Driving in Abidjan

John driving, Sue on right and Stephen in back seat

From the look of Sue's grip on the dashboard, you might think they are heading for a head on collision. However, John and the oncoming taxi are just waiting to make a left turn. Stephen seized the moment and took this photo.

-Mike

Read more bloggeries about Abidjan, John, Stephen, and Sue at the following labels:

Modeste church photos

See them at Mike's Facebook photo album

Team at Grand Bassam restaurant

From left: Stephen, Dina, Kira, Sarah, David, Joshua, Ashley, Gavin, John, Christine.

Everyone is playing cards while we wait for our food. This was our last supper in Grand Bassam. We ate at The Quai restaurant. The food and desserts were great. The owner of our hotel arrived and treated us to our soft drinks. Normally, we only drank bottled water. It was hard for some not to get their Diet Cokes for two weeks. We had to suffer a little bit any way.

-Mike

Lunch at orphanage

The team and Joshua at the lunch table

The talented cooks made us AFC, African Fried Chicken with rice and attieke, a fermented product made from grated manioc root. It looks similar to couscous.

-Mike

Kira's photos

Kira posted a lot of fun photos for us to enjoy. The links below will take you to her photo albums at Facebook.com. She did a great job organizing them by category. Hope you will enjoy them as much as we do!

Africa un 39 photos of our flights, Bateau Bus, Boulay Island beach, and the Abobo Abidjan CMA Church
Location: Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, Africa

Africa deux 59 photos from the Alliance West African Theological Seminary
Location: Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, Africa

Africa trois 38 photos of days at the girls orphanage
Location: Grand Bassam, Cote d'Ivoire

Africa quatre 42 photos at the Modeste Village/Assoyam Hotel
Location: Grand Bassam, Cote d'Ivoire, Africa

Africa cinq 30 photos of last day at the orphanage
Location: Grand Bassam, Cote d'Ivoire

Africa six 22 photos at the crocodile farm!
Location: Assini, Cote d'Ivoire, Africa

Team photo at Modeste CMA Church

The team is singing a song in Bambara for the congregation. They also sang a song in English.

Favorite photos of Gavin

Just posted 12 favorite photos of Gavin at Facebook.

May 2008 - 808 college mission team ministry from Christ Community Church

In this album: Gavin and Sarah Johnson (photos), Christine Gerhart (photos), John Farho (photos), Ashley Schmidt (photos), david bebee (photos), Kira Marino (photos), Mike Farho (photos) and Stephen Matychuk (photos)

Goodbye Team!

All but John are at the Abidjan airport for their departure to France and USA. We waited until all their bags were checked and they were off to the boarding area to leave the airport. They had problems again with getting their seats. By the grace of God they got through eventually. The plane should take off for Paris in about 10 minutes. Their arrival is about 6 AM Paris time. Those who continue on to USA Saturday will be on flight DL0043. It will depart around 11:45 AM for Cincinnati, OH. Then on to Omaha on flight DL5157 for arrival at about 6 PM. The team would be thrilled to have you there at Eppley Airfield to meet them.
-Mike

Bon Voyage

Today most of us depart for Omaha, Nebraska. Thank you so much for your prayers for the team and our ministry here. It has been such a blessing and encouragement to know that we have been being lifted up in prayer. Please continue to pray that God would use the Farho's and their ministry here in Cote d'Ivoire as well as the other ministries here that we have been privileged to be able to be a part of. It has been so neat to see how God's kingdom is advancing here. I think I speak for all of us when I say that we disappointed to leave, but are encouraged by the ministries we have seen. Thank you so much for your continued prayers!

-Stephen

Deserving of more than just two thumbs up.

Our guys are hard at work, even as I write this, to bless the CMA church of Modeste. Saturday was our first day in the village, where the church is, and the beginning of hard core labor. The church is a main meeting place for all different kinds of events, celebrations, services, and the like, and so are in great need for a bunch of benches. Mike, Gavin, Stephen, David, and John began to construct 30 benches for the church on Saturday morning. They hoped to get done, but after constructing about 8 during the morning and afternoon decided it would not be possible to finish until today.

