Bonjour mes amis! Comment ça va? Everything has been going very well so far, and God has been very good to us. I know a lot of you have probably been wondering how we are doing, especially since we haven't had a chance to contact most of you. But I want to assure you that we are doing great! We are going to blog individually, so if you're looking for a blog from just a particular person, then just look for their name as a heading. Enjoy!
Cedric Wai
Freak guy...this keyboard is so hard to type with lol...some of the keys are rearranged, so it's really confusing (so please excuse the typos). But definitely better than nothing! It's great to be able to share with you about what God is doing with us. I sent a text message to about 6 of you, and I would appreciate it if you would let them know about this blog and that I am doing just fine. I don't want to send too mant text messages because I am not sure how much it will cost, so sorry to those who wanted a message...nothing personal!
Anyway, this trip has ben very good so far, and I know that God has been watching over us. As some of you know, one of my major concerns as I was leaving was that I felt incredibly unprepared. God has been so gracious to me and gently reminded me that there is nothing to be "prepared" about in the sense that I was thinking of. I didn't have my testimony written out in French, nor did I practice my French speaking all that much, but God reminded me that all I need is a heart that is willing to serve.
On the second day, we made our way up from Cotonou up to Parakou, and I learned so much about the culture on the way because I was riding with our leader Jim (he's a great leader!). When we arrived, Parakou was BEAUTIFUL! I'll post up some pictures later, but MAN the compound where we were staying was just breathtaking because of the gardening. The food was great (homemade!) and there was proper indoor plumbing and everything - MUCH more than I had expected. Unfortunately, it set the expectations for Pédé, which is where we are now...and we'll just say that water and electricity really is a luxury. At first, I was pretty disappointed, but God is teaching me to be more thankful.
There is even more to be thankful about still! The people here are SOOOO great and friendly! On our way up here to Pédé (VERY bumpy roads and crazy exhaust pollution as we travel...), I would stick my head out and yell "BONJOUR MES AMIS!!!" (Good day, my friends!!!) and wave, and they would yell back with a wave with children calling back enthusiastically in laughter! VERY cute kids walking around too! God has been showing me the simpler side of life, and so many things make so much more sense. I really look forward to building closer relationships with these people.
Another thing God has really provided for is my flat feet. They were sore on the first day already, but we decided to get a little creative...I made my own orthodics by folding paper, and it' worked really well. Thank God for providing us with that idea!
There's still so much to talk about, but I don't have enough time, unfortunately :( But for now, keep on praying for us! Here are a few things that can use prayer:
1. Pray for Erin (Don's wife) because she is feeling sick and is still in Parakou to relax and to get a bit of treatment. She is also pregnant, so her health is definitely a concern right now.
2. We just replaced some of the batteries for Don's solar power system (our only way of storing electricity...), so they need to be recharged. Pray that we can have more sun so that the system could be recharged faster, especially since the water pump relies on this.
3. Pray that unity can be maintained and that the living conditions would not at all dampen our enthusiasm We want to remember that we are here to serve, not to be served as if we are on holiday. Pray that we can overcome all these petty difficulties so that we can build a strong relationship with the local church and invest into eternal things.
4. I know I can be a bit of a picky eater, so pray that I will eat properly without being afraid of the food we are given (our first meal here in Pédé, we ate bread with ants crawling in and on it....we still ate it though).
That' all for now, but I'll keep journaling wheneve I can!
Cedric
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2 comments:
Hi Cedric,
If you're with Rogers, I sent Simon in his Yahoo e-mail a map of the GSM coverage in Benin and a chart of how much it costs for LD calls, local calls, and text messages.
I hope that helps!
Hey!
You talked about feeling unprepared with your French, and I just wanted to know how the songs went. And try to get more sharing out of your team! It's good for them to share their own experiences and it's great to see the missions trip through different perspectives.
I didn't read anything about jetlag from you...which would mean you didn't experience any? And what's the time difference? Is it something like +6h gmt? And yeah, I'm not even going to ask if it's humid 'cause my geographical proness already tells me it's MEGA humid. But how are the nights? Cold? Bugs or rats?
And WOW! You said the food is great? I was even a bit picky about food in Macau, and it's our kinda people's food! So maybe you should master the art of Beninian cooking during the next 2 weeks and you can make me some stuff when you come back, MINION. (Cue: Ungae, AHHHH) Have you widened your eating horizons? I don't wanna make assumptions of what food is there, but I have some stereotypes in my head...so please, describe the food! And it's a must to add more French sayings like, Bon Appetit, ok? It's Chewmacca-ly uncool to start off the journal with French and never use it again D=
ANYWAY...I'm glad God's working through you and showing you a bunch of things. Just keep up the effort and fight the foot pain! Some words of encouragement: I doubt you keep up with the Olympics, but this American swimmer just tied for the most gold medals ever in one Olympics event, and guess why he's so pro? HE HAS SEVERELY FLAT FEET! Among other things...but whoaaaaa!!
So yeah! We're praying for you all, and take lotsa videos and pictures for us all back home!
"Hey look! It says, 'le ligne!'"
Dudon
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