Ramadan is half over. I hope you have found time each day to pray for the 4 million Fulbe Muslims of Guinea, West Africa. If your memory is like mine, though, a reminder is always great! Here is a quick reference calendar with just one prayer point for each of the remaining days of Ramadan so you can join us in praying for the Fulbe people.
Monday marked the beginning of Ramadan in Guinea. During this month, Muslims will fast from sunup to sundown every day. They will attempt to be particularly pious as they seek God’s forgiveness for the deeds of the past year. Please be in prayer for the Muslim world during the month of August. Pray that God will help them find the TRUE way to holiness and forgiveness in Jesus Christ.
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.
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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.
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.
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.
Pray for the people of Guinea today and tomorrow as leaders from the international community assemble in Conakry to witness Alpha Conde be sworn in as president. His presidency will end more than two and a half decades of military rule in the West African nation:
Guinea’s Alpha Conde to be sworn in on Tuesday
