My Heart for Mali

We Made It Home

2011-04-06T17:30:00.003-04:00

The last I wrote, we were going to be waiting until Monday night to head home. I finished writing that and laid down for a nap. When I woke up, Ken informed me we had new plans. We were flying out Sunday afternoon instead.

I had relinquished control of the situation to God and went to sleep, letting go of my worries and He provided a better solution to us getting home. We left Bamako on Kenyan Air (we still don't know what the Kenyan tickets will cost us). instead of Air Mali and flew to Dakar. We had an 11 hour layover in Dakar, so we planned to sit at the restaurant since the missionaries told us this was a good place to wait during a long layover. Just getting to the restaurant became a challenge because of all the guys that wanted to carry our bags for us. It seemed we had to drag guys up the stairs because they wouldn't let go of our bags.

We spent almost 9 hours in the mosquito infested restaurant at Dakar airport. Mostly, I read and did crossword puzzles. Ken got interested in some wrestling on TV and a few soccer matches. We had supper at the restaurant. I had nems, which we had several times in Mali this year. They remind me a bit of taquitos. The ones at the airport had seafood in them, so they were really good! Ken had grilled fish and said it was some of the best fish he's ever eaten. Thankfully, there were a few items on the menu we recognized from other menus we had seen in Mali! The menus were in French and the waitress apparently didn't speak any English.

We went to check in for our flight and they were having computer problems and our names were not on the list of passengers. So, we had to go to the South African Airlines' office. They charged us $200 each because of the flight changes. They said that usually, Air Mali would pay that penalty for us, but that Air Mali hadn't done that in this case. They said we could submit the receipt to Air Mali for reimbursement. I have my doubts that will ever happen with Air Mali. Lesson learned: check with the missionaries and find out which airlines are most reliable and stick with those, no matter the price difference.

Finally, we were on a flight home. I slept about 6 or 7 hours on the plane. When we got to New York, we were there for a 7 hour layover. We had coffee and pastries for breakfast and fast food for lunch before flying out. It was just good to be back in the USA where most airport employees speak English. I spent most of my down time listening to music and catching up on emails and stuff. It was so good to talk to Sarah and Zac on a cell phone! We had a slightly rough flight, flying through storms into Columbus. I thought I was going to get sick with the plane bouncing all over.

When we got into Columbus, Sarah and Zac were sitting waiting on us! It was so good to see them! It was so good to be home! We headed to Red Robin for supper! It was good to have a huge hamburger with a fried egg on it! We serve an amazing God! The time in Mali was so blessed by God. Our flight home was guided by His hand! I praise God for this great trip! Please pray that the phone system at the hospital will continue to be a blessing to all the hospital employees and that through this means of communication, lives will be saved and Malians will come to know Christ!

God Is In Control

2011-04-02T09:46:00.003-04:00

I think this whole flight home thing is a way God is showing me that I'm not in control of anything in this world. Thank God, He is!

Our tickets have been transferred to Monday/Tuesday flights with the same airlines. We have to keep a very close eye on Air Mali flight schedules for Monday and be sure our flight out does not get cancelled/postponed. If this flight gets cancelled/postponed, we have to try to get on an earlier Air Senegal flight, paying for a ticket. I'm not sure if we'd have enough cash with us to get the tickets, so we'd have to see what we could work out. If the Air Mali flight leaves much later than scheduled, we'll probably miss our connecting flight in Dakar again. At this point, the best situation would be the Air Mali flight leaving on time. Please pray and have everyone you know pray that this flight will remain on time and that we will be able to get started home!

On a different note, we've had the opportunity to do many things today we wouldn't have gotten to do. We went to a yard sale at the U.S. Embassy in Mali. We also got to go tile shopping with Kristen, Angela, and Doug. It's fun to see the shops and all that goes on in the streets here. We've also gotten a little taste of what happens when a missionary gets a house and has to do the usual "decorating". We had lunch at a great, new, little place. It was amazing!

I'm really missing my wife and son. It's been over two weeks now since I've seen them. The fact that our arrival home was seriously delayed isn't helping that much. I am very thankful that we have quite a bit of support from the local missionaries and a safe, comfortable place to rest.

Please continue to pray for our flight situations. Please also pray for me as I struggle through letting God have control over the situation! Please pray that our bodies will hold out and that we'll get the rest/sleep we need when we need it. Please pray for Ken as he took the last anti-malarial pill he brought with him. That leaves a few days without it. Please also pray for our families at home who are trying to stay strong even with all the delays and confusion.

Thank you to all our prayer warriors out there! Your prayers have been greatly felt throughout this trip! We are very blessed to have such faithful prayer warriors on our side. We are also extremely blessed to have a relationship with the one true God! It's hard to see so many people here that do not know the one true God that I know.

Last Day Of Work Here

2011-03-31T04:40:00.003-04:00

Wow, what an amazing trip this has been! God has been so good throughout the trip! Yesterday was a very high "mountaintop" day for me. We've been trying for months to get calling outside and inside working on the phone system. Yesterday, God turned on some lights in my head and allowed us to accomplish this. Isn't our God amazing? Sometimes, His timing isn't our timing, but we got this accomplished with His guidance just in before we leave. I was able to call the hospital from the guest house this morning. These calls are all dependent on the Internet connection speeds, but at least we know they work.

Today, we're spending mostly documenting and training for Ed in case anything would go wrong with the system when we're gone. Ed has done amazingly great in learning phone and extension configurations. God has been good there as well! Thanks, Ed, for your patience and willingness to learn! You have a lot on your plate and have still made time to learn this system!

Yesterday, we got some money changed and went shopping. Ken bought most of his stuff from the vendor that came to the guest house last night. I was more interested in stuff at one of the shops. Mind you, the shops aren't like shops in the USA. We went to this guys shop and he invited us right in to his little "hut" type shop. He took us inside to look around and then asked us to have a seat. We both sat down and he had the kids and women set everything he had out for us to look at. The whole time, I was afraid he was going to ask us to eat or drink something. He had cups and plates laying around. Thank goodness he didn't. I've actually been healthy this trip! I bought several things and we left. As we were crossing the street, we just about got plowed over by a moto. The moto came out around a semi truck. I saw the moto and stopped. Ken didn't see it and kept walking. The moto went right between us, swerving to miss us.

Tomorrow morning starts our long journey back home. Please pray for safe travel and that all our flights will be on time and as scheduled! We can't wait to see our families!

Blessings to you all!

Praise God It's Monday

2011-03-28T09:10:00.003-04:00

Good afternoon! We are finishing up lunch and I wanted to share a bit of our trip with you since it's been a few days.

Friday night, we had a cookout at the Wenger's! The steaks and fish were amazing as were all the salads the families brought! We watched a movie with a laptop, projector, and sheet hanging between two patio umbrellas. Then the power went out and was out for a few hours. Rolling blackouts continue each day. No one is sure why this is happening because the power company says they've fixed the problem.

Saturday, we headed in to the hospital around 9am to do a bit more configuration on a server to manage the addressing and internet routing on the network. This seems to be helping speed the Internet traffic up a bit because the little router just couldn't handle all the additional traffic we had added with phones. I'm so glad Ken knows what he's doing with that because I've never set one up. He has some more work to do on it, but we'll get to that in the next day or so.

Sunday, we went to church at Bethel again. I just love being able to worship with people that speak another language. It's amazing how we can all worship our God in our own languages! It's also amazing to see how others worship through song, dance, and music! We had lunch with the Wenger's...my favorite meal...beef and noodles and mashed potatoes. In the afternoon, we went to a soccer game. That was a lot of fun. The team we were rooting for won 6-1. We had a worship service with all the missionary families and then got to go to John and Carol's to watch another movie and have snacks!

This morning, we've spent most of our time trying to eliminate radio frequency interference between all the access points we've installed. It's the same kind of idea of your microwave interfering with a portable phone in your house. All the access points were on the same channel and causing interference with each other. We're still troubleshooting this and looking at additional settings we can use to reduce this interference.

Tonight, we're headed to John and Carol's for dinner. This week, we're visiting the missionaries' homes for our evening meals. This will be a lot of fun!

Update on the 19 year old girl I told you about: We talked to Dr. Dan last night to get a status update. I could just sit and talk with Dan for hours about the miracles God is doing here! Dan told us that the young girl is doing much better and will probably be going home in the next few days. He has told her over and over that they've done all they can do and that he knows that wasn't enough. God came in to do the rest! Dan has been telling her that God loves her. She's struggling with the fact that she aborted her baby and is having a hard time believing that God could still love her and forgive her. Dan said this is kind of like telling someone that God is something completely different than they've been taught.

Please continue to pray for this young lady. Pray that she will be completely healed and that through this, she'll realize that God does love her and will forgive her. Pray that she will accept God's love and forgiveness!

For Ken and I and the phone project, I ask that you continue to pray for us as we try to stabilize the network and phones so that there won't be any major problems after we leave. Pray that our bodies will remain strong and energized to finish strong on the project the Lord has given us! We're at that point in a two week trip that exhaustion can settle in and we know we need to finish strong!

Please also pray for our families back home. I know I'm missing my family and that they are missing me.

Friday Update on Saturday Morning

2011-03-26T02:49:00.002-04:00

Good morning everyone.

Yesterday was one of those days that I think we were fighting a bit of a spiritual battle. All week, we've been on such a high seeing everything working so well. Yesterday, we tried to start getting outbound and inbound calling from and to the hospital working. We had no luck at all. I think the Internet connection at the hospital is too slow to make it work. Another thing that happened was something on the network is slowing the Internet traffic even worse. We believe it's just the added connectivity to the main router, which wasn't made to be used in the way we're using it. One other thing was that we moved a switch to making the wiring a little cleaner and broke a piece of fiber cable. Ken was able to patch the connection with another cable to get things back up.

On the positive side, Ken started building a server to do a large part of the work that the main router is. This should take a load off of that router and begin speeding things up. We're headed out to the hospital this morning to try to get these things running and to do some additional testing.

Please pray that our minds will stay focused on the project as we move into our final week of work here. It's hard to believe we've been here a week already. Pray that we'll be able to resolve the network issues so that the phones and computers at the hospital will all work well together. Pray also that we will recognize any attempts by the enemy to bring us down or to bring the project down and that through the authority God has given us, we can cast them to the feet of Jesus' cross!

Thank you to all the prayer warriors out there! Without you, it's hard to say where we would be. God bless you all!

Thursday

2011-03-24T16:14:00.003-04:00

Well, it's Thursday and the weeks almost over. It's hard to believe the things God has done through Ken and I...and all our Malian and Missionary helpers!

Today, the day started with Ken making us eggs and ham! Thanks Ken, it was a great breakfast!

I finished up training Ed on setting up phones and new extensions. Before I knew it, he was sending out phones and people are using the system quite a bit! We spent the majority of our day trying to finish up the networking. We still have several challenges ahead of us to complete the networking!

Tomorrow, I think we'll be primarily trying to finish up the networking on the west side of Pod 2 and all of Pod 3.

Tonight, we had quiche for supper! It was very good! We continue to eat way too well! We also went for a swim after supper to cool down. It's crazy how cold the water can feel after being in 106 degree weather all day.

Please continue to pray for the phone project! Pray that the excitement will continue among hospital employees and that they will not be discouraged if problems arise. Pray that God will provide wisdom to Ken and I as to how to properly finish up this networking. Also pray for a 19 year old woman who was brought the the hospital a few days ago. She had some crazy form of abortion (as if abortion isn't crazy enough) and has not been doing well since. Her heart has been beating 150 times per minute and she's been breathing 60 times per minute. According to Dr. Dan, this is very high. If she weren't so young, her body wouldn't be able to sustain itself with numbers this high. She's also on pressurized oxygen as of this morning. Please pray for healing and that God's light, love, and grace will shine through to this young woman and her family through this difficult experience.

Here's a couple pictures of the excitement of a container arriving yesterday!

Wednesday Late

2011-03-23T17:40:00.003-04:00

Wow, it's almost 10pm and we're just sitting down to relax.

