Joyeux Noël

Tabaski Time!

Did you know that yesterday was New Year's Day in Ivory Coast? The Muslim holy day called ''Tabaski'' has come once again. Though it goes by other names in other Muslim countries , Tabaski marks the end of the hajj, or annual pilgrimage to Mecca. It's a commemoratioin of Abraham's sacrifice of--according to them--his son Ishmael.

Tabaski begins with a huge common prayer service at 9am. All the mosques are filled to capacity and even overflow into the courtyard, street, alleys, and parking lots. I typically go watch the mass prayer service up town. I take pictures for friends and then give them as souvenirs later (roaming photographers charge $1 per pose). I'm also there to pray with them and for them. This year, as you can see in the accompanying ''aeriel'' photo, I was able to take video and pictures from the roof of a new apartment building.

Let me tell you how impressive it is to watch several thousand people simultaneously put their faith in everything BUT Jesus Christ. They pray for God's forgiveness of old sins as they begin the new year. But they don't know that the blood of Jesus was spilt in order to wash us white as snow. They humbly repeat praises to Allah and prostrate themselves through submission and ritual. But they don't realize that by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ they can be saved, they and their entire household.

Juli and I went visiting in the afternoon as is customary. We drop in on our Muslim friends, bringing them cake and soda to top off the huge feast of roasted ram long since gobbled up by the extended family. Muslim blessings are exchanged, the bonds of friendship reinforced. And we pray that these good people one day know the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

One sixth of mankind (the world's 1.3 billion Muslims) celebrated Tabaski yesterday. That means it is time once again for us to be on our knees in prayer for them. Thank you for doing so.
Thank you for caring.

Halloween, and other Scary dates on the Calendar

October 31st: Our kids really like Halloween and always have. We host the team Halloween party, which Juli and the kids tend to do-up very nicely. The kids trick-or-treat by going around the house and coming up to all the entrances of our (big) house where an adult is waiting with candy. We even post someone in the laundry room. We usually conclude by watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, by our VCR is on the blink, so we sang ''pumpkin carols'' and kept eating until it was time to put kids in bed.

November 1 was All Saints Day. In Catholic countries like Ivory Coast, it's a state holiday and marks the beginning of a week off from school. It always becomes apparent during these religious holidays how many people at least think of themselves as Catholic.

Since our focus is the Muslim background Djoula we remain concerned with how to help these friends become ''Saints'' themselves and know Christ's salvation. So I kept my Bible storytelling appointment with my group of Djoula guys at 4 o'clock. We talked about the feeding of the 5,000 and Jesus walking on the water. We had four regulars, one visitor, and one guy missing, but an amazingly good discussion.

Nov. 2nd we went to church. The service was nearing FOUR HOURS LONG with no end in sight, so we politely excused ourselves.

And today, November 3rd makes exactly TEN YEARS since we left Rolla, Missouri and headed off to Ivory Coast as a missionary family. Way back then we had a 5 year-old and a 3 year-oldi in tow with our 25 pieces of luggage, and a baby not even three months old in our arms when we stepped off the plane into the warm West African evening.

There's no way to sum up in this blog all our memories of that day or of tomorrow, Nov. 4th, as we celebrate ten years in Africa. But we want you to know how thankful we are to God and to you for all the faithfulness we've seen in that time.

The only thing truly scary is to think where we would be without Christ's great love.

La Famille Jones
Mission Chrétienne
Abengourou, Ivory Coast
www.djoulajoneses.blogspot.com

A Church is Born and Ramadan Starts Tomorrow!

This picture is of five of your new brothers and sisters in the Lord. The 5 on the left were baptized into Christ last Sunday August 24th. Eugene, the guy on the right is the one who did the baptizing. Besides the amazingness of five more names being written in the Book of Life, is the origin of those names. See the lady in white? Her name is Mariatou. That's a Muslim name. She and the two women next to her are Muslims who are now new believers in Jesus Christ. We are in awe, yet again, of God's work in their lives and their courage to answer His call. Pray for these five people, hat they will grow in Christ and will be a witness to their families and neighbors, a light for Christ that illuminates the Truth to everyone around them.

Another really great thing about these people, from the new church in Adoukoffikro, is that they are an indigenous church plant, meaning the national leaders from the Abengourou church, Eugene, Emmanuel, Douti, Wisdom, Max and Janvier evangelized, taught, baptized and are discipling these new Muslim background believers 100% on their own with NO foreign missionary involvement. We can't tell you how encouraging it is to see the people you've been teaching and training for years, begin to practice and live what you have been teaching them. May God be praised!

