New Country, New Team!

Hello Friends and Family!

I can’t believe I’m already half way done my trip! It does not feel like I have been here for almost 4 weeks – time is going so fast!

I wanted to give an update on my time here so far…I flew by myself so it was good to see some familiar faces at the Togo Airport when I arrived. I met another Canadian DRIME member and some DRIME Benin members (who I know from my past visits there) who were already here planting the DRIME Togo base. One of my suitcases was lost somewhere between Brussels and Togo but it arrived a week later with everything in it. I didn’t have a towel for that week :)…but that was the only essential that was missing. 

Soon after arriving, I was able to meet the new DRIME Togo leaders! Like I mentioned above, there were already a couple people here to start the base plant. They had already done a lot of promotion and sharing about DRIME, and they had held interviews and chosen leaders for the new team. I joined them for the last couple of months of the base plant to help train these new leaders and start the first DRIME Togo team! We meet with our leaders 2-3 times a week for DRIME training in dramas, evangelism, leadership, and everything else they need to know on how to lead a team. Also over the last 2 weeks, we have been accepting applications from people who want to be members and having interviews with them. Next weekend (Aug 17-19) will be the official start of the first DRIME Togo team! We will have a couple days of training and then go out to do ministry on the Sunday evening. 

I have LOVED getting to know these new leaders! Their passion for God and the ministry is so inspiring! It has been very exciting to see them share the vision of the ministry with others and interact with people who are interested in membership. That is one of my favorite parts of a base plant – seeing the new leaders really catch the vision and pass it on! And these leaders love to have fun! I can’t even count how many games of Dutch Blitz and Uno we have played, and how many times our sides have hurt from laughing so hard. They are not just our new leaders – they are friends and it is a pleasure to get to know them more and more! 

I have also loved spending time with my Benin friends who are here planting the base with me. It is amazing to think that just 2 years ago I was teaching them how to lead a DRIME team, and now they are teaching what they have learned to other leaders. It’s such a perfect picture of the vision of DRIME to see all our bases multiplying around the world. Here is a link to a video that explains this story in more detail: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7O7-E8Xmvc

Here are a few of my current prayer requests:

·         Health – all of us base planters have been sick in the last week. A couple of us are feeling better but there are still lingering symptoms. Please pray for complete healing and energy for these busy last 2 weeks of the base plant.

·         The Start of the Team – Please pray for committed and passionate members, and that the first weekend of training would go smoothly and be successful in equipping and inspiring the new members!

·         My Translating Ability – With team members that speak two different languages, I am doing a lot of translating and sometimes the French doesn’t roll off the tongue as well as I would like it to. Pray that this would improve and that communication between all of us would continue to go well. 

Thank you for praying for me!

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!

Souvenirs and Houseguests

On Wednesday, we went to a souvenir place with a couple of our friends. There were dozens of little shops where you could get all sorts of wooden carvings, jewellery, paintings and many, many other things!! We all got some really nice souvenirs!! It was a little crazy because some of the shop owners can be a bit aggressive and they would keep pushing items at us. One lady come up to me and kept asking me to come see her shop and she said she had great prices for me. I tried to walk away but she kept following me!! I have such a hard time with bartering and pushy sales people because I can have a really hard time saying no or just leaving while they are still trying to talk to me. But you have to do that!! So it is definitely stretching for me!! :) But it was lots of fun to look through things and find some more awesome souvenirs!!

Wednesday was also exciting because Michele and Abby arrived here in the evening!! Michele is on staff with DRIME and works a lot with missions trips and base plants, and after Michele and I leave in a week, Abby will stay here in Benin for the remaining 2 months. (As you probably know, the DRIME Benin base plant is 5 months long but I could only stay for 3 months so Abby is finishing the last 2.) It was sooo fun to see familiar faces from Canada and be able to actually show them where and how we have been living for the past 3 months! And they brought a whole bunch of stuff from home – stuff that we have been missing and stuff that our families and friends sent for us! It was literally like Christmas!!! I couldn’t believe how much stuff they pulled out of their bags for us!! Thanks to everyone who sent goodies or letters to us!! We appreciate them sooooo much!!

