Capturing The Coolness of Korhogo

In Town

A lot has happened this last week in Korhogo! Walking into the market to visit churches and buy groceries and explore took up a good part of our first few days. Nema, our amazing cultural guide, has showed us all around town. There is a really cool looking (and HUGE) mosque that was built several centuries ago here, it makes for a cool skyline! There are lots of mosques here, with those big bell towers you would expect to see. My favorite part about our walks was discovering little vegetable markets in the different parts of town – it feels like finding a buried treasure each time. It is good to get out and meet people, and I love when they recognize me and wave and say “Ça va?!” as I walk by. Getting acquainted with people, that’s step one to building relationships right?

At IBB

I have had a great time getting to know the pastors and pastoral students here at IBB (Institute Biblique Béthel) and living with them. They are wonderful people, so hospitable and great to spend time with, a blessing from God for sure! I had a great bonding experience with them when we spent a night in La Meckah, a small village outside town about 10 miles. We shared the gospel door to door, and had a night of dancing and singing in the streets! There was a great harvest that night, God was bringing lots of people to newfound faith in Jesus! Amen! After I got back to IBB, I found that the other Journeyers had come up to be here for orientation. It’s been so great seeing them all again! We had a fun experience rappelling at a big rock hill outside town the other night.

I think my other favorite part of being here has been the power outages (C’est Gbagbo!) that we experience every night. We bust out the candles and it makes our fellowship a bit more special. Also I’ve been taking the opportunity to gaze at the amazing night sky full of stars. There basically isn’t a light on for a couple hundred miles (other than headlights) when the power goes out, so it’s DARK. I’ve been using the time to teach Pastor Simon about stars, the solar system, the vastness of space…it’s been really fun. I love seeing when God blows his mind as he realizes what a huge universe we are in, and that God holds it all in the palm of His hand! We also had a fun time talking about the moon, and how it reflects the SUN, and how likewise we relfect the light of God into the darkness when we are aligned with the SON. (Thanks Mr. Shabaglian for that analogy!)

The Prayer

There is one other experience I should mention, as it is having an impact on me. After our daily morning chapel service, I was invited by a team of pastors to go and pray for a girl (maybe 22 or 23 years old I’d guess) in town. I couldn’t tell what was wrong with her when we got there – since they were speaking in Senefo – but God was definitely whispering in my ear. I could tell that she was paralyzed from the waist down, and possibly demon possessed. I’m not sure about that second issue, since I couldn’t ask in Senefo, but as I looked her in the eyes I could sense the presence of demons. She had this glare that was so intense, creepy even, like no look I’ve ever seen before on a person. She wanted to know my name, so I said “Soro Bé Navigée” (my new Senefo name) to which she just gave a loud yell and then sat quietly, staring me in the eyes with that cold, vacant expression, head halfway tilted back and to her right. Like I said, I don’t know what the need was for certain (and I’ve never prayed to cast out demons), so I hope I’m not making the situation into something it wasn’t. All I know is what I felt my spirit telling me – the same quiet, discerning voice that I’m used to hearing when God is laying something heavy on my heart. Anyways, when it got to me I prayed over her in English, proclaiming the power of Jesus to reign over her life, for the assignments of the enemy to be broken down and cast away, and for healing to come to her body and mind and soul in the name of Jesus. I’d like to say I prayed as bodly as this all sounds, but please don’t overestimate me here. I’m just glad that God gave me the strength and the wonderful opportunity to pray for her. And thank God that the Spirit intercedes on our behalf when we don’t know what to pray! I am praying that it was all just me overreacting, and that she is a believer in Jesus who needed prayer for something.

Other than all of this, we have only one day left of orientation with Rod, Bakary, and our families. I have met my new Ivorian father, and I go to live with his family tomorrow after our final orientation meeting.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

Here is the prayer requests section I included in my newletter I sent out last night. If you still are not receiving that and would like to, leave a comment with your email address please!

“I want to take this chance to thank each and everyone of you for your continued support through prayer, finances, and encouragement. I am so blessed and honored to be called into this partnership with you. Daily, as God stretches us and molds us into new creations, lets remember to lift up in prayer those who have yet to come into this new life in Christ. I ask also that you remember me in your prayers, as well as the rest of Journey Corps. We have many difficult challenges ahead of us here in Côte d’Ivoire, including but not limited to: language learning, culture, sicknesses, political turmoil, and most of all the epic spiritual battle for the very souls of men and women. As well, pray with thanksgiving for the good things that God is doing. He is drawing people to Himself in the biggest revolution the world has ever seen – that is, that invasion His Kingdom into the world!

“Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ.” – Romans 1:7

In Christ,

Jason Dietmeyer

Serving in Côte d’Ivoire”