In Benin

Hello Everyone,

We have arrived in Benin. We spent some time in N'Gaoundéré rehearsing, which was somewhat frusterating because we can't all comfortably sing in the same key, so we have to pick keys that only work for some of us. We took the train to Yaoundé; this time it was 19 hours. We were hoping it would be shorter because we had heard that the train drivers wanted to get paid for more hours, but that those who pay them found out so they had been on time--12 hours-- for awhile, but not for us. We took the 3 hour bus ride to Douala. We stayed in the Catholic missionary house for one more night before flying out of Cameroon.

We arrived in Cotonou, Benin, on the evening of 16th. We are still in the same time zone--7 hours ahead of central. The president of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Benin met us at the airport. We took taxis to a hotel, where he decided we would stay until we figured out other arrangements. We were annoyed because it meant spending money for our stay and meant we would have to move the next day.

On the 17, some of us waited while others searched for a place for us to stay and got money. Finally, we are able to exchange our traveller's checks. This is nice considering we weren't able to in Cameroon. Eventually, we found where will be staying for most of our time in Benin.

We--Cross Fire-- have our own apartment!! It has three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living/dining room. It came unfurnished, but the pastor's wife brought us some mattresses, chairs, dishes, and a fridge. It is kinda nice. It costs us 25,000 CFA a night. 480 CFA= 1dollar. So far, we don't have air conditioning and it is really hot and humid. Temps here are between 85 and 95. We get to cook for ourselves. Adrienne has taken on the role of our main chef, which we are all really excited about. It will be really different not staying with host homes; I am sad that we won't be because we won't have as much time with relational ministry and I won't learn as much French. This is the first time that I have lived in an apartment and it is quite the experience.

So far, the food in Benin has been pretty good, but the sauces are a little bit too spicy for me. We have had fried and grilled chicken, lamb, rice, coo coos, beans, potatoes, and lots of fruit including papaya with lemon, pineapple, mango, and orange. Last night, I enjoyed the wonderful treat of mashed potatoes!! Thanks Adrienne!!!

We haven't had any programming in Benin yet. We are staying in Cotonou until Friday, then we will be travelling north. Cross Fire also has a new vehicle and driver. We will be using them for our 10 days of travel in Benin and for 4 our of 7 days a week when we return to Cotonou. When we come back to Cotonou, we will be there for 20 days and will live in our apartment. Unfortunately, we have been spending a lot of our team money here in Benin as we have been paying for our housing, food, and transportation.

Yesterday, we had the chance to cool off. We went swimming!! The current is to rough to swim in the ocean here, so we went to a hotel to go swimming. We really enjoyed it after sweat a lot in our apartment. We also bought some really delicious ice cream. We walked on the beach for awhile. We did some errands around the city. Cotonou has about 800,000 people. Today, we will be doing some team stuff--devos, rehearsal, and planning.

We don't know anything about our schedule or housing in the north. We do know that we are going to Parakou first. Hopefully it will be great! You may not hear from me until we are back in Cotonou.

Happy 60th birthday dad!!!!!!!!


Peace,

Tiffany