Cotonou Quirks

The Top 10 Sounds Heard Most Often in Cotonou, Benin:
10. 2-3 different languages being spoken at once – French, Fong (a common tribal language), and English (but really only between the 3 of us)
9. The roar of airplanes (we live somewhat close to the airport)
8. Pigs and chickens squealing (we are 70% sure there is a slaughter house close to where we live)
7. The “yovo” song (the song for white people – see a previous blog entry for a more detailed story)
6. Children screaming (either because they are playing or crying)
5. Music (either live music from outside, music from our laptops or the guitar, or Jamie whistling)
4. Motorbikes purring
3. Our huge fan (we kept it on like 13 hours a day!)
2. Horns honking (this could actually be the 4th language spoken in Cotonou)
1. Roosters crowing (at literally all hours of the day!!)

So I know I’ve told you that we’ve shared our apartment with cockroaches. Well, we have also had spiders and ants, but the most exciting and welcome creatures that we’ve been living with are geckos!! Yeah! Little geckos will get into our apartment through cracks between the walls and the ceiling and then run along the wall! They are so cool and cute!! I almost touched one but they are really, really fast!! On Friday, we found one in our kitchen cupboard! We tried to usher it out the door so it could go outside but it just freaked out and ran into a crack in the wall. There are also a lot of lizards here (not in our apartment but everywhere outside). Those are also pretty fun! I haven’t been able to get a picture of one yet but I’m definitely gonna keep trying!

Apparently we are starting to enter the rainy season here in Benin! We have had a couple more thunderstorms but mostly it has just been dry, dusty and humid! For example, this morning we dusted our entire living room and another layer of dust has settled again and it’s only 2pm! One of my teammate’s allergies are really acting up so we are actually praying for rain so the dust will settle!

Some Weeks are Slower....But No Week is Ever Boring!!

Compared to the week of my previous blog entry, this week has been very chill! We have mostly stayed around the house doing DRIME work, hanging out and playing games. But I have never had a boring week – something always happens to add some excitement or some stress!

There was one thing that happened in Canada last week that I was not at all sad to miss!! Daylight Savings Time! I always hate losing an hour in the Spring but this year I completely missed it and will get to keep all my hours!! I know it doesn’t really seem like a big deal but it was exciting for me!

This last Sunday was a jam-packed day!! It started with us getting a phone call first thing in the morning to tell us that instead of our contact picking us up in his jeep to take us to church, our friends were going to pick us up on their motorbikes instead. So we were excited for another motorbike ride! Of course, I had to wear a skirt to church so it was a little awkward getting on the bike, but no worries, everything did stay appropriate!! Haha!! When we got to the church and I moved to get off the motorbike, my leg hit the muffler so now I have a big burn on my leg! It looks worse than it feels but there are still painful moments.
We got to church early so we were just sitting on one of the benches when this little girl came up to me and threw herself onto my lap. I lifted her up to sit on my lap and she ended up staying with us for the whole service! She was so adorable!! She clapped my hands during the worship and Janna let her doodle in her notebook during the message. She had definitely never held or used a pen before so it was fun watching her discover that it could make marks on the paper!
After church we had another drama practice with the team. We taught all of them another drama this time – Thief. We had enough people for exactly 3 teams so Janna, Jamie and I each took one. The 3 of us would demonstrate each part of the drama together and then go to our individual teams and teach them that part. It went really smoothly and the team caught on faster than they have in other practices. But when we came together as one big group to review a drama, things got more frustrating because it would take people a long time to catch on to things or too many people would be talking. So each week is definitely a learning experience and practices are becoming easier and more productive!
Then after I got home from church (yes, I did get back on the motorbike that burned me and I survived!), I was able to call my Small Group of Grade 12 girls back home in Langley!! They always have Small Group time on Sunday mornings so I called during their meeting time! I was able to speak with 4 of my girls, Andrea (my friend and co-leader) and Matthew (my friend and the youth pastor at my church)!! It was sooooo good to hear voices from home and hear how people are doing!! I have also been able to talk to my family a couple of times since I’ve been here. It is always soooo good to hear from Canada!!