Today, the day started with morning devotions at the hospital as usual. We then were off to the races trying to get the networking in the south end of pod 1 working. We found a very interesting problem. If we mount the access point in outside of the building, we get really good coverage, except in the lab. So, we moved the access point into the lab. In the lab, the access point would not bridge to the other access points. After trying several things, we found that if we mount the access point above the counter top and only along certain parts of the wall, it would bridge and we could connect to it in the lab. Outside of the lab, it doesn't seem to work so well. We have some sort of challenge with the Lab, but are unsure of what it is so far. We're hoping that having an access point in the lab will work for the lab and maybe another access point will cover the area outside the lab.

On the positive side, Ken made a phone call from one of the portable phones to a portable I was carrying. He was able to walk around most of the hospital compound talking to me without dropping the call! This is very positive! I also was able to train Ed Bonvillain to set up the Nortel phones we're using. I'll just have him do a couple more so that he's used to it when we're gone.

Tomorrow will be another day of trying to finish up the networking and probably more training for Ed with the other phones.

Oh ya, almost forgot. They got a shipping container in today at the hospital from Christ Community Church in Omaha. It was amazing to see Doctor Dan's face light up seeing some of the new medical equipment that came in. He said it's amazing to have equipment that is less than 7 years old. There's a lot of equipment being used from many years ago.

Please continue praying for the networking throughout the hospital as we try to finish that up. Please also pray for one of our next tasks, which is trying to find a way to allow the doctors to use this phone system for inbound and outbound calls from their homes to the hospital and vice versa. Please also pray for Ken's ankle. He either injured it or got bit on Monday and it's been pretty swollen and tender since. The swelling seems to have subsided slightly, but still requires some healing!

Thank you for all your prayers! It's only through God that this whole system is coming together as well as it is!

God bless you all!

Happy Tuesday

2011-03-22T15:21:00.002-04:00

Good evening, Friends! Blessings to you all!

I don't have a lot on my mind tonight, but thought I'd give you a quick update on our work.

Today, Ken did a lot of networking work trying to get the wireless access points to work throughout the hospital complex. He found that it is really hard to transmit a wireless signal because of the metal windows, metal roofs, rebar in the walls, etc. The wireless signal likes to just scatter/bounce off of metal surfaces. We also found out that only one access point we expected to be here already is actually here. Additionally, the one router that was already here can't be configured the way we're configuring the rest. Please pray for God's guidance in getting the networking configured in the best way possible!

I spent a majority of the day getting desk phones and portable phones configured so that when the network is ready, we can start distributing phones. Tomorrow, I think the plan is for me to work with Ed and a Malian worker to teach them how to configure the phones. This should go well, but pray that God will let this training go smoothly so that they are able to sustain the phone system when we are gone.

Ken cooked eggs with ham this morning and it was really a great way to start the day! Tonight, the Malian man made us tacos. This was really good and I found out cucumbers and ranch dressing are great in tacos too! Of course, I'm either really hungry or the cucumbers here don't taste like the ones at home. I hate cucumbers at home.

Thanks to all those that have been praying for us! We can feel God's presence, guiding our hands and minds in His work here. God has brought us through town safely each time and has provided us great nourishment when it is needed! Most of all, I am not sun burned yet! hee hee.

God bless you all!

Monday Update

2011-03-21T15:06:00.004-04:00

Good evening to all my friends out there! Today was our first day of work and went pretty well. We were able to get a general layout of the hospital and where phones would be located. We were also able to bridge two wireless access points. For those non-technical people reading this, that pretty much means we took two access points and connected them together wirelessly. Hopefully that makes a little sense. We placed one access point in Pod 1 and another in Pod 2. The second access point connects to the first. When a computer connects to the second access point, it can also get to the first access point.

Eventually, we will have several access points connected to the hospital network and phones will connect to any of the wireless access points and make phone calls to other phones at the hospital. We were going to work on an access point that is already at the hospital tonight, but we forgot to stop and take it on our way home.
Tomorrow, we will do more work on getting the access points connected to the hospital network. We ran into a small snag in the plan late in the day today and have to do some testing tomorrow to get things connected.

We've been eating well. Sunday, we came home to a great meal cooked by a Malian woman. It was great! I am not sure how to describe it, but it had cabbage, onions, carrots, Chicken, and maybe more in it. We ate it over rice. Sunday night, Ken and I made salads and sandwiches. They provided us with ham, salami, and cheese, along with the amazing bread here. We've been eating corn flakes with bananas for breakfast and also had apples this morning. For lunch we had leftovers from Sunday.

Tonight, we have a couple Malian men cooking dinner. They're in the kitchen right now. Mmmmm...Pork, mashed potatoes, gravy, and cole slaw! Don't think Ken and I will be any lighter when we get home!

Ken took up driving today! He got us home and back to the hospital and back home safely! That's three safe trips through town! Go Ken...and Go God! I super-appreciate that Ken is driving because I'm not sure I have the nerve to even try.

Continue to pray for God's work at the hospital! There are lots of babies being born every day. Pray for all the work the missionaries are doing and also the work of the Malians! Please also pray for Ken and I as we continue the phone project!

Sorry for any misspellings! Blogger is trying to spell check my post in French...doesn't work so well.

In Koutiala

2011-03-20T04:31:00.001-04:00

Wow, what a wonderful God we serve!

We left from Columbus airport without incident on Friday. Our checked bags all weighed in at exactly 50.0 pounds or less. The server box weighed in under 50, but was oversized. They didn't say anything about the size of the box! God is good...no extra baggage fees!

Then, it was off to Washington/Dulles airport. This time, our only problem was that they started boarding over an hour early. We had stopped to get ice cream and use the facilities to find out we had to get our boarding passes re-printed before we could board. We still made the flight in plenty of time. The flight wasn't too bad. We knew we would be hitting turbulence about half way across the ocean. We had hoped we'd be asleep by then, but they had just collected our dinner trays when we hit the turbulence. I had lamb on the plane and, boy, was it good!

We got in to Senegal airport Saturday morning and were sent through the airport exit in order to re-enter the airport for our next flight. We couldn't check in for at least an hour, so we found a couple rickety chairs to relax in for a little bit. When it was time to check in, they asked about our checked baggage. We told them it had been checked through to Bamako. They informed us that usually doesn't work, so they sent us with an employee to find our bags. We ended up back in parts of the airport most travelers never see. Our bags were found and we took them back out of the airport and back into the airport to be checked to Bamako.

Of course, now they weigh our carry-on bags for the first time on the trip. Our carry-on bags were both overweight. We started to panic a bit, but she just waved us on. I think she was glad to get rid of these two westerners. We went through security where they forced us to turn over all AA and AAA batteries. They actually went through part of Ken's bag to make sure they got them all. Finally, we were at the boarding area for our flight! We saw Andrea Bonvillan and all the missionary kids she was bring back to Mali. It was good to see familiar faces! We got up to the door and Ken's boarding pass set off a red light. There was something wrong with his checked bags. Ken was again taken into parts of the airport that most travelers never see while I had to board the plane. On comes Ken, telling me they only wanted him to open the lock on his bag so they could see what was inside.

We landed in Bamako with our demarcation forms already filled out and headed for our bags. We pulled all our bags off the belt and loaded them on carts. God is so good! Our 4 bags made it to Bamako with us! We started to exit the airport when we were informed the red marks on our bags meant we had to go through customs. Oh great. Ken goes in to talk to them. He tried to explain what the equipment was for and all, but didn't seem to be getting anywhere. Another guy there told me they were going to need a receipt for every item in those bags. Finally, something Ken said clicked and they sent us on. Ken's not even sure exactly what he said. God is good! Through customs without paperwork or a fee!

We met a lot of missionaries right outside the airport! Again, so good to see familiar and friendly faces! Many of the missionaries work in the Bamako area, so we got to meet some new people! We loaded all our bags in or on Ed and Andrea's van and headed out for Koutiala, making a quick stop for some roadside stand food. There's a stand where some Vietnamese women make sandwiches and fried egg roll things. Oh man were these all good!

We arrived in Koutiala late Saturday afternoon and were glad to get showers and clean clothes! We rested for a little bit and headed to Dan and Marcy's house for dinner. Marcy had made an amazing dinner and dessert! It was fun to sit and talk about the phone project with those that will be using it and to discuss future plans at the hospital!

We both laid down last night and crashed. I'm not sure I've slept that soundly for a long time. Of course, it had been since Friday morning that I had gotten more than 15 minutes of sleep at one time. Ken made coffee and milk this morning and we had corn flakes with bananas for breakfast. Oh ya, we had TOAST!! Sorry, Ken and I love the bread here. It's one of our favorite things. We're off to church, so I'll hope to update you all again later! Thanks for all your continued prayers as we begin work on the phone project tomorrow! God bless you all!

Count The Miracles God Has Done

2011-03-16T12:54:00.005-04:00

I have to say, it's been amazing to see God work in the plans for our trip! I can only describe most of the plans as miracles. Here's what God has already done:

Put Ken and I together for the trip

Placed a big need (phones) on our hearts

Provided the knowledge and skills we needed to prepare the phone system

Worked it out that one of the missionaries would be on our last flight and giving us a ride to the guesthouse

Provided the necessary funds for the trip and for the phone system

Allowed for the revocation of the travel warning that was posted late last week (I think I'll be blogging now!)

Provided a return ride to the airport

Please continue to pray for Ken and I to remain rested and healthy. Please pray for my son, Zac, who woke up sick this morning, that he will be healthy quickly! Please pray that travel will be safe. Please pray that the phone system will work as planned and that we won't have any major problems to work through when we get there.

God bless you all!

Praise God!

2011-03-07T14:53:00.002-05:00

Saturday evening started Missions Festival at our church. This is a yearly celebration of what Christ is doing through missionaries and ordinary people throughout the world. Saturday night kicked off with the men's Prime Rib Dinner. Well, rumor has it the Chick-fil-A cows flooded out the business that makes the prime rib and therefore, we had barbecued chicken instead. There really was a flood, but I don't think the Chick-fil-A cows were involved. Anyway, at the dinner, they shared about the phone project and the goal of $5,000. They asked the men in attendance to consider throwing a few dollars or even their pocket change in toward this goal.

Sunday morning, they announced in the church service that God did a miracle and $1,200 was given toward the project, bringing the grand total over the $5,000 goal. God is amazing. I think sometimes I try to limit what God can do and it's silly of me to do that. He always comes through in ways we can't imagine! My jaw dropped and tears of joy flowed when I heard this announcement of what God chose to do through those 400 men in attendance Saturday night!

Sunday night, we had another dinner at church. This time, it was Thai food and it was great! I'd never had Thai, but I'm ready to visit the local Thai restaurant now! The guests spoke about going all out for God. Their stories included things like giving up huge job opportunities to serve God in a much lower paying job that may not have as many opportunities for advancement. They also told of how they have used Ebay to sell "junk" that's been laying around a church camp in order to purchase new, useful items for the camp! In the end, it was all brought back around to the story of the parable of the talents where the master entrusts his servants with varying amounts of money and leaves on a trip. Ultimately it comes down to what will we do with what God gives to us. This may be money or it may be a skill or job.

So, it's got me thinking about what I am doing with the things God has given me. At the same time, I'm thinking through what more I could be doing with the things God has entrusted me with. It's important to invest those things into growing the kingdom of God!

We're leaving in less than 2 weeks for Mali, West Africa! God will use the time we spend there in many ways. My prayer is that the work I do there, through God, will be a small part of growing His kingdom in Mali!

Keep your eyes peeled! You never know when God's going to use you or do a miracle around you!

Phones

2011-02-12T15:55:00.003-05:00

Happy Saturday! It's been a fun couple of weeks for me. Ken has allowed me to bring home a couple of the phones we'll be taking to Mali. I was able to set up a server here and connect the phones up to it. I was able to call my wife in the other room. I was even able to get video calls going between the desk phone and the soft phone on the computer.

This week, we were able to get a my soft phone and Ken's desk phone to communicate over the Internet. We are able to use the phones in this way to communicate without having to use land lines or cell phones. There's still an extra step we need to figure out. We need to get the phones to connect to the Trixbox (phone server) across the Internet. If we can get this working, we'd be able to have phones at the missionaries' houses for communication with the hospital. Right now, we have the system working in a way that they will be able to call within the hospital complex. There are still some questions in our minds that probably won't be answered until we are there.

We are both very excited about our trip and how God is going to work through us. We've taken an attitude of "whatever it takes" to make this happen for the hospital and residents of Mali. With Malaria season coming up, the hospital staff will be able to better communicate throughout the hospital complex without paying cellular charges.

