Don, Jane, Mary Claire, Peter, Rachel, & Honor Neal--
togoneals@yahoo.com
Howdy from the Neals. We are happy to report
that we are all healthy, happy, and enjoying our lives together here in
Togo. Outside of the heat and some scattered heat rashes, we are free from
health troubles. We thank God for this, as it is sometimes easy for one or
more of our family to be sick. It is especially nice to see Peter so healthy
and free from breathing difficulty.
Don and Jane are both staying busy with village church visits and teaching.
Jane has taught women in the villages of Hade Te, Sanda Te, and Tchikpe
since the beginning of the month. The women are learning a dual lesson about
inward, spiritual holiness and outward physical cleanliness and health. This
has been well received and we pray it is the beginning of a stronger women's
role in all of the churches.
Don has continued to teach in Sanda Te, Hade Te, and Lassa Tchou.
Sanda Te is progressing in faith and knowledge of God as they study the
commands of Christ through the Train and Multiply program. They are also
evangelizing in two neighboring villages to around 10 adults and many
children. They are also very close to beginning construction on their
building. Lassa Tchou is hosting the all-church retreat this coming Easter
weekend. A few weeks ago they seemed apprehensive and overwhelmed by all the
preparations required and responsibility needed. They have since risen to
the occasion and taken the initiative to plan the program and to organize
the feeding of the many people who will be in attendance. Please pray for
both of these churches, both of which are leaders in the movement.
Our family went to worship in Hade Te this past Sunday, but the church there
was not meeting due to the grave sickness of an older brother of one of the
male leaders there. After returning Jane and the kids to the house, Don
picked up this old man several family members and took them to the hospital
here in Kara. The doctors there did what they could, but the man was in a
very advanced state of cerebral malaria and died during the night. Please
pray for this village, and the Christian brother of the deceased, who is now
discouraged to be the only living male in his family. Pray for them as well
as they were scared for a while that the sickness may have been bacterial
meningitis. They are contemplating how they can be vaccinated against this
disease. Pray that they will see the importance of this vaccination and be
willing to come up with the funds on their own to have this done for their
families.
Bryan, Tracey, Isaac, Graham, & Owen Ries--
btries@kabiyemission.org
Greetings everyone! We hope and pray that this spring and Easter season
brings resurrection and fresh beginnings to your lives. This time of
year has become a special one for Kabiye Christians over the past two
years as we have been holding our all-church meeting on Easter weekend.
This year, the meeting will be in Lassa Tchou and we are very
excited as even more churches than last year will be meeting together to
praise the Lord, share in each other’s victories, encourage one another
in their struggles and seek to raise a unified voice to preach the Word
to the rest of the Kabiye people (and beyond). Please pray for
this meeting to be a time of renewal, encouragement and unification for
the Kabiye Christians and their churches.
Bryan’s work out in the villages continues
to move along. Much of the past week’s meetings have been focused on
preparing for the all-church meeting. Still, he was able to share a
timely lesson with the leaders of Ajadaa and Tungboa on
courage in evangelism. Both of these churches have struggled to get
evangelism points started and he could see the men were visibly
encouraged.
Evangelism in Tchikpiou should come to a close this week
(Wed., Mar. 23) as there is one lesson left to be taught. During this
lesson, the people will be called to make a decision for Christ.
Please pray that many will accept the Truth, repent, be baptized and
begin a new life in Jesus.
Tracey
has been working out in the villages as well these past couple of
weeks. As part of the newly re-organized women’s ministry, she has gone
to Tchikpe, Ajadaa and Po Wayi to help Jane and
Becky teach their lessons. While her Kabiye isn’t yet conversational,
she is able to understand more and more and has been very encouraged to
be able to talk more with the Kabiye women. Her language teacher said
this past week that she has been working very hard and is improving
well.
Our
boys have kept us busy over the past couple of weeks, especially during
our school’s spring break! (We are all happy to have school back in
session.) Isaac took the extra time away from school to learn to ride
his bicycle without training wheels. Now he and Graham race each other
around the yard. Graham hosted his pirate birthday party, which
included a plank which the kids walked and jumped into a swimming pool.
Of course, he has enjoyed playing with all of his new toys.
