Power Struggle

The struggle for power in Côte d’Ivoire is not merely a political problem. The electricity is literally a tug-of-war here. Gbagbo turned off our electricity yet again for a few days, and just yesterday during church it came back on. Now as I’m writing this, it’s off again…no telling it it’s Gbagbo or just a temporary power outage that will last a few hours. (update: it’s back on again after about 30 minutes, thankfully). Without power people without wells have to find water elsewhere, often at neighbors’ wells, sometimes families just go without for a day or more. Hospitals and dispensaries that don’t have generators can’t preform surgeries, life support machines can’t work – patients die. People have a hard time finding a place to charge cell phones, businesses suffer, city night life all but stops, etc. The economy suffers greatly and people dependant on electricity to live die. Also TV and internet don’t work so people can’t see what’s happening currently in the country/world. Here, the generator at my house is broken, so my brother Zachary bought a car battery and and 500W converter and plugged that into the house to power a couple room so we could charge phones and my computer. Also since I’ve been doing work for Radio Sinai, I have gone over there a couple times to charge my computer and work (they had a generator running in the mornings). I get by ok, but I can’t say the same for everyone. While the power was on (until just a moment ago) I was reading online the BBC Africa site, people’s opinions about the situation here in CI - most of the people are from within the country. It’s interesting to see how decieved some people are because of the propaganda that they are fed. Then again, isn’t all news biased? It’s also startling to be reminded how hopeless this ever elusive idea of “peace” is in this world. If everyone could learn to love each other, like Christ loves everyone, things would be better no doubt. But Jesus said himself that we will “hear of wars and rumors of wars”, and that these things have to take place until the end comes. The human condition is sinful – prideful to the core, greedy, and incapable of genuine love for others. People seem to think that different political solutions (including war) will fix the problem here in C.I. and in Africa. I think today Rwanda is a good example of what they are thinking of – after more than 800,000 people massacared there because of tribal conflict, peace reigns; there are no Hutus and Tutsis today, just the people of Rwanda. Yet this did not happen through human effort, only because God has been on the move turning lots of people towards him in Rwanda has the nation become a shining example of peace and reconciliation in Africa today. Only through Christ can things get better in Côte d’Ivoire. Christ, the King of Kings, is the only politican with a good solution, the transformation of our hearts from the inside out. While it seems that civil war is inevitable, and that tribal divisions will ever plague this once “prosperous” country with violence and self-hatred, I will be praying that God will win over the hearts of Ivorians (and Africans in general) so that more lasting change can be achieved, as in Rwanda. It would be a great testimony of God’s power and man’s utter lack of an ability to fix itself if that happened.

Moving on from that, we had another join service Sunday. Joint meaning the Senefo and French services combined, so there was about 600 people, and the translation made things take twice as long; it ended up being a 4 hour service. Since I wasn’t able to make music team practice during the week (because there was no power) I figured I wasn’t playing electric guitar this week, so I came at 8am and sat in the audience. My buddy Joel was playing guitar – sweet – but wait he isn’t very good. Then he sends someone over to me, and next things I know I’m playing guitar, and there isn’t piano since it’s broken, so I’m the only one playing chords. Awesome. I don’t know any of the songs, and the women singing and nearly tone-deaf so I can barely make out a key for the song in my head. Also the bass player (the only other one playing notes), is looking to me to tell him what key we are in. No worries, God is good and he has given me an ear and years of studying at CSUF to figure this all out, so I was able to improvise sufficent chord progressions, and sometimes make the songs go pretty smoothly. The pride in me would love to pat myself of the back for a job semi-well done, but I know that “every good thing coes from God”, which includes any abilities I have, so I can only applaud God for a job well done on Sunday.

In the night yesterday my brother took me “out on the town” which was my first seeing Korhogo at night (while the power was on). I discovered a restaurant where I can buy yoplait in a few flavors, and things kind of like burritos aka sweet manna from heaven! I also was encouraged in my improvement with French when we visited a couple different courtyards where I had some lively discussions in French (and not talking at a snails pace either like usual) and understood just about every word, and rather impressed them when they learned that I understood almost nothing just 2 months ago. Again, God is good, and I think he brought me outside last night ot encourage me, and show me how he has been answering my prayers (and yours)!

