news from Gomer: August 2011

Dear Friends,

I want to start by thanking you for your faithful prayers and support.  God is faithful to answer our prayers for His will to be done.  I am thankful for friends and family that will lift me and this ministry up before God seeking His will.  Many of you have answered God's call for funding this mission, and for that I and several Songhai are most grateful.  May God bless you.

It is Ramadan, a time when Muslims fast during the day and pray for visions and revelations.  Join me in praying that God will speak to the hearts of many Islamic Songhai this year and that they will dream about and have visions of Jesus, the Way, the Truth and the Life, let us pray that many will come to know this one and only Savior this year as their Lord and Savior.

I want to thank God for sending Mark, Randy and Cephas to us last week to minister along side us.  I was actually a little leery at first of them coming the first week of Ramadan, afraid the Songhai would be angry that we were trying to disturb their holiday, but I was reminded by God just how powerful and how His timing is just perfect every time.  Many of the Songhai were very warm and welcomed us with open arms.  I was struck by some of the conversations we had and was shown again and again that God is moving among the Songhai.

Several of the Songhai told us they are ready to accept Jesus, they have begun to pray and seek God, His Son and they want to be Christians, but it is hard.  Imagine being told all your life that a group of people are filled with hatred, they are vile, evil, war and hate mongers, and now, you are to become one of them.  To know that you will lose your job, your housing, your family and many friends, to be shunned, to be an outcast to be unwelcome in a society that is focused on relationship, all to become something you have been taught all your life was wrong and evil.  Six young men that work together, each told us their desires to accept Jesus, all not knowing that the others around them are also wanting to accept.  Imagine, if we can pray that God will create a conversation with them that would lead to this group accepting Jesus together.  Imagine them leading the way, lighting the path, becoming the trailblazers for their friends to follow into God's eternity.  Pray that these young men will accept Jesus, boldly, that they will stand for Him, live for Him and become witnesses for Him, His love, His peace, and His joy. 

Pray this Ramadan for the ones who have already accepted Jesus and are living out their faith in the Songhai communities.  They are under constant pressure to fall away from their new found faith.  There are a couple who need our prayers as they are seeking to make public their acceptance of Jesus as Savior.

Pray for M*, W* and M* as they grow in their faith, pray that God will use them in powerful ways to reach-out to their friends.  Pray that they will be bold, courageous and that they will allow God's strength to lift them above any persecutions and hardships and bring them to a place of peace in their lives.  Pray for their families as they wrestle with the decisions these men have made.

Pray for Mitch* and his family.  As I speak, Barbara* is recovering from a bad case of malaria.  She was bed ridden for about three days and is just now getting up and around again.  Pray that she will soon come to the point of accepting Jesus as her Savior.  Mitch is encouraged that she has not spoke of Ramadan and did not take part in the fasting.  Pray that soon this will be a Christian family, one before God in Salvation through Jesus Christ.

Join us in prayer for the next few months as we seek God's will for the future.  We are planning to go back to Niger in October if all goes well. We are trying to work out travel arrangements and this is an expensive trip.  Many of the Albasan guys have gone back now to work on family and village farms, we want to go spend some time with them and their families to foster the relationships and to share the good news of the Gospel with their Moms and Dads, brothers and sisters, friends and neighbors.

Pray as we seek God's wisdom for the next couple of Mission teams coming in November to seek the Songhai here in Accra.

Pray for the Bissa Team from Scotts Hill Baptist Church as they prepare to come in September.  We will be with them a lot and look forward to ministering with them.  God has put the Songhai and the Bissa here together in so many areas, they are friends and neighbors and we have started a Bible study and it is attended by both Songhai and Bissa.  God will raise up encourager's to the Songhai through the Bissa.

Praise God for His faithfulness, His answers to Prayers and for His will to be done.

Pray for the Muslims during Ramadan that many will see Jesus and know He is God's Son come that they may have Salvation through Him.

Praise God for bringing Mark, Randy and Cephas and using them in many great and powerful ways to accomplish His will of reaching out to the Songhai here.

Pray for the Songhai that know the truth, that they will be emboldened, strengthened and courageous to accept Jesus as Savior.  Pray God's peace will comfort them and be real to them.

Pray for the few who have come to Jesus and have made it known, that God will built a hedge of protection around them, and He will everyday give them comfort and peace, joy and love as they seek to live out their Christian lives.

Pray for Mitch* and his family.

Pray for us as we start to plan and prepare to travel to Niger to minister to the families of the guys that have been here and now gone back home.  Pray that God will use this opportunity to reach many in the villages with His Gospel, that they might know the true and living Savior.

Pray as we prepare for the teams coming in November, and pray for Jimmie Suggs and his team from Scotts Hill Baptist as they prepare to come minister to the Bissa people.

Praise God for all He is doing and rejoice as we see Him calling His lost children home.

Pray for me, that I will always and only seek to do the will of Him who sent me. That I will be a good and faithful follower of Jesus, a reflection of the Light of this World.


      I praise God for you all.
      In His Service,
      Gomer