Chrissy and I have enjoyed sharing apple-cinnamon tea with our friends here.
Wednesday and Friday are generally guarded for 2 hour bible studies with the Pastor in his office.
This month I had to take a week break in Korhogo (a bigger city about two hours away that has internet) in order to fill out college applications for the coming year. It was a good time to take a break from our families and eat whatever we wanted (like the picture above) after some pretty bad homesickness and illness. But it was also good to meet the families of two of my teammates who live here and I got to help in the children's ministry at the Pastor's school.
The city water was having a lot of difficulties, so we drew water from a well down the street to fill up buckets at the house almost every day. You guys should try it at home, it's quite difficult but really fun :)
(This isn't my street, but the picture shows you the method in which Ivorians prefer to transport water)
(Interesting fact: the verb for this action is 'charger' and when this verb is turned into an adjective 'chargé' it can also describe how you feel when you are weighted down with worries)
I got to meet my Mom's extended family in the village this month and help plant onions in their garden.
This here is a picture of the really delicious foutou igname with okra sauce. It's made from taking boiled ignames and pounding them while adding water until they are a doughy consistancy. This meal is one of five dishes that I can make here.
On January 31st we headed down to a church camp in Niakaramandougo (a city about 4 hours away) for a week. The theme was on how to have a Godly engagement and we slept on the cement floor every night except the last one, since it was an all-night dance party.
At church camp we got to help out every once in a while but what was really special was the conversations we had with people there. One day while discussing with a boy if "accidentally seducing someone was a sin" he explained that he reads the bible but doesn't understand it. This opened the door for one of our team members to be able to start a bible study with him.
After church camp finished we got to stay with one of my German teammates, Bekki. The time with her family and her was really encouraging... and the papaya and cakes and chocolate were really good...
This little girl (my little sister Abigael) gets breakfast and at least two baths from me everyday. And I have begun helping out at her Ecole Primaire or Primary School every Thursday. Her class contains around 53 kids and her teacher is a member of our church.
Although these pictures are from December, they show almost every member of the Kone family. Their 17 year old daughter, Esther (in the top right picture with Chrissy), is one of my close friends here in Boundiali. Her oldest brother died a week ago and so we visited her home a couple times in the past week. Please be praying for their family. Besides the Kone family we have gotten to visit our youth president, a deacon and his family, and the first pastor of the church. Visiting people in Africa at their home and often sharing a meal as well is the best way to get to know them and indeed these visits were some of my last month's highlights.
Here's a picture from our second Sunday girl's bible study, which has been going well. The first meeting 28 girls came and the second meeting 12 girls. One thing that is really special about the meeting is that there is a group of girls, who don't speak french, and yet are faithful to come, and each time another girl in the group has been able to translate.
Now we are in Korhogo again doing a seminar on the Proverbs and Fables of Cote d'Ivoire and Saturday we head to Ferkessedougo to the dedication of the Bible in Djoula, the market language here.
Love Katie
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