Last night and tonight Muslims in Guinea celebrate what they call the “Night of Power;” Islam’s most holy night. It marks the anniversary of the night Muslims believe the first verses of the Qur’an were revealed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad¹. Throughout this night, Muslims will pray and read the Qur’an, devoting their time to seeking visions from angels, and beseeching God for whatever they desire. Muslims believe it is on this night that God decides the fate of each person for the following year.

Please pray that God Himself will visit the Fulbe who are open to hearing the Truth of His word. Pray that their hearts will be ready to accept God’s Good News. God knows the plans he has for the Fulbe this year.  Pray that this might be the year they accept the free gift of salvation He so willingly offers.

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It’s 3 o’clock in the afternoon and the girls are bouncing around, hollering in their beds napping. Rain is pouring down from a dark grey sky. I couldn’t have a conversation if I tried for all the water beating the tin roof. There is something wonderful about a West African rain storm. I love them. Love. Them. It rains about 17 feet in 6 months in Conakry; half that in Labe.

There are many great things about rainy season in Guinea. The sun isn’t so scorching, for starters. Everything turns green, and we have more electricity because of the hydro-electric dam.

And then, there are the not-so-great things about rainy season. Primarily the mold. It’s everywhere. Mold grows on everything from walls to clothing that doesn’t dry properly. It’s currently on our kitchen ceiling:

Our roof is leaking, and David can’t find where the water’s coming in. Bummer, since I just repainted it last Tuesday. David climbed up on the roof yesterday to plug the hole, but can’t find it. (He also came back with a tale about fighting off a giant spider… I’m not sure I believe him.) I have one ear listening for the ceiling to come crashing down from the weight of the pooling water. There’s also an animal living up there. It scurries around at night after the light’s been turned off. I sure hope he doesn’t come crashing into the kitchen too. Pray we find and can patch the leak before the rain ruins our ceiling!

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.

Ramadan Prayer Guide 2011

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.

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.

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.