Even though I was soooo excited to see Michele and Abby, it was a tad sad to start this stage of my Benin journey because it means that I will be leaving in a week!! And like I said in my blog last week, my heart is definitely in 2 different places now so even though I’m going back to one of these places, it means that I am leaving the other one behind. But I definitely wouldn’t trade this experience for anything!! I have loved it sooo much and feel sooo blessed to have had this opportunity!! I’m excited to share stories and pictures when I get back!! I hope all my family and friends in Langley are prepared to hear A LOT about Benin over the next month or so!! :)

Prayer Requests and Praise Items
o We are still healthy and safe!! Thank you Jesus!!
o Pray that everyone who has expressed interest in DRIME at our recruiting times will stay interested and join the team in June
o Pray for all of us as we transition this week – pray that Abby would quickly adjust to life in Benin; pray that I would adjust quickly and smoothly to life back home and feel a peace about leaving; pray for Jamie and Janna as they adjust to new team dynamics
o Please pray that my last week in Benin will be an amazing end to this experience and I will be able to fit in everything that I want to do before I go

Wanna Join DRIME??

This last weekend was busy with lots of recruiting! On Saturday, we went to the town of Ouidah again because there was a Baptist celebration for young adults, and we were able to perform a couple dramas and tell them about DRIME. We performed on the beach which was pretty cool (it was far up the beach and not close at all to the water, but still...)! And we had about 10 people talk to us and take applications after we performed so there was definitely some interest! It’s fun hearing the reactions of people here when we perform dramas! Every time Jesus heals someone in a drama the crowd will clap and cheer!

Then on Sunday morning, the 3 of us and the leaders went to 2 different churches to share and perform during their services. Again, about 10 people came and talked to us at each church. Now we are just praying that these people stay interested and come to our information meetings where they can hand in their applications and get more details about how DRIME Benin will work.

On Sunday it was pouring rain all day and guess how we got to those two churches...motorbikes! Yeah, we were riding on motorbikes in the pouring rain!!! The rain hurts when you are on a motorbike – the speed makes it slap your face pretty hard!! :) Luckily it wasn’t raining too hard on our way to the churches so we weren’t too wet, but we were absolutely drenched when we got home! I was riding with Rachelle, one of the 4 DRIME Benin leaders, and as we were trying to get through a HUGE puddle with rain still slapping our faces she joked, “Anything for ministry, right?” And I replied, “Yes, we have to make sacrifices for ministry.” :) hahaha!!

Watch a Tornado One Day, Go To The Beach The Next!

On Saturday morning there was a huge storm!! It definitely feels more like the rainy season now because the weather is cooler, it is overcast a lot more often, and we have had a few rain storms in the last week. Yes, overcast here is still like 30°C but it actually does feel cooler. This morning the wind was extra strong so we were standing by the front door and watching it. So many things were being blown up and down the street!! And then it started pouring rain and when it rains here – it rains!!! The rain comes down in a sheet and the raindrops are huge!! As we were watching all this happen, Jamie said that it looked like a tornado. And it really did!! We didn’t actually see a tunnel but they way things were being blown around, it definitely looked like a tornado. And then we were talking about this storm a few days later with the DRIME Benin leaders and they said it really was a legit tornado!!! So we were actually in a tornado!!!! Crazy, eh?!!

On Sunday we had our last practice with the drama team at our church. We are taking a break before the official DRIME team starts in June so we can do some recruiting and spend more time training the leaders. We wanted to thank them for their interest in DRIME and for keeping a team going over the last 10 months so we planned a little party. We went through the dramas that they know and then we played a game. We taught them Four On A Couch and they really enjoyed it!! Some of them were very intense with their strategizing! :) And then we showed them a slideshow of pictures that we had put together – pictures from the last 3 months and from the time the DRIME team was here in May. They so enjoyed seeing all those pictures!! It was so fun to watch them watch the slideshow! So it was a really great way to end our time with that church’s drama team and hopefully they will all join the official DRIME team in June!!

