desktop calendar

Here is yet another GREAT Songhai resource from the incredible Joneo! Save this file to your computer & then upload it as your desktop background. You will ALWAYS have a reminder to pray for the Songhai ... plus the addition of a handy calendar!!

Songhai T-Shirt

Another ingenious idea from the creative Joneo! 

We all know you want to get the word out about the Songhai but maybe find it a little intimidating to move the conversation from last night's dinner to a people group in West Africa. How about a T-shirt? Nothing creates a great conversation like an interesting & unique t-shirt! The instructions are simple. The time & cost involved are minimal. The questions & conversations you'll receive will be priceless as you spread the word about the Songhai!

For those of you who take the challenge to make your own Songhai t-shirt, please email us a picture so we can post it on the blog!

The first picture is your instruction sheet. The second picture is for a large design for your shirt, the third picture is for a medium design & the last picture is for a small design.

 

Weekly Prayer Focus: Gomer in Niger

Please pray for Gomer W who is on his way right now to Niger. Mark has spent the last 5 days with Gomer in Accra, Ghana. Mark was able to meet many of Gomer's contacts & see the work that's been going on down there. They have had a great week & Mark was so excited to meet so many Songhai people in an English speaking country!

Mark & Gomer are on their way back to Niamey as I type this. Gomer's partner in ministry, Mitch*, will be traveling by bus with another one of Gomer's contacts from Accra, who will be serving as their "tour guide" in Niger. They will spend 5 days here & Gomer hopes to make many connections here in Niger from his contacts in Accra.

Please pray for their time here, that it would be productive & fruitful. Pray that as Gomer meets some of the family members of the young men he works with in Accra, that he would have the opportunity to share the name of Christ with them. If someone in the "home family" accepts Christ, it makes it so much easier for the young boys to let go of their traditions & be more open to following Christ as well. Pray that as Gomer & Mitch* share of God's love that Wyatt*, their "tour guide", would also respond & accept Jesus as his Lord & Savior.

On a side note, Mark is suffering from his 3rd bout with malaria since we returned in August. We believe it's the same strand but he's not been able to "knock it" yet. He needs rest! Pray that amongst all his activity, that he would find time to rest & allow his body to recover.

Thank you all for your prayers for us & the Songhai people!! Pray that many, many Songhai would hear & respond to the love of Christ!

*names changed for security reasons

Urgent Prayer Request!!

For those of you that know Hourey from Ayorou (Ibrahim's wife) - PLEASE pray for her today. She is BEYOND sick ... she can't hardly walk or talk & has lost so much weight that she's basically a skeleton. We finally got her to Niamey & she's at the doctor right now. She has 5 children, one of which is Nafissa (Izzy's best friend from Ayorou). She's been sick for about 2 months & the "doctor" in Ayorou was unsuccessful in treating her. She can't keep anything down & is very, very weak at this point. Please pray that God would HEAL her & restore her health!!

UPDATE (5:28 pm or 10:28 am CST):

... She's been admitted to the hospital. The doctors have said she will probably need to stay there for a week. She's got IVs pumping in her right now. I just went to visit with Isabelle & she was sleeping. She looks SO frail! I'll go back after supper to check on her & update again later.

UPDATE (Saturday):

... visited this afternoon & wish I had better French to speak to the doctor (Mark's in another country til Monday). They were doing an ultrasound on her & all I could get is that there is lots of fluid somewhere (the doc said kidney in English but she wasn't sure if that was the right word). Hourey still looks just awful ... please keep praying! Her legs are seriously smaller than my arms. There's not much too her right now. I also got from the doc that they really have no idea what's wrong with her but that they can't believe she's still alive!

UPDATE (Monday):

latest on Hourey ... docs says she has a severe urinary tract infection & has had it for over 2 months. That's all they can find at this point. Thanks to everyone who is praying for her ... she's still got a long road to recovery.

UPDATE (Sunday 11/28):

We had hoped to send Hourey home yesterday as her UTI has completely healed but when we went to visit her, she was in BAD shape. She was screaming & shouting & seemed to be out of her mind. The nurses had no clue what was going on but the doctors wanted to run more tests. Her poor mom was just ready to leave & go home and Nafissa, her little 2 year old, has been begging to go home since they got here! 

After the results came back, it showed that her potassium level had bottomed out & that can cause symptoms of abnormal psychological behavior including psychosis, delirium, confusion & hallucinations! We were all a little scared to say the least!!

Today, however, she is back in her "right mind" & walking around! It looks like she may get to go home in the next couple of days! Thank you so much for all of your prayers for this wonderful woman & sister in Christ!

UPDATE (Thursday 12/2):
It is sometimes difficult to understand the mindset & rationale of someone from a different culture. Although Hourey has been feeling much better for a few days now, the doctors have not been quite sure if her infection is completely gone. It had gotten pretty bad from being in her system for 3 months & had begun to go outside of her bladder & kidneys & into her blood. Her kidneys took a pretty hard hit & the doctors proposed the possibility of having one of her kidneys surgically removed.

