Issue #26
August 29, 1999

Dear Friends and Family,
I have been trying to write this email for days. I came home Friday afternoon after school to write it, but two boys, a 4th and 5th grader, followed me home. I ended up talking to them until it was time for supper and then after that we had an activity. That is the way most days work now that the kids are here.

The kids arrived on Tuesday, and school started on Wednesday. It has been a busy week. I think we finally got everyone here on Friday. Some people had a hard time getting in due to plane schedules. The Kuipers, who were late arriving since their daughter got ill, didn't receive their luggage until about 5 days after they arrived in Bouake. I think they are probably glad to just finally be here.

I have eleven students in my class this year, 4 boys and 7 girls. I'll give you a brief run-down on each student.

Shawn Blackwell - He is from the USA. His parents are missionaries in Guinea. This is his third year at ICA.

Charity Bliss - She is from the USA. Her parents are dorm parents in one of the elementary/high school dorms.

William Caron - He is from France. His father works in town. He is a non-mission student. He doesn't speak English and is having to learn while trying to keep up with school work.

D'evan Evans - She is from the USA. Her parents are the dorm administrators on campus.

Nicole Golding - She is from Canada. Her parents are missionaries in Burkina Faso. This is her first year at ICA.

Austin Grudda - He is from the USA. His parents teach at the school. His dad is the athletic director, and his mom teaches speech and drama.

Kerrianne Ibsen - She is from Canada. Her parents are missionaries in Guinea. She just arrived on campus Friday night.

Dinny Jones - She is from Sierre Leonne. Her father is a scientist in town. She is a non-mission student. This is her third year at ICA.

Melinda Sessoms - She is from the USA. Her parents are missionaries in Mali. This is her third year at ICA.

Tyler Timberlake - He is from the USA. His parents just came to ICA this year to be dorm parents. They were missionaries in Gabon.

Emily Trosen - She is from the USA. Her parents are elementary dorm parents.

They are a great group of kids. I look forward to working with them this year. I also am still teaching elementary music. I have 29 kids in my 1st - 3rd grade class, and 31 in my 4th - 5th grade class. We have almost 10 more kids in the elementary this year.

Prayer request:
Container - The container with the school supplies for this year is in Abidjan. They want us to pay a lot of money to get it out of port. Please pray that it will be released soon. We really need those supplies.

Janna Greenfield - Janna went home on an emergency medical leave due to a problem with her eye. Everything is fine with it now, but while she was home her mother got very ill. She passed away on Friday. The funeral is tomorrow. Please pray for Janna during this time and as she returns to ICA this week.

Teachers - We still need a music teacher and a middle school teacher for this year.

William Caron - Pray that he will be able to learn to read and speak English quickly. That he will fit in with all of the kids. I also doubt he knows much about God, although I am not sure. Pray that he will learn and make the decisions that he needs too.

We are off to great year. Thanks for your prayers so far.I can't finish this without giving you this week's snake story. A new family, The Reiersons, noticed that they had a bunch of bananas on their banana plant. One of the African ladies who work on campus told them they were ripe and proceeded to cut them off for them. She was carrying the bunch of bananas back to the house when a cobra fell off them and slithered down her leg to the ground. She screamed and jumped out of the way. Knute Reierson put his 3 year old son he was holding on the porch, grabbed a shovel, and hacked the snake into a bunch of pieces. It wasn't a very nice Welcome to Africa for them. Once again, God provides protection for us from snakes.

Hope you all have a great week!
Traci