Dressing Up

Sahel Prayer Requests

Prayer Requests:

·       Ramadan: We have gotten to see the beginning of Ramadan but will miss some of the larger events, such as the “Night of Power” (when Muslims are taught to pray as much as possible for a night) and the “Breaking the Fast” celebration (which will include singing and dancing, buying new clothes, and eating special treats). Pray that as their traditions continue, the people will feel an overwhelming void in their souls and that His Spirit will lead them to the cross, where that void can be filled.    

·       Our ministry: As we approach our last week in the bush, we are making plans for our return trip to the States. Pray that our ministry here would end well, that we would finish strong, and that we would remain faithful to this people group in prayer even thousands of miles away.  

·       Cameron’s health: The medicine that she was given apparently has some unpleasant side effects that have proven even worse than the original sickness.  Pray that she gets better quickly so that her ministry may continue strongly.

Thanks for praying! Read our update!

Chaos and Sovereign Grace, Sahel Update

    In his book, Spiritual Warfare, Timothy Warner says regarding the crucifixion of Christ, “God used that event to demonstrate that He is able to take the worst Satan can do and turn it into victory. The Cross was supposed to be a victory for Satan and a defeat for God.”  Instead, as Paul states in Colossians 2:15, “having disarmed the powers and authorities, [God] made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” 

   To put it plainly, nothing this week has gone according to our plan. 

   Monday, Olivia and I were going to ride out to see a different village with Emily*, the career missionary who serves there.  Alas, it had rained too much Sunday night and Monday morning for us to drive anywhere. 

   Tuesday through Friday nights, we were planning to show the Jesus film in our village.  We had all the equipment, including a brand new generator and large projector screen.  The first night was a success despite a few technical difficulties during setup.  Though they were outnumbered by bugs and frogs, there was a good crowd of around 70 people who came out and watched the film.  

   The next night, Olivia and I set up all the equipment ourselves, as Cameron was feeling sickly and stayed in the hut to rest.  This went off without a hitch, and the crowd numbered around seventy again.  All was going just fine…until about halfway through the movie, at which point the generator died. 

    No attempt to restart the engine would work, so the forty-or-so people who were really devoted to seeing the end of the film crowded around the portable DVD player we had been using. 

    Early the following morning, Emily brought the instruction manual and toolkit out to the bush to help us with the generator, but still no problem or solution could be found.  She took it back into town and we went back to bed.  A few hours later, however, we saw her again when she came to pick up Cameron, whose stomach was feeling even worse than the night before.  

    They left us with Cameron’s portable DVD player to show the movie in our compound that night, a list of numbers to call in case of emergency, and instructions to be back home by 6:30 on Friday evening.  For the first time all summer, we were completely on our own! 

    Thursday afternoon proceeded as usual: Olivia and I went out together and then split apart to go share the Good News in various compounds.  We were set up and ready to play the film on Cameron’s portable DVD player at around 7:45 that night.  We turned it on…and it turned itself off.  Though it was supposed to be fully charged, the battery died within seconds.  At that point, there was only a handful of kids from our compound gathered for the show, so we simply pulled out some Fulfulde worship music and sat with them.  

   Then a woman that neither of us recognized came up, asking about the video.  We apologetically explained that the battery on the player had no charge and that there would be no video that night.  She told us that she had come alone from a village beyond “B” to see the film, so we quickly saw the opportunity to share the Gospel with her, even if it was not in the form she was expecting.  It worked out beautifully that we got to share the Good News tracks with her and several of the kids who had been sitting with us before!

     Friday was fairly routine as well – as much as anything is ever routine in the bush.  It was the first day of Ramadan, the month of fasting observed by followers of Islam.  (We actually did not realize that it had started until after we had given one of our friends some food which she held in her hand, refusing to eat!  Oops!)  Islam teaches that the Qur’an was first revealed to Muhammad during the month of Ramadan. 

    During this time, in addition to fasting, many devote themselves more fully to the practices of Islam such as offering up more prayers to Allah, reading more of the Qur’an, showing more kindness to one another and increasing their almsgiving.  As a result of the fasting, many of the people literally sit around all day, not wanting to exert energy and cause any extra hunger or thirst.  This creates a good environment for us to go visiting and sharing the Gospel!  

  

    After doing just that for most of the day, we left the village and headed back home.  Sadly, Cameron was feeling no better when we got back.

    Saturday morning, we got up early to ride into “M” with Emily to get her oil changed, go shopping and to the bank, and eat lunch and use the wireless Internet at the Guest House in town.  The sky was eerily dark where we were driving to, but we continued.  As it turns out, a pretty significant storm was blowing, so that eliminated the chances of getting Emily’s oil changed, which would have to be done outside.  There was also a problem at the bank and a meeting in session in the Guest House restaurant.  It looked like we would get to accomplish about a fourth of the things on our to-do list for the day.  

