The Toni Church

The Toni church spent 8 years building their new building. Unable to get a loan in this context, they added more to the building as they got money to build. What a novel idea. They recently finished building it to roof level, at which point, we usually try to help find funding for the roof. The cost of the roof is often beyond what they are abe to collect in their situation.

As is often the case at the end of dry season, we can have some powerful, destructive winds that take off roofs and uproot trees. Not too unlike tornadoes, these winds are dreaded, when they come. In one such wind, the 4 walls of the Toni church came down. 8 years of hard work and frugal savings was brought to the ground.

We will see what happens. We hope that we can find some help for the Toni church to rebuild their building. This is not enough to destroy them, but it sure is discouraging. God is able!

Pastor Francois and Rebeccah

Pastor Francois and Rebeccah are supposed to be retired now, but they lead very busy lives. They are in demand all over to share their stories of God's power and His faithfulness. When I visited them recently, they told of how God provided for them through the years. They never told anyone of their needs, but God would always provide - on time! They told of one time, during a famine, Their sack of grain did not go down. It continued to be replenished for a number of months, as they fed their whole family from it. When the harvest came, the sack became empty and they did not dispair, because God had provided until the need was met.



When we delivered them three sacks of corn the other day, they told us that they had just finished their grain the day before and had asked God to provide for them. The Colyar family had come from Boulder City and God had put it on their heart to provide food for people in need. Isn't it neat how God puts something on the heart of a family in Boulder City, NV to provide food for folks in Burkina Faso and God led to give to Pastor Francois and Rebecca. Though they rejoiced, they were not surprised that God provide. He always has!

The Truth Sets Free

Ibrahim is a young man in the village of Nehourou. We recently visited there, as we were helping a small church put up a shelter that they could meet under. The Colyar family, from Boulder City, NV had raised the $2000 needed to do this. Ibrahim is a young man in the church there. His story is interesting.

He left the village and went to Cote d'Ivoire, the neighboring country. He attended Koranic school there. Later, he got his driver's license and got a job. But then he began to experience demonic trouble and lost his mind. After trying everything to get him help, they sent him back to Nehourou. He encountered believers there and they prayed for him and he was delivered and regained his full mind. He returned to Cote d'Ivoire, only to have the same thing happen. Once again, he returned to the village and was delivered through the prayer of the believers. He has decided to stay in Nehourou and live his life there. The truth has set him free and he wants to learn how to read and write so that he can help others know the truth!

I Love It When a Plan Comes Together

Remember the days when Hannibal, from The A-Team, would say, "I love it when a plan comes together". I definitely am in that category. I recently accompanied the Colyar family from Boulder City, NV on a trip to the Tougan area, where I grew up. One of the things they had wanted to do was to distribute food to people in need. We determined to give a 200 lb of corn to every retired pastor or retired pastor's widow. These people have served the Lord for years with the bare minimum of support. Most of them received no more than $3 a month for support from the church. The bag of corn blessed them greatly. To have someone recognize their years of service was an encouragement.

At one home, the home of Pastor Francois and Rebeccah, we delivered three bags of corn because they had many people living there and depending on them, in spite of their own poverty. When we off-loaded the bags of corn, Pastor Francois told us that just the day before they had swept the rest of their grain in the storeroom and didn't know where the next food would come from. Then we showed up! I love it when a plan comes together. Thank you, Lord.

Dorcas House - The Third Year

We will be opening the third year of Dorcas House in just about a month. We are beginning to hear about some of the new girls that will be coming. One of them comes from a village where the Christians have been severely persecuted. When one of her friends came to Dorcas House last year, everyone was excited for her. When she went home after her first year there and shared all that she had learned, the believers wanted to send another girl for this year. Can you imagine what some relief from persecution might be like?

Another girl, Mayi, was the first Christian in her village. She was only a 12 year old at the time. What courage. Her family has not persecuted her, but now that she is getting older, they would like to see her married off to a non-believer. She will be coming for a year of training, especially to learn about God's Word.

What other "treasures" of God's family will be coming? In another month we'll know and it will be exiting to see how He works in the lives of these young ladies, transforming them into women of excellence.

PARTNERSHIPS

Here are a couple of neat partnership possibilities that we have the possibility of working with. Each of them is cool in that partnerships are cool if you don't care who gets the credit.

1. VCP - Village Church Planting - We are just getting ready to begin working together with them. Their program involves a plan to train church planters and in a 40 month period, there is the possibility of planting 180 new churches! The training is excellent. Look at their website for more information - intoafricaproject.org.

2. Franklin, NC - For the past 4 years or more, Kevin has led teams of young people to Burkina to do what they can do and to help put tools in the hands of the church. The neat thing about this partnership is that it really is about meeting needs and accomplishing something, while building into the lives of the young people that come on the trip. Because of these trips, 6 or 7 of these young people are planning to come out for longer term to serve in Burkina.

3. ONE HOPE - is a partner ministry with Evangelism Explosion that has the goal of training one million children to share their faith with ten million. Our church is exploring the possibility of partnering with them. Over 50% of the population here is under 14 years of age. Look at their website to get a better idea - onehope.org.

Partnerships are a good way to get the job done.

Marriage Encounter

Marriages around the world require care and attention. Without that, we hurt one another and destroy relationships that are vital to our lives and to others. We had the privilege of being part of an organization committee to launch a new ministry called Marriage Encounter. The weekend is made up of invited couples who are given the blessing of a free weekend in a hotel, where they encounter one surprise after another, all linked to writing to your spouse and talking through issues that have otherwise been covered over. The sessions are centered on three couples sharing their testimonies of how they went from troubled and hurting marriages to healing. Through the weekend, God does some amazing things.

Our weekend that we helped organize was August 13-15. We had a total of 17 invited couples who enjoyed the weekend. Some amazing things happened that put couples on the road to healthier marriages. One example was one couple, where the husband, due to his job, was in danger of losing not only his wife, but also his whole family. Through the testimonies and the dialogue, he made the choice to change jobs so as to save his marriage and family.

The next weekend is being planned for March 4-6. You can pray for us as we help get ready for this next event. Pray for the follow-up of the couples from this past weekend. We could use your help financially to help sponsor a weekend for one couple. The cost is about $350 for the whole weekend and a changed marrage. Not a bad return!