Fall Break…

I don’t remember getting a “Fall  Break”  when I was in college.  Usually we were lucky to get an extra day at Thanksgiving … BUT SEMO gets a Fall Break AND 3 days at Thanksgiving!

So, this past Wed. – Sun. was Fall Break and we took a group of students on Fall Break Mission Trip to Cornerstone Farms in St. Jacob, IL to help out my friends David and Cortland.  They are a great family who run a horse ranch just outside of St. Louis with a missional goal.  They look to be the hands and feet of Christ through their lives and through the avenues that are available to them through running the horse ranch, riding school and non-for-profit therapeutic riding club.  We were unable to do a few of the things we had originally planned on due to weather, but we had a great time on the farm and I feel like we were able to accomplish a good amount of work while we were there.

We were able to work with a group of special needs adults who come out to the farm on a work program and got to be part of a therapeutic ride with them one day, helped to prepare for a large horse show that was supposed to happen on Saturday (which didn’t because of weather) and then helped to winterize a barn after our original plans were thwarted due to poor weather!  It was a great time to develop community with the group that we had there, and I was very excited for our group to get to know David and Cortland and their family, to hear their story of faithfulness to the Lord in their lives, marriage and their experiences on the mission field in Russia, the Middle East and St. Jacob, IL!

Here are a few pictures from the trip…

Jennifer getting ready to lead Paul on a Therapeutic ride:

LeAnn, Michael and Matt working on winterizing one of the barns:

Our group picture on the farm … horse barns in the background (of course it would be sunny on the day we leave):

Working on Thanksgiving and Finals week events now, and before you know it Spring Break Mission Trip plans will have to be finalized!

… because of Christ …

-E

Lots …

Okay, so a lot has happened since my last post, and a lot is still happening … so here is a quick run-down:

Last week I was able to attend the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta with several other campus missionaries/BSU directors from Missouri.  It was a great conference with great presenters/speakers.  The most valuable part to me was probably the time I had to fellowship and talk with other men who are doing the same thing I am doing all over the state … learning from their experiences/advice.  It was great.  I’ve told a few people this, but each time I go to a conference like that it is like trying to take a sip from a fire hydrant!  So much information in such a short period of time.  There were some pretty profound things said at that meeting that I’m still processing … maybe more thoughts on that later!

I then left Atlanta and flew to Chicago to run in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon with Team World Vision.  (you can click that link to see why I ran, and to continue to give to the cause that I ran for) I had been training for about 6 months for the marathon and was excited that the weekend was finally here … but no part of my training in warm-er weather could have prepared me for the start temperature of 30 degrees on Sunday morning!  It was so cold in the windy-city.  The run was tough, especially the last 5-6 miles, but I completed it in an official time of 4 hours 24 minutes and 22 seconds …. finishing 17,132nd out of 33,608 finishers!  LOL   I have been asked several times since Sunday if I’ll run another one … and my answer has been “never say never” … but for now, I’m fine having some time back in my life not running!

I got back into town late Sunday evening from Chicago, and today I’m leaving with a group of students from the university on our Fall Break Mission Trip.  We’re going on a service project trip to a horse ranch just outside of St. Louis that runs a non-profit ministry to handicapped and special needs children and adults.  We’ll be working on getting some things repaired and ready for some upcoming events that they have at the ranch.  I’m excited for our students to meet the owners, to hear their stories and the vision that they have for the ministry of their farm!

Like I said, it’s been busy, but it will slow down a little bit here soon … I even have a cruise coming up at the end of the month!  Great timing on that deal!

Be Blessed!

-E

5 lbs. of sweat…

So, I’ve been continuing my training for the marathon this summer among our busy schedule of Super Summer’s and office work days. This morning AJ (one of the interns who I convinced to run with me this summer) and I ran a 6 mile run. It was the first 6 mile run I have done in Jefferson City, and boy was it hilly! I miss the relative flatness of Springfield! I weighed this morning before we left, and then again when we got back and I think I lost about 5 lbs. of sweat! I was really excited for AJ too . . . He had run in high school, but hadn’t run in a while, and started running with me during our Super Summer week in Hannibal, and he finished the 6 miles today only about 4 minutes behind me. Good job buddy!