Speaking of family.....my family has a couple of birthdays this weekend so I wanted to say...HAPPY BIRTHDAY REGAN AND MOM!!!! Sorry I’m missing your birthdays but I will definitely be celebrating here and I hope you have an awesome birthday day (even though it might be hard without me there. Ha!) Love you both tons and tons!!!

On Tuesday morning, we had a meeting with the leaders of the Baptist churches of Benin. It went really well! They were very excited about our ministry and the idea of using drama for evangelism because it can cross language barriers. They were already thinking of all these events and churches that they want us to be a part of, and wanting to discuss how we can partner more in the future. It was great but we don’t have too much time to do special events right now since we need to focus on developing the leadership team that we will choose in a week and a half. So we probably won’t be able to participate in all the events that they have in mind, but it’s really nice to know that they will support and use the DRIME Benin team once it has been fully established.

Prayer Requests
o Physical and spiritual health and safety
o That the burn on my leg would heal quickly and completely
o That allergies would go away not bother my teammates
o Our potential leaders are filling out applications this week so pray for God’s guidance for them as they fill them out and for us as we read them
o We are taking a team to one of the villages on Saturday to do some ministry so pray that a lot of people will watch us and that hearts will be opened to God

Evangelising It Up!!

This last weekend, the church that we’ve been attending had a big evangelism event. It went from Friday to Sunday and our team did ministry on all 3 days! On Friday and Saturday, we performed on a street in Cotonou and then on Sunday, we were the main part of an evening evangelism service. A drama set looks a little different here than in Canada:
- To start, one person introduces us and the first drama
- Then we perform all our dramas, one right after the other
- All of the dramas are narrated while they are being performed and someone will talk about the dramas in between each one
- After all the dramas have been performed, the team goes out into the crowd to start conversations with people and share their faith

On Friday, we did two sets like this. In between the two sets, I got to spend time with all the kids that had watched us! They would follow me everywhere I went and call out “yovo” and try to get close enough to touch me. They completely surrounded me and at one point I tried to count them (it wasn’t easy because of course they were always moving), and I counted at least 50 kids!!! I eventually had to walk away from our performance area so they wouldn’t touch all our sound equipment and cords. And then I took out the camera to take some pictures....big mistake! As soon as they saw the camera, they rushed towards me to try and be in the picture! Of course, if you are too close to the camera, you won’t be in the picture but they didn’t understand that! At some points it was a little scary because they would start pushing to get closer to me and some of them would start hitting other kids and some would fall! There was even a point where I almost fell because so many kids were pushing against me! But I LOVED spending time with these kids!! It was so fun to have them all around me, holding my hands and giving me hugs! And even if they were being a little crazy and even violent with each other, I just wanted to show them God’s love by spending time with them and holding their hand! Janna joined me and we started doing some dance moves and the kids loved it! They would laugh at us and imitate us and show us some of their dance moves too!

It was so good to be able to do some ministry!!! Whenever I thought about coming here, one of the things I was looking forward to the most was doing ministry with the team here in a different culture. And now it’s only been a month and I’ve already gotten to do that!! And it sounds like we’ll have a lot more ministry opportunities!!

Our contact who usually drives us places was unavailable this last weekend, so we had to find another mode of transportation to get to the evangelism event every day. So a couple of our friends on the drama team came to pick us up on their....MOTORBIKES!! Yeah...motorbikes! I’ve only been on a motorcycle once back home. And after seeing how people drive on them here, I was definitely really nervous to get on one. They are always weaving in and out of traffic and trying to fit in super tight spaces! But they were friends of ours and they drove slow for us so it was totally fine and actually really fun! Now we all think motorbike rides are fun!!

