He Shall Be Called

"The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine...

For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: 

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace...

Isaiah 9:2, 6

"And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." Matthew 1:21
"...and they will call him Immanuel, which means 'God with us.'" Matthew 1:23

Greetings to YOU ALL and Merry Christmas!!!!

Like many of you these past few days and weeks have been full of activity and experiencing the joys of this season!! In M@li, our weather has changed drastically with morning temperatures in the 50's and the afternoons in the 80's. I spend each morning in my favorite spot--meeting with my Savior by a little fire to heat up some water for hot chocolate and keep my toes warm. These days are always number and can never last long enough...of the joy of the cool mornings with my Best Friend, Immanue!! I pr@y you are having precious moments with Jss these days and that your time with family and friends will be full of the Light He brings to life!! Know that I am thinking of you and giving thanks for the joys you have brought to my life!!

As always, I have spent time thinking about Chr!stmas and what it has meant for me. I have considered what this baby and His purpose in life, death, and r3surrection has meant for me. I have pondered how to express my love for Him to those around me. This all began while sitting at a Baby Naming ceremony for a friend's grandchild. As I took in all the cultural things they do here to present a child to its family, friends, and the world, I began to think about how Jss was presented.

Even before the creation of the world, our Father knew His Son would be sent to us and all throughout the history of mankind, our Father was preparing for the presentation of His Son to the world. All things that happened were orchestrated and put together so that we as His special creation would recognize the gift of His Son and the S@lvation that He would bring to us. Even before He was born, His names were being spoken. they were being given, so that when He was presented to His family, friends, and the world, they would recognize Him. He will be called:

WONDERFUL

COUNSELOR

WONDERFUL COUNSELOR

MIGHTY

GOD

MIGHTY GOD

EVERLASTING

FATHER

EVERLASTING FATHER

PRINCE

PEACE

PRINCE OF PEACE

JESUS

IMMANUEL

GOD WITH US

These were just some of the names He was called before He was born and they are only a drop in the ocean of names we have come to know Him by after His birth. He is so much, so much, so much more than words or names can describe!! What do you call him? Take time to call Him by name and to express to Him who He is to you...after all we are celebrating His baby naming celebration and G0d's presentation of HIS SON to us and to the WORLD!!

Please pr@y for those living in darkness!! May they see the GREAT LIGHT and may JSS--that LIGHT shine on them this Chr!stmas!!

i love you all!! May G0d fill you will JOY, HOPE, PEACE, LOVE, and HIS PRESENCE as you spend time with family and friends this CHR!STmas!!

Beginning from V!llage to V!llage

"One day Jss called together his twelve d!scipl3s and gave them power and authority to cast out all demons and to heal all diseases. Then He sent them out to tell everyone about the K!ngd0m of G0d and to heal the sick..." Luke 9:1-2

"The L0rd now chose seventy-two other d!scipl3s and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places He planned to visit. These were His instructions to them, "The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pr@y to the L0rd who is in charge of the harvest; ask Him to send more workers into His fields. Now go, and remember that I am sending you out as lambs among wolves." Luke 10:1-3

 Yesterday I drove 3 young men  to the village of Da and left them with the chief of the village and another man. As I left the village I cried and gave thanks to G0d for His grace and mercy, His call and His f@ithfulness!! I sang pr@ises to Him at the top of my lungs!! 

You see, the three young men (our first Harvest Team) I dropped off had been chosen by G0d to spend the next 3 days in this village--sharing the Words and life of Jss with the people there. They are 3 young men from 3 different ch.rches in B@mak0 who desire to spend some time with people they do not know in order  to share with them the ONE they DO know. As Jss sent His 12 d!scipl3s, the 72 d!scipl3s, He is now sending these 3 young men. They are D@n, B3n, Yu5. 

G0d had placed the village of Da on the heart of D@n and about 3 weeks ago sent D@n with a couple of friends to see the village, meet the chief, and look for how G0d might be working. The chief welcomed him with open arms, told him he would have a place to stay, and said he looked forward to time with him. D@n also met one Chr!sti@n woman and a man who had just become a b3li3ver. He saw that they had no one to help them grow or w0rship with them. He came home excited and looking for the next step with G0d to go to this village. 

After our arrival yesterday, we went straight to the chief's house where he changed my last name to Doumbia...smile. He welcomed us and explained with whom and where the three men would stay. The man was there with us, so he took them to his house and we unloaded them there. He wanted his picture made with them beside the house they would be staying in. Then he went into his house and brought out a laminated piece of paper. We looked at it and it was his certificate of baptism. He was so excited about it. When I read it all, I saw the date on it. This man had just been baptized November 17, 2013. He too was a new f0ll0wer.

