This is the Testimony Didier gave about last Thursday’s outreach to the Tuareg.  It is the conclusion of THIS blog post.  Here is a video of Didier teaching.

Before the kids club, each one of us had been praying on his own, but me, in my prayers, I received visions.  The visions showed me that the gospel must be preached in its entirety this particular Thursday, because we were wondering if we should say that Jesus was resurrected.  Since they are Muslims, we were afraid to act before God’s time, but God spoke one passage to me: it is when the apostle Paul and Silas said to the jailer: “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved you and your household” (Acts 16:31)” it is when they will believe that Jesus died and rose again they will be saved.
And on top of that I saw Heidi in the vision among the Tuaregs holding up the colorful scenes of Jesus we have printed on plastic sheets. I told myself that God wants to go further, Islam does not like showing any kind of pictures of a Prophet.

Please keep reading!

STRIKE ONE:

3:45 pm: We were ready for the biggest day at the Tuareg Camp since the 1st day we heard about them.  Today, we were going to share the Gospel at the Kids Camp!!  Thursday, April 12th and it was extraordinarily hot!  But this is not unexpected since we are in the middle of the hot/dry season and we don’t expect rain until June.  Well, as Heidi, the kids, Kate and the new missionaries were getting in the car, and I (Joel) and Didier were starting up a moped, the wind began to pick up!  A rainstorm in April!!!  Unbelievable!  How was I supposed to ride a moped in the rain?  Honestly I thought “maybe we should postpone this – the kids probably won’t come out in the rain anyhow”.  Well, strike one for the devil – we waited 10 minutes and pushed forward after the storm passed.

STRIKE TWO:

4:15 pm: We arrived at the camp and I began to distribute the 100lbs of powdered milk we had brought (milk is one of the Tuareg’s staples) and the rest of the team began to play games with the kids.  They LOVED the puddles, especially after such a hot day.  The rain and wind had knocked the temp down at least 15 degrees.  After playing for 20 minutes or so, Didier began to gather the (very rambunctious) kids for the lesson.  It took a LONG time to get them calm, sitting and all together.  Right when he did…  it started pouring down rain again!!!  It looked like we had struck out this time, as the group of kids exploded and they all ran away as fast as they could.  But it was strike two for our enemy – they all ran together to a covered gazebo on the other side of the camp.  In 15 minutes, they were calmly sitting, waiting for the story to begin.

KEEP READING!

A Fulani Christian?!?

We hired Rama to teach the Tuareg kids French on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays for 2.5 hrs each week.  They were bored and had cabin fever (they’ve been inside the same 4 walls for over a month) and we were noticing more and more serious scrapes from fights they were having (did we mention they are a very aggressive people?).  So we asked Rama to try her best to teach them the alphabet and how to write letters.

She has done a lot more than that!

Rama is a Fulani believer.  The Fulani are a nomadic, Muslim people group from the northern part of W. Africa.  In fact, they are a very similar people to the Tuareg.

As Rama began to interact with the parents of the kids she was teaching, they found out she was a Christian.  There was an immediate reaction – they were in shock!  One man said “Since the day I was born I have NEVER heard of such a thing – a Fulani Christian!!??”  So they began calling other Tuareg to come around – to check out this anomaly!

And Rama is a very bold witness.

Soon after, she came to Heidi and I and asked for some books in French for the kids to read.  We gave her some Bible stories and a picture Bible.  The next afternoon she came back with this story:

I decided to tell a Bible story today instead of have a French lesson.  I told the story of Cain and Able from the books you gave, and they were all captivated.  Yesterday night one of their friends, a 12 year old boy, had died suddenly in the camp, so they were very eager to hear about God.  At the end of the story, I asked them “Who wants Jesus to be their friend?”  Several rose their hands, and after the lesson, 5 came up to me individually.  One boy asked me “How can I walk with Jesus?”  Another girl told me “I know that God is my Father, but I am scared of Him.” I assured her that God is not like our earthly fathers.

One of the fathers had been listening to the whole story and whn he heard me tell about Jesus, he grumbled to one of the kids and walked away.  I asked the child : “What did he say?”  The kid replied “He was just complaining.  He always complains.”

Please pray for Rama, for more boldness, more wisdom and more open doors to the this unreached people, the Tuareg!

I love Didier.  He is a gifted evangelist, teacher and administrator.  Here he is teaching the Tuareg kids (OUR Tuareg kids) about Abraham and his son.  These kids are 100% receptive!  They really do get it!

Pray for Didier to have wisdom, favor and open doors each Thursday.

This is a very quick pan of the refugee camp.  It doesn’t really look like a refugee camp because it it at a new schoolyard that has not been used yet.  But hidden away in the buildings are 700+ people, sleeping on the ground, eating plain white rice, bored and hopeless.

Thursday kids club is the highlight of the week for these kids!

These are our Tuareg.  They are celebrating the baptism and name-giving ceremony of a child born in the local football stadium.  They are refugees and we have the privilege of sharing God’s love with them.

