On Their Way Back

Greetings! The Pana team is on their way back to Bamako. The trip to Salle was a great success. There will be many stories to tell, the most important about a young girl, Ma, who became a believer! Praise God!

Safely to B@m@ko

The P@n@ team has arrived safely in B@m@ko! Father held off the rainstorm so that the plane was able to land safely and the team was able to get their luggage and make it to their housing without getting wet. All the luggage made it too! Father is sooooo good! Thank you too, for pr@ying the team safely to B@m@ko. As you bend your knees on their behalf tonight, please pr@y for their time in the morning. They will meet together for about an hour to discuss future work among the P@n@. Pr@y for wisdom and direction during this time of discussion. Then the team will leave around 9am with the goal of making it to M0pt1. Again, pr@y Father's protection around them and for opportunities to witness along the way.

Your pr@yers are being answered. Father is working. Let's keep lifting up this team! Thank you!

Pr@yer

Please join us in pr@ying for the HSI team that is currently serving in Mali, West Africa. Many people, along with the Harvest Pr@yer Network are praying each night at 10pm Central Time. Use the link below to access the P@n@ Team's Pr@yer Guide.



Thank you for joining in Father's work!

The time has come to send out the next Pana team, to armor up for the battle and to bend our knees in prayer for the Pana and the team God has chosen. Attached you will find a prayer guide to follow along with us as we walk, live, and story among the Pana.

We would like to UNITE our prayer network in an even greater way this trip by inviting all of you to join together in prayer every night at 10:00 pm...just before you tuck yourself into bed...remember the Pana and the team serving among them. We would like for you to make that commitment along with the churches who are represented by members on the team. We believe God has great things for the Pana and we know without doubt that God's Word is true..."Where two or three come together in my name, there I Am with them." We cannot wait to see how God reveals Himself as we all come together at 10:00 pm in His name on behalf of the Pana.

You may ask, "Why 10:00 pm?" With the time difference, as you go to bed we will be getting up to begin our day. As you pray at 10:00 pm, you will be the power that energizes, prepares, and infuses us with God's Presence, wisdom, and Word.

Thank you for being a part of the greatest Prayer Network ever....smile...
We love you and thank God for you and your partnership! Thank you for joining in the Harvest of people brought to eternal life!

lori and the Pana team

Thank you for praying for my time with FBC Midland, TX and Humble Area's FBC.
Our training time with the 5 mission teams in Midland was great. Our main focus was learning about becoming an effective cross cultural witness. We spent 6 hours learning, discussing, and seeking to apply our new understanding to the different peoples the teams will be visiting. We discussed worldviews and culture, along with a fast overview of some basic mission team keys to being prepared. We focused on the importance of seeking to understand the influences that worldview and culture have on how we share the gospel with people from different worldviews and cultures. It was fun to grow together as we all seek to become the witnesses and servants God wants us to be.....so that we can make Jesus known to the ends of the earth.

I flew back into Humble Sunday morning to speak to the Life Groups. I spent time with a ladies group that has adopted me and HSI. It was great to be with them again and to catch up. It was awesome to hear how God is working among them and using them to minister to one another. It was great to share with them all that God is doing in Mali as well as how God is calling out volunteers to go. Of course there is always the challenge to join God...smile!

I spoke to another Life Group at 10:50. It was great to be with them and make them aware of the mission of Harvest Seekers International and how God has partnered our mission with their church to evangelize and plant churches among the Dafin people in Mali. Again...a challenge to join the laborers in the harvest.

Please pray for the teams from Midland who are in the planning and preparation phase before they embark on their different adventures. The first team will leave for Belize in about 1 week. The other teams will leave at varying times through the summer, traveling to: Mali, Central Mexico, Vietnam, and Costa Rica.

Pray for the Life Groups of Humble FBC to pursue their place among the nations and to take seriously the great commission for their own lives.

For now...it is time to walk out the work God has for me here in the USA as well as in Mali. Please pray for me today as I go to lead a training conference in Midland, TX. We will be talking about becoming culturally effective witnesses and servants for Jesus. First Baptist Church has volunteer teams going to Mali, Vietnam, Costa Rico, Mexico, and Belize. We will all be meeting together to prepare for the task of going out into the harvest fields and making Jesus known. Praise God for all of these volunteers willing to walk in faith to make Him known to those who need to know of His power, grace, and salvation.

I will also fly back to Houston early Sunday morning to join Humble Area's First Baptist Church for a day of emphasis and awareness of missions. I will be speaking to 3 Life Groups and sharing with them all that God is doing among the nations. Pray for them to be open to joining God in the harvest.

Living Water

As we arrived in the Pana village at the end of January and talked with the chief and elders of the village, they shared with us the difficulties they were facing. We asked about the harvest and how it had been. Their response was, "It was bad." They went on to tell us about how the birds had come and devoured their the millet they plant for their daily food. My heart broke as I listened because I have seen the vastness of a flock of birds like they were describing and my heart immediately felt the desperation that must come over them when they see the birds coming. Within moments these birds can eat an entire field of millet. My mind understood the devastation of their situation.

Then the chief went on to say how their water was bad. That made me curious since I had been there just a month earlier and helped the women pump beautiful clear water from the well. The next morning I went out to see the women at the pump but there were none. Everyone was drawing water from the well with ropes. I asked one of the women about the pump and she said it was broken. With that response, I thought that must be what they mean when they said the water was bad. NO...that was not it. Later that afternoon, the team split up to prayer walk through the village. That is when God showed us the true meaning of the chief's statement...Our water is bad. We met many who were sick and had strange infections. We prayed for them believing God to answer us with healing. As we approached the well, we stood and prayed for those drawing water. Then our attention was drawn to the water that was being poured out of the well and into their pans, buckets, and animal troughs. It was a thick, black liquid sludge.

At the same moment, we each groaned and realized just how bad their water was. We stood with our water bottles of clean, pure water and a sense of humility came over us. The questions pounded in our hearts..."How can we stand here with this water and drink it while our friends are drinking this sludge? How can we see this, know the desperation of the situation, and do nothing about it?" We knew without good water sickness would overtake this village and the people would die...and die without the knowledge of Jesus. We began praying and talking as a team asking God for wisdom and discernment about how to best come alongside our chief and our village to see that the pump was fixed and life giving water was restored to this village. With the help of the Malian missionary who was with us, God revealed His plan. Together this team, the Malian missionary, and the people of the village-- each doing what they could--partnered to fix the pump and bring clean life giving water to the Pana.

As we left the village, each of us on the team knew that God had just worked to lay the foundation for His Spirit to reveal to the Pana that Jesus is the Living Water. God was working in the physical world to bring Spiritual Truth to the Pana so that just like the woman at the well...they too can hear Jesus say to them "...those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life."

I received text messages from the Malian missionary saying that the pump was fixed. Fresh clean water was flowing again as the women went to the pump. The village held a celebration thanking God for helping them.

Please give PRAISE and THANKS to God for providing all that was necessary to restore to this village water that will bring life instead of disease, infection, and death. PRAISE God for the barriers that HE broke down in this village so that the Story of Jesus can become a spring of living water that leads them to eternal life. PRAISE God for calling out His children to go live out HIS Presence and HIS love among the Pana.

Please pray for our Pana friends and family.
Ask God to ready their hearts to hear His message about Jesus, the Living Water.

Ask God to bring health and healing to their bodies as they drink the clean, pure water flowing from the pump.

Ask God to call and send out more servants to go and share His Story with the Pana.

Thanks for your partnership, your prayers, and your love for the nations...especially the Pana!
drinking deeply from the Living Water...
lori