The Rest of the Story…

So, I left you hanging…  Well, shortly after that post, I actually traveled 7 hours by bus and went to Banfora, then took a moped to the base of the cliffs/domes of Fabedougou.  From there we basically walked the other 2-3 kilometers up to the village.  God is doing something amazing there!  But I’m getting ahead of myself.

This is where I’ll need some help to get all the details straight.  When Colin went to El-Hadj’s house with the players, he was shocked to see how the family was suddenly receptive to the Gospel.  I believe it begun when the village elder asked him how his wife’s health was and Colin explained that there was little improvement.  The village elder went on to tell Colin he should then offer a sacrifice to the local idol since this was where she got sick.  Colin explained that we no longer need to make those kind of sacrifices since Jesus provided for everything in His sacrifice.

This piqued their interest.  They began, for the 1st time, to criticize their islamic religion, and they started asking questions about Colin’s faith.  I don’t remember the entire conversation (maybe someone remembers more), but at the end, Colin asked “who would like someone to come to their house, bring God’s Word and explain it?”.  That day, to Colin’s utter shock, 3/4 of the village families (including El-Hadj), raised their hands.  The impenetrable wall was crumbling.

Since then, the Turka evangelist, Jeremie, has been visiting the village once a week, bringing new stories, songs and scriptures on the players to very eager listeners, started a kid’s club for over 50 kids and held a 3 day evangelistic outreach.  I was at the 1st kid’s club, and that day the village elders declared “you have our blessing.  If you want a church, we will give you land.  We will allow our wives and children to become Christian.”

At the evangelism, God performed an amazing miracle!  A head of a family, his wife and children decided to receive Christ.  After Jeremie prayed for him he explained that he had one more daughter who has been suffering for 3 years with mental illness.  Jeremie asked if he could pray for her.  When they arrived, Mariam refused to come out of the house.  She was unable to speak and would not look anyone in the eyes.  Jeremie prayed in faith, but nothing really happened.  A week later he returned to the village and greeted the family.  Mariam came out, greeted Jeremie and began serving him water!!!  The family explained that she was completely healed!  She answered questions, looked people in the eye, was completely restored!  She also received Christ.  This happened before the eyes of the entire village.

Today there are 90 believers in Fabedougou.  Most are children, as they accept Jesus with joy.  But at least 3 or  full families are also coming faithfully to the weekly gatherings.  But Fabedougou has around 2000 people, and we are believing that the majority will become followers of Christ.

We will be in Fabedougou on the 30th of May, bringing shoebox gifts to all the schoolchildren, providing a medical exam for each one as well.  Then that night we will have an evangelistic outreach with skits and drama, all in Turka.

Will you pray?  We are believing that this village will become a shining light for Christ among the Turka, that a strong and healthy Turka church will be born and that God will raise up leaders to reach the other Turka villagers.

Glory to our God!