Thursday, December 8, 2011

December Update


Camping in the hills of southern Spain

This summer we had the opportunity to attend the Spanish Baptist Children’s camp in southern Spain. It was a great experience; sleeping in tents or cabins with bunk beds, worshipping together outdoors, swimming, seeing wild hogs and other animals in the hills. It was a great opportunity to be at a church camp where half of the children came from un-churched homes. One evening our pastor asked me to talk with the group about how I first became “friends with Christ” as a child at a church camp in the states. Please pray for the children who come from un-churched homes; that they will continue to have opportunities to hear the gospel.


Babies, Babies, Babies!

This summer we have had lots of new babies arriving in Roquetas. Ndeye’s daughter, Fatu, traveled from Tenerife, to bring her new baby daughter to see her grandmother. The baby’s name is Ndeye! Beatrice had a beautiful baby boy named Michele. Maimouna had twin babies and named them Adam and Awa. Rougi now has a new baby girl named Maimouna. Umi’s baby should be arriving soon. We have had a great time delivering beds, strollers, food, milk, diapers, and baby clothes. We have been able to attend two baby naming ceremonies, where the daddy whispers the baby’s name into his/her ear on the 8th day after their birth and then they shave the baby’s head. Then for the rest of the day the women cook African food, which we all enjoy eating together. The most fun has been holding these precious little ones! Please pray for baby Ndeye; that her hips will grow correctly, so that she will not have to continue wearing a brace and that she will be able to walk correctly in the years to come.


A Little Bit of Heaven

One of our greatest joys in our work over the years has been having the opportunity to experience a little bit of what we believe heaven will be like in worshipping with people from different cultures in different languages. In San Francisco, we worshipped with the Church of the Nations Christmas service in which the Bible was read in 10 different languages. In Marseille, France we attended a choir concert where choirs worshipped together from Romania, Madagascar, Philippines, and Isreal. In Roquetas we attend the immigrant prayer meetings where folks from Africa, Spain, Romania, North and South America worship and pray together. During our August and September kids club, we sang “God is so Good” in English, Spanish, French, Romanian, Mandinka, Wolof, and Sereer! The kids also enjoyed eating cinnamon toast for the first time.

Daniel 7:14a: “He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him.”

Please pray for us as we work with people from many different countries and languages that they might see Jesus in us.

Backpacks and Birthday parties!

In August we gave backpacks to the children of families from our ladies class that meets every Friday. We filled the backpacks with pens, pencils, erasers, notebooks, folders, crayons, glue, sharpeners, markers, colored pencils, and a few other school supplies. After we gave out the back packs we had a birthday party for Sidou. We had a cake and sang happy birthday and then gave her a gift with clothes and a small toy. Sidou is ten years old. When she opened her gift her face was glowing with the smile and she gave us a big hug and said thank you many times. On the way home I was talking to Megan and saying that I thought the best part of the day was Sidou’s face when she opened her present. Megan said, “Mommy she had to ask me how to open it.” Sidou had never received a wrapped gift before, yet she is a happy child because she is well fed and has clothes to wear each day to attend school. We learn many things about contentment from our precious African friends. Please pray for the children in our community, that they would take advantage of the many opportunities that they are given and not be drawn in by negative peer pressure.


Association of Sereer in Spain

Years ago I served in Senegal with the Sereer people group. I lived in a small village called Fissel and learned the language and customs of this people group. I grew to love the people. I was sad to leave Senegal and hoped that someday soon I would be able to work with the Sereer people again. Several years later when we arrived in southern Spain to work with African immigrants, I was so excited and a bit surprised to meet Sereer people living in Roquetas. Now, once again, I am greeting folks in the Sereer language and enjoying their customs of baby naming ceremonies, African wrestling, and lots of fellowship together while eating poulet yassa, thieb o gin, mafe, and drinking attaya. Recently, Joel and I were able to join the Sereer Association here in southern Spain. After we officially joined this group of Sereer people, one of their officials said to us, “You are now a part of the Sereer family for always.”

Please pray for our Sereer family.

To read an inspirational story about the recent earthquake in Lorca, Spain, please click on “Thoughts Along the Way.”

Thank you for your continued support through prayer and giving.

Blessings,

Joel, Tiffne, Megan, Cade, & Dylan.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

We're back!


We have not updated our blog in “forever” because the banana boat has been in the water and on the move again. We spent 6 months in Texas for our off field assignment (used to be known as furlough.) We enjoyed being back in the states. We enjoyed Mexican food, and chocolate chip cookies! We enjoyed seeing our families for the holidays for the first time in several years. We also enjoyed riding horses, going to the rodeo and riding wave runners! Also during the summer we had the opportunity to do the missions camp in Lueders, TX. This is the same camp where Tiffne went as a child and asked Jesus into her heart – so it was a real joy to get to be at this camp as the camp missionaries.

