Family in Africa

Yay for my family coming! Eight months is by far the longest amount of time I had ever gone without seeing them, so it was great to have them here!
They got here on a Saturday night, but none of their luggage made it, so that was bad. Sunday we rested and hung around Bamako, and fortunately Sunday night all of the luggage came in.
Monday morning we headed out to the village. In Mali, it is VERY important to have a Malian name, which no one in my family had. Within minutes of entering the village, they people in the village realized my family didn't have Malian names, and sent out to find the right people to name my family.

We were sitting talking to someone and a tiny, energetic, old lady ran up to my mom and started hollering her new name ( Bintu something). Poor Mama had no idea what was going on so we explained to her that this was her new name. Then the lady started dancing and singing "Togoma! Togoma! Togoma!" which means, namesake. Mama was then forced to get up and dance with the lady and they danced around and clapped for a while. If there was anything from the past 8 months that I would like to have on video is was that.Then is was Sarah's turn (not as funny, but she had to dance) then Elizabeth's. 3 different women were chosen to name them then their family members came up and told them things like, you're my mom because you were named after my mom, it was quite a big deal. Daddy and Jonathan got new names too. The weird thing was that they did not

give any of them the same last name, even though we're all family. Every person has a different last name. I guess they wanted to give as many people the chance to be "togomas" as possible.
The first village we were in was incredible because God is really, really working there. 2 journeygirls lived there for 2 years and when they left there were six believers. In the eight months since they left, that number has grown to 55. The believers are so bold and passionate. They are going around and sharing the gospel and forming their own church. They are desperate to have someone come teach them so they can know more. Unfortunately, in this village, my mom fell and fractured her wrist and Elizabeth got a stomach bug. Too bad.
We only spent one night in that village, so the next afternoon we headed to the next village. Fortunately for us, this was a big week for that village. Not only did they have a new baby, so there was a baby naming party coming up, but there was also

a wedding! To make it even better, both parties were for one man. His first wife had just had this baby, and he was about to take a second wife. Big week for him. Everyone was really excited. They had a pounding party complete with a singer. She sang for us, "White people can buy cars, white people can buy cell phones, white people can buy food, white people can buy (anything you can think of) but they can't buy children." I have no idea why she sang this, but she did, and made us all to dance to the song.We spent 2 nights in that village, then came back to Bamako. The Africans
were all very impressed to meet an entire white family, it was really funny. It was such a great time, I'm so glad they came!

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
  

Easter

We celebrated our first Easter in Mali, and it was so much fun! Much different than how we celebrate in America, but then again, everything here is different : ). First, we have a new Journeygirl here! Yay!!! It is always wonderful to see God send the laborers we are praying for. She came Friday and we took her out to the village Saturday morning, not easy when you're suffering from culture shock and jet lag, but she did great!
The African Christians here get fabric made for different occasions, such as Christmas and Easter. Africans just get fabric made for any occasion, actually. They have fabrics supporting AIDS research, celebrating Women's Day, for their school, supporting their president (complete with his picture all over it) and, as I saw today for the first time, one supporting OUR president. It was black and light blue with large pictures of President Obama's face all over it. They love that man. Anyways, our fabric for Easter was green with the bible verse "A virtuous woman is a crown of peace." What that has to do with Easter I do not know. For Christmas our fabric had a Christmas verse and pictures of the nativity, which makes since. I don't know why they chose this one for Easter.


