Well, fam and friends, it has been too long since we last wrote or posted a video. Sorry to all of our dedicated fans, but I was sick for about a week…with worms. I know, gross. Be happy you’re not me. Anybody want to sign up to be a career missionary to West Africa? Nonetheless, thank God I am better. In an effort to catch you up on the past few weeks, I am summarizing some of my journal entries. So here they are:
Thursday, we went to one of the poorest cartiers in the commune of Cocody. It was good to visit this area and see how different life is in this part of Cocody. Here they live in houses made of mix of cincerblocks, some form of cement, pieces of wood, and aluminum scraps. After walking around for about twenty minutes we spoke with three gentlemen who were working on a nearby hill. They were in the process of building small single-room houses using concrete blocks. The three of them had worked all day and confessed to us that they were tired. Still, our conversation with them was very detailed. They patiently sat and let us ask them questions for over an hour. It was great to get their perspective on Cocody because they are some of the poorest in the commune. They are in much more need than everyone else we have previously talked with. The impression that I got was that they were pretty desperate. We did give them a little bit of money too, but most importantly we got to share at least some of the gospel with them before we had to leave. We told them that we would try to return next week to see them, so Lord willing, there will be a follow up recorded in next week’s journal. One gentleman in particular, Bertrand, professed to be Catholic and seemed very responsive when we spoke with him about Christ. (Skipping to the next journal…)
We followed up with Bertrand this week. As we spoke with him and shared the gospel to him, a friend of his, Sarah, was listening intently to our conversation. As a result we invited her to join our discussion too. Overall, things went great. After talking with them for about an hour and half, they said that they believed our message and wanted to follow Christ. Praise the Lord! I really think He is working in them. (We posted a 2 part video about this visit with Bertrand and Sarah titled “When we are weak, he is strong”) Before leaving we made plans to visit with them again, which we did this morning (i.e. the morning of the day I wrote this in my journal). When we arrived Bertrand was not there, but Sarah was. After talking with her today, it was clear that she did not fully understand our gospel because she was repeatedly emphasizing the importance of good works in relation to pleasing God. Upon further discussion we realized that she still thought that man, on his own, could do good things to please God. And this happened while she was reading Romans 3! It was very clear to us that we needed to again communicate the gospel to her and that only God could open her eyes. Though the message was vivid to us, Romans 3 still did not click with her. We knew we needed to continue to share God’s truth and let Christ be formed in her. This caused us to pray more while we continued to share the good news with her. All things considered, it still looks like God is drawing both Bertrand and Sarah to Himself. I am eager to talk with them again. Until then, they will be on my mind and heart as we continue to ask God to regenerate them. Additionally, I really struggled today to find the words to communicate the gospel. It was honestly very humbling. The whole experience reminded me how meager I am and how much I need to abide in Him. Apart from God I can do nothing. This morning before we left the house, I was prepared to explain some passages to Sarah and Bertrand. But when I began to communicate with Sarah, I really struggled to think clearly. I am wondering how much of this confusion, if any, can be attributed to demonic or spiritual warfare. I really do believe that God is calling them to Himself. In my opinion, all signs seem to point in this direction, especially their genuine hunger. Consequently, I am all the more convinced that spiritual warfare is involved in some way.
(Skipping to another journal…)
Though I have been physically sick this week, my greatest excitement this week was in following up with Bertrand and Sarah again! It was such a blessing….I really believe the Lord is calling them. They are continually interested and very honest with us. And this is important because in West Africa, it is more important to polite to your guest than it is to be honest. On top of this they continue to ask questions that demonstrate they are thinking through the gospel message. Furthermore, they have been reading the Scriptures! I definitely praise the Lord for our conversations with them. They are such a blessing! This last time as we talked about the gospel, we focused on faith, works, and the demands of the gospel. We defined faith for them and its relationship with works. We are still concerned, because of their Catholic background, that they are focused on works. So we tried to make sure that they grasped that our works only flow from and follow after salvation. When we spoke about the demands of the gospel I was especially blessed by Bertrand. Right before I was about to ask Bertrand to read the passage in Luke where Christ says that to be His disciple you must pick up your cross, Bertrand stated that he wants to commit himself to following Christ! I was so stunned by how appropriate that was. Then after having Sarah and he read that passage in Luke, he seemed to glow with more excitement, and he agreed with the commitment involved in salvation. It brought such joy to my heart and face. I really believe the Lord is saving them! Next time we are hoping that they will be able to articulate the gospel to us. O Lord, keep them. (Skipping to my most recent journal entry…)
Yesterday, Dave and I were able to meet up with our friend Dany to share the gospel with him. I was surprised that we were even able to meet up with him yesterday because we did not contact him until the early afternoon. But he was available to meet. And thank the Lord, when we did talk with him, we were able to do so with very few interruptions, which can often be a problem here. At first, our conversation was not going well with him, for he is strongly rooted in his Catholic upbringing as well as in his culture. Because he was grounded in the former, he was very self-confident. He saw himself as a good person and not a sinner. And he was very slow to take Biblical reproof from us on these matters because he repeatedly stated that he knew all that we were telling him already. And because of his culture’s emphasis on solidarity, he was very slow to say that anyone else could be wrong. But after about an hour an half of loving but serious discussion, I think he understood that he was not in good standing with God. As Dave and I continue to pray for him and plan on meeting up with him next week, I am excited about the work God seems to be doing in him. Toward the end of our discussion, I think he could tell that we were very serious; and it seemed as if he was starting to come under conviction for his sin. O Lord, Holy Spirit, convict him of sin, righteousness and judgment. We will continue to pray that the Lord saves him.
We have been so amazed by God’s gracious hand upon us here. Please pray for Dany, Bertrand, and Sarah. I have high hopes, but we need to be very attentive or the Devil and this world well easily lead them away. Pray that they persevere. Pray that we have opportunity to follow up with them. We are overjoyed to be sharing with them, and yet weighed down by the burden of their souls. Thanks for your prayers. We miss you all.
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