AND THEN THERE WERE FIVE!

I must apologize for not writing in a long time! I just have not gotten around to writing an update until now! I will try my best to get in the habit of writing weekly updates again! There is so much that has happened in the past month that I want to tell you about, so let’s start at the beginning!

On May 5th we welcomed Michele and Abby to Benin!! It felt like Christmas in May because they brought with them goodies, notes, cards etc that people sent for us. Oh, and they also brought a lot of hugs from people too! It was SO wonderful seeing people from home! Thanks to everyone who sent things for us…and for all the hugs too! We felt very blessed!!

Christmas in May!! Thanks everyone!!!

Someone sent Starbucks Coffee! [Thanks Samantha!!!] This was my first cup of coffee in 3 months....and it tasted SO good - you have no idea! I just sat there and smelled it for the first 5 minutes as it cooled - it was delightful!

VILLAGE MINISTRY

We had the privilege of doing ministry with our leaders and some members from the Vodje team [the team I helped train last May] during the week Abby and Michele were here. We spent two days in two different villages with the GAiN [Global Aid Network] Jesus Film team. When we arrived at the village we would set up our sound system and start off our time of ministry with a drama set. After we have invited people to accept Christ and spent time talking individually with the villagers who watched, we would bust out some skipping ropes, Frisbee’s, and soccer balls to play with the kids. Duck, Duck, Goose always made it into the repertoire of games as well! After playing with the kids for some time we would continue our time of ministry with another drama set.

At the first village, after the drama set our leaders were talking with people and sharing the Gospel. I really wanted a chance to talk with people as well but our only translator was Alphonse [from Gain] and he was busy talking with some new believers. So I grabbed one of our leaders, Martin, who can understand my English pretty well [even though he won’t admit it] and asked if he would try to translate for me. He hesitantly agreed. We approached three young women and started talking to them. I shared the Gospel with them and asked if they wanted to give their life to Jesus, the person who gave His life for them. To my surprise they readily agreed so we prayed together! We took their names afterwards so we could give them to the Pastor from the near-by church who was overseeing the follow-up for the new believers. I left that conversation in awe of how ready people are to accept the Good News, how ready people are to hear about Jesus. [God just needs us to share!] I think Martin left feeling a little more confident in his English too!

CITY MINISTRY

For the first time we did ministry in the city [Cotonou]! City ministry here in Benin has a different feel than village ministry and a different feel from doing ministry in Vancouver. One afternoon we went to a plaza and gathered a big crowd! Most of them were children who stopped to watch on their way home from school. We also did ministry on the beach one afternoon! This time stands out in my mind because God moved in huge ways! Many people stopped to watch and many people gave their life to Christ that afternoon.

The enemy was trying very hard to keep us from ministering that day. The cord that runs from the sound system to the generator was broken but we were able to get it fixed. When we were all set to go, the generator would not start. The guys kept working on it and we kept praying. And sure enough – it started! I knew then that God had big plans for our ministry time. I couldn’t believe the number of people who stopped to watch – and it was people of all ages. When we asked if anyone wanted to accept Christ, 51 people came forward! The whole time our leaders were talking with them about what it means to be a Christian and praying with them, I was overwhelmed with a sense of God’s presence. We took the name and phone number of all 51 people so we could pass that information along to the evangelism team at our church, who agreed to do follow-up and discipleship with the new believers.


These days of ministry were a very exciting experience for me because it gave me a glimpse of the kind of tidal-wave effect DRIME Benin can have and will have on the nation of Benin and Lord-willing, all of West Africa!

A DAY AT THE POOL

Michele treated us to a day at a hotel pool while she was here. It was SO wonderful and refreshing! I think I spent more time in the pool than out of it that day – but that’s because if I were an animal, I think I would be a fish!

At the same time that it felt wonderful, it also felt a bit strange to be there. It felt like we were no longer in Benin because everything was so nice and clean and fancy! There were also a lot more yovo’s there! The entire day we all kept commenting on how we felt like we had left the country and were at some tropical resort. It was just another vivid contrast of the wealth and poverty that exist so blatantly side by side.

AND THEN THERE WERE THREE….

On May 14th we said a sad goodbye to Carleigh and Michele as they headed back to Canada. So now Jamie, Abby and I are continuing the work here in Cotonou!

Here we all are with our leaders!!!