Tomorrow is the beginning of Ramadan. Since we're not in the US we don't know if much has been mentioned about it in the news amidst the politics, and prices and hurricanes, but around the world, to Muslims, it's a big deal. This is the month of Ramadan according to the Islamic calendar. This is the month that Muslims fast and abstain from all pleasures during daylight hours, to purify themselves and seek the will of God. Observing the fast of Ramadan is one of the 5 pillars of Islam and is a very important part of their religion.

While some Muslims, use this month to enjoy huge feasts after dark (sort of like Thanksgiving everyday for a month!), many are truly seeking God's will for their lives during this month. We think that's a great excuse to increase our prayers for the Muslim world that God really WILL reveal Himself to them and that through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. You can do this in anyway that works for you. Some Christians we know are fasting with the Muslims while praying during daylight hours. Others, we know are fasting one meal a day or one day a week, and others are simply devoting themselves to faithful prayer on a daily basis this month. Regardless what method works for you, we would really appreciate, in fact we covet your prayers for these beautiful people living in the darkness of Islam during this month. A great prayer resource we've found is here at www.30-days.net You can sign up for daily e-mail prayer requests and reminders during the month of Ramadan too here : http://lists.bfp-listen.de/mailman/listinfo/30-days

Ho hum, Nahum?

How do you do with the list of tongue twisters that comprise the (5) major and (12) minor prophets of the OT? What importance do you place on the role played by this odd bunch of doom-and-gloom naysayers? Today our Bible storytelling group of Muslim guys arrived at this important point in the OT chronological plan. We were only able to take a peek into the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Micah (Nahum, it turns out, is more about Ninevah than Israel). What message brought they anyway, these prophets?

A wonderful one, actually. In the midst of foreign invasion, economic collapse, social chaos, war, decadence, assassinations, and on and on, God's man would speak a message of uncompromising judgment against God's people. The Lord finally had his fill of centuries of idolatry on the part of his children. "Your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you,'' declared Jeremiah (4:18). The truth HURT, but God looked past that. The punishment contained promises; the warning also bore a welcome opportunity to repent. These promises focused on the not-too-distant future, like after the seventy years of Babylonian captivity. But they also hinted at something far greater: a coming Messiah.

So today, right here in Abengourou, we were reading verses like Isaiah 7:14: ''The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel." Or Jeremiah 23:5: "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch." And we looked at Micah 5:2: ''But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.''

Seven guys were there today as we skimmed over the centuries of God's faithfulness. PRAY FOR THEM, PLEASE. Pray for Salifou, San-San, Diarra, Yao, Kassoum, and Alassan. Pray that they recognize, even a little, that they're glimpsing into God's eternal plan. Pray that they see Jesus as far more than another prophet. Pray that they begin grasping God's love for them as sinners just as sinful as idolatrous Israel. Lord willing, we'll meet again Saturday (Aug. 23). We'll learn a little more about the Messiah before we slip on over into the New Testament, the place where the star shone brightly over a little stable in Bethlehem...

We propose a toast to IVORY COAST!

On August 7, 1960, Côte d'Ivoire became an independent nation in West Africa. The late 50's and early 1960's saw a majority of African countries leaving their colonial past behind to declare their sovereignty. The ''architect'' of Ivory Coast's independence was a man of short stature and tremendous influence--Felix Houphey-Boigny. They called him the Lion of Africa. History books show him standing next to Charles de Gualle and countless other dignitaries as he labored to lead Ivory Coast into the modern era.

Boigny enjoyed an unprecedented peaceful ''reign'' of 33 years. He died in 1993. The huge Catholic basilica in the center of Ivory Coast has been filled to capacity only twice--during the dedication by the Pope in 1980-something, and for the funeral of Houghey-Boigny. His picture still hangs in many a business and people talk about the good ole days when he was president. His successor, Bédie, was elected in 1995. Our family came onto the scene in 1998 as missionaries. One year later Bédie was run out of the country in their first ever coup d'état. The phrase means ''to strike at the government,'' and it was, unfortunately, a damaging blow both to Ivory Coast's enviable reputation, and to the meaning of liberty for her people.