     However, after a lot of extra driving around, the bank’s issues were resolved, and the Guest House let us into one of their extra rooms to sit and order.  We would have gotten to actually eat there too if it hadn’t worked out perfectly that the English-speaking doctor that all the missionaries go to was in town and willing to see Cameron as soon as possible!  We got our food to go, and she got an overall clean bill of health with a prescription to help her tummy. 

     So the lesson we learned this week is that even when things don’t go according to our plan, God has a plan that will not fail and will not lead to anything less than His name being glorified and our needs being met.  And even those things that appear to be “a victory for Satan and a defeat for God,” the Lord will turn into an overwhelming triumph for Himself! 

*Career missionary’s name has been changed for security purposes

         

Where the Grass is Green

     On Thursday of this week, we were sitting in a field when some “shepherd” boys came up to enjoy the shade and listen to our Bible stories on the radio. Cameron, Olivia, and I sat there enjoying the shade while the kids huddled around our little speakers. Every now and then, one of the boys would realize that a few of the goats and sheep they were in charge of was feasting on the millet plants in the fields and would have to run over to corral them.

    As this was a clear hindrance to the boys’ listening and understanding the stories, Olivia and I ended up taking a couple of sauras (the sticks they use for herding) and keeping an eye on the flock. This proved actually very entertaining for us; in heavy Southern accents we would scold the animals who were constantly trying to escape our set boundaries and venture into a field, threatening to put them in time out or throw our “javelins” at them. At one point, Olivia said, “I see you trying to get away, goat! Why don’t you just be happy where you’re at?! There’s plenty of green stuff right here!”
     Between Olivia and me there has been a significant amount of discussion on how to know where God wants you to be serving and what our potential futures will look like. This conversation is not necessarily unhealthy, but as it is, we are in West Africa working in a village with around 500 lost Fulani people. It’s true that the plants in the field are good for eating, but right now, the Shepherd has us in a place with plenty to eat. How foolish would it be for me to starve standing in the middle of a field gazing over into a place that I simply cannot walk into?!
     In the latest of our beloved David Platt podcasts, he cites what Paul says in verse 20 and of I Cor. 7: “Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.” So, we began praying that we would be fully present with the people here and not miss the opportunity He has given us through this summer. In answer to that prayer, I have been given a deep love for these people that I had not experienced before. I genuinely look forward to spending time in the bush, and when I’m not there, I can’t wait to get back to those people to let them teach me their language and all about their families and themselves as I try to teach them about Christ.
    One of these people for whom our hearts absolutely break is a deaf man, Ibraheim, that we met last week. We are fully aware that not every single person in our village will come to know and accept Jesus; however, we at least want to give everyone the chance to hear to Gospel so that they can respond one way or another. “Abundant seed sowing” has been one of our primary purposes from the start. But how will this man ever hear? He doesn’t seem to have any solid method of communication; obviously, American Sign Language is not an option (not that any of the three of us know how to sign anyway). We honestly don’t have an answer but are praying that the Lord would somehow allow his ears – spiritually and/or physically – to be opened.
We have many other friends who we have also been praying for as Olivia and I are finally capable to communicate well enough to branch off from Cameron and sometimes each other to do our own sharing. Thus far, that has gone well. We haven’t seen any conversions, and may not while we are here, but we are certain that the Lord is working in this region and are sincerely thankful for the chance to join Him in that.
Prayer requests:

The Housa team: The 18 summer missionaries we met are broken up into teams of three, so they cover six different towns in addition to helping with clinics twice a week in the main town where their supervisors live. Pray that God would continually be working in each of their hearts (encouragement, love for the people, etc.) and bodies (many of them have suffered various minor illnesses lately) and that their respective ministries would be effective and fruitful.
Our hearts: We are beginning to truly walk in the love of Christ toward these people, but it is still a challenge when we have people ask for material things daily and even steal things from our hut. Pray that we would continue to be transformed into His image and that it would truly be Christ who lives in us.
Our ministry: Though most are open to listening to our tracks, we are unsure of how many are actually listening and understanding. We recently had some women excuse themselves from the area where we are sharing the Good News for prayer time to Allah. Pray that the Word would not simply be falling on deaf ears and that we would have discernment to know who is actually interested so that we can be more effective with our time.
Language: As we seek to build more relationships with the people here and share with them more, language is becoming more important. We would love to be able to actually discuss with them what they are hearing when we share our pre-recorded tracks. Pray that the Lord would grant us increasing understanding of and ability to use the language for His glory.
Ibraheim and his family: When we actually went to the compound of the deaf man, we found that his wife is also sick. We asked around the village and got no conclusive answer as to what is wrong, but she had an enormously swollen eye and laid inside her hut while we were visiting with her three young sons and their friends outside. Of course, there are obvious physical needs in this situation, but the spiritual needs are greater. Pray that God would have mercy on this family and bring healing both spiritual and physical.