Please continue to pray for our project/trip. I'm sure there will still be considerable challenges ahead for us, including getting two servers and 70 phones through airport security. God has proven Himself faithful and I know he will work out everything before we even get there.

Side note: Our church is raising the funds to pay for the phone system. If you would be interested in helping reach the $5000 goal, please contact me for more information! Thanks everyone!

God IS In Control!!

2011-01-23T15:31:00.003-05:00

This week, we found out that our per diem would not cover the cost of someone driving us from Bamako to Koutiala. Usually, with a team of 8, the per diem for 8 people covers the transportation. The option given to us was to ride the bus. While riding the bus would be weird, not knowing the language and all, we were ok with it. The part that we weren't comfortable with was the fact that we will have all the phone equipment with us. The way I've seen stuff stored on buses over there, I was really nervous about the equipment safety.

Here's where God comes in! One of the missionaries and their children will be on our final flight into Bamako. This means they will already have a car there that can take us to Koutiala. We will still ride the bus back to Bamako at the end of our trip, but without all the phones, we'll feel much better about that. To be honest, I think it'll be a fun way to experience a bit of the culture there.

I've been a bit discouraged about the amount that has come in to cover my trip costs, but I think this is just another reminder for me that God is in control of everything, especially our trip plans! There is one more thing we're concerned about. We're going to have a lot of phone equipment packed in our suitcases for the work we're doing there. Please pray that we will be able to get all this through airport security without any issues!

Thank you for your continued prayers as we move closer to the March 18, 2011 departure to Mali.

Studying and Preparing

2011-01-17T15:39:00.002-05:00

This week, Ken sent me the manual for Moodle and the link to start using it. Moodle is a program used to set up online learning. The plan for this software is to allow the hospital to create training programs for new nurses. I've been having a good time reading through the manual and setting up a class. This will all be helpful when we work with the hospital staff to create computerized learning programs.

Tonight, Ken and I will be meeting to start working on the systems we'll be installing at the hospital. This includes the computerized learning software and the IP phone system. I'm excited to start learning and preparing for our trip.

I got all my stuff together to send in my visa application so that I can get into Mali. After I make a couple copies tomorrow, I'll get that sent in. Vicki is looking into airline ticket pricing today and hopes to have tickets ordered this week. I will need to turn in any remaining funds needed for my plane ticket this coming Sunday. I think I have all the funds I'll need for the plane ticket, but still need to raise about $900 for my remaining expenses. You can track my fundraising with the thermometer to the right of this post.

In addition to our individual trip expenses, our church is also raising funds for the phone system we will be installing. Here's what was shared Sunday morning about that:

Project for Koutiala Hospital: The Great Commission Team will be collecting funds for a communication system for the Koutiala Hospital for Women and Children in Mali, West Africa. This system will allow hospital staff to more readily communicate and (most importantly) respond quicker to emergency situations, etc., especially during Malaria season which begins April 1. The Mali Team 2011 is hopeful to begin installing the system March 18-April 1. Please prayerfully consider your participation to help us reach the goal of $5,000. Make your check payable to Shawnee Alliance, put "Koutiala Phone Project" on the memo line, or on the offering envelope.

If you would like further information on how you can give toward my trip expenses or the phone project, please feel free to contact me (mattschmunk@gmail.com). Please pray for Ken and I as we prepare for the trip. Also, please pray for the phone project that funds will be raised quickly so that the system can be purchased and prepared for installation before we leave.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support as we approach March 18, 2011!

Trip Plans

2011-01-03T16:41:00.003-05:00

It looks like it will most likely be only two of us traveling on this trip. I'm very excited because God has placed a project on the heart of Ken and the missionaries in Koutiala that is technology related! If you know me, I love technology. My job is completely based around technology and I often do computer work outside of my job too. I'm always interested in the latest technology, even though I'm often a few years behind in getting it.

Ken is in the process of planning out an IP phone system for the hospital complex. This will greatly reduce cellular phone costs among the missionaries in Mali. I'll be learning the phone system with Ken leading up to our trip so that I'm knowledgeable enough to help out. I have some experience with IP phones because we put in an IP phone system a year or so ago at work. I'm also very excited to work with Ken. Ken is an awesome man that I have grown to look up to!

I still need to send out some additional support letters to finish covering my costs. I also need to get my Mali Visa so that I can get into the country. Ya, that's important, I guess. I've been dreaming for a while now that I get to the airport and don't have my passport. Hopefully the dreams will keep me from forgetting it. Ha.

Please pray for Ken as he orchestrates this phone system project and for me that I'll be able to learn the system quickly! Please also pray that God will prepare our hearts for the trip. Additionally, please pray for our families that will remain her in the USA while we travel. Praise God for the wonderful things He has done...and will do!!!

Tis the Season

2010-12-04T18:24:00.004-05:00

Well, we've started the winter season with a few light dustings of snow here in Ohio. It sure does make me think of Mali! We originally were going to leave the day after Thanksgiving for a 2 week trip to Mali. That means we would be there right now. The temperature difference from Ohio to Mali is considerable! Right now, in Ohio, the temperatures have been around 30 degrees during the day. According to WeatherUnderground, the temperatures in Koutiala have been near 100 degrees during the day. I would prefer the 100 degree weather.

I got confirmation this week that preparations have begun for our March trip. Our team will begin meeting the week of December 19 to begin "team building". Our plane ticket money will be due January 9 at the latest. Initial ticket prices indicate I may have my plane ticket paid for already. I just need to turn in the rest of the money. I think I still need to raise some additional funds to cover in-country fees, my visa application, and my travel/trip insurance.

I'm looking forward to meeting the full team and sharing the excitement as we prepare to see God in action. The one thing I remember about the preparation for our trip in 2008 was experiencing God's faithfulness to the team. I've already seen God's faithfulness this year as He's provided the funds for my plane ticket. We've been praying for a full team of 8 and it sounds like we may be getting close to that! God is good and I trust that He will bring the right people to our team!

Please continue to pray for the hospital and missionaries in Mali. Also, please pray for our team as we prepare over the next 14 weeks, that we will grow closer as a team, that we will each be able to raise the funds needed to go on this trip, and that God will prepare our hearts and minds for what we will experience in Mali.

New Dates

2010-08-25T19:12:00.004-04:00

My mom commented on my last post and I realized I haven't posted this week with new information. I'm very excited. My boss has already approved my time off even though we usually don't schedule vacations until the beginning of the year. God is working in this and I can't wait to see what He's going to do with our team! We'll be purchasing plane tickets sometime in October. I've pretty much got my tickets paid for. Now, I just need to make sure I have enough for my visa and additional travel expenses (meals as we travel, in country fees, etc.)!

Please continue to pray for the hospital in Mali! Also, from newsletters, I've read that the hospital is a part of a wrongful termination law suit in Mali. They are appealing the case to a higher judge, so your prayers would be much appreciated!

Possible Date Change

2010-07-09T17:02:00.003-04:00

It sounds like our trip may be delayed from November/December, 2010 to April/May 2011. Situations out of the teams control have required us to re-evaluate our schedule. To get a team fully prepared for November/December, 2010 may be difficult because of personal things going on in the lives of the team. Talk at this point is leaning toward moving the trip to April/May, 2011.

I have to admit I'm slightly disappointed about not going as originally scheduled, but I know it's all part of God's almighty plan. The trip WILL happen and it WILL happen at the time God would have us to go. Really, 5-6 months difference in scheduling won't affect too much. It will only mean that the tasks we'll be doing while we are there may be slightly different. The need for computer work will remain even in the spring of 2011!! This is exciting because I'm super excited about using my computer skills and even learning more from Ken!

The other reason I'm a little disappointed is because I already have received $800 in support just from sending out support letters. Along with the money that Sarah and I set aside, I have enough to get the plane ticket! God is so good! Why do I ever doubt Him?

Please continue to pray for our team as a decision is made about scheduling for the trip. Please also continue to pray for the team members and potential team members! Additionally, please pray for health concerns for one of the team members...that God will provide a way for this member to go with no worries!

Support Letters

2010-06-23T08:13:00.002-04:00

Over the past week, I've been putting together a support letter to send out to all my friends and family. Last night, I printed it out after getting more ink for the printer. I also printed labels, which was a headache and a half. Our printer struggles to pull sheets of labels through straight. After several tries and a lot of wasted labels, I had all the labels printed.

My wife, Sarah, helped to put address labels on and cut up the little response slips I included with the letters. I signed all the letters and stuffed the envelopes. Oh ya, I was two envelopes short, so I'll have to make a store run today. I also need to get stamps. I'm excited to get these sent out and see how God provides for the remaining funds I need to be able to go.

It was so amazing to see how He provided in 2008, so I have a feeling He will outdo what He did back then. For some reason, I've got in my head that He may provide enough funds that my fundraising will be able to help another team member with their expenses. I'll say one thing, I'd never say anything is impossible with God!

If anyone out there feels God leading them to help support me through prayer or financially, feel free to contact me!

I'm Going Back!

2010-06-20T17:51:00.003-04:00

Today was our first meeting to begin preparations for a 2010 trip to Mali, West Africa! As of right now, I'm part of a team of 4 people going to Mali in November/December, 2010. The plan right now is to leave on November 26, 2010, the day after Thanksgiving. We'll be there for about 2 weeks. We don't know for sure what the team will be doing at this point because the needs of the hospital change all the time. We may be doing painting, construction tasks, and who knows what else. There are also plans for us to do some computer work and potentially spend some time training hospital staff in using the computers and software.

Now begins the process of raising funds for the trip. Trip costs are estimated to be $3000, which is pretty close to what they were when I went in 2008. I'm once again relying on God to provide the funds necessary to go. Sarah and I have committed $1000 of the expenses, leaving me $2000 to raise. I'm getting ready to send out support letters to many of my family and friends. If you'd like to give, let me know and I'll be sure to get you information!

I also am asking for your prayers as we prepare for the trip. First of all, I ask that you would pray for our team. Right now, there are 4 of us planning to go. We could take an additional 2 people if God calls them. Pray for God to speak to all of those He would like to be on this team! In addition to this, one of our current members has concerns about asthma with all of the dust in Mali. Pray that God will provide a way for this person to go and not be concerned about health problems. Also, please pray for the strength of our team as we prepare together and learn more about each other.

I'm excited to begin sharing about things leading up to, during, and returning from the trip! Through all of this, to God be all praise!!!

The Hospital for Women and Children complex in Koutiala, Mali, West Africa.

May 14, 2009

2009-05-14T20:59:00.003-04:00

Wow, it's been a long time since I've written much here. The people in Mali are still on my mind, but I haven't been getting many updates lately from all the missionaries. I still pray for them all often as I also do for the people of Mali.

The reason I'm writing tonight is to share a message I got from Overland Missions. I always thought I'd go on a missions trip to Africa with this missions organization. I got my opportunity to go to Mali, West Africa last October. It wasn't with Overland Missions as I had always thought it would be, but it was an amazing trip! My faith in God brought me through the fund raising and through the trip. This message from Overland Missions reminded me again of my faith in God and all that He has done in my life over the last couple years! He is a mighty God!!!

Element of Faith

In 2005, a young lady decided to step out in faith. She left with only one word from God in her heart, "take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic." (Matthew 10:10) By faith this adventurous woman went to the airport and bought a plane ticket. The Lord told her to go, so she went, not knowing exactly where the conference was in Nicaragua. She went by faith.

When she mentioned why she was going to Nicaragua at the ticketing counter, the agent gave a free upgrade to First Class where she dined on sushi and traveled in style. Still she knew, getting to Nicaragua was one thing, getting to the conference was another. But God is faithful, he would reward her for diligence and faith. Upon arrival at the airport in Nicaragua she began to pray asking the Lord, "How do I get to this conference? You've brought me this far, show yourself faithful."

After a few moments she glanced up and saw a familiar face. She looked up and saw a man she recognized from the Cocoa Beach Conference. Not knowing him personally, she went up to him tentatively and asked if he knew where the Conference was located at. On the way to the conference location, he told her that he happened to be picking up some bags at the airport.

"If you would've been 10 minutes later you would've missed me," He commented.

College student Kelly Roberts attended the 2005 conference with only her wallet, Bible and mascara, after more than two years of anticipating the event and praying for God's direction.

