News from Niamey, Niger

Prayer needs:  When I was sick I know that the prayers of my friends and loved ones meant everything and they enabled me to get through a tough time. So I need you to please be in prayer for the following: My supervisor has shoulder and arm pain. It is not diagnosed as yet what is causing this, but it continues to get worse. Another missionary has knee problems, another has back problems, and yet another is facing back surgery. All have been flown to South Africa to been seed by doctors there. This is hard on the family member who must remain behind to do ministry. Please pray the Lord will give wisdom to the doctors as they test, make diagnosis for each one, and prescribe treatment. Also pray the surgery will be successful and recovery will go well. We know the Lord has all of this in His hands and is right there to give peace and comfort to each one. Being human as we all are, we can focus on the problem instead of the Lord in times like these. I know that with all of you praying for these dear missionaries they will experience the Lord’s presence, peace and healing. Thank you so much.

Prayer for Marie: This is my student who will be teaching ESL when I leave. In June she is scheduled to have surgery for female problems. Please pray that the Lord will heal her. Medical problems here in Niger are poor at best. She does not have the luxury of going to South Africa where there are decent knowledgeable doctors.

Passing the baton:  God has answered my prayers. My student, Marie, has agreed to teach ESL when I leave. I know that this is of the Lord because He confirmed this to me in my prayers for her. It is exciting to see how the Lord has worked in the lives of my students. I would ask you to keep her and me in your prayers as we go through this transition period. She will need God’s guidance and strength since she is a wife, mother of two and also works in her church as a secretary. Thank you for your prayers.

Praises: Last evening around 8:30 I looked out my window to see a real blessing. My student, who is also my night guard and a growing Christian, was standing with uplifted hands singing praises to the Lord. As I watched him I could see the joy on his face as he praised the Lord. He loves to sing, write music and is quite a good artist. I thank God for him. He is an inspiration to me and also to many of the lost here.

Thanks to all of you for your partnership with me here in Niamey. I could not have done this without your faithful prayers and support. YOU ARE GREAT!!

Bonnie

Matthew 6:19-21:  I praise the Lord for all the prayers that were prayed while my friend and sister in the Lord, Gayle, was here because I know this had a great affect on events that followed her time here.

            On the night of Feb. 12 at 5 am we had a person (we think a man) break into our house. My room mate was awakened by the flash light as he searched the night stand next to her bed. She, thinking it was me, asked, “What are you looking for?” Upon hearing her, the thief turned and left the room closing the door behind him! When Emily realized it was not me she got up in pursuit. She was not thinking clearly. Thank the Lord he had left by then. We then turned on lights and found our computers were gone, my external mouse, some money, a pair of earrings from my dresser. God protected all of my money and more important He protected our lives. I believe with all my heart our Lord had us covered by the palm of His hand and no harm came to us.

            We kept praying that God would receive glory in this. The very next day one of my newest students, James, came for class in the morning. While two men were working on installing new locks on our doors, this dear young man was lead to the Lord. He prayed to ask Jesus into his heart and all heaven rejoiced. It can’t get much better than that! Our computers will be replaced by insurance and money given back and nothing can take away our peace in our Lord. We celebrate in James’ salvation. We celebrate in the Lord being our refuge in times of trouble and our protector against harm. We celebrate the power of prayer and fasting and how the Lord answers.

            The week before Gayle left, we both presented the plan of salvation clearly to our guard, Mohamed. But he did not want to pray. Now he has been fired as our guard because he was asleep when the robbery took place. Please pray for him and that the Lord will work through this in his life.

