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Kabiye Team News
May 7, 2000
Dear Family and Friends,
Hello, again! We pray that all of you are doing well and that you are
enjoying a beautiful "spring" wherever you are in the world! The spring
in Albertville is by far the most gorgeous "printemps" we have ever
experienced. The weather is warm, but not too warm. There are flowers
blooming everywhere, the lower hills are greening up and the mountain
peaks still have snow. We have the privilege (though I never would have
imagined it would be so) of being able to walk everywhere we go, in and
around town, and getting to experience so much of the sights and sounds
of God's beautiful creation about us. We are in awe of Him and His
blessings and His faithfulness that He displays everywhere about us.
The second trimester of school began here on Tuesday with a spiritual
retreat given completely in French. Because we still can't understand a
lot of what people say and because the speaker didn't speak as clearly
as some people, we didn't understand a whole lot of what was being said.
We understood the basic points of the lesson on being children of light
but we didn't hear so much that it didn't prick us or really uplift our
spirits in any way. This was a discouragement at first, but then we
realized that this is the same principle that we want to keep in mind as
we teach the Kabiye. To teach them in French (which many of them will
only barely understand) is like teaching us in French. We don't get the
message because everything we hear we still have to translate into our
normal "English" thoughts and some of it we just don't understand. Our
major goal is to learn the language of the Kabiye people so that we will
be able to communicate the gospel message in their "heart language".
This principle of preaching in one's native tongue hit home to us in a
fresh way as we were on the receiving end of the message and realized
that if we were lost, we would not be reached through French at this
point. Please pray that we will learn the French we need here to
communicate on our arrival and please pray most of all that God will
give us the gift of being able to learn the Kabiye language fluently and
quickly so that we might communicate His message of love to them.
We have found a new recreational activity that our whole family really
enjoys! We bought a bike seat that sits on the back of Dave's bike for
Hannah (and helmets of course:-)) and I borrow one of our other
teammate's bikes and we go riding around the area. Hannah really loves
it and so do we. We have only done it 3 or 4 times but it is something
we all really enjoy doing together, and something Dave and I have wanted
to start doing, but never had the opportunity, long before Hannah was
born. We don't know if it will be as easy to do in Africa, but we hope
we can continue to ride together once in a while when we are there.
We have an exciting announcement. Both Andrea Miller and Nicole Kennell
are expecting babies soon after our arrival in Togo! Andrea is expecting
near the end of October and Nicole is expecting during the first part of
December. They have both had very normal pregnancies so far. Please pray
for the safe carrying and delivering of these new babies!
Hannah's news is that her hair is now long enough that we can put it in
two 2 inch pigtails on both sides of her head! She is the cutest child I
have ever laid eyes on (all biases aside, of course) and she has been
very healthy and happy for the last week since she has been off of her
antibiotic. Thank you so much for all of you who are praying for her
(and the other childrens') health. We see God's benevolence being poured
out on us because of your prayers! She is also very excited by every
bird she sees lately. She says "bird" without a very clear "d" and
brings such joy to us just by her being alive!
I have a special prayer request for you all to bring before the Father.
I have a new language partner. This is someone who students here at the
language school pair up with to practice speaking French with a French
person here in town. I am very excited to have a language partner and
have already gained so much from our two meetings. We meet once a week
for an hour and a half and I know this will be very productive! I liked
my new language partner immediately. Her name is Gypsy! She is in her
mid-fifties and is very into body-building and new age religion. She has
met with students here for 5 or 6 years now and everyone has told me
that she will be very bold and firm about not wanting anything to do
with God. However, last Tuesday she really opened up and told me how her
life was missing something and that the older she gets, the less sure of
herself and her beliefs she is. She said she has already "tried God'"
and that that didn't work either. Oh, I know she could see in my eyes as
I listened to her that I knew beyond any doubt what she needed, but as I
prayed for the words to say, I felt like I needed to just listen and
wait. Please pray for Gypsy's heart and please pray that God would give
me His words to say to her, not my own, when the time is right when she
is ready to hear with her heart. (A.J., have you still been praying for
God to send me a person here to share His message with?) Thank you for
praying! Let us hear from you when you get a chance. We love hearing how
things are going in your life and want to pray for anything you need us
to pray for. Love, miss, and praise God for each of you!
In His Love, Becky, David, and Hannah
"For this reason, I bow my knees before the Father . . .that He would
grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with
power through His Spirit in the inner man; so that Christ may dwell in
your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in
love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth
and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which
surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of
God." -Ephesians 3:14-20
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