March 18, 2009
Aloha To All,
Well, it has been about two and a half months being away from home and being here has been a ride that we will never forget. From the last post you heard about our friend Beaufils and all I can say is that the Lord is working in his life. Rock continues to read the Bible with him and slowly but surely the Lord continues to reveal truth to him through His Word. He often comes over to our house asking us to read the Word with him. So, we continue to read, talk, explain scripture and pray with him. It has become an experience that we both value and love because every time we see him, we can see that God is working in him. Keep on faithfully praying for this gentleman that God will continue to work in Beaufils’ heart. A little less than a month ago, Beaufils told rocky that he prayed in Sousou (his ethnic language). He said He asked Jesus to forgive him of his sins, to be the King and boss of His life and to change him and ever since we have clearly seen a change in this young man. Beaufils before would constantly speak of the hopelessness of his life and complain about his situations. Now He spends most of his time reading through John, Proverbs, and Genesis. He smiles and there’s just that sense of hope in Jesus now. Rocky challenged him last week to share the truth with one person that week. By the end of the week which was Sunday, we were like “Beau this is your last day to try to accomplish your challenge, you better get on it.” And he replied, “No, Last night I explained to the truth to Amz.” He said the guys think he’s crazy but it doesn’t bother him. We gave him his first French Bible and English Bible along with a Sousou casset tape. Please continue to pray for Beau, he desires very much to be a changed man. He’s also very encouraged to know that there are multiple brothers and sisters in Christ praying for him, he couldn’t believe it. Praise God for the work that is being done and just continue to lift him up because his walk will not be easy.
As the aforementioned stated, God is working in Beaufiis and continues to give us a unique ministry for these five months in Africa. The ministry that God has entrusted us with takes place well beyond the daylight hours and in to the late evenings and early mornings of the next day. All we do is hang out with friends we have made down the street; all of whom are friends of Beaufiis. As a result, many spiritual conversations have taken place and continue to take place every day. There is a compound full of about twenty guys that continue to wander throughout life with no sense of purpose, direction and often times hope. That is our ministry and the ministry that God has continued to lay on our hearts. It’s hanging out with a bunch of twenty something year old guys, building a relationship with them and telling them the Gospel. Just think, this all started from borrowing one basketball! This is definitely a unique ministry and every time we hang out with them, the bond keeps on getting stronger. Please continue to pray for “Da Boyz on Da Block!” Pray that the Lord will continue to shine His Light through us daily and that we will continue to live out our faith amongst “Da Boyz.” Pray that God will show them the truth and stir in their hearts a desire to know the truth. As we continue in our time here, we are excited about what God is going to be doing through us. “It only takes a spark to get a fire going” and we hope that the “spark” has already started.
In other news, we are still waiting to get in to the schools to teach English. The school that we are suppose to be working in has been having examinations for about two to three weeks and often times leaves us frustrated and searching for things to do. So, we just find ourselves prayer walking throughout our neighborhood and making ourselves available for the students at the school. We continue to build relationships with students but most of our conversations take place for English purposes. We cannot wait to get in to the formal classroom setting and actually start building stronger bonds through that. Hopefully that will be next week and last for the duration of our stay. Pray that God will show us those students whom He is working in and that more doors for the Gospel will be opened, specifically for these students!
