Yovodoku - Ata + Tevi - FAN MILK - Giant leaves - Palm trees - The beach, the sight of forever – Motorcycles - How you can get whatever whenever because people sell everything possible on the streets - Rooster in the morning - The Yovo song - Smell of the bakery by our house every time we drive by on our motorbikes - View from our roof, seeing the downtown from across the plains - Being able to barter on basically anything, anywhere - Lizards and Geckos – Storms! - If you are late NO PROBLEM - Chill Culture - Always shoving as many people as possible in a car - Showers that just like clean the whole bathroom - Shoving everything in the fridge (Gum, Bread, everything!) – I will miss Benin! See you all soon :D!
July 8, 2010
I will miss...
Fong Lesson
So at the village, during our lunch break, Calixte and Martin taught me some Fong (the local language). Prepare yourself, because I have no idea to spell these words, but I will spell them like they are pronounced for you all!
Ahfonkangia – Hello
Sobedo – Is everything good? Response = Dolso – Yes everything is good!
Nonni – My name is _____
Affo – Foot
Chaussuafokpa –Shoe
Cloacko – Chicken
Cloacklovi – Baby Chicken
Choockoo – Dog
Bo – Goat
Bovi – Baby Goat
Chichi – Sunglasses
Add ne to the end of anything to say like “that’s a ___”, or “this is ___” etc.
Crazy Stuff in the past few weeks
We went to the zoo, we finally got to see some African animals (even though they were in captivity)...We saw some baboons and monkeys, alligators, crazy giant snakes, tortoises and much more (Including a random house cat)! Tortoises are amazingly strong, you can stand on it, and he will be still walking around, woah!
For Canada Day we created Jon-Eh (John A. Macdonald get it, get it? Haha), out giant beaver friend to celebrate the day! Created out of some cereal boxes we have been collecting in the corner of our kitchen haha!
Martin and I went out one day and he took me to this market called Tokpa...WOW! Imagine the most people EVER + the most little shops/stands EVER + shoved into the tiniest amount of space possible, and there you have Tokpa! Craziest environment I have ever been in. You know all those movies of the crazy markets in India, or Africa...Ya nothing compared to this, what an experience! Especially being a Yovo, and everyone screaming at you to come into their shop and tugging at you, wow, fun times for sure! Haha
I got some traditional clothing! I am officially African!
At Monday night’s meeting we had a huge surprise celebration for three people! Two of our leader’s birthdays had recently passed, and Abby’s b-day as well! We made sloppy joe’s (their favourite food ever now haha!), and decorated the house and had a great time together! The two DRIME Benin leader’s were touched that we celebrated their birthday and gave them gifts, because apparently you don’t really do that here, so they really felt blessed! I’m glad we had that opportunity to just bless them, because they have been working so hard with DRIME and doing an awesome job!
DRIME in the past few weeks
Sorry, my bad for not blogging in so long! (Take that as a compliment, it means I’m busy doing good things in Africa!! Haha)
Anywho, DRIME stuff has been going magnificently in the past few weeks! I’ll give you all a quick summary.
We promoted/presented DRIME in two more churches, which turned out great, receiving great response from the churches about this ministry! Praise God!
We were invited to partner alongside a church for an evangelism event. The crowd really loved the dramas, and because of our loud music, the area we were in soon was packed with people thirsty to learn about Jesus-Christ!
We have successfully started DRIME Benin’s first ministry season! They decided on having practice and ministry both on Sunday’s one after the other. Since then, we have had three practices, and two ministry times. At this past practice and ministry time, we totally left it up to the leaders to plan and run the day, we reinforced that statement by telling them we will not be present that day! As usual, they did simply awesome running their team by themselves. Because of their leadership skills, and love for our God, we are confident DRIME Benin is going to thrive in this country and continent!
DRIME Benin so far has been doing ministry at the beach because that’s where people seem to go Sunday afternoons/nights (seriously the whole beach gets packed!). The turn-out has been amazing. We get hundreds of people watching at one time, just observing and receiving the message of Christ! We have had some amazing opportunities here!
On another DRIME note, God is showing us over and over that he is in control and that he will provide for us! We recently worked out the monthly budget for DRIME Benin, and it seemed like a lot, but it was all necessary! And of course they have to raise it all. But God showed us that anything is possible with him by proving a man named George into DRIME Benin’s life! We were doing ministry one day and this man comes up to me and says “hey I think I am your neighbour.” (We had new neighbours that just moved in and we had yet to meet them!) So we went about chatting, and he came over one night while Abby and Janna were out and just started spilling how the ministry had touched him so much! He’s a believer himself and kept repeating how the dramas were so simple, yet so powerful, and that it amazed him that people left their “fun at the beach” to come and watch the dramas intently. He said that the whole thing amazed him. He’s a business man, and was telling me how he wants to see DRIME in Nigeria and Ghana and that he can help, which is amazing! So to start, he is definitely sponsoring DRIME Benin! Out of the blue, he gave us 30,000 CFA’s for transportation for the next ministry time (transportation is only 6,000, so he blessed DRIME Benin with their first donator!) and he rented us this whole high tech intense sound system for that ministry time too! He also said how he is going to keep renting it for DRIME Benin each week, then at the end of this month, he is going to buy us a whole new sound system! One thing that was so powerful that he said was that “I believe DRIME is the next move of God”...Wow! That is so incredible! God sure is looking out for us and DRIME Benin! Praise Him!
We have also been putting together the DRIME advisory council, which is a team of people who have a passion for the ministry, and that give council to DRIME Benin leaders and support them, and promote DRIME in their own circles of influence (People like business men, pastors, elders, directors of organisations etc.)! It’s been going great, we had our first meeting on Wednesday, and it all worked out great!
On a last DRIME note, we went with GAiN and a team from North Carolina to a village on Tuesday to do ministry, what a great day! The drive there was awesome, because honestly, the village was in the middle of nowhere! We drove through straight up bush the whole way, with a tiny little path that was big enough for a bicycle (which of course a bicycle would never make it due to the intense terrain!). We continually were wiped by bushes and branches in the car because of our tanking it through the bush! Haha. So we finally decided to put up the windows (duh!) The day was awesome! God sure moved in that village, bringing most of the village to come and know him, setting them free from the chains of fear and captivity! Praise God!
Our last tasks here as DRIME Benin base planters is to have a leader`s retreat, to finish the training, and debrief the trip with the leaders! Pray for a great end trip weekend with the leaders, and that we can finish well, praising God for everything he has done in this country!
June 16, 2010
Extra Extra Read All About It!
This week’s news stories include: Nigeria stumbles upon Benin, & Benin becomes the host city of a national Bootcamp
This past week, on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday, we had a school group from Nigeria come down to Benin to be trained by DRIME! We had a blast with them the three days. We taught them some of our dramas, trained them in evangelism, played awesome games with them, & just had an overall blast with them! It was hilarious, even after the three days that we had known each other, they already had realized one of my quirks...I wear backpacks, EVERYWHERE! So because of this, they bought me this funky African backpack as a thank you present, I was honoured by the gift, and now have another backpack woo! Us & the DRIME Benin leaders definitely enjoyed out time together with the Nigerian Team! It was actually the first time the DRIME Benin leaders go to train dramas! Exciting! Favourite moment of the three days would have to go to Janna’s epic fail! We were fooling around, attempting to kick over each other, and Janna was confident she could kick over Calixte’s head...poor Calixte! You can see where this story is going! One second she is winding up to kick over his head, the next, Calixte gets a foot directly in his face! Classic moment we all laughed off!
Bootcamp was this weekend! For those of you who don’t know, bootcamp is the kick off weekend for all the DRIME Benin members, to start the year! As you can tell, a very exciting moment for all of us & for the DRIME Benin Leaders! We had an awesome weekend training them in the dramas & evangelism, getting to know them all, & just spending the weekend together bonding to start off the year together! It was so amazing and crazy to actually be with the DRIME Benin team. To see where we started, & where we are now, amazing! All the glory goes to God, because his hand has been over this ministry the whole entire team!
We completely left the weekend up to the DRIME Benin leaders, for them to run it all, and make all the decisions together without us. It was so cool to see them run the weekend & take charge of every situation, us just there to help with whatever they wanted us to help with.
DRIME Benin did their first official ministry time to close off the weekend! Was that ever awesome to see them perform the dramas, and get into conversations with the crowd, and just really dive right into being a part of DRIME! They are amazing servants of Christ with awesome hearts for Him! DRIME Benin has a great year ahead of it! One member at the end of the weekend said the following which just melted out hearts: “I have never experienced such joy or felt such a sense of family than I have in these past two days.” God was so present this weekend, already creating a tight family bond between the DRIME Benin team! Not only that, but in our 2 hours of ministry, 30 people came to know Jesus as their personal Saviour! Praise God!
Random Fact: Did you know rats can climb up walls in Benin....EEK! Abby & I were chilling in the training room at bootcamp, when we saw a rat randomly climb up a completely vertical wall...WOAH, creepy! Apparently all the lizards here have rubbed off on the rats! Haha.
‘It’s a stormin’ out there!’
The past few weeks the storms have been crazy, which is really fun though haha! The thunder and lightning have been going berserk! Last night actually, we had one huge storm at 3am which woke us all up, loudest thunder I have ever experienced for sure!
The sad thing about it all though is that it creates massive flooding here in Benin, due to the lack of a proper sewering system. It is actually crazy how much flooding has occurred in the past while. Most side streets are completely flooded, in which many people have to vacate their home! Where we live is okay, but the road that leads up to our house is completely flooded, so we have to walk to the main road everytime we want to go anywhere on mototaxi’s now, because cars and mototaxi’s cannot get to us! We were on our roof looking out on the city, and people are literally cementing their doors higher, and constantly pouring out bucket fulls of water out of their houses! We are fortunate to live on a second floor of an apartment! Olivier said that every June and July is like this, many people have to leave their houses and such! Today we were walking to the cyber cafe, passing by many roads, and we actually had to take another route because of flooding, it’s crazy! Sewers is definitely something that I did not think twice about back in Canada, but am now very fortunate to have them!
May 31, 2010
The Comedy Network
So I thought I would fill you all in on some of those priceless moments you just can’t miss out on:
One night, we were all sitting around after watching a movie. I started whistling, as usual, and caught Janna’s attention. She asked if Abby and I could teach her how to whistle. Us not really knowing how we whistle (one of those things you just do and don’t know how to do), tried to figure out how we indeed are able to whistle. Abby and I gave each other a look and knew what each other were thinking...This could get fun! Abby held her hand out to Janna and said “here, it really helps if you kiss my hand, because then you make the exact mouth shape you need in order to whistle.” So there is Janna, so seriously making this intense kissy face with her lips, trying to whistle with all her might! I then added, “hey, this really worked when I was learning to whistle. Put your tongue between your top lip and your teeth. It creates the prefect mouth shape for whistling, and helps the air pass better through your lungs, so whistling will come easier to you Janna!” There she is, making this awesome priceless face, and Abby and I just couldn’t hold back from laughter...Janna finally caught on! Poor Janna, but we were eventually laughing together! Haha.
