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Acts 20:24
“But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus – the work of telling others the Good news about the wonderful grace of God.”

So lets recap…I arrived in Abidjan 5 weeks ago yesterday and since then I have experienced new foods, new housing, new friends, a new culture, a new language, and definitely a new intimacy with the Lord. I have walked with students as they first hear about the wonderful love of Jesus, and watch them accept Him into their hearts. I’ve seen other students grow in their faith, as they renew their faith. I’ve seen old faiths freshened by just once again realizing God’s unfailing love and grace.
When people say you must preach the gospel to yourself on a daily basis…. it is totally true! Talking people through the gospel on a daily basis has brought a renewed freshness to my faith! It just blows my mind Jesus died on the cross…for me! FOR ME! ( and you, don’t you worry! ;) )
I got the privilege of celebrating my 21st birthday while being here. And if you have been apart of past birthday celebrations please don’t take offense to this…but this was by far the BEST birthday ever! I got the honor of going and sharing the gospel and having fellowship with the amazing people that are on this trip with me. It was just an awesome day! I got emails after emails and facebook notifications after notifications with birthday wishes that made me feel more loved than one could ever dream. I felt so blessed, and still do!
There are so many different things that I’ve seen and smelled here that I have been trying to figure out how to describe them to people back home…but I can’t! The sights are so different than what I have ever imagined. There is the very high, nicest of things and buildings, and then the very low, run down buildings and sights. I’ve smelled things that one person should never smell or really expect to smell. And then there are some smells that remind me of home…like the beach. I’ve been to the beach here and it is beautiful. It is very different than back home on the east or west coast but it’s the beach and it’s beautiful nonetheless.
Two weekends ago we went to Yamoussoukro the capital of Cote d’ Ivoire; to my surprise much smaller and not as nice as Abidjan. We saw where the president lives, the university there, a mini market, and we got to go swimming. We also got to go see the largest basilica in the world. It’s hard to describe how small you feel next to something so massive and so beautiful (don’t worry, I have pictures!) We stayed in a hostile, which was actually really fun and clean!
Well we may not have been in America for Fourth of July but we didn’t need to be! We had our very own party right here in Africa! We invited a bunch of our new friends from the university over and some staff from Crusade and had ourselves a BBQ! While they didn’t necessarily taste the EXACT same, it was very good! We had cheeseburgers, hot dogs, French fries, and chocolate chip cookies…served with lemonade! We couldn’t find fireworks…. not shocking, lol but we found a nice substitution of confetti bombs which where a huge hit! We all thoroughly enjoyed the party, and we think the Ivoirians did too!
Now the countdown begins…two weeks from today we will all be home….if we were all truly honest we would probably say we are getting pretty excited and maybe some a little anxious! We do love it here! And we love being with each other and sharing the gospel! But we do miss our families and friends and can’t wait to tell them all about the marvelous things the Lord is doing here in Cote d’ Ivorie and in our own lives!
We will spend the next two weeks on campus preparing the students for when we leave to continue on with cru and how to get involved! This Friday we are going to an orphanage, which I can’t wait for! I am so excited, but I also realize leaving the kids will be harder than I will probably ever be able to imagine.
Our team statement…
One Calling. One Answer.
One Gospel, 1 GOD.
One Summer. 21 Servants.
Cote D’ Ivorie 2010

See you soon!
With all my love, Emiley