We
want to thank you for your prayers and support. We’d love to hear from
you if you get the chance to write. In Christ -- The Rieses
Brian and Christy Dolinger--
dolingerbc@yahoo.com
Greetings from Kara. We are
doing well and school continues to go great. We are enjoying the return to
our routine after our visitors left a week ago. Christy's mother and aunt
came and spent a week in Africa with us. It was so wonderful to see them and
be ale to share first hand, what we have been a part of here. They were able
to visit three countries, go on safari, buy lots of souvenirs and spend some
time in the villages here. I am surprised we fit it all in! We are so happy
that they were able to visit.
School has been progressing
nicely. The pre-k has now completed their initial journey through the
alphabet, when we talked about "Z" on Saturday. We will now go back thorough
and begin to make our own alphabet books. The first graders are continuing
to work through their readers and have enjoyed the recent science study of
rockets and space travel. Thank you for you continued prayers and support.
Brian and Christy
www.teamdolinger.org
Brett and April Emerson--
emersonstogo@yahoo.com
We
were blessed last week to see some of our teammates for the first time in
a year and a half! We traveled to Birmingham and spent the weekend with
the Miller family as they kicked off their furlough. We had a great time
reconnecting with Matt, Andrea, Abby, and Aidan, and we were also excited
to meet young Asher for the first time. We absolutely loved him, as would
anyone who gets a chance to meet him. We look forward to being with the
rest of our teammates soon! We were also blessed once again by the
love and hospitality of the Homewood congregation. This was our 2nd visit
with them, and we can see how God is working among them to bless and
support His mission throughout the world, especially in West Africa.
We spent Spring Break in Colorado visiting friends and enjoying the
beautiful mountains. It was a much needed time of rest and relaxation, and
Brett feels energized for the stretch run of the school year. Please pray
for him as he works to make a difference in young lives under difficult
circumstances. God bless!
Matt, Andrea, Abigail, Aidan, and Asher Miller--
miller@harvestfields.net
Our
family continues to enjoy our time in the States reconnecting with friends,
family, and supporters. We are currently spending time with Matt's
family in Indianapolis, and will take a trip to Minneapolis next week to
visit with the Brooklyn Center Church of Christ.
We have not yet heard any news from Aidan's
doctors concerning our options for the correction of his heart condition,
and would appreciate your continued prayers for him. We should know
something soon. Abby and Aidan are enjoying time with their cousins,
and Abby was able to accompany her cousin Marlia to school this week where
she helped Matt give a presentation on our lives in Africa. The
children especially enjoyed our video footage of an elephant chasing our
truck!
Thank you for your continued prayers for our
family, our team, and the Kabiye people! Our cell-phone number while in
the States is: 205-281-0235 Please give us a call
anytime! --The Millers
David, Becky, Hannah, Elijah,
& Gabriel Reeves--
kabiye4christ@yahoo.fr
Greetings
from the Reeves family! We have had a hot, but happy, last few weeks
around our house! Hannah turned 6 years old on the 15th and lost her 6th
tooth yesterday! She is feeling very grown up and she's making us feel
old(er)! Dave is down in Accra for the 2nd time in two weeks picking up
our car, which has had some major engine problems over the last few
months. We hope and pray that it will be in better working order when he
returns tomorrow.
The women's lesson series has been going very well, even with a few
miscommunications about when they have, or haven't, been expecting us.
We've had to reschedule in two or three places, but Becky had very good
visits in both Legue-Legue and Ajadaa this past week. Please
continue to pray for the women's lessons to be a blessing to Kabiye women
who are already believers and also to those who attend who are not yet
Christians.
David has managed to make most every village appointment, even with his
trip to take Christy Dolinger's mom and aunt back to Accra last week and
his trip this weekend to pick up our truck. He asks that you please
continue to pray for humility in the hearts of the leaders in the Bon
Berger Church here in Kara. Good things are happening in that body of
believers but they are busy working through a lot of issues at the moment
and need constant counsel from the Holy Spirit in their hearts.
We praise God that we have all enjoyed a healthy past two weeks and have
had a lot of sweet moments together, as a family. We still miss the
Millers but are beginning to look forward to our own furlough in July as
we hear about all of the good connections they are enjoying with friends
and family in the states. Thank you so much for your prayers and
supplications on our behalf. So many of you are in our thoughts and
prayers, too. We love you! -the Reeves
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