Author name: Bob Gillespie

Sorry this is a little later than usual; we are without internet connectivity at the school, so I’m sending this from home. 

Thank you for praying for the building outreach that took place this past week-end. About 20 of our men and boys traveled to a village about 2 hours inland on Friday afternoon, sat up sound and projection equipment and showed a Christian video Friday night. Because of generator problems, the film didn’t start until 10:00, but they still had an audience, and 17 villagers prayed to receive the Lord as their Savior that night. Interestingly enough, although our men had done everything they could to start the generator, including praying, it wasn’t until an African pastor prayed that Satan would be bound and that his curses would be ineffective that the generator started and continued running without a hiccup. Saturday night, the generator again ran smoothly for another film night where 20 more villagers prayed for salvation. Satan wanted to prevent that, but God’s power prevailed. The group returned to campus after holding a service under the trees on Sunday morning. 

This weekend, another group goes back to the same village to finish the building the first group started. We’ve had more answers to prayer in that the roofing rafters are finished already when we weren’t sure they would be done in time. This is a special time for our campus fellowship as they reach out in faith, pray through obstacles, see God not only directly answer their prayers, but also see some of the villagers they spend time with ask Jesus into their hearts. Please pray for the continued ministry this weekend.

We ask that you also continue to pray about our choice of language school in Quebec for this next year. We’re collecting lots of information and need God’s wisdom to choose the school that will be best for us.

It will be difficult to describe all that has happened since our last newsletter, and most of it within the past 3 weeks, suddenly and unexpectedly. It all started with the death of a well-loved dorm father on September 18th from a massive heart attack to be followed the next day by events that ultimately resulted in the closing of International Christian Academy (ICA) and our emergency evacuation from the Bouake area of the Ivory Coast.

Dave Golding was the dorm father at Bethel dorm, a middle school boys’ dorm where we often spent time covering for the Goldings’ days off. He was considered the most physically fit man on campus. He was probably also the most well liked. Dave made everyone feel that they were special to him, and we can’t even imagine ICA without him. His memorial service was a testimony of God’s grace lived out in the life of a man who loved being a husband, father, dorm dad, and friend.

The very next morning, we awoke to the sight of the red flag outside our main office, warning us that conditions were unsettled in town, and we should not leave campus. That day began what appears to be a political and military battle for control between the mostly Muslim rebels of the north and the mostly ‘Christian’ loyalists of the south. Throughout the next week, we could often hear gunfire in the near distance as rebels took control of Bouake. Electricity and power was cut, and we were operating a diesel generator for limited hours and were running out of fuel. During that time, we had rebel soldiers stationed outside our wall within 100 yards, and several battles were fought within 3 kilometers. One of the worst battles for us was actually fought across our campus, with tracers from bullets clearly seen in the air above our heads, and evidence of some bullets actually falling inside our walls. Because of lockdown drills instituted since the robbery of July 17th, all staff and students quickly ran to ‘safe’ places. How like our God to take that previous ugly event and turn it into something good!

After that intense and too-close battle, we increased the urgency of our request for a military-escorted evacuation. Finally, on Wednesday, September 25th, we were filled with relief as the French military arrived to secure our campus and then to escort us out of town. This 90-kilometer trip took 10 hours because of the route required to avoid the rebel forces, and the need to have gasoline brought to our 21-vehicle convoy by helicopters. The next day, the remaining 1000 or so expatriots in Bouake were also evacuated during a 48-hour ceasefire.

We wish to thank everyone for their concern and prayers as we were facing all of this; we received e-mails of encouragement from all over the world, and were amazed at how far-reached the body of Christ is. Even though many were killed in the city of Bouake, God protected all the missionaries in town and at ICA. All students are now home with their parents or in the states with other relatives.

Again, as with the robbery at ICA on July 17th, we can see so many ways in which God again loved and protected us. When staff gathered for a two-day retreat before flying out from Abidjan, we were encouraged to jot down some of these things and share them. Even though our hearts hurt from recent events, we came away blessed to realize that our God is still in control.

The future of ICA is now in question. The longer this war lasts the more likely it is that the campus will be looted and destroyed. As all of us left everything behind except for what would fit in an evacuation back pack, students and staff alike will also loose personal possessions.

The need for ICA in West Africa is great. Since many of our parents have no other option for the education of their children, some will be forced to return to the states.

We fully expect to return to West Africa and be part of rebuilding the school, wherever it may be. However, half of our monthly support was coming from a school subsidy that ICA was able to provide. The new school will probably not be able to provide this same supplement, so we must raise additional support while we are back in the states.

