Fulled Up

"Always be full of joy in the L0rd, I say it again--rejoice! " Phil. 4:4

BEING FULL OF JOY comes as we give pr@ise to our Father! When we take our eyes off of the temporary trials, the seemingly unending struggles, the constant confusion about how to live in this w0rld, and turn our eyes toward the incredible G0d who sent His Son to do life with us, then we can rejoice...We can see the constant companionship of the One who loves us with His unfailing love and the faithfulness of His work on our behalf!!

Our time in Tex@s has continued to FILL us with joy as we watched the hand of our Father work on behalf of His people in M@li and those He continues to call to Himself there. Our joy was made complete as we connected and reconnected daily with people who believe along with us for the fulfillment of His promises in M@li.

We rejoice in Him, because He:

• has joined our hearts--yours and ours-- with His heart for the peoples of M@li
  
• demonstrated His love for the people of M@li, for His work, and for us through many of you
• opened the door for us to meet with a local radio station on November 29th to learn about the possibilities of that radio station mentoring the workers of Radio K@ntiguiya in M@li
• guided our hearts and minds to understand His plan for the upcoming months
• is calling and speaking to many of you about joining Him in M@li so He can pour out His life and love through you
• is the ONE we follow...we do not do this...He does and we get to follow in His footprints
• has given us peace about the next steps
• empowers us, encourages us, and strengthens us!

There is truly so much more...my list goes on and on...how's your list? As we start this week of focused pr@ise and thanksgiving, I ask you to begin your list and daily rejoice in Him and be filled with JOY and THANKSGIVING!! I would love to rejoice with you, so feel free to send me some of your JOY FULLNESS!


Don't worry about anything, instead pr@y about everything. Tell G0d what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience G0d's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Chr1st J.sus." Phil. 4:L6-7

We are traveling back to SC and NC today and tomorrow. We will spend this week of THANKSGIVING with our families.

Pr@y with us

• for protection
• G0d's presence as we drive
• for the vehicle to do its job without any problems
• for us to be attentive to the ways we can demonstrate our Father's love along the way and throughout the week to our families.

May you turn your worries, struggles, concerns over to G0d and tell Him what you need. Then thank Him for all He has done! Experience HIS PEACE!! He is guarding you, your hearts and your minds as you live in Chr1st J.sus.

WE GIVE THANKS TO HIM FOR YOU...

A Dream Coming True

R@dio K@ntigiya

In November of 2006, I sat listening to the dreams of a man who had moved his family to a very remote area of M@li...a place where there were no others who walked the same road with him and his family. There were no other f0ll0wers of J.s.s, and there was no community of encouragement for the day in and day out of living in a new place. He was certain of G0d's call on his life and the life of his family that he followed in spite of the challenges. Today, he and his family has impacted the whole region for the gl0ry of G0d and the dreams Father placed in his heart are being fulfilled. They are no longer the only family of f0ll0wers, as a matter of fact a new ch.rch has just been built and the building for a Chr1sti@n radio station has just been completed. We celebrate the dream of G0d's family being expanded to include the many people groups living in this difficult and remote area...the uttermost parts of the world!! R@dio K@ntigyi-- R@dio F@ithfulness will receive all of the equipment and the tower will be built within the next couple of months and we are bel1eving our Father for it to be on the air declaring His Gl0ry by October 2011!! Give pr@ise to our G0d...the One who does what He says and fulfills all His promises!!

