Adieu 2010

Happy New Year!

It’s been a good day today….and a good week! I spent the went helping build a roof up North in Komboro Koro (or something like that) near Korhogo. It was great to work with the Ivorians, and to help a church get a roof put up. Hard work, great eating, and great fellowship.

As I write this, I am sitting here digesting the brains, ears, meat, and whoknows what else of a delicious pig that we slow cooked all day. When I awoke this morning I walked over to where we were cooking the pig and helped Chazz with firewood. The pig was cooked in a hole that we had dug, wrapped in banana leaves, and buried. It was so tender and good, but I’m afraid I haven’t recovered yet from the psychological trauma of eating the brain. It’s texture was a cross between mashed potatoes and gummy bears. Along with the pig were french friend, onion rings, spanish rice, pineapple, and lots of desserts.

Looking back, I can’t believe how fast this year has gone by….but isn’t that how it feels every year? So much has happened this year, I’m not the same person I was when the year began in many ways. This year has seen many ups and downs – college graduation, my Dad’s death, moving to Africa – I have said goodbye to a lot of people this year. It has been a very hard year, but also a great year. Living in community with the other journeyers all day every day is something God has been using to stretch me. I thank God for his provision of family here in Africa. I love everyone back home, and saying goodbye was hard, but God is good and has blessed me with a lot of new relationships here. I really love them all like family, out bond in Christ has brought us together and made us all so close. I also am finding a lot of healing here, even for wounds I’ve had for years that I didn’t even realize I still had.

I’m making a new year’s resolution this year. I’m resolving two things: 1 - to continually thank God for things I’m not used to that cause me to think differently (in a good way). 2 – to become a competent conversational African-French speaker. Maybe my third should be to actually follow through with my resolutions lol.

Well I’m going to go out to the bonfire and hang out with everyone. Chazz and I built a giant bonfire which stands about 5 feet tall, and will continue to burn for hours I’m sure. I’m pretty sure the only bigger bonfire I’ve seen it when Luke burns Darth Vader on Return of the Jedi.

God bless you all, I hope that you will all look back on 2010 and see the ways that God was and is trying to teach you, guide you, and draw you nearer to Himself. I will pray for you that in 2011 you will continue to open yourself to His working in your heart, and the the ways He challenges you to think about things differently than you do right now. I miss all of you my friends and family all around the world, please pray for me in 2011. Have a great rest of 2010 and have a great 2011!

Romans 12:9 – Love must be sincere; hate what is evil, cling to what is good.

Termites, meet you maker!

Wow it’s that time of day already, right now I can hear the muslims call to prayer being shouted over a loudspeaker from a couple miles away.
Things are going well here lately. This last week has been a lot of work on French homework. Tomorrow I present a 30 minute lesson to the class on how to share the gospel in French. Recently, we had a fun night out at Rod and Angelika’s house, eating dessert with the French again. This time it was not to practice our French on them though, they came to practice their English on us! There are several new guys who have been brought here to replace some of the soldiers who had been here 6 months already. One of them told me that he went to a local wifi hotspot and got his iphone 4 working, which I find awesome – because that means maybe I can get my iphone working too! The dinky MTN phone I have is really flimsy.
I’m almost done reading “Mere Christianity” by CS Lewis right now, this book has been really good for me. I love books that make you think about things in a new way. This morning for bible study we went through John chapter 9. Rod had us read Isaiah 29 and 42 out loud first though, I recommend trying this. It was really cool to see how interconnected these three chapters of the bible are.
Life is going along pretty normally (if I can call anything normal anymore) here. Today Holly, Devin, and myself all destroyed a giant termite mound with pick-axes and shovels. The staff are going to build an outdoor stove with the clay that the termites use, which is almost as hard as rock. We are almost done painting the second coat in the basement, and soon will be restoring the furniture. The other night I set up the drum kit in the chapel, and so that has been fun to play. Also, the Grettas are here with 3 of their sons (who are a bit younger than me). I’m glad they are here (they are great soccer players). The parents both worked here, Bill was the PE teacher and his wife was a Biology teacher. All four of their sons were students at ICA, and to this day they come back often on short term trips. They rent out one of the buildings on camps, which they have restored to it’s former glory it seems. They are going to be building a roof on a church up in Fairke after Christmas, and I have half a mind to go with them to help.
For Christmas break, most of us are going up north to Korogo to visit various ministries and do some recreation, while a couple others go to Fairke to help with the church. I’m torn on what to do, because there is one ministry I really want to visit….maybe I can just do a day visit to the church to help. I’m sure I’ll figure it out.

