The third trimester is underway and the students seem to have an added motivation to finish the year strong. Time has gone by very quickly. Before we know it the summer vacation will be upon us and time to prepare for next year.
Thanks to all for your prayers. Our trip to Mali was well worth the effort. It was great to work side by side with people form our home church. They were able to get a little taste of what our life is like out here. We wish everyone could have this opportunity. The team worked hard to finish the second story of the only Baptist church in Gao, a city of about 60,000 on the Niger River at the edge of the Sahara. We were glad for our little 4X4; it came in handy as a shuttle bus through the sandy streets. We were also glad to have had some experience buying things in Africa since the missionary who was to arrange our meals could not arrive until almost a week later. We met some wonderful dedicated believers there. They are a great testimony for our Lord in this city that is 99% Muslim, and an inspiration to all of us.
The school recently sponsored an outreach ministry building a church in a village out in the ‘bush’. Many staff and students worked to get the roof up and build benches. All these people had for their worship was a little hut. Their new church was only four bare walls, a tin roof, and a dirt floor, but they were thrilled to death. The next Sunday we attended the dedication service along with about 300 Africans who came from villages all around there. The building was packed with people outside at every window. We celebrated with them as they sang praises to God in their own style. It was good to see that people in a different culture can praise God, too, even if it is different than what we?re used to. They did not need a piano or American hymnals. Their rejoicing was still a sweet savor to God that day, more so than many big wealthy churches in the States. If more Americans could see this, missions giving would increase.
I had an interesting thing happen to me the other day. I was in town and a street boy asked to guard my car just like usual. However, this time I did something different. I asked the boy what his name was and talked to him a bit. There is usually no opportunity to do this since there are so many of these children who crowd around. That next Sunday, Lois and I visited a church planted by Baptist Mid-Missions with which the Holmes and Abernethys work. Just that week God had prompted Mrs. Abernethy to talk with this same street boy and she was able to lead him to the Lord. What a surprise it was to see my new friend Guy in church that Sunday. It was his first time in church, and he has been faithful ever since. One never knows what even a small kind word can do when God is in it. Please pray for Guy; he has a tough life out here on the streets.
Lois stays very busy with ongoing computer and network concerns. This week she even installed software on a computer running Windows XP in Korean-an operating system she’s rarely used with all the menus and choices listed in Korean! Every day definitely presents new challenges.
Satan was busy during the second trimester at ICA. Our administrators had to make some tough decisions which are never popular, but we pray that God will be honored in the new trimester as a result. Decisions are also being made about staff for next year. We still have a number of positions that need to be filled. For more information about these needs, visit our website at http://www.ica.ed.ci, click the blue footprint, and then the little toe-really! Try it!
We ask for your prayers for the following:
- continued political stability and domestic safety
- our efforts to communicate in the French language
- continued outreach in to the surrounding area; another outreach weekend is planned or this trimester to Toulepleu, a village near the border of Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire which has a large number of Liberian refugees
- victory in the daily lives of our students (and our staff) during this new trimester
- staff needs for 2002-2003 school year.