AFRICA!!!

When my kids were growing up I prayed the Lord would work in their lives in a great way - but I have to admit I prayed He would not send them to Africa -I had seen missionary videos and slide shows and really thought that would not be the place I would want them to be. Well, my children all know the Lord and are serving Him and He has never called them to Africa. However - He has called me. Our church embarked on a relationship with a tribe of Africans, the I'mboteni people in a remote part of Northwestern Guinea, 2 of our ladies went there last winter and were welcomed warmly. The people were excited and warmly listened to them and the gospel they came to share. We believe some accepted the message, including the chief, who hugged one of our ladies (she is 78!, actually that is wrong, she is 85) when they were leaving and told her he would see her in heaven! These people are sooo poor and they have no fresh water, our church decided to raise the money to put in two wells, in two neighboring villages. That work is about to be completed, we are going to dedicate the wells and further evangelize and build relationships with these precious people. We will leave May 6th and return on May 15th. The trip takes about 24 hours. We will fly from St. Louis to Chicago. From Chicago we will fly to Brussels Belgium and then on to Africa. We will stop in Dakar, Senegal and then an hour flight on to Conakry, Guinea. Our missionaries will meet us there. We will drive about 5 hours to Kamsar, where we will get on a boat to go to a remote coastal area where the villages are. A missionary from Senegal as well as an African pastor and an interpreter will go with us. These remote tribes speak their own languages, so even our missionaries from Senegal and Guinea do not know their language. The people there are aware we are coming. Our church children have made gifts of beaded jewelry for us to give as gifts, I am so excited to share with the children their response.

The top map (if you click on maps they will come up larger) shows Guinea - where we will be going; flying into the capital, Conakry and then driving to Kamsar to get on the boat. The larger map shows all of Africa, as well as if you look just north of France you will see Belgium, our first stop where we will spend about 5hours before flying on to Africa.

Pray for us as we go - I am excited to see what the Lord will accomplish in Africa because a small church in Jacksonville, Illinois is burdened for the people there!