The political situation continues to be ever evolving. I won’t go into details, you can find those elsewhere. I like reading the BBC’s articles, though they sometimes exaggerate certain details in my opinion. My whole take on it, is that democracy is going to be impossible in most African countries as long as you have greedy, power hungry, tyrannical leaders like Gbagbo who won’t give up their office after they legitimately lose. It’s the same story in most African nations that hold democratic elections. There are only a few exceptions, such as South Africa for example. I think that until Africa sees the Nelson Mandella’s winning and striving for peace, and the Laurent Gbagbo’s being thrown in jail for their violent crimes – I think Africa is going to be in a sticky situation until then.

Thank you all for taking the time to read my verbose blogs! I’m glad to know that some of you are still following my life. Please send me an email sometime or leave a comment, and tell me how I can pray for you!

A Taste of French

Here is a taste of how my French is coming along. I wouldn't have the presence of mind to remember how to say all of this in conversation, but on paper I do better. I think it's exciting that I actually know what this says, and that I wrote it! :)

Le week-end on a eu beaucoup de plaisir. Devin et moi, nous étions avec Soro Ali et sa famille. Vendredi et Samedi, nous avons joué des parties avec des cartes pour passer le temps. Pendant la nuit j’ai réfléchi sur le jour et j’ai écrit mes observations dans mon cahier. J’ai mangé tellement de norriture qu’après j’avais mal au ventre. Le week-end était genial et j’espére visiter Soro Ali et ses voisins encore une fois, bientôt.

Translation:

This weekend was a lot of fun. Devin and I stayed with Soro Ali and his family. We played games with cards every day to pass the time. At night I reflected about the day and wrote my observations in my notebook. I ate so much food that my stomach hurt. It was a great weekend and I hope to visit Ali and his neighbors again soon.

Today we said goodbye to Jeff Denlinger, who was visiting, and to Katie, our German friend. She is such a sweetheart, and I will miss her! Naomi and I are talking about maybe visiting her in Germany for a week on our way home. Just talk right now, but I think it's a great idea!

We have 2 presidents, eat your heart out USA! :P

Well, it's December 5th. Sorry it's been so long since my last post, things have made it difficult for me to find time for blogging. I realize there are no pics on this blog yet...I will post those soon. (I have a few in mind)

A lot has happened since my last blog. The big news (which you may have seen in your local newpaper even) here is the rivalry between Gbagbo and Ouattara, the two presidents of Cote d'Ivoire. Yes that's right...I said TWO. Gbagbo is recognized by the Constitutional Council and the Ivorian military as president. Ouattara is recognized by the majority of the population, the UN, the US, France, the EU, and most of the world. The Ivorian military said they would side with the Council, and the Council is made up of mainly Gbabgo supporters and is abusing their authority by declaring several large Ouattara districts void (so that Gbagbo could win). So if you didn't catch that, the military is with Gbagbo. The prime minister that supported Gbabgo has switched sides to Ouattara. It's a big jumbled mess I agree, so please pray for the situation to be resolved peacefully without another civil war.

Moving on too...THANKSGIVING! Oh man, it was great here - and they don't even celebrate thanksgiving in Cote d'Ivoire! We did though! There were 15 or so missionaries from up North here for the annual baptist missions conference held here at ICA. We discussed a lot of issues concerning that, and we had a lot of good time talking about opportunities for when I leave here to live in villages, but I digress. There were 40 of us total at dinner on Thanksgiving, all enjoying a delightfully huge meal of yummy awesome scrumptiousness. We set up the tables on the basketball court outside, and had candles on the table to give light. No joke, it was probably the best thankgiving meal ever in my life. Especially dessert, it was soooo good. Our local german friend, Kati, made this amazizing german fruitcake. It was this spongy cake with these cherries on top, I know that description doesn't do it justice...just know that it was oozing with goodness.

