Beginnings....

Hello Friends!!! There is so much to say already I don’t even know where to begin! I guess I’ll start from the beginning….that seems to be a good place to start!

Our flights were pretty uneventful - a few delays, a long layover, naps on airport benches, sleepless flights, airplane movies, airplane food….and viola! We arrived in Cotonou Benin 31 hours later! After we passed the Yellow Fever check point, customs, experienced our first power outage as we fought for our luggage, and passed through the baggage check point, we were finally greeted with the warm and friendly smiles of our Beninese friends Patrice and Olivier! [Patrice is the GAiN Director for Benin and Olivier is one of the members from the team I helped train when I was here with DRIME in May.]

Patrice and Olivier took us to what we now call home and we spent the first night in our new home without any electricity! Our home is wonderful by the way - it is spacious, furnished, has three bedrooms and running water J [except for the last two days because the city shut off the water! Good times!]

On Friday Patrice and Olivier took us shopping to pick up some of the household items we needed as well as groceries! We arrived as a place called the Hypermarket – for those of you who have been to Nairobi, it was like a Nakumat – which has a little bit of everything. It has a lot of imported items, things that you could find in a store in Europe or North America. It is nice to know we have access to a store like that, but I don’t think we will always be shopping there. I have to admit that the Hypermarket was a little overwhelming. Yes, there were a lot of familiar looking products but everything was either in French or German. It’s hard to get what you need when 1) you’re not sure exactly what you need and 2) you don’t know exactly what you are getting because you can’t read the labels! It is also a little hard to shop when you are getting used to a new currency – when a box of cereal costs 3850 cefas, my mind freaks out a little and tells me it is to expensive because I am thinking in dollars [$3850 is a lot!] when in reality it is about $7.50.

Saturday was spent unpacking, cleaning and making our place feel a little more like home. Carleigh, Jamie and I have definitely had some great team bonding activities as we have found some visitors sharing our home with us…cockroaches! Ugh! Killing them has been quite the ordeal [that is the team bonding activity I was talking about! You learn a lot about people when facing unwanted host guests!]. We know there is at least one more on the loose still….we’re just waiting for it to show its face again!

Sunday would have to be the highlight for me so far – because we attended church with Patrice. [It is a wonderful and refreshing thing to worship with others when you don’t speak their language!] After church we were able to spend time with the team we worked with in May! I can’t even describe how wonderful it was to see them again! We had a little meeting with the team after church where we met 4 new members who have joined since we left and touch-based on what has been happening!

Things have been wonderful so far, but there have also been some challenges. It is hard and frustrating not being able to communicate; few people speak English and my French is very limited. I’m so thankful both Carleigh and Jamie can speak fluently – but it feels restricting having to rely on them. One of the goals I have set for myself is to learn French so I can communicate with people – please pray that God would give me the mind of a child which would soak up and retain the language I learn and hear all around me. Pray also that I may have patience in the process of this learning.

Would you also pray for guidance and patience as we learn how to ‘live life’ here in Cotonou. From learning where we can buy food and what appropriate prices are to learning how to get around the city by ourselves, via foot or taxi [apparently Cotonou doesn’t have much of a public transit system] – there is much to learn! This task of getting to know our surroundings seems more daunting because of the language barrier. Please pray that I would be able to enjoy this process!

There are times when I feel overwhelmed, a little lost or unsure as to how to go about things – but for the most part I am content and excited for what lies ahead. I thank God every day for this opportunity. I’m excited to see what God is going to do! I just love being back in Africa – my heart is content J

Feel free to check out Carleigh’s and Jamie’s Blogs as well! For this one entry I have written Jamie has 5! So you might learn a thing or two more about our time from them!

www.carleighinbenin.blogspot.com

www.jamieisinbenin.blogspot.com

Our living room area!

My bedroom!

The bathroom Carleigh and I share. Jamie has his own!

[I had a picture of our kitchen, but just accidently deleted it. It took about 5 minutes to upload it the first time so I'm not going to try again - sorry!]