“The seeds of the Gospel continue to be planted…”

6-4-98I wanted to give you a brief update on the work. This past weekend I went to my three preaching points (It just so happens that they are all on Saturday and Sunday each week.) In general, it was a very good weekend.

The first meeting was at Djoumahou. When I arrived, it seemed like they were getting ready for a big holiday, or celebration. In reality, they were excited about our meeting. 20 adults, about 20-30 teens, and another 30 children came to hear me teach a lesson about Daniel, and how God rescued him from the lions den because of his faith. During the course of the lesson, I asked the people what they fear. They responded that they fear death, sorcerers, the gods, man, and sickness. I asked what they do to protect themselves from these things, or to deal with these fears. One man responded that they didn’t know what to do, and that was why they were “on their knees”. I was shocked and extremely pleased with the response, because I have good news for them! God, through his grace, has made it possible for them to find relief from these fears! Please pray that I will be able to accurately portray the good news that God has given us, and that they will be able to see it’s applicability in their own lives. Pray that they will seize it, and become the people that God intends for them to be.

My meeting in Avédjin also went well. One man had really taken charge of organizing the meeting. I had been almost to the point of deciding that the people of Avédjin were not really interested. However, this time through the efforts of this one man, and my own efforts, the meeting went much better. We had asked the village “chief”, a big time pagan, to announce throughout the entire village that I would be coming to teach them about God. I had to wait for over an hour after our proposed starting time (“African time” is quite different from our own.), but it was well worth it. There were between 35 and 40 adults who came! In addition, about 15-20 teens and another 20 children were in attendance. They asked some really tough questions, and seemed to have some good interest. Only time will tell how genuine this interest is. Please pray that the people of Avédjin will continue to grow in interest, and that that will lead them to make a commitment to give their lives to God.

I also taught in the village of Kaitèmè. It was the smallest of the three meetings, but there are a few people there who are farther down the road in their faith. I actually had a little more difficulty communicating the lesson during that meeting. I’m not sure if it was because of them (They have some difficult circumstances that they are dealing with right now. Because of this they seemed to be tired.) or me (You just have some bad days, especially when you are in the early stages of learning and using a new language.). This was a little ironic, because the week before, my lesson went so well in Kaitèmè that I thought I might really BE Aja. Pray that I will be able to speak Ajagbe well enough to encourage them to give their entire lives to God.

Pray also for our continued good health. Health problems seem to always be distracting us, plus we are well aware of the possibility of an illness forcing us to leave Benin at any given moment. We feel like God wants us here for now, and we ask for your prayers that we will continue to be able to stay here and be productive in His service.

I guess I will close for now. Please keep praying for us and for the work. Your prayers make a difference!!