After the conference we resumed our routine for weekends and for weekdays. We did have a SNOW DAY(!!!!) on monday. There was no actual snow, but we all just felt the need to a day of rest after a crazy busy weekend. You could call it a day of sabbath if you like. On tuesday night we invited our very own on-campus knights in shining armor (or camouflage armor, which isn't too shiny), the French military, over for desserts on the basketball court (the tables were still set up). They all speak decent English, and were good about encouraging me to talk in French with them. I really like meeting them, especially Charles, the commanding Major on campus. He and Marcel (the gun expert) are leaving in 2 days for France. They have been in the same unit for 5 years, living in Afghanistan, S. America, Cameroon, Senegal, and now Cote d'Ivoire. I'm really happy that Charles will get to go home to his wife and children. Their typical stay is 4 months here, but he has been here 6 months because of the political instability. It's fun knowing them now, and waving to them as they drive by to their portion of campus.

Side note: if we ever have to evacuate, I really hope I get to ride in the helicopter.

Today we visited a nearby village to see how they make pottery. It was very interesting, and it was fun talking with the children, even if they were a bit rude and pushy about wanting pictures taken. I didn't realize that all african pottery is black, to signify that it's form Africa.

There has been a lot of learning and growing both in my brain and in my heart these last couple of weeks....and that's not without growing pains either. I was feeling very discouraged the last few weeks, feeling that I had nothing to offer this place. I felt some tension between myself and a couple other journeyers, and I was feeling that things were only going to get worse - that I'd never learn French, that I'd never build deep relationships here, and that I wouldn't accomplish anything. Thank God for showing me that these lies were all planted in my heart by Satan. I have been having doing very well the last several days. I had a really good talk in small group, just sort of confessing how I was feeling. God has been encouraging me a lot since then, clearing up the tension with my friends (which turned out to be just miscommunication), and I feel a lot closer to mes amis here now. I am excited for learning French, and for the opportunities that lay ahead of me here in Cote d'Ivoire. This is such a beautiful land, with such beautiful people created in God's image, whom he gave his life for. I'm so glad to be here, even at such a bad time politically. I wouldn't change my life in any way because I know I am walking in the path God is laying out for me, and that's exactly where I want to be always.

In January I might get to go up north to Ferké to work in the recording studio, live with an Ivorian family, and get my feet wet in ethnomusicology. I'm super excited for this possibility.

If you have any questions, please leave comments or email me at jasondietmeyer@gmail.com

J'aime tout de vous.

Yesterday, Today, My Brain....

Last night we went to this Rock Quarry deep in the jungle way way outside town. It was amazing! God gave us this beautiful sunset on one side of the sky, contrasted by amazing lightning clouds on the other side. That was a blast, and riding on top of the landcrusier (literally on the top) through the bushy beaten path was probably the coolest thing I've ever done. I did get smacked in the face by a few branches though haha. That was yesterday, here is how my day was today...

Today is an Islamic holiday, so needless to say the city has been BUSY the last several days. People from all around come to the market in Bouaké (one of the biggest in West Africa) to buy food and animals to sacrifice to Allah. What I mean by that: there are literally thousands of cattle, goats, and sheep in the streets that are going to be slaughtered for the holiday. It's really interesting, though kind of sad at the same time to me. It's interesting how Satan never comes up with his own ideas, this all just speaks back to how things were in the Old Testament times with the Jews sacrificing animals; it is so bizarre to actually see it happening in person! I saw a guy holding a goat's head over a fire today! I think today is connected to Ramadan somehow...I know that they fast from 4am until 6pm.

This morning we had an interesting bible study. We studied John 2, about Jesus turning the water into wine at a Jewish wedding. Jewish weddings in those days lasted 7 days usually, and it was a very shameful thing to run out of wine or ceremonial washing water. The act of washing oneself was (and still is) very important before prayers in Judaism, and in Islam today. It refers back to the book of Numbers if you want to find it (I think chapter 15...). Not only is it practical in that it cleans you, but it also awakens you a bit so that you don't fall asleep in prayer. You wash your hands, feet, scalp, face, ears, mouth, and nostrils all 3 times. I think it's interesting not just that Jesus turns the water into wine, but that he turned all of the water used for ceremonial washing to do the job! This is symbolic on SO many levels - just think about it for a minute! Jesus used THAT water to make a point, probably several points. I really like the symbolism of how we are washed in the blood of Christ to cleanse us from sin, and how the washing water is wine...the very thing Jesus uses to represent his blood in the last supper.

