Author name: Lois Gillespie

It seems that the elections here in Cote d’Ivoire were conducted peacefully on Sunday, and no demonstrations of a violent nature followed the results. It’s possible that the readiness of the military helped to keep things calm. We believe God used your prayers to move the hearts of men.

One thing we here at ICA have noticed is the affect of current world politics on the value of our American dollar – we’re sure you’re noticing it, too!. Within the past month, we’re getting about 8.5% less on the dollar than previously (about 14.6% less since we arrived last July). We thank God that because of our faithful supporters, we’re not really noticing the crunch yet. But it is possible that other missionaries in other places are facing the same thing or even worse. We’re mentioning it so you can remember this area of concern for all of us.

Other than our efforts to accomplish ‘projects’ while the students are gone, this is a beautiful, peaceful time of year. The campus is green with cooler breezes on most days. We are reminded again of how much we love it here even though we miss so much about America – mainly our family and friends. We’re thankful for this peace from God, even when our hearts long to see some of you. (Our daughter and her husband will be here in 11 days – yeah!)

Thank you so much for your prayers this past weekend and for the encouraging e- mails you sent our way.

…the students – and now teachers get a break, right? Wrong! We have just 5 short weeks until school starts again since we are making the transition from the trimester to the semester system this year. It gives us very little time to complete all our projects for the coming school year.

But we have help on the way! Our daughter Gina and her husband Brian will be here in just 2 1/2 weeks, and we have plans for them – at least for the first week. After that, we’ll take a break and show them some of Cote d’Ivoire.

Bob is fixing up his classroom, painting it and building a science lab cabinet. He hopes to add a sink to this cabinet if the money from a gift we received will go that far. He wants to be able to do more experiments etc. in middle school science next year. 

My work doesn’t change, although I am trying to inventory all the campus computers so I can make plans for the future. I want to make sure that teachers who really use the computers have the best ones. Some of our old ones can be used in places where all they do is e-mail. As well as a few improvements to our servers, those are
my summer plans.

This Sunday, July 7th, is election day again in Cote d’Ivoire. One of the candidates is the same candidate whose supporters caused so much disruption twice before when he didn’t win. Please pray for a peaceful election, regardless of who wins. Just last week, some of his followers burned a village market not far from here, killing 15 people. The military is already beginning to make itself felt around town, which is not always an improvement. Just remember us in your prayers as you always do.

Just 2 more days, and our first year at ICA will be over. It’s so hard to believe. Other than during the holidays, we’ve really enjoyed our time here and are so thankful for how God led us to this school.

Our summer break will be short this year since the school is transitioning from a school calendar based on trimesters to one based on semesters. We only have a 5-week break, and for 2 of those weeks, we will have visitors from the States. For the first 3 weeks, Bob will be working on his science demonstration lab and I will be working on a better internet connection solution for the school, so we will be very busy. Before we know it, we’ll be in our second year here at ICA. 

Graduation here at ICA is, for some, a very tearful time. A lot of these kids have grown up together in a close environment and have become like family to each other. As they graduate, they are leaving for different places around the globe and are very unlikely to see each other again. Some are returning to the states to attend college while their parents remain here in Africa. Please pray for these families as this can be a difficult time; also continue to remember all the travelers over the next weeks.