I can't get too political here, but suffice it to say that Ivorians need your prayers. Today they celebrate a fragile future. As missionaries we aren't here to encourage them one way or another politically, but spiritually to point them to an eternal hope that can only be found in Christ. Official ceremonies began at 7 am this morning in Abengourou. From the screened in back porch where I was sipping my coffee I could hear a band playing a solemn tune uptown. I took it to be the Ivorian national anthem and the whole thing struck me as kind of sad. Then I read this:

''When anyone is united to Christ, there is a new world;

the old order has gone, and a new order has already begun'' (2 Cor 5:17, NEB).

Thank you for praying for this place, these people, and this work. Together we serve the only One who is truly Sovereign! --Damon, for the Joneses

Abengourou Market Fire

The Abengourou market caught fire today and more than 50% of it was completely destroyed. No one is exactly sure how the fire started but many people lost their stock and some their savings as a lot of vendors keep their money at the market secure under lock and key. The fire began this morning during the busiest market time. Fortunately there were only minor injuries but because it was so populated and there was so much panic and mayhem, many people took the opportunity to steal and run off with merchandise, and vendors' money etc. The Karambega family, with the diabetic children, whome many of you pray for, lost their earnings as well as their stock.

People have no insurance, of course, so what was lost, is truly lost. Pray for them as they try to rebuild and start from scratch with economic times already so hard. Pray for the population of Abengourou too because this was the main source of goods in town therefore it will difficult for people to find food, meat, clothing etc without paying very high prices.

See photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/damonjuli/MarketFire

What We've Been Up To

The problem with blogging is that when there's not much going on, there's plenty of time to post, then when there's a lot going on, there's no time to post. That's where we find ourselves this month. Busy busy busy...but in a good way.

The kids and I finished up school on July 11th. That was a relief! Now I'm frantically getting lesson plans ready for the 2008-2009 school year starting at the end of August. We're bound and determined to get started on time this year and finish on time. Check with me in a few months and ask how well we're doing. Ü

Our teammates, the Bledsoe's hosted 5 summer interns this year and we spent some time with Casey, Amber, Scott, Teresa and Melissa. We enjoyed having them around, especially for our annual Jones 4th of July complete with tug of war, 3 legged and sack races and all the fixin's of an American picnic. It was great fun. We had them over for dinners on occasion and movie nights and got used to seeing them at the clinic, or on our couch in the afternoon playing with our kids. They all left this week, and we were sad to see them go.

We also hosted a team from Springfield MO through Extend Global. Erin, Debbie, Nicole and Jeff spent two weeks with us and were such an easy team to have around, we wonder if they really "got their money's worth". They helped us visit our Djoula Muslim friends and invite them to Tess' baby naming ceremony on the 20th, then they helped us prepare for the great event. I use the word "prepare" loosely, as we invited 25, "prepared" for 40, and ended up hosting between 60 and 75 people. Talk about making a meal stretch!

Tess received the Djoula name "Rokia" rhymes with "Nokia" and although i'm not really keen on the name, we were able to host our Djoula friends, share in one of their traditions, and at the same time share the gospel with them, as one of our church leaders shared a message from the Bible before the ceremony began.

While the Extend Global team was here, they did a LOT of praying. Everywhere we drove, everywhere they walked, every courtyard we visited, they prayed. We were able to see some amazing fruit to their prayers, one of which has to do with the Bible storytelling sessions with Salifou and Sansan at the car wash. I'll let him tell you more about that later, but God is working and it's amazing to be a part of it.

If you're interested in reading about the team's trip, their blog and photos can be found at http://www.web.mac.com/john_erin. It was great to have them and we hope they went away touched blessed from this part of the world.

Coming Saturday July 12th!

Do you remember that we had begun Bible storytelling with a group of HIV+ patients who are members of a support group? They're part of a group known as ''People Living With AIDS'' or PLWA. Well, we've been reorganizing our storytelling group since our return from Ghana and having baby Tess. A new group will begin meeting this coming Saturday! Eight people signed up in June and we're going to try to meet every-other Saturday. To make it easier on them, we'll plan to serve a little meal before everyone heads home.

Please be praying for this group. One of the original members will be joining us, and this is a mix of about 2/3 Muslim and 1/3 Christian. We'll furnish you some names once we see who attends. But pray now for their hearts and their homes touched by this awful illness. Thanks!

Our Lopsided Bible

Monday morning's chronological Bible storytelling session with SALIFOU went well. We were in Exodus 19 & 20 and taking a good look at the ''decalogue,'' aka the 10 Commandments. Thank you for praying because it became a good lesson on the foundation of the whole Old Testament, or Alliance as we call it in French. Read Ex. 19:3-6 and you'll see what we're talking about.