After bible study we did some restoration work in the basement here, we are making it into this awesome game/hangout room. After that I took a trip with Angelika and some of the girls into town to visit one of the local Imam's and the butcher Angelika likes to use. It's a very honorable thing to do to visit someone during the day; every time I have done so they are just beaming with joy - taking the time to be with them is a huge compliment! So we went to the Imam (the "pastor" of a mosque) and spent some time there, and then his wife accompanied us as we visited the butcher. Afterwards, we headed home and got into our small groups and had some great life-sharing bonding time. I'd like to share a bit with you of what I shared with them.

So tonight we talked about expectations, fears, and current idols in our lives. Coming into Journey Corps I definitely had some expectations about how the year was going to go and what I'd be doing. God, being the sovereign and gracious Lord he is, graciously stripped away those expectations and began preparing me to just do as he tells me to do each day. So naturally I thought that I had overcome my preconceived notions of what God was supposed to do in and through me for the next year. I was wrong. Have you ever read the "Screwtape Letters" by CS Lewis? It's a series of correspondences between a high ranking demon and a lower ranking one regarding the latter's "patient" (aka human subject) and how to best cause him to falter and reject his newfound Christian faith. I feel like I'm the patient right now in a sense....like a demon has been assigned to me to make me feel discouraged, distracted, prideful, and just overall useless. I have been listening a bit too much to the lies that I have nothing to offer here, and that I am going to be constantly frustrated and discontented in the work I do over the next year. He has been using my pervious expectations and hopes to fuel these lies, and it's been effective. I have been feeling exactly those things lately. I feel like the gifts I've been given are next to useless in this culture. What could I ever do to make a difference here? Do other missionaries feel this way to, or am I just some outcast, a loser, a briar in a bouquet of flowers?

Thank God that he hears our cries, even when we can't articulate in our own hearts what is the problem. I am thankful for tonight, a lot of prayer and some time affirming each other and casting out of fears and idols in the name of Jesus....it was what I needed. God definitely has been speaking to me the things I've been needing to hear tonight, good healing time.

Anyway, that was my day....I'd like to hear from you guys that are reading thing blog. Do you have any questions, or specific aspects of my time here that you'd like me to blog about?

PS - If you want my newsletter, send me an email at jasondietmeyer@gmail.com, I lost a few of the email addresses I had from people. I only have those of my financial supporters right now. The newsletter goes out at the end of this week, and every 4 weeks after that.

In Bouake and adjusting

Hey! Well today is Saturday and I've the day off. We have a busy schedule, which is great, but can also be a bit too tiring. I got a cell phone yesterday by the way! I'm not giving that out to anyone but a few people, since it's expensive to use. It is nice to be able to text and call now though.

Traveling here was a blast, though it wasn't without its stressors of course. In Brussel's I got to hang out with my friend María and her friend Claudia from Spain. It was so good to see Maria again, and to meet Claudia! They showed me around the town a bit and then I left for Africa. I got to see the Alps, the Mediterranean, and the Sahara from the plane window...so cool!

We arrived last Friday night and spent the night in Abidjan. After an amazing breakfast with freshly laid eggs Saturday mornings, we took the 5 hour drive to Bouaké in the center of Cote d'Ivoire. It has been amazing here! I've had only one chance so far to actually walk around in the city itself, which was fun. Most of our time so far has been spent on campus at ICA. We are taking French classes, learning about culture from Rod and Angelika, and having discussions about how we want to shape Journey Corps. These next several weeks are for preparing us to enter into villages around the country to live with families and be involved in service.

The ICA (International Christian Academy) campus is beautiful. It looks like Dharma Initative from LOST; lots of older buildings in the middle of a tropical climate. The heat and humidity is pretty intense here....the bugs, arachnids, birds, and lizards are even more so! Especially the 40 mosquitoes that decided to eat my feet alive the first night! I'm still feeling my mistake of spending an hour with Chazz opening a cocunut with a leatherman at 5 in the evening. It didn't even taste good because it had already fermented. Epic letdown! It has been great walking around exploring the campus though.