Pr@y for them as they spend time with the chief, with the f0ll0wers of Jss in the village, and as they share with other the G00d News of the K!ngdom of G0d. They plan to have a time of w0rship with the f0ll0wers there as well as anyone else who would join them. Pr@y for G0d to pour out His Sp!r!t empowering these three men to accomplish His purposes as well as empowering the people He is drawing to Himself to b3li3ve. Pr@y for them as they learn and seek to know how we can develop and move forward with sending teams into the harvest from V!llage to V!llage.

Devouring of another kind

Greetings friends who bow with me...

"So humble yourselves under the mighty power of G0d, and at the right time He will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to G0d, for He cares about you. 

Stay Alert! Watch our for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your f@ith. Remember that your Chr!sti@n brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are. 

In His kindness God called you to share in His eternal gl0ry by means of Chr!st J.s.s. So after you have suffered a little while, He will restore, support, and strengthen you, and He will place you on a firm foundation. All power to Him forever! Amen.

1 Peter 5:6-11

These verses have become the theme for my time here in M since my return in July. I continue to go back to them for strength on what seems to be a regular basis these days. I guess you can say the honeymoon is over and now we are into the real day to day of discipleship, growing, learning, humbling ourselves, and giving all of our concerns to G0d for He cares for us. Daily I find myself preparing for the enemy and watching for him...knowing there will be pain, struggle, and sometimes even destruction. 

While all this hurt and struggle is going on and there are days I just want to run, I want you to know that your prayers and my f@ith in the One who has called me remain the things that give me what I need daily to stand firm and strong...to seek G0d's perspective ...not the perspective of my own selfishness, my own hurt, my own anything. Truly this work G0d calls us to do has nothing to do with us but everything to do with Him and His perspective and His purposes. 

I am learning the truths that we suffer, but He restores! We suffer, yet He supports! We suffer, HE STRENGTHENS! We suffer, and HE puts us on a FIRM foundation!! ALL POWER TO HIM FOREVER!!

Please pr@y these verses over us as often as G0d brings it to your mind!! Please pr@y for 0 and S0 as they are being taunted, tortured, and occasionally devoured bit by bit by the enemy. Our enemy is not happy with their interest and their pursuit of Jss. I ask you to especially pr@y for 0 as she is in a battle from many different sides. I have struggled to understand where she truly stands with G0d and I'm so glad G0d continues to remind me that it is not my job to know where someone stands with Him....it is my job to be His light in the darkness, to be His Presence to love, care for, and demonstrate His righteousness in my own life. I plead with you to pr@y earnestly for 0 as she is torn and twisted from so many directions...home, work, friends, family. It is not easy being the friend of a white person here and even less easy to be a f0ll0wer of Jss along with it. My heart breaks for her, yet I know that truly G0d alone can help her, can reveal truth to her, can RESTORE, SUPPORT, STRENGTHEN, AND PUR HER ON A FIRM FOUNDATION!! Those are the things I pr@y for her...and S0...

Will you join me?

The Big Feast

Greetings and Thanksgiving to you all!!

Thank you so much for your Pr@yers for our Big Feast M@lian Style! It was a great and fun day! I started early preparing my heart to share G0d's story, preparing the house for lots of visitors, and washing the dust off of all the dishes, cooking pots and bowls we would use to prepare the feast! Renting chairs, setting up the garage, then the fun begins. Friends begin to show up and the cooking starts.

So many times before I am busy picking people up and running here and there, getting this or that, but this time...this feast I was able to sit with my women friends who came early and prepare the meal beside them. It was the greatest joy, even though we cried a lot. We had to cut up 10 kilos of onions. So the onions are where we began...peeling them, cutting them in half, then in tiny slices. We were making an onion sauce called Yassa. It is so yummy and requires marinating the onions in mustard, Maggi (similar to bouillon cubes), garlic, and pepper. 

While some were cutting the mounds of onions, others were washing the 20 chicken legs and 20 chicken thighs, mincing the garlic, and preparing the pots for frying. Still others were cooking the couscous...8 packages of couscous. It was just fun! Each group was having a blast and we even had some outbursts of singing throughout our morning of cooking. Oh yea...and of course someone had to be making tea to keep us all going..3 rounds! And yes the day was like the tea...it got sweeter as the day went on!

 After the food was ready we ate...each one until we were stuffed....just as you should on Thanksgiving day! A group of children sitting together eating, a group of women gathered together around the common bowl, and the men sharing food together. A time I will not quickly forget and a time that I give GREAT THANKS to our G0d for allowing us to share together. Everyone was enjoying, laughing, and receiving the bountiful blessings G0d has given!

 After we ate, everyone received a cold soda of their choice! We raised them high and shouted together..."Ala, I ni ce!! Matigi, I ni ce! An be barika da I ye, I ka nyuma koson!!" God, thank you! Lord, thank you! We thank you for your goodness!" The smiles on their faces and the joy we shared in those moments of pr@ise blessed my heart!

