1 Million Children Have HOPE

Today, 1 million of God's children in Cote d'Ivoire sleep with the hope for a longer and more fulfilling life. With almost one million life-saving bed nets distributed and 300,000 more on the way, the spread of malaria in Cote d'Ivoire will be reduced significantly. I thank God for the many United Methodist Christians in Texas that made this hope possible along with the matching gifts from the United Nations Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This was a team effort that demonstrated what God can do when we put aside our selfish desires and work together. Thanks be to God!

Postscripts....

One week ago today I was in Alepe a small village northeast of Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire. From there we traveled to the village of Nemni. Our task on Saturday, November 15 was to go from home to home to home to measure the effectiveness of the campaign to encourage families to install their bednets. What a joy it was to find many of the nets hung. As I noted in my last entry, we also helped several families hang their nets.

As I think back over the past week I am overwhelmed with the experience of meeting new friends, working together on behalf of God's children and discovering God's presence in the most unexpected places. Below you see the team that worked together over the course of the week. Our team included six persons representing the Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, three persons from the United Methodist Church in Cote d'Ivoire, two interpreters, and two government security guards. We were fortunate that General Gen. Philippe Mangou is a United Methodist and member of the Jubilee Methodist Church in Abidjan. He oversees all military forces in the West African Nation. At first the presence of guards, with weapons, on our team was a bit disconcerting. But over time, we built relationships with each other that were warm and caring. On the last day of visiting in Nemni, it was a joy to work together with one of our guards to hang nets in the modest homes of net recipient families. He has two children of his own and was extremely compassionate in working with the parents and children to explain the importance of hanging the nets for the children.

Many have asked me in the past few days about my "most memorable experience." That is a difficult question to answer. Perhaps the only way to answer it is to identify the most memorable experience in several categories of the trip. So here goes.....

Most Memorable Experience(s)

Category 1 - Travel to and from Cote d'Ivoire - Being led through the airport at Abidjan by personnel that treated us like "rock stars." We past through customs as a group and upon arrival outside the terminal were greeted by a band and many persons who were truly glad to see us. It was a joy to be greeted with such warmth and pass through the protocols of entry into a foreign country so easily.

Category 2 - First Day in the Villages - When we traveled to Alepe the first day for the opening celebration of the campaign there were hundreds of children lining the road on both sides at several points waving and cheering. It was overwhelming! See the picture below.

Category 3 - Distributing Nets - Seeing the long lines of mothers and fathers with their children waiting for as long as four hours to receive a net and medical care for their children. In many cases there were mothers who had walked for miles with children strapped to their backs to make sure that their children were vaccinated and received a life-saving insecticide treated bed net.

Category 4 - Devotional time - Every night all members of our delegation gathered together for a devotional time to end the day. Everyone of those moments was a faithlift, but the devotional at the end of the day on the first day we distributed nets was particularly meaningful for me. Several persons shared moments when they were touched by the presence of God. The stories shared were straight for the heart. There many tears and words spoken through hearts that were touched by the extraordinary presence of God.