So I get in the house from going to the internet cafe the other day, and I see Janna and Abby sitting there, watching a movie so I join them. They told me that I could have the rest of the delicious new cookies we bought, because they snacked all night and were stuffed. Little did I know this was a ploy to get me to eat disgusting cookies! So I’m sitting there, chowing down on those cookies quite enjoying them, and Janna and Abby both give me this gruesome face and say; “HOW CAN YOU EAT THOSE THEY ARE DISGUSTING! THEY TASTE LIKE BOX!” So basically, long story short, their plan backfired and I now have a whole box of cookies to myself! Haha.
So this story is my favourite by far, I really don’t know how this came to mind but anyway...Were sitting in the living room, doing devotions together in deep conversation. We were talking about the image of God and got on the topic of Adam & Eve and how Eve is the rib of Adam so they strive for that reconnection etc. Anyway, right in the middle of our intense chat, this random thought entered my mind and I just blared out laughing, I have no idea where this thought came from! I just had to tell them though. I thought to myself...”That’s why men like ribs so much!”...Ya you are thinking exactly what I thought, WHERE DOES THAT THOUGHT EVEN COME FROM. Who knows, who knows! Haha.
Random side note: After months of MANY burnt out lightbulbs around the house, including both bathrooms, the technician finally came and fixed them. It’s actually odd to have light in the bathrooms now haha, we got so used to using flashlights and candles etc. Haha.
The Weather Network
So for the past while now, it has been rainy season here in Benin, and I have to say, I did not expect such insane weather. I really thought “rainy season” meant like tiny bits of rain every month...Was I wrong! When it rains, IT RAINS! I have never seen so much rain come down at once in my lifetime, rain coming down in sheets is an understatement! I could basically describe it with, “the rain is coming down in monsoons!” One day, the leader’s came over early in the morning to talk over some DRIME things, and then one of them stayed behind to write a letter with me for a church. It started POURING so we hung out till the rain passed (For those who aren’t aware, the Beninese strongly dislike the rain, the second it starts raining, everything stops and everyone takes cover till the rain stops. Honestly feels like a natural disaster is at our midst when it rains because the whole city stops and takes shelter). Anyways, four hours passed, and we had to print our letter, so we just torqued it in the rain and ran into a rather interesting predicament. A little bit down my street, there was this whole section, from end to end that was completely flooded with no way to go around, only through! We were on a motorcycle as usual and powered it through, to realize that it was deeper than we thought! My legs were submerged...and we were on a motorcycle! Definitely did not expect that to happen! Another battle with the elements came when I was out in the city. I was at the internet cafe by myself for a couple hours, thereafter one of my friends was to pick me up. I saw some pretty intense storm clouds coming and knew that couldn’t be good. It started to pour, and my pour I mean monsoon pour! And as usual, the Beninese disliking the rain, my friend waited to come pick me up till the rain passed. So there I was, stranded in the internet cafe, which had no power no nothing, the whole city had been stopped waiting for this storm to pass. Thunder, louder than I have ever heard it before, it was crazy! Definitely felt like the start of a movie haha! But I made it home safe after a couple hours of battling the elements! Haha. Also, on a side note, for those who are not aware, I’M AN UNCLE! Congratulations to Mat & Kayla on their new born baby, Cassidy! I got the call on that same day, which made me ecstatic! Can’t wait to see her!
The past while and the next while, we have been and will be working on two main things. One is Bootcamp, which is the official kick off weekend for the DRIME year, that we will be hosting the second weekend in June. We are in the process of finalising team details, so we almost have our very first DRIME Team here in Benin! So exciting! All the while, we have been working out Bootcamp details and there have been many things to work through with location & planning still. So in this time crunch, please pray for all the details to smooth out! The second thing is that we have a team of youth coming down from Nigeria to be trained by DRIME. We are so excited for this, and are working out details for their trip down, which would be the during the second week of June. This will be the first time our DRIME Benin leaders get to experience training others in the dramas, so pray the week goes really well, and that everyone just has an awesome experience!
May 19, 2010
Information Nation
This past Saturday & Sunday evening we hosted 2 information sessions. For those who are not aware, an information session is basically a program we invite all of the interested people in the ministry to, in which we give them a taste of the ministry & tell them all the details of the ministry, who-what-where-when-how. We hosted two in case some people could not come to one, then they could come to the other. Both days proved to be worth it, since many people came out, which brings our recruiting toll to an approximation of 50 members so far! So amazing, Praise God! People really seem to cling to the idea of DRIME, over and over I hear that this way of ministering is something new & fresh here, in which proves to be impactful! The DRIME Benin base if off to a great start!
One hilarious moment during the information meetings is the language barrier. Since many of the applicants did not even speak French (only the local language of Fong) when one of us from Canada would be talking, we had to do these 3-way translated spiels. Basically, someone would say something in English, then I or a DRIME Benin member would translate it into French, & then someone else would translate it into Fong, it was so hilarious! Never ever seen that before, but it was fun nonetheless!
Please pray this week for the interviews the DRIME Benin leaders are doing with all the potential members for DRIME Benin! Pray that it won’t overwhelm their schedules & that God would give them the right words and questions to bring up.
Sabbath to the Max!
On Tuesday, Michele treated us to a relaxing day at a pool! We had no idea how much of a treat it would be though! When we got to the hotel, we were shocked by how amazing it was, honestly probably one of the nicest hotels I have ever seen! We paid to be at the pool for the day and went on our way. I could not believe my eyes when we went outside to the pool. I could not believe we were still in Africa to be honest. It seemed like we just arrived at a 5-star pool-resort in the Bahamas or something! There was this crazy round pool, with a pool side restaurant/bar + CREPE/GELATO STAND! And the best part was we were also on the beach, the pool had an amazing view of the beach/ocean in the background. Even though it was so relaxing & amazing, I couldn’t help but think of how crazy it is that within a 5-minute drive, you can go from local slums to a 5-star hotel. I wanted everyone to be able to do a cannon-ball in that pool, but unfortunately it wasn’t possible. All I can do is bring love & hope to these people.
4-days on the Field
While us five DRIME Canada people were here, we decided to fit in four days straight of ministry with the DRIME Benin leaders & GAiN. Those four days were awesome, God changed the lives of many individuals through those days!
Our first day, since we are preparing for DRIME Benin to take place, we obviously had to choose a location for their street ministry. We took Thursday as an opportunity to try out a location in the city for ministry. We performed right in the center of this giant round-about that seemed to be in the middle of the city because of the extremely high traffic of people, which is perfect! At one point, we had a crowd of what seemed like at least 100 people, it was amazing! Kind of hilarious at the same time though, because the space we were performing in was a circle, we had to constantly change directions to perform our dramas, because the crown kept gathering in different places, haha!
On the Friday & Saturday, we went to two different villages with GAiN. Both days were a lot of fun! The whole village would come out and watch us do the dramas, & hear the word of God. Afterwards, like usual, we would gather the kids and play games with them which is always a blast! We played Duck, Duck, Goose, we had a jump rope competition & played soccer and Frisbee. It’s amazing how joy just radiates from them, even when every single say, they are faced with such challenges! I love spending time with them, and just loving them & bringing them the message of hope!
Sunday afternoon/night we tried out another location for ministry in the city. This time we went to a beach to do ministry, there were so many people, it was awesome! By the way, guess what the beach is called...Obama Beach! Even half way across the world, he is still so popular here! Crazy! Anyway, the dramas really seemed to attract a crowd so that proved to be a great place for ministry! Also, the added bonus was the priceless/amazing ocean breeze! Felt so incredibly nice!
Praise God for the many, many people that came to know Christ through these 4-days of ministry! Thank you so much for the prayers during these days, God definitely protected us & provided!
Reinforcements Have Arrived
Abby & Michele arrived here safe & sound on May 5th. It was awesome to see some fellow Canadians here in Benin! Along with them came Christmas morning...honestly! What was going through my head at that point was a hilarious picture. It felt like we were at war or something and a long-awaited supply ship was coming! Haha! We got so many awesome things from back home. There were letters from friends & family, books, an Olympic magazine (we had no idea what went down with the Olympics because of the slow internet, so after reading it...WOOOO GOOO CANADA!!!), delicious food we haven’t had in months such as OREO’S & PEANUT BUTTER! I’m pretty sure I looked like I was 5 years old on Christmas morning!
Recruits, Suit Up!
The past few weeks we have been doing recruiting at several churches & events around Cotonou. Our first recruitment effort was at a Benin Baptist Young Adults Celebration at the beach in Ouidah. It was crazy, there were hundreds of young adults there, and we got a 20-minute time slot to do two dramas & share about DRIME! (We thought trying to fit 5 people into that tiny cab was tight...TRY 8 THIS TIME! Man oh man, that was fun times for sure!)
The next day, on Sunday, we had a rather interesting recruiting strategy. We all together went to the first church, and had a whole plan set out. We quickly and frantically had to change our entire plan though, even down to which dramas we were doing/who was in them/who was speaking. It was insane! But it all worked out in the end! Janna & Martin stayed at the first church so that people could ask questions to them after church & Rachelle, Calixte, Olivier, Carleigh and I went to the second church. It was kind of crazy because we entered obviously after the service had started, so we had to figure out sound and all of that jazz while the service was proceeding...haha. Even with our crazy plans, God worked it all out in the end and all in all, those 2 days brought much interest in the ministry!
During those services, it decided to start torrential down pouring on the city. It never did stop so we rode home on motorbikes, in the crazy African rain! The rain is so crazy here that when it decides to rain, IT RAINS, one step outside and you are drenched! Riding on the motorbike in that weather was a lot of fun though! At those speeds though, the rain kills the face! Driving at those speeds with the rain pouring down, whipping your face...not so fun...But all the while still enjoyable! When Carleigh arrived home from that church, we noticed something that we didn’t have, that usually is a necessity when going home...we didn’t have the keys! Janna had the keys and she was at the other church, so we called her, to find out she would be at least another hour. So there was Carleigh and I, outside in the torrential down pour for 1.5 hours...haha! It was awesome though, I love the rain!
The next Sunday after that, we once again went to two churches, this time it was less hectic though because right off the bat we could split into two teams because we had Abby & Michele here now! At the church that Martin, Rachelle, Janna & I went to, we had a rather interesting change of events. There was only four of us, so that is the bare minimum you can have to present a drama, so we decided to do ragman. We then found out that we had to do our own music as well! The sound booth wasn’t even in the sanctuary, it was around back outside... We quickly thought together a plan though and put a little twist on the drama Ragman. For those who don’t know the drama, all four characters start side by side when the music starts. Since we had to do our own music, we had to revert to Jesus starting outside the sanctuary...HAHA, it was hilarious! I went around to start the music and stayed outside till my part came, so the drama started with no Jesus, and when my part came I entered from the side of the sanctuary...Hilarious! Both churches together on that Sunday brought about 20 interest-ees. Praise God!
April 30, 2010
Todo, we’re not in Kansas anymore...
So guess what happened?...THERE WAS A TORNADO! So exciting! I’ll back track a little to give you the full story.
