God, if you exist, prove it to me!

A Lebanese man became frustrated and angry at what seems like God's indifference with what is happening in Abidjan. He climbed on the roof of his house in front of his friends and cried out, "God, if you exist, prove it to me!" That night he had a dream in which God spoke to him. He reached out and grabbed at a red star that was flying by him. The star burned him. Then he awoke, to find his right arm burned and blistered to his elbow. Now many Lebanese are telling his story of new faith in God to their friends.

Heavenly Father, we know you exist and thank You for Your presence in our lives. Open closed hearts to Jesus as they hear this man's story. Give Mike and Sue opportunities to encourage them in their faith.

Modeste Church School

I have an important meeting Wednesday with the head elder of the Modeste Bambara C&MA Church. The Christ Community Church 808 Team was able to leave some cash to do some work on their school building. They want to fix up their one room classroom a little before school starts again this fall. It is an exciting project. The Ivorian government likes the school so much that they provide a teacher! That is a really big deal, since the church and the villagers can't afford a salary for a teacher. They grow vegetables for the Abidjan market.

Heavenly Father. Thank You for the generosity of Christ Community Church and their college students. Use this C&MA school to train boys and girls to read, so they can read Your Word and mature in Christ.

See a photo of the school

Learn more about the Modeste Church

C&MA DNA

• Our Christology . . . what we believe about Jesus
• Our core values . . . how we live our beliefs
• Our strategies . . . how we decide what we’ll do together as a movement for God

Read more about our C&MA DNA

Send us your questions advice, comments or prayer requests!

Taxi strike day 3

The strike continues. No danger to most people, just a huge inconvenience for those who use them to shop and get to work. There is a strike of government workers planned for tomorrow.

Here are some photos from http://Abidjan.net:

Send us your questions advice, comments or prayer requests!

Taxis on strike in Abidjan

This photo by Abidjan.net pretty much sums up the problem. No taxis, means no way for most of the population of this city of nearly 6 million to get to work. The taxi drivers are on strike because they can't afford to buy fuel at the rates they are authorized to charge. The drivers set up road blocks to stop people from taking other forms of transportation. We were warned that there could be trouble, so we've stayed here in our neighborhood.

Heavenly Father, help the people in Abidjan to find ways to make ends meet during these extremely inflationary days. Give the government authorities wisdom as they try to calm down the situation.

Fuel went up 44% this week.

Overnight, the price of diesel fuel for our vehicle went from $4.93 to $7.10 a gallon in Cote d'Ivoire. Gas is now $7.19 a gallon. We're grateful that our vehicles get great mileage. How much do you pay for fuel?

We went to the grocery store today and stocked up. All food items will soon cost more, because of the increase in fuel costs. We're finding ourselves doing more of our visits by phone, to cut ministry expenses. We're as careful as we can be about making any purchases for our ministry that will influence the cost of our work here. Our Toyota gets much better mileage than our old Peugeot. We drive our tiny Suzuki Samurai or motorcycle when possible. Last year, we used our Farho Work gifts to purchase a laser printer. It dramatically reduced our printing costs compared to our inkjet printer.

We're grateful for your generous and sacrificial gifts to send us here to share the Good News in Abidjan. What ideas can you share, to help us lower our ministry expenses?

Measles and Travel

I don't think our John and Joshua ever had measles. Sue and I did. How about you? Nassif (12 years old) has a bad case of measles (is actually Chickenpox). He and his dad Fauzi haven't been able to sleep, because of the irritation. Poor Nassif just had Malaria recently too.

Radwan is trying to get ready for his family's departure to Lebanon next Monday. There are many problems that are making it difficult. A tax collector showed up today with a bill for over $5,000. He is trying to sell his wife's car to pay for all their plane tickets. She and their children will stay in Lebanon.

Heavenly Father, thank You for being Nassif's healer. Give him relief from his itching sores. Radwan thanks You for meeting all his needs. He and we are counting on Your provision for his financial needs.