Snapshots: Villagey things and Family

The Village:

A few weekends ago, we took a field trip with our entire church to a little village for a funeral. Well, we didn't see too much of the funeral (because women aren't allowed to view many of the rituals), but we got a nice little taste of village life.

They made the "toubabous" ride in the cab... because of the dust.
LAME excuse!

Elisabeth, or Mama Yeo, riding in the back

Those little guys flying around...they're giant bats!

Eating lunch and taking naps

Mattias! He's back in Niakara teaching now.

The Family Yeo:

 (minus Papa Yeo... that guy is hard to get a picture of!)

Jonas!

Dorcas- my comrade and sister

2/3 of the Davids

Home and our lovely mango tree

Living room

Kitchen/ garage... haha

A little corner of the room I share with Dorcas (I literally stood on the bed, squished into the corner to get this much of the room into the picture). It's a good thing we get along so well!

The dog... who is nameless... and a pretty lousy guard dog.
and the many, many chickens!

The view from the porch

Jonas shelling peanuts

Jonas and David (this is the 3rd and final David, he actually lives here).

Mama Yeo

Make Us Thy Labourers

I've been a reading machine this last few weeks.

I finished up the Amy Carmichael biography, A Chance to Die, then moved onto The Triumph of John and Betty Stam. This is mostly because a little bug has found me (Don't worry, Mom! I'm fine!), so the last few days have been full of rest and full of reading.

But what this has done is awaken a love for these amazing peoples' poetry!

So I thought I'd share some bits of work from their lives that I've enjoyed in the past week.

From Amy Carmichael:

Make us Thy labourers,

Let us not dream of ever looking back,

Let not our knees be feeble, hands be slack,

O make us strong to labour, strong to bear,

From the rising of the morning till the stars appear.

Make us Thy warriors,

On whom Thou canst depend to stand the brunt

Of any perilous charge on any front,

Give to us skill to handle sword and spear

From the rising of the morning till the stars appear.

Not far from us, those stars,

Unseen as angels and yet looking through

The quiet air, the day's transparent blue.

What shall we know, and feel, and see, and hear

When the sunset colours kindle and the stars appear.

From Elisabeth Stam:

Open my eyes, that I may see

This one and that one needing Thee,

Hearts that are dumb, unsatisfied,

Lives that are dead, for whom Christ died.

Open my eyes in sympathy,

Clear into man's deep soul to see;

Wise with Thy wisdom to discern,

And with Thy heart of love to yearn.

Open my eyes in faith, I pray;

Give me the strength to speak today,

Someone to bring, dear Lord, to Thee,

Use me, O Lord, use even me.

-----

And shall I fear 

That there is anything that men hold hear

Thou wouldst deprive me of,

And nothing give in place?

That is not so-

For I can see Thy face

And hear Thee now:

"My child, I died for thee.

And if the give of love and life 

You took from Me,

Shall I one precious thing withhold?

One beautiful and bright,

One pure and precious thing withhold?

My child, it cannot be".

I've successful survived a week with my wonderful Ivorian family!

SUCCESS!!!

I'm living with the Yeo Malele family. No one was sure where I would be living, but God delivered Madame Yeo in the last few hours of our week long orientation!

In our cozy little home there are 6 people. There is Monsieur Yeo Malele (I just call him Yeo) and his wife, Elisabeth. They have a 12 year old son named Jonas, who is ALWAYS smiling and singing to himself! Then there is David, Elisabeth's nephew, who is 20 and is helping me learn Tyembara. Mattias is in the room next to me. Mattias is Elisabeth's younger brother and he's a teacher in a village nearby. Lastly is Dorkas- she's Elisabeth's younger sister, and is graciously sharing her room with me. Dorkas has quickly become a great friend, probably because we are constantly together!

Holly is living right across the street, so we've seen eachother often, which has been really nice when our brains are SO tired of trying to speak french or we feel overwhelmed. Truthfully, the first few days felt so overwhelming! We just jumped in head first, but it's been wonderful!

Some moments from the past week:

Went to the weekly women's bible study and realized that it was all in Tyembara, a Senefo language! What?!? I thought I was going to have to struggle with communicating in French the first few weeks, but NO! The real struggle is trying to learn Tyembara in broken French! A week of only hearing and speaking french has done wonders- the tyembara will come later.

Learned how to wash my clothes in a bucket. We wash everything in a bucket. I wash myself in a bucket! Bucket baths by the billions begin! 

Dorkas, Mattias, and I went for a walk one morning and visited just about every market in Korhogo. We went to the petite marche on the corner, then to the vegetable marche, then to the grande marche, the supermarche, and on and on and on! We greeted so many people along the way and at every stop I was asked to present myself and my Senefo name. So here we go... one more time... Je suis Yeo Tamaganon Naomi. Yeo is the family name, and my family graciously gave me theirs (it's also extremely common, fitting for a Smith). Tamaganon is my tyembara name, given to me by Madame Yeo Abdulaye, the wife of our pastor, and it means "Love is good". She explained that it is because of love that I came to Africa. 