God has been doing a lot of new things in me, and showing me a lot of things about myself I didn't know, and probably would have never learned in the states. I'm really excited for what we are developing here; being a port of Journey Corps' pilot program is challenging, but really rewarding too. The training we are receiving is so amazing, and the seminars are going to be an opportunity that almost no missionaries ever have. Journey Corps is shaping up to be a pretty amazing opportunity for young people to get great hands on mission training and life experience in the field. The whole idea is that I will be comfortable by myself living in West Africa after this year as a missionary. I'm not necessarily saying that will happen, but it's an exciting goal nonetheless.

A typical day for me so far looks a bit like this: wake up at 6:30am, eat some oatmeal and tea for breakfast, then head to bible study. We study a chapter (in John right now), and then we have a short break before French class. We spend an hour and a half with our amazing French teacher Beckie, and then we have free time until lunch. In my free time I do anything from playing my guitar to reading, or maybe doing more french....I also like to spend time with the Ivoirians living on campus. It's disrespectful to pass someone and not at least say hi and ask how they are doing. In America we are so private, but here it's expected that people will how up throughout the day just to spend time with you unannounced. I LOVE that. Anyways I digress....we spend a while cleaning up the campus, we have another meeting, then dinner, then free times till bed. The meals are amazing! My stomach needs to adjust though....

Anwyays, I'll post more soon when I get the chance. My internet time is almost up here in this cafe. I miss you all and am praying for you! Please pray for me over here to fit in as much as possible!


- Jason

Heading Out!

Oh man! Training is officially over in the states, and we are leaving in....7 hours for the airport! My flights will take me from Denver, to DC, to Brussels, and then I'll be landing in Abidjan at 9:30pm their time on Friday night - that means like 12:30pm in Fresno.

Training was a whirlwind of intensity! So much info crammed into 3 days, I'm feeling a bit mentally spent! It was a lot of fun, and so very informative as well. The way God has been bonding us journeyers together as a family has been amazing, I can't wait to see how we will relate to one another in a year's time! I've been learning SO much about Ivorian culture, and how we can assimilate into that culture. They have so many huge differences from us, I know that God is going to be stretching me so much! I can't wait though, I welcome the difficulty! The hardest part for me is going to be conflict resolution. It is a very shame based society, unlike the guilt based system in the USA. I'm so used to direct confrontation when there is a problem between me and another individual....but in Cote d'Ivoire, problems and conflicts between individuals are handled as a community. Everybody knows each others business, and the sense of privacy is very different than in Western culture. Also, I need to learn not to cross my legs in public. Feet are considered "dirty" and therefore it is offensive to point them at someone.

I am going to Cote d'Ivoire feeling much more prepared to face the struggles that await. God has been doing a lot in my heart here in Colorado, and that goes for everyone in the team. Journey Corps is such a new program, and this first team (10 of us) are going to be the trailblazers. These "tracts" of ministry that are offered - we are going to be playing a big part in creating, developing, and growing those. Until WorldVenture see's how successful JC is, the amount of access to experts in certain areas is going to be limited. The experiences that this first group of journeyers has is going to shape Journey Corps for later groups, and is also going to provide WorldVenture with a lot of resources for better promoting JC to people stateside. WorldVenture has a vision of having Journey Corps operations all around the world in the next several years. I like to think of Journey Corps as the Peace Corps, but with Jesus in charge, so basically it's way way better and way way different lol. And way way smaller of course (for now), but I really see Journey Corps growing into a much larger ministry in the next few years.

Training has been an arduous time for my brain, but it's been great. Colorado has also been great. Super beautiful, dry and windy, and not a ton to do in Littleton. My skin is incredibly dry here. I'm using lotion all the time to keep the snowing down! The best part of this week has been community. The community I experienced this week was SO amazing, and it's been a lot of fun being in a different part of the country. The only disappointment really concerning Colorado is that I cant hit anyone for Colorado plates being out of state!

I am looking forward to more blogs, I hope you are enjoying my updates! Maybe I'll throw down a little update at Brussels Airport...