On to other news, it has been a great week back in the office, busy with lots of projects like counting, sorting, storing all of the resources and supplies we took with us to Super Summer (I always hate having to sort thing back after a long trip, and that’s what this felt like), they “remodeled” … basically made a new hallway and closed off a door in our offices, and were getting ready to switch around some of the office arrangements, so we’ve been making some of those changes in the office too. My favorite parts of the week have been serving at the Salvation Army. Our intern team went to the Salvation Army twice this week to prepare and serve lunch for the residents there. It was cool to be able to serve them in that way, and to start to make some connections with the people. We’ll be going back next week on Wednesday to assist with a VBS that they asked for help with, and were invited to come on Thursday just to come and eat with them. We also plan to go back and serve more this summer. That was great!

In addition to all of that, I’ve had some things come up that are requiring a lot of thought and causing some mental fatigue, so I’ve been trying to handle that as well!

Anyhow, thought it was about time for another brief update! Hope everyone is doing well!
-E

life in community …

Well, it’s becoming increasingly evident that I’m not going to have a lot of “down time” this summer. I expected as much, but have come to learn it as reality over the last few days.
Our time this week has been spent primarily in the Student Ministry Offices of the Missouri Baptist Convention preparing for Super Summer, last minute details like getting room assignments squared away for all of the participants, putting together their packets of information, making phone calls to churches and youth pastors to follow up on different things. It’s been busy, but actually quite enjoyable.
The evenings are great! They look a little different, and I’m sure a lot of people would think that we were crazy to live like this, but it’s going to be an amazing summer. I’m living in a house with 11 people. Myself and three other male, college aged interns or employees of the MBC. 5 female interns or MBC employees. And our gracious hosts for the summer Matt and Julie. Each evening we sit down as a family for a home cooked meal around the dinner table, enjoy a walk in the neighborhood or a little down time before meeting together for a devotional or a discussion on a book, the Master Plan of Evangelism(I’ve read it before, its definitely worth the time), that we’re walking through together this summer. The only way to describe what we’re doing is just to say that we’re “doing life together.” We all have the common goal of growing closer to, and serving God this summer, and as we do that, we’ll work together, eat together, live together, laugh together, cry together, and be there for one another. What an awesome opportunity to get to share my life with these young men. I often feel like I don’t have a lot to offer in the way of wisdom or advice or anything, but I know that God has me here for a reason, and I hope that there is something that I can contribute that will be of value to these people that I am sharing my life with for the summer.
God is working in me in big ways, I know He is. We were challenged today to write down our expectations of the summer, and the first thing that came out on my piece of paper was: “I expect my life to change drastically”
I think it is.
I’m excited for that, scared for that, but looking with anticipation for what God is doing and will continue to do this summer.

I’m not sure how often my schedule will permit me to write large updates, especially when we start our weeks of camp on Monday, but I’ll try to at least give brief posts as I’m able. I covet your prayers this summer for me and my team.
E

… update … Marathon … and an Africa question

It’s been a little while since I’ve updated, so I thought it was about time.  Thanks for the thoughts and conversations on repentance.  Still something I’ll continue to think about study … try to do.  I mean really, I think/convinced myself that I’ve repented … but repentance means turning away from and never going back to, and I’m not going to try to fool you, or myself for that matter, into believing that there aren’t things/areas of my life/sins that I hold onto … as much as I want to be rid of them, not sure I’ve really repented of them . . . asked for forgiveness over and over again (which I realize is ridiculous, because Jesus forgave me once-for-all), yes, repented … no.  So, I guess I find myself on this journey toward repentance…

Onto other subjects!  I’ve decided to run in the Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 11th!  I must be crazy.  But, it has been something on my life’s “to do list” that I always thought would be cool to say I’d done.  In addition, I’ll be running with a team for World Vision.  We’ll be raising money to help build clean water wells in African villages.  The marriage of the two things (the marathon, and the ministry to Africa) seemed a perfect fit for me.  So, I’ll be beginning a rather intensive training program in the next month or so for that!

After attending service on Easter Sunday, my friend Hayward said he had a question for me.  We sat down and he proceeded to ask me a question regarding my trip to Africa, and mentioned that it might be a good topic for a blog post … I agree.  I love how he thinks about things and is always searching for more information.  Many people would have just finished reading one of my updates about the trip and left it at that, but not Hayward his 80+ year old mind is continually learning and searching for more information, and that’s one of the things I love about him.   Anyway,  Hayward’s question was regrading how our group (a Christian church group) was able to show the Jesus film in these villages where the primary beliefs were from the Muslim faith.   Great question Hayward!

After I spoke with Hayward on Sunday morning, I started thinking a little more about this, and really I think the only answer is that God prepared the way for us to be able to show the film.  By no means am I an expert in the culture of Mali or the different villages in which we visited, but from my limited study and research before we went on the trip I learned that a lot of the beliefs were what were being called “folk Islam.”  Meaning that these were stories passed from generation to generation, that most of the people would probably identify themselves with that faith, but that a small percentage were actually practicing.  That being said, I think this could be one of the reasons why they were open to allowing us to show the film.  Another thing to consider is that we were in the villages for positive purposes.  We were not trying to persuade or force anyone to do anything they were uncomfortable with, and one of our main purposes being to teach them about the water filtration system helped them to see that we really did care about them and their well-being.  Culturally they were a very open and welcoming people.  Even the village that had previously not allowed the group to show the film was welcoming to our presence in the village, they just opted not to show the film there.

As a team we spent a lot of time in prayer leading up to the  trip that God would go before us and prepare the hearts and minds of the Malian people to receive the message of hope through Jesus Christ.  We prayed for men and women of peace in each of the villages, and I think the best answer to Hayward’s question might be that God had heard and answered our prayers, and that His Spirit had been at work so that the chiefs in the villages were open and willing to let us share the film.  While we were in Sebekoro we even found out from one of the chief’s sons that at some point the chief had become a believer!  God was and is definitely moving among the tribal regions of West Africa.  Thanks for the question Hayward!

Another Africa note . . . I’m finally going to be able to share with my home church this weekend about my trip!  Green Ridge Baptist Church played a large part in forming the foundations of my faith, and have consistently supported me in my ministry endeavors through my time with No Longer Quiet and most recently for this Africa trip.  It will be a sweet time of fellowship with them as I get to share the stories of what God did to reward their faithfulness to support and pray for His work in Mali!

-E

Team World Vision Video:

Jahweh, the chief in Sebekoro:

Africa Journal: Day 14 – January 9, 2009

From my journal:

” … this was my last morning to wake up in the bush.  I pray  that You would give me a broken heart for the lost in the world.  Continue to bring to my mind the people in Seboccoro and Bangassi as well as the new believers in Marena …

God there are so many things to be learned from these past 2 weeks.  Continue to burn those lessons into my heart and mind to continue to transform me into the man that you created me to be.  Father, teach me to recognize temptation and the work of the adversary, and to counteract it with strength and power from Your Word.  Teach me to make decisions in Your Spirit and not in my flesh.

Thank you for Your beauty, for this sunrise, for the sounds of Mali!  Thank you for Your work around the world, and for the invitation that You have given us to be a part of it.  What a blessing and honor.  Help us to see that our “duty” here  is not done.  You have called us to these people, and now more than ever, as we leave with many new believers here, it is vital that we pray for them and their spiritual growth/journey.  Send them a national pastor.  Raise up a young leader who can rightly divide the Word of truth into their lives, love them and shepherd them.  Help these new believers to have assurance that You are who You say You are!  That their lives would be evidently different, and that You begin to produce fruit in their lives that shows and proves the power of Jesus for Your glory and fame, not for anything we’ve done, but for Your renown …”

I just remember spending most of the morning praying … that’s what my journal was today, just prayer.  I remember walking back from the place where I had been doing my morning quiet time, greeting the people in their courtyards as I passed and praying that God would be real to them.  Then, as I packed my bins, and as we packed up camp, hugging and playing with kids, and praying that these kids would grow to know Jesus.

It was definitely bitter-sweet pulling away from Bangassi that morning.  There was a spirit of celebration among our team as we recounted what God had done over the last 2 weeks, but sad that we were having to leave our new friends.  It was neat to pass back through/by the villages we had visited this week, to go back through the checkpoint that we had such a “close call” at just a week ago and to see how God had constantly been at work among us.

We arrived back to the guest house in Bamako, unloaded our things and started showers!  Woo-hoo … we had been taking “bucket baths” for the last two weeks, so running water and flushing toilets were awesome … After everyone had an opportunity to clean up, we walked a few blocks to a restaurant for a team meal … shis-ke-babs.  Very tasty.   We spent some good team time that evening around the dinner table sharing our best and most difficult moments from the trip.

What a blessing to see what God had done in the lives of my team members over the last few weeks!

-E

Last morning sunrise … pictures don’t do them justice:

Packing the truck to leave:

Our team at the dinner table:

Africa Journal: Day 13 – January 8, 2009

From my journal:

” … it’s our final full day of ministry in Mali … tomorrow morning we pack up and head back to Bamako.  God, You’ve done amazing things this week, continue today …

Habakkuk 3:2-4 ‘Lord, I have heard of Your fame, I stand in awe of Your deeds, O Lord.  Renew them in our day, in our time make them known, in wrath remember mercy.  God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran.  His glory covered the heavens and His praise filled the earth.  His splendor was like the sunrise, rays flashed from His had, where His power was hidden.’

Father, make Your fame known in our time here in Bangassi.  Allow the Malian people to know that this is a very personal decision, one that they don’t need permission from anyone else to make.  Give them courage and boldness to choose You!  God you are good and Your glory endures forever, continue to reveal Your splendor!

… We’re showing the Jesus film in Marena tonight after a warm reception from the chief and the villagers this afternoon.  I’m running the tech. stuff tonight, so hopefully everything runs smoothly, and that there are no technical problems.  Bring glory to Your name tonight Father, I love and trust You…

Just returned to Bangassi from Marena, and I wish I had more to say … WHATEVER!  God showed up HUGE, after the film we had 58 people stay to pray and receive Christ!  58 new Malian believers!  When we got here, there were only 12-15 known believers from the past trip in this area.  Approximately 61,000 Fulanke people in Mali, and 58 new brothers and sisters in Christ tonight! Praise you God!  All honor and glory go to You, nothing that we could have said or done could have accomplished what You did tonight.  God, with this excitement and exhilaration, my heart is breaking for these new believers . . . we leave in the morning, our trip is over, what follow will happen?  What discipleship will there be?  Pastor Andre has already said that he would come back to visit, but for him, on his motorcycle, it will still be a several hour trip, and he can’t continue to do that.  God, I beg that You send a pastor to come to Bangassi and Maurena.  These people need an indigenous pastor to be called and raised up to come to this area to shepherd these believers …”

What an amazing day.  We did get to have the community health clinic today . . . actually we did it twice, once at the clinic in the village for a handful of men and women, and once in the school while the kids were in class.  Hopefully they took it all to heart and are taking the steps necessary to keep their drinking water clean.

In the early afternoon we loaded the bush bus and headed toward Marena to greet the chief and ask permission to show the film that evening.  As with every village we pulled into, when we arrived we were immediately surrounded by swarms of children and interested adults. We took the short walk to the chiefs courtyard, and had a very pleasant visit with him and the village elders.  They had remembered that a group had come last year, and wanted to show the film during their festival, and had hoped that we would come back to show it.  We also found out that there had been a “white man” who had come and built a house and lived with them for 2 years with the Peace Corps.  We don’t know anything about this man, or know of any Malians that may have come to Christ while he was there, but this Peace Corps volunteer had to have been a Christian, and had to have planted some major seeds!

I clearly remember that evening … not sure I’ll ever forget it.  It was the end of our ministry in Mali, and we were exhausted.  I remember several of the girls staying in the bush bus during the film to get some rest.  We arrived back in Marena just before sundown to set up the projector and screen and began playing some Malian music about 20 minutes before the film was going to start.  We also showed a Popeye cartoon as a “preview”, they loved it.  Every evening that we showed the Jesus Film, Pastor Andre would introduce the film, and then toward the end, right as the guards came to the garden to arrest Jesus we would pause the film and Pastor Andre would share with them . . . from what we gather, He was asking them questions about if this man, Jesus had done anything to warrant being arrested and mistreated like this.  That night, although I couldn’t understand a word he was saying . . . I could tell he was “bringing it.”  He was speaking with such boldness and passion, it was really a neat experience.  Well, toward the end of the film, after the death and resurrection, there is about a 6 minute “recap” of the film, and in previous nights, most people began to leave during this part of the film, but here in Marena, nobody moved.  Pastor Andre came back up after it was finished, and people started to filter out, but there was a crowd that remained.  Myself and the rest of the tech. crew went to work getting everything torn down and packed up, and when we finished, we saw what was happening . . . there was still a crowd of people talking with Andre and Michele, our interpreter, and Randy.  As I walked over to see what was going on I realized they were taking down names … names of all of the people who had just prayed to receive Christ!  What an adrenaline rush! These people were so excited and hugging us and shaking our hands as if they somehow knew that we were now connected through the common bond of Christ.  It was awesome.

The hard part was driving away from Marena that evening knowing that we wouldn’t be coming back, and another group probably wouldn’t be here for another 6-12 months.  Continue to pray for those believers that God will do a miraculous work in their lives, that they will have an impact on the other villagers that they encounter everyday, and that God will send them a Pastor/leader.

-E

Pictures of the health class, set-up for the film, a night shot of the film, and a few shots from the Marena film:

Teaching the community health class in the school:

Setting up the screen for the film:

Great night shot that Aaron took:

Getting names from some Marena villagers after praying to receive Christ:

The morning after Pastor Andre transferred the names of the new believers in Marena to an emerging leader in Bangassi:

Africa Journal: Day 12 – January 7, 2009

From my journal:

” … we’re on the back end of this trip, and it is a weird feeling … not wanting to leave this place, these beautiful people, but getting tired and worn out from the drastic change in culture and speed of life here.  I met with my prayer partners today and shared with them my desire for our team to be part of something on this trip that we can look back on and say that only God did that … we prayed for a morale boost for the team for tomorrow, which is our last full day of ministry in Africa.  I can’t believe it’s almost over.

We didn’t get to do the community health class today because the doctor had to be away, so we’re planning on it for tomorrow.  Because we didn’t do the clinic, we went to a lake that was about 40 minutes away for an extended time of prayer, rest, lunch, etc.  While we were there Randy led us in a time of prayer and really asked us to seek God’s wisdom for where we were supposed to minister tomorrow … there is a village, Cocolo,  that they tried to show the Jesus film to on a previous trip that wasn’t willing to let them show it … and there was a village who wanted to have the film shown, but couldn’t because of a festival in the village that evening.  So, with only one more opportunity to show the Jesus film tomorrow, Randy wanted us to pray for where God was leading us, and ask Him to bring us all to agreement on that.   After spending time in prayer alone and together as a team, we agreed that we needed to stop in Cocolo on the way back to Bangassi from the lake, and greet the chief, and just let them know we were praying for them, but that we would go back to the village, Maurena, that wanted to see the film for tomorrow night.

God I pray that you would help me to never forget this place or these people.  Cause me to never quit praying for their salvation, and for You to reveal Yourself to them.  God use tomorrow to reap a harvest for You in Bangassi and Maurena…”

We had a morning full of ministry in Bangassi . . . more visiting people in their courtyards, having tea, soccer “clinics”, games with kids, helping build water filtration systems, and prayer walking.

