October 31st: Our kids really like Halloween and always have. We host the team Halloween party, which Juli and the kids tend to do-up very nicely. The kids trick-or-treat by going around the house and coming up to all the entrances of our (big) house where an adult is waiting with candy. We even post someone in the laundry room. We usually conclude by watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, by our VCR is on the blink, so we sang ''pumpkin carols'' and kept eating until it was time to put kids in bed.
November 1 was All Saints Day. In Catholic countries like Ivory Coast, it's a state holiday and marks the beginning of a week off from school. It always becomes apparent during these religious holidays how many people at least think of themselves as Catholic.
Since our focus is the Muslim background Djoula we remain concerned with how to help these friends become ''Saints'' themselves and know Christ's salvation. So I kept my Bible storytelling appointment with my group of Djoula guys at 4 o'clock. We talked about the feeding of the 5,000 and Jesus walking on the water. We had four regulars, one visitor, and one guy missing, but an amazingly good discussion.
Nov. 2nd we went to church. The service was nearing FOUR HOURS LONG with no end in sight, so we politely excused ourselves.
And today, November 3rd makes exactly TEN YEARS since we left Rolla, Missouri and headed off to Ivory Coast as a missionary family. Way back then we had a 5 year-old and a 3 year-oldi in tow with our 25 pieces of luggage, and a baby not even three months old in our arms when we stepped off the plane into the warm West African evening.
There's no way to sum up in this blog all our memories of that day or of tomorrow, Nov. 4th, as we celebrate ten years in Africa. But we want you to know how thankful we are to God and to you for all the faithfulness we've seen in that time.
The only thing truly scary is to think where we would be without Christ's great love.
November 1 was All Saints Day. In Catholic countries like Ivory Coast, it's a state holiday and marks the beginning of a week off from school. It always becomes apparent during these religious holidays how many people at least think of themselves as Catholic.
Since our focus is the Muslim background Djoula we remain concerned with how to help these friends become ''Saints'' themselves and know Christ's salvation. So I kept my Bible storytelling appointment with my group of Djoula guys at 4 o'clock. We talked about the feeding of the 5,000 and Jesus walking on the water. We had four regulars, one visitor, and one guy missing, but an amazingly good discussion.
Nov. 2nd we went to church. The service was nearing FOUR HOURS LONG with no end in sight, so we politely excused ourselves.
And today, November 3rd makes exactly TEN YEARS since we left Rolla, Missouri and headed off to Ivory Coast as a missionary family. Way back then we had a 5 year-old and a 3 year-oldi in tow with our 25 pieces of luggage, and a baby not even three months old in our arms when we stepped off the plane into the warm West African evening.
There's no way to sum up in this blog all our memories of that day or of tomorrow, Nov. 4th, as we celebrate ten years in Africa. But we want you to know how thankful we are to God and to you for all the faithfulness we've seen in that time.
The only thing truly scary is to think where we would be without Christ's great love.
La Famille Jones
Mission Chrétienne
Abengourou, Ivory Coast
www.djoulajoneses.blogspot.com
Mission Chrétienne
Abengourou, Ivory Coast
www.djoulajoneses.blogspot.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment