By the time we had gotten to Thursday morning I was drained.  Mentally, physically, and Spiritually.  It was so bad that when I woke up at 6am, all I could think was “I just want to go home now.”  In my self of selfs, I was finished.  We had accomplished what we set out to do, or so I thought.  We sat around Brad’s table and had our devotion.  It was my turn to lead, and I didn’t feel like it.  I confessed this to the others, and I told them how I had started the day.  The funny thing is in missions, when you get down, you don’t stay there for long.  You see, while we were in the village I had read Psalm 77.  At the time I thought, “what a fantastic reminder of who God is in our times of trouble.”  Little did I know that two days later it would be MY reminder.  The Plsamist begins, “I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me.”  By the time he has finished moaning and groaning, he has come back to Who is the Great I Am.  Verse 11, “I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.  I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.”  This was a fantastic reminder for myself and the team that: 1. When we are down, don’t be afraid to admit it, take it to the Lord.  2.  If we talk to Him long enough, we’ll remember who He is, and Who we are in Him.  As we prayed together I was refreshed, and we determined together to finish strong.  Thursday was a great day with a lot of opportunities. 

A small twist to an old song, “Jesus knows me, this I love.”

Pray for the Laborers to be able to continue in the work, and to finish strong.

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Have you ever noticed how often we say “some people”? Apparently we say that a lot, especially in witnessing. We didn’t realize this until after we’d been in the village awhile. Chi’s wife started saying, “some people” out of the blue. Then whenever we would say it in conversation, she would repeat it. Some people. After we left Pastor Paul’s mission we continued on to find Chi’s daughter. It was good to be with Pastor Paul, but he spoke French the entire time, and I never understood why. I hope Chi understood what was being said. Once on the road, it took about 30 more minutes to find her village. Of course we had to all get out of the trucks and go greet eveyone. They invited us to stay, but we needed to keep going. Brad was anxious to get home, since his girls had been sick since we left. The visit with the daughter and her husband was a good opportunity for Billy and Brad to make new connections. Now they know someone should they choose to return. This would be a good village to visit later. We made it back to Brad’s in the early afternoon, and the first thing I wanted to do was scrub my feet. So I got a bucket and a brush and sat in the courtyard with the hose. It didn’t take long before Sali arrived to ask about the trip. We told him that all had rejected the message. He didn’t understand this. The message was so clear to him when he decided to follow Jesus, that he doesn’t understand why others don’t follow as well. He said, “come, we go now and I will tell them.” Brad explained to him that it was too far to go now. So Sali asked about going the next day. I love his enthusiasm. Brad told him they would visit villages in February after Brad has some more language training. It did provide us with a wonderful opportunity to talk to Sali about witnessing to his family. He is afraid to talk to his mom about his faith. Finally he said that if Brad and Karrie will go with him, he will tell her. Some people. Please pray for Sali, and Lyci, and others like them who are following Jesus, but afraid to tell their families.

Pray without ceasing. “Can you not watch for one hour?”

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Well we went to bed feeling totally drained after all of Tuesday’s activities and talks.  The time with the deaf boys was encouraging.  We also knew that apart from the Lord leading Billy to return to this village, none of us will probably be back.  So, Wednesday morning we were up early.  We weren’t moving very fast, but we were all ready to head out.  After we packed our gear we walked around the village greeting everyone.  Then we had breakfast, the remainder of the goat, with Chi and his family.  There were few people in the courtyard this day.  I guess the Teacher told everyone to stay away.  After breakfast, we asked for the road.  This is the polite way to leave.  Your host will grant it and bless your journey.  Chi asked if we could drive him to his daughter’s village on the other side of the river.  Of course we did.  It was another opportunity to talk to him about Jesus.  It was a lot for him to think about.  The good thing of having him with us; he was able to show us the road to the ferry boats.  This was an area where the river was lower, so we had to drive into the river where it was shallow.  That was fun.  Once across the river, we stopped and visited Pastor Paul.  He has a mission church and school in the area where the ferry runs.  It was a good visit, and a great opportunity to encourage him and his family.  Pastor Paul has had no formal seminary training.  He is a man who was saved, studied the Bible, and now he teaches others.  This has lead to him sending people into the surrounding villages to tell people about Jesus.  This was a great opportunity for Billy and Brad to connect with him and the work.  Please pray for Paul and the work along the River.