They began with a early start, as i sent them off with the sack lunches I made for them the night before. :) (Peanut butter on Lebanese flat bread, apples, etc.) They said they would rather do that than have to stop and break for lunch!

We are so proud of the hard work they have been doing and the buckets of sweat that have drenched many of their t-shirts. They will be much deserving of a dip in the ocean or ocean water pool this evening! :)

Please pray for their uplifted spirits and that they continue to keep a positive outlook on the reason why they are working so earnestly.

-Dina

and we're off

today we leave for grand bassam. we're going to go and bless a church by building some benches for them and also we get to help out at an orphanage. i'm really excited to meet the people in the village and especially the kids at the orphanage. stephen made a comment yesterday that as attached as we got to the kids at the seminary, who have families, how much more are we going to get attached to the kids at the orphanage.

the farhos have been amazing hosts as we have stayed in their house the last few days. if you have anytime please send them a message or comment thanking them for taking such great care of us. it overwhelms me their love for Jesus and their willingness to serve us. it's no wonder they are doing great things here being so centered on Christ.

please pray for our travels and the hearts of those we will meet in the coming week.
-christine

Seminary Success

Today we finished our large painting project at the C&MA Seminary. We had plenty of paint to use and had time to paint hallways and several rooms in the main Administration Building in much need of attention as well as the Student Residency Building. The Dean invited us to his home to enjoy a wonderful African meal. It has been such a joy getting a vision of the Seminary meeting the team, students and faculty. It is amazing to see just how important this Seminary is to spreading the gospel in Africa as it fits essential specific needs for up and coming church leaders. Thank you so much for your continued prayers!

- Stephen

Painting in a Parachute

Hello from Africa on Day 4! Well I think today was the hardest we've worked since we got here. We were back at the seminary today painting the dormitory for the students. I'm proud of everyone for putting in so much effort. We are way ahead of schedule! God blessed us today with cloudy skies for most of the day and a great breeze that blew through the hallways and stairwells keeping us relatively cool, well, for Africa.

Actually, that leads me to the title of this post because although I am truly grateful for God bringing the breeze, to my horror, my $3.99 floral print skirt from the Salvation Army, thought it would be fun to see how it could fly in the breeze. It was ridiculous trying to hold my skirt down and at the same time paint with a roller. Fortunately the skirt liked to watch itself puff up rather than reveal anything inappropriate. I won't be wearing it tomorrow! Another favorite part today was meeting students and kids in the hallways. I met a young lady named Nina, who came out and thanked me and introduced herself in English. I introduced myself in French and we had a good laugh. Sadly, though that is all the French I knew and all the English she knew so the conversation ended there. I loved trying and the victory in connecting in the small conversation we had!

After painting we came back and jumped in the pool and I am proud to say that a recouped Gavin now holds the record for holding his breath underwater the longest. 2 minutes 15 seconds! Steven holds a close second and is ruthlessly preparing to take the lead. Good Luck to all the participants.

-Sarah

Give Me Five

Today we went to the Alliance Seminary. We prepped and cleaned the resident student housing complex for painting. We had an amazing lunch with two of the professors from the seminary. It was great to hear stories of their experiences in Africa and learn more about the work that they are doing at the seminary. We weren't able to start painting today because the paint still needs to be tinted and mixed. However, we were able to play with some of the kids of the ministry students. One little boy seemed quite shy and I greeted him in French and received no response. Later as I passed I stuck out my hand and he gave me five as big as he could! Thank you for your prayers!

-Stephen

Their faces light up

Bon jour! We have begun our trip adapting and preparing for our time here in Cote d' Ivoire. It has been amazing to see how friendly and courteous the people are here. One of the coolest things so far has been learning some more greetings in French. It is evident that the local people really like it when we take the effort to address them. Their faces light up in a such a warm smile and they become quite animated. Thank you for all of your prayers!

-Stephen

Team Photo at Omaha Airport

Africa Photo Album by David Bebee

Team photo

From left to right:
Gavin Johnson, John Farho, Stephen Matychuk, David Bebee,
Kira Marino, Sarah Johnson, Christine Gerhart, Dina Miller.
Ashley Schmidt wasn't present for the photo.