Tomorrow, we will be assisting in an eyeglass clinic in a nearby town.  During the clinic, people will receive vision screenings and receive glasses.  Even more important, they will have the opportunity to hear the Gospel and receive Scripture.  Please pray that God would open their eyes to his truth.

By God’s grace, we made it to Conakry and back without any problems.  Thank you all for your prayers.  Sadly, the roads in other parts of Guinea were not as safe.  In the southeastern part of Guinea, a truck drove off a road into a ravine, killing fifty or more people:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17248741

Please pray for those impacted by this deadly accident.

Our New Ministry Center

As of this month, we have begun renting a facility to use for a variety of ministries and outreach-oriented activities.  To begin with, we are moving our Fulbe believer meetings there since the location is more easily accessible to everyone.  I also plan to begin teaching on various topics there, such as discipleship and leadership.

Our Round Hut for Believer Meetings

Another major use for the facility is English classes.  Once I get tables, chairs, and ESL materials, such as textbooks, I will begin teaching a number of English as a Second Language classes and seminars.  Many people here have a strong desire to learn English.  Through these classes, I will be able to meet many new people.

The future may reveal yet more uses for the ministry facility.  One long-standing prayer of ours has been that God would send more workers to share Christ here in Guinea.  If more workers come to our town, our ministry facility is also a house that they could move right into.  Please pray with us for God’s blessing upon this new ministry center.

Our December 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.

In July, we were blessed with the opportunity to teach at a five-day English camp in a nearby town.  Each day we taught three different levels of students, beginner, intermediate, and advanced.  Billie taught vocabulary, and I taught comprehension.  The students also studied grammar, dialogue, and numbers.  Perhaps the most important component, however, was the daily memory verse and Bible lesson.  Throughout the week, the students memorized Psalm 23 and learned Bible stories from the life of King David.  On at least two occasions, they heard the entire Gospel message of Jesus Christ and what he did for them.  Students who successfully memorized the entire 23rd Psalm received a New Testament at the end of the week.  The final day of the week, I shared my personal testimony and the Gospel message with the students.  We ask you to pray that the Gospel would bear fruit in the lives of these students.  Pray for the missionaries in their town who will continue to share the Gospel with them.  Here are some photos from the week.

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.

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.

In January, we placed an order for $1800 worth of Arabic Script Pular New Testaments.  Other missionaries placed orders as well so that many could be printed at once.  Since then, the New Testaments have been printed in South Korea and are currently being shipped to Guinea.  These New Testaments will be a valuable tool to share the Gospel.  The Pular language can be written with two different writing systems.  We have had the New Testament in Pular written in Roman script since about 2007.  Now, the New Testament will be available in Arabic script as well.  There are many people who could not or would not read the Roman script who will be able to read the Arabic script.  Here are some pictures of God’s Word for the Fulbe people written so that they can read and understand it:

This past week our sending church held its annual missions conference.  On Sunday morning, we had a baby dedication for Amelie and Annika to commit to raise them in the teachings of Christ.

In the evening service, the church prayed over us and commissioned us for our second term of service in Guinea.

You can’t see us in the picture above, but we are kneeling in front of all the people gathered around us.  We would appreciate your prayers as well as we return to Guinea for another term.

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.