The Bible is, admittedly, ''lopsided.'' A good three-fourths of the content talks about the old covenant formed with ancient Israel and how they were incapable of fulfilling their part of the covenant agreement, i.e. obeying the law. In a nutshell that's the story of the Old Testament: God chooses Abraham and forms a chosen people, gives them the Law through Moses, and Exodus through Malachi shows how they messed up royally.

So I was trying to help Salifou, Kassoum, and San-San see something very important for people with virtually no Bible background: if three-fourths of the Bible talks about the old covenant, what's this last part in the back, the ''new testament,'' for anyway?

Pray for us as we meet again Wednesday morning, about 5 am Missouri time. Thanks!

It's July 1st! Happy Canada Day, to our Canadian friends up north!

Bible storytelling with Salifou continues to move forward. Since we meet outdoors the rain poses a problem some days. But yesterday we listened to the parting of the Red Sea. It might surprise you how many people living in Ivory Coast have never actually seen the coast, nor the ocean. Nevertheless, this most famous of miracles from the Old Testament is still pretty impressive when people hear it for the first time.

We're moving toward the 10 Commandments, of course, and the importance of God's covenant with a (dis)obedient people. Please pray that our Muslim listeners will begin seeing that human effort to be good can only take us so far. Pray they understand that salvation is free and it's only found in the spotless Lamb of God.

Attending Monday 10 am June 30th was Salifou, Kassoum, Stephan, and a new guy named San-San. He's Lobi, a people group up north who is Muslim-background. He was very interested and wants to attend the next session. Lord willing we'll meet Thursday July 3 at 10 am GMT.

On a personal note, this past Sunday, June 29th, was a big day for me (Damon). It was my 30th ''rebirthday.'' (You would have never guessed I was ''thirty-something'' huh!) The day gave me a chance to tell the kids how I became a Christian, why and how I was baptized at Gasconade Christian Service Camp, and how the Lord has been so faithful. It also made me think of people who had such a big impact on my life: Mom and Dad, Crocker Presbyterian Church, Gary & Linda Squires, my best friend Little Gary who took me to the Christian Church, Mac & Reva McMillan, Charlie Worstell, and others. What John 1:16 says, ''From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another,'' seemed especially true on Sunday as I thanked God for the significance of 6/29/78. It's part of my personal story of what Jesus did for me, and part of why I'm here in Africa.

Thank you for helping us tell the Old, Old Story of Jesus and his love!

Learning To Be Still. (yeah right)

Oops

On Friday afternoon after doing some yard work with Daddy, Kate broke her upper left arm (humerus for all you medical people). After having some juice to cool off, Daddy swung her up on his shoulder and somehow, swinging her back down, her arm snapped. At the moment we're trying to take care of it here at our clinic but we're checking with some orthopedists in the US just to be sure we're doing the right thing.

We'd appreciate prayer for her healing and that she'll stay still enough for it to heal in the first place. Since she's been feeling better the past few days, and getting up and around, she's already fallen on it twice. We're trying to follow her everywhere, but boy that girl is quick AND stubborn. Ü

Devouring God's Word

Bear with me for a minute while I tell you something strange, before telling you something more important about our current work.

They're devouring God's Word. Unfortunately I'm talking about the roaches. Yes, ROACHES. We recently spent seven weeks away in Ghana, as you know, for the birth of baby Tess. One thing that always happens in our absence is the dreaded invasion of the roaches. They sort of have the run of the place when we're gone and we have to do some major exterminating when we come home. Actually it's more like hand-to-hand combat, but those are stories better told over dinner.

Anyhow, this time the roaches were literally gnawing away at two of our Bibles left behind. One is my French Bible I do essentially all my mission work with. They managed to buff the edges down quite a bit so that I can now open my Bible to the New Testament just by feeling around the edge. The second Bible was a keepsake copy of the Psalms I found for Juli. It's like an old grade school primer, black cover, large print, just the Psalms in old King James. The roaches really enjoyed it! They removed all the black faux leather on the cover except for one patch that, if I hold it just so, looks a lot like the shape of Greece.