Every Saturday the JC girls and I meet to debrief with each other and pray. This is already proving to be really, really healthy for us. We share weekly goals, struggles, prayer requests, etc. There has been a lot of spiritual attack lately within the group, but God is working through it and refining Journey Corps more and more.

Ok so I think that’s a sufficient update for this week. Things are going fine concerning everyday life here, in spite of spiritual attacks and political turmoil. Next blog, I am going to post a bunch of pictures of people in my life here, and places I frequent. Hopefully you can get a better visual of my surroundings then, but for now I need to work on taking those pictures!

In the meantime here is a few pictures:

Here is me on top of "Mount Korhogo"

This is "downtown" from Mount Korhogo, yummy smog! That Mosque by the way is about 1/2 of a mile in each direction to give reference.

I don't know their names, but when i was in a different village a couple Sundays ago these kids were a lot of fun :)

This is CJ (aka Julia aka Nibontena), we were at the village together for church with our pastor.

Another hot day

It's hot today, what's new! :P

Today I took turns with Alyssa driving around her mo-ped as we ran errands together. Had a little fall going like 5mph in some loose dirt and scraped up my foot and hand. It's not bad, just stings. I think my pride was hurt more than my body haha, it's all good!

Yesterday I was in Fairke visiting Heidi at the Baptist hospital, she had her appendix removed. She's doing great considering, just is tired and what not. Beckie was also in bed with

a fever from her Malaria, but I know that being there will be great for both of them...time to rest and regain their strength. Anyways, it was my first trip to Fairke, and brought many mini-adventures with "soldiers" at road blocks who were civilians pretending to be military hassling people for money, and adventures in the market and on the moto avoiding potholes than seemingly come form nowhere. The view on the 45 minute ride there and back was pretty, and worth the bugs that hit me in the face going 100kmh (ouch!).

Things here in Korhogo have been good here the last week or so. I'm glad I had the long talk with Glenn Kendall that I did, as it has given me much to pray about and consider concerning my future, which is good! I've taken back to studying my flash cards and french textbook again, which is becoming really helpful. I was trying to just absorb French through everyday talking and what not, and while some areas get better and better, other things I don't use as much get worse lol. It really is just all about using what you learn all the time, or else you WILL forget.

I'm reading "Passion & Purity" by Elizabeth Elliot, and am liking it a lot so far, though I'm only a few chapters in. I'm also reading a book my friend Megan Halterman loaned me called "You Brain On Music" which is quite stimulating for my brain.

Things with my family and friends here are fun. I have fun being silly and dancing around or making funny noises with my sisters and little brothers. I also like to pick up the youngest, Ungalo, and hang him upside down - he gets a big kick out of that lol. I really appreciate my brothers who are older and more mature than the little kids, we have lots of great conversations. And my parents hospitality is never ending - I'm so grateful for them. Jesus really has placed me in a great family, a family that follows the Lord and each other, and are really helpful to me when I'm being "American" and having trouble learning or understanding something lol. The biggest challenge right now involving family is still food, I'm absolutely tired of Ivorian food, but God is good and I eat every bite I possibly can with a smile, sometimes in my head praying "In the name of Jesus I eat this bite". In everything you do do it in the name of Jesus for the glory of God the Father right?

So here are a few pictures, a couple of things here, and several of things and people I miss at home (of which i have pictures):

This is Bambi, my pet for 3 days who eventually died sadly. I'm pretty sure my family didn't know how to feed him correctly. OH well, farewell Bambi, you are missed.

This is rice with sauce vert (green sauce). It's made with green beans and is pretty tasty if you aren't tired of rice :P

These are my two nieces: Bonnie and Molly. So cute! I miss them dearly, even though I've yet to meet Molly.

