Ramadan Prayer Guide

The Songhai team has come up with a prayer guide for Ramadan, which begins tomorrow. This guide has the name of 30 villages (one for each day of the Ramadan holiday). In each of these villages, there is at least one believer who will be experiencing Ramadan this year for the first time as a Christian. Essentially, this means that this believer will not celebrate a holiday that they have normally celebrated for every year of their life up to this point. More than any other time of the year, it is during this time that our believers are "set apart" from their community. While everyone else is fasting from food & water from sun up to sun down for 30 days in a row, our believers will continue to eat & drink. It may be hard for you to understand but this holiday & our believers' choice to NOT celebrate it is a BIG deal. While it does "alienate" them on some levels & brings persecution on others, it also is a great time for them to share their faith & explain why they are no longer celebrating this religious & cultural holiday.

So, if you would like, you can pray for these villages & the believers (whose names are being withheld) in them who will not be celebrating Ramadan for the first time in their life. It's a sometimes scary & lonely road to step out on their own as they take that first bite of food while everyone else sits by & stares. Pray that as everyone else is closing their mouths to fast for these 30 days, that our believers will open their mouths wide & be bold to proclaim the name of Jesus to their friends & family. Pray that this holiday would be a time where the believers take a deeper & firmer stand in their faith & not turn back to their former religion just because they are afraid of standing out. Pray that God would use this time in their lives to grow them in their faith in ways they'd never imagine.

*This prayer guide is a 4x6 card. Feel free to print it out & post it on your fridge, stick it in your Bible, tape it to your bathroom mirror, or just use it however you desire.

June 2014 newsletter

Dear Prayer Partners,

I cannot believe that we are already 6 months into this year!!! In another 6 months, we will be writing our newsletters from America while we begin our stateside assignment! Each month as I sit to write down all that has happened over the last month, I am always so humbled & amazed at all the Lord does each & every month among the Songhai. The Psalms speak so many times of recounting the wondrous deeds of God. And that's exactly what these newsletters feel like ... recalling all of the WONDERFUL things that God has done through your prayers!! We cannot thank you enough for your faithful prayer support for us, our Songhai believers & the ministry among the Songhai here in Niger!!

Again, I had to do a 2-page newsletter because there was just SO much to write about & praise God for! This newsletter really is just one huge praise after another. We hope that you will feel VERY encouraged as you read through all of the ways your prayers have been answered! I did not mention 2 things in the newsletter but they are definitely worth mentioning here ...

1. Ramadan begins in 8 days. If you aren't familiar with this Muslim holiday, do a quick Google search & read about it. Last year at this time, there were 30 new believers that were going to face this holiday (& not celebrate it) for the first time as a follower of Christ. This year there are 157 (ONE HUNDRED FIFTY SEVEN!!!!) NEW believers that will face this holiday as a follower of Christ & no longer a follower of Mohammed. Nothing else in all the year will make them stand apart from their former religion as them not celebrating this religious & cultural holiday. Please pray for these men & women to remain firm in their faith during these 30 days & faithful to Christ.

2. Jody & Sarah Fox (& their 3 girls) will leave Niger in 2 weeks after serving the Songhai team for 3 years. Their plans (& ours!) are for them to return January 2015. Please pray for them as they wrap up their ministry this next week in Boubon, say goodbye to their friends & pack up their house that has been their home for the last 2.5 years. It will be a HUGE transition, especially for their girls, to move back to the States & your prayers for them would be greatly appreciated.

Thank y'all again so much for loving on us & praying for us!


that ALL may know HIM,

Mark & Parker Phillips <><

Weekly Prayer Focus: Discipleship Training for Women

Please be in prayer for the Discipleship Training for women that will be happening starting today! You may remember a prayer request about this in January. Unfortunately, in January, none of the women we invited were able to attend. We were afraid that this type of teaching for our female believers would never happen due to the demand & responsibilities placed on women in the Songhai culture. But the Lord knew that January was not the time & this month is what He had planned all along.

Starting tomorrow, 14 women will be traveling to Niamey to attend the FIRST EVER discipleship training for women. We are so excited!! Considering the total number of female believers among the Songhai we work with, 14 is like 75% of those women!! We are beside ourselves that the Lord is bringing all of this together & we cannot wait to dig into the Word with these women!

Pray with us for the Lord to use this time for His glory & reknown. Pray that these women would grow deeper & deeper in their relationship with the Lord, in their knowledge of Him & His Word & in their love for their Savior. Pray that the walls of defense that these women have built up after having been immersed in a male-driven culture for so long would break down ... that they would see their worth in their Heavenly Father's eyes, they would know His love for them & that He would soften their hearts to Him. Pray that they may be able to stay focused & attentive during the lessons & retain all that they are learning. And pray that they would take His Name & the story of His salvation & love to their friends, family, children, husbands, etc in their villages.

May 2014 newsletter

Dear Prayer Partners,

We hope this finds you all doing well & enjoying nice temperatures in the States. We are actually experiencing a "cool" day today in Niger. It is below 100 degrees!! It's 99 to be exact. But it's still below 100!! We had a nice, big rain on Sunday evening that keep sprinkling into yesterday morning & the cloud cover has stayed around for another day. Our Africans friends say it's cold outside!! We are just enjoying a few days without sweating! Ha!! : )

Thank y'all so much for praying for us through this last month. We are so very grateful for your prayer support for our family, our team & the Songhai people. We are also so very grateful for your gifts to the IMB that keep us here on the field & allow us to do what we have been called to do. We never ever take for granted that your giving allows us this opportunity to minister among the Songhai & we never ever take for granted that your prayers are what sustain us. Thank you.

