Weekly Prayer Focus: Hamsatou (Ayorou)

Please be in prayer for Hamsatou this week. She is one of our female believers from Ayorou. She was 8 months pregnant &, earlier this week, she informed us that her unborn child had died in utero. She had not felt the baby move for 3 or 4 days & went to the local doctor to have it checked out. The doctor advised her to go to Niamey but, before she could go, she went into labor & delivered stillbirth. She is not sure what caused the complications as last month she had an ultrasound & the doctors assured her that all was well.

As many of you know, the death of children in Africa is commonplace (3 out of 5 children die before their 5th birthday). Due to beliefs in animism, it is common for parents to not even grieve their child's death. I remember when we lived in Ayorou & our neighbor's 2 year old child passed away, we were laughed at for being upset & crying over her death.

Yet, for Hamsatou, who has a greater Hope, she should both grieve & know that God works all things for the good of those who love Him. Please pray that she would allow herself to grieve the loss of her child (even though her friends & neighbors may mock her for doing so). Please pray that God would reveal Himself to her & His love for her in a very real way during this time. Pray that God would comfort her grieving heart & she would trust Him even more. Pray also for her health during this time. She will return to the doctor in one month to check for any further complications.

march 2012 newsletter

Dear Prayer Partners,

Thank you so much for praying for the Songhai, our team & our family! We can never express to you how grateful we are for your intercession on our behalf & on behalf of the Songhai people. Month to month, we are continually amazed at all God is doing among the Songhai & through your prayers. Light is breaking through, people are hearing of Christ for the first time, the lost are finding salvation & the Songhai believers are growing in their faith. Every minute you spend in prayer for them is making an eternal difference. Thank you!


that ALL may know HIM,

Mark & Parker Phillips <><

What Andy Taught Me

I never grow tired of being taught so much by new believers.  Maybe it’s a way to ensure that I don’t puff up with pride but, for whatever reason, I’m constantly reminded that I may know more information than these brand new believers but that doesn’t mean anything.

One thing I love about having volunteers here in Niger is that you get to re-live those first few days of coming here every time a new group arrives.  Things that don’t even cause a second glance are objects of amazement by the fresh volunteers (aka, camels, donkey carts, and guys peeing in the road).  I get to see with fresh eyes the country I now call home.

This is also true for our new believers and Scripture.  Passages we glance over without a second thought are awe-inspiring and thought provoking to our new believers.  I remember sharing about the “wise” men one time in Ayorou and these brand new believers said, “Who tells a king that a new king has been born!?!?!” and thought it the greatest of ironies that we called these men “wise.”

Well, I had another moment like this a few weeks ago.  I’ve been walking Andy* through the discipleship lessons in our E2E material each afternoon.  We came to the story on persecution, which is about Paul and Silas in prison.  They are wrongly imprisoned but an earthquake provides a route for escape.  As the jailer weighs the outcome of an empty jail with his supervisors, he decides to take his own life.  Paul tells him to stop because no one has escaped, they are all there.  The jailer asks Paul, “What must I do to be saved?”  Paul tells him and the man and his whole household believed.

You’ve heard this story before right?  Maybe you’ve even seen it acted out on flannel graph! So Andy, all 2 weeks into his faith, sees something in this passage I’ve never thought about.  We read the story several times and then he looked at me and said, “How did the jailer know that Paul knew how someone could be saved?”  Ever thought about that?  The jailer didn’t say, “Thank you for not escaping,” but asked them how he too could have salvation. 

Andy then made the application himself and said, “I want to live my life in a way that people will ask me how to be saved.”  I picked my jaw off the table, dusted off my Master’s of Divinity and thanked God for His Holy Spirit, His Holy Word, and for saving Andy.

Proclaiming Christ through Baptism

I was able to be present at one of our newest believer’s baptisms recently.  We have strived from the very beginning to replace ourselves in ministry so that the work can go on without us.  This, for the most part, has worked very well.  However, this means we’re usually not present anymore for most baptisms.

