Hey,
Everyone. Wanted to give you some prayers and praises from here in
Conakry. Let's start with the good stuff first: Praise God with us
that:
- We are feeling settled into our new place and liking it. There are
still some projects left. But Marty finished his shelf for his
garage corner and got his tools and "guy stuff" organized. This is
reducing his stress level (and therefore mine) significantly, when
it comes to house projects.
- I have my diabetes under control. In fact, I've been able to
reduce my
meds by half. I'm also at my lowest weight in 3 years. (Still have a
long ways to go, but progress is progress.)
- The girls are at a sleep-over birthday party tonight. They are
really enjoying the Missionary Kid fellowship here. Lots of girls
their age, with positive peer pressure.
Would you please pray with us about these requests?
- Mariama (Momo L's wife from the village: he gave us land to build
our
home) is here in Conakry right now. She has a huge goiter
(grapefruit size), and we are helping her seek treatment. The
thyroid problems have stressed her heart too. She just started meds
to regulate her blood pressure, which has helped. Tomorrow she has
an ultrasound on the mass. Then we wait for the thyroid pannel
results (bloodwork) before the surgery can be scheduled.
-
Please pray for God's intervention on her behalf. Pray for me/Tina,
as I
take her around to her appointments, etc. Pray that we can get the
surgery at a reasonable price, as our funds are limited. Pray for
God to work through this situation to bring her family to salvation.
(Her husband leads prayers in the village.)
- Please, please pray for translation progress on Acts. Ramadan and
our move set Marty and Abou back considerably. Then this week, Abou
had family problems and didn't come to work. Please pray for God to
protect the team's work times and to bless their efforts. Please
pray for Marty, as he's discouraged.
- Please pray for financial situation. This move was good thing: the
house is just what we were looking for, we're saving @ $300/month in
guard fees & generator fuel, and we're driving much less too. But
our up-front moving
costs have hurt in a big way. Please pray for us to be wise
stewards, to see ways to pinch pennies (or GF here), and to get
caught up.
Thanks so much. Please know that we are praying for you too and for
our US Presidential elections.
Love from Guinea, Tina for us
9/29/08
Hello All and Happy Autumn,
Tina called and asked for prayers for a couple of things. First, Heather's bike and Laura's scooter were stolen from their yard. Please pray for the girls as they are very upset that someone would take their things. These were taken from their new Conakry house so Marty needs to strengthen the security. Please pray that he can get that accomplished quickly.
Secondly, they keep the pet rabbits in that same back yard. Please pray that the rabbit isn't taken (if it were to turn up missing it would most likely end up in someone's stew pot and that would be most upsetting for the girls).
Thirdly, fuel costs continue to rise. Tina is looking for way to reduce what they use. Pray for them to find solutions. (One way to help would be the donation of a small pressure cooker, if someone has one to offer, please respond to this e-mail, thanks:)
The new place is almost set up. Please pray that the family can find a routine and have a more peaceful schedule.
Thanks for your prayers, Rose
9/8/2008
Dear friends,
This request came in this morning from Tina. Please continue to be in prayer for the family, thanks, Rose
Please praise God with us for the safe arrival of Abou's newest son. He came on Friday to Kadiatou, his second wife. No name yet, which is normal. They usually name a child on day 8. Please pray for this child's growth and for Abou's whole family to come to Jesus.
Secondly, Heather had a close encounter with a spitting cobra this am. It reared up at her to strike, but didn't get her. Aliou killed the snake. (It was on the CMA/PBT compound.) Heather is calming down now. But pray her to rest peacefully tonight. Also thank God with us that she didn't get hurt. (Laura's comment was: "It was a pretty snake.")
Love, Tina for us
August 22nd, 2008
Dear Friends,
I spoke with Marty and Tina yesterday and things are well with them, thank you for your continued prayers. Tina found an apt for them. They are excited that it is close by the mission compound, within walking distance. It has a good well on site and water all the time. That will be a huge benefit--they won't know what to do without the need to lug water jugs around!
The interns have left, branch meetings went well, Marty is headed up to the village to work with Abou, Tina's health is very good (diabetes is under control with the limited medicine she has), and they get the keys tonight giving them plenty of time to move in and get things set up before they have to give back their current place.
Things are stable for now and school for the girls will be starting back up next week. Their teacher is slated to be with them until the beginning of Dec.
Praise God for all of His provisions!!
Thank you for your continued prayers and keep them coming!
Rose
June 9, 2008
Dear Friends'
Thanks so much for continuing to pray for us all and for Guinea.
Your
prayers have sustained us through some dicey moments during the past 10 days, during the civil unrest. Thanks also for praying for Heather's boils.
They are just small scabs now, and she goes back to the doctor tomorrow morning for a final check.
Please continue praying with us for the following concerns:
1. Guinea: There's still potential for more unrest in the next few weeks.
The New Prime Minister is supposed to announce his cabinet very soon.
The
mutinous soldiers haven't had all their demands met. Plus the teachers are expected to have a national strike. Please pray for peace to prevail and
God's will to be done in Guinea.
2. Our work: Abou should be on his way down to Conakry to work with Marty this week. After about 3 days of working together here, they will head back to Kawass for some village work.
