Ramadan is over

The fasting month of Ramadan finishes with the celebration of Feast of Breaking the Fast (Eid al-Fitr), or the Little Feast (al-Eid saghir). It occurs at the conclusion of Ramadan and is held on the first day of the month of Shawwal. For most Sunni Muslims, that was today. For most Shi'a Muslims, that will be tomorrow. West African Muslims are mostly Sunni, so today was a legal holiday in Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire, where nearly 50% of the population is Muslim. The Lebanese population here is mostly Shi'a Muslim, so they will celebrate their Little Feast tomorrow. Learn more about Islam at our website: http://islam.farho.net

Heavenly Father, we ask You to reveal yourself to Muslims through dreams and visions. Open Your arms to them in new and wonderful ways, so they can trust in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, for forgiveness.

College of Prayer

Main building of the FATEAC Seminary

We are grateful to have Fred Hartley here this week, leading a College of Prayer. It is a seminar/retreat where you are taught how to use the Lord's Prayer as a personal prayer pattern. The event is this year's spiritual retreat at the C&MA West African Theological Seminary. We are all enjoying the good teaching and African worship. Go to our previous prayer blog to watch a short video and hear some of the singing.

Heavenly Father, thank You for all we are learning this week. We're grateful to be Your children. Bless the seminary students and staff through this retreat.

College of Prayer Abidjan Day 1

Students singing at the Alliance at the Seminary

This was a beautiful song we sang this morning. It has the same melody as Michael Rowed His Boat Ashore.


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Ramadan in Abidjan

Photo by mohamed.shaaz

We are more than half way through the month of Ramadan. It has been the best one that we've experienced thus far for having opportunities to spend quality time with our Muslim friends. One thing that I've done differently is to make my visits in the morning. People are less stressed and are more open to talk. I've also had more opportunities than ever before to eat with friends when they are breaking their fast.

Heavenly Father, thank You for these opportunities you are giving Mike and Sue. Bless their friends with dreams and visions about Jesus and His love for them.

Learn more about Ramadan at http://islam.farho.net

The curse of Malaria

Every 30 seconds a child under 5 dies of Malaria in Africa. Malaria in Cote d'Ivoire is increasingly caused by the chloroquine-resistant Malaria parasite. It kills 63,000 children under the age of 5 a year here. That's more than 7 small children every hour in Cote d'Ivoire. Adults are also killed by Malaria.

We're grateful for your prayers for Joshua. He is doing very well. Please pray for Joshua's African French language tutor, Gerard. He is sick now with Malaria. When we visited the maternity section of the main Ivorian hospital in Abidjan last May, the doctors thanked God for President Bush. They said many lives have been saved here because of the USA gift of free vaccines and medications for pregnant women and children under 5 years old.

Heavenly Father, we thank You for being our Healer. Thank You for healing Joshua's Malaria and John's shoulder. Please heal Gerard and strengthen all three of them.

Joshua Malaria update

Joshua slept well last night. The very strong medication and your even stronger prayers are healing him. He had some headache all day, but is sleeping now. I woke him up and gave him his last pill at midnight GMT last night.

He's doing OK at home school this morning. Now he'll need a couple days in the house to recover. That will be torture for him. We might have a friend come over to play Legos with him.

Thanks for taking the time to pray for Joshua! We praise God for you!

Send us your questions advice, comments or prayer requests!

Pray for Joshua. He has Malaria

Please pray for Joshua. He has Malaria. We gave him a treatment right away. We're trusting in God to heal him. More than seven young children die every hour of Malaria in Cote d'Ivoire.

Heavenly Father, we trust You to heal Joshua and take away his severe headache and nausea. Help him to get back on his feet again. In Jesus name. Amen!

Send us your questions advice, comments or prayer requests!

John recovering well

Your prayers for John's recovery from shoulder surgery are being answered. He is still having some trouble sleeping, as would be expected with his surgery and his arm brace. He's working some every day at Gold's Gym. Soon he will be going away for 3 weeks at US Army National Guard Camp. That will be a challenge!

Ramadan is off to a smooth start here in Abidjan. I'm visiting my friends in the morning. Traffic is crazy in the evening as frazzled, starved and thirsty people are in a hurry to get home for food and water.

Heavenly Father, thank You for touching and healing John's body. Give him strength and good sleep at night. Continue to give our friends dreams and visions about Jesus our Christ and Savior.