back in Tex@s

Greetings everyone!!
Thank you so much for your pr@yers for me and for my travel back to Texas! I had a great trip with special gifts from our Father along the way. I was able to spend the night with a friend and her parents. As only our Father can plan it and orchestrate the details, the changes in my plans to stay in SC to be with my aunt allowed me to arrive at my friend's house just a couple of days after her m1ss1ion trip to H@iti. Her parents had also spent time serving in the Northeast Un1ted St@tes recently. We had a great time of sharing about all that Father is doing in all of these places and how He has been impacting our lives personally. My friend and I had hoped our travels would allow us to spend some time together in pr@yer...I'm pr@ising Father for making that possible. It was a blessing to bow before Him together and seek His face. I left early the next morning and began the next leg of the journey...usually I drive the whole 10 hours so getting started early was vital. Things were different for me this time. I had a lot on my heart and mind as I processed all that Father had done in SC with my family. I spent some time pr@ising and pr@ying and just enjoying the company of my Constant Companion! That has always been my favorite thing about G0d...He is constantly with me and He longs for me more than I could ever long for Him. I found myself longing for Him on the journey back to Texas. I found myself affirming my commitment to Him saying, "I will follow!"
I decided to break my trip up into 3 days of equal driving and I took a short detour through Gulfp0rt, MS. Since I left early, I arrived there with the whole afternoon to just enjoy the Gulf coast. I found a place to stay, then rested during the heat of the day. After a nap, I took G0d's W0rd and drove to the beach. I was amazed and found myself pr@ising Father again for all He has done to repair and restore this area after the devastation of recent hurricanes. I had been there just after the hurricane serving with a combined team from Texas and SC. It was great to see how things have been restored and cleaned up. I was able to eat at a restaurant that was completely destroyed and rebuilt, as well as just enjoy sitting on the pier reading Father's W0rd. I drove along the water's edge singing pr@ises and giving thanks to G0d for the beauty of all He has created. One of the most impacting things was to see some trees that had been devastated by the hurricane...dead, yet alive. An artist had come to the coast and carved the dead trees into beautiful works of art--dolphins jumping out of the water, eagles flying, pelicans perched side by side, and other ocean birds sitting in a tree. It reminded me of how our Father takes our lives...our dead to sin lives and creates something beautiful and useful for bringing Him gl0ry.
I slept long and hard but woke up early enough to go and sit on the pier again to seek our Father and His W0rd. It was a beautiful morning with fish jumping all around and men wading in the ocean pulling them in with ease. I set out again for the last leg of the journey with plans to spend lunch with friends in B@ton Rouge. We had served together when I first became m1nister of m1ss1ions, and our time together was just fun and encouraging. I love how our Father connects our lives and continues to use us to strengthen and support each other. I made it home and began the process of adjusting to all that needs to be done here on this side of the ocean. I had a GREAT day of w0rship and reconnecting Sund@y. I spent the early morning with a group of women who support and pr@yer for HSI. Then I joined my f@ith family at KeyL1fe Fell0wship for worship! It was great to be with them and celebrate our G0d with them again.
Now I am getting organized and figuring out what is what after being away for 8 months. Please pr@y for me as I focus my heart and mind on all that needs to be accomplished while I am here. Pr@y for our board as we meet together and make plans for 2012. Pr@y for us as we seek Father regarding the budget and the work He has for us. Pr@y also for C@therine as she spends her last 2 weeks in M@li before coming home for her brother's wedding. Ask Father to empower her to finish well in all of her relationships there as well as close up the apartment for our absence. Ask  Father to prepare her family for her return and prepare C@therine for her re-entry into a culture so different from M@li.
Thank you all for your f@ithfulness to hold the ropes for us, to support us, and to be there for us!! You are the best and for you we give G0d "THANKS!!!"
your servant...
l0ri

For One for ALL

Last Monday, I went to visit O at her house to spend time with the family and work peanuts with them. When I first got there a huge storm blew in, which meant delaying working the peanuts. This delay in roasting the peanuts meant time to listen to her mp3 player. For the next 2 hours O sit listening to the mp3 player of G0d’s W0rd…sometimes even turning to me amazed and rapidly asking a question I could not understand!

After the rain ended, it was time to roast peanuts. Personally, I have never seen or taken part of this process. While O was setting up the roaster, she sat down her mp3 player in a chair. A servant girl, who lives with the family and helps the old woman do the work, picked up the mp3 player, put in the earphones and pushed play. At this time O did not get mad, jealous or unhappy not to listen to the player. Instead she was happy to give it to her to listen. For hours, this servant girl listened. Then I asked, “O, does she normally listen to the mp3 player?” O said, “Yea, every day when I am working on the street either the girl, her daughter or son listens to the mp3 player.” 

Personally, I have my own Ipod and if people want to use it, they always ask first. However, this is simply not the case within O’s family and passing around the mp3 player filled with G0d’s W0rd is everyday occurrence.

How wonderful it was to see that a small mp3 player was being passed around from one person to another person in the whole family. There were no jealously, no signs of anger, no unhappy moment. They were all smiling while one person listens to it and then the next person listens to it. 