I’ve noticed that I haven’t written much about the water filtration projects … more than likely because that wasn’t something that I was personally involved with, but it was a big part of the compassion ministry we had in Africa.  It teamed with the community health clinic that we ran, which taught about the dangers of drinking dirty water, and taught how to make sure that you were drinking clean water.  The filter project was mainly headed up by a couple of Malian nationals that came with us from the Capitol.  “General” Madu played a big part in this ministry.  In each village they took a group of men and taught them to build water filters in barrels and using other resources that were easily obtainable for them … all of the resources we used to show them actually were purchased in Bamako before we left for the bush.  Anyhow, Madu and his team taught these men in the villages to build and maintain these filters with the hopes that they could then teach others in the village to do the same thing.   During one of their times together, they were trying to get the men to realize that their water was dirty, so they went to the well and put the well water through the bio/sand filter, and you could see bugs crawling up the side of the filter … this surprised the men, and their reaction, although shocked, was a good one because now hopefully they will see the need to filter their water.  One of the worries is that they have lived so long doing things the way they always have, that they won’t actually follow through with learning and applying something new.

It was a good day at the lake.  We found some shade and just took some time to pray and reflect and relax.  Our prayer time together was really cool, it was neat to see how God brought all of us together with the same mind about what we should do in regards to showing the Jesus Film the following night … and boy what a story that is … stay tuned to hear that tomorrow. When we got back to Bangassi, we busted out the guitar and had a time of celebration for what God has done here so far, had dinner, chili … which didn’t settle well for me, and off to bed fairly early for me.

This has been such a growing journey for me … to go back through this and to recall what God was doing, and to see how he was working when I was oblivious to it at the time.  I hope it has been at least somewhat encouraging to those of you who are following along. Until tomorrow…

-E

Some photos of the water filter projects:

Preparing barrels: Madu: bent over in sweater, Lamine (our driver) squatting at barrel

“General” Madu:

The lake and celebration time in Bangassi:

lunch at the lake:

Singing songs in Bangassi:

Africa Journal: Day 11 – January 6, 2009

From my journal:

*note … one of these excerpts is from my quiet time in the morning, and one is from a writing a did during the showing of the Jesus Film*

“…I’m led to pray for healing today.  Father, should there be someone with an illness or disease that needs healing Lord, do not allow us to be fearful of praying with faith and expectancy that You are the God that does ALL things.  Father, in the powerful name of Jesus, whose blood has covered me and my sins, I bind satan and his demons from any work in the hearts minds or lives of our team today.  He has no authority over us, because You have already won the victory.  I trust in You, give us boldness and authority as we pray and serve You today…”

Later that evening (at the showing of the Jesus Film in Bangassi):

” … at the Jesus film tonight and there is a huge crowd! Praise God.  Tonight God, bring revival to the village of Bangassi.  Father make these people shout Your name in praise as they go back to their homes tonight, because You are worthy.

Father I pray tonight for Elephe, Quaraton, and Harajada.  You know who they are!!  LOL.  Bring them Your salvation.  Stir in their hearts as they see the images and s they hear the truth about who You are.

God bring glory to Your name.  I pray for the young lady who came to have her hand worked on today.  She promised to come to the film tonight, and as she watches tonight, help her to KNOW, beyond a shadow of a doubt that You can, not only heal her hand, but You can save her heart and soul too!

God I know You restored the withered hand, made the lame walk, the blind see, the deaf hear, the mute speak, and raised the dead!  Tonight, in faith, I pray You would heal that young lady’s hand.  Take the infection away, reduce the swelling, cause the sores to disappear, leave her with no pain, and full usage of her had, in Jesus name, and for nothing other than for His glory!”

Did you catch it?  I didn’t until I was going back through this journal.  This particular morning, for whatever reason, I was prompted to pray for healing . . . and for power and authority and boldness to pray for healing for those who needed it … later that day, Mariam (the lady with the infected hand) came into our camp.  I had been reading through some of the gospel accounts during my morning quiet times, and had been reading stories of healing, in addition, I had been talking with my 2 prayer partners about praying in faith, and not shying away from praying those bold prayers … then this morning, seemingly out of the blue, I write this in my journal.  I don’t believe in coincidence, and think that God was at work.  It’s so funny how I didn’t make the connection from my mornings prayers that day to Mariam coming into camp that afternoon until I just re-read the account.