Peace.

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In our village we found several deaf people, many of them children.  The Muslims do not believe these people can get to Heaven, therefore they do not spend a lot of time with them.  The Teacher was not too worried about us spending time with them.  We believe they do have value because they were Created in the Image of the Living God.  Jesus desires none to perish, but for all to be Saved.  That includes the deaf, blind, mentally handicapped, and all the ones society casts off.  In your world they are probably invisible.  You don’t notice them or try not to notice them.  It’s the man who sits at the bus stop and talks to himself.  It’s the lady in front of the store in a purple robe and house slippers.  It’s the young person with tattoos and piercings.  In your world they may be invisible, but to the Creator, all are precious in His sight.  So, Praise God, Casey and Lauren took a small Evangecube and sat down with the deaf boys.  Through the pictures, the translator, and the mom’s sign language, the story of a God who loves you so much that He gave His life for you in order for you to have a Relationship with Him, this story was told.  It was told over and over to ensure clarity.  As it was told a crowd gathered.  Men and women appeared, and they wanted to see what was so important that the Americans would spend their time with the deaf boys.  Only our Heavenly Father knows the hearts of these.  We won’t know until we come into His Presence the outcome of that Tuesday night in January, but I pray that I will see those faces again.  Here’s their picture.  Click on the photo and see the full faces. If you know that you’ll be in the presence of the Living God, maybe you’ll see them there too.

Pray for the Word of God to reach the Invisible.

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Did I tell you there’s no electricity in the village? So I was up early the next morning and listened to the sounds of the village. Goats and donkeys moving around, and people beginning their activities. One thing about life in the village, every day is like the last. You just do what you need to do to get through the day. After my quiet time I left the tent and watched the village come to life. The sunrise was beautiful. Once all of our team was up it was time for breakfast. Some more of the goat was prepared. They boil it in water from the well, then pour this over rice. It’s not bad once you get past the smell. Lunch and dinner were the same, and there was still some goat remaining. We walked down to the river with Chin. He showed us where the water level used to be, and where it is now. We could see why so many people had left the village looking for fish. The drought has hurt the people, and the water level is very low. They asked that we pray for God to send the rain. Pray for God to send the rain, and ask that God would reign on their lives that His Truth would be revealed. We talked to a lot of people that day. The village teacher asked a lot of questions. When we finally got to the Deity of Christ he was offended and walked off. He also took several people with him. For the most part we had lost a large part of our audience. While we were there no one went to the mosque until this, then the teacher ensured that the men did not visit with us. Out of respect to Chi, our host, he and some friends talked to us. By evening we were talking to the women and children.
Pray for Chi and his family that they will know the Risen God.

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Did I tell you there was no electricity in the village?  So, after we ate the meal Monday evening and all the greetings were complete, we sat in the courtyard and talked about why we were with them.  We told the Creation story, which they Believe.  We talked about sin, which they believe.  We talked about the need for a Redeemer, and this is where you must make a decision.  In their current belief system the road to Heaven is based on what you do during your lifetime.  Then you trust on the mercy of God.  We explained the Jesus Road.  Jesus provided a way, through his Sacrificial death, for us to know God, and to know Peace with God.  In a tribal community, big lifechanging decisions are not made quickly.  Everyone that night believed what we were saying was true.  However, they would have to talk.  And talk they did.  After we had retired to our tents, I could hear the men talking well into the night.  The next day they had questions for us.  We also ate some more of the goat, which had been hanging in the tree.  Because they don’t have electricity.  By the way, the rice was very good.

Pray for Laborers to take the Truth of Jesus the Messiah into all the World.