"In the end, I learned that I really can put my full trust in God," she said. "And, in fact, it's not until I really depend on Him that He gets the full glory."

In order to experience the fullness of God there is a certain element of faith that occurs. Faith is what empowers and compels us to go to unreached people. Faith is what fuels missions.

God bless you all and continue to pray for His work and workers in Mali!!

April Update from Jessica Schaeffer

2009-04-09T20:12:00.002-04:00

I wanted to share the following update from Jessica Schaeffer in Koutiala, Mali. It brings tears of joy to my eyes when I read updates like these! Praise God for the wonders and miracles He has done!!

Matt

FROM JESSICA:

1 Chron. 16:12 Remember the wonders He has done, His miracles…

Dear Friends,

On a recent Sunday afternoon, as I came home from a walk, I ran into my former language teacher Hawa. Her face was beaming as she told me about Fatoumata, her young relative who has been living with her for the past 9 months. Fatoumata came to Koutiala in hopes of having a live baby after delivering 2 stillborns in the village. She came faithfully for her prenatal visits at our hospital. Fatoumata comes from a Muslim family, and during her first several months here, she quietly kept her distance from Hawa’s family prayer time and weekly Bible study in the courtyard. But as the months went by, her heart began to soften to the love and kindness she was shown by Hawa’s family, friends, and workers at the hospital. She gave birth to a baby boy by c-section in late November, and stayed on in Koutiala for post-op checks and baby vaccinations. In the last few months, she started participating with the family in prayer times and going to church. She decided to give her life to Jesus one Sunday last month, praying with Hawa and the pastor. Although her husband wanted to name the baby Mohamed, she called the baby Moussa (Moses) after Hawa’s husband. She recently asked me for prayer as she is nervous about her return to the village, and how her family will react to her new found faith.

Amisatou is a Muslim woman from a village 4 hours away who has been married for 10 years and has been unable to have children. She and her husband heard about our hospital, so they decided to come for a consultation, hoping for answers and help. During her time in Koutiala, her hosts (my houseworker) took her to meet the pastor, who prayed for her. Her heart was touched as she heard him speak words of Jesus and hope; her husband had already left for the village, but she told her hosts on their next visit to Koutiala she wants her husband to go with her to meet with the pastor. After a few visits to the hospital, her husband asked if we could start a hospital near to their home. “You really care about people here”, he told us, a comment I hear frequently from people in town as they talk about our hospital. “You listen to people, you take them into account”. To a large extent, women here are seen as property, and they have few rights. God has given us a wonderful opportunity to love and value women and children at our hospital. We don’t have all the answers for Amisatou, and we might not be able to help her, but we know a God who is able.

A couple months ago, Bafo Coulibaly was brought to the hospital by her brother-in-law, Pastor Enoch, one of our chaplains. Bafo’s husband (Pastor Enoch’s older brother) wept when he was told that there was nothing we could do for her…she had an inoperable cervical mass. Bafo and her husband have been very resistant to their brother’s faith for many years. But that day, after her consultation, Bafo listened as one of our nurses talked to her about Jesus. Bafo went to stay at Pastor Enoch’s house with pain medicine we gave her to help relieve her discomfort. Dr. Dan Nesselroade told Enoch that only Jesus could heal Bafo, that the only thing left to do was to pray. So Pastor Enoch prayed, and he prayed for a miracle. God gave him two! Two weeks later, after years of resistance to Jesus, Bafo prayed to accept Christ. A month after her initial consultation, she returned to the hospital. As Dr. Dan examined her, he found only a small lesion where the mass had been! Bafo was smiling, saying that her pain and symptoms were gone. Dr. Dan discussed the possibility of doing a radical hysterectomy, but decided to wait 2 more weeks to see if God would complete the healing work He had already started. When Bafo arrived the day of her scheduled surgery, her exam showed that she had been completely healed and was no longer in need of surgery. I passed a smiling Bafo on my way to the hospital last week. Pray for her as she returns to the village, that God will continue His work in her life and in the life of her husband and the rest of their family, who Pastor Enoch has been praying for and witnessing to for years.

In less than 6 weeks I will fly back to the US for 1 year of home assignment. I am excited to see many of you. But I will miss my work here and the people I have grown to love. I marvel regularly at God’s miracles and wonders as He provides for the needs of the hospital and as He works in the lives of the people around me. I am so privileged to be part of His work here. Thank you for your part in His work here too, as you have sent me, loved, encouraged, supported, and prayed for me. Joyfully Living the Call Together,Jessica

PRAYER & PRAISE:

1. Life for the next 6 weeks will be very full with hospital work, moving to another house (my things will be used this year by a pediatrician who arrives this summer), visits to friends in Koutiala and the village, etc. Pray that I will finish well and accomplish what God wants me to in these final weeks here before home assignment.

2. Praise God for recently providing a nurse, Jake Tillett, who will come for the next year to fill many of my roles in the hospital. He will arrive May 2, so the last 2 weeks before my departure (May 17) I will work with him as much as possible. Pray for Jake who is raising support and quickly making preparations to come before I leave.

3. Praise God for Fatoumata, Bafo, and others who have accepted Christ over the past few months. Pray for their spiritual growth, and pray for courage for Fatoumata and Bafo as they return to their villages.

4. God gave us 13 new nurses and nurses aids in February. They are moving along in their training (most of them), and helping us to keep up with our growing staffing needs as we hospitalize more children. Pray that God will continue to bring us Malian nurses as we prepare to open pediatrics.

5. I thank the Lord for my nearby family and a refreshing visit with them this past weekend. I had car troubles along the way, but fortunately did not get stuck in the middle of nowhere. My car is being repaired in Burkina, and my brother kindly let me use his vehicle to get back to Koutiala.

It's Spring in Ohio

2009-03-22T17:04:00.002-04:00

Well, we've reached spring here in Ohio. It's actually 63 degrees outside! I can't wait to get my garden started!! At the same time, they've been reporting temperatures between 100 and 110 many days in Koutiala, Mali.
I've been enjoying seeing pictures and stories from Mali. It's like every time I see a pic or read a story, it all comes back in memories of my short time there. My memories still remain very vivid in my mind. God is so good in allowing me to have these memories.
I've been getting a few prayer requests from Koutiala, and I also got some information at church this morning regarding another request for Mali. First of all, Daniel and Amy Hanscome are in their last week in Koutiala. Their time there has come to an end. They will be flying back to the USA where they will be finding jobs here for at least a few years while they wait to see where God will take them next. Pray that they are extremely blessed in this last week there. Also pray that their travel back to the USA is safe and that they will be able to rest during the long trip. As they arrive back in the USA, pray that they will find jobs quickly and that God will bless them greatly through all that they do.
Secondly, pray for Ewien and Anco. Their vehicle broke down this past week and it requires a new gear box that won't arrive in Koutiala for a couple weeks. This makes their ministries more difficult as they travel quite a bit. Pray that transportation will work out for them while they wait to get their car repaired and that their ministry will remain strong during this time.
The weekle Alliance Missions prayer sheet I pick up at church says that "Gordon and Cheryl Roedding request prayer concerning the potential property for Hope Center. Someone has begun building on the property that the Roeddings had been promised. Pray for church leaders as they deal with this problem. Pray that God will provide an even better piece of property in a more suitable location." The way I understood land use in Mali is that you have to build a wall around property to keep "squatters" from coming in and building on it. I assume this is what has happened with the promised property. Just pray that a property will become available for this center to be built on.

That's all I have for today. God bless you all!!

Happy Friday the 13th

2009-03-13T08:51:00.002-04:00

Good morning everyone! I haven't posted in a little while, but I just got an update on the video project in Mali. Ewien is allowing me to share her post about the project with all of you! I'm so excited to hear the video project has started up...with the new camera!

It has been awhile since I wrote my old video camera died. Recently, a doctor from the States brought the new video camera, Sony PMW-EX1, as carry on to Mali. What a blessing this is!

The video camera is worth 'her' money (can't be a he if it is that good ;-)!

Yesterday (12 of March) we had our first filming day. Exciting and very challenging at the same time. New group, new video camera, new place(s)...

It is funny to find out while shooting which factors you cannot control. The day was cloudy (while Mali is almost always sunny ;-), windy, the crowd was loud and not willing to keep still (a one time experience for them too, a filming crew)...

Solution? Change places, be flexible and PATIENT, very patient. Not my best quality by the way.

The new video camera apparently was too heavy for the tripod, which I already kind of knew, but did not wanted to know. At the scene, it turned out to be a bigger disadvantage than I thought. What do you do? Yep, be flexible once again.

Working as a (new) team was great though. Nobody complained, everybody was thinking with me and we all waited it out. It took (of course) a lot longer than expected / programmed. But hey, it is all about being flexible ;-)

Today is the second (and hopefully) last day of filming. Everybody of the group said yesterday: tomorrow can only go better! That is where I go for!

I pray for less wind, less clouds, less public and more of the working spirit we had yesterday. And of course: a lot of fun!

If you feel a need to contribute to the video ministry here in Mali, you might want to consider donating equipment (heavier tripod, shoulder strap ?;-) or a gift to pay off the rest of the video camera.

Thanks for standing in this with me, blessings on you!

Ewien van Bergeijk - Kwant

www.maliwood.com

p.s Pictures of the actual shooting will follow...

Along with praying for the video project, I'd also like to ask that you keep Daniel and Amy Hanscome in your prayers. This amazing couple has been doing English classes and helping out with the administrative work at the hospital, along with working with the missionary kids youth group. They will be heading back home to the USA in about 15 days. Pray that their last couple weeks in Mali will an amazing time serving the Lord and receiving His blessing on their lives!

God Bless you all as you go through the coming weekend!!

Missions Festival 2009

2009-02-22T16:54:00.002-05:00

The theme of our missions festival this year is "Lost People Matter to God!". There's a scripture that goes along with it: "For the Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost! Luke 19:10". You can see the details of our missions festival at http://shawneealliance.com/pages/page.asp?page_id=60408.

This morning, the choir sang a song called "Prepare the Way". It hit me as I head them sing it for the second time that my trip to Mali last year was just one tiny little part of what is preparing the way for many Malian's to come to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ! Every time a building is completed...and another started, we're (every one of us that has put some kind of work into the hospital complex) taking part in a MUCH bigger plan that God has for Koutiala and all of Mali.
I got thinking a little today about how God calls individuals into missions. Early in January, some difficult things happened at work, leading to me being promoted to the top IT position within the Court. So, my thoughts today were...If God called me into missions now, would I be willing to just give up everything I've worked so hard to accomplish in my career? As I think about that, I think that the answer has to be a resounding YES! See, God provided for every accomplishment that I've experienced in life. If He gave it all to me, shouldn't I be willing to give it all up to follow Him where he calls me to go? God has a plan and if that plan would mean that I would have to leave everything I know well to follow him, I'm pretty sure I'm ready.

The latest that I'm hearing from Mali is that the hospital has hired new nurses and that Terry Newman, Jessica Schaeffer, and Olive Gifford are working closely with these new nurses to train them. I'd pray at this time for those three ladies and other Malian ladies that are performing the training. I pray that God will allow them to communicate effectively to the new nurses to make them the best nurses they can be. I also pray that these new nurses will feel a call to stay at the hospital long term once the training is complete.
Secondly, The hospital is in need of a couple things that I'd like to continue to pray for. They are in need of an x-ray machine and a government license that would allow them to import medicines.
God bless you all this week!

Mali Project Blog

2009-02-12T16:33:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone. I just wanted to pass along another blog a team has put together to share their thoughts and pictures of their trip to Mali. They will be leaving February 20th. Keep them in your prayers and follow their blog if you can!!

http://maliproject.blogspot.com/

God bless you all!