We enjoyed visiting churches and talking about the work that God is doing around the world to reach the people who have not heard about him. We visited our church in San Francisco, California. It was so great to be back in this really cool city and to reconnect with our good friends there. We had the opportunity to visit the homeless soup kitchen. Megan, Cade, and Dylan helped prepare the silver ware and napkins while Tiffne stirred the huge pot of soup. Every year 19th Ave. Baptist Church has a “church of the nations” picnic where each of the different language congregations get together to share food and fun. It is such a great experience to try foods from China, Vietnam, Mongolia, and Japan, along with hamburgers and hotdogs. This year the biggest attraction was the Mongolian wrestling!! Wow!

After off field assignment, the banana boat headed back to Spain! And we hit the ground running. Our church in Almeria, Spain did a great job ministering to the African immigrants in our absence and their work continues… be sure to click on “Thoughts Along the Way” to read about Norma’s story and ministry.

Orange Hands

One Sunday this month was the Senegalese festival of Touba. It is a Muslim religious festival. We went over to Ndeye’s house that morning to help with the cooking. The ladies were making cheb o gin, rice with fish. I peeled so many carrots that my hands turned orange. Then later when we were eating this delicious dish, I ate with my hand, just like all of the Senegalese women around me, and again my hands were orange from the yummy sauce. Then the ladies began cooking the next dish in huge pots over the fire in Ndeye’s garage. It was an amazing day, helping them cook, taking the huge dishes of food to the festival, listening to the men sing, visiting with the women while we cooked, speaking to folks in 6 different languages. I just know the greetings in most of them, but I enjoy seeing their faces light up when they are greeted in their home language.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I recently read a book about a missionary who took “pineapple chutney” and the gospel to Japan. This gave me the idea – for my favorite thing – to “bring” chocolate chip cookies and the gospel to our friends here in Spain. So we have served chocolate chip cookies at “ladies class” and “kids’ club” as well as shared them with Ndeye and her family. It is fun to tell our immigrant friends from Africa of the customs that we have in America in my family. When my family gets together we almost always have chocolate chip cookies as a part of the celebration. So we have enjoyed sharing that with our friends here in Southern Spain who are also away from their families. In the past I have had to have chocolate chips mailed to me because they didn’t have them here in Spain – but just recently I found some – that are very similar to the ones we use in Texas – not exactly the same but they will do in a pinch. The flour here is also a little different – so sometimes I use my flour that I brought from the states. The girls from kid’s club and the women from “ladies class” want to learn how to make “chocolate chip cookies” from America. J

The Pancake Gang

Recently we had a great team come from Blue Springs, MO. God did amazing things through this team. One door that God blasted open was the door to Megan, Cade, and Dylan’s school. We have wanted to do something in their school for 4 years and God opened the door for us to serve American pancakes while this team was in Spain. We served pancakes to about 250 students; including entertainment, with “the pancake song,” flipping pancakes across the room and catching them on a plate! This team helped fit the ladies from the “ladies class” and a few others with reading glasses. They also provided hair cuts and manicures for the “ladies in waiting.” We also shared the gospel and gave out MP3 players in Romanian. During “ladies class” and “kids club” the ladies taught each group how to make American chocolate chip cookies, with chocolate chips and flour from the states. The children at “kids club” also enjoyed the Easter story, along with Easter crafts, dying Easter eggs, and an Easter egg hunt. This team also had the opportunity to assist Segunda in paying a house tax. Segunda also prayed and asked Jesus into her heart during this time.

Banana Boat Prayer Requests

· Please continue to pray that the people who received glasses will have open eyes and hearts to the truth of a personal God.

· Pray for the ladies from the ladies class who received glasses and heard the gospel. Pray for Beatrice and her husband as we hope to begin discipleship with them.

· Please pray for the “ladies in waiting” who heard the gospel and who received the Bible in Romanian on MP3 players. Pray that they would want to have a personal relationship with Jesus. Pray for Laura, Victoria, and Miheala. Pray for Janette as she returns to Romania; that she might find a different type of work. Pray for Maria who is interested in Bible study. Pray for Miheala (from our church) who will lead a Bible study.

· Please pray for the children who heard the Easter story at kids club. Pray that they would understand about a living Savior.

· Pray for the young men in Mojonera. Pray for Nguy that he would understand more about who Jesus really is and how to know him personally. Pray for Ruben as he visits the guys in Mojonera.

· Please continue to pray for Ndeye and her family. Pray for her younger son. Pray that the Holy Spirit would call her to a personal relationship with God.

· Thank you for praying for Segunda: she prayed to receive Christ as her Savior! Please continue to pray for her as we follow up with discipleship.