Sahel Update

Our first full week in the bush has now concluded.  We made the long but enjoyable trek out to village “B” on Monday, loaded down with about 20 pounds each of clothes, toiletries, food, and water.  Olivia and I spent almost the entire two-hours practicing memory verses and praying, so we were there before we knew it.  As we entered our hut to begin unloading our things and setting up our cots, seven children from our and the surrounding compounds followed us in, curiously grabbing anything we pulled out of our bags.  
We discovered very quickly that this lack of privacy was not the exception because we had just arrived, rather it is the norm.  This works to our advantage in some ways, because it means that the people are incredibly hospitable and are almost always willing to have guests in their compounds/huts.  That gives us more opportunities to build relationships and share the Gospel with the people.  However, it also means that we had to really fight to find quiet time alone with the Lord.  It’s interesting how such things become more valuable as they are not readily available.  
Another difference that we noticed between our culture and the culture of the people in the bush village is how they spend their time.  Literally every moment between 4:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. is spent working.  The women wake up before the sun is even considering rising and immediately begin pounding millet with a mortar and pestle.  They then go out to the ngessa (field) to work until around lunchtime.  At that point, any combination of cooking, going to draw water from the bundu (well), cleaning, and more pounding begin and continue until the sun sets.  Happily, on several occasions during the week, we got to work alongside the women in the village, cultivating the fields with a jalo (a little hoe-like tool), yanking a rubber skin full of water up from the depths of the well, and pounding (or attempting to pound) millet.  Most of this work was done after much objection from the local women; they see us anasara (white people) as generally weaker and more fragile than they are.  Truly, we are still working toward being able to carry the 30-pound containers full of water back from the well on our heads.  
As we admiringly observe how incredibly hard the people here work, we are reminded of the lost condition of their souls, stuck in a cycle of trying to obtain some divine favor by working hard enough and being good enough.  Thus, we are praying that the Lord would open their eyes to the Truth that His Son has paid the final sacrifice – that “It is finished.”

Prayer Request;

• Relationships: That we would be able to continually make friendships here that would open doors for us to share the Gospel
• Fruit: That the work and fields of the people would prove fruitful and that our work in the spiritual field would be fruitful
• Purpose and selflessness:  That as our privacy is invaded and as we are sweating profusely and as we are courteously drinking that lovely chutum, we would never cease to love the Lord and the people to whom He has sent us and to desire the spread of His glory above all else

Sahel Update

Every Sunday in “GR”, basically everyone in the town and from the surrounding villages gathers for market.  What that means for us is that there are thousands of people in a concentrated area to greet and build relationships with as we restock our cabinets.  Last Sunday, Olivia and I (Anna) had not had any language study, so going to market consisted of us standing by and listening to Cameron speak to the dozens of people who greeted her.  

We just finished a week of language study.  Monday through Friday was spent learning Fulfulde, which is what we will be speaking while in village “B”.  Saturday consisted of Hausa study, as that is the primary trade language in “GR”.  Hopefully, our new knowledge of these languages will be put into good practice for the glory of God as we venture to market for the second time this Sunday! 

Our language study has actually served a larger purpose than just teaching us the language.  Zakari, our teacher, is a follower of Islam.  We were learning religious terms on Thursday when he excused himself around 7 p.m. to go to prayer like he does every day. When he came back, we started a conversation with him about what he believed in relation to what we believe.  We learned that he does, in fact, have a Bible that he reads and compares to the Qur’an.  We are so thankful that he is inquisitive and are praying for his eyes to be opened to the Truth!

In addition to Zakari, we have been able to build several other relationships with Fulani families both in “GR” and in village “B”.  We have visited some families of believers in town simply to sit and talk with them.  One of those families has a brand new baby that we are hopeful will be raised in the way of the Lord!  On Wednesday, we walked out to the bush for a beke, a baby naming ceremony.  Again, we got to meet a ton of people with whom we will hopefully be able to share the Gospel over the course of our time here. 

This Monday marks the beginning of our living in the bush during the week.  With a new knowledge of the language, several new friends in the village, and new African outfits (which we got Friday and are SO excited about!!), we are eager to begin a new portion of ministry here!  At the same time, we know that this also marks new challenges.  In our house in “GR”, there is running water, air-conditioner and electric light (most of the time at least), and privacy.  Not so in the bush. 

Please join us in praying for:

·       Language development.  Though our formal Fulfulde language study is over, we are about to be immersed in the language and will need to persist in our learning and studying so that we can build and maintain friendships and share the Gospel effectively. 

·        Zakari and his family.  Zakari and his wife are expecting their first child in around three months.  Though we will not be here when the baby is born, we are praying for health and salvation for Zakari’s entire household.  

·       Other locals who are being exposed to the Gospel.  Several of the people in “GR” that we have visited lately have one believer in their family.  Pray for boldness for those believers to share with their families and that the ears and hearts of their family members will be open to hear the Good News. 

·         Personal strength.  As we move to the bush full-time, all three of us will need strength and endurance to handle the climate and to meet the needs of the many people around us.  More than ever, we will need to be in the Word and with the Lord as much as possible. 

On our way to the beke Wednesday, we saw many people planting crops in preparation for the rainy season, including these men, who use a camel to pull their plow.  We’re praying that in addition to providing for their spiritual needs, God will meet the physical needs of the people here.