Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Volunteer Testimony: LHBC (October 2013)


Proverbs 16:9 says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”  If there ever was a verse that sums up a trip this is the one.  In October, a two-man team from Living Hope was able to go down new roads and into new villages that we have not gone to in the past.  As we went from village to village we could clearly see that God had prepared and ordained our way.  The plans we had made as we were preparing for the trip were being rewritten.  God led us along the roads that he had prepared rather than the ones we had planned to take.  It is greatly encouraging to feel God’s guiding hand and to see His clear directions as He led us from one hungry soul to another.  The Word says in John 10:27, ”My Sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

 We witnessed the excitement upon the faces of desert dwellers who for the first time in their lives tasted the living water.  We saw a man born again in a birthing room as he heard the name of Jesus for the first time and was born again.  We heard stories of missionaries who came over 20 years ago and who sowed seeds of the gospel that were finally ready for harvest.   One man who heard the gospel 20 years before we came was finally ready to believe.  On this trip we saw eight men come to faith in Christ.  One can only wonder and be amazed by how many others may one day believe as a result of the preaching of the gospel through this trip and the many other trips that have happened and will happen through those who are faithful to send, to pray, and to go.  

We concluded the week with a time of discipleship.  We had the privilege of baptizing a new brother in Christ and the following day being able to begin discipling him along with others in the faith as we taught him truth from God’s word.  Jesus says in Matthew 9:36-37 “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.  Then he said to his disciples,The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;  therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest’.”

As I personally reflect on this trip, I am at awe that God orchestrated my return to West Africa for a second time and I am thankful for the privilege of being a small part of God’s work among the Songhai as he draws more people to himself for his glory.  I was encouraged to experience and see how the gospel brings forth light into darkness.  As I sit and ponder the wonder of this trip and the miracles of seeing men come to faith and baptizing a brother in Christ, I eagerly await the day when I get to worship and fellowship with my Songhai brothers and sisters before God’s throne.

- Jason G, Living Hope Baptist Church

 


Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Weekly Prayer Focus: UUPG

UUPG? Anyone know what that stands for? If you guessed Unengaged, Unreached People Groups, you are right!

Unengaged, Unreached People Groups are groups of people that have no Christian witness reaching them or working them (hence the "Unengaged") & have less than 2% Christians among them (hence the "Unreached"). The Songhai are considered a UPG meaning that they are still Unreached because of the low numbers of believers but they are not considered Unengaged because we are here working among them. Got all that?

So what does a UUPG have to do with the Songhai team? Well, our leadership team has asked every people group team to consider reaching a UUPG in their area while also reaching their UPG. We have the Gospel. We (for the most part) will have a bridge language. We have the calling to take the Gospel to the nations so that every tribe & tongue can hear the Good News. This does not mean that we will forsake our calling to the Songhai. It simply means that as we go, we will intentionally seek not only the Songhai but also any UUPGs in our work area that need the Gospel as well.

What's the first step? Research! We need to find out what UUPGs are in the areas we are already working in or have plans to work in in the near future. We need to know what language they speak & if we have a bridge language with them. We need to find if there are any resources in their language that are already available. Etc, etc.

The next step is to seek them out & take the Gospel to them. Would you please pray for our team as week seek to make this endeavor a part of our strategy for next year? Pray for us as we do the research  & that God would lead us to a specific UUPG. Pray that our hearts would be burdened for these people. And we pray that as this comes to fruition, that many of you would also be burdened to take the Gospel to this UUPG.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Weekly Prayer Focus: Road to Wanzerbe

If you remember from the last newsletter, we told y'all about finally accessing the Road to Wanzerbe with the Living Hope team last month. While we weren't able to access the entire road as planned, we were able to get into villages that weren't on our original plan. But God is sovereign above all & He knew exactly where our team needed to be & who needed to hear. Because, as He has shown us over & over again, His sheep hear His voice. He knew exactly who needed to hear His voice that week & He led the team right to them.

So now there are villages on this road that have Light after centuries of darkness. But, for a couple of these villages, there is only one "Light bearer." Imagine, if you will, being the ONLY follower of Christ in your entire town ... not just your family or your school or your workplace but your ENTIRE town. That's heavy & hard to imagine for those of us who grew up in a Christian home or in church. 