PS

I shaved my beard! I got tired of how dry my skin on my face is getting here, so I want to put some lotion on my chin but I cant get it through my thick beard! Seriously, it was getting pretty beastly the last several days, I hadn't shaved in like 6 weeks! I'm going to grow my beard back out as soon as I get to Cote d'Ivoire though...I prefer the look more than shaved. Here is a picture of me having fun mid-shave. I can't believe how red my facial hair is!

The Journey Begins!

Well, the Christian Music Awards went great. They will be airing in a few weeks on TBN. I was totally blessed to be a part of Shabaglian's band, we did pre-show worship and lead worship the day before in a chapel service. I had the chance to spend an afternoon in the recording studio as indie artists came in. It was so fun! The awards themselves were AMAZING, I cant wait to see a recording of the TBN broadcast. It was so great to connect with some great artists and industry folk, and especially to reconnect with my bro Phil Stacey. God is doing some sweet things through that bro and his voice; I was totally ministered to! Well, with the weekend coming to an end, it marked the end of one season in my life and the beginning of another! I'll miss my guys: Jon, LB, Gaylon, Jonas, and Ed. What an amazing crew to minister the gospel with the last several years! I look forward to more work with them when I return, Lord willing.

Sunday morning I flew out from Nashville at 5:45am, landed in Denver at 7:45am, and got picked up by Aaron from Journey Corps! It was so great to meet him, it really was beginning to feel like this mission is actually happening! Because I got in so early, he took me to drop off my things at WorldVenture's HQ (here in Littleton) and then took me to 1st service at Mission Hills Church down the street. Church was great and then I had a nice relaxing walk back to HQ. I hadn't slept the night before, so I hung out with Aaron a bit more and then passed out into sweet bliss for a couple hours. I was awoken to the sound of Naomi, Devin, and Chazz at the door. More journeyers, awesome! We had a few fun hours exploring the grounds and waiting for the rest of the Journey Corps missionaries to arrive, which they did a few hours later. In all there are of 10 of us leaving this Thursday, they are: Myself, Naomi, Chazz, Devin, Steph, Caitlin, Holly, Heidi, Jaime, and Alyssa. They are all solid brothers and sisters in the Lord, and God is already giving us a total spirit of unity! We all got to meet Jessica Sveen yesterday too, as we all were getting settled in. It was a good night, and I was ready to begin training in the morning at 8am.

So that takes me to today! This morning we started training by getting a guided tour of the facilities and meeting all of the WorldVenture staff that work out of Littleton. Man this organization is way bigger and more awesome than I expected! I'm really pumped to be a part of such an amazing organization, shining God's light in the darkness all over the world!

During training we spent some time getting to know each other, including going over our DISC personality test results. That test was fairly accurate, and I learned a lot about myself and my compatriots! We then spent several hours learning about cultural norms in Cote d'Ivoire, which was really interesting! Here are a few things I need to really keep in mind:

• At road blocks, it's better to give soldiers tea bags or tracts instead of money
• It's offensive to use your left hand for things, it's considered dirty
• To show respect, shake hands while grabbing your arm, or shake with 2 hands. Also show respect to people, but it's offensive to show respect to "lower" status people.
• Don't give money to begging kids with tomato cans, all the money goes to the Imam. An Imam is like a Muslim pastor, and they take bad care of these kids. Instead of money, give the kids ice cream or something that the Imam won't take.
• It's common to pay a kid to guard your car for you. I like this!
• Girls/girls can hold hands/hug. Guys/guys can too. It's a sign of friendship! However, if a guy/girl hold hands or especially hug, it means they can't wait to get into the bedroom. I guess I'll have to be careful then, because I'm a hugger!
• African culture is very relationship based and event based, not time based. It's almost expected that you will be late to most things!

Anyways, there is a lot more I learned too, I hope you enjoy these few facts. The day has been great, I'm learning a lot, and the reality of the situation is beginning to set in! Please keep me in your prayers! Also a huge THANKS(!) to all those supporting me financially! Without God compelling you to give, this mission would not be possible for me. God is going to be doing some amazing thing through YOUR giving, so be excited! I can't wait to give you all updates on how I'm doing, and on the things God is teaching me and doing in and through the whole Journey Corps team.