Aaron, one of our team members happened to be an ER nurse, and had brought some supplies that had been donated for our trip . . . he did a great job working with Mariam.  He said that the infection had likely started as a skin rash and had spread so severely, that in his opinion if she hadn’t been treated, the infection would have gotten so bad that she would have, in a short amount of time lot her had, and perhaps her life.  After cleaning the wounds, and giving some medicines he explained that she needed to clean it three times a day and change the wrappings . . . and in addition the wrappings needed to be boiled in water and then dried again before using.  The great thing is that for the next few days while we were there, I would see Mariam throughout the day, and her bandages were changed, she was doing it.  But, even more amazing than the fact that she was doing what Aaron had suggested, she came back the next day to have him look at it again . . . and in Aaron’s words “even if she had been in America and received the best treatment possible, there is no way that her had should look this good after what it looked like yesterday.”  Thank you Jesus … does the story get even better?  Yes, Mariam accepted the Lord!

What a great, great experience.  Mariam took a special place in all of our hearts during our stay in Bangassi.

Some of the pictures today will be of Mariams hand, so if you get queasy . . . you might move on!

-E

Sunrise during a morning quiet time:

Mariam when she first came to have her had looked at:

Removing the bandages she came in:

Tracy loving on Mariam:

Aaron giving instructions on how to care for her hand:

Back for a check up on second day:

Africa Journal: Day 10 – January 5, 2009

From my journal:

“We’ve driven out of the village a small distance this morning to have some retreat from the hustle and bustle of  Bangassi, for some team time, but most importantly for some quiet time with the Lord

I’m reading/meditating on Romans 8:36-39 today and the thing that seems to come up to me the most right now is that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Nothing … another part says “neither the present nor the future.”  I stress and worry so much about what is to come, that I lose the beauty of who God is in this moment.

I know the truth that nothing will separate me from Him or His love, but I pray my eyes, ears, mind and heart are opened to see that love, and that my hands and feet and voice will be used to BE that love.  God, take all of who I am, for all of who You are, that’s all I want …

… Praise the Lord, there is a new believer among the Fulanke today!  We’ve been praying for this and You are doing it!   Even as I’m writing this, another man has come into our courtyard to talk with the “Christians.”  God, I pray that if this is another seeker, that You would draw him to Yourself right now, redeem Your people!

*Two! … two new believers today! Praise Your Father!”

God is mighty to save!  There were no really appropriate words to describe what I was in the middle of experiencing on this particular day.  We were seeing God, and seeing the process of Him bringing the Fulanke to Himself!  There is a cool “back story” about the happenings of this day:

This was our first full day in Bangassi.  We had arrived the night before and only had time to set up a make-shift camp for the night.  Randy, our leader from Stonebridge had asked the chief if there was a place we could use to set up camp that would offer a little privacy, and they were going to check on the possibility of using the health clinic building (which was on the outskirts of the village and not close to anything) as a temporary housing site for us, but they wouldn’t be able to find out until the next day, so night one we just set up our beds in the Chief’s courtyard.

Day one in Bangassi, we didn’t have anything planned, we were going to use the day to familiarize ourselves with the village, and hopefully (in our minds) be able to move our camp from the current location, which was the commerce center of Bangassi, to a more secluded area.  However, this wasn’t happening.  We just weren’t hearing back from the people we were supposed to hear back from to see if we could used the clinic.  So, before sundown, we decided we would just make our camp here for the week, and that for some reason, God wanted us right where we were … enter “seeker #1″.  Literally, this man just walked into our camp and asked how he could know Jesus! … we hadn’t done ANY “ministry” yet! He became a believer!  Within the next hour … enter “seeker #2″, another believer!  God wanted us right there in the center of the village for these people!

What an amazing start to our time in Bangassi!

If you would, would you pray for those new believers in Bangassi … that God would continue to reveal Himself and His plan for their lives to them.

-E

Other notable moments from the day:

We saw a pack of Baboons when we went for our quiet time/team time (or whatever you call a group of baboons):

I got to try to jam with some African musicians and dancers using the Cora, an African instrument:

Kristen, Jenna and I were invited by a village woman to visit the garden with her while she went to water:

Pastor Andre, the first national pastor from Sebekoro, came with us to Bangassi for the week of ministry there:

This is the boys camp in Bangassi: