Author name: Lois Gillespie

What a long-anticipated day – our first day of school! To start the school year, we all gathered around the newly-restored dining hall bell and snapped photos as it was rung by first one of our older staffers, Mr. Vaughan, and then by the youngest person on campus, 2-year old Ereina. It was a very special moment that can only be fully appreciated by those who know what it has taken to get here: working through the mental process of reorganization, the physical manual labor, and/or the support of your prayers.

As we gathered together on Sunday, our staff finally complete, we were reminded of Who really deserves the praise as we joined in singing “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”.

We are small in number this year, but we are no less determined to make a difference in the lives of the students to whom we are ministering. We know we are being watched by others as well, the French who live among us and also the surrounding African community, all who wonder why we are here. Please pray that what they see in us will be what God wants to communicate, and that we will be ready to take advantage of opportunities to share about God’s faithfulness.

We thank each one of you for your part in our new beginning!

Again, we thank you for your prayers for us as we have made 2 different trips down to Abidjan since we last wrote: one to pick up the workteam from our home church and one to take them back to the airport. Other than little annoyances, both trips were without incident.

We were so blessed to have the workteam here, not only for the work they accomplished, but also for the encouragement they provided to all of us. It was a wonderful experience to introduce two very special groups of friends. I know we have created some memories together that will bind our hearts for a long time.

As you are praying for us, we are praying for you, especially those of you who live in Florida and have experienced loss. We have heard that our field director received some damage to his home and is without telephone and electricity. He was to return within the next week, but has had to delay his departure from the US in order to take care of the damage. Please pray for them – Chris and Diane Marine. We thank God that they are safe.

School starts in a week and a half. By no means is everything we wanted to accomplish finished, but we stand in awe at how God has brought us to this place. As we look around and remember the miracle of protection during our evacuation in September 2004, we are encouraged beyond words that God is with us. And as we occasionally see new evidences of that protection, we are again reminded that we’ve lived through a faith-building experience that we cannot let ‘go to waste’. We hope that as we continue to share with you what God is doing this year at ICA, you will be encouraged as well.

Thanks again for your loving and prayerful support of us.

Thanks so much to those of you who prayed for our 4th of July picnic and for our trip to Abidjan to pick up our co-workers. Our trip was blessedly uneventful, and we’re very glad to have Dave, Anora and Ereina here at ICA with us.

When last we wrote, we were busy preparing for our ‘fete nationale’ to which we had invited the french military who are on our campus. We are very pleased with how the day turned out. Our picnic started with a welcome, followed by the flag-raising and national anthem and then a prayer for our meal. Next we all enjoyed grilled ‘american’ hot dogs, various salads, boston baked beans and texas sheet cake while american oldies played from a sound system. After the meal, we played a few games (balloon toss, 3-legged race) before the highlight of the day – BASEBALL. We (both french and american) had lots of laughs as we tried to explain things we didn’t know needed explaining (like not running on a fly ball, advancing bases, etc.). Throughout the day, throughout all the activities, there were little conversation groups between ‘them’ and ‘us’. One question that seems to come up a lot: “Why are we here?!” We like that question; it gives us a chance to explain who we are and why we do what we do.

But that was only one day of our busy time here. Most days are more mundane, filled with cleaning, repairing, sorting through pilfered belongings, discovering new ways of doing things, etc. Lois was blessed last week to have an alumni show up and offer to help her with the network and computers. They are creatively combining parts from computers to come up with working systems.

We’re anticipating a visit from a workteam of 7 from our sending church. Please pray for them as they prepare to come, collecting all the things we’re asking them to bring (for us and for the school). Pray for safety as they travel, both to and within C?te d’Ivoire, and for no confusions with their luggage. What a blessing they will be to us and others here at ICA!