So there I was, sitting in the living room watching a movie on Saturday morning. The girls were asleep so I was just hanging out by myself. All was calm and well with the city. Out of nowhere, this crazy freak wind came through our neighbourhood with what sounded like an airplane landing on our house! It went from calm, to extreme winds in one second. I have never seen such winds, it was so cool! I quickly ran to the back porch to get a better look at the situation! There were thing flying everywhere, and I mean everywhere even all the way up to the sky, the trees breaking and swaying, but my adrenaline was interrupted with me getting blinded by all the dirt and dust whipping around in the air. I stumbled back in the house and decided to watch at a distance, to spare my retinas. It only lasted about 5 minutes, but those 5 minutes were so exciting because I had no idea what was going on! Soon after, the normal insane rain storm hit, which was always fun!
It wasn’t till two days after that I found out it actually was a tornado! It made the situation so much better and exciting in my mind! Definitely my first tornado experience, so awesome!
So there I was, sitting in the living room watching a movie on Saturday morning. The girls were asleep so I was just hanging out by myself. All was calm and well with the city. Out of nowhere, this crazy freak wind came through our neighbourhood with what sounded like an airplane landing on our house! It went from calm, to extreme winds in one second. I have never seen such winds, it was so cool! I quickly ran to the back porch to get a better look at the situation! There were thing flying everywhere, and I mean everywhere even all the way up to the sky, the trees breaking and swaying, but my adrenaline was interrupted with me getting blinded by all the dirt and dust whipping around in the air. I stumbled back in the house and decided to watch at a distance, to spare my retinas. It only lasted about 5 minutes, but those 5 minutes were so exciting because I had no idea what was going on! Soon after, the normal insane rain storm hit, which was always fun!
It wasn’t till two days after that I found out it actually was a tornado! It made the situation so much better and exciting in my mind! Definitely my first tornado experience, so awesome!
Beninese Culture
To get people’s attention, I have seen two things being done. One, they clap really loud, and two, they do this very windy whistle.
Flip Flops seems to be the footwear of choice in all scenarios. The beach, at church, on the job, and...ON THE CONSTUCTION SITE! Eeek, don’t drop the hammer!
Motorbikes is definitely the transportation of choice, no matter what you need transported. Here are some things I have seen different people driving a motorcycle carrying/holding: over 10 long benches, a huge giant tire around the driver, two large sinks, 1 parent and 4 kids, the biggest basket I have ever seen filled with bread, someone on a motorbike holding a 25ft wagon trailer thing...you get the point!
Craziest things I have seen people carrying on their head: 40 pineapples, 7 DVD players, 50 hats, 100 pairs of sunglasses, 7 story device full of nail polish bottles, 2 shovels, huge round rack of clothes (you couldn’t even see the person), somehow someone piled up bread in a manner that it was facing upwards but in layers in a basket that ended up being taller than the person. It’s amazing what they can hold on their heads, so much more efficient! I can’t even balance a book on my head, yet alone 7 DVD players!
School system still confuses me. I think I have elementary figured out, 8-10, 10:30-12, 3-5. Highschool I think is mostly the same, but all of the highschoolers I know are all at school on different times, and later, and at random times on weekends, I don’t get it. UNIVERSITY...oh man, definitely do not understand that system yet! Apparently they start in Sept, but for 2-3 months or something is just registering and settling in, and I don’t know what else, they said January is when they really start classes. Best thing about it is that they don’t get homework! But not so nice thing about it is that their finals are worth 100% of their grade...eeek!
Very acceptable to sleep on the job, all the time we go into a store or a stand and the person is conked out. I love it! Who wouldn’t want to work here!
The culture requires everyone to call older women, “Maman (mom).” Kind of awkward, but I know that it isn’t awkward in their minds, so it’s all good!
Hmm...That’s all I can think of for the time being! I’ll let you know when I learn more, or remember more!
Flip Flops seems to be the footwear of choice in all scenarios. The beach, at church, on the job, and...ON THE CONSTUCTION SITE! Eeek, don’t drop the hammer!
Motorbikes is definitely the transportation of choice, no matter what you need transported. Here are some things I have seen different people driving a motorcycle carrying/holding: over 10 long benches, a huge giant tire around the driver, two large sinks, 1 parent and 4 kids, the biggest basket I have ever seen filled with bread, someone on a motorbike holding a 25ft wagon trailer thing...you get the point!
Craziest things I have seen people carrying on their head: 40 pineapples, 7 DVD players, 50 hats, 100 pairs of sunglasses, 7 story device full of nail polish bottles, 2 shovels, huge round rack of clothes (you couldn’t even see the person), somehow someone piled up bread in a manner that it was facing upwards but in layers in a basket that ended up being taller than the person. It’s amazing what they can hold on their heads, so much more efficient! I can’t even balance a book on my head, yet alone 7 DVD players!
School system still confuses me. I think I have elementary figured out, 8-10, 10:30-12, 3-5. Highschool I think is mostly the same, but all of the highschoolers I know are all at school on different times, and later, and at random times on weekends, I don’t get it. UNIVERSITY...oh man, definitely do not understand that system yet! Apparently they start in Sept, but for 2-3 months or something is just registering and settling in, and I don’t know what else, they said January is when they really start classes. Best thing about it is that they don’t get homework! But not so nice thing about it is that their finals are worth 100% of their grade...eeek!
Very acceptable to sleep on the job, all the time we go into a store or a stand and the person is conked out. I love it! Who wouldn’t want to work here!
The culture requires everyone to call older women, “Maman (mom).” Kind of awkward, but I know that it isn’t awkward in their minds, so it’s all good!
Hmm...That’s all I can think of for the time being! I’ll let you know when I learn more, or remember more!
Brainstorm
For those who are not aware, we have been working with a drama team here that have been helping us do ministry and such, while we plan, recruit and set up the official DRIME Team here in Benin! They are the team that was trained here when DRIME came last May. Many of those members though are interested in joining the DRIME Team, so to avoid misunderstandings or false expectations we thought we should create a break between the team practices and to-be DRIME Practices. We did so by having a celebration end of the year party for them, to celebrate and thank them for all they did in the previous since being trained by DRIME in May. It was a lot of fun! The most entertaining and fun game of 4 on a couch surfaced from that day too! They absolutely love seeing pictures so we prepared a slideshow for them as well. Great memories and time spent with the Vodje drama team!
Also, for those who are not aware, there are 2 other DRIME Canada members who are coming on Wednesday, May 5, in less than a week! One of them is Michele, who works for DRIME as the DRIME-GAiN liaison. She will be joining us only for 1.5 weeks. The other one is Abby, she will be here for the rest of the trip, replacing Carleigh who sadly has to go. All in all, it’s going to be fun to have all 5 of us here in Benin! Please pray for their remaining days in Canada, as well as safety during the long voyage they have.
We start recruiting this Sunday for the official DRIME Team. We were invited to perform and recruit from this huge event in which all the Baptist young adults are attending this Saturday. It’s some sort of celebration/party event, so that will be awesome! We are also going to two different churches Sunday morning to share about DRIME. Please pray for everything to work smoothly, and for people to show interest!
This week marked the half way point for me here in Benin! It has been an incredible adventure and I am so excited to continue venturing forth as a part of God’s plan here in Benin! Please keep us in your prayers! Thank you all for your constant support!
Also, for those who are not aware, there are 2 other DRIME Canada members who are coming on Wednesday, May 5, in less than a week! One of them is Michele, who works for DRIME as the DRIME-GAiN liaison. She will be joining us only for 1.5 weeks. The other one is Abby, she will be here for the rest of the trip, replacing Carleigh who sadly has to go. All in all, it’s going to be fun to have all 5 of us here in Benin! Please pray for their remaining days in Canada, as well as safety during the long voyage they have.
We start recruiting this Sunday for the official DRIME Team. We were invited to perform and recruit from this huge event in which all the Baptist young adults are attending this Saturday. It’s some sort of celebration/party event, so that will be awesome! We are also going to two different churches Sunday morning to share about DRIME. Please pray for everything to work smoothly, and for people to show interest!
This week marked the half way point for me here in Benin! It has been an incredible adventure and I am so excited to continue venturing forth as a part of God’s plan here in Benin! Please keep us in your prayers! Thank you all for your constant support!
April 23, 2010
Tourist Endeavours
For the first time in just under 2.5 months, we were able to visit some tourist locations here in Benin! It was awesome!
The day started with us 6 shoving and squishing into a taxi, clearly suited for 3 people...It was pretty fun, and definitely grew us closer, literally haha. An hour later, doesn’t feel so fun anymore though, kind of turned painful...haha! We all piled out of the taxi when the doors opened and we had arrived at our first museum! It was the museum of slavery. It was so crazy and shocking to hear about the things that here in Benin all those years ago. They would sell these like dinky pipes for 5 slaves, the King would have slaves killed for his amusement, they would shove the slaves in boats in which half would die on the journey, the King would have 41 of his wives buried alive with him when he died...Crazy to think that things like that actually happened! I couldn’t imagine even begin to imagine the things those people went through...
The next stop on our venture was the python museum...yes, you heard me right, PYTHON MUSEUM...or so we thought it was a museum. It turned out to be this temple where voodoo priests would come and like worship the pythons, offer sacrifices and execute rituals. It really wasn’t what we expected, but nonetheless were still excited to get to the snakes! The guy brought out a python from the temple for us to hold and get used to it before we entered the temple. The snakes felt so weird but cool when you held them! They are surprisingly very calm creatures! I kind of got a little sketched out when it started crawling up and licking my arm! But a fun experience all in all. He finally let us enter the temple thing, and to all of our surprise there were like 100 pythons just let loose in this temple room place. It was sooo intense! They were everywhere, just roaming around freely. It was a little sketchy but awesome all at the same time! We were able just to pick one up whenever and put it around our neck and move them around, it was awesome! At one point this one python kept like crawling around me into and around my backpack, it was hilarious! I have definitely grown to love pythons now, awesome creatures!
After leaving the python temple, we decided to hit the beach! Even though they warned us it was a very long walk, we decided to anyway, there was a cool breeze that would keep us sane in the African heat, so we decided, why not! The long, long road to the beach was the same path that the slaves walked all those years ago to get to the boats. It was crazy to think that the slaves walked on the very paths we were walking, crazy crazy stuff! It ended up being a little longer than we thought, taking like 2 hours, but the breeze from the ocean was worth a million bucks! When we arrived at the beach, I couldn’t help but just get overwhelmed by it all. We were the only people on the entire beach, no one in distance of sight. The ocean was so incredible, water as far as the eye can see in every direction! I don’t know why but I felt like I was on top of the world when I looked out into the vast and powerful ocean. To know that God made that, such a powerful yet beautiful thing, amazes me, purely captivates me! It was an amazing & awesome day that we got to spend with some of the leaders of DRIME Benin!
The day started with us 6 shoving and squishing into a taxi, clearly suited for 3 people...It was pretty fun, and definitely grew us closer, literally haha. An hour later, doesn’t feel so fun anymore though, kind of turned painful...haha! We all piled out of the taxi when the doors opened and we had arrived at our first museum! It was the museum of slavery. It was so crazy and shocking to hear about the things that here in Benin all those years ago. They would sell these like dinky pipes for 5 slaves, the King would have slaves killed for his amusement, they would shove the slaves in boats in which half would die on the journey, the King would have 41 of his wives buried alive with him when he died...Crazy to think that things like that actually happened! I couldn’t imagine even begin to imagine the things those people went through...