Along with those things that I have mentioned, there have been some other ministry opportunities that we have been a part of. A couple of weeks ago a mission team from Smyrna, Tennessee came here and we had the opportunity to go with them to the northern part of the country. That was an experience that the both of us will never forget. We travelled for thirteen hours (one way) to the countryside across mountainous, rocky, curvy and dirty roads that had potholes the size of meteorites. It was fun! Especially since we were travelling at high speeds; however it was scary because if we hit those potholes at the right angle, we would’ve been stuck out in the middle of nowhere for who knows how long!!! But anyways, our time out to the country side was one that caused us to step out of our comfort zones. During our time there, we had the opportunity to visit three villages that were on the out skirts (two hour drive along the same type of road) from the place that we were staying. Might I add that we had to draw our own water from a well to take showers, drink and flush the toilet. However, during our time there, we had hands on cultural experiences that we will cherish for the rest of our lives. In the villages, we had the opportunity to eat authentic African meals in the chief’s hut, receive authentic African names and experience real village life. Eating in the hut was an experience because there were four people to a bowl and no utensils. Our hands were our utensils! But in each of the villages, we got to sing songs of praise for the villagers and share with people our personal testimonies and C2C (creation2christ). The village was fun and really a great cultural experience; much so that we are getting ready to go out again. This time we are going to be heading out to the southern part of the country (sixteen hour drive – one way) to do a basketball clinic in the coming weeks.
Another ministry that we have been involved in has been a weekly basketball clinic at one the local schools and most recently the local prison. It really gave us a fresh hands on perspective of how things are run here and the excitement that comes on the faces of the children and teens when you invest time in to them. At times it is total chaos but this part of the ministry that God has opened for us has served as an outlet for us to be able to interact with young people in hopes that they will be open to the Gospel. We are going to continue helping in these ministries and pray that God will work through the language barriers and overwhelming environments so that His Word will touch the lives of those we are interacting with.
In all, we are keeping busy and God is working amongst the people. We serve a God who is presently active here as well as in other parts of the world. Thank you all for your prayers and continued faithfulness in lifting us up to Him. Keep praying that God will continue His good work here and for the various aforementioned people and ministries that we are in. We love you all!!!
In Him,
Matt G.
4 Specific Prayer Request 4 March
-We continue live out our faith in front of this dark and lost people
-Matt would have the opportunity to share the Gospel w/ Petit Amz. One of the guys at the compound who was drawn into the worship music one night we played.
-We would get an “English club” started where we could have dialogue w/students
-We would have the opportunity to share C2C w/Salam and his family. He’s a paraplegic boy that we met on the vision trip and were able to reconnect w/him and his family. We visit there often.
Aloha To All,
Well, it has been about two and a half months being away from home and being here has been a ride that we will never forget. From the last post you heard about our friend Beaufils and all I can say is that the Lord is working in his life. Rock continues to read the Bible with him and slowly but surely the Lord continues to reveal truth to him through His Word. He often comes over to our house asking us to read the Word with him. So, we continue to read, talk, explain scripture and pray with him. It has become an experience that we both value and love because every time we see him, we can see that God is working in him. Keep on faithfully praying for this gentleman that God will continue to work in Beaufils’ heart. A little less than a month ago, Beaufils told rocky that he prayed in Sousou (his ethnic language). He said He asked Jesus to forgive him of his sins, to be the King and boss of His life and to change him and ever since we have clearly seen a change in this young man. Beaufils before would constantly speak of the hopelessness of his life and complain about his situations. Now He spends most of his time reading through John, Proverbs, and Genesis. He smiles and there’s just that sense of hope in Jesus now. Rocky challenged him last week to share the truth with one person that week. By the end of the week which was Sunday, we were like “Beau this is your last day to try to accomplish your challenge, you better get on it.” And he replied, “No, Last night I explained to the truth to Amz.” He said the guys think he’s crazy but it doesn’t bother him. We gave him his first French Bible and English Bible along with a Sousou casset tape. Please continue to pray for Beau, he desires very much to be a changed man. He’s also very encouraged to know that there are multiple brothers and sisters in Christ praying for him, he couldn’t believe it. Praise God for the work that is being done and just continue to lift him up because his walk will not be easy.
