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After encouraging the villagers of Village K (the village to whom we were recently introduced), 33 of them stood to say they would follow. The blind chief had not come out from his hut beside the teaching circle, but Lawrence was certain that he heard the message. Upon entering the chief’s hut, Lawrence asked he would follow Jesus, too. ”If I were not blind, I would have been the first to stand to follow Jesus.” It is clear that the chief has also become a brother in Christ. (His picture, taken by a 300-yr old drum, is attached.)
An old man lay dying in Village Y. Except the Lord intervene, his days among us are short. Several at FBC-K have been praying specifically for him and his family by name for many months. Lawrence and the team heard that he is old and near death. Upon hearing of his poor health, they went to him and shared the hope that Christ brings. Because of these prayers and others, the stewardship of the team, and the beckoning of the Holy Spirit, Saje accepted Jesus as his savior! Praise God for His redemptive work, and that Saje will be among those whom we join in Heaven.
Please continue to pray for his family. They said they will also consider walking on the Jesus Road. As God wills, we can discuss this more with them on our trip in March. PLEASE PRAY THAT THOSE GOD IS CALLING TO THIS TRIP (Mar 18-28) will heed the call as we begin preparations.
Finally, the team emphasized that going with extra rice (over 100 lbs) for the families whose crops were washed out had a big impact on the people of Village Y, the first village in which the Church is first being established. It gave them a picture, and real-life example, of the mutual bearing of burdens within the Body of Christ.
God bless you as you pray and give and go according to His direction & calling.
(
HERE are the first of the pictures from this trip.)
–
“All my forefathers have passed away into darkness
without knowing anything of what was to befall them;
how is it that your forefathers knowing these things,
did not send word to my forefathers sooner?”
- An African chief speaking to missionary David Livingstone
The team arrived in DAKAR TONIGHT! They chose to relax for a few hours, then continue driving through the night inasmuch as the road conditions were tolerable AND THE TIRES WERE HOLDING UP! Tomorrow they will spend debriefing and relaxing before catching their return flight at 3AM on Saturday morning.
The trip out was uneventful, and their moods are joyous! This is probably the last report we will receive until their return.
PRAISE GOD for this calling, for the faithful (in praying/giving/going), and for every good thing He is doing among the Yalunka and among us.
PRAY for the Yalunka: for their health & prosperity (especially availability of food), for our brothers & sisters in Christ, and for those that are yet to respond. PRAY for the team going March 18-28: that those called to go will respond, that their hearts will be prepared even as the Yalunka are prepared, and that the Word will be quickened as it is presented in speech and print in the Yalunka language. PRAY for your family & neighbors, your coworkers, and those you meet in the market place that they will hear God’s beckoning.
A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps. - Proverbs 16:9
Wednesday, 01-21-09
As an alternate plan was being discussed early this morning with the IMB at the Mali level, Lawrence called to say the bicyclist arrived, back from the town with a fixed tire, extra inner tube(s), and a pump. As he road up, the team was attempting to remount the flat tire that was left with the vehicle. They had finished a “bush repair” having used pieces of a team member’s sandal to patch a tear in the tire. ”How were you going to air it up?” I asked. ”We have a broken tire pump,” was the response.
PRAISE GOD the He knew who could fix the tire and who had the working tire pump!
They will be driving slowly and carefully through the tall grass (the result of the rainy season) back to the “road”. They will spend tonight with Phillip in his field hut, then back to Kayes via K-ba, stopping to greet and see how the Holy Spirit is working among other villages.
Finally, after spending tomorrow night in Kayes, they will drive on to Dakar on Friday and will have plenty of time for relaxing before catching a 3AM Sat flight home. They will arrive mid-afternoon on Saturday.
The villagers are marveling at the speedy recovery of the little girl who was burned. It appears there will not even be severe scaring, and all praise God for His mercy and goodness! Please join in that praise even as we see such evidence in our own lives.
Continue in PRAYER & PRAISE for the God’s display of His goodness - the salvation of many, the provision for our brothers & sisters, and for His care for His children and all of mankind, including the baby and our team.
This is Lawrence calling from the middle of nowhere, really. We’re on the road about 2 miles outside of Village Y. Thanks to many prayers, the young man on the bicycle finally reached our vehicle with the repaired tire about 1:15PM or 1:20PM here in Mali on Wednesday. So, it’s back on the car and we’re ready to roll and move on to the next stage of our trip.
Due to our delays we will probably have a change of plans as far as which villages we visit next. But that remains to be seen exactly what happens. The good part is last night when we were waiting, we didn’t really know what was going to happen. We had a good time of sharing with some of the elders, the chief and some of the old men in Village Y about handling adversity and trusting in God’s sovreignty.