The next stop on our venture was the python museum...yes, you heard me right, PYTHON MUSEUM...or so we thought it was a museum. It turned out to be this temple where voodoo priests would come and like worship the pythons, offer sacrifices and execute rituals. It really wasn’t what we expected, but nonetheless were still excited to get to the snakes! The guy brought out a python from the temple for us to hold and get used to it before we entered the temple. The snakes felt so weird but cool when you held them! They are surprisingly very calm creatures! I kind of got a little sketched out when it started crawling up and licking my arm! But a fun experience all in all. He finally let us enter the temple thing, and to all of our surprise there were like 100 pythons just let loose in this temple room place. It was sooo intense! They were everywhere, just roaming around freely. It was a little sketchy but awesome all at the same time! We were able just to pick one up whenever and put it around our neck and move them around, it was awesome! At one point this one python kept like crawling around me into and around my backpack, it was hilarious! I have definitely grown to love pythons now, awesome creatures!
After leaving the python temple, we decided to hit the beach! Even though they warned us it was a very long walk, we decided to anyway, there was a cool breeze that would keep us sane in the African heat, so we decided, why not! The long, long road to the beach was the same path that the slaves walked all those years ago to get to the boats. It was crazy to think that the slaves walked on the very paths we were walking, crazy crazy stuff! It ended up being a little longer than we thought, taking like 2 hours, but the breeze from the ocean was worth a million bucks! When we arrived at the beach, I couldn’t help but just get overwhelmed by it all. We were the only people on the entire beach, no one in distance of sight. The ocean was so incredible, water as far as the eye can see in every direction! I don’t know why but I felt like I was on top of the world when I looked out into the vast and powerful ocean. To know that God made that, such a powerful yet beautiful thing, amazes me, purely captivates me! It was an amazing & awesome day that we got to spend with some of the leaders of DRIME Benin!
Leader’s Retreat
We had our leader’s retreat this past weekend at our house. It was a great time of fellowship, laughter and growth for all of us! Throughout the weekend, we were able to discuss with each other some Leadership topics and books and get through more of the DRIME ministry descriptions, drama training, recruitment, and even started looking at DRIME Benin more specifically in terms of where and how to recruit here, what/where/when ministry and practices will look like here. It was great to see the leader’s just really take ownership of DRIME Benin and start really working out the details. When we were talking about DRIME Benin, all we had to do was kind of start the conversation, then they just went full throttle at the topic and would start working things out and discussing without even us having to do anything! It was awesome!
The whole weekend we obviously had to feed them, and from that came the highlight of the weekend for the Leaders! Haha. They loved the food we made! We made sloppy Joe’s, Crapes and Spaghetti. I’m not going to lie, it was all very delicious! This was a statement by one of our Leaders, “We will start a Canadian Restaurant here, and all other restaurants will go out of business.” HAHA. Hoorah for somewhat-Canadian cuisine!
The whole weekend we obviously had to feed them, and from that came the highlight of the weekend for the Leaders! Haha. They loved the food we made! We made sloppy Joe’s, Crapes and Spaghetti. I’m not going to lie, it was all very delicious! This was a statement by one of our Leaders, “We will start a Canadian Restaurant here, and all other restaurants will go out of business.” HAHA. Hoorah for somewhat-Canadian cuisine!
April 16, 2010
Traveler’s Log #60, No Time to Blow Your Nose:
No time to waste, no time to think, I must act quickly or it’ll all be over! After what I thought started off as and would finish as a normal day, I found myself in the midst of a war, at the battlefront, behind enemy lines. Where did this come from? One second I was writing a letter home to my family, the next I was under siege, fighting for my life. I could hear them, closing in, closer and closer. I was at a crossroad at that point, flee & take the cowards way out, or fight and risk it all...I knew what I had to do, I was not going to leave a coward, but I was going to stay a soldier, I was going to fight! I took a deep breath as I felt the adrenaline start to build up. The next thing I knew, I was charging out onto the battle field, sliding across the floor to get to cover. I ran out to gain some ground, to stop their advancement, artillery flying by me, just missing me, in what it seemed like slow motion. I stopped, crouched behind a corner for just enough time to reload then blared back in the battlefront. Minutes later, there I was, at their base, it was now or never! I charged into their camp and gave them everything I had, not knowing how many of them there were, not knowing what fate laid before me. I had taken one to the arm and fell behind cover. No time to give up, I had to fight! To their surprise, I got back up and charged. No backing down this time, it was going to be them, or me. I closed my eyes and gave them all I got. After what seemed like hours, I opened my eyes to find myself still standing...Standing as the victor!
P.S.: That was a recreation + Exaggeration of a battle we had with Kleenex packs, yes Kleenex packs! Haha. It started as a simple and innocent Kleenex pack thrown around...Few minutes later, we found ourselves in a full out war. Kleenex packs make for great ammunition by the way, it doesn’t hurt really, and they are just heavy enough to get thrown across a room, and with the right technique, they can sure fly! Also, because of my allergies, we stocked up on Kleenex, A LOT of Kleenex, so we had like over 60 packs of Kleenex to use as artillery! Fun Times!
P.S.: That was a recreation + Exaggeration of a battle we had with Kleenex packs, yes Kleenex packs! Haha. It started as a simple and innocent Kleenex pack thrown around...Few minutes later, we found ourselves in a full out war. Kleenex packs make for great ammunition by the way, it doesn’t hurt really, and they are just heavy enough to get thrown across a room, and with the right technique, they can sure fly! Also, because of my allergies, we stocked up on Kleenex, A LOT of Kleenex, so we had like over 60 packs of Kleenex to use as artillery! Fun Times!
Wish I had some carrots...
Today, our friend from our church took us to his Rabbit Farm, yes that’s right...RABBIT FARM! There were so many rabbits, and apparently he had just sold 70! Could not even imagine adding 70 to the number that was already there! I have never seen so many rabbits in one place! There were rabbits of all ages, some of the biggest I have ever seen, and some of the smallest I have ever seen! There were these two rabbits that were only 5 days old, and they looked like little tiny rat pig babies, it was hilarious! I held one,...and almost let it go, my bad!
Afterwards he took us out for lunch at this place he always goes to...and guess what, THEY HAD PIZZA! It was incredibly delicious, one of the best I have ever tasted! No Pizza for 2 months...almost didn’t make it! Haha. Then to top it all off, WE HAD ICE CREAM! Pizza and Ice Cream all in one day, couldn’t get any more delicious than that! Some of the best ice cream I have ever tasted as well. I got to find out how they make this stuff, incredible!
...K I retract my statement on most amazing day ever + most amazing pizza ever...We got sick, very very sick! We’re pretty sure it’s food poisoning! Eeek. Not fun at all. All three of us started to get nauseous all at the same time, and the rest of the night only went downhill from there! Ironic because I started getting sick when I was writing how awesome the pizza was! Never ever had a worst night in my life, at one point it was like 3am, and I was so delusional & basically passed out on my bathroom floor...Ya I won’t go into detail but you get the gist of what happened I’m sure! WORST PIZZA EVER!...haha...but not bad eh! 2 whole months in Africa without getting sick! Praise God!...but still, WORST PIZZA EVER!
Afterwards he took us out for lunch at this place he always goes to...and guess what, THEY HAD PIZZA! It was incredibly delicious, one of the best I have ever tasted! No Pizza for 2 months...almost didn’t make it! Haha. Then to top it all off, WE HAD ICE CREAM! Pizza and Ice Cream all in one day, couldn’t get any more delicious than that! Some of the best ice cream I have ever tasted as well. I got to find out how they make this stuff, incredible!
...K I retract my statement on most amazing day ever + most amazing pizza ever...We got sick, very very sick! We’re pretty sure it’s food poisoning! Eeek. Not fun at all. All three of us started to get nauseous all at the same time, and the rest of the night only went downhill from there! Ironic because I started getting sick when I was writing how awesome the pizza was! Never ever had a worst night in my life, at one point it was like 3am, and I was so delusional & basically passed out on my bathroom floor...Ya I won’t go into detail but you get the gist of what happened I’m sure! WORST PIZZA EVER!...haha...but not bad eh! 2 whole months in Africa without getting sick! Praise God!...but still, WORST PIZZA EVER!
And so it begins!
We had our first official training session with the Leader’s of DRIME Benin! They really dove into it, asking so many questions, and all we shared was the description of the DRIME ministry, and they had questions like no tomorrow! It was so awesome to see them take such an interest in this ministry, and want to understand as much as they can so they can do the best they can! We decided on meetings with them every Monday night and Wednesday night for the remainder of our stay here! It is so exciting to see it all start to take form! This weekend we planned a retreat with the Leader’s! This should be a great time with the Leader’s getting to know them better, spending the weekend together & diving into more DRIME & Leadership training!
Africa’s Hidden Nature
On Friday and Saturday, we were so blessed to be a part of two full jam packed days spent in some villages here in Benin. It’s so crazy how after living in Africa for 2 months already, I have just only experienced “Real Africa” to say. Both days were filled with experiences of a lifetime!
Driving to the villages took quite awhile, driving through the middle of nothing but African plains for a couple hours! The roads were quite fun to ride on, many times feeling as though we were experiencing constant earthquakes from all the craters and bumps on the road! It felt like we were on an African Safari, minus the animals, but nonetheless enjoying the incredible views! I’m almost positive we ran into the place where they filmed Lion King...haha! At some points, we had to drive through like complete bush, 4x4’s sure do come in handy!
When we chose our spot to do the dramas, the word would spread fast that there were visitors, and the whole village would gather around to watch us, it was amazing! At each village, we took a long break between drama sets just to hang out with everyone in the village, and love on them!
A group of ladies came out at one point and started singing some traditional songs for us, eventually teaching us their traditional dance, oh man...the sight of the day for sure was a white boy dancing away! Haha.
We played some games with all the kids, including the most epic and exciting Duck Duck Goose game ever, it was so much fun! It was the normal game, but the whole entire village was watching us play this with all the kids, cheering, laughing and creating a really fun atmosphere! To put it into context, it seemed as if they were watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs or something! They would start cheering so loud when it was a close race and the kids would slide into their spot, and then the crowd goes wild and starts jumping and laughing! It was one of the highlights of my trip for sure, it was a blast!
One of the members of the team here, showed me this mind game that you play in the sand, and you have to line up your three pieces before the other one does (complicated to write it down), anyway, all the kids started gathering around us, and they were all helping me out beat him and cheering for me! It was hilarious, I definitely did not have to do anything because they would just tell me where to move to beat him! Haha.
There were definitely some voodoo priests/witches at the second village who watched us the whole time, but we were not bothered by them, they kept their distance. It was crazy to experience and see that there is a strong voodoo presence here in Benin, because in Canada it’s kind of something that people make fun of or don’t think twice about, but here, people live in fear because of voodoo and it is a huge part of this culture! Thank God for his protection over us during our ventures in the villages!
