It feels like Christmas!!

Well, it definitely feels more like Christmas in the states than in Africa.....something about that heat and humidity! We have enjoyed the past month traveling and visiting. We started the month out with visiting some colleges with Autumn. We started out with Union University where Autumn got to spend the night with friends on campus. Well, after that Ouachita didn't have a chance! :) We will see where the Lord leads!

We went to Little Rock to spend some time with my sister and then traveled onto Houston for some training. Arriving back in Piggott the Monday before Thanksgiving, we enjoyed the week with family. We were back at it the Monday after Thanksgiving and headed to Kansas City for a week. We really enjoyed our time there seeing friends and visiting our home church. Now, we have finally arrived back in Arkansas and plan to stay put for a month! We are going to enjoy a month of rest and relaxation.

I have added some of Autumn's senior pictures that we had taken a year early! ;)

Merry Christmas,

Teresa

On the run

We have been on the run ever since we arrived in the states. We spent five days at a Global Impact Conference in Arkansas 6 days after arriving. I spoke at a women's brunch this morning and we have presentations at churches the next few Sundays. We will be traveling to Houston, Texas at the middle of the month for some urban church planting training. We hope to slow down around Thanksgiving and get some rest!

Pray for us the next couple of weeks as we visit colleges with Autumn. We are down to two: Union University in Jackson, TN and Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, AR. Pray that God will direct Autumn (and us).

I hope to keep you updated on our travels!

Blessings,

Teresa

Stateside

Well, we are almost there.....a little over a week and we will be arriving in the states for a four month time of rest. We will be fairly busy during our stateside, but also have plently of time for family and friends.

This past weekend we took our dog, Jolie, to the Ivory Coast border to meet friends that she will stay with during our time in the states. It has been harder than I thought it would be without her around. I have really become attached to her! We got her four months after arriving on the field. She was a great joy in times of homesickness and loneliness. We have said so many goodbyes in our first three years on the field and the dog wasn't any easier. We look forward to being reunited with her on our return to the field, but now we are getting excited for our time home!

The last few weeks have been packed with working on powerpoint, the many different types of presentations and the many other things needed to be done before stateside. We have almost got our list marked off and can't wait to load that airplane!

Prayer Requests:

*That we will finish well. We have people that we need to go see before we depart. We hope to be able to say proper goodbyes. We want to continue our work here until we leave and not just sit around and wait for that day!

*Our crate is in the port and God-willing will be delivered this week. Pray that we will receive it in time to get things out that we need to take to the states with us.

*Health. I (Teresa) have been sick the past five days. I now have some medicine, pray for a speedy recovery. Pray that we will all stay healthy for our trip.

*Safe travels. As many of you know, we are not big fans of flying, but it is the fastest way to travel from Africa to America! :) We are becoming more comfortable since we have now done it a few times. We now can fly straight from Accra to Atlanta! Yay, no more 30 hour trips...it is now only 10 hours! Pray for safe travels and that we might get some rest on the flight.

Blessings,

Teresa

Packing

I never knew how time consuming it is to get ready to go stateside!  I have been making doctor, dentist & college appts....along running our dog around to get her ready to arrive in the US.  Ghana has more rules than the US to get a dog in the country!  Well, 4 1/2 weeks and yes, we are counting! :)

We would have to say that the past three years were the hardest that we have ever endured.  We are looking forward to some time with family/friends and hope to be able to return rested and looking forward to what God is going to do in Accra.  

We will be traveling to six different states during our 4 months stateside.  We will be staying in Arkansas,  but will be traveling to Tennessee, Texas, Missouri, Virgina, Pennsylvania and New York.  Pray for our times at the churches.  We pray that God will call others to the mission field.  We also pray that God will have churches to partner with us in Accra to reach the many people groups.

Another prayer request would be for our visits to colleges.  We have to visit colleges for Autumn this time since this will be the last time that she is in the states before returning to college in the fall of 2013.  She is looking at attending either Union University in Jackson, TN or Ouachita Baptist in Arkadelphia, AR.  Pray God will show her clearly which school to attend.  

We hope to see many of you during our four months!

Blessings,

Teresa

Abidjan trip

I want to thank each of you for the prayers for Jon's back. He is doing much better. We believe he can put off surgery for now and hopefully forever!