I think by watching us in this situation they probably got more out of it than us teaching for hours. They saw the way we handled it with joy and peace in our hearts and that was a blessing to them. So certainly some good things will come out of this. In that village, we got to spend three nights with them and get to know the people really well.
Thank you so much for your prayers and we’ll give a report probably later tonight or tomorrow.
Thank you for your continuing prayers. You can see they are not in vain! The team continues to be encouraged by all that God is doing, and by the way He is working out the details moment-by-moment.
Lawrence also provided an update on the little girl who was burned. The burn is still visible and painful, but “We may have overestimated how badly the baby was burned,” or God is working His wonders. and (2) the baby is well on the way to recovery. Her family is amazed and we know God has heard the prayers of His people. Continue in prayer for her comfort and healing, and that the people will be drawn to Christ through this incident.
PRAISE GOD
- for His continued provision, physically/emotionally/spiritually.
- for demonstration of the Holy Spirit’s teaching of the saints.
- for display of His power and mercy among the people.
- that He continues to draw men unto Himself.
PLEASE PRAY
- provision for the saints in Village Y, and for that of their neighbors.
- for resolution to the team’s transportation problem (the tire).
- for a harvest of souls in Village F.
- for the ongoing safety and health of the team.
God bless you as you focus on the Kingdom’s work.
This is Lawrence Duhon calling from Village Y. It’s 12:20 on Tuesday afternoon.
We had an eventful night last night. After we had some time with our Christian brothers and sisters of sharing in the village last night, they had a wonderful time of praise where they got together and did several … about three … Christian songs that they had written themselves in their own language. It was a great time to see the joy on their faces and the celebration that they have of their freedom in Christ.
After another cold, cold night here, we got up. There were six families who lost their crops due to flooding during planting season so we brought extra rice in from the people of First Baptist Keller to give to them, to help them make it through until June when their next crops come in. Of course what we give them today won’t be enough for those many months, but it will be a helpful start. We shared both last night and today about the reason we’re doing this: to show the love of Christ, and gave the precedent from the New Testament - the collection for the poor saint in Jerusalem. [1 Cor 16:1-3, Acts 24:17, Rom 15:25-27, 2 Cor 8:1-2, 2 Cor 9:1-2,13-14]
After that we went and visited a man who’s 61 years old. He’s apparently having congestive heart failure and doesn’t have much more time to live. We presented the Gospel to him and his family this morning and He chose to follow Jesus. We are just grateful for that. Other members of his family may follow, but none of them made that commitment besides him. So we were thrilled with that.
Now we’re basically just waiting for the tire to get back from K-ba. We don’t know exactly when that will be, but as soon as that happens we’ll put it on, load up and go over to Village F.
The team is in terrific spirits, though it sounds as if they are really tired. I need to remind them of our decision to take naps midday when the villagers do! They did not take the baby to the next village where there is a “clinic”, but to use the med kit to continue care.
The sat. phone connection was not as good as usual, but you should be able to follow the essence of the conversation.
Please continue to PRAISE GOD for drawing these to Him and PRAY FOR the team: clear direction from the Holy Spirit, and strength and stamina and health to see them through the week.
TRANSCRIPTION (this will clarify the poor quality satellite connection)
This is Bobby Morgan with a great report from Mali. Last night was hard because I felt totally helpless in trying to help a child. How can you stand not helping a child. I woke up this morning to crowing roosters and cold. Yes, cold in Mali. Everybody was cold. As a matter of fact, Pastor Bart ran from the hut to the fire.
Then we had breakfast and walked to a market a couple of miles away across a river. The crossing was cold also. We got back to Village Y just in time for rice and beef, beef that was bought at the market and brought back by 2 young men on bicycles.
Then it was another glorious time to watch 5 men and 2 women be baptized. They were baptized after lessons in the biblical meaning of baptism: what it is and how it is to be done. What a glorious time to see 7 more baptisms where a short time ago God was not known. What a wonderful event.
Shortly after getting back to the village, the little girl was here. We again did all we could and put some more of the dressing on; and as in everything else, we have to trust God to do the real healing. She looked better than I thought she would, and I think the burns were 2nd degree, not 3rd degree.
I can’t wait [to see] what God has prepared for us tomorrow. This has been a … unintelligible … tires … according to His plan, we don’t have to worry. … unintelligible … What a pleasure personally it was for me to walk back from [the market with an African brother] holding an old man’s hand, just enjoying each other’s company. … unintelligible
REPORT (WITH PHOTOS FROM PREVIOUS TRIPS):
After receiving this great report, Bro. Lawrence called to say they’ve had a second flat tire. We may have a local resource in our friends at the uranium mine, but our contact may not be “in country” yet. Please pray that God will provide inasmuch as there was only one spare on this nice vehicle, and it had to be used earlier.