In the first village, when we were just about to leave, they stopped us before we left and brought us all this food, seriously food to feed an army! In the villages, it is an insult if you do not eat the food they prepare for you, so we knew we had to eat it! It was quite delicious actually! After a while though, I found myself having to shove it all down because we have to eat all the food, but I have never felt fuller in my life! My stomach was literally about to explode, definitely did not eat the rest of the day!
Performing the dramas in the heat was quite fun! I don’t think I have ever been dirtier in my life, but it was so much fun, felt like a kid again, playing in the dirt! Haha. It was incredible to see them respond to the dramas, and see many discover Christ through them! We had about 60 people in total both days come to know Jesus! Praise the Lord! Amazing 2 days spent in the villages, I had a blast!
By the way...Saw someone walking down the side of the road wearing a scarf...YES, A SCARF!
Driving to the villages took quite awhile, driving through the middle of nothing but African plains for a couple hours! The roads were quite fun to ride on, many times feeling as though we were experiencing constant earthquakes from all the craters and bumps on the road! It felt like we were on an African Safari, minus the animals, but nonetheless enjoying the incredible views! I’m almost positive we ran into the place where they filmed Lion King...haha! At some points, we had to drive through like complete bush, 4x4’s sure do come in handy!
When we chose our spot to do the dramas, the word would spread fast that there were visitors, and the whole village would gather around to watch us, it was amazing! At each village, we took a long break between drama sets just to hang out with everyone in the village, and love on them!
A group of ladies came out at one point and started singing some traditional songs for us, eventually teaching us their traditional dance, oh man...the sight of the day for sure was a white boy dancing away! Haha.
We played some games with all the kids, including the most epic and exciting Duck Duck Goose game ever, it was so much fun! It was the normal game, but the whole entire village was watching us play this with all the kids, cheering, laughing and creating a really fun atmosphere! To put it into context, it seemed as if they were watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs or something! They would start cheering so loud when it was a close race and the kids would slide into their spot, and then the crowd goes wild and starts jumping and laughing! It was one of the highlights of my trip for sure, it was a blast!
One of the members of the team here, showed me this mind game that you play in the sand, and you have to line up your three pieces before the other one does (complicated to write it down), anyway, all the kids started gathering around us, and they were all helping me out beat him and cheering for me! It was hilarious, I definitely did not have to do anything because they would just tell me where to move to beat him! Haha.
There were definitely some voodoo priests/witches at the second village who watched us the whole time, but we were not bothered by them, they kept their distance. It was crazy to experience and see that there is a strong voodoo presence here in Benin, because in Canada it’s kind of something that people make fun of or don’t think twice about, but here, people live in fear because of voodoo and it is a huge part of this culture! Thank God for his protection over us during our ventures in the villages!
In the first village, when we were just about to leave, they stopped us before we left and brought us all this food, seriously food to feed an army! In the villages, it is an insult if you do not eat the food they prepare for you, so we knew we had to eat it! It was quite delicious actually! After a while though, I found myself having to shove it all down because we have to eat all the food, but I have never felt fuller in my life! My stomach was literally about to explode, definitely did not eat the rest of the day!
Performing the dramas in the heat was quite fun! I don’t think I have ever been dirtier in my life, but it was so much fun, felt like a kid again, playing in the dirt! Haha. It was incredible to see them respond to the dramas, and see many discover Christ through them! We had about 60 people in total both days come to know Jesus! Praise the Lord! Amazing 2 days spent in the villages, I had a blast!
By the way...Saw someone walking down the side of the road wearing a scarf...YES, A SCARF!
April 8, 2010
Village Ministry!
We were called early this week to see if we wanted to partner with GAiN to go to a village and do ministry with them! This is super exciting because we were not expecting that we would get a chance to go to a village for another while, it coming so soon is exciting! We are heading up Friday + Saturday to a village with the drama team here, GAiN, and our new DRIME Benin Leadership Team! We are all so excited to finally have the opportunity to go to a village and serve there! Please pray for us this weekend!
Leadership Debut!
Wednesday night we had our very first leaders meeting with the DRIME Leadership Team! It was very exciting, fun and eventful! We started off the night with some games that involved lots of team work, just to get them used to the idea of working together, and see how each other works! We made them play the game where you all have to stand on this cloth, and somehow you have to flip it over with all of you on it. It was hilarious to watch them play that game! We all had fun, they were laughing so hard and we were of course too!
It is crazy how well they work together! We all now know why God put those names in our mind and head! Every time they played a game or a challenge, they listened to everybody’s ideas, and discussed them and analysed them to see if they would work, if they thought it was a good idea then they would try it out, then try another idea and discuss it! Their teamwork together is amazing, we are excited to see them take that to DRIME Benin :D!
It is crazy how well they work together! We all now know why God put those names in our mind and head! Every time they played a game or a challenge, they listened to everybody’s ideas, and discussed them and analysed them to see if they would work, if they thought it was a good idea then they would try it out, then try another idea and discuss it! Their teamwork together is amazing, we are excited to see them take that to DRIME Benin :D!
Oh Sweet Sweet Celebration!
Sunday Easter Service was so much fun to spend it with our fellow Beninese brothers and sisters in Christ! The whole service was just pure celebration that Jesus has Risen, people dancing all over the place, proclaiming his name! It was so awesome to celebrate Easter with them! I think one of my favourite parts during that whole service was watching the group of elders go to the front of the church and start dancing, so classic! Everyone was just having a blast, laughing & celebrating!
Even thought it was a day to celebrate, us three were a little nervous because we were telling all the leaders that day who was chosen to be on the Leadership Team...which meant giving two no’s! It wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be though, the yes’s were very excited, and so were we, and the no’s took it really well and knew that God has a plan for them, that didn’t include being on the Leadership Team! DRIME Benin is on its way :D
P.S.: Most random thing that has ever happened here thus far I would say, but someone at church on Sunday was wearing a CANUCKS JERSEY! Took us all off guard because that’s the last thing we would have expected to see that morning! Half way across the world, in a place where they don’t even know what hockey is, someone is wearing a Canucks Jersey! So crazy!
Even thought it was a day to celebrate, us three were a little nervous because we were telling all the leaders that day who was chosen to be on the Leadership Team...which meant giving two no’s! It wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be though, the yes’s were very excited, and so were we, and the no’s took it really well and knew that God has a plan for them, that didn’t include being on the Leadership Team! DRIME Benin is on its way :D
P.S.: Most random thing that has ever happened here thus far I would say, but someone at church on Sunday was wearing a CANUCKS JERSEY! Took us all off guard because that’s the last thing we would have expected to see that morning! Half way across the world, in a place where they don’t even know what hockey is, someone is wearing a Canucks Jersey! So crazy!
Chapter 1, Volume1: Electric Fail
So the power has not been the friendliest to us the past week. I told you last blog update that the power was out for over 24 hrs, only for us! And that has happened many more times my friends, many more times...
I will take this time to share with you all 2 occasions when this happened again. In the past 48hrs our power has gone out twice, for long periods...only for us! We woke up Tuesday morning to find that our power was not working. We went about our day just thinking that it was out everywhere, because it happens quite often like that, but as night dawned on us, we saw lights on everywhere! I know, I know, puzzling eh? So it turns out we sat in our Sahara of an apartment all day without power, when we could have had power the whole time! Turns out our little switch thing is kind of messed up or something like that (again, not sure what our landlord says sometimes haha) and it randomly turns off sometimes!
The sequel to that story is that very same night. After enjoying maybe 6 hours of the nice cool fan, our power went out again! By this time it was after midnight, so most people were asleep, including our landlord. We went downstairs of our apartment building to go flip the switch because obviously it had switched off again for some reason, and there was a door that stood between us and the box thing. Never before have we ever seen a door there by the way, so we were kind of confused. And Of course, the door was locked. We had to endure another night of sleeping in the desert.
I will take this time to share with you all 2 occasions when this happened again. In the past 48hrs our power has gone out twice, for long periods...only for us! We woke up Tuesday morning to find that our power was not working. We went about our day just thinking that it was out everywhere, because it happens quite often like that, but as night dawned on us, we saw lights on everywhere! I know, I know, puzzling eh? So it turns out we sat in our Sahara of an apartment all day without power, when we could have had power the whole time! Turns out our little switch thing is kind of messed up or something like that (again, not sure what our landlord says sometimes haha) and it randomly turns off sometimes!
The sequel to that story is that very same night. After enjoying maybe 6 hours of the nice cool fan, our power went out again! By this time it was after midnight, so most people were asleep, including our landlord. We went downstairs of our apartment building to go flip the switch because obviously it had switched off again for some reason, and there was a door that stood between us and the box thing. Never before have we ever seen a door there by the way, so we were kind of confused. And Of course, the door was locked. We had to endure another night of sleeping in the desert.
Chapter 2, Volume 1: Electric Malfunction
One night, as we all were heading to bed, I went to turn on my light, like any normal night and all of a sudden *BOOM BZZ*. My light had exploded/blown a fuse or something. That was a shock I tell ya! Thinking that this was just one unfortunate situation, I didn’t do anything about it, just used my flashlight. I mean I bet that rarely ever happens I’ll deal with it later...
Turns out, that same night, when Carleigh and Janna went to bed, the light in their bathroom did the exact same thing! Now get this, in a 24 hours span of that night, my bathroom light went out (while I was showering might I add...soap in the eyes for sure!), when Janna was turning on one of our hallway lights, that exploded too, one of our living room lights burnt out randomly, one of our power adapters blew, our kitchen light makes really weird sounds, Janna’s air conditioner doesn’t feel like blowing cold air anymore, Carleigh’s mp3 player died...I’m sure there are more haha! Makes for a fun experience, guessing which light or electric something will blow next. The funny thing is that we are too chill to do something about it, so we haven’t even told our landlord about it all yet...haha!
Turns out, that same night, when Carleigh and Janna went to bed, the light in their bathroom did the exact same thing! Now get this, in a 24 hours span of that night, my bathroom light went out (while I was showering might I add...soap in the eyes for sure!), when Janna was turning on one of our hallway lights, that exploded too, one of our living room lights burnt out randomly, one of our power adapters blew, our kitchen light makes really weird sounds, Janna’s air conditioner doesn’t feel like blowing cold air anymore, Carleigh’s mp3 player died...I’m sure there are more haha! Makes for a fun experience, guessing which light or electric something will blow next. The funny thing is that we are too chill to do something about it, so we haven’t even told our landlord about it all yet...haha!
Chapter 3, Volume 1: ELECTRIC FURY!
So I go to plug in my cord for my Nintendo DS before it dies, and come back down to play some of it while it charges. I notice that it isn’t charging at all, even though it is plugged in! I go to fiddle with it, to re-plug it or whatever, and *BZZZ*, that little bugger shocked/electrocuted me! Weirdest feeling ever! I thought that I touched something weird or something, so I was careful to only touch the plug this time (reaching at it again, being my smart self...). *BZZZ*...Electrocuted again! I really wasn’t sure what was causing it to do that but I knew I had to unplug it, so I grabbed a cloth and yanked at it as quickly and briskly as possible...I HAD TAMED THE BEAST! My fingers were tingly the whole rest of the day...weirdest feeling ever! Apparently my plug didn’t like me that day because it was the only time it has ever done that, it still works after all that...hmmm!