I didn’t want to get involved. Honestly I didn’t.  I had outreaches planned through next fall, trainings on the schedule, important stuff.  Somehow when I heard that Tuareg were fleeing Mali into Burkina, I knew that we had to respond.  But there’s just a few of us, and we’re just… us.

There are over 20,000 refugees fleeing war in northern Mali.  I have heard only a few of their stories, but they all have the same basic theme: “I had a life, a home, our kids had school.  One day we saw someone get killed (a friend’s house get burned, I was held up at gunpoint, etc..), and we fled.  Now we have nothing, no home, no identity, no rights.”  Some of the refugees were herdsmen, but Ziniba was a university student, Agboubacar was a successful jeweler and Mohammed was in the Army.  Now they all live together in refugee camps – nothing to do, struggling to find meaning and purpose.  (Video of Tuareg Dance)

And many days they struggle to find food.

We discovered that around 800 of the refugees are in an empty school about 10 minutes from our house, and we knew we had to do something.  We visited them, bringing bananas, sardines and bread, simply asking how we could help.  They asked for food, for mats, for buckets and soap.  The next day we brought all those things and we began to bring breakfast every morning to all 800 refugees.

For 21 days we brought 300 loaves of bread, 50 pounds of powdered milk, 100 pounds of sugar, 600 servings of coffee and tea every morning.  i think what really touched their hearts was
that we came personally every morning to distribute the food and play with the kids.  It wasn’t just a big organization throwing food at them to keep them alive, we were fellow humans who cared and had compassion.  Every morning as we drove in, the camp looked empty. Everyone was hiding in their tents and rooms, sleeping their boredom and hopelessness away. But once we stepped out, the camp came alive!  Kids came streaming towards us, grabbing our hands, hugging us, calling out our names.  The moms would gather around, all smiles, as we split up the food to each group.

One day I found out that there were many sick so I asked Ziniba discreetly: “do you think i could go pray for the sick?” and I got a firm answer: “You pray differently.  We pray everyday, we don’t drink alcohol and we bow down.  If the old people see you praying in your way, they will refuse to even eat the food you bring, even if they are starving.”  I didn’t argue with her, but I knew 2 things that day – 1.  I want them to know that we come in the name of Jesus, not just religion and 2. We need to reach out to them through the children.

The 1st saturday we hosted a big soccer match at the camp.  Boys vs. boys and girls vs. girls.  We blasted Tuareg music through our speakers and we all danced together.  Everyone had an amazing time!!

The next Thursday we began our Bible club with the kids.
March 8th : God created all the world and animals.
March 15th: God created you and loves you.
March 22nd: The Good Samaritan (we were noticing a lot of violence)
March 29th (today): Adam and Eve and sin (introducing Easter next week)

KEEP READING! 

Dear God, let the Spirit of the Lord be upon Joel and the team, and anoint them to proclaim good news to the poor. Send them to Kolo-kolo to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor there.  Prepare the village leaders to receive our team with joy and hospitality.  Use the dramas on hygiene to really help change the children’s lifestyles.  Use the kindness and love at the gift distribution to break off the hardness of the adults’ hearts and become soft and able to accept Christ as Savior at the night-time evangelism. Lord, draw the hearts of Kolo-kolo to You and we pray for a church to be planted there, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
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Praise report from yesterday’s prayer:

Right after Joel and the guys set up all the equipment for the evangelism, it started to rain and everyone disappeared.  They had to pack everything up and wait it out. But the great part is that when the rain stopped and they set up again, about 600 people came back and got to hear the Gospel through skits, puppet shows and film.  Praise God they came back!-Daniel got in on time with all his bags and is so happy to be here after the 2 day delay in Philadelphia. So glad he’s finally here.

Prayer points:

* Tomorrow they go to a village called Kolo-kolo.  This is the sound a turkey makes, so this is the word for “turkey.” Please pray for Turkey Village All the other villages except Fabidougou and this one have churches.  Please pray for a church to be planted in Kolo-kolo.

* The team of doctors who will be driving down on Sunday, both of their vehicles have just broken down.  Please pray for quick repairs and protection from any more attacks from the enemy.  thanks!

Please would you read this and pray this prayer for Day 2 of 8 of our ministry trip among the Turka people:

Lord, You love the Turka people.  I pray for the gift distribution and the evangelism tomorrow in Belega-dougou that will all be done in the Turka language (which never happens in that region) that You will use it to show them that You came for EVERY people, tribe and tongue, even the precious Turka.  Let Your truth resonate in the souls of the children and the gathered crowd as they hear the Good News in their own heart-language for the first time, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Praise report from yesterday’s prayer:

-God kept Joel and his team safe driving all day to Banfora.  There was a large student protest that blocked the entire highway and stopping Joel’s cars on the road.  Thank God it dissipated in only 10 min.
-Jeremie got permission from the mayors and school inspectors to do the gift distributions and evangelism.  Praise God for favor!

More Prayer points for Thursday:

• This is the largest school we’ll be going to (615 kids).  Pray that the gift distribution would be organized and quick, and there would be no pushing or shoving, and no distractions, in Jesus’ name
• Pray for Daniel who is still stuck at some airport because of major delays caused by storms in America.  He should get to Burkina Thurs. afternoon by God’s grace