I/Tina am working on a PBT letter to approach the Lasko Foundation for help with PBT's building project. Please pray for the letter to be favorably received. (Lasko typically does churches, rather than missions projects.
Pray for him to see the validity in PBT's project. Our overall goal is serving 33 million people in 69 languages by 2014. A bigger office/training facility is one step along the way.) 3. GOFC leadership: The GOFC team will be meeting on June 14th. Pray for a productive meeting and for our partnership together to reach Baga people for Christ.
4. Jane Fisher: Our short-term teacher is scheduled to arrive in Guinea on June 20th. Please pray for Jane as she makes her final preparations for coming here. Pray for traveling mercies for her and the other interns.
Also
pray for our adjustments as we learn to work together.
Thanks so much! You're a critical part of the team! Marty and Tina
June 3, 2008
Dear Friends,
Just wanted you to know that we went back home this morning. Everything on the street looked normal, especially after the gas stations opened back up this afternoon. It was nice to see heavy traffic again and lots of people out doing their thing. Now it will take us a few days to get organized and regroup. We were planning on heading up to the village house on Sunday, but since all the trouble was still not settled we did could not leave.
Now it will have to wait for another few days before we can rethink the trip.
We really thank you for your prayers. God was really good to us getting us where we needed to be and helping us weather this all out.
God bless you and thanks for praying!
Marty for us
March 28, 2008
“Our house is plumbed to receive city water, but city water only comes about every third day on the average, and then only for a couple of hours. So when water comes we have to drop what we are doing and try to fill up water jugs and buckets and the cistern to keep us supplied until the next time it happens to come. There is no schedule, you just have to keep your eye on the pipes that feed the cistern so that when the water flows you can take advantage of it. This city water rarely is under enough pressure to make it to the tap without running a pump. So unless the city electricity is on, one of us needs to go out to the generator house, check the oil, fill it with gas, and start it up. You have to turn the two switches that direct the current of the generator into the house, going back into the house and out another door to the attached garage to plug in the pump. Once the pump fills the house (pressure tank, water heater tank, and whatever jugs can be filled with a hose in the shower), then you have to run back out to the garage and unplug the pump, and go out and flip the switches (so that if town power comes on we will get it in the house) and then shut down the generator.”
Feb 8, 2008
Dear GOFC friends: Thanks for your prayers for our transition back to Guinea. It was a beautiful sight to see Heather and Laura smiling, laughing, and holding hands with their old friends. They have already had 2 play dates, with at least 2 more to come in the near future. We adults have really enjoyed renewing our friendships too.
Laura also asked us to buy her some grilled manioc, so life here is starting to come back to her. Heather remembers more. Her problem right now is adjusting to the time zone change. I think she finally feel asleep between 2-3am last night. I made both girls get up at 10:30am this morning and tomorrow it will be 8:30. - Your prayers for that are appreciated.:)
We've been out grocery shopping already twice. Today we also got into the Hunter's house (which we will be renting) to start cleaning. We hope to spend the night there on Friday. Please pray for that goal to be accomplished, so that we can begin some kind of a "normal routine."
Need to close now and put the girls to bed. - But wanted you to know
that it's going well for us thanks to your prayers. (I/Tina survived Conakry driving today by myself once again. Yesterday I just rode with Marty so that I could take it all in again since it's very, very visually stimulating.
No
one even offered to sell me a snake.)
Love, Tina, Marty and girls
Feb 1, 2008
Dear Praying Friends: Thanks for your continued prayers on our behalf,
as we transition back to Guinea. We're down to 3 days now and it's
getting a bit intense. Please pray with us about the following requests: 1. Our health: Tina and Laura are still on Zithromax for broncitis
and a sinus infection respectively. Mom seems to be healing much faster
than Laura. But we are both still short on sleep. Please pray for
continued healing and for no one else to get sick. 2.Final responsibilities and packing: We still have a box of
financial paperwork to deal with before leaving. Final packing and
weigh-in for checked baggage too. - Please pray that we will get the
most important work done and let the rest slide. Also pray that our
baggage will arrive with us.:) (We are really praising God that PBT is
doing a container right now, as we've been able to send excess baggage
that way.) 3. School for the girls: We've officially begun homeschooling Heather
and Laura now. Actually that means Mommy has done the lesson planning,
while Daddy and Aunt Tracy have done the teaching. So far, so good. But
the real test comes next week when Aunt Tracy isn't around to help. -
Thanks for your continued prayers as we adjust to this new reality. 4. SNOW: Frank's kids don't have school today. We're supposed to get 10-15 inches of snow. We have about 8 inches on the ground already
and more is coming. It's quite beautiful. But it could be problematic
for our trip to Detroit tomorrow (We're planning to leave at noon.) and
for flight schedules. Please pray about this situation too. 5. Final goodbyes: Our final goodbyes with our family will be
tomorrow Saturday. Thanks for covering us with your prayers, as emotions
will be running high on all accounts. (It's no fun to watch your kids
cry.) We're excited, tired, happy, sad, and still busy. (Hopefully "busy"
will end this afternoon.) Bless you for partnering with us and
interceding for us. Love, M, T, H & L