DRIME Benin!
So the day finally dawned on us, as we woke up Saturday morning, it was the day that we were going to choose the Leadership Team of DRIME Benin! As exciting as that was of course, we all were kind of dreading actually having to choose, which meant saying no to two people! The Lord definitely brought us through that process for sure! We took the morning to have some alone time with God and get our heads in order for the long day ahead of us! Once we all decided to finally come out of our rooms, we got right to the task! Throwing teams ideas back and forth, discussing each person, looking at it all from every point of view, even taking a mathematical view on it, (haha....I would do something like that!) and of course taking plenty of time to pray, we had finally reached a decision at 10:30pm at night...what a day! We were all exhausted after a mind draining day, but super excited that DRIME Benin finally had an official Leadership Team!
*Drum roll*...meet Calixte, Olivier, Martin & Rachelle! They are all wonderfully amazing people and we know that with God, they will build up this ministry here in Benin to eventually reach all the corners of Africa! Thank you so much for all the prayers during the choosing process! Please keep praying for the team as we + God build into them, so they can build into Benin & Africa!
*Drum roll*...meet Calixte, Olivier, Martin & Rachelle! They are all wonderfully amazing people and we know that with God, they will build up this ministry here in Benin to eventually reach all the corners of Africa! Thank you so much for all the prayers during the choosing process! Please keep praying for the team as we + God build into them, so they can build into Benin & Africa!
April 2, 2010
The Call backs
We are at the brink of a huge stepping stone for DRIME Benin! Last Sunday we received back all of the leadership application forms, and this week we have been meeting with all of the leaders one-on-one to talk more in detail about the applications and to get a final chance to ask questions and get to really know them before we choose the leadership team this weekend! We have 6 applicants, and they are all incredible so it is going to be very difficult to narrow it down to the 3-4 leaders we are envisioning. It’s going to be extra difficult because meeting with those that we’ve met with already has really brought many new things into consideration, changing our minds about some people, and maybe some people that we saw the least as leader’s we see the most as leaders now, and our contact giving us his opinion on people, bringing a whole new view on everyone, causing so many back and forth’s! Definitely going to be a very full Saturday of praying and intensely discussing with each other putting all the possible situations together! Please keep this special item in your prayers this week, asking God to clearly show us who he has chosen for the leadership team of DRIME Benin and to give us discernment with this task!
Traveler’s Log #55, Trapped in the Netting
I can’t go back in there...I can’t do it. Every night I find myself dreading the thought of going back in there, back in bed surrounded and caged in by the mosquito netting. I can’t do this much longer. Just the thought of going back in there has me staying up and away from that place till I can’t no longer. Too many restless nights...too many weary days, nightmare after nightmare being caged in by that netting! I lay in bed, staring at the net that surrounds me as it stares back at me, waiting, watching till I fall asleep before it moves in. Caged in, boxed in, my bed is no longer a place of rest. It stalks me though, because it I can’t get rid of it, it is too valuable to be thrown away. It Protects me, but all the while endangers me by the sheer thought of climbing back into that square...that cage.
Some Beninese Turkeys
We found a sport we can play without much movement at all!!! (Because running + a lot of movement would likely result in us sweating out our entire water weight + heat stroke + fainting and who knows what else...haha!)
BOWLING! Saving all the 1.5L water bottles that we have drank over the period we have been here (Over 150 I’m sure of) has finally paid off! We were bored one day and put our heads together to find something to do, which eventually resulted in our creation of a bowling alley! We use the bottles as the pins, we use this Canadian baseball as the bowling ball, and we have this really long hallway that is the perfect length for a tough bowling challenge! We even went as far to make a line that we cannot pass while bowling + sticking little marks on the ground so we know exactly where the pins go, ensuring a perfect set-up each time...we’re cool...haha!
We had a blast the first time we played! We actually played 10 frames and kept score and all. It was awesome! Even though it was only bowling, I was still sweating SO much just from that little bit of movement in this intense heat! I wouldn’t change anything though, I love it! I think it will actually be weird coming back home to Canada and not sweating all the time, I’ll feel so nice and clean...weird! haha.
BOWLING! Saving all the 1.5L water bottles that we have drank over the period we have been here (Over 150 I’m sure of) has finally paid off! We were bored one day and put our heads together to find something to do, which eventually resulted in our creation of a bowling alley! We use the bottles as the pins, we use this Canadian baseball as the bowling ball, and we have this really long hallway that is the perfect length for a tough bowling challenge! We even went as far to make a line that we cannot pass while bowling + sticking little marks on the ground so we know exactly where the pins go, ensuring a perfect set-up each time...we’re cool...haha!
We had a blast the first time we played! We actually played 10 frames and kept score and all. It was awesome! Even though it was only bowling, I was still sweating SO much just from that little bit of movement in this intense heat! I wouldn’t change anything though, I love it! I think it will actually be weird coming back home to Canada and not sweating all the time, I’ll feel so nice and clean...weird! haha.
“If your refrigerator running?” – “Umm...nope” – “Oh...well...k...umm....my joke failed”
So Friday night/all of Saturday, our fridge stopped working. It has happened before where it stopped working but it has come back on, so we just let it be thinking it would come back on...Our bad. It definitely did not come back on, which resulted in some VERY questionable food/meat/smells. We finally went to our landlord Sunday afternoon and told her, and luckily was able to store out meat and perishables in her fridge and freezer...but being out of the cold for like an entire 24 hours... a little bit concerning in my books. But we can’t afford to throw it all away! At one point on Sunday morning, it was hotter in the fridge than in the room itself! Someone came and looked at it Sunday night and worked at it for a big then randomly left without saying anything and never showed up again that night...leaving the fridge unplugged...? We were kind of confused but oh well!
The good news is that someone came and took it away and our landlord bought us a new one! For awhile though, it was kind of weird not having a fridge because we didn’t really have easy access to our food...and we still had to throw some out. That left us with very little food that we had to live on for a few days. One meal a day it is! Haha. We are alive and well though so no worries! We are for sure cooking our meat triple well though!
After all that though, the power went out once again, like it usually does each day for awhile, but this time was way longer than we expected! Also, I don’t know how we didn’t notice it, but we eventually noticed that everyone else’s power is working, but not ours...Our power never came back on for 24hrs...till the electrician fixed it in our apartment! All that meaning 2 things. One, our new refrigerator wasn’t even working because there was no power...so another 24hrs with sketch food! Two, we had to sleep with no A/C or anything, so basically worst sleep ever for all of us, sleeping in our own pool of sweat! Oh man, the second the power came back on, we all stood infront of our fan and didn’t want to move for so long! Haha. But now power is restored to us so we can live with food and cool air again! Yay! All in all, awesome experiences and fun times nonetheless.
The good news is that someone came and took it away and our landlord bought us a new one! For awhile though, it was kind of weird not having a fridge because we didn’t really have easy access to our food...and we still had to throw some out. That left us with very little food that we had to live on for a few days. One meal a day it is! Haha. We are alive and well though so no worries! We are for sure cooking our meat triple well though!
After all that though, the power went out once again, like it usually does each day for awhile, but this time was way longer than we expected! Also, I don’t know how we didn’t notice it, but we eventually noticed that everyone else’s power is working, but not ours...Our power never came back on for 24hrs...till the electrician fixed it in our apartment! All that meaning 2 things. One, our new refrigerator wasn’t even working because there was no power...so another 24hrs with sketch food! Two, we had to sleep with no A/C or anything, so basically worst sleep ever for all of us, sleeping in our own pool of sweat! Oh man, the second the power came back on, we all stood infront of our fan and didn’t want to move for so long! Haha. But now power is restored to us so we can live with food and cool air again! Yay! All in all, awesome experiences and fun times nonetheless.
“LET’S DO THIS!...oh...okay, never mind.”
So it’s Friday night right, and we are so stoked to be doing a full day of ministry in a town/village called Abomey on Saturday (the next day). Even though we had to leave at 6am, we were so looking forward to spending the 3 hour drive to hang out with the team, to arrive ready to do ministry and spread God’s love to the people! *Ring*Ring*...Oh hold on, the phone, 2 seconds...IT’S CANCELLED?!?
That was definitely our reaction Friday night. It was 10pm and the last thing we expected to happen was that we would get a phone call saying that the pastor that is coming with us to do follow-up and was our main contact couldn’t come anymore. So there we were, 10pm Friday night, everybody else on the team thinking that they had to be ready at 6am the next day. After all that conversation, we find out that even with the pastor backing out, we still are going because of a meeting we were performing at. K cool, the event is still on! *Ring*Ring*...Oh 2 seconds once again, so sorry, the phone...”No point in going for just the meeting eh?”
Then we get a call saying that there is no point in going that whole way just for the meeting, which makes sense because it was a 3-hour drive, but then we had to phone the whole team and...*Ring*Ring*...I AM SO SORRY, the phone once again, man it is ringing off the hook tonight!...We still might do ministry but you are not sure where or when?
We then found out that we could still do ministry but that we wouldn’t really know where or when or how till the next day. So there we stood, late Friday night, having to quickly think fast on what to do. Cancel the whole thing because it is too complicated now and we wouldn’t be able to get a hold of the whole team, and there would be miscommunications anyway or just tell the team that the village thing is cancelled but wait for a phone call that might come and we might have to meet at the church? We ended up just calling the whole thing off because it was getting late and we had to tell people to not be at the church at 6am, or someone would not be too impressed being there all alone at that time in the morning! Eek....Be right back...Our turn to phone people now *Ring*Ring*Ring*Ring*Ring*Ring*
We were indeed disappointed that the whole event was cancelled, but we couldn’t really do anything about it so we just ended up hanging out with some friends on Saturday, and relaxing. It’s crazy how different this culture is from Canada. Here, it seemed like it was so nonchalant and not a big deal that a huge event was cancelled like a few hours prior, even though we felt so so bad that we had to cancel on the team so last minute! It is really cool though how everyone is just very laid back and has a ‘whatever happens, happens’ attitude! We have definitely had to adjust to that though, because it has on a couple occasions already happened that people have cancelled like very very close to the event or appointment, so we just have to get used to that I guess!
That was definitely our reaction Friday night. It was 10pm and the last thing we expected to happen was that we would get a phone call saying that the pastor that is coming with us to do follow-up and was our main contact couldn’t come anymore. So there we were, 10pm Friday night, everybody else on the team thinking that they had to be ready at 6am the next day. After all that conversation, we find out that even with the pastor backing out, we still are going because of a meeting we were performing at. K cool, the event is still on! *Ring*Ring*...Oh 2 seconds once again, so sorry, the phone...”No point in going for just the meeting eh?”
Then we get a call saying that there is no point in going that whole way just for the meeting, which makes sense because it was a 3-hour drive, but then we had to phone the whole team and...*Ring*Ring*...I AM SO SORRY, the phone once again, man it is ringing off the hook tonight!...We still might do ministry but you are not sure where or when?