Prayer Requests:
o Praise God that the evangelism event went well and that lots of people heard the Gospel and accepted Christ! (No, we don’t know a number yet)
o Continued health and safety
o We have 6 potential leaders right now so pray that God will make it really clear to everyone (the 3 of us and the potential leaders) who he wants on DRIME Benin’s leadership team

Ministry Time!! Go Go Go!!

WOW!!! This week has definitely been the busiest week yet!! We’ve been meeting with lots of people, we had our first ministry opportunity (which was interesting but very exciting!), and there was a huge thunderstorm!!

We’ve been having one-on-ones with the people we are looking at as potential leaders of DRIME Benin. We have had 4 and we have 2 more this week! It is so fun to open up our home and get to know people here! And it makes me feel less like a stranger in this city because I’m making friends! I am so glad that God is picking the leaders and will just reveal them to us because it is gonna be difficult to do!! They are all great people and would be a great asset to the team! But I know God has the perfect team in mind and that is very reassuring!!

On Monday night, we had our first ministry opportunity!! Campus Crusade for Christ Benin was having an evangelistic event and asked us if we would come perform. They were showing the Jesus Film and then they wanted us to do a 15 minute performance. So we grabbed two people from the team here and performed In the Light and Ragman. It was definitely not a typical DRIME special event like in Canada and it was definitely stretching! We arrived half way through the event because we got caught in crazy traffic; the sound person played the wrong song a few times; and the event was held outside at night with only the light of a projector so people couldn’t see us very clearly. But no one cared that these things went wrong – people just acted like this was all normal so we just went with it! And it did go well – I introduced us and the dramas at the beginning and then Janna shared a story from her life in between the two dramas we performed. We were really well received and we even had a few people come up to us afterwards that wanted to join the team!

On Tuesday night, there was a humongous thunderstorm!!! We were all journaling and then all of a sudden heard a noise. We looked outside and it was raining heavily – the rain was literally a thick sheet! And lightning and thunder filled the sky! When it stopped raining, we ran up to the roof to watch the lightning. It was soooo cool – the lightning lit up the entire sky and when the clouds cleared we could see actual bolts of lightning! Jamie got some of it on video. And there were a few times when the thunder was sooo loud – we all jumped! We went back inside when it started to rain. But then the lightning and thunder got even more intense and we couldn’t see it from our porch, so we faced the extreme rain and ran back out onto the roof. Needless to say, we were completely soaked and dripping after like one minute! But it was sooo fun and totally worth it!!!

On Wednesday night, we had an extra practice with the team because the church we attend is putting on an evangelism event this weekend and asked the team to be a part of it. We weren’t leading it but we wanted to go and practice with them and help in any way we could! They did have us teach a bit and watch dramas to correct any mistakes, but it was also lots of fun to just practice with and be a part of the team! They definitely love being a part of this ministry and it was great to share in that with them! And I am getting better with using my French – I realized that my mouth is not able to form French sentences as quickly as my mind can think of them! So I just force myself to slow down and then I don’t get tongue-tied! Ha! The event this weekend is Friday through Sunday and we are performing every day, so it will be busy but I’m really excited about it!! I’ll definitely tell you how it went when I blog next week!!

Here are some prayer requests we have after this week:
o Continued physical and spiritual health and safety (as always)
o Continued peace and direction as we continue this process of getting to know potential leaders
o That the evangelism event this weekend goes well and lots of people hear the Gospel! And also that the DRIME team’s part goes well and there are no problems.
o Praise God that I’m getting more confident with using French and please pray that I would get really comfortable and be able to speak French all the time!

A Good Balance of Work and Play

As I said in my last blog post, we had a meeting with Campus Crusade for Christ International this last Friday. The Benin national office is just outside of Cotonou. They were very interested in hearing about what we’re doing and asked a lot of questions! There were a couple misunderstandings at first (for example, at first they thought DRIME was a church, and then they thought we were asking to be one of their ministries). But once they understood that DRIME will be its own ministry in Benin and we just wanted some opportunities to advertise the team to their students, they were more willing to discuss some options with us. We even discussed a partnership with them so our two ministries could help each other.