As you try to imagine what it's like for these men that made that bold choice to follow Christ alone, pray for them. Pray for their hearts to remain firm in their faith, for them to remain steadfast in times of persecution & for their light to shine so brightly that others come to faith because of their witness. Pray for God to speak directly to them through His Word & to their hearts, to fill them with His knowledge & wisdom & to grow them in their faith.

Pray for our team who cannot easily access these new believers due to security & distance. Pray for God to raise up more national partners that would be willing to go to these village & invest 3 months of their lives into discipling these new believers.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

What Do the Foxes Say? (November 2013)

Here's the latest newsletter from the Fox family ... 


Happy Harvest!
At this time of year we have a few decorations we put up around our house. One of those is a sign we hang on our door that says “Happy Harvest” with a picture of a scarecrow. As I passed by the sign the other day I thought about the phrase ‘happy harvest’. Yes indeed, the harvest time can be a happy time of the year.

Although I have relatives who farm, I did not grow up in a farming community so harvest time didn’t mean much to me. However, the main occupation of the Songhai people is farming. The weather and land are definitely not ideal for farming, but they plant the crops that can handle it - mainly millet. If they‘ve experienced a good rainy season, then the harvest is definitely a happy time of the year. However, this year the harvest was not bountiful. There was a short rainy season and some sort of parasitic plant attack. One of our friends collected 1/9 of what he did
last year. Not a happy harvest.

As I think of this in spiritual terms I am reminded that Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” (Luke 10:2) There is great joy to bring in a big harvest and Jesus says there is a harvest of souls waiting to be reaped. But there have to be laborers. Some plant, some water, but God gives the growth (I Cor. 3:6). Seeds have to be watered often to bring about growth. We had rains in Niger this year, but not enough to bring much growth. The same is true with evangelism and missions. Many many seeds have been planted by past missionaries, ourselves, and countless volunteers. Yet we must plant more seeds and continue to water and water and water them until a plentiful harvest is brought in. And we must reap with humility because ‘neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.‘ (1 Cor. 3:7)

So please join us as we...
• pray for more laborers
• pray for a bountiful spiritual harvest
• Give God ALL the glory for it! -Sarah Fox

Lottie Moon Christmas Offering
As fall comes to a close & the holidays approach, we would be remiss not to say a HUGE "THANK YOU" to all of you who give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. (If you are not Southern Baptist or don't know what this offering is, you can read more about it here. OR if you need some great resources to use in your church this year, click on that link as well.) Basically, this offering is what allows us to be here. Because you give, we have a house to live in, a vehicle to access & engage the Songhai people, medical care for our family, funds to distribute the Word to the believers in their language, resources & means to train & send out national partners & the list goes on. Your gifts not only benefit us but also the 5000 other missionaries that work with the IMB. We ask that, this year, you give above & beyond. We are so blessed to be here, doing what we love & fulfilling God's call on our lives but there are at least 1000 others like us waiting to go ... & right now, there are not enough funds to send them all. Please give so that others may go & millions may hear of Christ.

Prayer Points
• Praise the Lord for making it through the first 8 weeks of homeschooling! Our girls have been doing great!
• Praise the Lord for a new group of men in a nearby village who Jody has shared the gospel with and who want to hear more. Pray for their salvation.
• Pray for H*, a girl in our village who is in serious need of a difficult eye surgery. Pray for the salvation of this family (the father is a Muslim leader).
• Continue to pray for Jody as he finishes up a seminary class this month.
• Pray for blessings upon our marriage and the strength to continue to grow in this area.
• Pray that God may establish a strong leader in Boubon to lead and shepherd the believers here.

Our Little Girls
• We praise God for how these girls have adjusted to this culture and are developing a passion and love for the Songhai people.
• Pray for C because she has fears at night time.
• Pray for J to continue to grow in her reading ability and not get frustrated so easily.
• Pray for L to learn her letters.

P.S. Our girls love receiving and sending e-mails to other kids, so if your kids want to write we’d love to hear from them!

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Weekly Prayer Focus: Hurst team1

So sorry about the lack of weekly postings in October. From our delay in Senegal to arriving back in Niger, we have been "out of touch" on the ole blog. Life just doesn't seem to slow down, does it? But now that we are finally settled back in at home, I hope to be back each week with a prayer request for y'all for the Songhai ... & maybe I can even manage a post or 2 on our poor neglected personal blog.

For this week though, please pray for a team from First Baptist Church Hurst, TX who will be here today (Tuesday). They will be spending a week on the Road to Mehanna doing evangelism, discipleship & a service project for the school. Amazingly enough, when asked what the school needed most, the administrator said, "a latrine."