We returned on Monday from Abidjan. It was a very fast, crazy and emotional week but we was glad to see that we could still communicate in french. We arrived on Sunday, August 14th and started to box up the house on Monday morning. We did all the packing in 4 days before the truck arrived on Friday morning. We thought this was going to work out really well and we would have everything in Accra in a couple of weeks. So, we went out and bought a lot of stuff to bring home for gifts and for display when we would speak at churches....well on Friday after everything had been loaded on a truck, we found out that they were taking our items to the dock to then be loaded on a boat. All this means that we probably won't see that crate before our departure for the states. It takes longer by water since the items usually get hung up in customs for awhile. Please pray that this process will go extra quickly and it will arrive before our departure in mid-October. If not, we will just do some more shopping here in Accra. We may also be really cold when we arrive in the states, since we packed our long sleeve shirts in that crate also! :)

We also got to visit many of our friends during our visit to Abidjan. Our teammates were wonderful as usual. They allowed Autumn to hang around and invade their home....and they were gracious to have us over for dinner many times so we wouldn't have to cook. We will miss them alot. Please pray for a family to join the McAfees to reach Abidjan.

We visited many of our Ivorian friends, with these visits came many sad stories. I will share of few of the stories with you:

-Our guard was stopped one day by some youth. He had just cashed his paycheck and he gave them all the money he had so they would spare his life. This was very difficult for many, since food had become very expensive and you had the chance of being robbed when you left the house.

-There were some people groups that were in more danger than others. Certain people went into neighborhoods looking for these people from certain ethnic groups and they would kill them if they found them. In these people groups, the women usually left the house to go looking for food since it was more dangerous for the men. They would do unspeakable things to the women, but they usually wouldn't kill them like they did the men. We had one friend from one of these ethnic groups that almost lost his life. He was stopped and they made him strip and was going to shoot him. While he was standing there the officers got into an argument and he escaped. Thankfully, this saved his life.

-As the McAfees guard set inside the gate one night, a bullet went by his head and landed in a post in the house. There was bullets found in all our yards. After the crisis they had to reroof our house because our guard said bullets went through the roof and started leaks. There was a lady in our neighborhood who was in her apartment and a bullet came through the wall and killed her.

-One of our friends and language helpers went out with his cousins one day during the worst of the crisis to search for food. They got stopped and was told to say their last prayers because they were going to die. They made one man get on his knees and shot beside his head, missing on purpose to scare them. Then they told them to each pick up a tire and carry it up the hill. Our friend told his cousins, "They are going to burn us!" This was a common occurance called "ringing". This was when they would put a tire around a person's neck, fill it with gasoline and light it. They burned many people alive this way. We are thankful that they spared our friend, Olivier, and his cousins.

This is a small part of the many tragic things that happened in the Ivory Coast. Please continue to pray for these people. On our visit we saw that they are starting to get Abidjan back to "normal" but the people still have many nightmares of all that happened. We saw one of our friends Saturday before our departure. He just didn't seem like himself. Jon and I both decided that he was mentally tired and depressed. Jon spoke to him and he said this is true. He sent his wife and children out of the country when the troubles started and they are still gone. He doesn't have any work and there is not telling how many horrible things he witnessed. Many people spoke of all the bodies that was laying around on the roads around the city. Pray for the emotional healing of the people of Ivory Coast.

Our only prayer request this month is for our friends in Ivory Coast. They are very special to us.

Blessings,

Teresa

School

Well, we have officially started Autumn's junior year. I can't believe that she only has two more years at home with us! We started school on August 1st since we will be coming stateside and have alot of traveling to do during that time....she has many breaks while we are in the states! We will be visiting a couple of colleges during our stateside since this will be our last time in the states before she goes off to college. Autumn is looking at either attending Union University in Tennessee or Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas. Pray that God will make it clear which college she should attend.

On my last post, I said that we would be leaving to go to Abidjan....well, that didn't happen. Jon started having back pain and went to see the doctor. After a MRI, it was clear that he had a slipped disk in his back. After three weeks of physical therapy, his back seems to be doing better. Hopefully this does the job and another back surgery won't be necessary! We plan on going to Abidjan this Saturday and will be gone around 9 days. Pray for safe travels.

Our schedule is already becoming busy for stateside! We look forward to seeing many of you during our time in the states.

