Rainy season is here!

                                                    Jon and Autumn in the ocean
                          Jon caught a gecko in our room at the beach!
                Jon trying to get the gecko down so he can catch it..
                                                   Jon and Autumn 

Hello everyone,

I hope all of you are having a good week.  We are just starting our rainy season so that means the heat will be replaced with downpours.   We will have more mosquitoes with the rain which causes thousands of malaria cases each year in Africa, we are currently taking a weekly malaria medication that helps keep us healthy.  We have had three families leave in the last week or so and move to another part of Africa.  The mission board is going through alot of changes right now for future church planting strategy so several people are relocating to other places. 

Our days are still full of language learning.  It is really encouraging to know that people are starting to understand these strange sounds that are coming out of our mouths.  It takes the average person at least a year of full time study to obtain a good level of conversational French.  I think we are on track but it will also take years of living here to become fluent in conversation and understanding.  I usually just throw out what words I know, most people laugh but it is a gracious and understanding type of laugh, many people here have had to learn a second language themselves.  

I have been able to share a little with some of the men who live close to our neighborhood.  Many are Muslims, many are religious, but many do not understand how to "know" God.  When you share the gospel, the conversation usually turns to personal good works as a way of salvation.  There are also many who fully understand but just aren't interested in our message.  However, it is very encouraging to find several people who are truly seeking to know God.  I had the privledge of seeing the fruits of another missionaries labors when they prayed and made a public profession of faith in Christ.  The missionaries who are working with this group will be leaving next month so our teammates will help us transition into helping this group with discipleship and the goal of eventually reproducing churches.  Tonight, I am meeting with a young Muslim man for tea and Saturday night I am meeting with another young man who wants to know how to follow Christ.   You can probably imagine what some of these encounters look like with my limited French but God is powerful and able to save.  

Please pray for a man named Sedou who is Muslim and a young man named Raymond.  These are two men who I will be having weekly contact with in the near future.  The prayer is for me to communicate the gospel clearly and for them to understand clearly.  I have also enclosed a few pictures from the beach we went to a couple of weeks ago.  I will try to post pictures in the near future of our trip to an alligator farm.   Thank you for checking in with us, we are encouraged by you always.

Blessings,

Jon