Valley Baptist Church

We had yet another great team come out and visit with us on a "Vision Trip."  Valley Baptist Church from Searcy, Arkansas came out to look at Abidjan and to hopefully partner with a local African Church to plant new churches.  We are praying that they decide to come back out again.  The purpose of this trip was to do just a little bit of everything.  We toured the city, looked at the sites and visited several places that don't have a Baptist Church or even an evangelical Church in the area.

The team visited with Pastor Kassou and his family to see how a Christian family lives.  We also shared a meal with Pastor Kassou and his family.

The team also worshiped with the Baptist Church in Treichville.  They visited the Church Sunday morning and Wednesday night.

As always phone numbers were exchanged as well as email addresses.  I have no idea how they will communicate without a translator, but I have no doubt that emails will be sent.

Heather and one of the ladies from the church at Treichville.

Paul was the only guy that came on this mission trip.  The other five members of the team were women.  Pray for Paul as he feels he is being called to the mission field.

Pastor Dah, just to my right, and the church gave all the members of the team as well as Heather and myself, matching African clothes.  We put them on at the end of the Wednesday night service.

Just one more picture of the team in their cool African outfits.

Another Great Team

Evangelism in the rain, that's my kind of team.  They did the work despite the obstacles.  We did discontinue the afternoon session because of lightening.  :)

This is the gang in front of the church they worked with.

The gang at Vivian and George's house for supper.

Vivian's Dad with Mike and Ben

The gang with the pastor and his wife and their gifts.

June has been another whirlwind.  In brief recap, we had a team come from Louisiana, had my birthday, went to a meeting with workers from our area of the continent in Kenya and gained a teammate. 

We had a great time with our volunteer team.  They did a great job with evangelism.  We've been working with the church to continue to train them to carry on the work.  Mike has been doing some hands on work and I did a brief training with the ladies.  We'll both be back for more of the same. 

Caleb was able to finish up his school year.  He will be in grade 9 next year and Karis in 7.  Ben is still, well, just a mess. 

I think I'll forever be Mama Benjamin or Benjamin Ma depending on who you ask.  Ben has just made too big of a splash around here.  However, I did get a new name that still makes me smile.  For as long as I have lived, I've always been a little envious of other kids who had names you could shorten into something short and cute that only their friends or loved ones called them.  Heather is just a bit hard to shorten.  As most of you know, I was dubbed Esther here, due to pronunciation problems with Heather.  I've grown quite accustomed to being called Esther over the 5 years that has been my African name.  I've had a handful of other African names, but it is Esther that sticks with me.  My dear friend Vivian looked at me one day a couple of months ago and narrowed her eyes at me.  She continued to look thoughtful for a few minutes and then she said, "I'm trying to figure out how to 'caress' your name."  I nearly giggled at the construction of the phrase itself.  I'd never thought of "caressing" a name, but I guess that really is what makes a nickname special or something that only those close to you call you.  After a little more thought, she came out with "Esti".  She was happy and so for that reason, I was fine too.  I know it probably sounds stupid, but it's just one more piece of belonging here.  Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE AFRICA!

I hope to get you some pictures of our time in Kenya.  We are having some camera troubles and are waiting for some friends to toss us a few!  We enjoyed being with special friends.  The kids got to do VBS and Ben can teach any and everyone all of the music an dancing.  His sister can too, but she might not be as ready to do so.  It was the first time we'd all been together in 5 years.  We were staying on a retreat compound that was completely enclosed and we had the run of the place.  There were some others there at some points, but our group was so large that we outnumbered most any other group.  Our two big kids were gone just after dressing each morning and we only saw them in brief snatches until bedtime.  That is an incredibly unusual thing for us since we are usual together.  Even Ben made friends and he only cried a couple of times about going to class.  Now he wants to go back to class!

We are doing well, but staying busy.  We've had some little troubles with minor illnesses like cold, flu and stomach bugs.  We've got a big few months coming up, though, so we are hoping to stay well.  I'll keep you posted as I can.

With Love,
Heather

Success

It has been a great month and super great to be back home.  I got to help prepare food for a wedding with some special friends and yes, I was blessed to be able to wear a black plastic bag on my head too. My only regret is not having gotten my photo!  I got to celebrate a little bit for 2 mother's days.  Our African mother's day is usually about 2 weeks after the American one.  We had a wonderful team from our home church with us.  Finally, our little Caleb turned 14. 