Colossians 2:6:  Today I went to turn on my air conditioner with the remote control, which is the only way it can be turned on, only to discover it had been stolen as well! I became angry and frustrated about this and all kinds of negative thoughts flooded in uninvited. But praise the Lord that my new I-pod with all my Christian music on it was not taken even though it was sitting on my desk next to my computer. I put on this praise music and had to listen to many songs and cried some healing tears until the flood of negativity was gone and I was able once again to be positive and go forward. One of the songs about God’s faithfulness and then the song reminding me that my help comes from the Lord has ministered to me in this storm. He has never left my side and I praise Him. Yes, I must work at building myself up in my faith but He is faithful even when I am weak. I realize I must put into practice His word when the hard times come. Oh, how awesome to be ministered to by our Lord, for it is 5:00 in the morning and it is just me and my Lord. Oh, how loving He is.

            It is in the hard times that we see just how wonderful our Lord is. Thanks to all the people who continually lift me up in prayer, I will be fine and continue to finish this course. God bless each of you with His most rich blessings.

            Thank God for the director of Samaritan’s Purse for the use of his old computer until I leave for home in August.

Love and prayers, Bonnie

Merry Christmas 2008!

Happy New Year 2009!

Hello Friends and Family,

What a year this has been!  God has blessed us and the church more than we can say.  The church is slowly growing-we have had four new adult members join and two children, who will be baptised January 18^th.  We changed the name of the church to Grace Fellowship. Began two adult Sunday School classes, and a high-school class.  We established a prayer room and have begun to focus more on cooperate prayer.  We had a day of fasting and praying at a local retreat center.  We have a group that meets every Tuesday for prayer and Paul has started his “Pit Crew” (pastor’s intercessory team).  They prayer walk the church and pray together once a week.  We are already seeing the results of praying together.  More young families with children have been visiting the church.  The Lord has blessed us with enough people to start painting the church-so far we have painted the foyer, hallways, fellowship hall, prayer room, the outside, and “praise the Lord” the sanctuary, yesterday (December 11^th) we put the new sign on the side of the building.  Much needed work has been done on the building and grounds and the people in the community have been commenting to some of our members about the difference it makes and some have begun to ask questions about the church. 

As you see we have been extremely busy this year and the great praise is that God has met all the financial need and more for all the work that has been accomplished.  I forgot to mention that we have begun a “Coffee Morning” on Tuesdays 10-12, inviting the community and neighbours.  We have a “Knitters and Natters” who knit clothing for pre-mature babies in the local hospitals.  In July we lost our first member in death.

Paul has done great with the recuperation from knee replacement and all is well there.  Now he is having trouble with his gall bladder, he believes, but the doctors are testing to rule out other things before making a decision.  He has already done 4 tests and will have one more test next week, after that he will see the surgeon again.

Jepye is doing well, since only one of us at a time can have problems, HA!

Our children and grandchildren in USA are doing well.  Our oldest granddaughter, Karisa, graduates High School in May.  We will be coming home for that event.  We plan to have Karisa and her sister, Moriah, who graduates in 2010 to come to England for a few weeks in June.  We are looking forward to their visit!

We wish all of you God’s riches blessings for Christmas and the New Year!

Paul and Jepye

Dear Family and Friends,

Merry Christmas!  This year we have the privilege of celebrating Christmas for the twelfth time here in Central Asia.  Danise and I can still remember our first Christmas here back in 1993…when things were very, very different.  At that time there were scores of us “outsiders” living here…and hardly any local brothers and sisters.  Our community’s Christmas theme back then was, “Jesus is being born in Central Asia!”  One of our colleagues even put that theme to music.

But now—praise the Lord—the situation is reversed!  There are hardly any of us outsiders left here, precisely because there are scores of local brothers and sisters who have been “born in Him.”  The powers that be keep trying (like Herod did in the Christmas story) to do away with Him, but our 1993 dream has come true—Jesus is alive and well in His Church in Central Asia.  Our family really cherishes the opportunity to celebrate His birthday here again this year!

