the message, they gave us Baule scarves, another set of dresses/dress shirts with the traditional African print, and the fabric they tie around their waists to make a skirt! At the end of the service, the congregation filed past us again to say goodbye. Keeping with Cote d'Ivoire tradition, the women gave us three kisses on the cheek, and the men gave us three head bumps to show love and respect. Later in the afternoon, another of our favorite women Josie gave Sarah & I jewelry and the boys little vases, as well.

Aside from the gifts on Sunday, we had a few other adventures as well. We went to watch the feeding of the alligators at the President's old palace area. First we watched a man tease them with a live, tethered chicken that they snapped at, then Logan paid six dollars to launch a live chicken into the center of the alligators... It zigzagged a few steps and avoided about 5 alligators before being eaten. As we waited for the men to bring meat to feed the rest of the alligators, a big military vehicle pulled up. Logan got to talking with the men, and found out that they were Bangladesh men from the UN army. Since the alligators weren't being fed, we quickly became the main attraction; The men lined up to take pictures with the Americans... especially Sarah and I! We just giggled and held on to each other in the middle of all those guys! Eventually they brought back a giant leg of an ox, hacked it to pieces, and threw it into the alligators! We ended the night at a restaurant with Pastor Prowell, Pastor and Mrs. Gomez, and our friend Rubin, watching the World Cup finals!! Sarah and I were happy to say we supported Spain for a couple weeks now, and they won :)

Yesterday we spent the day traveling back to Abidjan, settling into our verrry spacious guest house again, doing laundry, getting groceries, and resting! Please pray for physial wellness and energy for our bodies during this final week of service in Africa!!