Growth is always and only a work of God

The big Néré trees are in full bloom right now. From afar the flowers look like huge cherries. Soon, out of those flowers long bean like fruit will hang from the branches. The women will pick them with long sticks to process the beans into a very popular ingredient for cooking a delicious meal.

A few years ago I accompanied some neighbor ladies to harvest those beans. Here are a few photos about the hard work of our ladies here: http://tothetopandfly.blogspot.com/2017/04/

http://tothetopandfly.blogspot.com/.../the-washing-of...

I am preparing for my class next Tuesday to teach about 22 ladies at the Institut Biblique Bethel about spiritual growth. 19 of them are not yet able to read and write. We often do some group work, were in each of the 3 groups one of the ladies is translating into Senoufo and writing down the answers into French. I'm so thankful that we have a day care so that the ladies are able to concentrate while learning.

I am learning a lot from them as I try to practice what I am teaching.

I would like us to understand that our first call or vocation is to an intimate and loving relationship with Christ and not to a performance as a pastor’s wife or a missionary.

I saw this post from Ann Voskamp which resonates with me and put her quote on my photos.

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=485801769567831&set=a.221970039284340

 

Kinder und Blumen

Text: Karena Collet

Kinder und junge Menschen erinnern mich oft an Blumen, die sich langsam öffnen, sich der Sonne entgegen strecken, sich entfalten in ihrer ganzen Schönheit, die aber auch verletzlich sind; Windstöße, harter Regen oder Hagel und auch zu große Hitze können sie schnell zum Welken bringen. Genauso entwickeln sie sich bei gutem Boden und guter Pflege zu Königinnen und Prinzen, sie machen uns glücklich, schenken uns Freude lassen uns staunen und es gibt immer wieder Neues an ihnen zu entdecken.

Sie können uns begeistern und erfreuen, verändern unser Leben, machen es schöner und wertvoller.
Fehlt die Pflege, kommt diese Schönheit nicht voll zur Geltung, es entstehen Krankheiten oder sie werden überwuchert von Unkraut.
Blumen haben ihre Blütezeit, die Zeit sich zu vermehren, die Vorbereitung für den Winter, Ruhezeit, sie sind vergänglich wie wir.
Ich finde Gott hat sich bei der Erschaffung der Blumen etwas sehr schönes einfallen lassen.

Selbst Jesus hat sie erwähnt und uns aufgefordert, die Lilien auf dem Felde zu betrachten, und er hat ihre Schönheit verglichen mit der Pracht von König Salomos Seide und die Lilien als viel schöner empfunden. Sicher hat er uns dazu aufgefordert, sie so genau zu betrachten, weil wir von ihnen so viel lernen können.
Nicht die Reichtümer dieser Welt (zu denen nur wenige Menschen dieser Erde Zugang haben), machen uns wirklich glücklich, sondern die Beziehung zu Gott und das Erkennen der Schönheiten, die Gott für alle Menschen geschaffen hat, die jeder sehen und betrachten kann und durch die wir plötzlich und unerwartet, weil beschenkt, uns reich fühlen können.
Und ich denke auch Kinder machen unser Leben reich – Kinder sind ein Geschenk.

What do you think ?

I once posted a quote from Jarena Lee (1783 - ?) on Facebook.

I googled her name and found out what an incredible woman she was! She was even part of the Second Great Awakening. I'd never heard of her before, an African-Ameriacan woman living in pre-civil war times. She ventured boldly into unchartered territory when she answered the call to preach. She faced a lot of opposition, and yet she stepped forth in courage and perseverance, working as an unordained itinerant preacher for more than 30 years. It was Michele DeRusha's Insta post which inspired me.

Here are the Facebook comments from her quote above: 

"Why should it be thought impossible, heterodox, or improper for a woman to preach, seeing as the Saviour died for the woman as well as for the man?"

They Did It !!

Our classes at IBB (Institute Biblique Bethel) are coming to an end and Madame Silué, the coordinator and full time teacher of our women’s classes mentioned that the ladies would like to learn how to bake a cake before they will leave this year for their internships and some for their full time ministries with their husbands. She asked me if I could help.

I have baked cakes, but I am not much into baking. I like to cook and mix spices into a meal without a recipe and much measuring. But baking asks for exactly measuring the ingredients and following a recipe. There are so many ways of measurements. In Germany we measure by weight using a scale. In the US we measure by quantity using cups and spoons.