Well, let us get you up-to-speed on our news since our return here from the U.S. on August 28^th.  First, our kids have enjoyed their new schooling arrangement (we’ve teamed up with five other families to create a “three-room schoolhouse”).  One of the things they like most about it is the opportunity to have a P.E. class with their friends four days a week.  Can you believe they logged fifty miles of jogging over the course of the fall?  We’re sure grateful for several colleagues who work hard to make this a great learning environment for the kids.

Danise and I are finding ourselves in “Barnabas” roles with local brothers and sisters a lot these days.  The enemy is attacking hard and—not surprisingly—going after key targets in the Church.  One leader confided in us that he’s had thoughts of suicide.  A couple with an exemplary marriage shared some deep marital struggles with us.  One of the best tactics we’ve found for helping out in situations like these is simply to invite them over for a meal, and to talk and pray together.  Please keep praying with us that our brothers and sisters will stand firm in the Lord.

Another fun role that Danise and I have assumed since returning is mentoring a number of the youth in our “M” community in music.  Danise works with the vocalists, and I work with the musicians.  We’ve found that the current atmosphere here tends to make life gloomy for our community…and that music is a good antidote to that gloominess.  So each month we’re involving a growing number of our youth in leading our community in “singing for joy to God our strength” (Ps. 81:1).  It’s been fun!

Well, we hope all of you have a great Christmas celebration.  Thanks again for your partnership with us!

Keith, for the Stokelds

          Many of our volunteers are committed to come to a place they have never been and stay with strangers while they are here. They commit to pay their own way and all their expenses while they are here. Then they go the extra mile and want to give the missionaries gifts from home, supplies needed, or treat them to a meal at a restaurant all at their own expense.

          While they are here they pray for many things they see and realize need to be prayed about. They lift up those who live and work here and the lost of this land. They pray for the government officials, the lack of food and medical needs of the country. They pray for the missionaries and their children as they see needs and become aware of our lives here in a foreign culture. They do willingly all that is asked of them while here and ask nothing in return. They just want to help and serve and share the love of the Lord with all. They give their time, energy, talents, without complaint or restraint.

          In their enthusiasm they bring much encouragement and hope to the missionaries and their families. They come as strangers and leave as part of our families. They go home with a story to tell and hearts bursting with love for a people and culture they never knew existed before and they will never be the same. God uses each volunteer in ways they could never have dreamed of and He changes their lives because they had the faith to come.

I praise the Lord for each volunteer He has sent to work here in Niger. THANK YOU!

    The Joy of the Lord: This is what a 73 year old Tameshek believer looks like when he dances before his Lord to bring Him honor and praise. His testimony is that he loves the Lord and thanks Him for saving him and keeping him well and gives him life. Continue to pray for these people here to know the Lord and His grace in their lives.

Thank you all for your prayers for me and those here in Niger.

Bonnie McMinn, Colossians 1: 9-14        

Sunday at the African church I attend, an old man got up and said in Tamashek, today I am 73 years old. It is only by God’s grace because if not for being a child of God I would be dead by now. (Not an exact quote) Then he proceeded to worship the Lord in song and dance. He does this every week faithfully. I too praised the Lord for his life in Christ.

An African Church

I arrive at 10:30 and the service is in full swing and I do mean swing! I love the music. There is a key board, many kinds of African drums, percussion instruments with the people singing in many rhythms. I can not stand still, I must move my feet, clap my hands and sing as best I can, for I do not speak French. But I am getting to know the songs that are sung over each week. The men come forward dancing and singing with such smiles on their faces and you can not help yourself, you join in and smile and know that the Lord is good. But this dancing to the Lord is amazing. All of this continues to perhaps 12 noon and then the pastor, a very fine preacher of God’s word, will give his sermon. (Interpreted for me) He is so animated that he can not stand still and is all over the church. At the end when it is time to worship the Lord with giving. A basket is put on a table and all will give what they can as they all come forward in dance, and clap to the music as they put their offering into the basket. It is awesome to see smiles as they give.  I am always so blessed to go and worship among people from every tribe, nation and tongue as it should be. Thank you, Lord, for such a great blessing.