Monday, February 9, 2009

2009-02-09T11:14:00.003-05:00

Good morning everyone! Last night, we had Group Link at church. This is an event that tries to match up people with small groups that meet outside of the church. For years I didn't feel like groups were for me, but I have come to really feed on the weekly fellowship we have with our small group and the prayer support we have every day from each individual in our group.
Anyway, we got talking about missions trips (seems to be a common topic of discussion now that I've been on a trip). It's really cool to hear stories about other's experiences. But, as we were talking, I again realized that my heart will always be with Mali, West Africa.
Yesterday, in church, they showed a video reviewing things that had happened in and through Shawnee Alliance Church in 2008. It was amazing to watch and I couldn't help but see my personal journey with Christ grow by leaps and bounds throughout 2008. Two of the major things that happened last year were my baptism and the trip to Mali. I think God's growing me and preparing me for something much larger than I could ever imagine. I don't know what it is or when it will be, but I'm ready to follow him wherever he takes me!
A couple weeks ago, I logged into Facebook and saw that Ewien and Anco's video camera died. They use this camera to put together videos that teach the Malian women about proper hygeine and other health related problems. They were beginning a new video project at the beginning of February and needed a camera. They had been saving back for a new camera, but still hadn't raised enough. God immediately made it apparent that this was where the remainder of my trip funds from last year should go. I talked with Ewien about it several times and ended up sending the money a couple days later. I got word last week that the camera arrived safely in Mali and that Ewien was excited to start using it. The last I heard, they were still about $1500 short of the total cost, but they're trusting that God is going to provide the rest...and from my fund raising experience last year, He can raise funds like that in no time at all! I was just glad that I was able to be a part of the video projects. And to all those that donated funds for my trip, you have also become a part of this video project.
I guess I'll end for now. I received the following prayer request from a team that's supposed to be heading out for Mali on February 20th. Please keep them all in your prayers that they will get back to health and/or stay healthy leading up to and throughout the trip.

Asking for your prayers for our trip to Mali leaving Feb 20 through Mar
12th. Two of us are in the process of being sick with colds/flu. One is
even considering dropping out, Earl. Please pray health and protection for
each of the nine of us.

Thanks everyone for following my blog. Also thanks for all your prayers that I know you are sending up for God's work in Mali!

Winter in Ohio...

2009-01-19T21:23:00.003-05:00

It's been a while since I last posted anything here. I've had a lot on my mind over the past few months. There have been changes at work that weren't completely expected...or completely a surprise. Some of you know part of the story. Life's been a little hectic. Sarah had a touch of flu last week and I've been fighting a sinus bug for almost a week now. Sarah's better and I'm finally starting to feel better.
It's definitely winter in Ohio...the -15 temperature earlier this week reminded me again of the fun of winter in Ohio. It makes me think about Mali. See, Weather Underground says they are experiencing highs in the 80's and lows in the 50's. I think I could handle that kind of weather much better than the cold here in Ohio. But, I guess I have to wait to see where God's going to lead me in the future. With my promotion at work, I get the feeling God has more in store for me here in Ohio...at least for a while. I've learned a lot in the past couple months about remaining faithful and trusting God. You know, sometimes, God's timing for something takes way longer than we want it to. I think we often try to make changes in our lives, trying to move God's timing up so we don't have to wait any longer. I've once again learned that we really need to just sit back and let God's roller coaster take us where it will instead of trying to take things into our own hands.
Sunday, January 25th, I'm supposed to be speaking/presenting about our trip to Mali last October (assuming the weather stays good). I would ask that anyone reading would keep me in their prayers as I try to decide exactly what God would have me say and what stories to tell. I want God to get His message across to the people at the church I will be speaking at.
Honestly, the main thing that still touches me is how much Malians give up in order to follow Christ. I've shared about this before, I think. See, families in Mali are very close and care for one another at all times. When a Malian accepts and becomes a follower of Christ, their family pretty much disowns them. They are basically losing the family they know in order to be a part of the much larger family of Christ.
I continue to pray for the hospital, missionaries, and workers in Mali, along with all the Malians who have accepted Christ. I also pray that many more Malians will come to know the Lord. My other prayer right now is for those considering going to Mali this year as a team from our church. I pray that God will provide for all their needs and calm their fears as they prepare for the trip. God is doing an amazing work through the hospital and missionaries in Mali. I pray that this work will continue to grow and help more people.
God Bless you all!

December 14, 2008

2008-12-14T21:53:00.003-05:00

Good evening! Hope you have had a great weekend and that God is blessing you as we approach Christmas. I hope that you all will remember why we are celebrating Christ-mas and take time to reflect on what God did in sending His son, Jesus Christ, to earth. Some people have been telling me that I have to remember that Jesus wasn't really born on Christmas day. Well, as I sit here and contemplate that, I really wonder...does it matter when His actual birthday was? I personally think it's much more important to understand why He was born to Mary, a virgin, so many years ago. See, God sent Jesus to be born because He wanted to provide us a way to Heaven, even though we have all sinned. Back in Old Testament times, people had to offer up sacrifices to God and, if I remember correctly, they had to often leave the town, depending on the sin, and spend periods of time as a cleansing time. I almost want to say it's so much easier with Jesus, because our sins were wiped clean when He died on the cross so long ago...But, on another note, it may be easier for us, but think about what God and Jesus had to go through to make it so easy for us. Can we even imagine having a child, only to ask him to die for the world? So anyway, that's what I've been thinking about this week.
I shared with you in my last post that we've been hearing about Giving Away Christmas at church. I challenged you to have a giving attitude this Christmas season. Well, our church is doing a thing where they are collecting cookies and then going to have people deliver them to people who are working on Christmas Eve. This is a way to share Christmas with others that aren't able to be with their families on Christmas Eve. So, this week, I'd like to challenge you. If you are making cookies or candies this year for family get-togethers or something else, why not make a little extra and take it to those working on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. This could be the local gas station, hospital, nursing home, fire department, police department, or anywhere else that someone is working. Wish them a Merry Christmas and thank them for working/serving for us even at this time of year.
So, what about Mali. After all, Mali is constantly on my mind in one way or another. I'm getting word that the hospital is in need of some much needed lab equipment and...still...more Malian Christian nurses. That is the main prayer on my mind still. See, they could start using the pediatric ward to its full capacity, but don't have enough staff to do so. I'm also praying for the next team(s) our church is sending to Mali. The note in the bulletin at church said they are having meetings next Sunday and the Sunday after next about the next trip. I'm praying that God's perfect team will be organized to go next October/November. I don't forsee it being possible for me to return in 2009, but I know God has the perfect team members to work/minister in Mali. I also pray that He will provide everything that the team needs in order to make it to Mali.

November 30, 2008

2008-11-30T21:56:00.003-05:00

Good evening and blessings to all! This week was a great week of thanksgiving with family!

I don't really have anything profound to say this week. I admit that with all that was going on, I allowed myself to fall away from my daily Bible reading/devotions. I'm going to make it a point of getting back on this for this week! I did read a little bit more of a book called "The Shack". My father-in-law loaned me this book to read on my Mali trip, but I didn't have time to read it while we were gone. So, when we got back I decided I would start reading it. I read 3 chapters within two days, which is quite a feat if you know my reading habits. It is a really captivating book. It really makes you think about God! I'm about 5 chapters in now, and it's really making me think. I have a hard time putting it down once I start reading. I think most of all, it has made me think about the things in life that happen, making us ask God, "Why did you allow this to happen". I think it's often hard for us to see that good can come from what we consider to be trials in life. God can turn anything to good.
Well, I have a challenge to share with you. Take it if you'd like or leave it. It's just something to think about during the Christmas season. Between our current sermon series at church, "Giving Away Christmas", and having been in the 8th (or 3rd, depending where you look) poorest country in the world, I'm really thinking I don't really need gifts for Christmas this year. I mean, that doesn't mean there aren't things I'd like to have, but there are so many people in the world that are more in need than I am. So, I was talking to Sarah and said, how about we try to give a few gifts to a family in need. Our small group decided tonight to "adopt" a family or something similar and provide for some of their needs. So, you ask me how is this a challenge...right? Well, I'd like to challenge you to consider buying even a few less gifts for yourself or your family and help out a family in your community that is in need. You may know of a family in need or you may have to contact some of the agencies in the area that know about needy families in the area. Most of all, I'd challenge you to listen to God's voice in this. If you feel or hear God encouraging you to have a giving spirit in this Christmas season, listen to Him. I know from experience that God can use His children in amazing ways through little things like this.
Tonight, Gordon and Cheryl Roedding are my concentration for prayer time. My book of Mali missionaries says that their main ministry is to professionals in Bamako. They are church planters, currently engaged in leading Bible studies for professionals. I pray tonight that they would have opportunities to reach out to professionals who have not heard about Jesus' death as a sacrifice for our sins. I also pray for the professionals they are sharing with in the Bible studies, that they may have opportunities to share with coworkers and family and friends. I pray that these Bible studies, lead by the Roeddings, would bring many more people into a saving knowledge and relationship with Christ.

Well, I got windier than I expected. I pray that God will bless you all in this holiday season as we prepare to celebrate Christ's birth.

November 23, 2008

2008-11-23T19:29:00.002-05:00

Good evening to all! Blessings in Jesus name!

This week, my devotions in "Men of Integrity" focused on missions where we are. It also discussed serving our community, country, and world for Christ. I found when I got back from Mali that I really wanted to go back. I've started to consider taking French classes, studying Bambara language, and even going back to school to study missions. As I read through this weeks devotions, it reminded me that I need to continue serving the Lord where I am. That might be Lima, Ohio or it might be somewhere else in the United States, or someday, it might be Mali or some other country. But, God has called us all to serve our "Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the entire world." I've heard this related to our city, country, and world. So, I think maybe this was my call to slow down a little bit and listen for God to give me His plan for my future. See, when I say "Lord, mold me, as clay, into what you would have me to be", I have to actually slow down and experience the molding process. If you've ever watched someone make a piece of pottery on the pottery wheel, it's a long and skilled process. I believe this is what God wants for all of us. He wants to take the time to slowly mold us into what He wants us to be, teaching us along the way.
So, that's my thoughts for this week. It's been a great week and I've actually been able to spend time in God's word every day this past week. This is the first week since I've been back from Mali that I've slowed down enough to stick to my daily devotions. See, in America, or at least where I work, we don't have morning devotions on the front step of our business. We did every morning in Mali. We also have a lot more distractions we use as excuses for not taking time to spend in God's word.
This is Thanksgiving week, so I wanted to share a little of what I'm thankful for. I'm thankful for:

Sarah and Zac and all my family.
My job. In today's economy, I'm thankful that God has provided me with a job that allows me to support my family.
The opportunity to go to Mali last month.
Jesus' death on the cross, wiping my sins away.

My prayers this week aren't real specific. Honestly, I just want to pray for all of the Missionaries and Christians in Mali. Many are going out and sharing God's love in Koutiala and many surrounding villages. Churches are growing and some new churches are being planted. So, my prayer is that God will continue to work in Mali, and that Malians will be open to what God has to say to them. Also, I continue to pray for more Malian workers at the hospital. I know God has a plan on how He's going to fill the need at the hospital, because He's met my every need and from stories I've heard, He's met every need of the hospital too.

Please feel free to comment or post what you are thankful for today. Wishing you a great Thanksgiving. I pray that God will reveal the things he's given to you this week so that you can give thanks! As our pastor said this morning, everything we have has a label on it that says "Property of God" so I know we all have something to be thankful for!

Thinking of Mali

2008-11-16T22:01:00.003-05:00

Hello everyone! Blessings in Jesus name! So, I've been thinking a bit about the first Wednesday night we had in Mali. We met with the missionaries for a time of sharing and prayer. I got really emotional and thought it was just because of the stories we were sharing. As I've reflected on that night, I've come to recognize it wasn't just the stories that were touching my heart that night. I think God was speaking to me through the time we were sharing. I think what really was getting me was how all these Christians are meeting together in a very Muslim community. I've been thinking a lot this week about the people in countries that can't publicly share or meet as Christians. There are many countries around the world that Christians are meeting "underground" because they could be arrested or worse for worshiping the one true God and His son, Jesus Christ. In Mali, they are able to share their faith without the fear of being arrested. The Christians and Muslims seem to get along well (at least what I saw while I was there).
So, that's what I've been thinking about and praying for this week. I'd encourage you to pray for Christians around the world who don't have the freedom to worship Jesus the way we do in the United States.
Tonight, as I flip through the book of Malian missionaries that our church prepared for us, I find two names that jump off the page to me. So, here's the prayers that I want to lift to our amazing God this week. For Olive Gifford, I pray primarily for rest. Olive has been in Mali for a long time, starting out with the six rural clinics and a key person in the development of the Koutiala hospital. I pray for someone to come in and help to reduce the workload on Olive and to potentially take her place as she contemplates retirement. To go right along with this, I continue to pray for more Malian nursing and medical staff at the hospital. I continue to hear stories of how hard and how much the missionaries and hospital staff are working. I know that God has a plan, so I pray that He would provide the staff that are necessary to move the hospital's work forward. As they prepare to open the pediatric wing (when stuff is moved into the warehouse), and start a new building, they will continue to need more staff.
The other missionary that I want to lift up in prayer this week is Kelly McLallen. Kelly is a teacher in Mali. She's teaching the missionary kids in Koutiala. I pray that Kelly would be able to cover all the topics the missionary kids need to learn. The note in our book says that she is being tutored in Bambara, the most common language in Koutiala. My prayer is that God will give her peace of mind to learn this language quickly so she can communicate well with the Malians around her. Also, I want to lift up the Malian schools in Koutiala. When we were there, they asked for prayer every morning for the schools because of teacher strikes and other problems. I pray that God will iron out the problems that may be keeping the schools from operating effectively and that more children would have the opportunity to attend school there.
Well, these are my thoughts for tonight. I pray that all of you will be blessed by God this week through your daily tasks.