Blessings,

Teresa

Abidjan bound

Hey everyone! Hope you all have enjoyed your summer (and hot temps! :) Your summer time is actually our cooler season, so we have been enjoying the cooler temps! But I must admit that I don't have much sympathy for those of you that complain about your hot and humid temps....we deal with that 9 months of the year! But I do understand how miserable it can be.

The last month has been busy for us, and we love it! We are meeting many new pastors and church members. We are beginning to get a vision of some areas that we can minister in. I can say this is the best that we have felt in a long time. We miss our friends in Abidjan but now see what God is going to do in Accra.

We will be traveling into Ivory Coast to pack up our home this weekend. I would ask that you keep this in your prayers. There is some areas that it is still dangerous on the roads. We believe the route that we are taking is rather safe, but you never know. I think the unknown is what is making me a little nervous. We will travel to the border on Saturday and stay overnight. We will get up on Sunday morning and travel the 2 1/2 hours to Abidjan....it is usually better to travel on Sundays.

We appreciate each of you and the prayers that you lift up for us! Send us an email and let us know what is happening in your life/ministry.

Blessings,

Teresa

Settled

I feels SO good to be finally semi-settled! :) We moved into a house this past Monday. We don't have our household stuff from our home in Abidjan yet, but a good friend is letting us use his stuff. We plan on returning to Abidjan the end of July to pack up our house and see our friends. It is going to be a bittersweet time.....excited to see what God does in Accra but sad to leave our freinds in Abidjan.

We have been doing alot of driving around Accra to learn the city. My stick shift driving abilities have improved and I even ventured out alone this past weekend. We are really enjoying Accra and are so thankful that Autumn has friends here. She has been to a friends house every weekend since arriving in Ghana, and she is going to a sleepover tonight. This is an answered prayer! She will be traveling this upcoming week, so remember to keep her in your prayers. She will be flying alone for the first time. It is a short flight, only 1 hour. (this is short compared to our Africa-US flights!). Please pray for peace for her (and me!) and safety. Also, pray for her time with the other missionary kids at a retreat.

Other prayer requests:

*God will lead us to the churches that want partner to reach the city

*schooling options for Autumn

*wisdom

Blessings,

Teresa

Made it to Ghana

We made it to Ghana after a two day trip. The trip went really well, even the dogs traveled well. We are learning how to get around Accra...and learning when not to leave the house because you will be stuck in a traffic jam for hours! I have been driving some...a big accomplishment for such a big city. I can drive, but I am getting more comfortable with the stick shift.

Pray for us as we seek God for wisdom for ministry.

Teresa

Pray for Burkina

Me again....I would like to ask you to pray for Burkina Faso. There has been alot of problems the last couple of weeks. We are safe but are becoming tired of staying stuck in the house. We are beginning to wonder if trouble follows us....

Thanks for the prayers!

Moving On....

It is heating up in Burkina! The temps are over 100 and some humidity has arrived, but it is nothing like the humidity of Abidjan! Our time as refugees in Burkina has been made so much better because of our wonderful mission family here. They have taken us in and loved on us and imparted lots of wisdom. We are going to miss them dearly but it is time to move on (again!). Through much prayer we have made the decision to transfer to Accra, Ghana. On Monday, May 2nd we will head back to Accra. We will spend the next 5 1/2 months researching the city and making contacts until our stateside in October. We do hope to return to Abidjan in a couple of months to retrieve our household items and most importantly to say proper goodbyes to our friends there. We are very sad to leave our friends but feel this is where the Lord is leading us right now. After our 4 month stateside assignment, we will return to Accra to get deeper in ministry. We are excited and sad all at the same time. They told us in our missionary training that we would be living a life of goodbyes, but I really didn't know how much that would really happen! We have made great friends from all the countries of our first term: Mali, Cote d'Ivoire, and Burkina. But with goodbyes comes hellos...and we will soon make more friends in Ghana.

Autumn is sad to leave all her friends here in Burkina but is looking forward to Accra. She has made many life-long friends here that she will always have a bond with. She took her spring break and spent a week with them just hanging out. I think there was little sleeping and lots of fun and practical jokes! We have prayed for these times for her since coming on the field and thank the Lord for providing. Autumn turned 16 last week! It doesn't seem possible, we are getting so close to the college years....but I don't like to think about that too much! :) We are looking in to putting her into an American School in Accra. That is a prayer request for you....normally they don't allow students in the upper grades to come in so late in their schooling but they do make exceptions. Also, you can pray that she will find a youth group like the one here in Burkina to get involved in.

