Friday - February 12, 2010

These past few days have been a bit more of the same. More delicious juice. More beautiful sunrises. More work preparing for the expansion of the message of Christ in Cote d'Ivoire. We've tackled some big projects, including finishing the input of the books into a hard copy registry and a searchable program on a computer for the new library here. We've built a new table for the CBH studio to be used with guests. We've painted many rooms including our sound technician Issa's new office in the church for his expanded role in Frequence Vie - the Christian radio station on which CBH is broadcast all over Cote d'Ivoire. We've also taught Issa and Daniel new recording software to be used in the future...

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

The women got to go to the market today and I'm jealous. Two of the missionaries we're staying with, Kay Critser and LeAnne Sellers, decided it was time for a break from book cataloges and Dewey Decimal Systems and so they whisked Ruth Maxedon and Sue Glander away this morning to shop for fabric for some new dresses. Apparently they explored the narrow walking paths through booths filled with everything from dresses and apples to hand-saws and severed animal heads. Sounds like a pretty exciting place to me, so I've been begging another missionary, Larry Sellers, to take me tomorrow. I'll get some pictures and a full report for you tomorrow. The women did very well haggling the price down and actually walked out of many stores mid-haggle in order to find the best price. We should have pictures of the new dresses by the end of the week too, so keep reading.

Monday and Tuesday, February 8-9, 2010

I had a juice today that was out of this world.  There's a flower here with petals you can grind up, mix with some water, and add a little orange juice. It's basically the best sweetest elixer I've ever had.  It starts out tasting like grape juice, but instead of ending with that dry puckering feeling it leaves you feeling refreshed and invigorated.  We're being fed well by our hosts here, which is important because these past few days we've begun doing our work.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Waking up to the sunrise in a location like Cote d'Ivoire is a little magical.  The reds, oranges, and eventually blues of the skies are tinged with a mist coming from the Sarah Desert in the north that sort of makes mornings a little surreal.  I'm not generally a morning person, so life always appears a little hazy to me for the first few hours of the day, but here it's a tangible reality.  And really, it's pretty breathtaking.

Saturday, February 6

We flew for two days straight and by the end of the journey I think I was pretty much done with this trip.  My hair was greasy, my skin was greasy, the food I ate on the plane was greasy - everything just felt gross.  We had some hiccups along the way too.  Some ticketing issues, checking in several times in several different cities, and some people in the group had to take some different flight itineraries on their way here.  Sometimes when you embark on an adventure like this things can go wrong.  Sometimes when you embark on an adventure like this things can all go right.  But either way, we thank God for providing for us.  As it all turned out, we all made it here to Cote d’Ivoire safely together.  So we left on Thursday morning, arrived on Friday night, and slept the night in a nice little house in Abidjan, the capital city into which we flew.

In July of this year, a team of listeners embarked on a trip to Rondon, Brazil to provide support to the CBH-Portuguese broadcast. They installed new equipment, including the broadcast’s first-ever digital editing equipment and several new microphones, and they completely renovated the studio there for the first time in many years. We hope you’re encouraged by reading this letter that CBH-Portuguese Speaker Mário Hort wrote to each of you who are involved in this effective ministry through generous prayerful and financial support. CBH-Portuguese is led by Mário Hort and his son, Isai.

by Logan Ritchhart

September 22, 2009—Our last day in Agra was extremely busy. We had breakfast and headed out to begin seeing the sights of Agra. The first was the Agra Fort, built originally by the Mughal Emperor Akbar. Currently only 20% of the fort is available to be seen by tourists. The other 80% is being used by the military, who will be vacating the fort within the next year. At that time the fort will be opened to tourists with the exception of any areas that need restoring. Emperor Shah Jahan made modifications and additions to the fort during his rule as emperor. These areas can be identified by the white marble which he also used on the Taj Mahal. The majority of the fort is made of red sandstone and over the years other mughal emperors such as Jahangir, and even Aurangzeb made changes as well.

Once again this autumn, Christians Broadcasting Hope (CBH) will retreat to the Cove for a time of rest and relaxation in the Word of God, October 18–21, 2009. Held in the mountains of Asheville, North Carolina, the Retreat to the Cove has become an annual pilgrimage for many in the Church of God to get away from the often-stressful flurry of activities that can exhaust and discourage. Jim Lyon puts it best, “There’s something about the steep wooded hillsides, the brilliant bursts of orange and red that paint the trees, the prayer with which the staff clothes every room and guest…there’s something about The Cove that sets it apart from just about every other place on the planet.”

September 20—On our last day in Singapore we headed downtown on our own for the first time. We were given instructions on how to navigate the sometimes challenging MRT system and then we were on our own for the day.

The first stop was Suntec City, a large shopping mall in the downtown area of Singapore.

September 13, 2009—Our group of five left Indiana on the morning of September 10, boarding a plane for Singapore. We arrived some twenty hours later just before midnight on September 11. We were met by our hosts Neville and Anne Tan as well as Henry and Lavinia Lee and taken to our apartment overlooking the sea. Our group consists of Logan Ritchhart who is on staff at CBH as the media specialist, Kenneth and Jeannette Ritchhart, and Kenneth and Grada Lockhart all from the Anderson and Fishers areas in Indiana.