Merry Christmas/Feliz Navidad/Jouex Noel
Greetings from hot and humid Africa! I arrived safely the
night of December 23rd. The
trip was long and arduous. We took a
short flight from St. Louis to Detroit, and then changed planes for a longer
flight from Detroit to Paris. I was able
to sleep a little with the help of a sleep aid.
We landed in Paris and waited about 2 hours for our next flight. The flight from Paris to Abidjan was about 6
½ hours. When I boarded the plane, much
to my chagrin, I found out that I was in a middle seat! If you know me, you can
imagine that I did not have the face of a “happy camper” for 6 ½ hours!!! Once
in Abidjan we made it through immigration with little trouble but then waited
over an hour for our luggage. We were
late in arriving, so I think a few flights came in at the same time. Surrounding the carousel was a sea of
humanity, and “personal space” is not really recognized in Ivory Coast! After
clearing customs without a hitch one of our brothers was there to pick us up at
the airport. His English was limited
(Ivory Coast is part of French speaking Africa) but we were able to speak a little
with him on the way to the place where the program was being held. The trip lasted about 45 minutes. As we were approaching our destination,
there were workers working on paving the road, so we had to take an “alternate
route”. Well, once again, I felt like I
was in a movie about two Americans who were kidnapped by bandits by African
rebels. We went the “back way” on a dirt
road where there was no lighting and I could hardly see the road in front of
us. Hail Mary, full of grace…… Luckily,
we made it to our destination without being accosted. We ate a little something and then were shown
to our rooms at our Novitiate. The room
is simple, but has a bathroom, shower and air-conditioning (circa 1990), so I
was happy!
The next day we began with Morning Prayer at 6:30am followed
by Mass and breakfast. My body clock
was, and still is, so out of whack. The
day was spent going to sessions, meeting the brothers, eating meals, prayer,
and a siesta. The internet access is
touch and go, and so I am actually writing this with the hopes of being able to
copy-paste-publish while the going is good! We attended Christmas Eve Mass at a
local parish. We were fortunate enough
to have some spots reserved for us (there are about 45 people in the group)
because the Church was brimming over with people. I was feeling a little “homesick”, even for
Mexico, because celebrating Christmas in a language I do not understand just
seemed sad to me. Well, once the choir
began singing, all the sadness disappeared.
They wore bright yellow outfits and the women all wore headdresses that
would put any Baptist “hat lady” to shame! The choir was amazing! During the offertory I started to tear up
because even though I had no idea what they were singing, the joy was evident
to me. I was surprised that at only 1 ½
hours we were almost finished with Mass.
Until…..a young man came up after Communion to speak to the people. He had the people saying, “Amen” and
laughing. Then he said something about
not receiving enough at the collection.
The pastor got up, took the microphone and told the people they needed
to give more! The ushers came to the front of the Church, the choir started
singing and then the people processed with money in hand, dancing, and singing
while they made their offering. We
continued dancing, singing for almost 30 minutes. Now that’s a way to collect money! I think we need to do this in the US….the
people were happy to give and the handkerchiefs were waving in the air and we
had some Church on Christmas Eve! After
the Mass we all went back to our place, the brothers put on some music, the
beer, wine, and whisky came out and we proceeded to have our own dance
party. All in all, it was a very
enjoyable night….different from any other Christmas Eve that I celebrated, but
a fun, holy, and uplifting night for this American!
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas! Thank you for your prayers, your comments,
your concerns and your support my friends!
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