Tuesday, September 16th

Diane felt slightly better today as we traveled to Abidjan which was an answer to prayer. I think she was still pretty tired and achy, but she didn't feel feverish or anything. She is quite the trooper!

We had a fairly uneventful trip which I suppose was another answer to prayer! We stopped for ice cream and it was REALLY good. After my trip to Mexico in high school, I had sworn to NEVER eat ice cream in a foreign country again. There is absolutely no ice-creamy goodness that is worth the wretched sickness that followed. But Diane vouched for this place and I didn't see any flies in the water (which we only noticed in Mexico after it was too late...) so I went for it. Here's hoping I don't regret it!

We saw 3 more bushrats being sold on the side of the road. Those things are ginormous and I find them absolutely disgusting. I don't have any idea what I would do if I ever ran in to a live one, but I can guarantee that it wouldn't be pretty.

It was nice to have more time to talk to Diane. We talked a lot about returning to either the hospital or the dispensary and the positive and negatives of each. I find it difficult to think about decisions like that and not base it on what I want vs. where God is leading. For example if I think about returning to the hospital (or just to Cote d'Ivoire in general vs. a ministry in a different location) I know where I would live, who I would be working with and, generally, what role I would be playing in the ministry. The knowledge of those things is comforting to me and helps me envision myself being here. I don't want to go somewhere just because it is more comfortable. At the same time, Diane pointed out that those comforts may be God-given blessings and it is okay to go into something knowing that God has provided resources that would help you to cope in a given situation. So, I need to think more about that.

The language thing is still a huge issue for me. Knowing there are places I could go where I could speak English makes it harder for me to think about going back somewhere that I can't. Yet this is the ministry I was brought to at this point in time and these are the needs I am aware of right now, so I need to not ignore that, either. At the end of the day, it's not about coming here because it's comfortable or going somewhere else because I can speak English (or the multitude of other reasons I can come up with to be here or go elsewhere), but it is about seeking God, delighting in Him, following where I sense Him leading and trusting Him to care for me.

Yana and her niece rode down with us today. We dropped them off somewhere here in Abidjan. It was CRAZY. Traffic was absolutely unbelievable and when we stopped there were these obnoxious guys who get all up in your face and try to force their help on you and then ask you to pay them for it. It was really annoying. Then we got lost for a little while which was interesting, but eventually we found our way back to the main road. We picked up some groceries at a grocery store that was more like a grocery store than anything I have seen so far, got a little bit of pizza for dinner and came home.

Well, I guess it's not technically "home."

But it could be.




Addendum: Just to clarify, when I originally wrote "home," I was talking about the guesthouse in Abidjan. We didn't drive all the way back home to Ferke!!