We walked to a nearby village and watered a vegetable garden with Dorkas and Mattias' aunt. I really enjoy the village setting! Even in this dusty place, you can see bright green gardens! Rows and rows of lettuce, carrots, bell peppers, piment, cabbage, tomatoes, and green beans! 

Bike rides across town in the middle of the day to see the other journeyers and send emails. Riding a bike here is stressful and more like mountain biking because the roads are pretty bad. BUT have no fear- we are extremely careful!

Evenings are my favorite. We sit outside under the mango tree and the night sky and eat together. Most of the time I have no clue what the conversation is actually about (because it's in Tyembara, which sometimes sounds like Chinese to me) but we together and eveyone is laughing and eating. There is either balafone music playing on the radio, or a spanish novella (translated into french) on the tv inside the house. It's just about relaxing and being together.

I woke Dorkas up talking in my sleep one night. The next day that story was the beginning of every conversation she had... yep.

I have eaten a number of strange things and I'm still going strong! Last night, I'm fairly certain I ate brains... it wasn't the taste so much as the texture that really bothered me.

Finishing up the Amy Carmichael biography and drawing out the last 20 pages. It's so encouraging reading about her struggles and funny mishaps while in India. That woman was full of wisdom and her words speak right to where I find myself here. One of the quotes I read this week:

"I am learning the lesson set to the weaned child. I am learning to do without".

I am learning to do without.

On Sunday, the message was on looking toward heaven and the place that Christ has prepared for us (John 14:2), but as I read the passage, all I could think was that Christ has prepared THIS place for me too! This family, this church, this time was all set out before hand. He provides for us, even when we are thousands of miles from all things familiar. 

He prepares a place for us. 

He goeth before.

I'm a little more Ivorian now!

Here's the story:

So, Heidi, CJ, Alyssa, Holly, and I are sitting around the table a few nights ago just chatting about the day, when Nema walks in. She had just gotten her hair done and she looked gorgeous! She explained how the ladies braid her hair and then sew more hair into it- African women really make their hair an art form! We were admiring her do when someone mentions that it would be fun to get our hair braided. Now this has been kind of a taboo topic since Holly got her hair braided in the first few weeks of being here and it didn't quite turn out like she had hoped... it lasted a who 2 days and was pretty painful. Well, as soon as one of the girls mentioned it, I jumped right on the band wagon (I'd been considering it, but hadn't told anyone), and pretty soon we decided we were all going to do it together! So the next morning we were all going to go into the market and buy our "mesh", which is just fake hair. This was a first for all of us! 

The next morning, we woke up and no one seemed quite as excited as they were the night before. That was a little discouraging, but no matter, I was going to do it! So our day was an adventure trying to figure out how to get my hair braided. We ended up right across the street from IBB. 

6 hours of sitting cross legged on the concrete, having multiple women tug, twist, and untangle a mess tied to head! It was an experience! I have a whole new appreciation for the women who have this done every 2 weeks. That's right, it only lasts for about 2 weeks! I didn't cry, but I sure made some funny faces (as chronicled by CJ)! When it was over, all we could say was "Worth it!" The wonderful thing about that 6 hours was that it was a great bonding with those women! They knew I'd never had my hair braided and they had never braided a "toubabou's" hair. Seems to me that's just the beginnings of building relationships here.

It's so interesting seeing how people react just a little differently to me now. Ivorians seem to do a double take. In the States, I would look pretty funny, but here I look normal! At about the 3rd hour, a man sitting next door looked over and smiled. He asked if I was getting ready to marry an Ivorian! I just laughed and said no, but later I realized that this small thing is an act of acceptance of their way of life. It's the same reaction we get when we tell the mango ladies down the street that we'll be back often because we're living here for many months. That reaction just makes me really happy! I've always just been a tourist, or a traveler, but to just BE somewhere for awhile holds so much potential! 

Korhogo To Stay

Our first few days in Korhogo have been filled with discovering this city and plenty of walking! It's the beginning of the dry season here, so it's pretty dusty and hot! Our good friend, Nema, took us around and introduced the six of us to the local pastors, merchants, and ministries. We saw our churches and will be introduced to the congregation this sunday. We're pretty much on our own to get to know Korhogo on our own until Monday, when our orientation with our families begin and then next Wednesday afternoon, we'll head on home with them!

My first impression of life in Korhogo: I think I'm going to love it!

and here's why:

1. The market is INTENSE! It's a maze of wooden stalls filled with fresh vegetables, piles of spices, dried fish, goat hooves, towers of eggs, potatoes, and pagnes (patterned fabric) in ever color. Stairs lead up and down in every direction to more stalls with more treasures of shoes or tea kettles. You could find just about anything in this place. All of it is covered by giant, steeped, tin roofs with "Maggi" advertisements all over it (Maggi is a seasoning cube used for everything here). I look forward to exploring in there often.

2. The barrage. It's a dam built around a small lake in the Koko Quartier. As you walk across this long cement walkway, there is the lake on one side, and on the other is plots and plots of the brightest green gardens I have yet to see! In this dust place the bright green leaves feel like Eden.

