The last two months we have not been able to travel to the village where we work. With every day, the desire to go gets greater and greater. Just when you begin to wonder and ask G0d, “What do you want us to do?” He provides the answer…He brings the village to you!
The other day we met a young man from the B@ye area living in B@m@ko. His name is Yousou and he is D@fin. He is the only f0ll0wer of J.s.s in his family, and he has moved to B@m@ko to study law in the university. He is having some problems here and so we invited him over to listen to his struggles, encourage him, and pr@y with him for a solution.
We discovered he is living with his aunt, Asa who has 9 children. She has been married twice and her recent husband is involved in drugs and left her in October. She is a seller of traditional Afr1can medicine which also involves black magic and calling on spirits. Everyday she goes out to sell this medicine to provide food for her children and Yus. Some days they have food and some days they do not. They are living in an unfinished home that does not belong to them. The owner returned and found them living there. He told them they must find another place. Yus goes to school two days a week and tries to find work in construction the other days to help with his transportation to school and with food for the family. He wants to move away from this family but he sees the struggles of his aunt and does not want to leave her alone to care for all of these children.
After listening, we talked about how he is a light in the darkness of his family and how his presence among them is G0d’s presence among them. We pr@yed for wisdom to know what G0d wanted to do for Yus and his aunt, for G0d to provide a home for them, and food for them. We asked G0d to provide work for Yus, and for Him to make Himself known to Asa and her children. We sensed G0d saying to us to provide a gift of grain to Yus and his aunt. We sent Yus and Dan, another Malian f0ll0wer who was meeting with us out to find out the prices of grain here in B@m@ko. When they came back together we went to purchase the bag of grain and take Yus home. When we took him home, we discovered he is living less than one mile from us.
A few days later we set up a time with Yus and Asa to come by to visit and greet them. What a joy to meet Asa!! In M@li, one of the greatest gifts you can give to someone is simply to come to their home to greet them. She welcomed us, had prepared a mat for us to sit on, and poured out her thanks to us for the gift of grain. She began to tell us her whole story and how the day before she received the grain, she had called her husband to tell him she had NO food to feed their children. He was no help. She told Yus there was no food and that her husband was not going to help them. She was crying all night. When she came home the next day from selling her medicine, Yus gave her the gift of grain. She went into her room and cried. She said she did not know what she was going to do to feed her children, and then there was a bag of grain. We talked with her about how G0d had provided that bag of grain for Yus and her family, and how G0d sees and knows all of our problems. We encouraged her to give thanks to G0d and to know that G0d is the One who sees her, watches over her, and provides for her. It was a day of beginnings..the beginning of a new friendship, the beginning of Asa understanding the unfailing love of G0d, the beginning of more opportunities to meet and share G0d’s Word with Asa, the best beginning of all is the beginning of the One True G0d demonstrating His power and provision for this family when the gods they have been trusting have failed them!
Please pr@y for Yus, Asa, and their family…
Ask G0d to provide a home for them to live in
Ask G0d to reveal Himself to them as the ONE TRUE G0D, THE ALL POWERFUL G0D
Ask G0d to provide work for Yus so he can get to school and help with the family needs
Ask G0d to show Asa that there is no power or provision in selling the Afr1can traditional medicine and to lead her to a new kind of work
Ask G0d to do the miraculous with the bag of grain and make it last longer than it should, just like the widow and her son that feed Elijah