Thursday was Beach Day!!! Janna and I went to Obama Beach with some of our friends – Olivier, Martin and Calixte. We built a sandcastle (and our friends had to call it the DRIME castle), we swam in the waves (which were actually pretty strong that day), and a couple of us spent time just lying on the beach reading (yes, I was definitely one of these people). :) It was a funny feeling because there were moments when I felt like I was just at any beach, but then there were moments when it really hit me that I was swimming at a beach in Africa!! I wasn’t in the Pacific Ocean like I would normally be in at a beach back home....I was in the Atlantic Ocean!! I was on African sand!! I always like it when these realizations hit me because it reminds me how blessed I am to be here and how I need to soak it all up now while I can!! Especially since I leave in 2 weeks!!!

That is one thing that is only starting to sink in now – that I go home in 2 weeks! It is definitely bittersweet! I am soooo excited to see everyone back home and get back to “normal” life (not that life is ever really normal). :) I really miss my family, my friends, my small group girls, my church, my work and everything else so it will be great to come home!! But I am definitely gonna miss being here! I’m gonna miss Benin, the African culture and pace, my new friends, and Jamie and Janna!! I guess I’m just lucky to have 2 places that I love so much!! :)

Praise Items and Prayer Requests
o Praise God for the good health that we have been having! Please pray that that would continue!!
o We have 3 recruiting appointments this weekend – pray that everything goes smoothly and that there is a lot of interest in DRIME
o Pray for me as I start to think about leaving here, going home and adjusting back to “normal” life
o Michele and Abby (from DRIME) leave for Benin on Monday – pray that they finish everything they need to get done in these last few days and pray that they have safe travels

Today’s Top Story: Canadian Tourists Face Incredible Danger!

Thursday was our first official touristy day!!! It was sooooo much fun!!! We asked a couple of friends to come with us, so it was good to have some extra company and to have people who know their way around and who know how to barter! :) We went to a town called Ouidah where there are a number of museums and historical sites.

We went to the Museum of Ouidah’s History. It was pretty interesting – there was a lot of history and artifacts on slavery and voodoo. It was sooo crazy to think about everything these slaves had to go through!! And then we bought our first souvenirs of the trip at this museum!! It is really exciting to finally own a piece of Benin that I can take home with me! Our friends that came with us also bought each of us a picture of one of the symbols of Benin, so that was soooo nice of them!!!

Then we went to a place called the Temple of Python. It was a little creepy because some people think the python is a god and this temple is a place of worship to them. We thought it was just going to be a museum. But we got to do something soooo cool....can you guess?....we got to HOLD A SNAKE!!!!!!!!!!!! I had heard about this place before coming here so for the last 2 months I’ve been telling Jamie and Janna that we have to visit the python place because I really wanted to hold a snake!! I think they thought I was crazy and Janna even said that she would never hold a snake. So when we got to this temple, I was the most excited of all and was the first one to hold a snake!! And then our guide started to wrap the snake around my neck...okay...when I was picturing holding a snake, I did think about having it around my neck but I didn’t think it would be wrapped around my neck...so when he started wrapping this snake around my neck I thought, You know that this is how pythons kill people, right? But it didn’t squeeze my neck at all and it was actually a really cool feeling to have a snake around my neck! Now, I know that my Dad is probably having a heart attack as he’s reading this, but rest assured that I am still alive and well!!! :) And even Jamie and Janna held a snake and allowed one to be wrapped around their necks! We were actually really funny to watch when we had a snake around us because there was definitely a mixture of fear and excitement on our faces! :)

Then our friends wanted to take us to the beach in Ouidah. They said that it wasn’t that far and they gave us an estimate of the distance but I am horrible at judging distances and knowing how far they actually are. I was looking for a time estimate instead of a distance estimate. It’s funny because here they really do measure things by distance, whereas in Canada we measure things by time. Interesting, eh? Anyways, we ended up having a second death walk to a beach!! Fortunately, it wasn’t as bad as the first one we had at the beginning of the trip because we were wearing shoes instead of flip flops and we are more used to the heat. But we definitely came home with a few sunburns!! But it is always amazing to sit on the beach and look out at the never-ending water (and in this case, the water we were looking at really doesn’t end until Antarctica!!) and just marvel at God’s incredible creation and the blessing that it is to share in it!