Hank* (from Ayorou but now living in Niamey) had led a friend to Christ and we’ve been moving through the E2E together every afternoon.  When we got to the section on baptism, much like the Ethiopian in Acts, Andy* said, “The river is right here, why not get baptized right now?!”

I asked if I could tag along and they agreed, so off we went to the river.  We actually walked for what seemed like forever even though I was constantly assured “a si mooru" ("it’s not far"). I’ve learned in almost 6 years here that phrase is as trustworthy as the promises on As Seen On TV products!

We finally arrived at the spot and Henry led Andy into the cool water, asked him several questions and then baptized Andy.  I love baptisms here because they seem to capture most accurately what baptism is supposed to be all about: proclamation of the Gospel. 

It’s just normal now in the States for baptisms to occur inside the church building in front of a mostly Christian audience.  This is how baptisms growing up for me were done.  There were some questions asked and a very girly robe donned and then as the new creation rose from the water, applause usually erupted.  It’s like wearing a Peyton Manning jersey through downtown Knoxville: everyone is in agreement, everyone is happy, everyone is saying, “Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about!”  It is a celebration, and rightfully so, as what once was dead is now, in front of their new community and family of faith, being declared alive!

However, baptisms here are often different.  At Andy’s baptism there were at least twenty people watching/staring who were not in agreement, who were not happy about what was going on.  Andy was not greeted with applause at his decision.  His friend (now brother in Christ) smiled and I encouraged him but everyone else in “attendance” that day did not share our joy.  Even as Andy returned home he was not met with gladness over his decision but rather, at best, disinterest and, at worst, disgust. 

But back to the river.  For those twenty or so there, and especially the unbelieving friend Andy had invited, got a front row picture of the Gospel.  They saw, to quote a song by Andrew Peterson, “a sinner who sinks in the river then emerges again delivered.”  Andy was declaring to a group of peers, “I am in Christ now, I am a new creation now!  I have been buried with Christ!” Andy’s baptism wasn’t just a simple symbolic act.  No, this was warfare, this was proclamation, this was the Kingdom of Christ advancing.

Language Helps - Greetings

Weekly Prayer Focus: "the Bible" & his mama

Thank you so much for praying for "the Bible" last week. He is still living at home & trying to live out his faith in front of his father. Please continue to pray for him to have boldness. Pray for the Lord to grant Him wisdom about what he should do next ... move out or stay. Pray for him to be encouraged in his faith & for God to be especially near to him when he feels "faint of heart."

His mom is also near & dear to our hearts as Susan & I have been meeting with her for a while, sharing God's word & plan of salvation. Until recently, she had never shown any resistance to the Message but when Living Hope was here last month & they asked to pray for her, she said, "No!" Upon pressing her, she said that she feared if we prayed for her that it would mean she would become a Christian & her husband would not allow it.

After the situation with her son & husband escalated, she explained to us that she would stand by Hama if the father kicked him out of the house. This was a bold statement to support her son who follows Christ yet she does not have the courage to do it for herself. She even explained that if she was not married to this man, she would choose to follow Christ.

Please pray for her as she struggles to know the Truth & have the courage to accept it. Pray for God to reveal Himself to her in a way that she knows, without a doubt, that He is the One & Only True God. Pray for God to give her strength & boldness to follow Him despite what the earthly consequences might be.

urgent prayer request

We covet your prayers for a young boy we refer to as "The Bible" because of his amazing ability to hold onto stories from God's Word. Many of you who've come here know and love him as he's such a sweet kid. He has been a believer for four years and led many of his friends to Christ. We received word yesterday that he'd recanted his faith in Christ. We thought this unbelievable until I called him and he confirmed this and then hung up on me. I called right back and his friend answered saying he wasn't there. I drove over and found him and asked what was going on. He said Satan was tempting him but he was still following Jesus. I pressed a little more and with tear-filled eyes (that doesn't happen much around here) explained that his dad told him he must deny Jesus or get out but he could no longer remain there as a Christian. He asked me to please have all of you pray for him to remain strong and for his dad's heart to be changed. Thanks for your prayers.