Summer Project Update
Dear friends and family,
First off, thank you so much for your prayers and financial support this summer as I went back to Côte d’Ivoire. The trip would not have been possible or successful without you! God is using your investments to accomplish great things for His eternal kingdom! Secondly, I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to get an update sent out. Life has been crazy since being back between work and an intensive online summer class, but I just turned in my final term paper, so I have some time to breathe and write this letter!
I’m so thankful I got to return to Côte d’Ivoire this summer! As I look ahead, I realize it may be a while before I have the opportunity again, so it was a blessing to go back and experience life, ministry, and friendships again there. One thing that really excited me was to see how God has continued working in the ministry during a year with no American staff! Not only does this tell of the faithfulness of the national staff, it shows the dedication of students in Côte d’Ivoire. Weekly campus meetings had more than 30 students and were led by 2 students who love the ministry and want to spread the Gospel throughout the campus.
This summer, I got to lead three students, Cinthia (if you received my updates last year, you might remember her), Timothee, and Nadège, through advanced discipleship lessons. It was amazing to see how they have been investing in their relationship with the Lord and growing in their faith! I remember when I began meeting with Cinthia near the beginning of my STINT year and, though she was a Christian, she was unsure of her salvation and wasn’t sure how to pursue her relationship with God. This summer, I was brought to tears as I watched her engage with students and lead discussion, using Scripture to support her ideas!
As a summer project team of 15 students and staff, we were able to share the Gospel with 510 students, including 32 Muslims. 92 students made the decision to trust Christ this summer! With many of the students who trusted Christ, we were able to follow up with discipleship lessons. The ministry goal in Côte d’Ivoire is: WIN students to Christ, BUILD them up in their faith, and SEND them out to do the same. We got to witness this happening even in the 5 weeks we were there. One student, Jacquelle, was meeting with some summer project students for discipleship. After a few lessons, he said, “I want to share my faith, too,” so they helped him share his faith for the first time. After this, he asked if he could share by himself. About 15 minutes later, Jacquelle returned with the student he shared with saying, “He wants to receive Christ. What do I do?” The summer project students asked questions, making sure he understood the Gospel, then led him in prayer to receive Christ as his Savior! This is one of many stories I want to share about the things God is doing!
Besides campus ministry, our team was able to serve a local orphanage by painting, cleaning, buying bunk beds and a new stove, and so much more! The kids and Beni, the woman who runs the orphanage, were so thankful for the Lord using our team to bless them. This is also due to your financial support, which allowed us to lavish them with items they’d been unable to afford before. It was fun for me to see the kids again. If you remember the baby from last year’s photos, he’s walking now and blabbering French baby-talk!
A couple quick fun things: I got to go the birthday party of Cinthia’s 1-year-old nephew, who I originally met when he was 3 days old! It was a time of thanking the Lord for allowing him to complete his first year – an incredible blessing in the Ivoiriens’ eyes! I also went to Mama Kouadio’s (wife of the national campus director) house with Bryn and Andrea, one of my roommates, to learn how to cook fou tou (a plantain dish) with pistachio sauce. The process was complicated – I don’t think I could cook it without her help, but it was fun to fellowship with her and hear her stories of ministry and the Lord’s faithfulness to their family.
I wish I had room to tell more stories (I already shrunk the font size – sorry about that if it’s difficult to read!) If you want to hear more about my trip – or if you just want to hang out and get dinner or ice cream – please feel free to contact me!
To wrap up, I encourage you to continue praying for the ministry in Côte d’Ivoire and thanking the Lord for all He is doing there! Also, please be in prayer for Craig & Bryn and their family, and for the STINT team, soon to be leaving for a year in Côte d’Ivoire. I would also ask you to pray about financially supporting the national staff, who labor faithfully for God’s kingdom and struggle each month to maintain their support.
May God bless you and may you be encouraged by this letter of what the Lord is doing thanks to your prayers and financial support! Enjoy the photos!
