We fully believe that my Giardia, Sarah's malaria and now Abby's kidney stones are all attempts by the enemy to keep us from being in our village and with our people because we are working in an area that has never heard the Good News before. I am fighting a sinus cold/ infection as I type even now.... so I would ask for prayer for me for healing as well. Please pray against these attacks and of all kinds that we know will continue to come as we try to cut through the centuries of darkness.
This past weekend we had the opportunity as a team to stay at Selingue. It is a hotel on a dammed lake more in the south of Mali so it is much more green than where we are. If I didn't know better (and the hills were a little taller) I would have thought I was at the Lake of the Ozarks (no boating with the Pivas and Schindlers here though!) It was the best spiritual retreat time, quiet time, prayer time I've had with our Father since I've been here. We had worship one night with a campfire alongside the lake. And one day we actually got to enjoy the pool and I got to wear shorts out in public for the first time since coming here.
During my beautiful time with our Father, one scripture I was drawn to was Psalm 18:46 - "The Lord lives and blessed be my rock and exalted be the Father of my salvation". I spent a lot of time just praising and thanking our Father for how good He has been, for taking care of me, providing for me and opening my eyes to the sweet simple things in life that I'd taken for granted so long. HE SHOULD BE EXALTED! That night at worship, we sang the song with these words in it.
I prayed a lot about what I've learned here, what our Father has shown me; what I will take with me and what our Father's direction is for me next. Right now I'm planning on leaving here the first part of July to come back to the US. I have been praying asking God to help me continue my ministry for Mali and West Africa and help me to be an advocate for the people here when I return home. He has answered that prayer already! Several weeks ago my sister Beth emailed me and told me that Lifeway's VBS this year is Saddle Ridge Ranch and includes a mission night on Mali and the OneStory (storytelling) program! I just cried. So I will be talking with VBS kids at my church in Arnold, her church in Oklahoma and hopefully several others when I get home as well. Our Father is good! I'm really looking forward to sharing my love of my new African friends and culture.
A miracle shared from a co-worker this week (the same co-worker that shared the previous miracle story about the young baby girl and the drug overdose). He is in a village with a small group of believers that received our Father after 2 journey girls had lived there for 2 years creating stories from the Word for them.
One of the truly faithful women believers was with the women getting water one day a few weeks ago. This is mango season so the young children are always in mango trees picking them to sell. This young boy fell out of the tree from pretty high up and all the women gathered around. The believer tells the story as if it was just the most natural thing in the world.... it's wonderful! She said, the boy was not breathing and his eyes were rolled back in his head. She said he was dead. (She has lost 4 children so she knows what death looks like). She said, Esa prayed and brought people back to life so she said, I just put my hands on him and prayed. And few moments later, the little boy opened his eyes, was scared as to why all the women were huddled around staring at him and got up and ran home! Oh, for us to have faith like a child, like this young woman!
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