Africa Pictures

2008-11-12T14:49:00.001-05:00

I just had to share this link again with everyone! Andrew was in Koutiala part of the time we were there and then a little longer. He got some amazing pictures of life in Mali!

Andrew Bryant Photography

Another week gone by...

2008-11-08T20:35:00.002-05:00

Well, a week has gone by since we arrived home from Mali, West Africa. This morning, our team had a debriefing meeting. We shared stories from our trip and prayed for the missionaries and the hospital in Koutiala. It was a very good meeting. I was reminded again of how God's been using my blog to bless people around the world. The response to my blog has been amazing. I have been surprised by the number of people following my blog and even how they've been encouraged or blessed by certain things I've written. I truly believe that God has placed all of these words on m mind to share with everyone.
So, what's on my mind tonight? Well, there's been a couple things on my mind lately. Leading up to the trip, God had placed The Pledge of Allegiance to the Bible on my heart. (I pledge allegiance to the Bible, God's holy word. It's a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. It's words will I hide in my heart, that I may not sin against God.) At the time, I didn't think too much about it, but the scripture (Psalm 119:105) it's based on came up in devotions at the hospital. This verse has also come up in my personal devotions. So, God is saying something to me, right? Well, my mind wanders back to 4-H camp many years ago. Whenever we were out at night, we made sure to have flashlights so that we could see the path and make it to our cabin, the campfire, the bathroom, or the outposting site. So, if I take that and apply the scripture to my life in general, God's saying that I need prepare myself for whatever may happen in life. God's word is a bright ray of light/hope if we use it or go to it when we're feeling down or when we feel lost in the dark. Ephesians 6:14-18 talks about the Spiritual Armor we are given from God. In particular, I think the Sword of the Spirit relates to what I'm talking about. A note I have here is that "Spiritual warfare with Satan is won or lost with our usage of God's word." So, God's word is a lamp to light our path through life and it is also a weapon that allows us to defeat Satan's attack on our life. This sounds like a great reason to spend more time in the Bible, learning what God has to say to us!
The other thing that's been on my mind this week is a Master's Degree. I've said over and over that I see no reason to go on for a Master's Degree because my current job would never really require it. Well, since we got back, I've been thinking it might be worth seeing if I could move on for a Master's Degree in some sort of Bible studies. I haven't thought too much about it, but it's in the back of my mind. Don't know where this might go in the years to come, but it's what's on my mind.
Well, that's enough rambling for one night. Tonight, my prayer is for a few of the missionaries in Mali. First, I'd like to offer up prayers for the Nesselroade's. Dan and Marcy are very busy every day. Dan's delivering babies and performing all kinds of medical procedures at the hospital. He's pretty much on call 24/7. I can only think that God keeps him going. All of the work at the hospital has to be extremely taxing on him physically, emotionally, and mentally. So, my prayer for Dan is that God will continue to strengthen him every day for the work he has to do. Also, I pray that God will provide him rest when he needs it so that he will not become weary. I also pray that God will continue to reveal Himself to Dan throughout every day...that Dan will feel closer to God with every day he is there. For Marcy and the children, I pray for their schooling. It's my understanding that Marcy is learning the Bambara language and homeschooling their children. Learning a new language can be quite a challenge, so I pray that God will give her clarity of mind to learn the language thoroughly so that she can communicate effectively with the people who speak it. Also, I pray that God will give her the knowledge she needs to teach the children the things they need to know to progress through their homeschooling.
My prayers tonight also go out for Jessica Schaeffer. Jessica got back to Mali from a time in Switzerland just as we were getting ready to leave for home, so I didn't really get to know her much. Jessica is a missionary nurse at the hospital. Jessica is extremely busy, just like all the hospital staff, and needs rest and strength to make it through every HOT day there in Mali. I pray tonight that Jessica will settle back into the fast paced work of the hospital. I also pray that God will give Jessica opportunities to share Christ's love with patients, patients' families, and any hospital staff who don't have a personal relationship with Christ.
So, that's my thoughts for tonight/this week. Please feel free to comment! I always enjoy reading people's comments and sometimes they even help me think a little deeper about what I've posted. Have a very blessed week everyone!

Missing Mali

2008-11-02T20:21:00.003-05:00

Good evening to all! Blessings in the name of Jesus! I hope you all had a great Sunday.

I was thinking a little today that one week ago, we were attending Germaine's church in Mali. It was such a blessing to be there with Germaine, Barry, Terry, and all the other Malians and missionaries. God is so good and He is working in that church and in the people of Mali. To hear stories of them spreading God's love and starting new churches is just amazing. We see God working here at home, but it is so much more real when you see such a poor and spiritually needy country experiencing God. Our church will be sending another team to Mali next year, and I'm so excited for the people God will call for that trip and for the Malians and missionaries who will be blessed through them being there.

So, what's on my heart tonight? Tonight, I'm thinking about Terry Newman and the amount of work she's doing at the hospital. It seems like she's on the go all the time helping at the hospital. My prayer tonight is that God will provide more Malian workers to lighten this load on Terry...and all the other nurses and medical staff at the hospital. I also pray for God to strengthen her husband, Barry in the work he does as well. Barry is such an inspiration and I'm sure he is a real encourager to Terry in the busy times and the times of rest. For the both of them, I pray that God will strengthen them and provide them opportunities to share His love with those they come in contact with. I ask that you all will remember them in your prayers as well.

Home

2008-11-01T11:38:00.002-04:00

Good morning to all. Our team is home safe and sound. The flights went really well and the pilots all made really good time. We lost Ken in New York airport for a little bit, but we all met up. I slept about 6 hours on planes and at airports yesterday and slept very well last night. I'm preparing DVD's of pictures for the team and Bethany.

Thank you for all your prayers out there while we were away! I'll try to post stories as they come to mind so that you can see/imagine what we were doing there.

Good Morning!

2008-10-30T03:00:00.002-04:00

Good morning and blessings to all! It's 7am and we're finishing last minute preparations to begin our travel back to the USA. In a way, it's exciting that we're going to see our families and friends, yet at the same time, it's hard to leave Mali now that we know the need for Jesus love here. I leave here asking God to once again take my life and mold it into what He would have it to be. He made this trip possible for me in every way. I just can't wait to see what He's going to do with me, this lump of clay, in the future.
As I prepare to leave Koutiala, I think about all the missionaries here and will keep them in my prayers even as I get back home. The missionaries are doing such a great work here and are so busy all the time. It's just an amazing thing to see the missionaries in their element. So often we see them when they are home in the states, but it adds a whole new level when you've seen them doing their work in the country where they are serving.
I want to thank all of you for your prayer support throughout this trip, both for us and the missionaries. I also want to thank you for your continued prayers as we begin our travels home. There has been an answer to your prayers... Anco came home last night and we were able to go over and talk with him a bit. He is feeling a lot better, but still has some recovery ahead of him. They say it is just some kind of viral infection. But, he's up walking around and has been able to eat some in the last day or so. He was feeling well enough to show us pictures of his solar projects last night and talk with Ken about networking the different buildings around.
Blessings to all in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ! Can't wait to see many of you this weekend and next week.

Done working

2008-10-29T09:12:00.002-04:00

Well, we finished working this morning. This afternoon, we're going to go go see a blacksmith shop. Tomorrow, we'll head to Bamako at 9am and probably go to the market there for a little bit. We fly out extremely early on Friday.

I got to go in and see the two sets of triplets this morning. I saw lots of other babies and mothers too, but the triplets were the cutest!

Well, that's all I really have to share today I think. I hope you are all having a blessed week. We're all worn out and wanting to lay down and then pack our bags. Can't wait to see you all soon!

Tuesday - Germaine's Home

2008-10-28T16:18:00.003-04:00

Good evening to all who are reading! Blessings to you all! Thanks for all your prayers!

Tonight, Germaine invited us all to her house for supper. It was a super amazing...fantabulous evening of fellowship! Barry told us it was a very rare thing for someone to take us into their home the way Germaine did. Let me try to explain. Here, houses are generally in complexes. So, imagine an outdoor courtyard with rooms off of it. Then put a wall around all of that, and that is a complex. Germaine and her husband rent two rooms and other people rent the others. They all are kinda one big family though. So anyway, Germaine took us into her rooms and showed us everything there, and then showed us her "kitchen". They say there's a lot of meaning behind someone taking you into their rooms like that because generally, the courtyard is where all activity happens and the rooms are generally a private area for the owners.
Once we had seen the whole complex, we were served a lot of food! It was all served in communal bowls (everyone eats out of the same bowl with their hands). It all started with a salad of fried potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes, onions with a vinegrette dressing. Then came the main course which consisted of 4 dishes: One was sweet potatoes with mutten, one was peanut gravy and rice, one was tau and ocre sauce, and one was beans and onions. Everything was really good, although the tau and sauce wasn't my favorite food! Germaine was radiating love and joy the entire time we were there. It was so awesome to spend time with her at her home after she spent time with us in the USA earlier this year. The only power they have at her house is a 12Volt battery that is charged during the day by a solar panel. Wow, what a blessing to spend the evening with Germaine and her family!
I'm posting pictures soon. Many are from tonight's visit with Germaine.
Please continue to pray for Anco. He is at least able to keep a little food down now, but is still not feeling well. Please also pray for more nationals (Malian people) to be educated in the medical field and to come to work at the hospital! They need more nationals to work here to take some of the work load. Many workers are putting in 60+ hours per week. That doesn't even include Doctor Dan who is basically on call 24/7/265.

There's a friend of Dr. Dan's here taking professional pictures of the hospital and other sights around town. If you'd like to see some of his pictures, visit: http://www.andrewbryantphotography.net/

My pictures are at: http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l300/matt101279/Mali/

Monday

2008-10-27T14:05:00.002-04:00

Blessings to you all on this Monday evening from Mali!

I don't have a lot of time to write tonight as we have a busy schedule.
Last night, we had dessert with the Hanscome's. They had an amazing pound cake and strawberry sauce with hommade whipped cream. Yummy Yummy! And they even had more of the grapefruit soda that everyone has loved here.
We worked...maybe the hardest day of the time here...getting joists hung and metal roofing up. We're kind of in a rhythm now and seem to be moving along well. Tonight, we're going to another missionaries house for dessert and then probably an early night to bed.
Hope you all got off to a great start of a new week! I'll try to write more on our lunch break tomorrow.
Oh, and please continue to pray for Anco. They said today that his condition hasn't gotten better or worse. They think it is some kind of virus that just needs to take its course.

Update on Anco

2008-10-26T17:47:00.003-04:00

They moved Anco to Barry and Terry's house. They have a swamp cooler there, so it is a much cooler environment for him to rest and heal. Please continue to pray that God will heal his body from whatever illness that is infecting his body. God is the ultimate healer and miracle worker!

Sunday

2008-10-26T10:26:00.002-04:00

Blessings on the Lord's day! I hope I find you on a very relaxing Sunday!