The doctors wanted to run one more test on her before they released her. This test would involve injecting her with a solution that would cause her blood to show up on a ultrasound or radiology exam. Therefore, they would be able to determine if the infection was completely gone or if they needed to proceed with an operation.


Hourey & her mother, however, have been asking us for days to go home. Mark & I, along with the doctors, kept trying to explain to her that, although she was feeling better, her infection may not be completely healed. The women were tired of the hospital, tired of receiving IVs & desperately wanted to return to their "normal." After many days & hours of explaining to them that infections as bad as Hourey's needed time to heal & that it was very important to do this last procedure, they went against our judgement & asked to go home.


Mark & I both told them that this was not a good idea & the doctor practically begged them to stay but, at the end of the day, we were not in the position to keep them "prisoner." Again, we don't understand their reasonings & they probably don't understand ours. So we just pray that Hourey has been completely healed & that she will regain her strength & appetite & return to full health in Ayorou. Thank you all for your countless prayers for this woman. We know that many of you have never even met her but it means the world to us (& to her) that you would pray for her!

One Minute Prayers

Here is a great new resource to use with your children or in your church's Children's Ministry ...

 

These are "One Minute Prayers" to use with your child in helping them pray for the Songhai. Each day is assigned a specific topic & has a correlating small prayer to go along with it. You are free to print this out & stick it anywhere in your house to remember to pray for the Songhai with your child ... put it on the fridge & pray with your child as you eat breakfast together, put it in the bathroom & say a quick prayer before they brush their teeth, put it in their bedroom & lift up a prayer as you tuck them in bed at night ... whatever you do, PRAY!

Email us if you'd like the PDF version of this resource.

This wonderful resource was designed by, one of our prayer partners & faithful volunteers, Joneo.

Project: School Supplies

There are many different "projects" that churches in the States have done to meet a need of the Songhai people. Many churches have sent prayer dolls to little girls to form a prayer partnership with a specific Songhai child. Other churches have given soccer balls to little boys with the same desire of praying specifically for the child or children who receive that ball. And other churches have even sent homemade dresses to little girls!

 

Capitol Heights Baptist Church in Bismarck, ND sent us an email a few months ago asking us about meeting a specific need for Songhai children. They asked if children had need of school supplies. They were preparing for their summer's VBS & wanted to accept donations of notebooks, pens, pencils, etc. to send to Songhai children. We, of course, answered, "YES!"

A few weeks after arriving back in the field, we had a message from the post office that we had packages waiting for us. Lo & behold, Capitol Heights had sent us FIVE boxes of school supplies to give out!! We were overwhelmed!! We coordinated with a school in Ayorou to pass out these supplies to children who had the most need. We involved our believers in Ayorou as well. The children & school were so grateful & appreciative to receive these gifts.

I'll have you know that handing things out in an impoverished country does not always go well. You can ask a volunteer or 2 that has tried this & some of them may show you a scar or 2 they received in their efforts! For this particular "handing out," we were able to coordinate it through the school & the administrator of the school did the "passing out." It was one of the most organized & calm events we'd ever been a part of!

We gave each child an "equal" gift of a notebook, pencils & erasers. Extra items that were sent to us, such as pencil sharpeners, markers & crayons, were given to the school teachers to use in their classrooms.

Thank you SO much to Capitol Heights Baptist Church for meeting such a specific need among Songhai school children!! And please know that the school in Ayorou is sending a BIG "Thank You" in return!!

just a little taste ...

As was mentioned in the November newsletter, we recently hosted a media volunteer team from Living Hope Baptist Church in Bowling Green, Kentucky. They came ready with tons of cameras & equipment to capture the Songhai people. They did a wonderful job of doing it!! They took a ton of pictures & video footage while they were here & were also able to interview a handful of Songhai people. They did a great job of capturing who the Songhai are in their day to day life but they did an even better job of capturing who the Songhai are in relationship to their desperate need for a Savior.

The team began their short week here in a village that has no witness. A Songhai actually told them on video that no one had ever shared the name of Jesus with them before. This person had NEVER heard of Jesus!! They went on during the week to a few villages that have 1 or 2 believers and then ended their week in Ayorou where there is a small growing church of healthy believers. To capture all of this in pictures & in video is remarkable ... from seeds just being planted to growing fruit!

Through their pictures & video footage, they were able to capture the work that is being done among the Songhai, the need for more people to come alongside us & share the name of Jesus where it has never been shared, the need for people passionate about Jesus to help us disciple & encourage believers in their walk with Christ and, most importantly, the vast need for people to PRAY for the Songhai. We are so grateful for this team & cannot wait to see what kind of invaluable resources we will be able to produce as a result of all their hard work!

Here is just a little sampling of some of the great shots they were able to get during their time here ...