So that’s why our blog entries are a little late this week – Thursday was spent being tourists!! But it definitely gave us more interesting things to write about!! :) No, we didn’t face incredible danger but our heart rates definitely increased!

Prayer Requests and Praise Items:
o Continued health and safety (we are doing much much better after our sickness last week!!)
o We have our first info meeting about DRIME in a church on Sunday. Please pray that people will be interested in joining the team and supporting us!
o Pray for me as I start to think about leaving here, going home and adjusting back to “normal” life

Come On Family, Let’s Go Get Our Visas!!

On Monday, we went to renew our visas. It was sooo much less of a hassle than we thought it was going to be! We were totally expecting to wait in a long line all day waiting for someone to help us! But we just walked right up to the desk, they took our forms and money, and we were done!! Praise the Lord that it was so simple!! And then we went to a restaurant for lunch. It definitely wasn’t the same one that gave us food poisoning last week but we were still a little nervous since it was our first time going to another restaurant after “the incident.” We have been to this restaurant before: it was Festival de glace – my favourite restaurant here in Cotonou because they serve very French food! Anyways, our food was very yummy and we had no problems later!! Yay!!!!! We’ve recovered physically and mentally!! Well...maybe not completely – it is still very hard to even think about pizza! :)

On Wednesday, our landlady called us down to her apartment to talk to us. I was the only person who was ready for the day so I went, and when I got to her door, she asked me where the “chief of family” was. I asked who she was talking about and she said “The chief of family. Jamie.” ... hahahahahahahhaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And she kept calling him that while she was talking to me! When I came back upstairs we all had a good laugh about it!

Leaders Unite!!

This last weekend we had a Leader Retreat with the new DRIME Benin leadership team! We met with them on Friday night and all day Saturday. We had so much fun together!!! Here are a couple of highlights:
o We started the retreat by teaching them how to play Charades and Pictionary and they LOVED them!!! They got sooo into both games!! Our cheering and shouting was so loud that our landlady came up to see if someone was having a fight!! Oops!!! :) But it was very fun to play with them and watch them get so excited!
o On Friday night, we made them Sloppy Joes for dinner! Of course they had never had them before so the 3 of us watched in anticipation as they took the first couple of bites. And....they LOVED them!! It’s a good thing we made a lot because they ate a lot!! We had to use baguettes instead of hamburger buns so they were a little different but I must admit...we are excellent chefs!! :) And then we made them crêpes on Saturday and they loved those too!
o We started some in depth drama training with them. Training does take a little longer with them and it is hard to get them to show expression, but when they do show expression it is sooo cool!!! One of the leaders in particular has one of the biggest smiles I have ever seen! When he smiles in a drama, I can’t help but think that everyone should have such pure joy when they see “the man in white!”
o We started deciding some DRIME Benin specifics with them this weekend (ie. The dates and times when they would do ministry and practices, and when the DRIME Benin year would start and end). It was really exciting to see the ministry really start to take form here!!! And it is sooo crazy that I get to be a part of it!!! What a blessing!!
o I led a session on leadership! I was kinda nervous about it because I had to try and do it in French! I felt confident about the material and I have led sessions and talks on leadership before but this time I had to do it in FRENCH!!!! But it went well – we had some really good discussions! I definitely didn’t use perfect French but they understood everything I said so I’d say it was a success! :)

It was the Best of Days...It was the Worst of Days...

Tuesday was sooo much fun!! One of our friends on the drama team that we’ve been working with owns a rabbit farm and he invited us to come see it! It was so fun to see all his rabbits and we even got to hold a couple of them! One of the rabbits had just had babies so we were able to see bunnies that were only 5 days old!! They kinda looked like rats with longer ears because they had no fur yet...but they were still sooo cute!!



And then this friend took us somewhere for dinner and the little restaurant that he took us to had....PIZZA!!! The 3 of us had just been talking about foods that we missed and pizza definitely made the list! So we ate some pizza and had ice cream for dessert!! Yeah – pizza and ice cream in one day!!! We were sooo lucky...