The schools in Niger have many needs but a simple (or not so simple) hole in the ground is what they needed most. Without a "functioning" facility to have for when the children need to use the bathroom, many kids have to go all the way home or out to a secluded area & then many of them do not return back to school. With a latrine on site, the kids will no longer have an excuse to skip school! Wow! Who would have thought, right? I know I always used the "I need to go to the bathroom" excuse to get out of class for 5 minutes but never to skip school for the rest of the day! We appreciate that this administrator cares enough about the attendance & education of his students that he asked us to help him with a simple project like building a latrine.

I say "simple" but this project is actually far from it. Digging into the ground here past a few inches is not simple at all. It is quite difficult. And it is more than a hole in the ground; it will include walls all around. This will be very tiring work. So please pray for this team this week that they will remain energized & alert as they work all day in the sun & spend time with believers in the evenings of when they will be camping out. Pray that their minds would remain sharp as they disciple believers in this village that have had little chance to be discipled over the last year. Pray for their health to remain in tact & also for them to have restful nights when they camp outside.

Pray for the team's times of evangelism & that many would hear the Truth of the Word & be called to salvation. Pray for the veils to be lifted from their eyes & that many would step out of darkness & into the Light.

Please also pray for the believers in this village to grow in their faith this week, to be encouraged by the times they spend with the team & to grow in unity with each other. Pray that they would be bold as they walk side by side with this team & that they would share their faith without hesitation.

Pray that this project would not be a distraction or a hindrance to the Gospel. Many times, American Christians are only seen as what they can give or hand out. Pray that the village would not see this project as a "hand out" but as an extension of our faith in Christ ... because we love Jesus, we want to serve them. This is not a "hand out" but a "give back". We want to give back to the community because our faith compels us to love.

Friday, November 8, 2013

November 2013 newsletter

Dear Prayer Partners,

Be warned ... there's a lot of info for you this month! We've got a lot of catching up to do!! : )

My oh my!!! It has been FOREVER hasn't it?! Well, as you know, I am FINALLY back in Niger after being in Senegal for 3 months! Thank y'all so much for praying for me, Isabelle & John Cole as we waited & waited & waited on paperwork. I never want to do that again but the Lord was SOOO good to us even while we were separated as a family. I thought y'all would like to know that the "icing on the cake" was when our return trip home was delayed by SEVEN hours because a fuel truck hit the wing of our plane!! I sat there & thought, "Really?!! This cannot be happening!!" But we made it home safe & sound & it was such a sweet reunion at the airport with Mark & Luke! Thank you again for your prayers while we were in Senegal & for your understanding in our delay in sending newsletters.

And speaking of newsletters, you may notice a change to our format. Over the course of this year, the Songhai team has switched our strategy from reaching "areas" to reaching specific "roads" where the Songhai are located in Niger. In doing this, we realized there are 7 major "Songhai roads" in our country (see image attached). At the beginning of this year, we were only engaging 4 of those roads. As of today, we have engaged six. The only thing stopping us from the 7th & final road is security concerns. Since our focus changed to these roads, we decided the format of our newsletter needed to reflect this as well. Feel free to print off the attached image of the map of these roads to pray for them by name.

As fall comes to a close & the holidays approach, we would be remiss not to say a HUGE "THANK YOU" to all of you who give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. (If you are not Southern Baptist or don't know what this offering is, you can read more about it here. OR if you need some great resources to use in your church this year, click on that link as well.) Basically, this offering is what allows us to be here. Because you give, we have a house to live in, a truck to access & engage those 7 Songhai roads, medical care for our family (& new baby!), funds to distribute the Word to the believers in their language, resources & means to train & send out national partners & the list goes on. Your gifts not only benefit us but also the 5000 other missionaries that work with the IMB. We ask that, this year, you give above & beyond. We are so blessed to be here, doing what we love & fulfilling God's call on our lives but there are at least 1000 others like us waiting to go ... & right now, there are not enough funds to send them all. Please give so that others may go & millions may hear of Christ.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for ALL your prayers for our family & our ministry! If you've been with us long enough, you know 100% that your prayers are vital to our ministry & you know how the Lord has been so faithful to answer them & do AMAZING things among the Songhai!! Thank you.


that ALL may KNOW,

Mark & Parker <><


PS - and because SOOO many of you responded with such kind words about the birth of our son, we thought you might like another picture! : ) We think he is rather cute.