Author name: Lois Gillespie

Our hearts want to be with you today. We were so blessed to hear about your prayers last Sunday. Today, please share with everyone that God has heard and answered in a very special way. In spite of a flat tire and rather serious mechanical difficulties with 1 van and the bus, we made it to a hotel in Sikaso, about an hour inside of Mali, around 12:30 last night. We were greeted at the Mali border by 2 World enture couples who had already done a lot of the clearance work for us; all they needed was a list of names and passports numbers which I happened to have on my laptop. We hooked up a printer, printed 3 copies for them, and were on our way. (OK, it was a little more complicated than that…)

Today we’ll travel on to Bamako with 2 escorts from the American Embassy because we are traveling without official papers for our persons and vehicles. The embassy will take care of that in Bamako. We’re told our ‘rescue’ has been big news here in Mali.

Chris Marine, our field director, will meet us in Bamako. Along with the other missions, we will spend 2 days in ‘debriefing’. Hopefully, we’ll be home by the weekend.

God clearly led his people out. Nowhere on the trip were we ever in danger – that we know of…

Tomorrow we leave ICA probably for the last time – at least as ICA. Our stuff is packed away, hoping we will be able to retrieve it later, but knowing full well that we may not. We have given many things to our workers, especially all the food that remains (many things brought out by our friends 8 weeks ago), and we have said some rather tearful good-byes. We look forward to reunions with loved ones; they look forward to unemployment in an environment where jobs are non-existent. But we all share the hope of being re-united some day. With Abby, our house girl, we know we will see her some day in heaven if not here at ICA. 

About half of the staff and students will fly to Bamako, Mali, tomorrow on MAF planes, leaving Bouake airport around 10:00 – with limited luggage. The others of us will travel by convoy, taking as much of the luggage as we can fit in our vehicles, and hope to arrive in Bamako sometime on Sunday with all that we are taking. We will be traveling with a New Forces (rebel army) escort; the French commander here feels we will have no problems in this kind of convoy. Please pray that he is right.

Last night in our dining hall, we hosted our traditional fall banquet. This time, however, instead of serving our students, our students served the french military while the staff did the behind the scenes work of preparation and cleanup. It was an effort to not only say thank you for their protection – now, in the past and in the future, but also to allow them a time to come together and grief their fallen comrades. Their appreciation was expressed by an impromptu receiving live – about 20 of us and about 90 of them. We fervently pray that they have seen Christ in us.

Today, pray as we say our good-byes to very special friends and co-workers, but also to a dream. None of us fully understand why God brought us back to the ministry we love only to be torn from it once again a few short months later. Pray for our safety in the air and on the road tomorrow. Pray that God will soon direct all of us as to a future ministry – we need His very clear direction in this time of confusion.

We hope to be stateside for Thanksgiving. We’ll see some of you soon.

It is said that no news is good news. In our case, that saying is true. We’ve passed a little more than 24 hours without hearing (or feeling) explosions or gunfire. The action is now in Abidjan where many of our missionary friends are behind locked doors and keeping a very low profile. The embassies are encouraging ‘white faces’ to stay at home.

Today, ICA is a different kind of place. School will resume tomorrow so that the kids have something to do (the dorm parents’ suggestion – not the kids). But we are no longer segregated with the French on their side of the campus and us on our side, only to come together for special occasions. Because we are housing evacuees from Bouake, both military and civilian, almost all of the campus dorms and housing are being used. Food is being pooled in the dining hall where all of us eat together. Tonight we enjoyed pizza made with pepperoni brought out by friends of ours 8 weeks ago.

This day of calm has given all of us time to think and reflect on what we want to take with us when we finally find a way to leave – depending on whether we go by aircraft or are able to drive out. Neither option is open to us at this point. All of us are also pondering over what is next. Some will return to the states for reassignment, some will start furlough early, and a few have already arranged to fly directly to other locations in West Africa. We are among those starting an early furlough because, like many, this is our 2nd evacuation in as many years. We are ready for the relative peace of America.

Thank you so very much for all your prayers and e-mails of encouragement. Those e-mails filled with promises of prayer support are so important that I’ve been excused from kitchen duty just to keep the e-mails flowing by our satellite uplink! Thanks, guys!

Please pray for our friends, both African and non-African, who are in places in Cote d’Ivoire not as peaceful as ICA tonight. All of those in the north are without electricity and water. Those in the south are afraid to venture out. Also pray for a safe way out of the country.