Author name: Lois Gillespie

Only the day after Christmas, and everyone is back at their ‘jobs’. The students will return next Wednesday, and there is a lot to do before that time. Christmas decorations are coming down, and beds are being made up. The homes and school rooms have been cleaned thoroughly, as they are during each break. This coming trimester is the ‘tough’ one, when it is hot and dry and everything is brown. The dust of the harmattan quickly takes over, and keeping things clean is a never ending project. 

Sunday’s service in the village where our men and boys helped finish a church was attended by 500+ villagers, some walking many kilometers just to be a part of the celebration. The local chief was present to hear a clear gospel message. The people here are so appreciative of all we do, and they really enjoy letting us know. They served dinner to anyone who stayed, and also fed the workers during the week. In fact, Bob was the guest of honor on Thursday when he was served the head of a bushrat. I think he would have preferred not to be so honored!

Although we missed our families, Christmas day wasn’t as tough as it could have been. I think this is partly due to the fact that it doesn’t seem like Christmas to us – it’s too hot! – and there wasn’t the hustle and bustle of shopping that I’m used to. Also, our new friends here at ICA were determined that no one would have time to get lonely. We had activities throughout the entire day and on Christmas Eve. But we also know the biggest reason we were ‘OK’ is because you were praying; we thank you for that. 

Some of you have written to us to encourage us and to let us know how we can pray for you. We enjoy hearing from you and being your prayer partner also, so keep those e-mails coming. (I’ll do my best to keep the e-mail working from this end.)

We’re here, and online again. We apologize for the past 2 weeks’ lack of updates. One week we were ‘out of town’; this week we’ve been in the middle of a network upgrade that turned out to be a nightmare. Right now, we’re praising the Lord that things are up and running again, although we weren’t able to perform the upgrade due to equipment failure. We can’t run out to CompUSA and get a new part; we have to wait for one to come from the states with someone returning from their Christmas break.

While I’ve been ‘locked in the server room’ this week, Bob has been out with the staff men and boys from ICA on a building outreach project in a nearby village. Tomorrow, we all join these local believers for the 1st service in their newly-roofed church building. (It had been sitting unfinished for several years.) It’s our ‘Christmas present’ to the community, and it has been a special time of bonding with these believers and with each other for all involved.

As I thought about you all this week, I was blessed to know that since you hadn’t heard from us in our weekly updates, you were probably praying, knowing that something must be ‘wrong’. What an encouragement you have been to us by being faithful in your prayer support! Won’t it be interesting some day in heaven to find out about all the times you prayed for others, and all the ways God answered those prayers!

We want to wish you a very special Christmas. Give all those you love an extra hug, remembering us as we do our ‘Christmas’ loving by long distance this year. Enjoy your time together, building memories that are priceless.

We’re home from Gao, Mali, where we had a wonderful time ministering with people from our home church to help build a church building for the people there. The Pastor grew up in Gao and has a good ministry with the people, especially the Taureg and Songhai. We were blessed by the warm receptions from these believers, and of their genuine love for the Lord.

While Bob worked on the building with the other team members, I worked with another lady in the team to prepare breakfasts and suppers. Lunches were provided by the ladies of the church. We were also both involved in running others around from place to place in the vehicle that God recently provided for us. Since most of you know that I’m not especially blessed with culinary skills, the new church cookbook that arrived with our team was very much appreciated! The Pastor’s wife helped with the daily marketing, since shopping involves much more than running to the local IGA.

We were very much aware of the prayers of God’s people during this trip in so many ways, but the 24-hour trip to Gao (because of complications with the vehicle of the other missionary with whom we were caravanning) and the 18-hour return trip left us in quiet awe about our God. Because we’d heard so many missionary stories about all that can go wrong, we almost didn’t make the trip. However, we felt strongly that we needed to be a part of this team, and decided to set aside our ‘paranoia’ and go with God. The return trip especially seemed as if we were being led by angels who were going before us. Nowhere were we asked for ‘extra fees’; at all checkpoints we were waved through without questioning; and at the borders, we were able to communicate even with our limited French, and we were processed quickly and sent on our way. Our God-given vehicle made the trip without any complications, not even flat tires (one missionary had 7 flat tires when making this trip). There’s just one problem – we don’t have any ‘horror stories’ to share.

Thank you for praying. We wanted you to know how God answered your prayers without waiting for next Wednesday’s update.