Issue #59
May 21, 2000

Dear Friends and Family,

It has been a couple of weeks since I last wrote. I will fill you in on what has been happening during this time. First of all, an update on the sick people that I mentioned in the last newsletter. Tyler was up in a couple of days and back in school. Josh was in the hospital for a few days, and then came back to Bouake but stayed at the guesthouse with his parents. He was only allowed to go to limited activities and a half-day of school for a few days. I think he is back to regular schedule now. Thanks for your prayers for both of these. The flu or virus is still going around so there are still a lot of people out. It found me last week, too, but it didn't last long.

This last week was Spiritual Emphasis Week. The services were good. The speaker was Randy Fudge. He is coming out next year to be the school chaplain. The flu got him while he was here so he missed a couple of services. I think the kids all enjoyed it and learned some new things.

The story of the week involves a first grader, Scott, and a second grader, Philip. They were playing "Capture the Flag" in P.E. They bumped heads and Philip's teeth went into Scott's forehead. Part of one of Philip's front tooth broke off in Scott's head. Scott had to reach up and pull it out. Scott didn't think it was very humorous at the time, but both boys have enjoyed showing off their "battle scars" since then.

On Friday I had to go to Abidjan for Field Council meeting. My roommate, Celeste, and a dorm assistant, Janice, went with me so I wouldn't have to drive alone. We had a good trip. The Field Council meeting went really well. On Saturday, Celeste, Janice, and I were going to go to Grand Bassam to go shopping. Grand Bassam has all of these little shops that line the road where all kinds of souvenir type things can be bought. The shops are more like three sided huts. It is about an hour from Abidjan. When we got up Saturday it was raining. It rained all the way there, but stopped when we got there. It didn't start again until we got back in the car to go home. We were very thankful. That evening we stopped for ice cream on the way home. On the way out of the store, a guy stopped us and asked why we were in Cote d'Ivoire. He had seen the mission tags on my car. We stopped and talk and witnessed to him for about an hour. He didn't accept Christ. He had hard time believing that just being good wasn't enough. His wife seemed to understand a lot more than he did. He is a doctor and believes his good deeds will get him to heaven. Pray that he and his wife will continue to seek and find that Jesus is the only way to heaven. We arrived back in Bouake a little while ago. We praise God for the safety and protection on the road.

One of our dorm moms gave birth to a baby boy yesterday morning. We are thankful for his safe arrival. He wasn't due for another week so it is a good thing that she went up to Ferke early to await his arrival.

Please continue to pray for the health on campus. Especially pray for Rachel, a senior. She had a reaction to a malaria medicine this week and was really sick. She is doing better now.

Pray for these last six weeks of school as people are already beginning to get ready to leave and to say good bye. Remember the seniors as they are preparing to go back to their home countries and go to college.

Pray for our staff needs. We are still short staffed for next year. Our biggest needs are two middle school teachers and a high school English teacher. There are several other openings as well. Pray that these will be filled soon.

In Christ,
Traci