First Term Updates – Cote d’Ivoire/Senegal

We’ve leaving this morning with Gina and Brian to do some sight-seeing etc. I don’t think we’ll be near e-mail, so I’m sending this early.

New staff is arriving as well as some staff returning from furlough. We are feeling like ‘old-timers’ since we can actually answer some of the questions people are asking. It is good not to be the newest rookies. Please pray for safety in all the traveling that will be going on in the next few weeks.

Yesterday, we attended the Baptists Mid-Missions church plant in town where the Abernethies (English) and Holmes (French) minister. Since the Abernethies were away on vacation, Aaron, one of the Liberian Bible college students preached. He talked about Daniel, and put himself in Daniel’s place since his life plans were changed by a forced exile, but God so clearly worked to bring about his salvation. It was a fresh and interesting point of view. Aaron’s heart yearns to return to his country and tell his people about the Lord. Since the goal of church-planting should be to train nationals to carry on when the missionaries are gone, we were glad to see that very thing taking place here in Bouake.

We’ve had a great time with our kids. They’ve helped us with a lot of work-related items, so now it’s time to play. We thank you for your prays for us here at ICA. New arrivals are helping us to move on and not think about recent events so much, but the closed and locked front gate is a constant reminder. The guards are more somber these days, especially Bob’s friend Antoine who was the main guard on duty at the time of the robbery. Although he did everything that he was supposed to do, he feels responsible. Please pray that God would use these reflective times in the lives of our workers, and that we who know the truth would be aware of divine appointments to minister to these people who care for us.

Although graduation was just 3 short weeks ago, we are quickly preparing for a new school year to start in just 2 more weeks. Our changing from a trimester to a semester calendar makes this summer entirely too short! Even so, we are busy trying to do ALL the normal summer projects in these 5 1/2 weeks. For us, help is on the way – our daughter Gina and her husband Brian are coming to visit us, arriving tomorrow. We’ll put them to work for a week, and then we’ll all take a little time off. We praise God for this special blessing!

Bob’s summer project involves making his classroom a ‘real’ science classroom. With monies provided by some of you, he is having a science demonstration table, sink and cabinet built by local carpenters. He and Brian will be painting this room and doing some other repairs to chairs and tables. My project changes from day to day as others come in with their computer projects for me, but my plan was to add memory, reformat and reload most classroom computers. One of our teachers will be returning from the states with pieces and parts to build some new computers for our much-used computer lab. Gina, who works in the computer lab at her college, will be helping me with some of this.

Even though most of our ministry is here at ICA, we take advantage of opportunities to become involved in other outreach ministries of the school and other missionaries here in Cote d’Ivoire. At the end of April, we traveled with about 50 others to Toulepleu, a village near the Liberian border where many Liberian refugees have settled. While there, our group put a tin roof on their school, staged drama presentations, witnessed on the street corners, and conducted 2 large evening rallies with around 2,000 present each night. Closer to home, this summer we are attending a small Baptist Mid-Missions church here in Bouake, taking our keyboard and playing for their services. While French services are held earlier on Sunday mornings, these services are in English, a ministry to Liberian refugees, Ghanaians and other English-speaking Africans. We hope to continue this ministry throughout the year.

Some of you have heard by now of the armed robbery here at ICA this week. Three of our staff families were directly involved, although we all knew something was going on since gunshots and loud, angry yelling could be heard from anywhere on the upper campus. While the parents were roughed up, and money, jewelry and other items stolen, none of them was seriously injured. The bandits then stole a 4WD and fled campus with one of our men who later escaped. On leaving one of the homes, they shot and killed Soro, one of our ICA guards. Soro was not a Christian; he and his family are Muslim. Please pray for the people from ICA who will attend his funeral and continue to minister to his family. We want to show God’s personal love and care during this time of man’s inhumanity. Pray that God will use this to open up a new area of ministry for ICA among the Muslim people.

As many of you have personally experienced, at times like this, people just need to talk. The past few days have been filled with sharing and drawing closer as a group. We praise God the students weren’t here, and we can see so many ways in which God protected us and kept the situation from being so much worse. Thanks to e-mail, we know some of you were praying for us that evening. One of the mothers involved shared with her children that we can choose to trust or we can choose to fear. As King David reflected in Ps. 4:8, ‘I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep; for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.’

One of the ongoing prayer requests here at ICA is that people would respond to the call of God and come and be a part of this ministry. It is sobering to think of all the missions work that would be affected if ICA were not here for the kids. Some MK schools around the world seem to have more than enough teachers, yet ICA is often short on staff. Why don’t people want to come to Africa anymore? I think that part of this answer can be seen in a story I heard from a 3^rd-generation African missionary. He said that there was a time when missionaries coming to Africa would pack their belongings in a casket; they knew they would most likely be going home in the same casket. That story struck me as being a visual picture of an inner heart attitude. These missionaries did not pick Africa because it was clean or safe. They came to Africa because this was where God wanted them. I believe that this is what Paul had in mind when he wrote in Romans 12, ‘present your bodies a living sacrifice.’ God expects every believer to figuratively place all their possessions and even themselves in a casket. From then on, we live on borrowed time. Everything we own, every moment left on this earth, belongs to God. He lends it all back to us to be used in His service. Pray that God would raise up people with this kind of commitment.

With hearts of praise, we thank you for your prayers and ask for your continued prayers for the following:

• political stability and domestic safety;
• continued outreach in to the surrounding area, especially to Soro?s family;
• emotional healing for ICAers who were here during the recent robbery;
• staff needs for 2002-2003 school year.

“Wednesday July 17, 2002, at about 6:30 PM, a vehicle stopped at the front gate of ICA. When the guard approached to ask what they wanted, the occupants of the vehicle asked for a contract worker who frequently comes to ICA to repair different things. The guard told them that the worker was not on campus. At this point the men drew pistols from hiding places and forced the guard to open the gate.

“Once inside the wall, they entered the house of a staff family near the gate and took as many valuable items as they could find. The parents were struck by the robbers but the children were not physically harmed. 

“As the robbers left the house with the parents, they saw Mike Cousineau’s vehicle approaching up the road. Mike had been called at home to tell him there were armed men on campus and was coming to handle the situation. The men let the staff family go briefly and shot at Mike’s car to make him stop. At this point the staff members ran and escaped into houses. The robbers forced Mike to take them to Brethren Dorm. 

“There was a team visiting from the US for a work project who were staying at the dorm with the dorm parents. The robbers entered the dorm, searched a couple rooms and took any personal items they could find. They struck several people and forced everyone to lie on the floor. One of the ICA guards was being held by the robbers and forced to kneel on the floor near the door. 

“When the robbers decided to leave with Mike to get more money at the office, one of the men holding a pistol to the guard, shot and killed him instantly. The group then left the ICA campus in Mike’s vehicle with Mike in the car. They headed into the bush and stopped, threatening to kill Mike, and roughing him up pretty badly. When Mike was forced out of the car he began immediately to run, weaving through bushes and trees. Despite several shots fired in his direction, Mike escaped without further harm. He found a car on the road that brought him back to ICA. 

“The US Embassy has a team here to investigate and help us with advice on security. The Police have been helpful, placing guards at our gate overnight, and have been searching for Mike’s vehicle. The Mobile Member Care Team based in Abidjan is coming this afternoon to offer their help to those involved. Mission leaders in this country and in the US have been contacted and will be kept informed of what is happening here. Late last night I visited the family of the guard who was killed and we are in the process of helping with burial arrangements. We just received word that Mike’s car has been found here in Bouake and he has gone with some people to check on it and possibly bring the car back to ICA.

“I have been impressed with the way in which everyone on campus is dealing with what happened. The most frequent question I hear is “What can I do to help”. People are disturbed and concerned about what has happened but there is a sense that we are under the protection of God, and He is in control. Many aspects of this situation could have been much worse, as we think through what might have happened. We mourn the death of a friend and employee while we thank God for His protection over many others who were on campus at this time.

“ICA staff met this morning at 9 AM for a time of prayer and to better understand what happened. Please be in prayer for all those involved as we work through this situation and decide how to handle things for the future. 

“One of the difficult things at a time like this is to know how much information to share as we try to protect the privacy of the people involved. Please be considerate of the ICA staff and be careful in how you communicate this to others. 

“Thank you for your expressions of concern and your prayers for all those involved.”