Then guess what....after the meeting, we went and got ice cream!!!! I hadn’t had it in 3 weeks and those of you who know me know that that is a huge stretch for me!! I love ice cream so it was so good to taste the awesomeness!! We got some at a restaurant called Festival du Glace and I think it’s going to be my favourite restaurant here – it is very French so it has very yummy food!!

On Sunday, the 3 of us led the DRIME team practice for the first time. We taught a drama to the newer people (because people who have joined in the last 2 months hadn’t learned any dramas yet) and reviewed/re-taught a drama to the ones that have been a part of the group for a while. It was very interesting to train in French – my thoughts were running a lot faster than my words were coming out so I would get tongue-tied! It was a little bit frustrating because it takes them longer to understand our rhythms and actions – suddenly teaching youth groups sounds like a piece of cake!! But it was really fun to watch them finally get a part after working so hard on it! And I always love teaching the dramas so it did still have its fun moments!

The 3 of us spent Sunday evening playing games together. We seem to get addicted to a new game every couple of weeks and this week it’s Yahtzee! And apparently in Benin, I am really good at Yahtzee!!! At home I don’t really like to play because I always do horribly but here I’m lucky! On Sunday night I got 7 Yahtzees in 3 games!!! I KNOW!!!! It’s crazy! Unfortunately, Janna had one really unlucky game but it was sooo hilarious!!! We could not stop laughing!! So yes, we are still having tons of fun here!!

Things are on Fire!

Monday was our Sabbath again but we got a little more excitement than we bargained for! We were in the kitchen cooking our meal when we started to smell smoke. We were cooking rice on the stove so we assumed that the rice was burning. When Jamie went to put more water with the rice, he noticed that the rice actually wasn’t burning but the cloth he was using to hold the handle of the rice pot was on fire! I told him to throw the cloth in the sink and turn the tap on and that put out the smouldering fabric. The kitchen is still intact but one of our cloths now has a hole in it!! For a much more dramatic telling of this story, you should check out Jamie’s blog! jamieisinbenin.blogspot.com

On Tuesday morning, we met with the President of the Pentecostal churches in Benin to tell him about DRIME and starting a team here. He seemed interested in what we’re doing and said he would be in contact with us to recommend people from his churches that we should talk to. So we’re praying that God would bring people to his mind who would be interested and passionate about this ministry. On Friday we have a meeting with the leader of the Campus for Christ group at the university. We are hoping to be able to share at one of their gatherings so we can find more people interested in joining the DRIME team here.

Today (March 3), Jamie made us girls lunch!! He told us he had a surprise for us and then shut the kitchen door. So naturally we were a little afraid!! Haha! But then he brought out some delicious pasta and hot dogs that he made with baguettes! It was very good and we let him have his chef title again, which he kinda lost after the fire! Hahaha!!

I wanted to say a special hello to my small group girls!! Hey ladies!! I love and miss you all soooo much!!! It is sooo weird not seeing you guys every week! Hope you are all doing well and you can definitely send me an email to tell me how you’re doing!

Exercised and Energized!!

So Saturday was an intense day!! We spent half the day doing a major workout!! First, the 3 of us did some detailed drama training so that we are all really confident in all the parts. And then we wanted to do some exercise. It just so happened that Janna had brought a Dance Workout DVD so we went through that. It was really cheesy in some parts so we got a workout and a good laugh out of it! To our surprise, Jamie didn’t want to do the Dance Workout (shocking, I know!), so he did his own exercises. And then after that, when you think we would have had enough, we cleaned the entire house!! Jamie and I swept all the floors, Janna washed all the floors, and I cleaned the washrooms. It is hard work and very hot to do all that in an already incredibly hot place!! So we were tired but it felt good to get some exercise and have a clean house!

