Weekly Update

So, I might not be able to update as much from here on out. The internet has been getting spotty and to make the best use of our time here we are limiting our time on the internet as well. Things have been going very well! Out of necessity, my French is improving which is good because we have been going to the dorms more instead of just at the English department and there are a lot fewer English speakers in the dorms. God has been doing some really great things. We were struggling to find girls who spoke English, or enough English to communicate and it was getting a little discouraging. Since Tuesday though I have met so many more girls who speak really good English and have been so excited to talk about their culture, life, and spiritual things. Yesterday three of us went to the girls dorm and ended up sitting in the hallway for nearly an hour talking with these four girls who were one of the girl's hair. We learned about Cote d'Ivoire culture, about what it's like at university, and we got to ask them about polygamy which is apparently a pretty common practice here, at least in the villages. It was just really eye opening. They said they were all Christians, so we asked them what they thought one needed to do to receive eternal life. They said one had to believe in Jesus and live a good life. Going off that, we asked if they were sure that they would go to heaven then if they were to die today. It was surprising, most of them said no or seemed uncertain because they had sinned too much that week or just didn't know. They had to leave soon after that, but some other friends and I got to go back today to talk to them further. Only one of the girls was there today, but she introduced us to her sister and we all talked for a while. We talked more with them about how we can have assurance of our salvation and read through some of 1 John to show them God's promises to us. We are meeting up again on Friday to begin a follow-up bible study with them. We had a big conference planned for today on Youth and Sexuality which is a big issue/topic here. But we had some unforeseen problems and had to postpone. So prayers that things would work out there and that we would just continue to rely on God and His plans. Flexibility has been a very important lesson here, but even though plans change, we just are continually reminded that God is never taken by surprise with these things. He has a plan, and His will always work out better than ours! We are going to another campus tomorrow to do the same conference at another school, but we will be back at Cocody on Friday. Then we leave Saturday for Yamoussoukro, the capital city, where we will be until Monday. They haven't given us a full itinerary here yet, but we will be going to the university there to help with different things and meet students and will also have a chance to do some sight seeing and see more of the country. It is a four hour drive, so I'm excited to be able to see more on our drive there and back. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support! Much love!

In Christ,

~ Lauren