Pr@ise G0d for this small little device filled with H1s W0rd being passed around O’s family. People in the family that I would never even consider to give a B1ble or another mp3 player to is hearing G0d’s W0rd. How BIG our G0d really is!!! Seeing, knowing and loving all of H1s people.  Knowing the people that I would overlook and count as not being interested in H1s W0rd, I see He is taking care of and showing H1mself to them daily!!! Pr@ise the L0rd for H1s unfailing love to reach all of H1s people! 

Please pr@y for all of O’s family…I’m not just saying her immediate family (her 7 children and her husband), but all of her family that she lives with right now. I am talking about the 2 old women, another family of 1 mother and 5 children, the old man, another family of 1 mother and 3 children, her son’s wife and small child, all of their servant girls and boy and all the small children that wonder in the family compound daily playing with all the other kids. All of these people live within O’s compound…ALL are either hearing or seeing G0d’s magnificent character! Will you to pr@y BIG with me right now for all of these people…not only for them to see G0d daily, but for each one of them to believe that J.s.s is their personal S@vior! For God has shown me how BIG He is and how BIG He is working not only within O, but with her whole family. Our pr@yer is truly needed!

Expect the Unexpected Part 2

As I was spending the day with O she suddenly turned to me and asked “Do you have another mp3 player of G0d’s stories?” I responded “Yes, I have another one. Why?” She explained that every night her son comes home from work listening to Chr1st1an music and he wanted to have an mp3 player to listen to. The next visit I was able to give O the mp3 player to give to her son! 

After my time with O, I thanked G0d for the interest of H1s W0rd to her son, P@p@. The week that I stayed with O and her family, this son was very distance. He would barely greet me and he would never stay around where I was sitting. It didn’t bother me at the time, this was the first and only time a white person stayed with their family. However, every visit in the last 2 weeks P@p@ has come and sat by me. He would greet me initially and then he would sit down and greet me again. Every time he sees me, he has a smile on his face (unlike before) and is usually playing Chr1st1an music on his phone. 

Whenever I have talked with O in the last few weeks, she always tells me that P@p@ listens to the mp3 player at work. Specifically she says, “K@dia, everyday P@p@ is sitting at his sewing machine, he has his earphones in his ears listening to the mp3 player and then starts working.” 

I am excited to see how G0d is specifically working within each of O’s family one by one. Thank G0d for the work He is doing and pr@ise H1m for walking with us day by day so H1s gl0ry is being seen to all!

Please pr@y for P@p@ as he continues to listen to the mp3 player filled with G0d’s W0rd. Pr@y for his ears to be open, his heart to be filled, and his mind to understand. But MOST of all pr@y that P@p@ will come to believe that J.s.s is the One and only S@vior, so we can all celebrate together that one more person will be going to live with our F@ther.

Expect the Unexpected

Week after week I have visited our friend O either on the street or at her house. Some days we work peanuts, other days we listen to music and some days we simply sit by each other. Over the past 5 weeks I have come to learn to expect the unexpected….

On the days I have planned to tell O a story from G0d’s W0rd or go over a story we have previously told her, she always says “K@dia, can we talk about this another day?” 

On the days where I go there thinking, “I am only going to visit Oumou to help her.” She says, “K@dia, did J.s.s really do this? No REALLY, did J.s.s really do this? HOW, I want to know?” 

This is exactly what happened last Friday, a day of unexpected events. It started after making plans with Joke to study the B1ble together on Friday, O called unexpectedly and said “K@DIA, K@DIA, there is A LOT of peanut work tomorrow. Are you coming?” “Yes O, I will come to help you work peanuts.” 

So instead of studying the B1ble together, Joke and I went to sit on the street with O to work peanuts.

After eating lunch, a trip to the market and working all the peanuts, Joke asked, “Hey O, can we tell you a story from G0d’s W0rd?” O responded her normal response, “K@dia, can we talk about this another day?” Without giving up we asked her, “O, what have you been listening to on you mp3 player?” Again she responded “K@dia, can we talk about this another day?”

Confused and discouraged we then stopped asking and sat there wondering why she wants to believe in J.s.s., but never wants to hear a story from G0d’s W0rd. However, just as Joke and I began to leave the street, Joke turned to me and said “You ask her if you can tell her a story from G0d’s W0rd. Maybe she will accept if you specifically ask her.” So I asked O and she accepted and G0d opened the doors wide. That day I told O the story the S@maritan Women. And every time O was amazed she would stop me and Joke and say ““No wait, J.s.s had never met this woman before? No wait, I’m not ready to move on with the story, J.s.s knew the past history of this woman? No wait, J.s.s did what?” Amazed and flabbergasted her face would always light up at every question she had and our response to her question. 

