Sunday – Monday, November 7-8, 2010

Bonjour,

 

Our internet was down last night.  So, we will catch you up on the last two days.

 

We left the house at 7:00 to go to Anyama.  We weren't sure how the traffic would be.  It was our first venture into Abidjan as a family since arriving.  It was fun to listen to the different things that the children noticed.  Gilbert is the only one who really remembers living in Africa.  "Look, Mom, that lady is carrying a basket on her head."  "That lady has a bucket on her head."  "What is that smell?"  "Oh, that man has sticks on his head."  "I see a big boat in the ocean."  "This is a bumpy road."  We arrived in Anyama without incident.  We got there about forty-five minutes before church started.  So, we had plenty of time to greet all of our friends.  They were all happy to see us.

 

During Sunday School, I sat in the kids' class with the kids.  Everyone wanted to hold Bonnie.  She wasn't too sure about that.  Gilbert and Danny tried to sing along with the songs.  They clap with a lot of the kids' songs.  So, they didn't get much singing in, but they did do a lot of clapping.  Danny has picked right up on greeting people.  Gilbert picked up that the story was about Joseph, but that was about all he understood.  I told them the story as we went along.  Bonnie made friends with a boy who was about eight years old.  She went and sat next to him during most of the lesson.

 

We all went in the auditorium for the main service.  Joe preached and did a good job.  The people really enjoyed his sermon.

 

After church, we went up to Lenell Smith's apartment for lunch.  She had all of the orphans there for lunch too.  Margie Engelhart and Sara Bascue came for lunch too.  (Sara just arrived on Thursday.)  It was good to see all of them and to visit with them.

 

We stopped by our old house to pick up a couple things.  While Joe went there, we visited with the Litsons for a few minutes.  We had a few things that we had brought back for them.  They were happy to see us. It was funny to see how the kids paired up right away – Gilbert and Meganne, Danny and Joanna, and Bonnie and Allison.  Baby Samantha was asleep.

 

We headed back to Bassam before the traffic got too heavy.  Many people head back to Abidjan from the beach on Sunday afternoon.  Sometimes, the two lane road becomes a four-lane road with oncoming traffic trying to come in all four lanes. 

 

This morning, Joe and Dan went to Abidjan to get some of the bulk shopping out of the way.  The date for the run-off elections between the two top presidential candidates has been set for November 21.  So, we need to be stocked up as we will need to stay home around the time of the elections.

 

The boys started back to school today.  It was difficult to keep them on track, but we made it through.  

 

I have been working on unpacking dishes and washing them today.  We are going to go into town tomorrow to get the rest of our groceries.  Then, we will be able to start eating meals at our house.  We have been eating with the Post family up to this point.

 

A demain,

 

Joe, Laura, Gilbert, Danny, and Bonnie