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!

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 5^th. 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!