This is the Jon Shabaglian band, of which I played in for 4 plus years. They are recording a new album right now, and I'm excited to hear it! Miss you guys!

My grandma and my sister-in-law Hilary with their new tats! I love them, and it's just like my 80 yr old grandma to get a tattoo. The woman in the middle is the artist.

A bit about my week

Right now I’m at the bible institute again, just returned from Radio Sinai, where I re-recorded the guitar part for “Nous Les Enfants” with Melee. This is a song that was recorded by Save the Children here in Côte d’Ivoire, in French and English, which we are redoing in Tymbara and D
yula. I’m doing the guitar, drums, and maybe bass as well. Joel from church is going to do the piano. The recording “studio” there is a pretty humble setup compared to what I’m used to back home, but it’s pretty high tech to the Ivorians out here. For you who understand here is the setup: There is a sound board and some rack units that look about 20 years old, which feed into a little ZOOM device that looks ike a microphone with a voice recorder built into it. They record onto that via the line in, and then import the audio from that onto their old PC computers running Sound Forge 9. The mics are all dynamic mics, a few SM58s and what not. Actually with what they have, I’m pretty impressed with the sound quality they are able to get. I think it’s because the acoustics of the room are pretty good. I think it’s awesome that there is a chance to record music at all up here in Korhogo!
It’s been interesting to see the season progressively change lately, from dry season to rainy season. It actually rains every now and then, and by rain I mean it’s like God took a giant bucket and poured it out, or maybe a big heavenly fire hose. When it rains it pours, and les eclaires (lightning) is pretty impressive too. I was awoken at 3am this morning by a huge thunderous BOOM and then the sound of rain pelting the tin roof above my head. It’s a beautiful sound, and I had the presence of mind to record it (of course). I’m trying to compile the “sounds of Côte d’Ivoire” hehe.
I’ve been keeping busy with reading like usual, got through the 7 Narnia books, and am gonna start reading the bible chronologically as well. Also working on my memorization of Romans like usual, have 3 chapters in the bag now.
A lot of the girls seem to be getting sick and getting ameobas and what not lately, and I’ve had my fair share of sickness since I’ve been here as well. I guess getting sick is pretty unavoidable if you are plannign on spending a significant amount of time in Africa, so we all are taking it with a grain of salt. But prayers against sickness are definitely greatly appreciated.
Yesterday CJ and I accompanied Pastor Brahima and Mattias from the Dispensary to a different village for church, and to hang out afterwards. We had a lot of fun joking with each other, and CJ won a little bet we had and as a result I owe her Oreos (yes we found real oreos here). I ended the day by teaching my siblings some more guitar, and watching the news. They are saying that since Gbagbo has rejected the power sharing deal (which is kinda ludicrous IMO), that force is the only option. While I wish it didn’t have to come to this, I am relieved that at least now something is going to be DONE. They have just sat in their little meetings, resolving nothing, for months now while the whole country goes down the drain. Finally it’s at the point where they are going to get Gbagbo (or as the Ivorians here say, “our first dicator”) out of power for good. And really that will happen I believe, he has very little capability to resist if Ouattara plays his cards right.
Well, there you have it, my last week in a nutshell. ☺ Please pray for me to be a good Ambassador of Christ this next week, and also pray for my niece Bonnie and her seizures. She is on my mind a lot, and I want to see her healed and plead with God often to take them away from her without brain surgery again.

Church in the village. If you look close you can see CJ, and on the far right Pastor Brahima.

This is at Naomi's house, her sister in the back is making a mud oven!

Part of Korhogo from the top of Mount Korhogo, my house is on the left (in the "New Quarter").

Beauty In Bouaké

March 2^nd: Well, I’m sitting in the dining room at École Baptist in Bouaké now, here with everyone for a 3 day debrief about out alst month. Arriving earlier this afternoon, I’ve got a bit of reverse culture shock here! The city of Bouaké is so big, and there are so many cars! Also, it’s been raining a lot here lately so it’s very green! I’m used to a small dusty town with tons of motorcycles and bicycles. Regardless, it feels good to be back here at Betheden (my dorm), and to be speaking my heart language for a couple days.

