We have arrived!

Well we have arrived in Abidjan! I'm so happy to be here! It's nice to settle in and start making relationships. It's a great city, EXCEPT it's hot! It's probally in the 80's but 85% - 100% humidity! I dont think my hair will ever be dry again! ;) When I first arrived here I thought it was kinda like Tampa, Florida! There are cocoanut trees, so that makes me really think on Tamapa!

As some of you know Dad was sick the last few days. He went to the hospital on Friday and stayed there for the afternoon to have a malaria test done, because he was sick with chills, bad headache, and vomiting the night before. The test came back negative, but the doctor said it sometimes take 24 hrs. for the test to come back positive. So they started him on the malaria treatment and he is much better! Thanks for all the prayers!

I will add pictures when we get internet at our house!

Merry Christmas,
Autumn

A night out in the village!

Our sleeping arrangements ;)

More awesome mountains!

Us in the village.

Beautiful sunrise in Africa!

Well, we have just returned from our first village experience! It was great! When we first arrived we went to the missionaries house, and then went to meet the Pastor and his family. They were such a nice family with three young girls, and two older boys. We arrived and ate watermelon and drank tea (from a common cup! ;) Everyone got to drink out of it, it was a little weird at first, but I ended up drinking about 5 rounds (each round has three levels, the last one is the sweetest, which makes it the best!) before we left. After a little bit lunch was ready, chicken and rice with onions and etc. It was VERY good! Obliviously it was out of a common bowl and we ate with our RIGHT hand! ;) Then we sat around and visited, and after that went and greeted more people. Then it was time for supper which was also good, black eyes peas and onions. After praying with the believers and hanging out with them till about 10:00 pm, we headed to bed! I think sleeping outside was my favorite part! We had a room we could of slept in, but we wanted the outside experience. Mom and I put mats in the bed of our truck, and Dad got a personal size tent and slept on the ground (on a mat of course! ;) It was SO amazing to look into the clear sky and see all the stars, there was so many! We saw MANY falling stars, it was so great to see God's creation in that way! Another great thing was about 3:30 am a strong wind came up (I'm not for sure how strong, but STRONG!) and at 4:30 we were awaken by the call to prayer at the Mosque. It made out to be a great night!

This morning we woke up to get ready for church. We went over to the Pastor's and had breakfast. It was rice with sugar. Then we had church, Pastor had to preach at another church, so another man preached. There was about 15 people there, counting us. It was good. Then we visited for awhile till lunch. We had chicken and rice (different recipe though, who would of ever thought that there is so many different ways to make chicken and rice!) but this was very good also! After visiting for just a little while longer we had to leave. It was an experience I will never forget!

Some of the prayer request there was: For the believers in the village and surrounding villages to have strength. And that the Pastor can get his moto fixed also.

We leave for Abidjan in a few days!!!! I'm so excited! Pray for us for a safe flight there and that we can get settled and start making relationships.

Love you all,

Autumn

Our first African vacation!

Africa has some of the most beautiful landscapes!

Me in front of the hotel. (And no thats not a really giraffe ;)

Dad painting with mud! :)

Hey Everyone!

As you know we took a trip to Segou this weekend... it was so much fun! I think the best part was the pool! We got to go swimming two days for almost 4 hours each time! It was good being able to spend time with friends! We went to one of the tourist markets there and to a place where they make the pictures cloth, from mud (it's called Bogalon)! It was very neat! At the market we bought a map of Africa made with that. We saw many interesting things on the way there, as you seen on my parents blog.

As you know we are still doing French ;) In some ways it seems like we are starting to catch quite a bit of it! I'm so ready to communicate with the people, I just wish I could speak their heart language! Here in Mali that is Bamabara, in Abidjan we will be doing urban church planting... so there will be many languages but one main one will be Jula. That would be a great language to learn after we master French, which could be a while ;)

We will be going to Abidjan in 14 days, I'm ready to get settled and make some friends! :) We will be joining our teammates, the McAfees. We are very excited to meet them!

Well hope to hear from you guys soon!