On Sunday, we went to church again. The man that was speaking had a very thick accent so he was very hard to understand. Even Jamie and I, the French speakers, couldn’t understand him most of the time so that was too bad. After the service, we met with the board members of the church to tell them what we are doing here with DRIME. They were so kind and welcoming and offered to help us in any way they can! And they said that they definitely want to use us while we are here. In fact, there is an evangelism event in a couple of weeks that they want us to be a part of.

After that meeting, we joined the DRIME team for another practice. This practice was a little crazier that the last one! They are very focused on perfecting the dramas so it seems like practice has lost its fun and gained a lot of tension. We definitely don’t want that! This Sunday the 3 of us will start leading the practices so hopefully we can bring the tone of a usual DRIME practice and help practices become a more positive experience!

Here are some prayer requests:
o Continued health and safety (physically and spiritually)
o That God would guide us as we continue the process of selecting leaders for DRIME Benin
o That God would guide us as we plan practice for this Sunday and that the team would view practices more positively
o That the cockroaches would STAY AWAY!!!! Haha!! Just kidding!

This is the current DRIME team

Just Chilling and Cooking with Croissants, Chicken and...Cockroaches??

Last week was a bit quieter (Feb. 22-27). The church we are attending was hosting a week of theology training and most of the people we know were taking this training. So the 3 of us just hung out together! Here are some highlights from the week:

o Mondays are our Sabbath day – the day we don’t do any “work” and spend some extra time with God and just hanging out with each other
o On Tuesday we had another cockroach battle!! Janna found one when she opened a kitchen cupboard. Her and I devised a plan to attach it but then we chickened out and made Jamie come and squish it with his shoe. It was crawling up the cupboard door so I flicked it off and it started chasing me!!! Aaahhhh!!! Jamie crushed it just in time! Haha!!
o Jamie and I started translating some of DRIME’s Base Manual. It’s actually kinda tricky and takes a while
o I started teaching Janna some French! I enjoy teaching French – I did study to be a French teacher! And Janna is picking things up pretty quickly.
o Janna has been doing most of the cooking thus far so Jamie and I decided to step it up! The first meal we did was chicken...and taking it out of the oven was quite the adventure! The juice was boiling and kept jumping at us and burning our hands! Then the second meal we did was pasta...and we made WAY too much! But in our defense...it was an accident: Jamie was going to pour a little more pasta in but the bag slipped and a lot more fell in. Oops!!
o On Wednesday night, we met with our in country contact. He gave us his recommendations for leaders, said he could set up some meetings for us to meet with leaders of other churches and Christian groups, and gave us some more insight on how the DRIME team has functioned in the last few months. We asked him to bring us some more bread since there isn’t a “boulangerie” (bakery) near us. So he brought us some baguettes and some...croissants!!! The croissants were soooo yummy – they were warm and fresh!! He brought us 10 and we ate them all that night and the next morning.
o Every evening there will be moments when the electricity is really weak so our lights dim and the fan slows down. But this Wednesday night, the power would completely go out for like one second and then come back on. And it did that like a million times in a row!! (Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit but it did go out a lot!) We were watching LOST and just sat their laughing!!

Thursday was a big day so I have to mention it separately! So far we have needed people to walk us places because we have had no idea where things are. But on Thursday, all that changed...that’s right...the 3 of us walked to the internet cafe and did some shopping ALL BY OURSELVES!!!! We knew where things were, and we were able to communicate in French with people on our own! As you can tell, we have been growing exponentially!! Hahaha!! Just kidding! But we really were proud of ourselves! However, we weren’t able to barter – the woman gave us her price, we offered a lower price, and when she said no we couldn’t take it anymore and left! Haha!! Oh well – maybe it will come later...?

I’m definitely looking forward to experiencing more adventures!!