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.

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.

Weekly Prayer Focus: Roads Unengaged

The Songhai are spread mostly across 3 countries (Niger, Mali & a small portion of Burkina Faso) while also being found in "Exodus" cities (places they go to find work) like Accra, Ghana & even Indianapolis, IN! Being spread so far & wide & only having a small percentage of believers, there are tons of places that are unreached & where Songhai have never heard the name of Jesus.

In Niger alone, we have found that the Songhai are most populated on 7 stretches of roads (& by "roads", I mean roads that have anywhere from 12-50 villages on them & are hundreds of miles long). As a Songhai team & with our partnering churches, we have "engaged" 5 of these roads. That means that we have shared the Gospel in a few of the villages along the road &, therefore, the Gospel has been introduced (mostly for the first time) somewhere along that specific road. We still, though, have 2 full stretches of roads (thousands of Songhai in dozens of villages) that have never heard.

Please pray for us as a Songhai team & our partnering church, Living Hope, as they seek to engage these roads for the first time next month. Pray for safety in traveling (as many of these roads are "rough") & aloe the health of the team as they'll be camping out. Pray also for the many Songhai that will hear of salvation in Christ alone for the very first time. Pray for openness to the Gospel (open ears, open minds, open hearts) & that many will find freedom in His sacrifice for their sins. Pray that many will believe in the Truth & choose to follow it.

newest member of the Songhai team

We would like to introduce you to the newest member of the Songhai team ...

John Cole Vincent Phillips

born August 28

12:12 pm

Dakar, Senegal

8 lbs 14 oz

20.5 in long

Thank you for all your prayers for this boy! He is healthy & we are in love!

Weekly Prayer Focus: Boumba

Boumba is a village on the Road to Gaya. It has been "engaged" with the Gospel & some have chosen to follow Christ in this village. While we would love to be able to disciple these men on a weekly basis, due to the distance of this village from where we live, we are unable to do so. These men have an audio recording of the New Testament & have been instructed in how to meet together, pray & study the Word.

However, as is pertinent with any new believer anywhere in the world, discipleship is critical. While we know it is next to impossible for us as a Songhai team to be there on a consistent basis, we know that there are believers in Niamey that would love to fulfill this calling on their lives to invest in & disciple new believers. Would you please pray with us for God to call forth such a mature believer to join our national partner team & commit to discipline these men in Boumba?

Please also pray for these believers as they continue to meet & study the Word together, that they would stand strong in the face of persecution, continue to meet & grow in their knowledge of the Word & remain unified as a body of believers. Pray that they would encourage one another & that they would make

Weekly Prayer Focus: Rainy Season & Crops

The rains started a little later this year than normal. But since beginning in late June, they have come often & steady. All of our believers are sustenance farmers, which means they grow enough food to feed their family for an entire year. They do not farm for profit, only for their own consumption. And they grow one crop - millet. The rainy season must be good to ensure that they have a good harvest & to ensure that they have enough food to last them an entire year.

Please pray for the rains to continue to come steadily throughout the remainder of the season which should end around mid-October. Pray that God would bless the work of the hands of His children & our Songhai believers would have abundant crops to provide for their families. Pray also that God would protect their crops from diseases that normally infiltrate crops through insects.

Weekly Prayer Focus: Believers in Dargol

Over the course of the last several years, there has been ministry efforts in & around the village of Dargol. While many seeds were planted, only a small amount of fruit was sown. And among that fruit, there was very little growth. While there have been believers there for a few years, they had made little headway into beginning a church.

However, over the last few months, we have seen the Lord do some amazing things in this village. They have grown in their faith & in their numbers & they are finally on the verge of becoming a church.

Pray for these believers as they meet weekly to study the Word & take the necessary steps to planting a church in their village. Pray that they would remain unified, grow in their knowledge of the Word, seek to apply His truth to their lives daily & would be a vital, flourishing church. Pray that they would be the hands & feet of Christ to their neighbors by serving others but also being bold in their witness. Pray that the Lord would add many to their numbers as they declare His Gospel to those that have never heard.