For the first time in our newsletter history, I had to make a 2-page newsletter! There's just so much to tell & so much going on that it wouldn't fit all on one page. But I was also able to include a few pictures for your viewing pleasure. : ) Thank you again for your love & prayers & support!! We are so blessed by each of you!


that ALL may know HIM,

Mark & Parker <><

Weekly Prayer Focus: NLTS 0

Please be in prayer for a large group of new believers that will be receiving our initial discipleship training course, NLTS 0, this weekend. The lessons will be taught by a team from FBC Hurst, TX & will be conducted over a 2.5 day period. Pray for understanding of all 12 lessons that are taught including teachings on Creation, The Bible, Jesus, Salvation, Faith, etc. Pray for growth in these believers' faith & wisdom as well as a deeper love for their Savior. Pray for sweet times of fellowship with other believers as well as times of encouragement between the men. Many of these believers have faced persecution for following Christ & while that is never easy, it is an encouragement to know that there are others who share your burdens and can pray in understanding for you.

Pray also for the team of 2 men from TX that will be teaching. The days are incredibly hot here right now (up to 115 in the day) & although their teachings will take place inside the "HUB" there will be no air conditioning, only fans blowing around the hot air. Pray for stamina & health for these men.

april 2014 newsletter

Dear Prayer Partners,

Thank you SO much for praying for us for this last month!! We have had quite a few "stresses" (I guess you could say) regarding personal or family matters on our team. I think each one of our families has been hit hard by something this last month. From the Saleebys (& really, all of us as a team) dealing with the medical issues surrounding Randy to the Foxes trying to finish their term well amidst the rising temperatures & cultural stresses to our family dealing with an ailing parent in the States & a bout with malaria for Mark, it has been a month of trial for each of us personally. But we are SO very encouraged to know that all of you are praying for us - both for our personal lives & our ministry. Thank you. Even when you don't know all the details, we know that you are faithful to pray & that brings us so much encouragement on those "hard" days.

I also wanted to say a HUGE "THANK YOU!!!!!!!" to all those who are participating in the Adopt-a-Road project! Just this morning I added our 100th prayer partner to that project. I am on the verge of tears as I am just so amazed & humbled & grateful to the Lord for answering our prayer to have 100 people praying for these roads where we do ministry!! Even amidst our personal trials, we have been so encouraged & blessed by what God is doing among the Songhai on these roads! God is truly blessing the ministry of your prayers & the bold proclamations of the Gospel along these roads. Thank you!!

We are also excited to have Randy home today!! We met him at the airport this afternoon & were so glad to hug his neck!! We are blessed beyond measure to have a team who loves each others & feels each other's absences with great pain. We are so glad Randy is home!! Thank you for praying for him while he's been on medical leave & for his continued health & healing.

We love all of you so much & are so blessed by your partnership with us in reaching the Songhai!!


that ALL may know HIM,

Mark & Parker <><

Volunteer Testimony: FBC Franklin (March 2014)

If you have the opportunity to go on a mission trip and are able to go, I pray you will say, “Yes Lord.”  Perhaps you are afraid, lack the money, or feel inadequate. Consider how big our God is. He will clear the way.

God does not need us to accomplish His purpose. Instead, he allows us to be a part of his plan. WOW moments from our team included: Being the first person to say the name of Jesus in a village that has never heard His name, sharing the gospel with a woman who has persecuted Christians and then praying with her as she repented and accepted Jesus and then seeing a new light in her eyes, witnessing to workers at a goldmine and seeing the crowd grow as they pressed in to hear the true treasure of God’s word, helping believers learn a new skill so they can support their families and seeing believers have joy and hope in a hopeless environment!

It’s impossible to describe the heaviness of our hearts as we realized that the thousands of people we passed on the road are going to spend eternity in hell unless other Christians respond. The population of Niger is 17 million. Over the week, our small team divided into three groups and shared the gospel with perhaps 2000. Only God knows if the seeds we sowed will mature and be harvested.

Last year we conducted Bible School in a village. Perhaps 50 children received t-shirts with the logo “His Sheep Hear His Voice.” Jonathan ran across a child in the market wearing one of the t-shirts. The odds of seeing one of the same children was astronomical. I see it as God affirmation that He will reap the harvest.

One of our team members used his artistic gifts to develop pictograms to educate the Songhai on water sanitation and purification practices. For more information go to this link: www.wkunews.wordpress.com/2014/03/24/water-research-westafrica  Jonathan Oglesby’s work is groundbreaking and may revolutionize teaching methods in the poorest places on earth. He said, “As much as they suffer for water; they suffer more for the living water.”  This is an example of how God uses each of our unique gifts to grow his kingdom. But we have to step outside of our comfort zone and be obedient. What are your special gifts?

I plan to return to Niger in 2016 and hope by then there are no more villages that have never heard the name of Jesus. For that to happen, someone else must go. I’m committed to continuing to go, as long as I’m physically able. God does not call us to go, He commands it. I pray that you will say, “Yes Lord.”

If you have time and would like to read about the experience of someone on the mission field who is afraid and inadequate, check out my personal blog at www.sheliastovall.com.  Over the next few weeks, I’ll make a post for each day. If God can use me and my limited talents, He can use you.