Weekly Prayer Focus: Food Distribution

A team of 4 from First Baptist Church, Hurst TX has been doing a food assistance project this week in 2 of the villages on the Mehanna Road. They've worked tirelessly assessing children & distributing food to those families that qualify. Their target audience was for children 2 years of age & under who were malnourished (using World Health Organization guidelines).

They are currently doing their last distribution today & will be heading back to the States tomorrow. However, you can still pray for the efforts that were done & the families that were affected. The team saw some astounding cases of malnutrition (an 18 month old weighing in at 11.5 pounds) &, needless to say, it's not only been a physically exhausting trip but an emotional one as well. The toll of seeing a child on the brink of death/starvation is hard for anyone but seeing cases like this back to back to back has been very hard for this team.

Before the families received their gift of grain, beans & oil, they were given instructions on health care & proper nutrition as well as a Gospel presentation. We give because we believe the Lord calls us to care for the poor but we can't give without telling them of the Bread of Life. So, in everything that we do as a Songhai team (including our volunteers), we share the name of Christ boldly & often in places it's never been shared.

This week we ask that you would pray for the team, the families who received the food & those who worked alongside us.

For the team, like we said, it's been physically & emotionally draining. They've been leaving at 6:30 or 7 am & returning between 7:30 - 8:30 pm every night (& spending a night in the village once). Their bodies are worn out but their hearts & minds are even heavier with everything they've witnessed & experienced this week. Pray for peace, comfort & wisdom as they seek to process this week, especially when returning home & being surrounded by the excesses of America.

For those that were recipients of the food distribution, pray that the food would be used properly to gain the nutrition needed for that child & their family. But pray even more that as their bellies are full for the first time in months, their empty hearts would long to know a Savior that loves them more than anything else. Pray that the words of Truth they heard this week will seep down into their souls & they will hear their Father calling their name to salvation in Him.

Pray for those that worked alongside us this week who were also able to hear the great news of Jesus Christ. A myriad of soldiers worked throughout the week with the team to offer assistance in crowd control as well as the local clinic staff of each village. They were not only able to hear of Christ but see the team be His hands & feet. Pray that what they saw & heard would not return void. Pray that they would also seek to know Christ as their Savior.

18 month old child weighing 11.5 pounds

Women & children lining up outside clinic wall