December Catch Up

I'm going to try to play a little bit of catch up in these next few days.  So much has happened and that I want you to know about.  My intention is to do it little by little so that you will understand. 


First I wanted to catch up on my little groups and some of what Mike has been up to.  Mike has begun storying with a family that has been a long term project not only of ours, but of many colleagues before us.  This is a family very tied to Islam with some of them having responsibilities in their local assembly.  The younger brother has long had contact with the mission as a guard, but was reassigned a couple of years ago to a different job.  We have kept in contact with him as we have frequently visited his home and invited his family to ours.  His situation in the family, as younger brother, keeps him from feeling like he can make a decision against family wishes.  I have storied with one of his sisters, but she moved away while we were in the states.  During our visits with them this year, it became apparent that this young man, Seidou, and his family were open to the stories.  Right now, they are all saying, "It's all the same thing and we serve the same God."  Pray with us as Mike teaches through the evangelistic stories that they will see God we serve is different from what they have learned and beyond that, the only way to find peace with God is through His Son Jesus!  Pray also that the younger brother will have the courage to follow Truth even if it is difficult.

Mike's been sharing with his "drinking buddies" too, tea drinking buddies that is!  He's been able to share with them some about our faith and tell the creation story.  Pray that he knows how he can best share with them.

I've been sharing with the same people in Vridi and my friend in Marcory.  Alima, my Muslim friend in Vridi, is still listening as we moved into the Jesus stories.  I was worried about her because she gave me a speech a few weeks ago about her being who and what she is and I need not think I'm going to change her.  She refused outright prayer, but is unopposed to a blessing placed on her as I leave.  The language barrier has increased as the wording of the Jesus stories is super important and there are often times quotes which are hard to share.  I can handle old testament stories in Moore as they seem to be easier, but every time I go now, I am stretching my language to the limits.  Her French is just not good enough to do more than chitchat in!  Distractions are also a serious problem.  She has a little one that is about 18 months old and since we are sitting out in the road, he needs to be watched carefully.  Also everyone that walks by is someone to talk to and often friends drop by just to chat for a few minutes.  I always wait for a good time to start the story and usually the first part goes alright.  Then as the story heats up distractions come by the truckload just like ants scenting out a picnic.  I tell you, Satan is fighting hard for her!

My mixed group including the young Catholic widow and a young married nominal Muslim is always interesting and challenging.  They ask such hard questions and I have to think so hard about the background of them both as I story and answer their questions.  The joyful part about Agira is that she seems to be seeking so strongly.  Among my favorite comments by her are "Pray for me that God will change me and make me a better person", "How can we have a restored relationship with God?", and "God's word is just so interesting."  She is pushing for the story as soon as I arrive and demands to hear a story if she's missed one.  Marie is also fun as she asks for the scripture references so that she can read and study when she has time.  She's also asking the hard questions and digging deep into the stories.

My last group in Vridi is in the courtyard of a lady that attends the Baptist church we visit frequently.  She had wanted to tag along with me to my other groups and I suggested we start one where she is.  She's got a ragtag bunch of ladies there from all kinds of different churches.  Knowing the theology of our local Baptist church I can only imagine what they hear in theirs.  They are almost all single mothers.  Some are widows, some were never married and some are living with men now.  They are listening well to the stories and some of them are sharing them with others.  Their group is always very loud.  They bossy and often times obnoxious, but God is working in their hearts.  He is also answering amazing prayers from that group.  They can swell to a group of more than 10 sometimes and almost all of them have seen God work in their lives in answer to prayers we've prayed as a group.  Several of them are retelling the stories to their friends and acquaintances. 

Aisha, my Marcory friend, is still listening too.  She seems to be whole heartedly interested.  I'm not sure what she'll decide at the end of the story set, but I can see God working in her heart.  She comes from an ethnicity that to be that group is to be Muslim.  It will be a hard choice if she chooses Jesus.  She seems to be leaning back into her old answers, such as, I just have to pray everyday and God will help me.  However, she is also quick to point out to me friends that she has seen a change in their behavior after having chosen to follow Jesus.  I'm just trusting Him to make it all clear to her.

We are also seeking to build relationships with pastors and their wives so that we can be and influence and a help to them.

That is what is going on from a ministry perspective.  We ask that you pray for these groups.  We know that not even our faith comes from ourselves, we ask that you'd pray that the Father draws these to Himself.

Stay tuned for more crazy stories and some pictures too!

With Love,
Heather

Ben's new Guitar!!!

Well, here's the story.  We bought Ben a guitar for his birthday in October.  About a week after it broke, to the point that it could not be repaired.  He loved that guitar and has asked and asked for it.  So while I was out today I saw this guitar.  It has strings just like his old guitar, but this one makes music like an electric guitar when you strum the strings!!!  Ben is actually dancing and spinning around as he plays his new guitar.  I guess you had to be here to get the full effect.
Mike

Christmas Time is Here!!!

 Ben helping us put the branches on the tree and fluffing up the branches!!!!

 Karis putting on the branches!!!! 

 Caleb helping with the tree and branches!!!

 Me, Ben and Caleb putting on the lights!!!!

 It is the hottest time of the year, so it is hard to get into the Christmas spirit.  We played Christmas music to help, but it was really hard to think of it as Christmas!!!

 This little light of mine, I'm going to let it SHINE!!!!

 Hey this one stopped lighting up!!!!

 A wreath of lights!!!

