Author name: Lois Gillespie

Another Airport Experience

Just a quick note to let you all know we arrived in Niamey, Niger tonight – only 2 1/2 hours late. Some abandoned luggage in the Paris airport caused them to clear out the international waiting area and move everyone out beyond the check-in area. We stood around for 2 1/2 hours before they declared it ‘safe’, then it took about 2 more hours for all those people to go through security again. No flights were allowed to board or unboard during that time. Just one more adventure for the books…

We were warmly welcomed by friends from ICA and look forward to spending time with them tomorrow as they show us around Niamey, including Sahel Academy. The guys have some arrangements to make for our trip back to ICA, but they already have the trucks (2 semis) waiting for us.

We’ll keep you posted. Thanks for your prayers.

The Greatest Gift of All

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.”

John 3:16

Many of us have spent a lot of time in the past few weeks trying to come up with that perfect gift for everyone on our gift-giving list. Whether we make these gifts with our own hands or spend too many hours running from store to store to find the latest gizmo, our Decembers are often consumed with thoughts of giving. clip_image002[1]For most of us, there is that one person on our list who takes more creative thought than anyone else ? the person who already has everything you can think of, or the person who doesn?t usually like the gifts no matter how hard you try.

Two thousand years ago, God faced a similar gift-giving quandary, only His problems were much different. He didn?t have to search for the perfect gift ? He had that. However, He had to find a creative way to give this Gift to people Who didn?t even like Him, and then convince them how much they needed this perfect Gift. So ?when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son?? to be born in a manger that first Christmas night (Gal. 4:4). The rest is history ? no matter how much some are trying to deny it.

In last year?s Christmas greeting, we wrote ?the uncertain future of International Christian Academy (ICA) in Cote d?Ivoire has kept us wondering what God is doing in our lives. We?re continually reminding ourselves that we are walking in faith.? So much has happened this past year, but not much has changed with respect to our wondering. Many of you have followed the news of our recent evacuation and faithfully prayed for the safety of the staff and students of ICA. God answered those prayers. We didn?t expect to be part of this Christmas season here in the states. We thought we would be missing friends and loved ones from ?back home? while enjoying the Christmas traditions of ICA with many returning staff and students. God?s plans were different though, and we now find ourselves enjoying Christmas in the USA while missing our friends and loved ones from ICA. We are truly blessed by how God is using your prayers. Thank you!

As we look ahead to 2005, we ask you, our faithful prayer warriors, to pray for:

? God?s clear direction as to our future ministry. ICA will not be re-opening in Bouak?, Cote d?Ivoire;

? God?s continued work in the hearts of those we left behind ? the French among whom we lived and our African friends;

? peace in Cote d?Ivoire.

Have a very special Christmas and a blessed New Year!

God’s Faithfulness

If this is the first e-mail you’ve received from us since before we left ICA and Ivory coast, I apologize. It seems that the e-mails sent by satellite while on the road may not have gone out as expected.

After a frustrating 2-day trip, we arrived at a very nice hotel in Bamako around 8:00 Sunday evening. Our various missions planned for us to take 2 days to recoup followed by 2 days of ‘debriefing’ etc. Since this may be the last time some of us are together, we are taking advantage of every minute. Yesterday we joined together in our last praise and worship service as ‘ICA’ during which several shared precious promises that God had revealed to them from His Word in the last week. I was especially blessed by some of our students who shared. What a week of life application we have all experienced!

Now, for all of us, the questions begin. Not just where do we go from here, but why were we here in the first place only to evacuate again 11 weeks after school began. All of us agreed with one staff member who shared that, even though we may never know the ‘why’, we knew that we had been faithful in what God had lead us to do.

We aren’t the only ones to have come out of Ivory Coast. As we sit and talk with other missionaries and hear of their amazing ‘escapes’, we realize how ‘busy’ God has been, and once again we are awed at His faithfulness. This must be a small taste of what we will experience in heaven as we praise and worship God by relating how faithful He has been.

We hope to fly out tomorrow around midnight, although at this point the embassy is still negotiating ticket prices. We have been very blessed by their help, by the love that has been shown to us by the missionary community here in Bamako, and by all the prayers offered up on our behalf by all of you. We can’t wait to see you and share in person what God has done once again.