Author name: Lois Gillespie

It’s very hard for us to realize that this weekend is Thanksgiving; people just don’t celebrate it over here.  We find that very sad because it’s always been a special holiday for our family.  Tonight, we did have a potluck dinner which we enjoyed very much; the kids are now watching a movie projected on the side of one of our buildings.

Tomorrow we will be dormparenting in the middle school boys dorm with the same group of boys we had at ICA.  While there, I’ll be setting up a computer system for them so that they can all have their own e-mail accounts in their dorm.  So far, they’ve all been using the dormparents’ account. Bob is trying to think of something creative to do with 12 middle school boys on their 4-day break from school; there just aren’t as many options here as they had at ICA.

In talking with some other ICA staff who are also here in Dakar, we all agreed that if we can’t be in Bouake, there’s no place we’d rather be than here with our ICA kids and other ICA staffers. (OK, maybe this weekend I’d rather be with my family for Thanksgiving and my nephew’s wedding.)  We’re thankful the Lord has provided for all of us in this way.  Tonight, as you hold your special Thanksgiving services, please thank Him for what He has done and is doing for all of us here in Dakar.

This past week has been uneventful as we continue settling in; we’re still in our ‘temporary’ housing and probably will be throughout November.  At that point we hope to move into an apartment building where 5 other staff families from ICA are living.  Dakar Academy is glad to get ‘control’ of this building as it is close to the school and will make excellent staff housing for next year.

Some have asked for our new e-mail address.  You can continue to use the same e-mail address, lgillespie@ica.ed.ci, or use the one on the bottom of our prayer card, bobnloisgillespie@hotmail.com.  We get your e-mails either way. 

Last week we asked you to pray about the need to move our car from where it was being stored in Abidjan.  We received news today that our ‘escape pod’ has been moved to another location.  We also asked you to pray that the UN would establish headquarters on our ICA campus in Bouake.  Six UN workers are living there now, although the main group has not relocated to ICA.  As the French will be leaving by the middle of December (they want to be home for Christmas), we would like to see these details worked out.  Please continue to pray for this.

Thanks again for your prayers.

Tonight Bob and I will have been here for one week, although it feels longer than that.  We’ve jumped right in; Bob is teaching his classes this week and I’m substituting for the computer teacher all week as she finishes last year’s yearbook.

We find that the house we’ve moved into is just temporary as the school wants to get rid of it – too noisy and dirty (being so close to the major highway).  All the car exhaust leaves black gritty dust everywhere. As Dakar Academy hasn’t been able to locate anything else yet, we’re not sure how long this ‘temporary’ housing will last.  We’ve decided to settle in anyhow since we don’t like living out of our rubbermaid containers.

A few of our ICA men were able to return to the ICA campus last week and found that our ‘stuff’ is still there.  Our ICA director is in the process of trying to get the UN people stationed in the Ivory Coast to move to our campus when the French leave (imminent).  This will continue the protection that the French have given our campus so far.  Please pray that this can be worked out.

We’ve also received news that we need to move our car from where it’s sitting in Abidjan.  That’s kind of difficult for us to manage from here; we’re trying to work through our field director and people who are still in Abidjan to accomplish this.  Please pray that we find another safe place for our ‘escape pod’.

We thank you for your prayers and value them even more now that we’ve seen what you can accomplish at the throne.  We’ll be thinking of you tonight.