We also broke open 4 watermelons! There are no words for the joy Africans have eating watermelon...so let's just get this picture in our minds...we all had watermelon from ear to ear, from fingers to elbows, and probably some on our toes!!





The sweetest part of the day was our time of pr@ise and thanksgiving! We started with pr@yer then sharing together Psalm 136:1-9 to declare who G0d is and how His f@ithful love endures forever.
We had a time for each of us to share things we give thanks to G0d for and the ways He has blessed us this year. One said, "He helped us find out what was wrong with our son. He has been sick all of his life but we did not know what was wrong. We have been able to get help for him." Another said, "I wanted to begin a business selling things in the market, and G0d helped me do that." One said, "I cannot say all He has done for me because the tears come and I cannot speak." We continued on sharing the story of the 10 Lepers Jss healed and discussing all that we learn from this

story. Most could not believe there was only one who returned to give thanks and pr@ise to G0d. We all agreed that as humans, we most often do not give G0d thanks for the things He does for us. We ended with more singing and dancing and pr@ising and giving thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving to my family and friends in Am3rica!! We have celebrated M@lian style and everyone agreed that they want to share this celebration together every year...to join with Am3rica and give thanks to G0d!!

 

 Happy 

Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

American Thanksgiving M@lian Style...headed my way

Greetings and Thanksgiving to you all from M!

This is just a quick note to ask you to join me in pr@ying for tomorrow, Friday. I have invited my M@lian friends over to celebrate Thanksgiving with me M@lian style. I have no idea who will actually come, but no matter what the order of the day is to give thanks to G0d our Father for ALL He has done for us! I am looking forward to being together and enjoy fellowship with what I consider to be my family here in M and to spend time singing, sharing G0d's story, eating together, and just hanging out for the day away from the workplace.

We will be having a feast...chicken (complete with bones), couscous, yassa (a yummilicious onion sauce), brownies, tea and dah(hibiscus tea), and cold sodas. Then we will sing songs of pr@ise and w0rship before and after we feast on G0d's Word. We will talk about the story of Jss healing the 10 Lepers and the 1 who came back to give thanks to Jss.

Please pr@y for us as you read this email and in the morning. When you are waking up the party will be beginning to get into full swing!!

I'll let you know how it goes and how other things have been going this past week!! Love you all and you are on my BIG THANK YOU list to G0d!!

Be Still

"Be still, and know that I am G0d! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world. The Lord of Heavens Armies is here among us;  the G0d of Isr@el is our fortress."

Psalm 46:10-11

Greetings everyone!!

My heart is much lighter today and I wanted to thank you for your pr@yers, your f@ithfulness, and your responses to go to the Father on behalf of the people here. Walking with you through this has been a joy and a privilege and I cannot keep silent about how our Father is listening and answering!!

I want you to join me in giving pr@ise to our Father for His Presence, His Power, and His Wisdom! Pr@ise Him for the way He draws His people together in unity to pr@y and to seek His will and His purposes!! Pr@ise Him for being a G0d who listens and responds, who acts for the sake and glory of His name. 

I confess I did not sleep much last night. I got up around 2 am and sat still with Him, pr@ying and seeking Him alongside you. I confess I really could not even put into words what I wanted or needed to pr@y. I also confess I still do not know how our Father is going to work all of this out, what the road looks like that will walk as we follow Him, or how He will use this for His glory. These are the few things I know and saw Him do today:

• Soften the heart of my friend who had closed the door to communication with me yesterday
• Open that door of communication this morning
• Open the door for me to sit among my people today, to listen to their hurts, and walk with them in this difficulty
• Open the door for me to speak Truth about G0d, His ways, His plans, and His purposes
• Open the ears of my friend to consider that the Truth that G0d had the power to stop what is happening but He didn't, to consider that if He didn't stop it, then whatever He is doing will be better than what they had before yesterday, to consider that we need to seek G0d and His will and surrender to whatever He has planned for their work, to consider that G0d is for them and He will never throw them away.
• Opened the way for us to work through this together for the good of everyone on the street and for the glory of G0d