We then found out that we could still do ministry but that we wouldn’t really know where or when or how till the next day. So there we stood, late Friday night, having to quickly think fast on what to do. Cancel the whole thing because it is too complicated now and we wouldn’t be able to get a hold of the whole team, and there would be miscommunications anyway or just tell the team that the village thing is cancelled but wait for a phone call that might come and we might have to meet at the church? We ended up just calling the whole thing off because it was getting late and we had to tell people to not be at the church at 6am, or someone would not be too impressed being there all alone at that time in the morning! Eek....Be right back...Our turn to phone people now *Ring*Ring*Ring*Ring*Ring*Ring*
We were indeed disappointed that the whole event was cancelled, but we couldn’t really do anything about it so we just ended up hanging out with some friends on Saturday, and relaxing. It’s crazy how different this culture is from Canada. Here, it seemed like it was so nonchalant and not a big deal that a huge event was cancelled like a few hours prior, even though we felt so so bad that we had to cancel on the team so last minute! It is really cool though how everyone is just very laid back and has a ‘whatever happens, happens’ attitude! We have definitely had to adjust to that though, because it has on a couple occasions already happened that people have cancelled like very very close to the event or appointment, so we just have to get used to that I guess!
March 25, 2010
Traveler’s Log #48, Public enemy #1:
We didn’t think that this was possible, that he could do something like this, but somehow, someway, the cockroach has found a way to create havoc in our lives, even though I buried him. I can’t believe this is happening, I buried him...I BURIED HIM! He took the one thing that was ours and turned it against us...our food. It used to be fine; we made food with ease, until he stepped in. I swear that he was the one that did this to our onions, to our eyes. He unleashed a secret weapon that I have never seen before. Somehow he rigged our onions, all of them, to turn on us, and burn our eyes. Yes, onions are supposed to make you cry when cut, but not like this, this is the work of him, I know it. It was a day like any other day. There I was, making food, cutting up onions, finally feeling safe that my enemy can’t do more harm. Then like a speeding train hitting a brick wall, my eyes started burning, burning like the sun itself dripped poison into my eyes. I fell to the ground, disoriented by the pain, blind to what was happening around me...the next few hours were a blur, blackening out from the pain. I regained consciousness, finally being able to think again. My vision started to blur back in and I could see 2 figures beside me. I jumped back from the fear of not being able to recognize them....It was Carleigh and Janna, they had run to help me, but fell victim to the onions as well. The cockroach struck again, destroying some of my vision permanently with his catastrophic onions.
P.S.: Honestly, the onions here are insane! Whoever cuts them ends up not being able to see or open their eyes and has to leave the kitchen from that effect. Whoever fries them also has to like stand as far away as possible, looking in the total opposite direction protecting their eyes! Those onions I tell you are something special! Trust onions of doom!
Big Blog Blurb
Apparently, to our surprise, we have entered the rainy season that will last until we leave in July apparently! We are definitely glad to hear that, even though it hasn’t rained yet. It has on the other hand been really overcast and humid which creates A LOT of dust to be everywhere and in everything floating around! Patrice said that this is very unusual, it should already have started raining by now so that the dust goes away, but for a week now dust has just been getting like thicker and thicker and has basically consumed the air! Eeek! Me being hypoallergenic doesn’t really cope well with that! My allergies have been acting up severely in the past few days so I pray that it will rain soon so that the dustiness will go away! It’s actually insane, every day we wake up, there is a thick layer of dust on everything in the living room, not even exaggerating. We have to wipe down the whole living room every day because the next morning, a huge thick layer of dust is on everything again!
Oh how I could go for a vanilla bean or strawberries and cream frappucino from Starbucks right now!
DRIME Benin is on its way! We put together and handed out all the leader’s applications! We are going to get them all back Sunday, and then much prayer is in order for the next week to choose our leaders for DRIME Benin, so exciting!
There’s no place like...homes? I can’t wrap my head around it at all because it’s crazy, but it honestly feels like, in a good way, that we have lived here forever! Last night we looked back on pictures and videos of us arriving here in Benin and such, and we all agreed that we can’t even fathom how that was only 1.5 months ago, it feels like it was an eternity ago. In the same manner, it just feels like this is how we live now, and how we have always lived. Benin is starting to feel a lot like home now! To be honest, I never thought it would feel like home, just because, well, it’s not home. But it definitely feels like home now! I have two homes now.
We are participating in an evangelism event this Saturday in Abomey, a village about 3 hours from where we live! We are all very excited to do ministry in a village for the first time, should be an awesome full day! Definitely going to be very tired though because we have to leave our house at 6am-ish then we are there the entire day, then we drive back at night, then wake up extra early for church because it’s starting an hour early this week because of the annual general meeting after the service! It’s going to be an awesome yet tiring full weekend!
Tuesday morning we had a meeting with the Head Leader’s of all the Baptist Churches. After doing our spiel, they had many questions for us which showed much interest in the DRIME ministry which is exciting. They wanted to know about how DRIME works, how the partnership with the churches would look like, and right there in the meeting they even went as far to call someone and ask about us coming with them on an evangelism campaign/event they are leading! They took to DRIME right away and we’re on board. They told us that they were going to give us a full list of the churches we could visit to share, and the date to attend them. They also wanted to know if we would plan an evangelism campaign with them in a couple months! We definitely have the Baptist Churches partnered with us by the looks of it! Praise God! This Saturday they are going up to a village to do ministry and wanted to know if we would join them. Right away we said that we were unable to due to the fact that we are already doing ministry this Saturday. As it turns out, they are going up to that same village to have a meeting and do ministry on Saturday, just at a different time than when we were going to go with our church! So now we are going up the full entire day to do ministry twice in the same village! So awesome how God works everything out!
March 18, 2010
Daylight Nada
So we found ourselves very, very confused on Sunday afternoon. We haven’t really changed our laptop clocks to Benin time so we always just calculate 9 hours ahead to see what time it is. We had to be ready at 3:30pm and apparently, out of nowhere might I add, it was already that time and we were not close to ready at all! We sat there wondering forever how it is possible that it was already that time, there was no way at all! After much thought, we finally clued in! We had forgotten about daylight savings! Then we were even more stressed for a second because the clocks went ahead an hour, so once again we were not ready at all at the time we were supposed to be ready for! Then once again got confused, our Beninese cell phones only said 2:30...? Then we clued in again, Benin doesn’t have daylight savings!
So crazy and weird that back home it’s now an hour later, but here it isn’t! Haha. Not too upset though because we didn’t have to experience losing an hour of sleep! Totally bypassed it this year woot! Definitely wished for this day to come, I certainly do not losing an hour of sleep, and now I don’t have too for another whole year :D!
Traveler’s Log #44, Never ever Red-Red Black-Black...Or else:
One month in and it’s already happening. They warned me it would happen, but the fool inside of me didn’t believe them. “DO NOT PLAY...” my friend screamed, trying to warn me for the last time while I left for this trip, drowning him out before his last word. Seems so harmless, so entertaining, till it gets to you. I see them sometimes, outside of its element, they follow me like cat and string, clawing at me till I finally give in. The colors are everywhere, red, black, they are drawn to me, wanting to be released from their cage. I can’t even stack something red on top of something else red because my psyche just goes berserk, “THAT’S NOT HOW YOU WIN” my mind screams. The numbers, I dream about them, think about them, I just can’t get enough of them. It’s to the point where I can’t get away, they are everywhere and they follow me. I try to run, oh I try to run but I am just not fast enough, they are always ahead. But it’s too late, might as well give in. I’ve tried to switch, play the other one, but I can’t! I keep thinking about how they are not in order, and how I must save them! I didn’t sign up for this though, they tricked me, suckered me like everyone else. I thought after I saved them once, they would stop bothering me and all peace would be found, but then they needed my help again, and again. Now it’s too late, even though it never ends, I can’t stop. I can’t escape it either, it comes in disguise under different forms, and all of a sudden the numbers are back, right back where I started. They must be in order, Red-Black-Red-Black and nothing else! The Aces can’t be left alone either, or the numbers will lose, and if the numbers lose...I lose. Should have listened to my friend, to never play it because I will get sucked in...I can hear him now...”DO NOT PLAY SOLITAIRE”.
Ahoy Captain
Do you want the good news first? Or the bad news?...Let’s stick with the good news for now!
Exciting news! All of our potential leaders that we had chosen, after meetings and careful thought and prayer, have said ‘Yes’ to filling out a leaders application and letting their names stand in the choosing of the DRIME Benin Leadership Team! Praise God! This is super exciting because we have some amazing people who have true servant hearts for the Lord who are willing to take this base upon themselves with our help and be on the leadership team here long-term!
Now the bad news...We really hoped that it wouldn’t have to end up like this, but it did L. We have 6 leaders who are interested, but are looking for a leadership team of only 3-4 people. That means we have to actually turn away some people. Eeek! Good thing God is in control of this whole thing! Please pray that those who are not put on the leadership team do not take it hard, but will still want to be a part of DRIME Benin! Please also just keep praying for this whole process, that God will give us discernment to pick the right people!
‘Vroom Vroom!’
We finally did it! We rode on motorcycles here for the first time! During the whole evangelism event weekend, our friends picked us up and dropped us off. It was so much fun! Kind of dangerous, but it’s all good, we are alive and well! The roads are intense here, people just weaving in and out of traffic, so real lanes at all, but all the while it was so much fun! Definitely 100% beats walking! They found it really weird that we had never rode on these types of motorcycles before, just because it’s normal and common here. Everyone has a motorcycle; you rarely see cars compared to motorcycles. I definitely had one of those ‘wind through your hair” moments, so much fun!
3-day Marathon
We participated in a three day evangelism event with the church we are attending here. It was so much fun and such an experience! Hundreds got to hear the gospel proclaimed through drama, video & speech. God is moving fast here in Benin! The people here were so into the dramas, clapping & cheering like crazy at certain parts in the dramas. Many, many people gathered during the weekend & many came to know the Lord! Praise God! It was really neat to see DRIME happen in Benin too, just to see how it worked there, and the differences from Canada. During all of the dramas, someone was narrating and translating everything that was happening, which gathers HUGE crowds & creates crowd involvement which is really awesome! Definitely cool to perform with & be a part of the Beninese team!
We performed in this big open sandy/dirt field area in the middle of a like market square area just off of the main road. It was actually so much fun performing in the sand/dirt, definitely quite the experience! Although, being all hot & sweaty and being roles in the drama that require me to get thrown all over the ground caused for sand to get stuck to me in layers! Haha. I’m pretty sure if someone did not see the beginning of the drama and only came and saw the end, they would scream “SAND MONSTER! RUN!”... haha. So much fun though!
There were of course the casual challenges though. One thing was the heat factor! Us being in our DRIME black, with the sun beating down on us, man, felt like I was swimming in a pool of my own sweat! The children were so much fun and awesome, but sometimes I found myself trying to run for safety! Of course, being Yovo’s, all the children come running and gather around us and just follow us which is totally fun, but the second we took out our camera, riots I tell you! Every kid wanted to be in the front of the picture so they would start pushing and shoving and eventually start like rioting and mauling each other...definitely a bad idea to take out the camera, we didn’t do so very often all weekend after that experience, unless we secretly took it out to take a few stealthy pictures! Haha.