A Godly wife

One of my students asked me to pray for him. I said I would and asked what is your need? He said he wants a Christian wife. He wants, a women who loves to follow Jesus, she doesn’t want to paint her nails and face and wear tight clothes. He said there are not Christian women that truly follow Jesus. He is 43 years old and loves the Lord. So I prayed, then he prayed in the Tamashek language. You see in this land of Islam, a Christian women, is very hard to find. But with God nothing is impossible.

Rain and Malaria

Praise the Lord for all the rain we have had. We have been getting rain every night and sometimes in the day as well. I have never seen the millet here in Niamey so high. But along with all this wonderful rain the mosquito that carries malaria is very plentiful as well. I have medicine I have to take each day I live here to prevent me from contracting this disease. Unfortunately, the African does not have the knowledge or the funds to take preventive medicine. So many contract malaria and suffer.  Many die. So please pray for these lost souls to survive another day to hear about the love of Jesus for them.

Ramadan

During this month of Muslims prayer 5 times a day and fasting each day I would ask that you pray very aggressively for the Holy Spirit to convict them of sin, to see the futility of their lives, and to seek to know the truth of God’s Word. 

I thank all of you for your continued prayers.

God bless all of you,

Bonnie McMinn

This is Stukeley Calling:

 Up to May 11^th (US Mother’s Day and Pentecost) we had been working hard painting, cleaning, and organizing materials.  That was the last Sunday that Serena, David’s 86 year old mother attended services.  Her health had been failing for several years but after May 11^th it went down quite rapidly.  On July 2^nd she went to be with the Lord.  The last month of her life, Pete and Penny stayed with her at night so that David could get some rest so he could be with her in the day time.  Jepye and I prepared meals for them.  Needless to say all painting at the church ceased.

 On July the 3^rd we left to attend the IBC Summer Assembly in Interlaken, Switzerland.  It was a great week of lovely weather, great preaching, bible study, conferences, and meeting up with old friends.  It was a great time celebrating the 50^th Anniversary of the convention.  Bob and Debbie Murff had scheduled to go but only Debbie made it.  Bob was pick pocketed on the underground going to the airport and lost his pass port and wallet and had to return home, poor guy.

 The Monday after we returned was the funeral for Serena at the Crematorium in Cambridge.  Then on Friday the internment of her ashes was at the village church.  Paul had both services.   On September the 7^th there will be a Thanksgiving Service at Grace Fellowship so that several elderly relatives who were unable to attend the other services, David wants to do this so that they can attend. 

 The last week of July we did VBS with a team from Emmanuel in Crestview, Florida and Alconbury Independent Baptist Church.  It was a great VBS but we were disappointed at the low number of children this year (32).  The great news is that two of them accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour.   We will be praying about what God wants us to do next year.

 Jepye’s ladies class is growing.  She now has 4 in attendance.  We have started a men’s class with David teaching and we have 3 in attendance.  In September we hope to start our “Knitters and Natters” group.

 We are still getting some visitors and several of them come almost every Sunday.

We hope to get back to the painting soon.  Our next project will be to do the sanctuary.

We held a joint Men’s Fellowship breakfast in August with 4 churches represented and 10 men in attendance.

Please pray:

·         For continued growth of the bible study classes on Sunday morning.

·         For the start of the “Knitters and Natters” group.

·         For the Men’s Fellowship Breakfasts.

·         For more people to visit and join the fellowship.

·         For two or three dedicated couples to come and join us to help with the ministry.

·         For someone to come along side and work with the children.

