"What did you say?"

Kody is home from Africa! Hallelujah! Well, he actually got back about two weeks ago, but we're just now getting around to showing you some pics!

It was a long week for me and Noodles fending for ourselves. But Kody had an amazing time! His team helped more animals than they ever thought they could and Kod met some wonderful people!

Kody with John Suboba, the village pastor's son, who Kody connected with

Their team of five men spent four days traveling to a rural Mali village to de-worm over 5,000 cattle, goats, sheep and pigs. They stayed in a town in Eastern Mali called Koutiala, but traveled 1.5 hours each day to a village where they worked with the animals. Kody said the village was like a festival because everyone from the surrounding villages came with their animals when they heard Americans would be there. The team ran out of medicine during day 3, so they spent the fourth day helping wherever the missionaries needed help. In addition to the vaccines, they got to tour Christ Community Church's Hospital for Women and Children in Koutiala, Dusty and Julie Reynold's Sababu Conscious Clothing in Bamako, the Eiffel Tower during their layover in Paris, Christian and Missionary Alliance's Bethel Seminary to train up Malian pastors and so many more things!

Eiffel Tower

Lots of crazy, funny, wonderful, God-things happened while Kod was over there. Here are a few highlights:

Taking the cattle through the shoot

- Getting kicked by an 800 pound bull
- Walking two miles in water up to their chests after their car got stuck in flood waters on their way back to the guesthouse
- Six days of traveling, four days of serving
- Sharing authentic Malian food with the village chief and mayor
- Being "paid" by the village chief with two chickens
- Showing the "Jesus Film" to the village and witnessing the Muslim tribal elders not allow villagers to come forward to receive Christ.

Working those pigs

One especially funny thing is that Kody's name in Bambara (the language spoken in Mali) means "What did you say?" So when someone would ask him his name, he'd answer "Kody." They'd reply, "What is your name?" "Kody (or What did you say?)." "What is your name?" "Kody." And on and on and on. haha!

On the drive from Bamako to Koutiala - goats, people, bags, chickens ... and about anything else you can think of ... tied to and hanging off the "taxi."

Here's a neat blog post the CCC Missions Pastor, Craig Walter, wrote about the trip.

Eating lunch on the side of the road on the way to Koutiala. They weren't able to stop and eat at a restaurant in Segou because of the kidnapping threat.

Lots of answers to prayer during the trip. Kody and I were praying that he would stay healthy because he wasn't feeling well a few days before the trip and tends to get sick with travel/lack of sleep/stress, etc. Praise God, the time changes didn't even affect him at all! He felt fine the whole time! Also, the U.N. had issued a kidnapping warning for a town the team was going to drive through on their way to Koutiala. Again God answered our prayers and they didn't have any trouble during the drive or any safety concerns while they were over there. The team bonded incredibly and were told they one of the best short term missions teams they've had over there!

Video of the drive to Koutiala

Thank you all for your prayers and support for Kody! We appreciated it more than you can know!