There have been lots of highlights, but our big success this month was our volunteer team from Parkwood.  We had a wonderful collision of of well prepared volunteers, with a well prepared Abidjan church.  Both were ready to work and we had a great time sharing the gospel and letting God change lives.  I'm still involved in the aftermath, I mean follow up ;), from this trip and God has brought many new people to the church, many hearts and lives have been changed and many more are hearing the stories of the Bible for the first time.

Our summer months are double and triple booked with activities, so I'll do my best to keep you posted.  We've had a problem with one of our cameras, so we aren't getting many photos these days.  Hopefully we can get that fixed while Mike is in the states in August.

With love,
Heather

Jo'burg Visit

Ben and a couple of other MKs at the zoo

Ben and the polar bear

Ben and I at the Bird Garden

Ben petting a lion for the first time.  Directly after this, he tried to kiss the lion on the nose.

Feeding the Giraffe

Ben loved feeding this goofy ostrich too.  Every time he gave it food, he howled with laughter. 

These guys were a few feet from our car as we drove through the lion park.

This is from our first game drive.  We came around the corner a few minutes into the visit and found 7 giraffes.

These two little African kiddos watched these African animals wander around us like they were looking at squirrels or cows.  Just another day in the life of an MK!

Do you see the lion?  On our game drive we saw 3 of the African Big 5.  These lions would have been easy to miss, but some cars were stopped watching them.

I suppose nursing a rhino could be a painful experience.  I'm glad not to be a rhino mommy.

Ben and I are finally home.  Oddly enough, Ben's doctor visits all came out fine.  He's a healthy little 3 year old.  I finally got some answers from the doctor too about the trouble I've been having with my neck and shoulder.  Seems I managed to do some ligament damage from my inability to keep two feet firmly planted on the ground that was irritated or worsened by my little fender bender.  The doc gave me some drugs and some kind of torture treatment (AKA home traction) and told me not to play any more contact sports or drive on bumpy roads.  So, I suppose I'll be retiring from playing football and wrestling, but the bumpy road thing will be a little harder.  God is good and I know He'll either lay on His healing hands or sustain me to do what He's called in His strength.

We had to wait 8 days after we were medically cleared to catch a flight home.  I was pretty frustrated by the delay as we were both ready to come home and my work was piling up on me while we were away.  Some good friends took care of us from the time we arrived until we left and they showed us some of the neat places around South Africa.  We visited a lion park, a bird garden, the zoo, and even stayed the night in a game park.  It was fun stuff that we may never have the chance to do again.  I am grateful for time spent with dear friends. 

Ben had a hard time being apart from family, but we are all super glad to be back.  I'll have to put my nose to the grind stone to catch up on my 2 1/2 missed weeks, but I really love being here, so I'll be glad to do it.

My friend Deron took all of those great game park pictures and the pictures from the lion park, so that you could see a little of our trip. 

Thanks for remembering us in prayer.  It means a lot to us.

With love,
Heather

The Results are IN!

Well, I know some of you have been waiting to hear from us for a couple of weeks now, so I wanted to let you know where we stand. 

Ben got to see a very nice pediatrician here that checked him from head to toe.  Initially he told us that Ben looked good, which was very good to hear as many causes of long term anemia that can't be corrected are very scarey.  He told us that we would temper the blood results with what he could see in person.  I could tell he was preparing me in case the labs were bad and trying to ease our nerves while we waited.  I was appreciative of his attempt, but the long and the short of the whole thing is we've been battling this for a while.  I had done some research on what tests they might run to find the solution, and those weren't great either.  So, when the doctor called a couple of days later to let us know initial results from the bloodwork, I was a little incredulous and waited for the whole story to come out before letting you know.  The phone report was that Ben's labs were, get this, NORMAL.  Well, that makes no sense and then again, how many people were praying for our sweet boy?  So I breathed a little easier, but waited to hear face to face what the doc thought.  As we sat in his office and looked at the lab results line by line and saw them fall in  the normal range, with the exception of two little numbers that were only a hair outside.  There must have been 30 or so result lines.  Then the doctor floored me by saying, "He's totally fine.  Don't give him anymore medicine."  This child has been on iron supplements for a good portion of the last 2 years and all of the sudden, he's fine.  Seeing my questioning look, the doc said (in his Brittish accent) "If you would like to do something for him, go get him a Mac Burger."  Yes, they have McDonald's here, can you believe it?! 