...or so we thought...


That night as we were writing our blog updates, Janna and I started to feel a little nauseated. We tried to shake it off but it just kept getting worse and worse. And then Jamie started to feel sick too!! Before we could figure out what was wrong, all 3 of us were rushing for the bathroom! It was literally one of the worst nights of my life!! I haven’t been sick like that in over 10 years but that night it kept me up for about 4 hours! Needless to say, we did not get much sleep that night and the next day was spent lounging, sleeping and not eating! We did eventually work up the courage to try some bread and water but that’s it. We are pretty sure we got food poisoning from the pizza so we definitely will not be going back to that restaurant every again!!! And I doubt we will even be able to have pizza in Benin ever again!!

The Kingdom is Growing!!! :)

This weekend was soooo busy!!! On Friday and Saturday we did ministry in a couple of villages with GAiN (another ministry of Power to Change that is very active here in Benin – in fact, they were the ones who invited DRIME to come to Benin!). We went to perform dramas and share testimonies in the morning and early afternoon, and then a Jesus Film team from GAiN would go to the same village in the evening to show the Jesus Film and do some follow-up. We rented a couple of vehicles and took about 10 people from the drama team that we’ve been working with.

Friday

Today we went to a village called Gbegbessa. The drive there and back home was very interesting!! Once we got out of the city of Cotonou, the roads were clearly not made for vehicles! They were dirt paths with bush on both sides and they were barely wide enough for our Jeep and SUV – branches were definitely hitting the vehicles on both sides. And the paths were anything but even – they had huge holes and sometimes the left side of the path was higher than the right side so our vehicle was driving on an angle! We were totally off-roading!! And it was extreme off-roading!! :)
The ministry time went really well!! We had a big group of people come and watch us and everything went really smoothly! After our drama set, about 30 people came up to receive Christ!!! I KNOW – it was soooo exciting!!! PRAISE GOD!!!

The people of this village were so kind and welcoming! When we finished our program, they gave us some pineapples to take home and a meal to eat! I felt bad eating their food because they don’t really have very much, which makes the gift extra generous! But of course it would have been so rude to not accept their gift! And there was sooo much food! It was very very kind of them!! We had also brought some bread and drinks for the team to have a snack and whenever we had garbage or finished a can of pop, a group of kids would rush and try to grab it! It was crazy! It was kinda sad to see them fight over garbage but I just tried to be glad that we gave them pop cans to play with!

Saturday

The village we visited today is called Fanto and when we arrived, our GAiN contact told us that it has a strong voodoo presence. He pointed out some women who were voodoo witches – they wore white wraps on their heads and had big necklaces and bracelets. It made us a little nervous to be in the middle of such an obvious voodoo presence because we didn’t want to be chased out of the village – we wanted to share the Gospel! But I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be. I wasn’t at all worried about them throwing curses at us because their curses can’t do anything to us – we have a Power that is much greater than what they have!!

Again, ministry time went really, really well!! And after our drama sets, about 30 people came up to accept Christ!! So it was another incredible and encouraging day!! One thing I was worried about was how these new believers would be treated after we left. Christians in Benin receive a lot of both physical and spiritual persecution from voodoo leaders. And the voodoo witches in this village looked very upset when so many people came forward to receive Christ so I will definitely be sending lots of prayer their way!! And GAiN will do a lot of follow up in that village as well, so hopefully that will provide protection and hope for these new believers!

After our program, we played some games with the children in the village. We taught them Duck, Duck, Goose and they loved it!! Even the adults gathered around to watch and got really into it!! They would cheer and scream and clap soooo loud every time two people would race – it was like we were in the Stanley Cup of Duck, Duck, Goose!!! :) And yes, I definitely got tagged as the goose a couple of times! Then they taught us one of their games! The person in the middle had to sing this song in French and then choose someone else in the circle to sing the song and do the actions with and then that person went in the middle. And guess what....I eventually got chosen as the person in the middle!!! I was trying to hide in the circle but the person in the middle came right towards me and everyone around me pushed me forward! Jamie and Janna were just staring at me and laughing! I had no idea what to do!!! I didn’t know the song at all!!!! So when I had to go in the middle by myself, I said “Tout le monde chante avec moi!” (Everyone sing with me!), so then I was off the hook for singing the song!! I know...I am very tricky!! :) But it was all a lot of fun and it was fun to see the kids really enjoying themselves!!

