The small room in the annex of our courtyard wasn’t anything special. A bare light bulb hung from the ceiling, and the paint on the walls was beginning to show its age. Still, everything was clean. And there was a tray with water, cups, and cookies. It seemed as though the environment was a total understatement. It didn’t come close to conveying the magnitude … the eternal significance … of the meeting that followed.

The girls and I walked over in the rain to introduce ourselves. We met some of the Christians in our town before, but not everyone. After a few minutes, I took the girls home and careened my neck out the window every few minutes to try to catch a glimpse of the deliberations. After about two hours, we heard familiar Fulbe praise and worship being sung to the Only True God.

It was amazing. In a tiny room in the middle of a random neighborhood, in a Muslim city, thousands of miles into the interior of Africa were a group of indigenous Christians singing to Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world.

Most beginnings are humble. We pray God will meet with our small group of believers and use them to plant a church that will reach the Fulbe of Guinea, West Africa with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Mr. B is about 72 years old. He isn’t exactly sure of the year he was born, but he knows he was born when the French governed Guinea. Mr. B is married to one wife and has seven children; the oldest an 18 year old boy and six girls. His youngest girls are a set of twins just two months older than ours.

Life is difficult in Guinea. If a Guinean lives past childhood, he or she may very well live to be elderly. Poor healthcare and inadequate education cause a 6.1% infant mortality rate in Guinea. Mr. B is privileged to have worked for expatriates who provided good medical care for him and his family for more than 20 years.

In early 2008, the Lord impressed upon my heart the need to be very proactive in sharing the Gospel and took every opportunity I could to share Bible truths with him. I wasn’t sure if I was saying goodbye to Mr. B for the last time when we left Guinea in 2009 for home assignment.

Thankfully, God enabled Mr. B to faithfully watch our house and tend our garden while we were in the States. But we can see the years starting to show on his wrinkled face. He moves more slowly, he often falls asleep in his chair on the porch in the hot afternoon shade, he is often ill, has carpal tunnel syndrome, and cataracts have taken most of his sight.

Tomorrow morning, David plans to take Mr. B to Sightsavers; “an international charity which works with partners to eliminate avoidable blindness and promote equality of opportunity for disabled people in the developing world.” Their initial appointment was more than a month ago. Mr. B was given eye drops to prepare his eyes for surgery, and told to return after Ramadan.

Will you pray for peace through the process, a successful surgery, and for salvation for Mr. B? We know that God is able to give him sight in more ways than one.

For your consideration:

Kesso: An Autobiography of a Peul Princess by Kesso Barry gives a glimpse into life in Guinea during a time of tumultuous transition from colonization to independence from France in 1958. Email me if you are interested in adding this to your winter reading list.

Please pray that God Himself will visit the Fulbe who are open to hearing the Truth of His word. Pray that their hearts will be ready to accept God’s Good News. God knows the plans he has for the Fulbe this year.  Pray that this might be the year they accept the free gift of salvation He so willingly offers.

¹:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_Power

For a PDF version of both front and back, click this link:

Prayer Card

First, we visited Tazewell.  It is a charming small town near the Cumberland Gap.  The leader of the women’s missionary group put us up in her guest cabin nearby.  Every day we were greeted by gorgeous mountain views.  We shared about our ministry at the church on Sunday morning, and I preached.  On Sunday evening, the church had its vacation Bible school commencement which we attended.  On Monday, a couple from the church took us out on Lake Norris in their pontoon boat.  It was a lot of fun.  On Monday evening, we shared with the women’s missionary group.

Next, we moved on to the Knoxville area.  It is a beautiful part of the country.  One day, a friend who was hosting us took us into the Smoky Mountains and Gatlinburg.  I found out that Smoky Mountain National Park is the most visited national park in the U.S.  On Sunday morning, we spoke to the junior high, high school, and college students about our ministry.  In the evening, we shared about our ministry with the whole church, and I preached.

All too soon, it was time to move on to the next stop on our journey.  We drove three hours south to Woodstock, Georgia.  We stayed with some dear friends there and had a meeting with a pastor.  We have also had the chance to visit with several friends in the area.  On Sunday, we will be sharing in a Sunday school class at a church here.  Then, we will be heading to north Georgia to visit some friends for a day, and next, it is on to Columbus, Ohio, to share at one final church before heading back to our home in northwest Ohio.

While traveling and sharing can take a lot of energy, it so neat to see the things that God does along the way.  We get to meet so many wonderful people.  We see so many beautiful sights.  We renew old friendships and strike up new ones.  God has truly blessed us every time we have ventured out to champion the needs of the Fulbe people, in particular their need for the Gospel.  We praise the Lord for all he has done.

We have had a busy few months transitioning back to life in the U.S.  We have been enjoying time with family and friends, church services in English, and our favorite foods.  We have marveled at the many changes that have taken place in our home town and in the U.S. over the past few years.

Since our return, we have also had several opportunities to share about our ministry.  We have shared at our home church, a men’s breakfast, an elementary school chapel, a Bible college chapel, Awana at our home church and another church, and at an orientation for new candidates at our mission agency headquarters.  Just yesterday, we returned from a two week trip to New Jersey where we spoke at six churches.

During the last week in New Jersey, I flew to our mission agency headquarters in Orlando to spend the week interacting with new candidates for the mission field.  During that time, I found one person who is interested in joining our team in Guinea.  We are so excited at the prospect of a new teammate!

This coming Saturday, we will be off again to Tennessee and Georgia to share at a few more churches.  We have several more trips planned for this year that should take us to many other places including Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and California.  We will also be sharing at several churches in Ohio.

Please keep us in prayer as we travel heavily and speak at churches during these next few months.  Pray that we would find more members to join our team in Guinea.  Pray that we would be able to raise the necessary funds to return to Guinea on schedule next year.