So yeah, life has been pretty interesting lately! I’m feeling well adjusted to life in Korhogo now, though things are by no means easy. Gbagbo’s troops took control of the powerplant in Abidjan a while back, and because of the current skirmishes in the south, has shut off electricty and running water for the northern half of the nation. It’s a huge burden for people, but I’m amazed at Africans’ resilience. In the States if that happened, a lot of people would probably die because the wouldn’t know what to do; in Africa people have been living without those things for thousands of years, and so now those things are seen as luxieries moreso than as necessities. As I write this it’s been roughly 72 hours since the switch was flipped, and by the time I get to post this I’m sure it will be more. The only reason I can use my computer right now is because the French Military pays for all of the fuel for the generator here, since they want 24 hour power. Anyways, the political situation is just tons of fun, you can read about it on BBC or something, no need to hear me babble. The last thing I’ll say, is that I’m glad I’m here – God has been using our presence to boost morale where we go, which is important for peace.

God has been revealing much to me through scripture lately, and my “cup” has been pretty full lately. Right now in Korhogo, I don’t have much to do during the day, until I find activities to be involved in. Therefore, I used the blessing of that spare time to read the Word, and other books I’m working on right now. For example, two days ago I read the entire books of Acts, 1 Timothy, parts of several others, and about 1/3 of 1 Kings in the afternoon. Furthermore, I have been working on memorization of scripture, which has been really good for my spirit and my mind as well. It’s amazing how much more sharp my mind is on spiritual matter due to that activity. Psalm 119:11 really makes more sense the more scripture I memorize.

Language has been good, I’m making lots of progress – leaps and bounds ahead of where I was at the end of January. You just can’t get training like this is classrooms, I have no doubt that I will be speaking French with ease by October. The difficulty is that many Ivorians slur their speech a lot, making it difficult to hear. Furthermore, they are so used to this slurred French, that sometimes when I speak it articulately, they can’t understand me, and some of the other journeyers too! Tonight during French bible study we went through 1 Samuel 22, and I was able to understand a ot of what was being said which was encouraging, but I couldn’t completely comphrend what was being discussed, so I can see that I have a lot of room fro growth still. As for Tymbara, the classes I attend 2 nights a week have been good for me, though more for Balophone learning and building relationships with the youth than for learning Tyembara. The balophone is their marimba type instrument (but based off a pentatonic scale), and I can play a few songs on it already!

Well, I ought to head off to bed, it’s getting late here and I have a busy day ahead of me tomorrow.

UPDATE: It’s March 4^th now. Power has been out for 5 days in the north, including here in Bouaké. Glad for our generator here, and that I was able to eat ICE CREAM at Hotel Mon Afrik and swim in their pool. That was amazing. My family just bought a generator, so that they can keep phones charged, and computers. I was worried about his business, but this will be a big asset to have.

A bit about my time in Bouaké here thus far: the basement is all cleaned up and Peter has put in considerable effort refurbishing it! It’s dark and cool, but with cool incandesant lamps, a pool table, a foosball table, ping pong, and tons of board games, luxeries left over from when this place was a school. Also it’s a great place to hang out and read and be cool, since it is underground. It’s been really good to have worship and bible study in my own language, a great mental break. Prayed through the book of Philippians this morning, which was really good for my soul. Katrina has gotten wind of our difficulties eat rice and sauce (that’s all I eat basically), and has prepared hamburgers, salad, brownies, and other awesome American meals for us. SUCH a welcome change for a couple days!

Well, I really better be going now. The next time I write will hopefully be in another week, in Korhogo. Please be praying for the country, and that God will resolve this situation soon and not let it continue for years like some other countries have let happen. I am glad to be experiencing the discomfort alongside my friends and family here, but I can’t imagine what it would be like to experience this day in and day out for decades as they have.