May Prayer Letter

Greetings from the West African nation of Ghana!  This letter is exciting to me because we get to let you know what God has been doing to direct us for this term on the field!

As you well know, the Ivory Coast has experienced an escalation in the Civil War, and in mid-January, we felt the need to leave Ivory Coast for safety reasons.  We drove to Takoradi, Ghana, where we had taken refuge in 2006-2007, and had worked with some missionaries there.  When we got to Takoradi, we found out that one of the missionaries with whom we had worked had left the field due to poor health.  The church that he started was being pastored by a national.  Two weeks after we got here, the national pastor fell into sin.  The church was not ready for this, and there was no one else to lead the church.  The church is in a good location and has a very nice auditorium and a Sunday school building, but the people are still spiritual babies.  Some of these people are people that I led to the Lord when we were here the first time, and I could not just stand by and see this church fall.

We had considered several different options.  Just after we arrived in Ghana, the head went out on our vehicle.  Our vehicle was down for ten weeks.  It seemed that any time we tried to go anywhere else, the car would break down.  After we made the decision to stay here in Takoradi, one of our supporting churches sent the funds needed to buy a new head for our vehicle, and our car was up and running that week.  I was reminded of the story in the Bible of Balaam and his donkey.  So, that is what I call my car now – Balaam’s donkey! (We would like to especially thank the people of the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Fort McMurray, Alberta, for the special offering that they sent to meet this need.)

I am now the missionary pastor of Mt. Calvary Baptist Church of Takoradi, Ghana.  We have committed to staying here until a national can be trained to be the pastor and the church can continue to grow on its own.  We have some changes that need to be made; but by the grace of God, we are going to do what we can here to see a lighthouse of the Gospel planted here in Takoradi.

Our hearts, however, still remain in Ivory Coast.  I have been able to witness to many Ivorian refugees here in Ghana.  I took a trip to Ivory Coast last week to renew our car paperwork.  I was able to bring back some of our stuff with me.  Laura and the kids were excited to see things that they had not seen in a few months.  The kids had brand new bikes that had arrived in our pallet just before we had to leave Ivory Coast.  They have been riding them every day.

Please continue to pray for the people of Ivory Coast.  The prisons and jails have all been burned and are unusable.  The police are the only ones without guns.  People are trying to return to business as usual, but there are still some hurdles to overcome.  In spite of these hurdles, the churches in Abidjan still are doing their best to reach the lost with the Gospel.

We appreciate your faithful prayers and support.  We were reminded again just last night that so many people are praying for us.  On our way to church, there was a man lying in the road.  He was saying, “Help me, help me!” As we got closer, he was not moving out of the road.  I honked the horn and flashed the lights; it was just beginning to get dark.  He moved out of the road.  Just as he got even with my window, he started swinging a machete.  I gunned the vehicle, and we got away.  There were two other men with him standing in the bushes.  They were attempting to rob us.  We are thankful for your prayers and for the Lord’s protection.