Desert Elephants!

It's been a long time! I have lots to tell. First of all, God is really working in Mali! You get so used to people being stubborn and resistant to the gospel that when people are actually receptive, you almost don't know what to do! In April we had a team come out who is working with one of our people groups in the south. These people have been really resistant to the gospel for a while, but God is really showing His power there. We were sitting in a village talking to the chief just making small talk when a man (who none of us had ever met before) just asked us how to become a follower of Jesus! Nothing we had done, just God working in his heart. We shared the gospel with him and he said he wanted to learn more so that he and his family could become followers of Jesus. We went to his village on a later day and shared stories from God's Word and answered his questions about what being a Christian meant. After talking a while, he told us he wanted to change his name to Paul, meaning that he wanted to become a Christian! Malians commonly change their names to Christian names when they decide to follow Jesus. Please keep Paul in your prayers as he continues to follow the Lord with only one other believer near him. He told us how he knows he will be persecuted by his village but he still wants to follow Jesus.

Another cool thing is the research trips we've been doing. The Tennessee Baptists are adopting the area near Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire, and we've been researching the area looking for villages for them to go to. The first village we went to we asked if we could share stories from God's word.He said yes, but he wanted the whole village to be invited! We said of course that was fine. The chief began hollaring at a man, and our translator said she heard him tell the man to get speakers and a microphone (keep in mind this is a village with no electricity or running water or anything). A little bit later, men are setting up sound equipment! Lots of people from the village began arriving and a man got on the microphone and told the rest of the people to come "right now, right now, right now!"
Lots of people from the village came and we actually had to use the microphone or not everyone could have heard us! Lots of people were able to hear the gospel and they really seemed to get it. One man kept insisting that there were many ways to God, including Jesus and Mohammad. I asked him if got that from the story and he said yes, that Jesus had said he was just a prophet. Another man said, "No! Jesus said that he was God! That's why he was whipped and beaten and killed! You weren't listening!" Now, for a Muslim to say Jesus is the same as God is a big deal, so that was really cool to hear.
The next day we went to a few more villages, but we couldn't seem to find the right one. We got to our last village of the day and 20-30 people were listening to our stories. After presenting the gospel (the Creation to Return story, an overview of the entire Bible with the theme of Jesus as the promised Savior) we asked them if they wanted to become a follower of Jesus. After an awkard silence, two men raised their hands! We asked them questions to see if they understood and they really seemed like they did. They told us that they were ready to be baptized and that their was a church a good distance away but they would go there to be baptized. Being baptized can mean a lot of persecution for people here, but they insisted that is what they wanted without any prodding from us.
Hopefully the Tennessee Baptists will be able to work in these villages and disciple the new believers. Can you believe that there are people who really want to follow the Lord, but they don't know how? How can they believe without being told?

Now, the coolest trip I have ever taken: to see the desert elephants! Now, people ask me all the time about the cool animals I see, and you have to understand, West Africa doesn't have cool animals. That's East and South Africa. Seeing monkeys here is a really big deal. The only animals I see reguarily are cows, goats, and sheep. Occasionally camels. So, seeing elephants is a really big deal. This is a migratory herd of about 400 elephants that travels from Burkina Faso to Mali every year looking for water. The last watering hole before dry season is over is a little south of TImbuktu, so this is where most of the elephants are. Unfortunately, by the time we got there is had already rained, so some of the elephants were headed back to Burkina, but we still saw about 90-

100 elephants. They were hard to get to because they were completely wild (or "savage" as the French say) and they kept running away from us. At one point, one of them actually started chasing one of our cars. The people in the car were pretty scared, but it was really funny. There was even a week old (I don't know how we knew it was a week old) elephant that was only about 2-3 feet tall! We had 3 or 4 trackers with us, and they were so scared of the elephants! They were so funny, if we tried to get too close they freaked out. They kept telling us to get away because they were so scared the elephants were going to attack. It was SO much fun.
Finally, here are a few common Bambara blessings:

• For a new marraige: May swindles not interfere
• For a new baby: May he be a moslem and may he have more younger brothers and sisters than old ones
• For a sickness: May it be a sin expiator
• For a death: May his resting place be cool
  
• For a holiday: May worms not alter it nor termites