Category 5 - Worship with the Methodist Christians of Cote d'Ivoire - Three hours of worship on two separate Sundays passed by like it was forty-five minutes and even though I was dressed with a tie and a clergy robe and stole, I was unaware how hot I must have been. (My clothes were soaked with perspiration when I took off my robe and stole.) But the most meaningful moment of worship on both Sundays actually involved two moments. First, the joy of celebrating the Sacrament of the Lords Supper with clergy and laity of Texas and Cote d'Ivoire was particularly meaningful. Secondly, I have to discuss the offering again. To experience the joy and celebration of the offering was something I had never seen or known before in all my ministry. Every single person in the worship celebration brought their offering forward. It was 15-20 minute worship moment of praise and thanksgiving to God never known in my personal experience. To realize that here was a people making their offering to God whose average per capita income was less than 1 tenth of what we have in the US was convicting. Not only did all participate in the offering, but they did it with such joy and celebration. If our worship in the US were able to capture that same joy and celebration in the offering, our churches and ministries would never have financial problems. God's goodness would be shared and shared abundantly. The church's ministry would be multiplied across the land like Jesus with the loaves and fishes. How often do we truly back to God out of the abundance we have received? It happens sometimes, but certainly not everytime we gather for worship. We can learn a lot from the Ivoirian people regarding "passionate worship and extravagant generosity." On our last Sunday in Cote d'Ivoire we worshipped in the Jordan United Methodist Church in Abidjan. The church building was partially completed. It had a roof and a concrete floor, but no walls and no permanent seating and limited electricity. The wind blew through and we heard the sounds from the street beside us. Yet, it was truly a place and moment of worship. Without the accoutrements of a completed worship space, the spirit of God was present in that place in a way that I have never experienced God in the the most stately and completed sanctuaries. To God be the glory!

It will take me months and years to fully process the faithlift of our days in Cote d'Ivoire. My prayer is that the experience might in some way enhance the effectiveness and the faithfulness of the churches and the people of God that I have been given pastoral responsibility for.

This is not my last time to write.....check back soon!

Reflections

Today is Sunday, November 16, 2008. We are preparing to return to the US.

The past ten days has created a kaleidoscope of emotions. ….pain, joy, sadness, exhilaration, grief, excitement, anger and many more….Today we worshipped at the Jordan United Methodist Church of Abidjan. The three hour service was a spiritual faithlift beginning with the processional hymn through the choir and ending with the most joyous offering I have ever experienced. See the attached photos and brief movie of the end of the offering….attached….

The last day in the villages around Alepe we visited in the homes of families that had received nets. About 50% of the homes had nets that were already hung. With those families that had not hung their nets, we assisted them with nails and cord that we bought from one of the vendors along the street. See the attached pictures of nets that we helped hang in some of the homes.

We received a report today that 853,000 nets have been distributed this week in 19 health districts. In twelve (12) of those districts the United Methodist Church (Texas and Cote d’Ivoire) help staff the distribution with volunteers. What a testimony to the power of the body of Christ working together.

We understand that Air France will be flying us to Paris. Our next hope is to connect with a plane to Houston. But, with a strike the by the pilots over the past three days, we may be lucky to catch our scheduled flight to Houston. I pray that we do. Even though this has been an incredible week I am ready to get home and be with my wife (Karen) and see the rest of my family over Thanksgiving.

Radical Hospitality

Tonight at our evening devotional we were asked where we had seen God this week. There have been so many places, but perhaps most significant for me has been the radical hospitality of our Ivoirian hosts. While the per capita income in Cote d’Ivoire is around $1,200, our hosts have opened their doors and their country in so many ways. We have been provided lunch and supper every day by our hosts. Any host church or group can do that. But, it is the way they have done it that demonstrates radical hospitality and has also been one of the most significant places that I have seen God.

Today we were involved in net distribution in Unbuntu, a small village near Alepe. Around 2 p.m. we were told that we were going to visit a school. But instead of going to a school, we were ushered into the bamboo and thatch covered porch of a student pastor and his wife. Chairs were placed at the table and we were invited to sit down. There were no chairs for the pastor and his wife. The table was set. The pastor had purchased bottled water at the store and filled our glasses with cold water. The family would be drinking water that came from the communal tap adjacent to their modest home. Rice, Casaba (sp?) and fresh fish stew was lovingly served to us. As we sat at the table the family observed from across the room. We engaged in conversation and other members of the community began to arrive. By the time we left an hour and a half later to return to the net distribution site, the pastor and his wife had served lunch to 14 persons. These persons came by to visit and then were invited to enjoy the meal. It was a loaves and fishes experience. The presence of Christ in our midst allowed all of us to be fed and to enjoy wonderful fellowship with one another. The meal had been cooked over a wood fire across the eroded path from the home. Under a kitchen which consisted of a fire pit and a few benches, the meal had been prepared and served hot to us at the table. After all had been fed, they pastor’s family ate. This has happened in a different setting every day. We have truly seen the God in the hearts and welcome of the Ivoirian people.