As the aforementioned stated, God is working in Beaufiis and continues to give us a unique ministry for these five months in Africa. The ministry that God has entrusted us with takes place well beyond the daylight hours and in to the late evenings and early mornings of the next day. All we do is hang out with friends we have made down the street; all of whom are friends of Beaufiis. As a result, many spiritual conversations have taken place and continue to take place every day. There is a compound full of about twenty guys that continue to wander throughout life with no sense of purpose, direction and often times hope. That is our ministry and the ministry that God has continued to lay on our hearts. It’s hanging out with a bunch of twenty something year old guys, building a relationship with them and telling them the Gospel. Just think, this all started from borrowing one basketball! This is definitely a unique ministry and every time we hang out with them, the bond keeps on getting stronger. Please continue to pray for “Da Boyz on Da Block!” Pray that the Lord will continue to shine His Light through us daily and that we will continue to live out our faith amongst “Da Boyz.” Pray that God will show them the truth and stir in their hearts a desire to know the truth. As we continue in our time here, we are excited about what God is going to be doing through us. “It only takes a spark to get a fire going” and we hope that the “spark” has already started.
In other news, we are still waiting to get in to the schools to teach English. The school that we are suppose to be working in has been having examinations for about two to three weeks and often times leaves us frustrated and searching for things to do. So, we just find ourselves prayer walking throughout our neighborhood and making ourselves available for the students at the school. We continue to build relationships with students but most of our conversations take place for English purposes. We cannot wait to get in to the formal classroom setting and actually start building stronger bonds through that. Hopefully that will be next week and last for the duration of our stay. Pray that God will show us those students whom He is working in and that more doors for the Gospel will be opened, specifically for these students!
Along with those things that I have mentioned, there have been some other ministry opportunities that we have been a part of. A couple of weeks ago a mission team from Smyrna, Tennessee came here and we had the opportunity to go with them to the northern part of the country. That was an experience that the both of us will never forget. We travelled for thirteen hours (one way) to the countryside across mountainous, rocky, curvy and dirty roads that had potholes the size of meteorites. It was fun! Especially since we were travelling at high speeds; however it was scary because if we hit those potholes at the right angle, we would’ve been stuck out in the middle of nowhere for who knows how long!!! But anyways, our time out to the country side was one that caused us to step out of our comfort zones. During our time there, we had the opportunity to visit three villages that were on the out skirts (two hour drive along the same type of road) from the place that we were staying. Might I add that we had to draw our own water from a well to take showers, drink and flush the toilet. However, during our time there, we had hands on cultural experiences that we will cherish for the rest of our lives. In the villages, we had the opportunity to eat authentic African meals in the chief’s hut, receive authentic African names and experience real village life. Eating in the hut was an experience because there were four people to a bowl and no utensils. Our hands were our utensils! But in each of the villages, we got to sing songs of praise for the villagers and share with people our personal testimonies and C2C (creation2christ). The village was fun and really a great cultural experience; much so that we are getting ready to go out again. This time we are going to be heading out to the southern part of the country (sixteen hour drive – one way) to do a basketball clinic in the coming weeks.
Another ministry that we have been involved in has been a weekly basketball clinic at one the local schools and most recently the local prison. It really gave us a fresh hands on perspective of how things are run here and the excitement that comes on the faces of the children and teens when you invest time in to them. At times it is total chaos but this part of the ministry that God has opened for us has served as an outlet for us to be able to interact with young people in hopes that they will be open to the Gospel. We are going to continue helping in these ministries and pray that God will work through the language barriers and overwhelming environments so that His Word will touch the lives of those we are interacting with.
In all, we are keeping busy and God is working amongst the people. We serve a God who is presently active here as well as in other parts of the world. Thank you all for your prayers and continued faithfulness in lifting us up to Him. Keep praying that God will continue His good work here and for the various aforementioned people and ministries that we are in. We love you all!!!
In Him,
Matt G.
4 Specific Prayer Request 4 March
-We continue live out our faith in front of this dark and lost people
-Matt would have the opportunity to share the Gospel w/ Petit Amz. One of the guys at the compound who was drawn into the worship music one night we played.
-We would get an “English club” started where we could have dialogue w/students
-We would have the opportunity to share C2C w/Salam and his family. He’s a paraplegic boy that we met on the vision trip and were able to reconnect w/him and his family. We visit there often.