 Heather and Karis adding the finishing touches to the CHRISTMAS TREE!!!!

 Ben tying bows on, ok he was just throwing the ribbon onto the tree and Heather was coming after him tying them on the tree.

All done and we have three happy campers!!!  Now for some AC and Christmas movies!!!!!

-Mike

Bamba's Wedding

 Bamba aand his wife Colette.  This was at the Mayors office.  The 2nd of the three wedding ceremonies.

 THis is Bamba and his wife standing in front of a bush just before we did the religious service.

 My first wedding ceremony and yes it was in French!!!  I have never led a wedding ceremony so I asked an Ivorian Pastor for information and he gave me his outline for the Church Wedding.

More from the Religious Ceremony.

-Mike

A Baptism, a Holiday, a Wedding and a Baby Dedication!

We made homemade Thanksgiving decorations since we can't buy them here.

 Ben and Caleb just hanging.

Getting ready for the baptism in the tub.  Since we don't have a building, we have to think outside the box a bit!

Singing before the fun begins.

In between the two backsides you can just barely see the baptism.  The location wasn't conducive to photography!

There's the newly baptized woman and also the bride to be.

The groom is proud to have dunked his lovely bride.

I found these critters peeking out from a tree in the yard!

Much more Ben's style.  He doesn't like to be cramped!

Just monkeying around!

A couple of other monkeys

Thanksgiving with friends

Z finally filled his plate when he was sure that everyone else was taken care of!  

Crafts included candle making while Auntie Barbara was here this time!

Auntie Barbara is a face painting genius!

Ben and his beloved Mater

Trying to lose use of his other eye now!

If we'd had a funeral to attend, we could have covered most of the important life events.  I am glad that no such opportunity presented itself.  We wouldn't have had time for it if it did.

I think I've given up on keeping you up to date on everything that is happening around here.  I am so behind that I'll never get there.  We'll sum it all up by saying Mike got home (Yay!), we had visiting missionary friends (yay!) and we've told some stories.  Everything else is just a jumble at this point.

Last week was very busy.  We had a baptism on Wednesday.  Bamba's wife-to-be asked to be baptized before the wedding on Saturday and so we accomplished that.  Since Mike didn't feel like risking life and limb to go back into the lagoon again, we started looking for other options.  Mike got the Mission to loan him a bath tub that was just sitting around.  He built a make shift frame for it and voila, he had a portable baptistry.  Bamba baptized her with Mike standing alongside.  I think he was supposed to pull her out if Bamba held her down too long or something!


Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving along with all of you.  It wasn't so different her, besides the temperature.  We don't have family hanging around out here, so other missionaries are our family.  We only had one of those on hand, though, so we had to invite a few Indians to this Pilgrim party!  We invited out househelper and the other missionary's helper.  That still wasn't enough, so we invited the office staff too!  When we moved beyond double digits, we decided to hold there.  Africans can eat once they get started!  We couldn't have turkey as it is fairly rare and expensive around here.  Nevertheless, the two big chickens I cooked cost nearly $40.  OUCH!  I think next year we'll tell the Indians to bag their own food on the way to the feast!  Hee hee.  Our missionary friend had some canned sweet potatoes, canned cranberry sauce and canned pumpkin, so we didn't miss out on some important parts of the meal.  The kids and I decorated cookies, which we usually do at Christmas, but we couldn't pass up the chance to use the maple leaf cookie cutter we were given in Vancouver to help us feel like fall!  All in all it was a nice day.  I got to talk to my family for a few minutes on the computer to top it all off.

Saturday was the big wedding we've been waiting for.  Mike got his debut in weddings.  He did wonderfully even in French with a rowdy crowd.  We left the house around 9 AM and got home just before 5 PM.  AAAAHHHH!  Here a wedding has three components.  The village part was done a few weeks ago when the groom wannabe presented the potential brides family with the presents required to give her up.  This was comprised of some fabric, a sheep, some sheets and some cash in lieu of alcohol.  After her family gave their blessing they came back and planned the civil ceremony 3 weeks later to be followed the same day by a church wedding.  The civil ceremony has to take place at the mayor's office and then the couple rented a room for the church ceremony and reception.  They are a part of one of Mike's group, so no church building exists.  It was a very nice day.  They honored Mike and I by asking us to be their witnesses.  That means for the rest of our lives, they'll come to us for marital advice and if there is trouble.  Yikes!

Last but not least we had a baby dedication for one of our Vridi friends on Sunday.  It was a long hot day to follow our other long hot day, but it was nice.  They gave the baby my African name as a middle name, so that was very sweet!  Ruth Esther had a lovely service, and Tauntie Esther took lots of photos! ;)  I'll try to get some of those up another time.

It's getting late around here and tomorrow holds another big day.  I am looking forward to being with my Vridi buddies in the afternoon after I finish teaching the kids.  Pray for Christine if you will.  You'll remember her name as my older widowed friend.  She's been in and out of the hospital for a couple of months now and they are saying her typhoid fever is back.  We are hoping they can get that taken care of and she can come home for good soon.  Christine has never made a decision as far as I know.  She knows a lot of stuff and has heard so many stories, but ultimately she is holding onto the hope that Mary along with her good works can get her in! 

Heather

Ben and Donald Duck

Ben takes after his Daddy when it comes to cartoons. He loves watching Donald Duck. Watch as he cheers when the video starts.
Mike

Making It On Our Own

 Karis and Daisy

 Karis

 Silly Ben

Ben Daisy and Jolie