When one of our members need to find a “toilette” quickly, an unknown Ivoirian family opened them home to a stranger from America. When we asked residents in the village if they had hung their nets, we were invited into their homes to see and share the “news.” God has been seen this week in the faces and hearts of those who have little.

Ears to Hear: A Gentle Village Leader and the Elevator Boogie Men

3:45 a.m. this morning was a contrast to our experience yesterday. As we have been almost every morning, we were awakened by banging and drilling. The elevator repair men prefer to work in the elevator shaft across from our rooms at the times when the hotel guests are trying to sleep. It does not matter which floor you are on, all in the hotel are universally impacted. The noise does not discriminate between floors or cultures. All who have ears to hear can hear.

Between Alepe and Grand Bassam are seven small rural villages. The Vaccination program in conjunction with the distribution of insecticide treated mosquito bed nets is underway in each of the villages across almost twenty health districts. Three members of our team rode through the jungle yesterday to check on the vaccination and distribution program. In one of the villages we had the pleasure of being invited to the home of one of the elders of the villages, a man with a quiet demeanor and gentle eyes. He and his family received us under the thatched roof outside their door. Apparently he is a man whose ears heard the desire of the young people of the village who desired to plant a Methodist Church. He shared some of his property and a church was built next to his home. As a result of his willingness to help in this effort, he was beaten and hospitalized by persons in the village that did not want the church. We exchanged traditional greetings and small gifts with the family. They gave us cocoa bean pods and coconuts. We gave them a small mirror that was received joyfully. All this happened while two small girls killed a chicken by ringing its neck and plucked the feathers in preparation for the late afternoon meal. In many of the villages, the largest meal of the day for most is in the mid to late afternoon before darkness falls. Many villages only have limited electricity.

The vaccination and net distribution in many of these villages takes place at the market in the center of the village. The market is in what we might call a pole barn without sides in the US. There women sell and trade the things that they have prepared or gathered from the jungle outside the village. There are tables of papayas and bananas, tomatoes and yams, seasoning pepper, onions and other items, smoked fish rolled up into rounds and an occasional pot of rice or fish stew.

For our 3 p.m. lunch yesterday, we sat on the bank of the river to Grand Bassam and ate rice covered with fish stew made out of the smoked fish. I will have to admit that my stomach and smoked fish do not agree. The smells of the market contrasted with my hunger and made it difficult to satisfy.

Oh, by the way. Each these seven small villages distributed about 300 nets today. Two Thousand one hundred children were saved in these villages from malaria. Many of these children may live to the each of five or more.

A Day to Remember

Note - I am almost out of baterry power on my laptop....

What a day to remember. Our team drove into to Alepe with hundreds of children lining the street waving, smiling and welcoming us. It was overwhelming. Then we participated in a ceremoney to open the campaign, ate lunch at the local pastor's home and in the afternoon, passed out over 2000 nets as a part of an integrated helath campaign that included

-Vitamin A

-a De-worming Tablet

-Measles Vacination

-an Insecticide Treated Bed Net

...........what an experience and what a day to remember.

We are in Paris.

After a long 9 and 1/2 hour flight, we are in the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Some were able to sleep on the plane. But those of us in the middle seat between two strangers, as I was, found sleeping to be a difficult task. Those who were not able to sleep have ordered cappacino. It is stronger in Paris than in the states. We are hanging out at gate C81. Some are shopping for Paris bargins. Others are using Euros for the first time. Some on [Photo]the team are trying to catch a nap. We are all tired, but we still have a way to go. We will be in Abidjan by 6:30 this evening after another six hours on a plane. Tomorrow we will spend much of the day in worship with our Ivoirian hosts. I am really looking forward to the opportunity to worship in a different cultural context with a people who are passionate about their faith. What a blessing that will be. We will take plenty of pictures and tell you all about it tomorrow.