Once we finished the story Joke and I then walked her through the story of J.s.s Walking on Water (a story she had previously heard). Joke and I would often help her by asking her questions like “Did J.s.s leave Pete to drown or did he help Pete?’ and ‘Where was J.s.s when his closest followers were in the boat in trouble?’” Every question she asked she knew the answer and always answered the question correctly and then she would continue with the story as much as she could.

After walking her through the story of J.s.s Walking on Water Joke and I were going to stop, but O all of a sudden began sharing with us what she had been hearing on her mp3 player. O went into the detail of how Jud@s betrayed J.s.s.; how J.s.s. predicted that Pete would deny him 3x’s before the roster crows and how J.s.s died and rose three days later. Then she went into the details of how a woman poured her expensive perfume over J.s.s and how she remembered something about a farmer sowing seed and then vines and branches. 

Never before has O had the confidence to tell us what she had been hearing. She has always said, “I cannot tell you a whole story, but another day I will be prepared to share a story with you.” But that day G0d opened up her heart and mind to share the small specific details surround J.s.s death for us.  

Oh, how I pr@ised G0d after visiting O that day. A day full of unexpected events only G0d could have put together. I pr@ised G0d for Joke who understands the M@lian culture to not give up on our opportunity to share a story with O, but realized maybe we could tell O a story if I asked her directly. I pr@ised G0d for O wanting to hear a story after we ask her a second time and the amazement that brightened her face throughout the whole story.

I pr@ised G0d how amazing it was to see O being able to tell us G0d’s W0rd, specific details from G0d’s W0rd when neither Joke, L0ri or I have asked her specifically and to be a part of that. 

I ask you to pr@ise G0d with me for the opening up O’s mind and heart to understand H1s W0rd! Pr@ise G0d for our relationship with O and her family who is hearing His W0rd daily! Pr@ise God for the sweet time Joke and I spent with O! Pr@ise G0d for the work He is doing daily within her heart!

F@ith Comes By Hearing

On our last visit to B@ye, we were excited to see the construction of Radio K@ntigiya progressing! How fun it was to see the men working and to see the progress happen daily. We have believed this radio station to be the center of Father's plan to declare His gl0ry and His desire to bring f@ith into the lives of those who have never heard of His Son.
In Romans 10, the writer tells us that if we confess with our mouths that J.s.s is L0rd and believe in our hearts that G0d raised him from the dead, we will be saved. He continues, "it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with G0d...it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved...Everyone who calls on the name of the L0rd will be saved." Then he asks a series of great questions, "But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?" He goes on to explain, "So f@ith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Chr1st."
Most of the people do not read and write and they continue to live in a culture that values oral communication. Radio K@ntigiya will soon be on air telling the story, proclaiming the Good News, and communicating Father's love daily among the people who live there. It will also provide daily nourishment for the people who do not have access to the written W0rd. 
We anticipate that Radio Kantigiya will be complete with the building, equipment, tower, and the staff by the end of September or beginning of October. We wait with eager expectation for ALL that G0d has planned to do through this ongoing project. HSI, along with the believers in this area and World Vision, look forward to the the day Radio K@ntigiya goes on air and begins declaring the Gl0ry of our Father to the B@ye region!
We thank you and value your partnership with us in every way. Together we have seen God do amazing things already this year--the demonstration of Father's compassion through the gift of grain project, the establishment of a home base for HSI in M@li, the sending of C@therine to live on the field in M@li, open doors with village chiefs and elders as we prayed for the upcoming planting and harvest seasons, the demonstration of G0d's righteousness through the relationships C@therine and I have been able to make among the people in M@li.
We ask you to look over the following needs and ask our Father to show you how you can join us in making J.s.s. known in ways that people in this region can hear, believe, call on, and confess J.s.s. and be saved. We  welcome your partnership, and we will keep you up to date on what Father is doing and how He is at work.
Needs for the start up Radio K@ntigiya:

Start up Salaries for 3 Staff                       

Computuer                                              

Generator/Installation                               

Contingency Fund                                   

Motorcycle                                            

We are believing G0d for these provisions by the end of September. If you would like to partner with us to provide these needs, you may do so my making donations to HSI. Please go to our website and follow the instructions there  www.hisharvesters.org/support.html  Please designate funds as "Radio K@ntigiya"