We ended up using cups and spoons and the 19 ladies mixed dough for about 12 lemon and chocolate cakes. It took a while to get them all baked in one oven. But that gave us the time to hang out together and the kids started singing and dancing. The house smelled wonderful and all the cakes turned out perfectly. To God be the Glory!

while waiting for the cakes to bake the kids sang and danced

preparing the frosting

Everyone decorated their own little cake

Friday morning, we did a special closure of their whole class year and invited the IBB administration and all the pastors’ wives in Korhogo. Guess what we had for lunch on Friday?! Lots of cake with buttercream frosting and even some leftovers.

Director Keo Kognon

Bon Appetit !

The planning for next year’s women’s classes are already in full swing. We do need more teachers as the women have different levels. One full time teacher doesn’t cut it as you can imagine. If you would like to help to finance the salaries for one more teacher and two to three ladies for the day care of about 15 little ones (mostly babies), here is a possibility: WOMEN'S BIBLE AND LEADERSHIPFORMATION AT IBB

"I have a Dream #2"

"We should all be Feminists" - Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie at TEDxEuston

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichies neatly embodies exquisite beauty, charm, brains, sophistication, and modesty, all with marvelous grace. She brings Hope to the African continent and to it's women and men as she shares her thoughts in such a diligent and intelligent way, right how it is here.

"The word feminist is so heavy with baggage, negative baggage: you hate men, you hate bras, you hate African culture, that sort of thing. A Nigerian journalist, a nice, well-meaning man, gave me an advise. I should never call myself a feminist because feminists are women who are unhappy because they cannot find husbands. So I decided to call myself "a happy feminist". Then an academic Nigerian woman told me that feminism was not our culture and that feminism wasn't African, and that I was calling myself a feminist because I had been corrupted by "Western Books." So I decided that I would now call myself "a happy African feminist." At some point I was a happy African feminist who does not hate men and who likes lip gloss and who wears high heels for herself but not for men. ... Listen in -

Nœl in Côte d'Ivoire

I am sitting at the bus station in Adjamé, Abidjan to wait for the next bus back to Bouaké. As I wait, I am opening my Bible to Luke 2. Bethany our Journey Corps volunteer asked me to read or speak verse 4 in German and send the video to her as she wants to put the first 20 verses in different languages together. As I was trying to memorize and then film myself saying that Joseph had to leave Nazareth to go to Bethlehem his birth town to get registered there because the Roman government at the time issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. Then it dawned on me, that it wasn’t just the people of Israel being on the move back to their birth towns, but the whole Roman world was on the road.

I was also on the road as the Ivorian government asked all immigrants outside the CEDEAO to register at the ONI (Organization of National Immigration) to get a residence permit for 5 years. Rod had a valid visa for a year so didn’t need to get registered yet. There were lots of people this morning to wait in line for their term of registration. I needed all sorts of documents like my birth certificate translated into French, a working permit, a police record certificate, etc.

Thinking about how they did it about 2017 years ago, I was wondering; 

·      Did Joseph and Mary have a birth certificate to prove they were born in Bethlehem? 

·      Did they get one for Jesus there? 

·      How long were the lines to get registered as the town was filled with people for this so that Joseph and Mary didn’t even find a shelter?

These were the circumstances and the right time, when God had Jesus, Immanuel, come into the world.

So God orchestrated this political registration at the time to keep his word as it was promised by the prophet Micah in chapter 5 verse 2, about 700 years B.C. that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem and had the whole world moved to their birth towns, so that also Joseph would leave Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea, the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 

I can't even image what a chaos it might have been with lots of people walking from place to place finding shelter, then lining up to register in every town in the roman empire, then traveling back home again.

"But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship."                                                       Galatians 4, 4-5

"Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among men with whom He is well-pleased."                                                  Luke 2, 14

It's the Little Things

Keeping in Touch with People is different in different Cultures

So I left my home and everything needing to be done and walked over to my American neighbors, just to say “Hi”. I arrived at the door and said “good morning”. “Oh hi there, do you need anything?” “No”, I said, "I just wanted to say good morning to you."  “Ah, ok", he said. I stood there outside, felt I was disturbing as he was working on his computer and then said good bye and left.

When I go to an Ivorian home and arrive at their court yard and say my greetings, they immediately ask me to come in and have a seat. They offer me a drink and then only ask me how I am doing and what kind of news I am bringing. I am always answering it’s good news and I just came to greet you. In Dioula: "Jug man té, forlilo". And we sit and talk a bit and then I ask to leave and continue my chores.

It’s very important to greet each other without a hurry and to see if everyone is ok. Also to call close friends on the phone regularly, not for long conversations, but just to say “hi” and letting them know that you are thinking of them.

I like that a lot about West Africa!