Praise Items and Prayer Requests
o Health and safety (as you will read in my next blog entry, all 3 of us have been sick this week)
o Praise God that ministry went so well this weekend and that many people heard about him for the first time and accepted him as their Saviour!
o Pray for the new believers in Gbegbessa and Fanto! That they would be encouraged and followed up with, and protected from any persecution!
o We are having a Leader Retreat with the DRIME Benin Leadership team this weekend so pray that all goes well! Pray that God will give us the words to share and that we would have great discussions!

Celebrating in Cotonou...and One More Quirk! :)

“Il est ressuscité! Il est vraiment ressuscité!!” or..... “He is risen! He is risen indeed!!”
HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!! I hope you had an awesome and relaxing long weekend! Easter was a little different for me this year because I wasn’t with my family, but it was fun to celebrate it in a different culture! The Easter Sunday church service was soooo full of joy!! There was lots of dancing and shouting out to praise God! The service went extra long but I hardly noticed because it was so inspiring to see our church so alive and joyful in proclaiming the news that our Saviour lives!! They don’t celebrate too differently than we do but they seem to put more of an emphasis on Easter church activities than Easter family time.

Guess what we found at the supermarket....crêpe mix!!! I was soooo excited!!! We decided a while ago that it wouldn’t be worth it to buy ingredients like flour or baking soda because we aren’t able to bake enough to use it all. So we haven’t been able to make pancakes or things like that. But Tuesday morning I was able to make crêpes!!! Thanks to Aunt Patty who would always make crêpes for us and who taught me how to make them!! :) THEY WERE SOOOO GOOD!!!! I definitely ate too much that morning but I know if I had stopped earlier, I would have regretted it!!

On the list of things that we are learning to never take for granted, we can add electricity! The power goes out at least once a day...sometimes for an hour, sometimes for the whole day. Last Thursday, for example, we were out of power for the whole day. For most of the day our whole neighbourhood had no power but then everyone’s power came on except for ours...including the apartment right beside us! So we guessed that there might be something wrong... :) Turns out our electricity actually wasn’t working and our landlady had to call an electrician to fix it. The power still goes out every day but we are learning to live with it! We don’t mind having no lights but it is EXTREMELY hard to live without our fan!!!!

I'm still loving it out here!! And I really appreciate all your thoughts and prayers!!! I can definitely feel them even across the ocean! :)

Challenge Accepted and Completed!!!

This last Saturday and Sunday were the hardest days we’ve had here so far!! Last week we had interviews with all the potential DRIME Benin leaders and then the weekend was spent actually making the final decision. It was a very difficult and challenging decision to make!! All 6 people who applied are amazing people and would have been great to have on the leadership team but we had to pick the best combination of people. We spent all of Saturday in prayer and discussion over who the best people for this team would be. Each of us spent the morning on our own to have personal prayer and devotions time with God, and then we got together in the afternoon to discuss all our thoughts and what God has been revealing to us about these people. Our discussion lasted for about 6 hours (I KNOW – SOOO LONG!!) with a few breaks so we didn’t make our final decision until 10:30pm!! But we made a unanimous decision!!!! That’s right...it’s done and we have a leadership team!!! On Sunday, we told the 6 people our decision. It was very hard for me to tell the 2 people who we didn’t choose to be on the team. I’m glad we told them as a team because I think I would have fallen apart otherwise. They seemed to be okay with our decision and expressed interest to still be on the team so that’s good! And it was great to tell the people who are on the team – they were so excited!!
So here is the DRIME Leadership Team on the left!! Even though the process was soooo hard, it feels so good to finally have a team and start training them to lead this ministry! On Wednesday, we had our very first meeting with the DRIME Benin leadership team!!! Wooooot!!!! It was sooo fun!! We gave them little Canada gift bags and everything!! (you can see them in the picture) And they all get along so well and work really well together, so it just confirmed that we have the right team!