People we know here are likewise hungry for God's Word. Juli mentioned that our storytelling sessions with Salifou have resumed. Salifou (SALLY-foo) runs the car wash, as you recall, and I go there several times a week to do a story. We have completed the book of Genesis and the patriarchal age. This morning we cracked the pages of Exodus and began the story of Moses. (We've moved the study time from the afternoons to the morning, so if you're praying that's about 5 am Missouri time :-)

Please pray for these guys. Salifou's wife just gave birth to their fifth child and hasn't been feeling well since. Vandals also came the other night and stole the spigot for his car wash along with the good buckets, and broke the rest of the things. It was pure meanness, whoever it was.
The next day the city came by to collect their monthly payment for his ''business license.'' Still, Salifou is absorbing the stories and seems encouraged by their message.

Kassoum is his young car wash guy. He's 18, appers to be pretty industrious, and at times catches things in the story that Salifou plainly misses. They tease him, because that's what you do when there's a ''kid'' around. Pray that he finds something really life changing in the sessions.

Diarra (JAR-uh) is our other regular participant. He's actually from Abidjan and came to Abengourou to visit his sister who lives about 200 yards up the hill. He came for a few weeks and has never left! He's about my age, knows the Koran quite a bit, and a knows a whole lot about a whole lot of things (politics, geography, history). Because he's out of work, I wonder why he's come to Abengourou ''for such a time as this,'' as the book of Esther says. Can God possibly have him right there on the wooden bench day after day just so he can hear the Good News of salvation before it's too late? I think so!

Ishmael is semi-regular. He's a student, studying computers, and likes to talk a lot. The first time he came I secretly hoped he wouldn't come back. But he's calmed down, maybe that he was able to impress me with his knowledge. He prays, meaning that as Muslim he fairly regularly observes the prayer times during the day. He also knows these early stories from their overlap with the Koran. But Ishmael also has a good dose of myth and superstition thrown in with some of the stories, things that the Bible would never say. We don't debate the details, but try to stick to the main point of the story.

Pray for us, please, while we keep moving forward in the weeks ahead with these guys. We'll let you know about some of our other possible sites soon so you can be praying for our selection of new storytelling groups. THANKS for your time--and prayers--today!

Back to Reality

We made it back to Abengourou on May 27th, the day after our 17th wedding anniversary and the day before Austin's 15th birthday. We ended up staying in Accra a little longer than planned to wait for Tess's passport and Certificate of Registered Birth Abroad from the US Embassy, making our total time away, almost 7 weeks.(We had only planned on 5) Needless to say we were glad to be back home, settled in one place, and to have more than 5 changes to clothing to pick from.

Damon jumped right back into the swing of life here by meeting with the leaders from several of the churches and holding storytelling sessions with Salifou at the car wash. He has visited several Djoula families and a few of those who were attending the storytelling sessions from the HIV support group. It appears that they aren't interested in continuing the sessions just yet because they are all very busy. It's hard to know if they really are just too busy or if they aren't interested. Damon is going to keep visiting them and try to resume the group. He'd also like to establish another one or two in the next few weeks. Pray that God will show him where to do this.

The kids and I jumped right back into school, trying to make up for the extra time we lost when we were "stuck" in Burkina and "stuck" in Ghana. I've even suspended working at the clinic this month to really try to cram in those last few days so we can be DONE with the 2007-2008 school year and I can have enough time to prepare for the 2008-2009 school year before it starts in August.

The kids are all doing great. Tess is growing like a weed and continues to delight us all.

For those who come to this blog wanting in depth updates on the work, I'm really sorry that you aren't finding it. The problem is that I'm the computer person in the family and Damon is the one doing the "mission" work (for the most part). He has every intention of updating the blog with real ministry information but he's often busy or out of the house until late in the evening and we often have visitors then. When he finally gets a minute to himself, not being a computer person, the last thing he thinks about doing is sitting in front of a computer. Therefore, for the most part, you're stuck with me and the things I know most about, and that's family news, with a little ministry thrown in here and there.

Hope you're not too disappointed. Ü

Tessa Caroline Jones Has Arrived!

On May 3rd, 2008 at 12:05 am, Tessa Caroline Jones made her grand entrance into this world in Accra, Ghana, 10 minutes before a huge thunderstorm rolled in and knocked out the power. She weighed 7 lbs 3 oz and was 21 inches long. She has a head full of dark hair, and a sweet and calm disposition (thank you Lord!).