So as crazy as it sounds, Ben's fine.  It sounds so weird because we expected a lot of answers, but not that one.  Then again, that's exactly what we prayed for, so why am I surprised?  My favorite African reached in the vehicle the day before we left, put her hands on Ben and prayed that God would heal him.  Praise be to the God Most High, that heals.

When I get back home, I'll send you some pictures of Ben petting a lion and feeding a giraffe. 

Why aren't you back home, you might ask.  Well, it seems that we are currently stuck here because of me!  I had a little fall, out west, that I wrote about.  It seemed to have caused some sort of injury to my neck/shoulder/arm that doesn't want to heal.  Since we are here, I had to see the doctor too.  I didn't get off quite so easily as Ben, at least not yet.  I had my MRI today and hope to get some answers tomorrow.  I know I'm not so cute and cuddly as Ben and since I did fall and hurt my own self and there is no way this is not so life threatening, you are not quite so interested in my silliness.  I just thought I'd let you know why we are still in Jo'burg.  I don't know when we'll get back home, but I've got work to do, so it can't be too much longer.

So, thanks for your prayers.  Keep them coming if you don't mind. 
With Love,
Heather

Perfect Timing

Well, you know that whenever something is going to go wrong, it always seems to happen at the WRONG time.  Earlier this month, I was headed out with one of our pastor's wife.  We were headed to a wake for the mother and sister or another pastor's wife.  I was driving our mission vehicle and we were in a traffic jam.  Within a few minutes of being stuck sitting there, someone hit me hard from behind.  All of a sudden, our evening's plans were ruined as we had to find police officers, make statements, take pictures and on and on into the night.  I am going to admit that I was pretty frustrated with the whole ordeal.  In my thoughts, my evening was ruined.  We didn't make it to the wake.  We didn't get to lend any comfort through our presence to the one grieving.  However, I've been trying to remember that God was not at all surprised by what happened that evening.  He wasn't sitting there twiddling His thumbs and saying, "All of my plans are ruined."  Now I can't tell you what God's purpose was for that evening, but I do know that uses all things for the good of those He's called.

There have been many interruptions and changed plans for us this month.  We had some follow up blood work done for Ben early this month to continue to watch what has become a long term issue with anemia for him.  We've known about this issue since his first birthday, but treatment at that time brought his iron level up to a reasonable level and although he's been on maintenance iron treatments since then, we'd mostly not worried about that again.  Back in October a blood test while Ben was sick showed the problem was back strong.  We treated with serious doses of iron supplement and kept him eating all of the iron we could pump into his diet.  Now after a few more control labs, there seems to be no or negative change.  Thanks to the gifts of Southern Baptists, we'll be on our way to South Africa next month to try to figure out what the problem is and how to treat it.  We just don't have the specialists here to really get at the problem.  If he were an adult, we could probably go further here, but he's just a little guy. 

So all of a sudden, my work in Abidjan is interrupted.  I was to go on a trip to France to aid some incoming personnel: cancelled.  We have a couple coming in to our city that I should have been helping start language: can't do it.  So, I suppose I'm learning a lesson about leaning on God and trusting Him to direct my path.

We would appreciate your prayers on Ben's behalf.  If only you could see him, you probably wouldn't worry too much.  He's our little wild and silly boy.  He doesn't look one bit sick save for just a little paleness and that could be just his lighter coloring in comparison to the more olive coloring I've inherited.  He loves to run and play with his older siblings and he's always into something.  Everywhere I go, I'm known as Mama Benjamin, because everyone knows Ben!  He's always making a splash and leaving his mark.

Although I don't know the end result of where we are going, I do know that God is already using these circumstances to bind us with believers here.  Many are praying for little Ben.  One family in particular has become very close to us over the last few months.  My trip out west sealed a good friendship with Viviane, a pastor's wife.  We'd been working together in her neighborhood, but after our time together out west, it was obvious that the two of us are well suited as friends.  Friend is not a word that I throw around lightly.  I don't make friends all that easily and now that we are living in a culture so different, it is even harder.  I am so thankful for God for this dear friend He has allowed me.  Being vulnerable and in need seemed to be just the thing to bridge the gap. 

Although we are embarking on the this crazy new adventure, we are trusting that God's timing is perfect and that He'll guide us each step of the way and give us the strength and the grace that we need for each new day.  I'll try to update you as I know something.

With love,
Heather

Map of Heather's Ministry Trip

This is a map of where Heather went on her Women's Ministry Trip.  This is a close look at the section in west Cote d'Ivoire and the cities she mentions in her blog post about the trip.  Thanks to David Pope for making it!