Unfortunately, we didn't get our hair braided and our feet dyed black, ha. I was so happy, my head ached for days after that.
We did however have AMAZING food. The pastor's wife in the village is an amazing and she outdid herself. People always talked about how bad food here would be, but it is not. Ok, some of it bad, but when it's good it's sooooo good. That night, we had an African dance. We all danced a little, but when we left at 4 am, they were still dancing! It was my first real African dance, and it was so much fun. They are amazing dancers! Easter morning, we went to church and the Pastor preached on the passover and Easter, and I had my first African Lord's Supper. It was pretty much the same, except we drank coke instead of grape juice.
Being here really made me look at Easter differently. Before, Easter represented the hope that I had, that I had always known of and took for granted. Probably for most of my life I cared more about my new Easter dress and candy than I did what they holiday represented. Now I can see that it represents not only the hope I have, but also the hope that these people don't know about. Jesus died for them, and they have no idea. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice for their sins, and they don't know. Doesn't God deserve the glory for what He has done? They are worshipping their made up god who can do nothing for them now and nothing for them when they die. How is it possible that 2,000 years later, they still don't know? I am so surrounded by lostness here. You are constantly seeing people facing Mecca, praying to their false god, bound by rules and lies. Many of them are honestly seeking the One True God, but they don't know where to find Him.
People at home often ask me how they can support me, what they can do. They usually want to send money or gifts, but there is something that would be so much better. God has commanded all Christians to go make disciples of all the nations. Don't wait for a special call, it's already in Scripture. Please actively seek where God wants you in His plan to reach all the nations for Him. Right now it might mean walking down the street and telling your neighbor about the gospel, it might mean going on a mission trip, working with internationals, or even moving overseas. Please be open. Don't waste your life living for yourself, be where God wants you to be, do what God wants you to do, no matter how scary it is. God deserves the glory for who He is and what He has done, and millions of people are dying without ever hearing the gospel. That would be greater support to me than any money or gifts or encouraging words.

6 months later...

Here I am, in Mali for almost 6 months, and I am amazed and all the Lord has done. He has proven Himself faithful time and time again and has showed Himself to be the great provider and Lord of the harvest. Before I came, I sometimes had doubts about my faith. Not serious doubts, but sometimes I would just wonder if I only was a Christian because that was all I knew, and if I had not been born into a Christian family would I believe something else? And would it matter? Here, I never have such doubts. I see God work in ways that only He could. He takes care of all of our

needs. A few weeks ago we had our second flat tire of the week. We were using our spare and no way of getting a new tire. We prayed that God would send someone to help us and within minutes the only Christian living in a nearby village came by on his donkey cart and helped us get the tire fixed. When it got too late for us to leave that night, he allowed us to spend the night at his house.
Last week we were researching a certain people group that is kind of hard to find but we really needed information on them. We were looking for a village that were purely that people group (there was only one) and God sent the chief's son to us while we were in a different village so he was able to help us get the information we needed. Even when we are in difficult situations or remote environments, God has taken care of our every need.

Another evidence I see of God's work here is the large number of seekers. So many people here are not content with their Muslim religion and are searching for answers. I even know a girl here who comes from a strong Muslim family but when her sister was demon possessed, she took her to Christian pastor and God used him to cast the demons out of the girl and now she is fine. Evidence of God's power is undeniable, even to unbelievers. Now the girl is carefully searching the Bible, struggling with whether or not to become a Christian. It may seem like it should be obvious that she should, since she knows that God healed

her sister, but it's not that easy for them. Many people here know the Truth but are afraid to commit because of the persecution they will experience. Many of them will lose everything if they decide to become Christians, their families will shun them, they will lose their jobs, be kicked out of their villages, some may be physically attacked, but there are still so many seekers! Even though it would be so much easier for them to remain Muslim, there are many who are convinced there is something better and they are willing to risk a lot to find out. We go to villages and teach them about the Bible and salvation and you can really see the hunger. We are not offering anything but the Gospel and they know that but they want to know everything they can. God is really working here and it is impossible to live here and not see it. I am so thankful that He called me here and is allowing me to be a part of the work He is doing here in Mali.

I don't know how well the picture of the camels shows up very well, but it was so funny when it happened. We were out in the village spending the night with a Maian family there. Lots of kids were around staring at us (as is almost always the case, not only are we white but we have all these strange things with us and are doing strange things) and then about 7 little boys (like around 10 years old) rode up on their camels! They were so small and they just sat there on the camels watching us. It was just like little boys in America would have ridden up on their bikes. I think they were wanting their picture taken because most of them just stayed there lined up for a while until we pulled our cameras out. Camels were a pretty popular mode of transportation up there, I was told you can buy one for about $30. What a bargain!