Prayer Requests and Praise Items:
o Continued health and safety (the burn on my leg is doing much much better so thanks for your prayers!!)
o Praise God that we finally have an amazing leadership team!! Pray for us as we start training them this week and prepare for a leader retreat next weekend
o We are doing ministry with GAiN on Friday and Saturday in a village. Pray that we will be able to share Christ with lots of people and that many hearts and lives will be changed
o Pray for Michele and Abby (from DRIME) who are coming in May and that all the details would come together perfectly

A Cancellation, A Game, A Loss, and A Challenge

If you read my last blog entry, you probably remember me mentioning a ministry opportunity we were going to have in one of the villages this last Saturday. Well, late Friday night we got a phone call saying that the person who had invited us to do ministry had cancelled on us! So we were super sad to not be able to do ministry – obviously it is the part that we are most passionate about! And we also felt bad about calling the team the night before we were supposed to go to tell them that we were no longer going! Of course, that wasn’t our fault but we still felt bad that it was so last minute! But don’t worry...we found another way to occupy our time...

As you can probably guess, we drink A LOT of water here!! It is very hot so, I’m not gonna lie, a lot of sweating happens and we need more water than usual. There is no recycling here so we have been keeping our empty water bottles in a closet. We have literally about 200 empty water bottles in that closet!!! The 3 of us have been trying to figure out what to do with them and over the weekend we came up with a brilliant idea....BOWLING!!!!!!!!!!!! Yep, we set up a 10 pin bowling lane in our apartment and had ourselves a rousing game! It was lots of fun!!! We heard that our church collects water bottles so we will give our bottles to them. I don’t know if they’ll want 200 at once but....oh well!!

This last weekend, we lost 50% of the appliances in our kitchen!! True, we only ever had 2 appliances but losing one is still a huge loss!! On Saturday, we noticed that our fridge wasn’t as cold as it used to be. By Sunday, it was actually warmer in our fridge than in the rest of our kitchen. Yeah...gross!!! So Jamie and I went downstairs to attempt to talk to our landlady (she has a very thick accent and is really hard to understand). She called a repairman right away and invited us to put some things in her fridge, which was a lifesaver because we had frozen meat, eggs, and milk in the fridge! But it was sooo nasty going into that fridge – it reeked!!!! Some of our food went bad and we’ve been eating more than usual these last couple of days to try and get rid of stuff. The repairman came on Sunday afternoon and then on Monday they came back to take away our fridge. Our fridge was completely broken!!! Our landlady did buy us a new fridge and we received it on Tuesday. So luckily we only went 2 days without a fridge but that is actually a long time to go without something so essential to everyday life! We are definitely learning to not take anything for granted!!

We received all the applications for the DRIME Benin leadership team on Sunday so this week has been spent looking over them and having interviews with all the potential leaders. It is a fun process because we have been able to get to know these people more and it is fun to hear their passion and vision for DRIME in Benin. But it is also a very stressful process because we have to say no to some people! I definitely want the best people possible for this team but I can also be a bit of a people pleaser and I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. We are just praying that God makes who he wants on this leadership team super clear to everyone involved – to us 3 who have to execute the decision (because really it is God’s decision) and also to all the people who have applied so that they can feel confirmed in whether God is calling them to DRIME leadership or maybe something else.

Prayer Requests
o Health and safety – we have each been affected in different ways these last 2 weeks. My teammates have allergies and bug bites and I have had a bit of nausea this week. The burn on my leg seems to be getting better but the part that was burnt the most hasn’t changed at all.
o We are deciding on the leaders this weekend! Pray that we would be sensitive to God’s guidance and that all the applicants would be very accepting of the decision.
o Praise God that our fridge problem was fixed! Please pray against any other major problems with our apartment.
o Pray that many contacts and connections would continue to come out of meetings that we’ve had with other churches and Christian organizations

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!