Being a part of two evangelism events here in Benin has definitely been quite the experience, just observing & seeing how different evangelism is here. In Benin, God is very present in this community. Even though some people worship other gods and partake in voodoo, everyone here is aware of God & believe in higher beings. So they are very open to everything to do with God & Jesus, because religion & believing in a God is part of life here. Now, it’s our job to proclaim the message & to share Jesus Christ with them so they know the truth and who is the truth! It’s crazy how different cultures vary so much! In Canada, as we all know, you have to be very careful and ease into sharing the gospel, not in a hostile way. Here in Benin on the other hand, you are more than welcome to get right into “do you know Jesus as your personal saviour” right after you say hello. It’s definitely a very evangelistic community here! Evangelists here are so passionate that I even find getting the evangelism message said to me every once in a while, them knowing I am christian! Haha. It has already happened a couple times so far, even at church! I will be talking to someone at church, then one thing leads to another and I am find myself listening to the gospel! It is awesome how passionate people are here; they just can’t get enough of sharing the gospel. Amen!
March 11, 2010
Evangelism Event
We and the drama team here are participating in a 3-day evangelism event put on by the church this weekend. We are not too sure what is happening but God does so please pray for this event, that God would speak through the dramas and that the message would be clearly understood by all, that God would give us wisdom in everything we do and say and for the strength to keep going strong all weekend even with the intense heat!
Tidbit Hour
Random occurrences during the week:
ICE CREAM! Our contact showed us this restaurant type place that has gelato ice cream. Oh man, so delicious, I’ve never had more satisfying ice cream in my life! Nothing like some chocolate and vanilla ice cream (I know I’m plain and boring haha) to cure the heat!
Janna was making some tea, and she was waiting for the water to boil when we ended up getting really into the movie we were watching...2 hours later...”OH NO THE WATER!” We ran into the kitchen to find the pot, but no water...all the water had evaporated haha! We also had one very sanitary pot that was sizzling with no water in it, oops!
5-5-5-5-5 YAHTZEE! So we have generated a rather intense liking to the game Yahtzee! We get so intense playing it, I’m pretty sure our neighbourhood hears us when we play...there’s a lot of screaming, haha! We definitely have our own Yahtzee names too. Jamie = Havier, Carleigh = Hobble and Janna = Janihnip...don’t ask me where I came up with those, cause I don’t even know.
K, so I really don’t know if there is such thing as nicky nicky nine doors here in Benin, but I really truly believe there’s a huge sign over our doorbell saying “RING ME CONSTANTLY”. Someone is ringing the doorbell for our apartment all the time, people we don’t even know and they just keep going, and going. First of all, it’s kind of annoying to answer the door because our ‘door’ is like our apartment gate. So we have to get out of our apartment and walk downstairs to open this like huge metal door. Secondly, no one really just comes to visit us, they would phone us first, so we never really ever answer the door. When we finally give in after someone ringing it for 10 minutes, it’s always someone for our neighbours, so either they really don’t know whose doorbell is whose, or they like seeing us answer the door or something. I woke up the other day with someone ringing our doorbell constantly at 6am...fun.
We totally forgot about these starbursts we had brought with us and we left them on our shelf since being here in Benin...that was a mistake. We found them melted on the shelf. It was kind of a different experience though, it was like eating sour and sweet pudding...weird.
You know in movies where you see people waking up to the sun rise, with birds melodiously singing away, enjoying a nice cup of coffee...they definitely did not shoot that scene here in Benin haha. Every couple of days I wake up to the very loud and crazy sound of pigs and roosters being slaughtered. I’m also pretty sure it’s always like outside our apartment because it is so incredibly loud that I always wake up thinking they are being killed right in my room! Kind of getting used to it now though, turning into my sound of ‘birds melodiously singing’.
A motorcycle and motorcyclists definitely came sliding and skidding down the road right beside us while we were walking home from practice Wednesday night. The funny thing is that the people right behind them were all honking at them and getting angry at them for crashing and holding up traffic...?
We’ve been warming up to the team here in Benin and have been becoming really good friends with them all. Now instead of being in that awkward foreigner stage, we have been having actual conversations with them, getting to know them, hanging out with them, laughing, and just having a blast, definitely becoming Beninese! My name is Jimmy here though, haha. They spell it like that and call me that. I’ve given up trying to get my real name across haha. So Jimmy it is!
Traveler’s Log #41, The Cookies Monster...Unveiled:
Don’t give me any, don’t do it! You don’t want to see the person I become when those things are at hand, at my reach. I thought I would be able to stay away from them, but it’s hard, much harder than I thought it would be. The first two weeks were a cinch; I was doing fine. Some days I even found myself not thinking about them at all. Then week three came, my worst nightmare. My roommates and I went to the market...a mistake I’ll never live down. I tried my best to avoid them, so the temptations couldn’t get me, but then my roommate said something that changed our lives forever...”I really want some cookies, let’s buy some.” The next few days were a blur in my memory. It’s as if someone...something took over me. I remember only being able to think of those cookies, in line at the market, on the ride home, at home just staring at the cupboard. I couldn’t handle it anymore, something inside of me got released. I ripped off the cupboard doors, took the cookies, ripped off the plastic, and then I blacked out. The rest of the night was a blur; the cookies had taken over. All I remember is waking up the next morning, covered in chocolate and cookie crumbs, with empty cookie trays everywhere. Never again, no more markets, no more stores, no more gas stations, I’m staying as far away from those things as I can, so no one has to meet the other side of me...the cookie monster.
P.S.: I actually ended up eating all the cookies we bought in less than 2 days...they were too delicious...my bad! Also, a little background information for those who don’t know, but both my parents work for major cookie companies, Kraft (Christie) & Voortman. We basically have boxes of cookies in the house 24/7. Living somewhere where we can’t really get cookies that easily and that they are not as popular here...SAD!
Leader Meetings
We had the opportunity to meet with 6 of the potential leaders we kind of ‘scouted out’. It was really cool to meet with them, take the time to get to know them better, and also for them to ask questions to get to know us better and what we came to do! We are making some really good friends here already which is awesome. We’ve already had some of our friends that we made here just like phone us and be like “Hey...I’m coming over see you soon!” haha. We are very excited that we’ve had a lot of interest in the leader area. Hopefully if everything works out, we will have our leaders chosen before the end of the month! Please pray that God will reveal the leaders he has chosen for DRIME Benin!
Living in a National Geographic
So Tuesday night was at hand, and we were not doing much so we decided to go on the roof because it always has a nice cool breeze at night time, plus we get to look over the town and neighbourhood we live in, plus we were experiencing our very first lightning storm! Even though we have been here a month now, we still can’t believe we are actually here and living here. The sights and views just amaze us every time we take the time to admire them. Where we live is a real 10-page spread in a National Geographic magazine, it’s amazing! The lightning was amazing, it was honestly like nothing I’ve ever seen. It was a continual stream of lightning for a couple hours, lightning just kept happening, lighting up the sky every second. The greatest thing happened next, we were chilling then all of a sudden we heard a torrential downpour coming straight for us from a distance. We couldn’t feel it but we sure heard it coming! All of a sudden, DOWNPOUR! It was hilarious. So there we were, enjoying the sights, soaked from head to toe, just having an awesome time. It was so refreshing to get rained on! It was the closest I’ve been to being somewhat cool and cold here in Benin, even though I totally wasn’t close to being cold! It was the coolest first Beninese thunder/lightning/rain storm experience. Sights and an experience taken straight out of National Geographic!
Run, run, run the race, keep, keep, keep the pace
Sunday was crazy! We had so many things to do and prepare for all in one day, while leading the practice at the same time! It was so awesome though to lead our very first practice here in Benin though! We started with a quick devo. to remind them of the greater purpose why we do the dramas and then got right into drama training. They picked up on things so quickly, they were awesome! During all of this training, we also had to get together the Monday night event team together by asking around who is free and able, we had to set up a whole bunch of meetings with potential leaders and we also had to make sure things were good to go for the evangelism event that is coming up this weekend. All in all, we were wiped when we got home! Pretty sure I lost 45 pounds in sweat that day!
Partners from the Start
Friday we had a meeting with the National Director of Campus Crusade for Christ Benin. We really had high hopes coming into this meeting, just knowing Campus Crusade for Christ and that their vision aligns with DRIME’s, and also that their ministry is highly involved with the university students, as is ours! At first glance, it did not seem like they were that into our plans and vision here in Benin, but that totally 180’d. They ended up asking many questions about things like partnership details, the relationship that would exist between the two ministries, financial information, our exact plan here, future plans, more on vision. It was very exciting to see them take a liking to DRIME right off the bat. This will hopefully open many doors into the campus! We even got our first ministry opportunity! The director approached us after the meeting while we were leaving and asked us to be a part of this evangelistic event they were hosting! That event was on Monday night, and went super well! Going into the event, we were all a little worried, because we absolutely had no idea of any of the details, we were not sure of the time, location, specifics, we were not even sure whether it was an evangelistic event or just a gathering of the Christian students. God definitely came through in the end though, working out all the details so that we could get together a little team and go to the event. Seems like that happens a lot here, so we will definitely be totally putting these events in God’s hand so that he can work out the details and give us peace during the whole process.
March 4, 2010
God's Calendar
So this week, we didn’t have much planned at all, well plans that involved progress on finding leaders, which was a little discouraging that finding our leaders was going to take longer than predicted. God had other plans though by providing us with three important meetings that were totally out of the blue and unexpected!
1.We had the privilege of meeting with the elders of the church this Sunday to introduce ourselves, why we are here, and to share DRIME and DRIME’s vision to them. They were very welcoming and kind hearted. After our whole spiel, they told us that they are totally on board with this and that we just need to let them know if we need anything! It was awesome to know that they are behind us and are on board with what we are here to do! They even recruited us to perform at this event they are hosting at their church for 3 days. We agreed, but totally have no idea what we are doing haha! I didn’t really understand what the event was or how or when we will be performing, so hopefully we will be able to clear that up soon! So excited to be a part of this event though!
2.We got a call Monday night at 11pm that we had a meeting with the leader of all of the Pentecostal churches here in Benin, at 8:30 the next morning! So that was very unexpected but very exciting! He was on board with everything we want to do and is willing to help us find leaders! Our goal was to ask if we can go to many of the different churches to host info meetings and such so that we could find leaders and members. He made it way easier for us though! He was like “that is way too much work going into different churches, I’ll just get you in contact with a whole bunch of people I know would be interested in joining!” So that was a huge blessing!
3. We have a meeting Friday afternoon with the leader of all the campus ministries and Campus Crusade for Christ which is awesome because most people interested in DRIME are university age, and he’s the leader of all the campus ministries...hello...praise God!
Please pray that the meeting goes well, and please keep praying for us in our time here, that God would keep us safe and healthy, that he would give us great discernment in choosing leaders, and for his guidance in our time here in Benin!
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