Juli says the labor was the hardest yet and it was a bit worrisome for the last 4 hours as there was some bleeding and the doctor suspected a placental abruption, but after doing several tests she decided that the problem was coming from something else and decided to continue with a natural labor. As it turns out the bleeding was from a hematoma on the baby side of the placenta and the doctor's good judgement call saved us from an unnecessary c-section, so we were pleased.

Tess is absolutely adored, spoiled by, and doted over constantly by her 5 older siblings. Mom and Dad hardly get a minute alone with her but that's okay because without a doubt she will never be lacking in love or attention. Take a peek here if you want to see for yourself how beautiful she is: http://picasaweb.google.com/damonjuli/TessaCaroline

Join us in thanking God for His newest blessing to the Jones family and thank YOU for praying along with us for a safe and healthy pregnancy and delivery. Your prayers made all the difference.

A Grand Time in Accra

We arrived in Accra on April 10th to await the arrival of Jones kid #6. While waiting we've had a really good time together as a family, relaxing, enjoying each other and enjoying a lot of the things we don't have in Ivory Coast. For one, the grocery stores are full of things from "home" like Dr Pepper and Mt Dew and Doritos and frozen broccoli, cheddar cheese, hot dogs and macaroni and cheese. We're not necessarily all the healthier for it but we are happier! Ü

We've enjoyed the internet and satellite tv at the guest house where we're staying as well as the managers of the guest house who have been surrogate grandparents to our kids. We've also enjoyed having a little anonimity and noat having to answer the doorbell and the myriad of requests it brings our way daily in Abengourou.

We've been attending Elim International Family church here in Accra and it's been wonderful to sit in padded chairs and worship in air conditioning, not to mention worshipping in English, hearing sermons in English and having Sunday school classes for the kids. Austin and Emily have been able to participate in the youth group with the church and have thoroughly enjoyed it. They love their African friends but being able to be with other N American kids, just like them and to speak English and talk about N American kid things, has been really good for them.

To see some pictures of our fun times, Emily's 13th birthday party, horseback riding, and go cart racing, take a look here http://picasaweb.google.com/damonjuli/Accra.

We're Still Here!

We know we're not the best bloggers in the blogosphere but our silence over the past month wasn't exactly our fault. We were somehow locked out of our blog and had a hard time getting logged in and posting. I think (i sure hope!) that the problem is solved and we can keep posting without a huge hassle everytime.

A quick run down of the past month:

Our crank shaft was resurfaced and put back into our car in Burkina Faso the week before Easter. Therefore, Damon flew to Burkina on Friday the 21st to pick it up. He arrived just in time because Tabitha Hauser had her baby, Anastasia Joy (means Resurrection Joy) on the 22nd. He was glad to be able to celebrate with them and welcome Ana into the world, and he was also able to help take care of Will and Sam so Brian could be with Tab. Damon headed back to Ivory Coast on Easter morning (our third Easter in a row to not be together as a family, but we were able to celebrate together today 2 weeks later) and made it back Monday around noon. The car then immediately went into the shop to have a pulley replaced then a few days later when in for a starter problem. We have it back now but are wondering what will happen next....Ü

On Easter Sunday the kids and i along with our teammates, the Bledsoe's, Buregea's and Elizabeth Sorenson, took a badjan out to the village of Kodjina to celebrate at the regional church convention which had been going on there since the 20th. For the first time, the 16 churches decided to forego a big mission wide annual convention as they have in the past, and instead held 3 regional ones to make it easier and less expensive for people to attend. The verdict is still out on whether or not it was better than the one huge convention but we do know that things went well in Kodjina and we were glad to be able to celebrate Christ's resurrection with our brothers and sisters there.

On the 26th, we were honored to host Dr Suzie Snyder from CMF along with 2 missions pastors and a missions committee chairman from Highland Meadows Christian Church in Irving, TX and Hazeldell Church of Christ in Indianapolis, IN, for a week. They came to Ivory Coast to visit the HIV ministry and see how their churches could be involved in ministering to people with HIV/AIDS in Ivory Coast. We truly enjoyed their visit and their interest in the work. Please pray for them as they see where God is leading them as far as involvement in this ministry.

The Bible storytelling sessions at the car wash continue when possible. Damon has been encouraged by his lessons with Salifou and others who have started attending regularly. He's better placed to tell you all that has been happening there so i'll save that for him for another day. In the mean time please remember to pray for Salifou and others as well as those studying the Bible through the HIV support group, especially in our absence over the next month. Pray that God will continue to reveal Himself to them in many ways.