Today, we attended Germaine's (C&MA) church here in Koutiala. It was an amazing time of worship right along side of the Malian people. I have several videos of the music. The sound quality isn't the best, but I'm hoping maybe I can edit it a little when we get home. The movie files are too large for me to post on the internet from our slow connection here, but I will try to get them online as soon as we get home. Germaine seemed so happy to have us here and we enjoyed the full circle of her being in our church earlier this year and now we're here.
After church, Barry and Terry had us over for an amazing lunch/brunch. The food was really great and the fellowship with them was even better. We had another time of sharing what has surprised us or touched us most here. I am still struck by the love I have for the Malian people. Many shared different things. Terry shared with us the great need for more people to come forward wanting to be nurses and workers at the hospital. They need more Malians to feel God's leading to work at the hospital to relieve some of the work load that is on the current staff there. We also discussed needs at the church we attended. They are in need of more benches and a better sound system (currently just a mic plugged into a bullhorn). They also need more space for Sunday school for the kids. This church has several people who go out to the small villages and spread God's word. They have seen the church continue to grow because of this. This is very encouraging to hear about more Malians finding out about Christ.
Barry took us around and showed us his garden/fruit trees. He is growing bananas, guava, oranges, papayas, mangos, grapes, and cinnamon apples (think that's what he called them...they don't look anything like apples).
As I leave you this afternoon, I would ask that you pray for Anco, who is the technical guy around here. He does a lot of work with solar power, networking/computers, and many other things. He is very ill right now with an unknown illness. I believe they are treating him for Malaria, but they are unsure of what he has. Just pray that God will place a miraculous healing upon him in this time.

The Pig Farm

2008-10-25T15:00:00.005-04:00

Good evening and blessings to all! We're all sitting here wondering why Ohio State isn't on TV and why so late at night...I mean it won't be on 'til midnight our time.
Tonight, several of the missionaries took us on a picnic to "The Pig Farm". Apparently, a man tried to start a pig farm and had built several pens (walls) out of rock. They don't really know if it was EVER used to house pigs. Anyway, there's a waterfall (not a lot of water, but some) there. We ate right beside the water fall. We had some time to explore a little and many climbed to the bottom of the falls. The funny story for this adventure would be...I had been out exploring by myself and came back to ask about a nearby village. Craig Hanscome jokingly said that 4 people from a previous team had been captured and held by the villagers. Anyway...I started exploring again and all of the sudden, I turned around and a young boy from Mali was almost right behind me. For a second, I thought...was he serious? Well, the boy kept on walking down into the valley below us. It was beautiful out there in the middle of nowhere. It was interesting to hear some of the villagers singing in the valley and see the cattle on the far cliffs. It's so amazing to sit back after a week of hard work and just admire the beauty that God has created. Every fall, we like to go hiking somewhere just to enjoy the outdoors and see the beauty that God has created for us. This was again beyond my imagination. God is sooooo awesome!

Pictures of this outing added at: http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l300/matt101279/Mali/

Saturday

2008-10-25T10:08:00.002-04:00

Good Saturday afternoon to all! Blessings in the name of Jesus!

Thank you so much for all your prayers! I'm feeling much better today! I'm still a little tired, but all the stomach sickness seems to be gone. Today, we only worked a half day because they are taking us on a picnic tonight. We're doing very well on the building...although Ken said from the top of the water tower, it looks like there's a long way to go.
Beth and Jane went to the market this morning with one of the missionaries to get some food supplies we needed. I'm so thankful for them taking care of the Kitchen and food for all of us!
Daniel rode/drove Bob's scooter back from the hospital to the guest house today. He only said that going through the market is a whole different experience on a scooter, compared to the van.
Tomorrow, we will go to Germaine's church. That will be a very unique experience I am sure.
Oh, Ken had to perform the Heimlich procedure on me at lunch today when I choked on a carrot. Thank God for the team members that are here!
Well, nothing much to report, so I hope you all have a great weekend!

Friday

2008-10-24T16:02:00.003-04:00

Blessings to all out there! I hope that you are all having a great day!

Today, I woke up not feeling well. It feels similar to the flu. I started my Cipro antibiotic at lunch and slept all afternoon. I felt bad to not go to the work site, but think I needed the rest. We had pizza at Bob the builder's house tonight. I'm not thinking that's a true malian feast.
Sorry I'm not writing much tonight, but I need to lay down so hopefully I can go to the worksite in the morning and a picnic in the afternoon/evening.

Thanks for your continued prayers over our team. I think that the jet lag has caught up to some of us, so we really need the rest tonight!

God bless!

Oh, Beth just gave me more new pictures. There's some of the triplets and one new baby. Enjoy! http://s99.photobucket.com/albums/l300/matt101279/Mali/

Thursday before bedtime

2008-10-23T17:25:00.002-04:00

Good evening to all that are reading. I pray blessings over all of you!

We went to the market today. It is quite the sensory experience. It's kind of an overload of smells, sights, and all that go along with it. I'll tell you that I see some of the young kids from Mali and just want to bring them home with me. They are so full of joy. It's almost as if you can see love in their eyes. God has definitely opened my eyes to see the people here and how they adapt to living in such a poor area. It's amazing when you think about all that we have in the USA and still, we often want more. Here, many only have enough food to last them from day to day and often they raise their own food, whether it be livestock, grains, or other produce. I'm still a bit in awe when I see the living conditions here. And yet in such a poor place, God has placed His hospital and church in the middle of it all as a beacon of love and light to all that will here it.
Tonight, we had dinner at Tim and Beth Wright's house. We had a traditional Malian food...americaned up. It was called Peanut Gravy and rice. The american part was ground beef...they would usually have chicken or chunks of meat. It was a peanuty sauce with squash, eggplant, cabbage, and ground beef. It tasted amazing!
So, anyway, the main purpose of my post tonight is just to say that I uploaded some new pics to my photobucket. There are several of Beth and Jane at the hospital. I borrowed/took them from Beth's camera and from Barry and Terry. I hope you can enjoy them and that it's not too hard to find the new ones. I haven't actually tried looking through them, so I hope you are able to go to the end and look at the newest ones instead of looking at all of them over and over.
Good night all...and thank you for all of your prayers. And...if Sharon Riley is reading...thank you so much for the Spiritual Armor bookmark you sent with me. I've prayed/put on the armor every morning and am thankful for the protection it provides over us.

Morning Devotions Music

2008-10-23T14:18:00.002-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBk1MEcLhBE

Thursday

2008-10-23T09:12:00.002-04:00

Well, things are still going great here. God is really blessing us through our work. I think we're all feeling great compassion for the people here. It's a compassion that could only come from God!
This morning, Obarry (spelling) and I finished up the joists in one bay of the warehouse, so it is now ready for the rest of the guys to start laying roofing on it. Once they finish that bay, they will probably be off to another task for a time while we try to finish joists in the next bay.
Jane had been able to help with the delivery (babies that is) process a couple times now. She seems to be really enjoying it! She helped with surgery a little this morning. Jane and Beth were just telling me that the Jesus video is playing over and over all day long in the waiting area of the hospital where the women wait to see a doctor. This is a great tool to reach those who are there. They also have a Malian pastor who stands in the waiting area and shares the gospel and hands out tracts to the women who are waiting. This is hard to believe because you'd most likely never get away with that in the emergency room waiting room at home.
I'm thoroughly enjoying working with Obarry (spelling) and the painter (don't know his name). The painter lost a hand at a young age because of a gun accident. He has a prosthetic arm and does very well with his good arm. He does a lot of metal cutting and just about anything else he's asked to do.
I haven't had a chance to upload new pictures, but Beth and Jane had some of the babies, so I'll try to get those online later today or sometime tomorrow. I want to try to record a short video of the driving here so you can see what it is like. It's very hard to describe in a way you could actually imagine.

Wednesday

2008-10-22T09:17:00.003-04:00

Good afternoon to all. Ala ka duba l ye (God bless you). Thanks for all the comments! Work went well this morning. It feels hotter today, but less humid. We're getting into the swing of our work now. We feel like we're making progress now. Beth and Jane were sorting medical supplies this morning at the hospital. They heard of two ladies who had children outside of the hospital and carried the babies in for checkups in large hollowed out squashes and buckets.
Jamie posted some questions in a comment, so I'll try to remember them and answer them. Termite hills...Haven't seen any real big ones close. We did see some on the trip from Bamako to Koutiala. We haven't actually seen the large mosque up close. I took the picture from the rafters of the warehouse. It's right in town and I assume it's off one of the side streets from where we travel each day. We haven't heard the calls to prayer while we're sleeping because we are sleeping so soundly. We did hear it when we were waiting for someone to tow us in Bamako when we had the accident. We haven't seen any snakes that I'm aware of. We see a lot of animals around though.
Tonight, we are going to go to a Wednesday night Bible study here and Bill and Beth are going to share the story/testimony and what brought them to Mali. They did say we will have a meal at Germaine's (spelling?) sometime while we're here, so that will be very interesting and fun!
OH! John drove us to the hospital this morning and back to the guesthouse...We didn't hit anything and were going a little faster than the bicyclists! ha ha. So, that's our morning.

The picture above is of Jane and Beth cleaning up after lunch. So far, that's the only one of them in the kitchen. Hopefully, we will be able to get some pictures of them working at the hospital also.

Tuesday Evening

2008-10-21T15:56:00.003-04:00

Well, the afternoon work was much more interesting as Bob paired me up with a Malian named Obarry (spelling wrong I'm sure, but sounds like that). We were lifting ceiling rafters or joists or something like that into place and clamping them so he can weld them together in the morning. I loved working with him. He is a very understanding man and even though we couldn't communicate verbally, we did work well together...I think. Greg, John, and Ken worked on laying the sheets of roofing with Daniel helping them bolt it all down. Bill was able to get under a roof in the workshop and out of the sun to do the layouts and welding of the ceiling rafters or joists.

I posted some new pictures from today at my photo site: http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l300/matt101279/Mali/ . Hopefully it's not to hard to get to the newer pictures!
Thanks to everyone for your comments! I'm trying to pass along notes that are geared toward a specific team member so they can get messages from home!
Have a great evening everyone!

Tuesday Morning

2008-10-21T10:42:00.003-04:00

Good morning/afternoon all. It's almost 3pm here. We had devotions at the hospital with the Malians and the missionaries. We took a tour of the hospital compound this morning. Dan Nesselroad (spelling?), the OB doctor at the hospital told us about the history of the area, the hospital, and some of the statistics of births, etc. They deliver almost 1800 babies every year in a tiny little building. Sometimes, they have deliveries happening on all the tables in the delivery room, the table in the hall, and then on the floor...He said it's still cleaner than the dirt floors in many homes.
We also started working on the roof on the warehouse. This was actually kinda fun, for me anyway, because I've never done this before. I love new experiences! Three of the guys were on the roof installing the metal sheeting, Bill and I were out getting tresses welded on. I'm mostly just running for what everyone needs. Someone has to do that, you know! I'll tell you what...Beth and Jane made ham sandwiches with avacado on them and wow, that was good. They're keeping us very well fed! They even made brownies for us for lunch.
Well, battery's dying, so I better log off for now. I pray that God will bless all those who are reading this.

Pictures

2008-10-20T18:08:00.001-04:00

I'll be uploading pictures to http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l300/matt101279/Mali/

koutiala, Mali

2008-10-20T16:38:00.002-04:00

Ok, so I have a little time tonight, so I'll post some extra information.

So, I'll start with last night. Bob picked us up from the airport. Immediately, we realized we were in for a treat...driving in Mali. The driving is pretty fast and erratic. Anyway, we were driving to the guest house when a taxi swerved into our lane, apparently trying to miss a pothole. Our front driver's side hit bumper hit the taxi's rear passenger side bumper and smashed the rear window of the taxi. Of course, I don't think the mattress in his rear window was helping him watch for traffic behind him...
So, we got a few hours of sleep early this morning before heading out for the 5.5 hour drive to Koutiala. Yes, Bob was able to fix the van. One of the radiators had a hole in it, so he just bypassed the smaller radiator until he can get a new one from Japan.
Our trip to Koutiala was very interesting. People, bicycles, motobikes, donkey-drawn carts, etc...were in the streets throughout the journey. Traffic lanes are kinda non-existant as you just pass or get out of the way most of the time. We only hit one thing...a chicken. And the locals picked it up almost immediately...probably for supper. When we got to the "compound" in Koutiala, we were welcomed at the side of the drive by Terry, Barry, Craig, Marilyn, Daniel, Amy, and so many many more great people doing God's work here in Koutiala. I can't remember all their names yet. They had prepared an amazing spaghetti, garlic bread, and salad for all of us.
So, we're preparing for bed right now, but I'm going to try to get out another update tomorrow...and maybe I won't be quite as tired. We have to leave here at 7:10am for devotions at the hospital before starting work on the warehouse.

