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Of course it started raining. What I didn’t expect was for people to start arriving ten minutes early. That is not typical African behavior. One by one they entered the gate, wiped their feet on the towel by the door and chose a seat in the circle while liberally spreading warm greetings.
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.
Our June 2011 newsletter is now available to read online. Click the image below to access it. The newsletter is password protected. If you do not know the password and would like to read the newsletter, please click on the Contact page and request a password using the contact form.
Two weeks ago, Billie and the girls went to a village to stay with colleagues while David took Lisa back to Conakry to fly home. Lisa’s three weeks with us flew by. “I had a great time hanging out and seeing how international workers live,” she said. We are so very thankful that God provided a way for her to help us with the transition. We think a highlight of her stay was visiting an orphanage housing HIV/AIDS babies and infants.
While out in the village, Billie was able to brush up on burn care. She was also able to witness to two young men. While they did not make a decision for Christ, they did hear the Good News.
The girls are still sick, but we altered their diets, are taking greater care with food preparation, are keeping them inside a little more, and they seem to be doing better. Please continue to pray for good health as they make the transition to life in West Africa. ” and Amelie is already spouting off her first words in Pular, “Okay,” “Goodbye,” and “Mom.”
In addition to sharing the gospel, we have hit the ground running with other projects. We are trying to get our home in order before the Vice President of our mission agency visits in two short weeks. We also tried to fix the road in our neighborhood that had become a small lake. We say “tried” because the way to fill a pond is not, apparently, by filling it with four truckloads of dirt. That creates mud. Hindsight is 20/20, though, and next time we will order four truckloads of rock. Please pray the situation will give us opportunities to share about our hearts to help the Fulbe people.
David took our guard, Mr. Bah to visit Sight Savers. He has cataracts and will have surgery in September, after Ramadan is over, to restore his vision. (More on Ramadan in a future post). Please pray that his surgery goes well and that his sight will be perfectly restored.
In related news, Mr. Bah’s family moved back to our hometown. We are excited for the girls to have playmates who can teach them Pular. (Billie hopes they can teach her Pular too!)
We spent the week in a village teaching English at an English camp. Seeds were sown as David shared the gospel with each student in English and French.
While out in the village, the Guinean president survived an assassination attempt. Everything is calm in country, and we don’t expect any unrest. You can read more about this here and here.
Thank you for your prayers for us as we continue to make the transition to life in Africa with two toddlers, and for the Fulbe people who have yet to hear the Good News.
In less than two weeks, we will be landing in Guinea, Africa. Our time in the U.S. is drawing to a close, and it is time to return to work in Guinea. We are so excited to be going back to the land where God has called us to serve. At the same time, it is sad to think that we will be saying goodbye to our beloved family and friends here. Please keep us in prayer in the coming days as we finish storing, shipping, and packing in preparation for our departure. Pray for safety on June 20 in particular as we fly to Guinea with our twin daughters, Amelie and Annika on our laps. It will be a long journey for such little ones. We will be in the air for a total of about sixteen hours with another twelve or so spent in airports or traveling to or from airports.
The past few weeks have been a flurry of activity. One praise is that we were able to get a fantastic price on our plane tickets. Another, is that we were able to ship more items to Guinea. We will be especially thankful for a solar fridge and freezer that we were able to ship over. Here are some other things we took for shipment recently.
Another big praise is that we will not be traveling alone. Billie’s great friend and college roommate, Lisa, will be accompanying us. Here presence will be a great help as we attempt to navigate airports and endure long hours in the airplane with two little ones. She will also have the opportunity to get an idea of what we do in Guinea as we settle back into life there. She will be with us about two weeks. Please keep her in prayer as well. Here is a picture of her.
Our latest newsletter is now available to read online. Click the image below to access it. The newsletter is password protected. If you do not know the password and would like to read the newsletter, please click on the Contact page and request a password using the contact form.
Thank you for praying for Guinea today as Conde was sworn in as the first democratically elected president since the West African nation’s independence from France in 1958. According to a France24.com press release, Conde has promised to reform the military, review mining contracts, and develop the nations infrastructure to bring running water and electricity to more homes.
Please pray for Conde and Guinean nationals during this time of transition.
Our journeys have taken us far and wide. During the past couple weeks, we have been in Tennessee and Georgia. We shared about our ministry at two churches in Tennessee. The people there were so friendly.
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.
Thank you so much for your prayers. By God’s grace, we arrived safely at Detroit Airport yesterday at about 2:30 p.m. Our arrival was right on time. All our luggage also arrived and nothing was stolen along the way. Our travel time included about 15 hours in the air and another six in airports.
Our home church has already blessed us by finding a place for us to live and a vehicle for us to drive temporarily. Today, I was able to renew my drivers license, but Billie is going to have to take all her driving exams again, including both written and driving portions, since her license expired over six months ago.
In the next week or so, we will be transitioning into our new schedule here in Northwest Ohio. Please continue to pray especially that God would open up opportunities for us to share about our ministry at churches in the coming months.