Speaking of our "absence" the time has come to move to Ghana. Baby is due in about 3 1/2 weeks so our family will be moving to Accra, Ghana for a month to await his or her arrival and then to attend the West African Missionary Retreat on May 10th. Damon is the president of the Association of Christian Church Missionaries in West Africa so his attendance is pretty important. The kids and i will enjoy getting to tag along. Ü While we're in Accra, besides having a baby, we'll continue homeschooling and Damon will have time to work on the mounds of paperwork, e-mails and office things that pile up and stay untended-to while we're here in Abengourou. We'll have e-mail access, Lord willing, so feel free to drop us a note any time! We'd love to hear from you.

What a Trip!

We're back from our trip to Burkina Faso. (Be sure to look at our web album! The link is on the right) We had a good time at the Nazinga game reserve where we met our friends and teammates, the Hauser's. We saw lots of elephants, antelope, baboons and other deer like creatures whose names I've forgotten. We were able to visit a demonstration farm near the capital of Ouagadougou and see some of the animals up close and personal including a waterbuck that tried to run Kate through with his horns from the other side of the fence. Thank goodness for chain link!

On our way from Ouagadougou to Bobodioulasso, the crank shaft in our engine decided to give up the ghost, so Damon and Brian towed it the remaining 238 kms to Bobo. They left the two pregnant women and their 7 children abandoned along side of the road in an unknown village. (okay, so we were at a bus stop but we like to tease them about it). Tabitha and the kids and I made the 4 hour trip by bus and arrived at the guest house, hot, tired, dirty, thirsty and very thankful to finally get horizontal.

While in Bobo we were able to meet some of the missionary friends that Damon made while he was there for Djoula language school last spring. The Schaeffer's, among others treated us to meals and a picnic on some rocks outside of town. It was good to finally get to meet them and spend some time with them.

From Bobo, we rented a car from the mechanic and headed to Banfora where the Hauser's live. They were gracious to not only open their home to us for a few days, but because of the car we ended up staying almost a week! While we were there, we had a lot of good meals and fellowship, a few games of The Settlers and were able to see a little of what their life is like in Burkina. In some ways it's similar to life here in Ivory Coast but in many others, it's vastly different. We were also able to visit a beautiful waterfall outside of their town and climb around on some big old rocks nearby.

The mechanic had told us that he thought the car would be ready to go by Feb22nd, so we hung around until then with our fingers crossed. When people began demonstrating over nation wide price increases, on Feb 19th, we began to get a little concerned since the mechanic wasn't able to work and order the extra parts needed. On Feb 20th, when they were still demonstrating, we began to think of alternate travel plans. Finally on Feb22nd, we boarded the 7 am bus for Bouaké and headed home.

The bus ride was extremely interesting and harrowing and definitely an experience I'm not sure I want to relive 7 months pregnant and with 5 kids in tow. Ü I won't bore you with all of the details but the trip, which usually takes 8 hours by private car, only took 7 on the bus, and that included a border crossing with 65 people and 6 stops including one that lasted almost an hour. Wow.

Friday night, the 22nd, we stayed at the former Baptist boarding school for missionary kids in Bouaké which is now the headquarters for the French peace keeping forces in Ivory Coast in "rebel" territory. We had a wonderful evening with the Ragsdale's, the only missionaries back in the area and then headed back to Abengourou on Saturday morning with our teammate, Henri who met us in Bouaké with the clinic's landrover. It felt wonderful to be back in our own home Saturday evening.

Sunday however, Damon and i the two youngest girls went to Abidjan to pick up our teammates, Bernie and Kelly Bledsoe who had been on furlough for the past year, and a new short term teammate, Elizabeth Sorenson, who is a nurse and will be helping us in the clinic for the next year. We were glad to see them and glad that they are here even though getting back on the road the next day wasn't much fun!

Now we're getting back into the swing of things here with school and the clinic and the Bible storytelling. Today, Damon is in the village of Bettié (3 hour drive) for a meeting with the church leaders. We are also trying to find parts for our car and figure out how to get them to Burkina so that the car can be fixed and Damon can go and pick it up before we need it to get to Ghana to have a baby. Never a dull moment around here! Ü

Speaking of the baby, the third toxoplasmosis screen came back negative so we're going to assume that toxoplasmosis isn't a concern for now. We haven't done a follow up ultrasound to check on the baby's growth but i have finally started gaining some weight and the dr was encouraged by that. We'll do another ultrasound at my next appointment on the 17th. Thanks for your prayers.