Bamako, Mali

2008-10-20T02:30:00.002-04:00

Good morning everyone. Ohio time is 2:30am...Bamako time is 6:30am. We just arrived at the guest house. Bob picked us up at the airport and we started here. We had a little car accident on the way here (everyone is ok...I just scraped my elbow on something when we hit) and had to be towed the rest of the way as the radiator sprung a big leak. Bob is planning to remove the radiator and try to get it fixed today so that we can get to Koutiala. For now, I'm getting ready to lie down and get some rest. It's been a long couple of days!! Thanks for all your prayers...without them and God's protection, who knows how all this travel would have gone. He definitely has His protecting hand over each and every one of us!!

New York

2008-10-18T15:32:00.002-04:00

Well, we're in New York. Just got a little something to eat and waiting to be able to get boarding passes for our next flight. Flight was very good to here. We had a lot of fun talking to the flight attendant. She kept picking on our team members. Kept the flight fun.

Columbus Airport

2008-10-18T10:49:00.002-04:00

Well, we made it through checkin at Columbus Airport. Ken forgot to take his liquids bag out with all the activity, but just had to re-scan it. Bill had to go through a manual check as his knee hip, and back set off the metal detector. I had to juggle a little stuff between bags as my bags both came to 53 pounds. Daniel's bags were way light, so I just moved some of the missionary stuff to his bag. We're sitting here about an hour before our flight leaves. Talk to you from New York later today probably.

Thoughts on this Thursday

2008-10-16T19:53:00.000-04:00

Good evening to all my readers. I hope that you have all had a very blessed day!

To start with, I'd like to share a prayer request for a friend of mine who I work with and go to church with. Shane Fisher's young son was hit by an SUV on his walk to school this morning. He has a lot of broken bones, collapsed lung, and his liver was bleeding. They put him in an induced coma at St. Vincents this morning and were able to stop the bleeding of his kidney with some medical procedure. I guess that is a majorly good thing, but they are saying that is the main thing they are concerned about over the next 24 hours. So, I would ask that you would keep Shane and his son, Ryan in your prayers as the medical staff try their best to make him better. In the end, I know that God is the ultimate healer and can heal Ryan's body.

So, on to my trip. We picked up stuff last night at church that the missionaries requested and were to pack in our bags for them. I got everything in my bags tonight and would you believe it...We're allowed to have a carry-on bag 22 pounds, and two checked bags 50 pounds a piece. When I weighed my bags, they come to 22 pounds, 50 pounds, and 50 pounds. WOW. Anyway, guess I better not add much more to my bags. Other than that, I think I'm ready. I have tomorrow off of work to make final preparations and to rest. Then we leave Wapak at 8am Saturday.

Until later, I hope you all have a restful and blessed weekend!

Prayer Map

2008-10-15T22:42:00.003-04:00

Good evening and blessings to all who are reading this!

A small group at our church put a ton of work and prayer into preparing a prayer map for our Mali trip. I just wanted to share the link with everyone out there so that you can read the prayer map and use it to guide your prayers for our team and for every aspect of our trip.

Thank you to all who have been and to those who will be praying for us!

Prayer Map

Thanks!

2008-10-15T11:18:00.002-04:00

Thank you to all who have been praying for my health and rest leading up to the trip. I know there have been many out there praying because the prayers have been felt. I have been fighting a sinus problem for about a week now and finally went to the doctor yesterday. He says I have a sinus infection and gave me antibiotics and an expectorant. I slept better last night than I have for a week...because of those faithful ones that were praying for my rest! I'm feeling quite a bit better today and can definitely feel the medicine breaking loose the stuff that's been stuffing my sinuses and making me cough. Only 3 days till we fly out. I'm very excited and ask for your continued prayer support!! Thanks everyone!

warehouse

2008-10-12T22:18:00.003-04:00

warehouse
Originally uploaded by matt101279

I just wanted to share this picture with everyone. To my understanding, this is the building we will be putting a roof on in Mali. I took this picture from Terry and Barry Newman's facebook page.

Baptism

2008-10-12T22:13:00.001-04:00

image015
Originally uploaded by matt101279

I was baptized today as a public proclamation of my faith in Christ and all that he is doing in my life. This was a very exciting time for me because of all the things God has done in my life over the last couple years and especially in the preparations for this trip to Mali.
Ever since we started going to Shawnee Alliance Church, Pastor Doug has been ministering to us in one way or another, so it was very fitting to ask him to perform my baptism. Jesus told us to go out baptizing in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
It was also fitting to do this today since today is also my birthday, so I was celebrating my physical birth and my spiritual re-birth.

Sick

2008-10-10T09:51:00.001-04:00

Well, I'm feeling quite a bit better. Still feel a little plugged, but I think the Vicks and vaporizer are helping clear this up. Trying to decide if I should see a doctor to make sure it's not a sinus infection or not. Anyway, thanks for your continued prayers for health.

Prayer against illness

2008-10-09T17:35:00.005-04:00

Ok, so I have been doing a little reading since Bethany pointed out that sickness can be caused by our spiritual enemy. I know this probably sounds really weird to many who read this. I found a story in Luke (who was a doctor to my understanding) that kind of speak to this:

Jesus Heals a Woman on the Sabbath
¹⁰Jesus⁵ was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. ¹¹A woman was there who had a spirit that had disabled her for eighteen years. She was hunched over and completely unable to stand up straight. ¹²When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, "Woman, you are free from your illness." ¹³Then he placed his hands on her, and immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.

¹⁴But the synagogue leader, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, told the crowd, "There are six days when work is to be done. So come on those days to be healed, and not on the Sabbath day." ¹⁵The Lord replied to him, "You hypocrites! Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey and lead it out of the stall to give it some water? ¹⁶Shouldn't this woman, a descendant of Abraham whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?" ¹⁷Even as he was saying this, all of his opponents were blushing with shame. But the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things he was doing.

So, thinking about what we learned in Prayer Mapping a couple weeks ago, I'm going to pray this over myself and my team as I know others on the team are experiencing some sickness:

Abba Father, I praise you for the opportunity to travel to Mali and share your love with the people there. I come before you today feeling sick and exhausted. With the authority you have given to me through your son Jesus, I bind the spirit of sickness that is attacking my and some team member's physical body right now and send it to the feet of Jesus. I loose the spirit of healing power of Jesus Christ that Luke speaks of to work in our lives, freeing our bodies from the sickness we're feeling, that we may remain physically and spiritually strong for the trip to Mali. You said in James 5:15 that "such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick". Because of the faith our team shares in you, I pray that you will heal us from this sickness. Thank you in advance for the healing you are going to do in our bodies! Amen

This isn't anything to profound, but it's kind of right to the point. I know God will heal my body and protect me as I head to Africa.

Less than 9 days...

2008-10-09T13:22:00.003-04:00

Well, there's less than 9 days until we fly out for Mali. I'm super excited about this trip and seeing what God will do through our team while we're there.
Of course, right now, the main thing on my mind is getting healthy. I came down with a sore throat yesterday, and now it's in my sinuses. I really can't afford to be sick right now with all the packing and paper work I need to get done before I leave. All I feel like doing right now is crawling in bed and sleeping for a couple days. I know God will get me through this illness...just like every other illness I've ever had. I just pray that it'll be sooner than later so I can get ready for the trip.
Anyway, there's my thoughts for today. Hope you are all having a great day and enjoying my ramblings.

God is good!

2008-10-05T21:40:00.002-04:00

Wow, I've been thinking a lot about the past year of preparation for our Mali trip. God has been doing amazing things that I would have never imagined. But, isn't everything within God's power to do? I've been completely at peace about flying to Africa...even though I was pretty white knuckled on my only other flight experience (Seattle). I know this is only because God is calming all fears and that so many of my friends and family are praying for me. The other gigantic thing that God did in this past year was provide all of the needed finances for me to go on this trip. So many family and friends have put financial support into this that I hope they are truely blessed through their gifts. I look forward to sending out letters telling stories about the trop to all the supporters out there. Most recently, God calmed my fears of speaking in front of a group...and I didn't even know it was coming...no matter how small of a speaking thing it was. Today, we were introduced to the congregation at church as the team going to Mali. The pastor asked me when we were leaving and when we would return. I felt like I blanked completely, but Sarah told me I was really quick to respond. Any other time, my response would have been ummmmmmmmmmmm. I have asked my prayer partners to pray that I would overcome my fears of speaking in front of people so that I will be prepared to share my personal story (testimony) with those that I meet on this trip and in my daily life. I think this short answer on stage today shows me that God is definitely working in my life! So, I'm signing off for tonight, but wanted to share a couple thoughts that had crossed my mind. I'll try to post daily once we're on the trip itself!

Baptism

2008-09-15T09:27:00.002-04:00

As an outward image of my commitment to Christ, I will be baptized on October 12, 2008, my birthday. I was baptized as an infant, but honestly don't have a clue what my parents vowed for me. I feel like I've come to a point in my life where I have experienced a lot of change and God's presence in my life. So, I've decided it is time for me to make this known to all that I'm a follower of Jesus Christ and that my sins were forgiven when He died on the cross many years ago. I know the Holy Spirit lives within me, but this is my outward message to everyone that God is working through me and guiding me through the Holy Spirit.

Here's a couple verses from the Bible about baptism.

Matthew 3: 11-12 I'm baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life. The real action comes next: The main character in this drama—compared to him I'm a mere stagehand—will ignite the kingdom life within you, a fire within you, the Holy Spirit within you, changing you from the inside out. He's going to clean house—make a clean sweep of your lives. He'll place everything true in its proper place before God; everything false he'll put out with the trash to be burned.

Acts 2: 38 Change your life. Turn to God and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so your sins are forgiven. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Thankful

2008-09-05T09:56:00.002-04:00

I got a card from a friend this morning saying:

"The Lord told me you could use this! I'm praying that you'll have a safe trip"

Family and friends have truly blessed me by providing all of the funds for this trip. And it was a total surprise to receive funding this late in the game. It's great to see God working in people's lives and also to see them listen to His call to them. Every expense for this trip has become available when I needed it. Little things like extra medications and clothing have been covered. God is good...All the time. And my faith has truly been strengthened as I have trusted God to provide every need for this trip! I can't wait to see how God will work through me and our team in Mali.

Mali Preparations

2008-08-28T17:58:00.002-04:00

As the Mali trip draws nearer (about 7 weeks away), I'm beginning to think through all the things I need to get done. Sure, I have my passport, visa, shots, etc., but now it's time to get serious. I have to purchase a luggage set as we don't have anything but a carry-on. Then there's the usual toiletries that I need to get (soap, toothpaste, etc.). I also have to find a mosquito net for my bed over there. I guess the mosquitos are rather large, loud, and carry malaria. I need to get a few "medication" type things for healthy bacteria and something to help with jet lag. I also need to get in to the doctor to get an anti-malarial medication and an antibiotic (just in case of bad diarrhea).
I'm still not worrying much about all this because God has had it all in control since I felt the draw to go on this trip. The monies have flowed in for every expense I've had. Big thanks to all my friends and family that felt God's call to give toward my expenses and listened. I'm very excited about the trip and can't wait to go and see what God has in store for me and my team in Mali.

My Story

2008-08-28T17:57:00.002-04:00

Thank you all for taking the time to read my story!

Growing up, I looked for acceptance from everyone around me. I needed others to tell me I did well at tasks or that they approved of my actions. I was looking for happiness through the way other people felt about me and my actions.
One day, during a day of games and fun with younger children, I realized that I needed something more than the acceptance and approval of those around me. I needed acceptance from only one person, Jesus. After all, Jesus died for me. I bowed my head in bed that evening, asking him to walk with me and change my life. I asked him to forgive me for looking for things that he could give me in all the wrong places.
In the many years following that day, I came to learn about my purpose in life. I have found that I like helping out wherever I can. I don’t need anyone to tell me good job anymore. I feel a deep sense of approval from God every day that I walk with him. That sense is more than enough to make my life feel full.

Preparing for Mali

2008-08-17T12:17:00.000-04:00

Hello. I am going to use this blog to try to keep everyone up-to-date with what's happening before, during, and after my Mali missions trip. I needed a common place to keep everyone updated. I look forward to sharing my thoughts and experiences!