Issue #77
January 2, 2001

Dear Friends and Family,
It's starting to look a lot more like the "normal" ICA campus. Today most of the students have arrived and classes will start tomorrow. My classroom took a lot of work to get it whipped into shape for the second trimester.

Charley and I arrived on campus yesterday after quite an adventure. After some weather cancellation and delays in the air travel, we got to Abidjan Sunday night. The Abidjan airport is getting a major facelift and for the first time I got to get off the plane on an actual jetway instead of having to climb down stairs on the pavement and walk into the ground level entrances to the terminal. Getting our luggage was an adventure as well. There were dozens of African men near the baggage claim area that were all but violent in insisting that they help us with our luggage. The Pinkertons were there to pick us up and haul us and our luggage to the guest house.

After an evening at the guest house in Abidjan with the Cousineaus and the Morgans, we departed from the guest house in Abidjan. Almost immediately were stopped by a police officer for running a green light.
How exactly he was able to see the light for cross traffic half a block down the street is truly amazing. The officer insisted the light was red, and we failed to respect the traffic light. He also kept my driver's license and the registration papers for the car. Getting these things back took a few hours that would have been better used traveling to ICA. Finally on our way to ICA we had a fairly uneventful trip until just outside Bouake. We hit a car-eating pothole, bent a wheel, and had a flat tire. One thing about getting a flat here is that if you are near any kind of village or town, there is always someone that decides they can change the tire better than you can. So, of course you just stand back and let them.

Today has been a long day of trying to get my classroom in order and get some lesson plans together for the next few days. Field Councils starts on Thursday. I will teach on Wednesday and be gone on Thursday and Friday, so I have also prepare for a substitute. It is 9:10 p.m. right now. I think I'm about ready to call it an evening. There is still lots to do tomorrow, but the kids will be here and be ready to go.

Thanks for your prayers during our travel. It was adventure, but we made it safe. Also, Charley helped in writing this so some of it contains his original impressions.

In Christ,
Traci Epps