Please continue to seek G0d's face and pr@y for this situation. Many, if not all of these women, bear the responsibility of providing for their children and families with little to no help from their husbands. Most of them are asking themselves how will I take care of my family....it is about the day to day survival...not the luxuries of the life you and I experience. Please pr@y for wisdom and boldness as I walk with them through this. Pr@y G0d will reveal Himself, His Truth, and His Plan to them and especially that through this trial, they will come to understand the personal relationship our Father longs to have with them...to help them, to provide for them, to guide them, and to pour out His grace, mercy and salvation.
I also want to give thanks and pr@ise to our Father for my visit to the doctor. I am doing much better. She did some blood work today to check things out and I will get the results from that tomorrow. Her instructions today were to "go to the street and spend some time with your friends, drink tea, and enjoy being out of the house." That is just what I did and G0d showed His Power and Presence.
One other thing to give pr@ise to our Daddy G0d...He is the One who prepares us and orders the moments of our day, the steps of our feet. He does all of this without our understanding so much of the time. I say this because Sunday a week ago I felt compelled to BE STILL with Him, to know that He is G0d, and to claim the Truth that He WILL be honored among the nations and in all the earth. I had the sweetest time with Him that day and He did a major work in my heart, in my eyesight, and in my mind. So much changed that day and the battle with the enemy lifted in so many ways. It was that next Tuesday that the doctor ordered me not to work, to stay home and rest, to take my medicine, and recuperate. Talk about  BE STILL and KNOW....7 days of not going out, not running like a crazy woman, not coming home exhausted. In those 7 days, G0d showed me how He was being honored, how He was at work, how He chooses to use us...He doesn't need us, He chooses to use us. Sweet, sweet time of gentle reminders and remembering my place before G0d. Oh how He orchestrates every detail of our lives...He is Sovereign...He is worthy of our Pr@ise!
Give HIM all the pr@ise!

"Rain and snow fall from the sky.
But they don't return without watering the earth that produces seeds to plant and grain to eat.
That's how it is with my words. They don't return to me without doing everything I send them to do." 

Isaiah 55:10-11

Greetings to all of you, my friends and co-laborers!

Last week, my neighbor came to me to tell me he would be leaving to go to his father's village. He has been living next door to me studying with to be an Imam under the leadership of the Imam that lives beside me. G0d has allowed me to build a good relationship with these two men, their wives, and their children. We laugh together, we share food with each other, and we spend time talking together. Many times they have been sick and have allowed me to pr@y in the name of Jss. Our G0d responded with healing when they were embracing death. We walked together through the difficulty of losing the son of the Imam...a tough time for all of us, yet G0d's compassion and love was expressed in real ways. We have rejoiced over the arrival of a son in the life of this man who came to me last week.

When I went home, I told him that I was going to spend some time with my parents. I explained it had been a long time since I had seen them, and I told them their ages. He was so moved by the fact that my Father was almost 80 years old. From that day on and since my return, there has not been a morning or an evening that he did not greet me and ask about my father. He always gives me this blessing for my father... "May God give him good health and life until he is102."

We talked a lot about his going to the village, what he would be doing there, who was going with him, and when he would come back. I must admit my eyes filled with tears and still do as I think about it.  After I had expressed my sorrow in his leaving, my giving him the road to go, and after I had blessed his journey, an amazing thing happened. He knocked on my door again. When I opened the door, with tears in his eyes he placed a coin in my hand and asked me to give it to my father. I had the hardest time keeping it together in that moment. It was not the moment to cry but my eyes and emotions, even now, were difficult to control. I told him my father would receive it and I thanked him so much!! The coin was approximately $1 in monetary value, but its true worth is incomparable in this world. For some unknown reason at this point, G0d has connected this man to my father in a way that probably none of us can really know or understand. He has never seen him or met him, yet he considers him every time he sees me.

When I shared this story with my father, he asked me if i could give this young man one of the mp3 radio players that has God's Word and songs of Truth on it. He wanted to give him a gift that would give him an opportunity to hear more about Jss and understand G0d's great gift to us through Jss.  I told him,"Yes, I can do that!" You have to know also that my dad is a Gideon and giving G0d's Word to someone is part of who he is.

After talking with my dad, I went the next day with D@n to give the mp3 player to him and to express my father's gratitude for his gift and his continual blessing of health and life until he was 102. He was so happy to receive it and he could not wait to begin listening. He went with a huge smile on his face into the house to listen with his teacher. I don't know how long they listened that night, but when I went out the next morning they were listening. His first words of greeting were "Thank your father for me! The words and songs on this radio taste so good!" He left that afternoon and I was not sure when I would see him again. To my surprise, this past Monday evening when I came home, my father's unknown son, Sole, was sitting outside my house along with about 10 other men, his teacher,
the 3 women of the house and all the children. He and his older brother had come back before heading to their father's village. They were listening to the radio and talking with one another. I don't know what G0d has planned for this gift from a father to an unknown son, but I know the words and songs he is listening to on that radio have power to bring life and salvation.

Please pr@y for Sole, his teacher, and all those who may listen to G0d's Words with him. Pr@y specifically for G0d's Sp!r!t to be poured out every time the radio is turned on and for understanding to be given to those who listen. Pr@y for The Truth to be revealed, for courage to walk in The Way, and for The Life to be place in the hearts of Sole, his teacher, and all who listen with them. Please pr@y for the s@lvat!on of these brothers and sisters of mine!!