We're heading off on a trip to Burkina Faso tomorrow so I wanted to get in a quick, general update before we head off. Our old team mates, Brian and Tabitha Hauser have moved to Banfora, Burkina Faso to begin working with the ethnic Jula people there, so we thought we'd take advantage of their hospitality and overrun them with Joneses. At the present, they are what Grace calls a "short" family since they only have two kids, but #3 is due to make her arrival in early April so they are on their way to keeping up with the Joneses. (Adds a whole new meaning to the phrase doesn't it? Ü)

The construction on the lab has been going really quickly. The structure actually has a roof on it now and is ready for plumbing and electricity and interior work. Unfortunately, we're out of money, so things will come to a stop for awhile. EGPAF (The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation) has said they are interested in helping us finish the project so we are praying that our proposal is approved and the lab can continue. It will really be a huge help to the clinic, and especially to the HIV+ population.

Speaking of the HIV+ population, Damon continues the Chronological Bible Story telling sessions with a few Djoula Muslim members of the People Living With AIDS support group, every two weeks. The group is small but it seems to be going well. Pray that those who attend will continue to be faithful and that their hearts and minds will be opened to see God's plan from the very beginning was to save the world through His Son. The picture attached to this post is a few members of the PLWA support group in front of the new lab construction.

The other CBS group that Damon is leading with Salifou at the car wash is really going well. They meet 2 or 3 times a week and the group has grown. Not only Salifou and the young men that work at the car wash, listen, a few taxi drivers have begun stopping in regularly when they see Damon there on the man under the palm trees, telling the stories from the Bible. They have had several good discussions and Damon always comes home encouraged by their sessions. Pray that God will open their hearts and minds to His truth.

Jones baby #6 appears to be doing okay. Keep Juli's pregnancy in your prayers if you will though. At her last dr's visit, the dr thought the baby was measuring a little small for its age and one of her lab tests came back as possibly positive for toxoplasmosis. (Not a great thing while you're pregnant) The dr believes the test was a false positive so she redid the test. At the end of February when we head to Abidjan to pick up our teammates who have been on furlough, Juli will see the dr again, get the results of the blood test and have another ultrasound to monitor the growth of the baby. Pray that all of the results are fine and that we had nothing to worry about. Ü (Even though we're not worrying....just praying)

We'll let you know how our trip turned out when we get back. Who knows...we may even share a few pictures too! We plan to spend a night at Nazinga animal reserve which is well known for it's elephant population, so there may be a few good ones to share.

Please remember to pray for our Sunday afternoon Bible storytelling with a handful of special folks. They're part of our the clinic's outreach to the HIV community. In fact they lead the support group that was formed a year ago! Since they're Muslim-background we invited them to come hear God's Word in the Djoula language, on cassette. Pray for good attendance tomorrow, as only one of the five people showed up last time! Target prayer time: 9 am CST = 3 pm study time.

The Word is getting out!

I continued my Bible storytelling with Salifou at his car wash on Thursday. We did the stories of Adam & Eve and the Fall. These early stories are important because they help nail down the consequences of sin and our need for God's grace. I showed Salifou (he's Muslim-background from Burkina Faso) that man spoils paradise almost immediately, and that the whole rest of the Bible is the unfolding of God's plan to mend the relationship that we severed by our disobedience. Pretty heavy stuff, but remember we teach these things to our children in Sunday School! Pray for Salifou to grasp these basics as he moves toward the NT's Good News. We meet again Monday at 2:30 in the afternoon shade.

On January 5th we had our 4th celebration in 3 weeks, starting with Tabaski (Islamic New Year Celebration) on Dec 19th and ending with Kate's 3rd birthday. She's been such a blessing to our family and a joy to be around (usually Ü) that we were glad to have a day to celebrate her and what she means to our family. We also think she's pretty cute! She's definitely a charmer. Happy Birthday Kate!

Happy 2008!

Happy New Year everyone! We hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season and is now getting back into the swing of things......keeping your new year's resolutions of course! We thought we'd try to get really e-organized this year and develop a blog site where our wonderful supporters and those interested in learning about the work could keep themselves informed about what is going on over here in Ivory Coast. We haven't had much luck in the past with individual e-mails or e-mail groups so we thought this year we'd try something new. We hope you enjoy it and that it helps you stay more informed about what YOU are doing in Ivory Coast with us through your prayers and support. Let us know what you think!