Serving together,

Paul and Jepye of the Stukeleys

Hands On and ESL:  Eighteen young adults from America , in the Hands On program came to our ESL class to share their testimonies with my students. They all sat on mats and my students introduced themselves. Then they listened while the others shared what Jesus had done in their lives. There were times of laughter, times of just listening. When it was over I could see that my students had questions. Some of them understood more of what was shared than others. One of my students laughed and said “they just kept saying, Jesus this and Jesus that, Jesus did everything.” My prayer is that one day these students will know our Jesus, the only Name by which man can be saved. (Acts 4:12)

Rainy Season:  Yes, it is the rainy season. Keep praying for the needed rain in Niger . The crops are not good this year due to lack of rain. I have seen the Lord give us rain each time we have prayed for Him to do this. We are still praying and need you to continue to join with us.

Conversations: While mentioning to one student that I only have a year left before I return to the States, he asked me if I would come back. The Lord used this to openly share my heart’s desire with him. I stated that I followed where the Lord told me to go to serve Him. He brought me to Niger for a season and He will show me where I am to go next. But I also said that when I die I know I will go to heaven because I believe in Jesus. I told him that my prayer is my students will know and believe in Jesus as well. Then if we never see each other here we will meet again in heaven.  This student, while he reads his French Bible, is still not a believer. Please pray that when the Lord opens up such conversations they will have the affect upon the person that God intends them to have. I could see in his expression he was very thoughtful.

Phone lines: For what ever reason, we have been without a phone line at my house for about a month off and on. When this happens we can not use our internet to reach out to all of you. Nor can I receive information and communication from home. It is such a source of frustration to me and the rest of our mission community. Our office internet is not working well either. We need you to pray it will all get fixed soon. 

God’s blessing upon all, Bonnie

Philippians 1:3-11 

Our team flys back Saturday 2 Aug.  We leave Gatwick at 10:40 and get into P-Cola just after 6pm.  Pray for good weather and a safe flight for us.

Wish you all could have been here but know you were praying from home.  Thank you!

God Bless

Diane

VBS has been going well.  On the second day we had nine new kids attend VBS.  Our age group ranges from 3 to 15.  Our team has been doing Bible Study, Missions, and filling in as kids leaders as necessary.  Sara and Chris had started bonding with the kids and are the first people they ask about upon arriving each night.  At the end of the evening we were asked to lead the Opening Rally the next day as Diana (she is a wonderful volunteer from the Chapel) had another commitment.  

Day Three – lots of prayer for today as we would be introducing the children to Jesus and doing the Opening Rally.  Jo Sue suggested we go to Ely Cathedral and pray and that turned out to be one of the best things we could have done.  It was so serene and praying under the “Way of Life” Cross which symbolizes that life has it’s ups and downs but the end (Salvation) is always worth the journey gave us new momentum and perspective.  We realized the truly important part of VBS wasn’t how many kids came or who was responsible for what but, that the kids were shown the Love of Christ and  that Jesus was offering them Salvation.  This journey really solidified our team.  Sara and Chris did a great job of leading the Worship Rally and preparing the kids for meeting the greatest hero of all “Jesus”.  The kids were pumped up and remained that way for the rest of the night.  During the evening three of the older kids indicated they were ready to accept Christ as their personal savior. 

Day Four – God really is great!  We so love these kids.  Chris and Sara in particular have built special relationships them.  They have been key members of the team as they have been able to build relationships with the kids that would take us adults a long time if ever to do.  Sara and Chris are there to greet them and to see them off and the little kids are all over them.  The older kids have opened up around them and are really sharing their life with them.  Chris has helped out by impersonating several people from the bible and the little kids have come to call him “John the Baptist”, everyday they stop by the bible study room to see if John is coming in to visit with them. 

We were saying tonight that is doesn’t feel like we should be getting near the end of our mission and we are not ready to leave.  We feel like God has definitely moved here but it is just the beginning.  Sara was saying she would like to include Chris Tomlin’s song “God of This City”in the Family day on Friday.  We think it would be perfect as there are “Greater things have yet to come Great things are still to be done
In this city” and that is our heart for the kids, their families, and churches in the area.  I know the members of Grace Fellowship and the other volunteers believe it too.

God Bless

Diane