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Here is a view of the Niger from our boat ride.

I left off yesterday speaking of the Spiritual dificulty of this stage of the trip.  We were in a village that professes to follow the teachings of Islam.  However, they also blend in their Animism and spirit worship.  The teacher of the village is also the man who sells the fetishes, aka. lucky charms.  Once we’d arrived and greeted our host and his family, he asked us to sit in his courtyard.  He left to tell the village we arrived, he also got more chairs, and he came back with a goat.  We were his honored guests, and he was giving the goat to us as a gift.  The proper thing for us to do was to accept the gift and ask the host if he and his family would share the goat with us.  Of course we would be honored if he would prepare the goat.  He graciously accepted and proceeded, with the help of some boys, to kill the goat and dress it.  Billy had already prepared us for this, and we knew we would be eating this goat the entire visit.  They have no electricity or running water.  The goat fed us and the family five meals.  Fortunately we also had rice with each meal.  Did I mention there’s no electricity?  As the women worked on the meal, our host took us around the village to greet everyone.  In Africa, greeting is very important.  Even if you are not staying for a long visit, it is important to say hello and inquire about your neighbor’s health, family, and home.  Everyone was very friendly.  After the evening meal we sat in the courtyard well into the night telling about Jesus.  That first night we had several people tell us they were very interested in following Jesus.  The trick in a tribal society is that you don’t make a decision quickly nor do you make it alone.  This would become more clear the next day.

Pray for Mali and the people of the viallges.

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It was truly a joy to worship with the local Believers and to watch as they decided to continue to meet weekly for Worship. By Monday morning Brad was feeling better as the anti-biotic kicked in. We were packed and on the road by 930am. We had to travel to the north, a six hour drive. We were going to a village where many people were afraid to go because of the spirits. There is a terrorist group who controls a lot of the north of Mali, and it is believed even they won’t mess with this village. We were’nt going there to prove anything. We were only going because Billy had been there last year, they invited him to return and tell more stories. For the first three hours of the trip we were on a decent road. Then we had to cross the river by a ferry boat. We were in two Hilux trucks, and we fit easily onto the boat. I’ve never taken a car onto a ferry, so that was cool. The ride across was long enough for us to eat a light lunch. Once on the other side, we had a three hour drive through nowhere land. We were on and off dirt roads and cow paths. Praise God for GPS! Billy had one, and we needed it. We passed small village after village until finally arriving at the one we were looking for. We parked behind the home of our host, Chi. He and his family and a lot of kids from the village greeted us warmly. We were glad to be out of the trucks and beginning what we felt the Lord had called us to. Little did we know the Spiritual demands that lay ahead.
Please pray for the people of the villages that they will hear the Word of God.

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From the moment we arrived on Wednesday, Brad had some sinus issues. By Saturday morning he had a terrible headache, and the side of his face hurt. Karrie looked in his ear and it was very red. Uh-oh. Our intent was to leave Sunday morning for a six hour drive to a remote village in the north. We make the plans, God holds the earaser. We began to pray for Brad’s healing and for guidance. We did not want to go without him. He was able to get an anti-biotic on Saturday. We decided to push the trip until Monday to allow two days of medicine to work. This was an excellent plan, in hindsight. Saturday we had worshiped with the mission families. Sunday we invited the local Believers to worship with us. It was incredible! Pastor Sedi taught from Ephesians 6, and he talked about preparing for battle with the Armor of God. Which by the way, was a passage we had discussed in a team meeting in November. Our little team smiled as we recognized a unity of the Spirit. We sang some songs in the Bambara language, then we sang two in English. We enjoyed a Blessed time of fellowship. Pastor Sedi encouraged the local Believers to meet each week together. I’m happy to say they have done that. A small church in a small town in Mali is beginning. I think this is the only time I appreciated the hindrance of an ear infection. If we had traveled that day, we would have missed something bigger. Also, our two Muslim translators had witnessed our worship.
Thank you for praying for the people of Mali. Please don’t stop.

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