With hurting and tender hearts, we thank you for your prayers and ask for your continued prayers for the following: 

• increased support needs; 
• comfort for Denise, Josh, Mark, and Nicole Golding; 
• peace in the Ivory Coast; 
• safety for missionaries who have not yet been able to get airline tickets to return home; 
• emotional healing for all ICAers–it’s been a chaotic 2 months; 
• the educational needs of ICA students evacuated last week; 
• the future of ICA.

Although graduation was just 3 short weeks ago, we are quickly preparing for a new school year to start in just 2 more weeks. Our changing from a trimester to a semester calendar makes this summer entirely too short! Even so, we are busy trying to do ALL the normal summer projects in these 5 1/2 weeks. For us, help is on the way – our daughter Gina and her husband Brian are coming to visit us, arriving tomorrow. We’ll put them to work for a week, and then we’ll all take a little time off. We praise God for this special blessing!

Bob’s summer project involves making his classroom a ‘real’ science classroom. With monies provided by some of you, he is having a science demonstration table, sink and cabinet built by local carpenters. He and Brian will be painting this room and doing some other repairs to chairs and tables. My project changes from day to day as others come in with their computer projects for me, but my plan was to add memory, reformat and reload most classroom computers. One of our teachers will be returning from the states with pieces and parts to build some new computers for our much-used computer lab. Gina, who works in the computer lab at her college, will be helping me with some of this.

Even though most of our ministry is here at ICA, we take advantage of opportunities to become involved in other outreach ministries of the school and other missionaries here in Cote d’Ivoire. At the end of April, we traveled with about 50 others to Toulepleu, a village near the Liberian border where many Liberian refugees have settled. While there, our group put a tin roof on their school, staged drama presentations, witnessed on the street corners, and conducted 2 large evening rallies with around 2,000 present each night. Closer to home, this summer we are attending a small Baptist Mid-Missions church here in Bouake, taking our keyboard and playing for their services. While French services are held earlier on Sunday mornings, these services are in English, a ministry to Liberian refugees, Ghanaians and other English-speaking Africans. We hope to continue this ministry throughout the year.

Some of you have heard by now of the armed robbery here at ICA this week. Three of our staff families were directly involved, although we all knew something was going on since gunshots and loud, angry yelling could be heard from anywhere on the upper campus. While the parents were roughed up, and money, jewelry and other items stolen, none of them was seriously injured. The bandits then stole a 4WD and fled campus with one of our men who later escaped. On leaving one of the homes, they shot and killed Soro, one of our ICA guards. Soro was not a Christian; he and his family are Muslim. Please pray for the people from ICA who will attend his funeral and continue to minister to his family. We want to show God’s personal love and care during this time of man’s inhumanity. Pray that God will use this to open up a new area of ministry for ICA among the Muslim people.

As many of you have personally experienced, at times like this, people just need to talk. The past few days have been filled with sharing and drawing closer as a group. We praise God the students weren’t here, and we can see so many ways in which God protected us and kept the situation from being so much worse. Thanks to e-mail, we know some of you were praying for us that evening. One of the mothers involved shared with her children that we can choose to trust or we can choose to fear. As King David reflected in Ps. 4:8, ‘I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep; for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.’

One of the ongoing prayer requests here at ICA is that people would respond to the call of God and come and be a part of this ministry. It is sobering to think of all the missions work that would be affected if ICA were not here for the kids. Some MK schools around the world seem to have more than enough teachers, yet ICA is often short on staff. Why don’t people want to come to Africa anymore? I think that part of this answer can be seen in a story I heard from a 3^rd-generation African missionary. He said that there was a time when missionaries coming to Africa would pack their belongings in a casket; they knew they would most likely be going home in the same casket. That story struck me as being a visual picture of an inner heart attitude. These missionaries did not pick Africa because it was clean or safe. They came to Africa because this was where God wanted them. I believe that this is what Paul had in mind when he wrote in Romans 12, ‘present your bodies a living sacrifice.’ God expects every believer to figuratively place all their possessions and even themselves in a casket. From then on, we live on borrowed time. Everything we own, every moment left on this earth, belongs to God. He lends it all back to us to be used in His service. Pray that God would raise up people with this kind of commitment.

With hearts of praise, we thank you for your prayers and ask for your continued prayers for the following:

• political stability and domestic safety;
• continued outreach in to the surrounding area, especially to Soro?s family;
• emotional healing for ICAers who were here during the recent robbery;
• staff needs for 2002-2003 school year.