In Christ,
Elizabeth
First off, thank you so much for your prayers and financial support this summer as I went back to Côte d’Ivoire. The trip would not have been possible or successful without you! God is using your investments to accomplish great things for His eternal kingdom! Secondly, I’m sorry it’s taken me this long to get an update sent out. Life has been crazy since being back between work and an intensive online summer class, but I just turned in my final term paper, so I have some time to breathe and write this letter!
I’m so thankful I got to return to Côte d’Ivoire this summer! As I look ahead, I realize it may be a while before I have the opportunity again, so it was a blessing to go back and experience life, ministry, and friendships again there. One thing that really excited me was to see how God has continued working in the ministry during a year with no American staff! Not only does this tell of the faithfulness of the national staff, it shows the dedication of students in Côte d’Ivoire. Weekly campus meetings had more than 30 students and were led by 2 students who love the ministry and want to spread the Gospel throughout the campus.
This summer, I got to lead three students, Cinthia (if you received my updates last year, you might remember her), Timothee, and Nadège, through advanced discipleship lessons. It was amazing to see how they have been investing in their relationship with the Lord and growing in their faith! I remember when I began meeting with Cinthia near the beginning of my STINT year and, though she was a Christian, she was unsure of her salvation and wasn’t sure how to pursue her relationship with God. This summer, I was brought to tears as I watched her engage with students and lead discussion, using Scripture to support her ideas!
As a summer project team of 15 students and staff, we were able to share the Gospel with 510 students, including 32 Muslims. 92 students made the decision to trust Christ this summer! With many of the students who trusted Christ, we were able to follow up with discipleship lessons. The ministry goal in Côte d’Ivoire is: WIN students to Christ, BUILD them up in their faith, and SEND them out to do the same. We got to witness this happening even in the 5 weeks we were there. One student, Jacquelle, was meeting with some summer project students for discipleship. After a few lessons, he said, “I want to share my faith, too,” so they helped him share his faith for the first time. After this, he asked if he could share by himself. About 15 minutes later, Jacquelle returned with the student he shared with saying, “He wants to receive Christ. What do I do?” The summer project students asked questions, making sure he understood the Gospel, then led him in prayer to receive Christ as his Savior! This is one of many stories I want to share about the things God is doing!
Besides campus ministry, our team was able to serve a local orphanage by painting, cleaning, buying bunk beds and a new stove, and so much more! The kids and Beni, the woman who runs the orphanage, were so thankful for the Lord using our team to bless them. This is also due to your financial support, which allowed us to lavish them with items they’d been unable to afford before. It was fun for me to see the kids again. If you remember the baby from last year’s photos, he’s walking now and blabbering French baby-talk!
A couple quick fun things: I got to go the birthday party of Cinthia’s 1-year-old nephew, who I originally met when he was 3 days old! It was a time of thanking the Lord for allowing him to complete his first year – an incredible blessing in the Ivoiriens’ eyes! I also went to Mama Kouadio’s (wife of the national campus director) house with Bryn and Andrea, one of my roommates, to learn how to cook fou tou (a plantain dish) with pistachio sauce. The process was complicated – I don’t think I could cook it without her help, but it was fun to fellowship with her and hear her stories of ministry and the Lord’s faithfulness to their family.
I wish I had room to tell more stories (I already shrunk the font size – sorry about that if it’s difficult to read!) If you want to hear more about my trip – or if you just want to hang out and get dinner or ice cream – please feel free to contact me!
To wrap up, I encourage you to continue praying for the ministry in Côte d’Ivoire and thanking the Lord for all He is doing there! Also, please be in prayer for Craig & Bryn and their family, and for the STINT team, soon to be leaving for a year in Côte d’Ivoire. I would also ask you to pray about financially supporting the national staff, who labor faithfully for God’s kingdom and struggle each month to maintain their support.
May God bless you and may you be encouraged by this letter of what the Lord is doing thanks to your prayers and financial support! Enjoy the photos!
In Christ,
Elizabeth
Our summer project team
Mashing fou tou at the Kouadio’s house
A girl at the orphanage with Theodore, whose travels are documented in a Facebook album
Nadège and I with the Hauquitz’s baby daughter
Bryn, Andrea, Mama Kouadio, and me
At the market, learning to play the “tam tam” – I bought it
Me, Cinthia, and Fabiana
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