Shorter Trip but Fuller Schedule

Here are a few updates from the last week:
• Tanya and I went to the church I attended last year on Sunday morning. It was sooo great to be back! A couple of my friends were on the worship team and Martin (the DRIME Benin director) preached! I definitely saw a lot of familiar faces!
• Tanya and I also went to the DRIME Benin Team’s practice. I had major flashbacks to the very first practice I attended last year, and I was blown away by the progress that has been made since then! THE TEAM IS AWESOME!! The practice had an enthusiastic and positive energy and I could tell that the team really felt like a family! And dramatically, they were amazing!!! I was sooo proud of them!
• The election did happen on Sunday night, and we still don’t know the results but everything did happen peacefully! Praise God!
• We went to the village of Aikinko on Monday with a small DRIME team. It was great to do village ministry again! We performed a few dramas and about 10 people gave their life to Christ! Some of them were already talking about travelling to the nearest church for the next Sunday. It is amazing to see someone make such an important decision, and then it’s even better when you know follow-up and discipleship will happen!
• On Tuesday, we did ministry on the beach in Cotonou. It wasn’t a very busy day at the beach but we still saw 5 people give their lives to Christ! A couple people stayed and asked us to pray for them so that was really cool to be a part of! And it was sooo encouraging to see the team do ministry and see them do it so well!
• Wednesday and Thursday were spent with the DRIME Benin leaders – creating a strategic plan, training them in a couple things, evaluating and encouraging them. I have loved spending time with them again! It’s like I never left! It has especially been exciting to meet Rachelle’s baby boy, Dylan. He is two months old and SOOO ADORABLE!!!
• Tanya left for Kenya on Thursday night so I’m in the hotel by myself. It is kinda weird to be the only Canadian but my Beninese friends have been so great – they keep telling me to not be lonely, to just call them if I need someone! They are sooo sweet!!
• I am leading a small team from DRIME Benin into Togo (Benin’s neighbour to the west) for a short missions trip this weekend! So stay tuned for a Togo update!

Benin...Take 2

I’m looking out my hotel window to a world that is so different from my home...yet it is so familiar. The sights, the sounds, the smells, the heat – it is all exactly how I remember it from a year ago! And then I got to see some very familiar faces today, so it almost feels like home again!

Overall, traveling went really well. Our only sketchy flight was from Vancouver to Seattle, which was only half an hour, and then it was smooth flying after that! All of our luggage arrived with us so that was a HUGE answer to prayer! However, in Benin they didn’t believe that my luggage was my luggage at first, but after some talking and convincing I was allowed to leave with my own bags.

Patrice (our in-country contact) and Olivier (one of the DRIME Benin leaders) were at the airport to pick us up and take us to our hotel. It is definitely different to be in a hotel instead of an apartment like last year! I think I feel a little homesick for my Benin apartment!

Today, the 4 DRIME Benin leaders met Tanya and I at our hotel for our first leader meeting. IT WAS SOOO GOOD TO SEE THEM AGAIN!!! I spent a lot of time with these people last year while we chose the leaders, had meetings with them, trained them, did ministry with him, and just hung out with them. In fact, I’ve been reading my journal from last year and at this time last year, we were right in the middle of choosing the leaders of DRIME Benin! So it is so crazy to meet with them a year later and dream and plan together! I had to be the main translator today (Jamie – definitely missed my fellow French speaker today!) so I’m kinda tired from thinking so much and so hard! Haha!! But it was sooo good to hear how each of them are doing and how DRIME Benin is doing!

Prayer Requests:
- Pray for Benin's presidential elections tomorrow - that they would happen peacefully and God's will would happen
- That we would be an encouragement to the DRIME Benin team at their practice tomorrow. Also pray that they would really catch the vision we share and be inspired!
- We are going into a village on Monday to do ministry so pray for our safety and that the people there would have open hearts
- Pray that I would have peace about being here on my own for the second week of the trip and not be too nervous!