3. It's day 3 here and people are remembering us. Not that this is a difficult task when there are suddening 6 white kids walking around. But the coolest thing is walking from IBB (Institute Biblique Bethel, our temporary home this week) to the market and the ladies calling out to greet us from across the street. Or, stopping to buy fresh bread and being asked if we're staying or just passing through- "Oui, nous restons pour plusiers jours!".

4. I have seen my church pastors, from the Delafosse church, everyday this week. It's always in a random place, like in the middle of the market, or riding their motos past on a side road. They always call out to us and are so friendly, I'm really looking forward to the Delafosse church being homebase. Speaking of the church... The church building is right across the road from the mosque. I think this is great! When we're constantly hearing the call to prayer, it reminds me to pray for my new neighbors.

5. CJ, Alyssa, and I just walked around all morning and explored. This is something I could do forever! I loved just walking around the city and finding little markets tucked away and hidden inside the city. When we got tired we stopped at a cafe and had an omelette et pain- which is eggs in a bagette. It was DELICIOUS! The perfect thing to get us back on our feet.

So, I'm finally where I'll be "to stay" the next 9 months! What a thought! I'm so thankful for time- time to know people, time to learn, time to really communicate. There's enough time to be known. It's hard work being a stranger, but what a wonderful thing to be known. It's a difficult thing, to leave all the people that know you and venture into this "great unknown". But, in a way, we share it all- all the joys and struggles, all the unknowns.

It all starts on Sunday. We'll be introduced to our congregations and we'll meet our families. Then bright and early Monday morning, we'll begin 3 days of orientation with our pastors and families to talk about why we're here.

CJ and I, sitting on the Barrage with Mount Korhogo behind us

The kids of IBB- they were entertaining me while I tried to post this!

The Last of These Bouake Days

We finished up this week of training with a survey of Islam and Theology. It was a great week of learning and, I think, helped to further prepare all of us to better love our neighbors.

 Last sunday we went back to the rock quarry for a bon fire. We threw a pot on the fire and Rod cooked us up some of the greatest camp fire food I have yet to experience! We sat around and talked about the last 3 months and sang songs. It was nice to just be together there.

We all split up for our last Sunday in Bouake, in our Ivorian duds! 

Some headed to the Jamboru church, others went to the Bellville church, and Holly and I decided to go back to Brobo to see the Yeo family and our favorite little church. The wonderful thing about this church body is that they are few in number (less than 20), but they are so faithful! With just a small drum, we sang and danced until the dirt floor made the air dusty. This little church has no resident pastor, but the church in Bouake sends a pastor the 33 km. to teach every Sunday. It was great seeing Yeneyela, Marius, and Barnabe again before heading to Korhogo.

Jamie, Alyssa, me, Steph, CJ, and Holly

So tomorrow is filled with cleaning, packing, laundry, and all those other delightful things! I'll say goodbye to half of our team as a new part of this journey begins. We won't be back on our little campus for 5 weeks, when we'll have time to debrief everything and encourage each other for a few days. Praying for courage, strength, and complete joy in knowing that all is taken care of by the One who is Most Capable!

I'm Moving!

We have about a week left here at ICA. I can't believe our training is coming to an end! In about a week, six of us will be hauled up to Korhogo and four will stay in Bouake. In Korhogo, we will be at the Bible Institute with our friend and school director, Keo. We'll get a feel for the land, find out where the market is, where our churches will be, and meet our host families. At the end of the week, our families will take us to the place we will call home for the next nine months!

As I look back at the last three months, I'm stunned by how much God has done. Through culture shock, adjustments, and language learning, there's been so much growth. My first week in Bouake, I remember thinking, "I don't know if I can do this. I don't know if I can live in an Ivorian home. I don't know if I can eat this day after day. I don't know if I can." Well, funny thing is, I know that I have no ability or strength to do this on my own.
          

  None.

And this is when God reminds me that every step of the way, he is preparing us for what's next.

One day at a time.

 I can now say, 2 months later, that I'm excited!

I'm ready to go to Korhogo and really dig into ministry.
I'm ready to live with people and share life with them.
I'm ready to sleep in different places,
                        and eat weird things,
                                      and speak french 24/7,
                                                         and feel totally completely out of my element!

 As my fellow journeyer friend, Steph, says : "God is my comfort zone!"

This time of training has been a time of pruning, of shaping for all of us. CJ and I sat outside on the porch swing yesterday and had a great conversation about how our time here is producing something in us, something long lasting. We have had things from our lives stripped away. The comforts, the people, the things we rely on are not here. Through that we've learned and continue to learn what it means to rely on Christ. We've had plenty disagreements with each other (with 10 twenty-somethings in a little dorm, who can blame us). Even our little conflicts show us what it means to truly love each other as brothers and sisters. We've all been challenged and have grown from this time on our little campus.

Now as we ready ourselves to head out, I'm so thankful that God promises to give strength for today. Tomorrow is too much to think about some days. Tomorrow will present it's own challenges, but today we know that we're being prepared for tomorrow, and tomorrow will prepare us for the next day. When I feel overwhelmed, or weak, or anxious, or alone, He reminds me:

"My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" Psalm 73:26

Korhogo, here we come!