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!

schedule

Though we are not on the road, this week, to any church or meeting, it seems as though we are constantly on the move.  We have successfully mailed several more packets today, outlining our ministry, and hopefully will be able to schedule more meetings to share about this amazing work that the Lord is taking our family into.

So between working 60 hours a week at Piazza (Amy homeschooling the boys), ministry at the Church, and Deputation, please pray that God will help us maintain balance between family and work.  We are striving to be good spouses and parents in the midst of challenging schedules.  Pray that God keeps us Faithful to Him, as we continue down the road of ministry.

Moving along

Thank you for being patient with us as we start the process of blogging.  We are still Trying to  get this thing set up, as there are several additional things that we would like to make available to you.  These tools will hopefully help you more effectively pray and follow us in our ministry to both the Dendi Pastors, as well as the nomadic Fulani.  Thanks once again for your patience