Hope to have some new updates for you soon to let you know how we are getting settled. We will just be living out of the guesthouse until stateside but we will be searching for the best neighborhood to live in compared to our ministry. Pray for a smooth transition and for our travels next week. It will be a 2 day drive and one of the two dogs get car sick. Pray that she has a good trip!

In Christ,

Teresa

Prayer for Ivory Coast

Nothing exciting happening with the Moodys. We are still living in Burkina. Autumn is getting alot of time with the youth here and she is really enjoying it. Pray that we can get settled quickly and can get out of some of this uncertainity.

Please continue to pray for Ivory Coast. We have spoken to friends there and things are very difficult. Many innocent people are dying everyday. All banks are closed and the Western Unions have shut down, so there is no way for the people to get money. Food is also becoming scarce. It is hard to hear how our friends are suffering. We pray that God will bring peace to that country very soon.

Blessings,

Teresa

More pics from Burkina

Autumn and I with our friend, Cortimi....she is loads of fun! Wow,

must have been a bad hair day! ;)
Don't pick me!!!....no one wanted to do karoke at

the Christmas party.
look....Cindy's skirt is on fire! Bonfire on Christmas Eve.
Africa Christmas decoration

Pics

my dear friend, Louise and her son

Jon & the guys, Olivier & Guy Roger
another friend, Eugenie

This was from our Thanksgiving celebration. We had lots of fun with our friends in Cote d'Ivoire. We left the next day to wait out the elections in Ghana; thinking we could return quickly. It didn't work out that way, and we are sad to hear about all the trouble in Cote d'Ivoire. Please continue to pray for our friends.

Heating up in Burkina...

I have wanted to do a blog for the past few days, but the electricity has been horrible. Because of Ivory Coast the electricity in Burkina has been cut. So they are running the entire town on two generators. We have electricity in 6 hours shifts. On for 6 hours then off for 6 hours. It is really hard to sleep without electricity. Besides being warm it is dusty because we have to open all the windows!

I had hoped to upload pictures of some of our friends in Abidjan. I wanted to put pictures with names so you can see who you can pray for. If the electricity stays on for awhile, I will get these on soon.

The situation is continuing to get worse in Ivory Coast. They are not calling it a civil war yet, but in reality that is what it is. The military of the North and the military of the South are fighting. Many innocent people are losing their life because of who they support. We have had many of our friends call and tell us how difficult it currently is. Many have lost their jobs and they don't have money to buy food, etc. We can not get any money into them because all the Western Unions have been closed. We trust the Lord is hearing all the prayers, and will supply all their needs.

We sometime think about if we will ever get our things out of our house.....but realize that is all just stuff. The people there are suffering so much.

Also, pray for wisdom for us as we have decisions to make.

Blessings,

Teresa

Update

Nothing new with the Moodys! We are still in Burkina, waiting the situation in the Ivory Coast. Please continue to pray for our friends in Abidjan as life is very difficult right now. Pray that God will touch hearts and will bring many into His kingdom.

We appreciate each of you and the prayers that your lift up for us and our ministry.

Teresa

2011

Wow, can you believe that it is already 2011?? I remember when we came to the field in 2008 that the year 2011 seemed so far away. The reason we was even thinking about the year 2011 back then is because this is when we will be able to take our stateside assignment! In October we will be heading back over that big ocean to spend some time with family and friends....and hopefully to get some MUCH needed rest!!

Things are still the same....we are still out of our home. We have now been away from our home for two months and issues in Cote d'Ivoire doesn't seem to be getting any better. We have been in contact with many friends in Abidjan and it is a very hard time for them. They have fear of a possible war, many of them are not able to work, and food prices are very expensive. We hurt for them during this time and pray God will send peace to that country. The Christians are seeking God for peace in their country and we ask you to pray with them. Things are hard in Africa when there isn't political unstability, but now many people are losing their life.

Continue to lift us up in prayer also. Our problems is nothing compared to the Ivorians, but we do need your prayers. We have alot of uncertainity in our lifes right now, and it is hard not to be discouraged during this time.

Thank you for your prayer support.

