Together again

Even though our colleagues Tom & Laura only work about 45 min away in Fourou, we don't see them very often. The road gets really bad during rainy season, making visits from either Kadiolo or Fourou difficult. This time Tom & Laura made a special 3 day trip over to Kadiolo to help Ernie & Jan sort through their stuff as they begin to pack for retirement. At the same time, we 3 couples enjoyed hanging out together again. Playing wild card games of hand & foot, and eating ice cream, and almost-delivery pizza. :D

Ladies working on sorting.

Guys trip to Sikasso for hardware stuffs

Before you get too excited about this lebanese hamburger... know that while it is tasty, it has cold fries in it, cole slaw, and a distinct sheepy flavor to the patty.
It does go down okay, though... :D

We enjoyed 3 days together... knowing that this is the last time all 3 couples will be together in africa. Tom & Laura leave this week for 6 months of furlough. In April, Ernie & Jan will be retiring. In May, We (Tom & Lisa) leave for furlough as well. When we come back next year, Tom & Laura will be here, but Ernie & Jan will be gone. We will have new colleagues on the field, Jeff & Heidi are now in language school for french, and will be joining us. We have 2 other couples who've been appointed but won't have arrived on the field yet. We look forward to our new team-mates... :D

Changes like this are sad. We've relied on Ernie & Jan's advice so much, and now we're supposed to be the guys who have all the smart advice... (Lord, give us the grace and wisdom to guide others on this path.) It is humbling, and scary.

Pray for us as we take the baton(s) that Eadelmans are leaving for us. Pray for the continued growth in the churches, and that God's word would continue to go out. That is way more important than our other issues.


On other issues.... Our electricity has been cut. We've been on a schedule of 8hr of electricity, 16 hrs cut. for the last month. This is supposed to go on until May 2010. Apparantly in the Ivory Coast, the main power station (hydro power) has 2 turbines. One is broken down. So they are repairing/replacing it. So now they only can make 1/2 the electricity they used to. So there will be these cuts until the plant is back up to normal.


Also in Cote D'Ivoire... President Gbagbo closed the government. That is like having the president of the USA suspend congress indefinitely. He's cancelled the elections indefinitely. (I'm not sure what he actually said as far as the elections' time frame, but indefinitely was the general idea.) So the Ivory Coast has taken a big step backwards as far as restoring normalcy to the country, sadly enough. We pray for peace & safety for our colleagues still working there, and for the national church.



Thanks for praying, and stopping by!

Tom & Lisa