Koumassi Church

Yesterday we went to do medical work at Koumassi Church about 45 minutes away.  It was at a beautiful location overlooking the Lagoon.  (See picture above.)  After we finished the village served us a wonderful dinner of rice, beef, and peppers as a way of saying thank you.  It was such a fantastic experience.  

Today we are going to do a puppet show for the children at the church.  Today is also Marylyn's Birthday 14th birthday!  :-)  We are very grateful to have this day off after working for 5 consecutive days.  

Just to keep you updated, here is our schedule for the remainder of the trip:

Sunday- Sunday School and morning worship; Evening Service

Monday- Medical work and evangelism at the clinic (3rd and last time)

Tuesday- Tour of Abidjan and Grand Bassam; Souvenir shopping

Wednesday- We leave for the USA

Thursday- We arrive home!!!!   

What a blessing this trip has been!  

Village Day

Yesterday we went to Sebia Yao, a village about 30 minutes away from where we are staying.  Here is a short video of our experience there.  The song in the video is "Love (With Watoto Children's Choir)" by Chris Tomlin.  

Tuesday...

I know this is the 2nd post today... but I figured I would go ahead and update everyone.  It is hard to believe we left a week ago!  Time has gone by so quickly.  Today we worked at the actual clinic for the first time.  To be honest, we are all pretty exhausted.  I wasn't able to get much video footage because we were so busy!  Above are a couple of pictures.  One is of some people getting checked out by Kristine and Dr. KB.  The second is of one of the little girls we did extractions on.  She is wearing a mask because we were trying to keep her entertained while we worked on her mother.  Tomorrow we head out bright and early to the village.  As I said before, this will most likely be our hardest day.  So please continue to pray!  Love to all!  

What we have been up to the past couple of days....

First Work Day

Yesterday we ate oatmeal for breakfast at Kristine's.  It was delicious.  We then headed over to the Mach's at 7:30 a.m. to meet and head over to the church.  Morgan Mach was up so we were able to give her the gift Elizabeth brought for her. (She fell asleep too early the night before.)  It was a little stuffed puppy, she absolutely loved it. 

We set up outside the church.  Sara and Jessica S. were outside doing vitals, Kristine was also outside but she was doing triage.  Dr. KB was right inside the church checking people that came in for a check-up and to receive treatment.  Dr. Smart, Jessica C., and Kristi set up the dental station in the back right corner of the church while the Machs, Elizabeth, and Clara were working the pharmacy in the back left corner.  Sorry we don't have a video, but we didn't have enough footage to make one.  Once we get enough, I will put one together.  I imagine we will after today.

Today we will be going into the village to invite some of the lady church members to the tea we are hosting next Saturday.  Traveling into this village will be an eye opening experience seeing that we have been staying in the nicer area.  The village is within walking distance (about 6-7 min) and is known as the "middle class" area.  

Here is our schedule for the upcoming week.  It is a busy one, so if I am not able to post or put much up, I am sorry.  It is just a little time consuming to make videos and upload pictures because the internet is much slower than at home.  

• Sunday - Teach Sunday School, Morning Service, then Evening Service

• Monday- Medical work at Grande Bassam church (Dr. KB's home church)

• Tuesday- Medical work and evangelism at the Clinic

• Wednesday- Medial work and evangelism at Sebia Yao (a village outside of town) and then evening service.  This will probably be the hardest day because it is in a rural area and we will be working in tents that we have to set up.  Please pray that this goes well and that there is no rain.    

• Thursday-Medical work and evangelism at the Clinic

• Friday-Medical work at Koumassi church

The following week we will be working one more day (Monday) in the clinic, and then we will have Tuesday to tour the city and pick up some souvenirs.  Then Wednesday we will be heading home.  I am sure with how busy we will be that time will fly by.  Keep praying for us!  We know you are and that God is with us because since we have been here it has only rained once and it was a short shower.  The forecast had predicted rain the entire week and this is the rainy season so thank God for that.  

Day 1: Market

First off, click on the pictures to make them bigger.  It was taking way to long to upload bigger versions.

Yesterday we packed some of our supplies for the clinic.  As you can see in the pictures, we spent some time separating the medicine pills into plastic bags and stapling labels to them to make it easy to dispense from the pharmacy.  

We all got the chance to go to the market today as well, but we had to be separated into groups because not everyone could fit in the car.  We all got the chance to buy fabric to have African dresses specially made by a tailor that the Mach family uses.  We then walked back to the Mach's house which took around 20-25 minutes.  Once we got back, Jessica got the chance to play basketball with Bobby Mach and a few of his fellow basketball teammates.  After dinner we were all blessed with the ability to gift the Mach family with some gifts from the U.S.  What a treat.  You can see from the photos above.  Mr. Mach loved those butterfingers, haha.  

Today we get the chance to finally work in the clinic!  We will keep you all posted!  God Bless.  

Video of our trip here...