Ready to Go

The Nothing But Nets team successfully navigated the check-in counter, security and now wait at the gate for our trip to Paris and on to Abidjan. The team is scattered in groupgs and clumps across the waiting area at the gate. Some are sleeping....some talking....some are on the phone. New friendships are developing and the spirit of excitement is overflowing. Flat Stanley is here too. All of us are wearing matching polo shirts with a "Covered With Nets" logo that depicts Cote d'Ivoire covered with a net. .....all of us except Flat Stanley. Poor Flat Stanley! He is the only one without a matching shirt. They did not have one small enough for him. Flat Stanley has found a seat among his new friends and is patiently waiting too. What a great opportunity to meet new friends from Texas and from Cote d'Ivoire. Our flight plan to Paris will take us over Greenland. Flat Stanley knows his geography and points to Greenland on the map below so Mrs. Reed's second grade class will know where it is. It will be dark as we travel over Greenland as will be traveling east into the darkness. Flat Stanley and the team will check back in after we land in Paris. It will be the middle of the night in Houston, but it will be morning in Paris. Most of us are hoping to get some sleep on the plan....... Bye for now.

Flat Stanley joins Nets Team

This morning Flat Stanley joined the Nothing But Team to Cote d'Ivoire, West Africa. Some of you may have met Flat Stanley. He comes to us from Mrs. "Reed's Rascals" second grade class at Ferguson Elementary in League City. The class is currently engaged in a unit on math and globe skills. During the unit Flat Stanley has traveled across the world. He is the smallest and thinnest member of our team and will travel in the carry on baggage of Will Reed, husband of Karen Reed, the teacher of Reed's Rascals. Today, he will travel from the Reed home to Houston's Interncontinental Airport and board an Air France jet to Paris later this afternoon. Flat Stanley hopes to get some sleep on the plane, because when the plane arrives in France, it will be morning. Then he will explore the airport in Paris in an effort to meet some new friends and practice some of the French he has been learning in preparation for the continuation of the trip to Cote d'Ivoire. Flat Stanley will explore the map of the Paris Airport before getting off the plane. (See the link to the map on the left). The team will arrive on Air France flight 33 at Terminal E and then leave for Abidjan out of Terminal C. The trip to Paris is 9 1/2 hours. Then there will be a five hour layover in Paris. The flight to Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire will last another six+ hours. Flat Stanley and the Nothing But Nets team should arrive by 6:45 p.m. tomorrow (Saturday), which will be 12:45 p.m. Houston time. Please keep Flat Stanley and the team in your prayers.

Today's Prayer Suggestion

7 November departing the US

Pray for safe travel of the whole team.

Psalm 143 "Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Let your good spirit lead me on a level path."

Today is the day to start the Prayer Guide

Josh Hale put together a wonderful prayer guide for churches, family and friends to support the ministry of the Nothing But Nets team as we travel to Cote d'Ivoire. You can download it as a PDF document with the link to the right. Or, you can check back here. I will include the prayer suggestion each day at the end of my entry as I am able to access an Internet connection in Cote d'Ivoire.

Today is the final day of preparation. Tomorrow at 1 we will be gathering at the airport to check in for our flight which will leave around 4:30. Today, team members are packing their bags and checking their lists. It is a day of anticipation and excitement. Several persons today have asked me if I am excited. I am! But, what is even more important is that every person that has asked is also excited and prayerful on behalf of the team. The team is supported by persons all over the globe. For that we are grateful. Thanks be to God!

Today's Prayer Suggestion

6 November Making Preparations
Pray for the work of the Spirit, providing for ministry.

Psalm 139 “Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?”