Blessings,

Teresa

Dusty in Burkina

our last day with the Pope's
Autumn with her guitar
Autumn with some of the youth

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Despite being out of country and home, the Lord blessed us with a great Christmas. Our dear friends, the Pope's, let us invade their house for 2 1/2 weeks. As they were packing to return to the states, they went out of their way to make it a nice Christmas for us. They got the tree out and we decorated it and Autumn made some yummy Christmas cookies. Also, they gave Autumn a Christmas gift that she will never forget....a guitar! Autumn had been talking about saving her money for a guitar, well was she ever surprised on Christmas morning when David and Cindy gave her one! I don't think there was a dry eye in the house....I know it made this momma's heart happy to see the joy in Autumn's eyes.

Our friends have returned home to family and we have found a furnished house to stay in while we wait out the issues in Ivory Coast. Please continue to pray for peace for Ivory Coast and that the peoples hearts will be turned to the true God. We have spoken to many friends and they are doing fine but admit that it is a hard time with increased prices and dangers.

We have met many new missionaries here and Autumn had found a youth group to be involved in. She is loving it and I have to admit that it makes us feel great to! It has been a long time since we have seen our daughter hang out with a group of teenagers. We had a campout for 3 days over New Years and it was a great time. The youth had a time of devotions and worship each evening and had fun sleeping outside under the stars at night.

Prayer requests:

*Peace in Ivory Coast

*for us patience in this time of waiting

*wisdom

*pray for our health as the dust has come in from the desert and we are fighting allergies

Blessings,

Teresa

Crazy life!! :)

I am sorry that it has been so long since I last blogged. Life has been a little crazy lately to say the least. We are currently in Burkina Faso, where the temps are in the 50-60's during the night and morning.....LOVE IT! Some of you might not realize that we had to leave our home in Cote d'Ivoire due to political unrest. We are not sure how long we will be away from our home because the issues are not improving. We are thankful to be safe but it does kinda mess up our "traditional" Christmas. All of Autumn's presents are in a suitcase coming from the states when our missionary friends can return. I don't believe they will make by Christmas. I am so proud of Autumn.....in midst of uncertainty, she is being great. We are very thankful for our dear friends, the Popes, who have let us come in and take over their house (with 2 dogs!). :)

Well, how many people can say they drove through three countries in Africa in a weeks time?! It was a hard 4 days of travel with 2 dogs, with one that gets very car sick! We saw many accidents along the way....car accidents, motorcycle accidents and a child that had been hit by a car. We are thankful that the Lord blessed us with a safe trip! And now Daisy seems to enjoy traveling and doesn't get sick anymore!

Please pray for the people in Cote d'Ivoire. These people don't have the money to leave the country....they are just trying to survive. We have heard that they have ran out of cooking gas and food is beginning to get scarce, which means prices have sky-rocketed. The people barely make it month to month, and that is without any problems. During this time, many people have not been able to work.

How do you pack when you are leaving your home for who knows how long?? That was our dilema....you can't pack your entire house and we have already realized that we left some stuff that we could use. Also, pray that our house will stay safe from looters, etc. We have no idea when we will return but trust the Lord knows all and pray that His will be done.

Remember the Lottie Moon Christmas offering this year. It is because of the Lottie Moon offering that we can stay on the field. We have a house, vehicle and many other things because of your giving. We want to thank you ahead of time for your sacrifice so others may hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Enjoy your holiday season with family and friends! Remember Jesus is the reason for the season!

Blessings,

Teresa

Ghana

the trucks alone could evangelise Ghana! :)
over 500 years old slave castle
Autumn standing at the "door of no return" of the slave castle. The slaves walked through that small door to get on an awaiting boat. (yes, it was raining that day!) Jon enjoyed the tire swing at the beach also! ;) I'm just glad that he didn't hurt himself!
Who wouldn't want to vacation here??

Wow, sorry that it has been so long since my last post! We have been busy this past month but there hasn't been anything really exciting happening! But, we did make a trip to Accra, Ghana (with an overnight stop at the beach!) for a spiritual retreat. It was great to visit with other missionaries and to be able to be refreshed! We are very thankful to our wonderful friend, who serves in another part of Africa, for coming to be there for Autumn!

We are going to be lonely the next 9 months since our teammates are going stateside....so, you should make a trip over the big ocean to visit us and we will tell others about the hope they can have in Jesus while you are here!

Prayer request:

1. Jula language learning (Jon made his level 1 and I will take my exam in a couple of weeks!)

2. Refreshment (physically, mentally and spiritually)

3. peace in the country

Blessings,

Teresa