God bless you and guide you.
TRANSCRIPTION (from message at 5:20AM CST) click here for mp3 - mali-report-01-18-09
This is Tim. I have a great report. We went to Village K early this morning as we promised them last night and met with the Chief. Then, they gathered the people around for us to teach. Pastor Lawrence shared with them The Gospel and after a call, they asked how many would like to give their hearts to Christ. Thanks to the seeds of the Word that were planted last June, 33 souls came to Christ this morning. They asked to baptized when we come back in March when it’s a little warmer here. That’s quite a blessing to be a part of this. I hope that our whole church celebrates with us back home that these souls have come to Christ today. Next we go to Village Y and we may have another report today after we visit there.
Lawrence called earlier, also, (12:55PM CST) to advise they reached Village Y without a problem. There are several solutions to the tire problem. (1) We have not heard from the mining people in the large village, Village F. They still might have the answer to the problem. (2) Our brothers in Village Y immediately suggested that one of them could ride a bicycle 60 miles to K-ba, the town 4 hrs away by car. There will be inner tubes there that could be used. (3) Pastor Bart from K-ba, who always accompanies our teams, said he knows someone in K-ba who is driving out to the villages on Tuesday. If he can reach someone by cell phone, that person can bring inner tubes with them.
These are the constructs of our own devices. Who knows how God is at work to accomplish His purposes while caring for His faithful children? But they are confident in His care.
Praise God for
- adding 33 souls to the Kingdom.
- for the love and devotion of Christian brothers in Village Y.
- for opportunities to share the Gospel that have yet to unfold.
- bountiful provision to share with those in need - those who lost their crops.
Pray for
- hearts that will be moved by the Gospel shared through The Jesus Film tonight.
- continued health & safety of the team.
- good seed, good rain, good harvest - from the earth and for the Kingdom.
- the solution to the tire/transportation issue to be revealed soon.
TRANSCRIPTION click here for mp3 - mali-report-01-18-09b
Hello, this is Lawrence. I’m calling from Village Y, Mali. It’s almost 7:00 o’clock Sunday night. [call rec'd at 12:55PM]
After a wonderful morning in Village K where 33 people came to Christ, as you heard earlier, we left to visit our next village. It is about 12 miles away, but the roads are so bad it took over 2 hours to get there. On the way there we had two flat tires and only one spare tire so we had to leave the car on the road and walk about 2 miles into the village with the most important stuff that we could take in our backpacks. We reached the village safely with no problems and were greeted very warmly by our Christian brothers here in Village Y.
Later we decided to go back to the car and get a player to play The Jesus Film on the small DVD player. We rode bikes back there. Also, since there having a famine in this village with very poor crops we brought in some rice about 150#, 1 bag 110# & 1 bag 44#. Some of the African brothers took that rice on their bicycles over very, very rough roads …[unintelligible] we made it back safely. They’re looking forward to us showing The Jesus Film tonight.
Just be praying because there are many spiritual attacks after a wonderful Sunday morning here. Thank you for your prayers.
_____________
Lawrence called at 3:25PM CST to advise the tire problem is ’solved’. A brother in the village said he will take the wheel & tire into K-ba, 45 miles away, to be repaired. He will return by Tuesday morning with the repaired tire and additional inner tubes. This means the team will remain on their planned schedule, as God wills of course.
Lawrence also said that 10 people in Village Y came up to the team to share that they wanted to walk on the Jesus Road. They had already accepted Christ and want to be baptized as soon as possible. They believe because of the testimony of their fellow villagers, our brothers & sisters in Christ, the Church in Village Y. PRAISE THE LORD!!!
As we were speaking, a toddler fell into a fire and was very badly burned. Our dear brother Bobby Morgan was administering first aid, but the baby needs to be taken to the clinic in the large village, Village F, as soon as it is light tomorrow. With the vehicle out of commission, this probably means taking the baby by bicycle or motorcycle.
PLEASE PRAY FOR THIS BABY, THAT IT WILL BE RESTORED TO HEALTH IN A WAY THAT BRINGS HONOR AND GLORY TO OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN.
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After encouraging the villagers of Village K (the village to whom we were recently introduced), 33 of them stood to say they would follow. The blind chief had not come out from his hut beside the teaching circle, but Lawrence was certain that he heard the message. Upon entering the chief’s hut, Lawrence asked he would follow Jesus, too. ”If I were not blind, I would have been the first to stand to follow Jesus.” It is clear that the chief has also become a brother in Christ. (His picture, taken by a 300-yr old drum, is attached.)
The team is in terrific spirits, though it sounds as if they are really tired. I need to remind them of our decision to take naps midday when the villagers do! They did not take the baby to the next village where there is a “clinic”, but to use the med kit to continue care.
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