From the Road

The Lord has blessed us with a wonderful MiniVan, and it is being used beyond capacity.  With 235,000 miles on it, it is feeling its age, but is still humming right along.  We Started our trip in Upstate New York for meetings in three churches, and then into the Southern Tier of the Empire State for two more before heading to Florida for three more weeks of Conferences and meetings.
Our schedule is full, but we are excited to be where God has us.  Please continue to pray for our travels, as we have many miles to go, as well as our health, so that we may properly convey the Message.
Thus far, the boys have done very well, Amy is schooling as she can, and we are taking time to invest in their lives with field trips.  Micah does not handle change as well as the older boys, so if you think to pray for him, we would appreciate it.

Work Continues

One of the things that we often take for granted here in the United States is the ability to read God's Word in our mother tongue.  Could you imagine having to rely on a Spanish or French Bible to do your personal devotions or Bible Study? 
  We are excited with the progress of the translation work going on in Benin.  Several tribes have the Bible, or at least parts of the Bible, in their native tongue and the Dendi  will soon be added to their ranks.  A consultant from Bibles International is doing a final review of Genesis through 2 Samuel and the hope is to have these books printed by the end of the year. 
  We rejoice with the Dendi pastors for the wonderful work that is being done in the area of translation.  Pray with us that this wonderful work continues so that the entire Bible will one day be in the Dendi language.

Blessings

The days seem to fly by for us - first one and then another - until we wonder where they have all gone!
God has been blessing us abundantly!
He has answered our prayers in caring for our home in Sharpsville. This past month the papers finalized and we are now 1 step closer to the field! We are amazed as we watch God care for each thing that ties us to the states unnecessarily, freeing us to press forward on our journey.
Our boys are growing big and strong! Logan is now 4 months old. During his first month and a half God walked us through some health struggles but again He has blessed and Logan is doing very well. He is a very contented baby who is greatly loved by our family!
The beginning of June we were able to travel to South Carolina where we are able to visit family and make contact with those interested in our ministry in Benin. Great conversations were had and we have another tentative meeting there scheduled for November.
As we post this update we are preparing for yet another trip! Praise the LORD that Joseph's employer has been gracious in allowing time off as we anticipate a week of VBS at Pleasant Hills Baptist Church in Sterling Ohio. They have asked if we would speak about ministry in Benin and missions to their kids each day! We are very excited and pray that God would both prepare us and the hearts of those kids! Joseph will be presenting our ministry on Sunday evening, July7th as well.
Our family will be participating in the wedding of Joseph's youngest sister, Joy on July 6th in upstate New York before heading to Ohio!
Through all this - though the miles are many - we are so blessed to have kids who take long car trips in stride! (Thank the Lord for Adventures in Odyssey stories that help keep us all entertained!)
Thank you for your continual support and prayers! We look forward to updating again soon!

Getting back to normal

Saturday, February 16th, we welcomed Logan Paul into our expanding family.  The arrival of our fourth son concludes a long pregnancy, filled with traveling to several States, and a move from our house in Sharpsville, to the parsonage in Russiaville Indiana.

We are praising the Lord for the encouragement of our church family as well as the families in Tipton and Russiaville.  They have been a tremendous blessing during this period of our lives.

As we are settling into our new "temporary" home, please pray that we are able to sell our home in Sharpsville in this difficult market.  It is one of the last things that "ties" us to the States.

Community

Community congers up all kinds of thoughts in one.  My thoughts are no doubt quite different from yours when hearing the word, but irregardless of these differences, most of our ideas of community are spawned by memories.  For me, the memories go back to my childhood in Africa.  There was the community of believers, and in the midst of a Muslim country that was a small and close knit community indeed.  There was also the community of missionaries.  Though we were spread out over a large West African country we were still very close, and the times that marked this relationship were largely the annual conferences held at one of the larger mission stations.  Our missionary parents were in meetings all day and we missionary kids (MK's) were held under not-so-close supervision.  Not only did we learn new kinds of "sport" but we were able to renew old friendships.

Amy and I have been in a couple of missions conferences lately and they have taken on a different sort of flavor.  We are now the adults in the meetings wondering if our three hooligans are behaving themselves.  Good missionaries have angels for kids right??? As a former "hooligan" I can tell you that MK's are subject to the same temptations and mischievous behavior as their counterparts.

We most recently took part in meetings held by our mission agency, Faith Baptist Mission. We find we have developed a different and yet similar community with the FBM staff, and some of the senior pastors of our colleagues on the West African field.  Relationships were born and some renewed.  It was exciting, not only as it pertains to the work on the field but also in a spiritually challenging way. 

We have no words to illustrate how much we appreciate those who took care of our kids for us, but let it suffice to say that our time in meetings would not have been possible without them.  That is another community that bears recognizing at another time.  Thank you for your prayers!

Benin Ministry

In most third world countries modern medicines are not readily available, so when a medical clinic was offered in Benin the people did not hesitate to come.  Colin and Teena Ovenell (our future colleagues) were able to host a group from the states that put on an eight day medical clinic.  In those eight days they saw over 1000 people come for treatment.  The exciting part for us is that many of them were Fulani, the people group that we desire to reach.  Throughout the medical work people received a clear presentation of the gospel, some more than once.  Please pray for the Gospel message to take root in their hearts.

We are also excited about current discussion regarding plans to develop a permanent, local medical clinic.  The land has been promised and there are national believers ready to staff the facility.  This is a vital need and would open the doors to meet both physical and spiritual needs! Please pray with us that God will lead and bless as His path is followed.

Encouragement

We were privileged to speak at First Baptist Church in Russiaville, IN this past Sunday. What a blessing and encouragement they were to our family! Such a small church and yet so full of love! Please pray for us as we begin to get our feet wet in this new portion of our journey. Speaking in front of an audience is not my (Joe) cup of tea. It will stretch me as I learn to depend on God for His message! But we are excited to be out sharing with others about all that God is doing in Benin and in the life of our family as He leads us forward! Please also pray as we contact pastors for additional meetings. We have a meeting scheduled in October and one in November at this present time. Praise the Lord this past month brought two one time gifts to our account at FBM and we learned of another couple with the intent to begin supporting us monthly. God is good and we are so thankful for the generosity of his people. I have challenged Amy and myself to spend a greater amount of time each week in prayer. I passed that challenge on to the First Baptist congregation Sunday. Will you take the challenge too?  Stay tuned for ways that you can pray with us through each week! We value your prayer support!