Quick notes:

My favorite time of year—school’s back in session, football starts, you can hear the marching bands practice as the leaves are turning color. Soon, there will be fresh apple cider and pumpkin pies and piles of leaves along the street. “We are what we remember.” Isn’t that true? Here, it’s still humid but with cool breezes. The rains have kicked in, the puddles in the street are growing, and it’s kind of like April and May in north America .

The Buckeyes are scaring me. They could be great or a major disappointment this year. But, that’s the burden of a true football fan—sticking with them, regardless.

The boys started school this week. Payton is starting first grade. He said he spent most of the first day writing e’s and o’s in cursive. (They start young in the French system.) Parker started school like it was just another day. We think having a tutor almost every of the past two months really helped. They decompressed yesterday and today by watching Gilligan’s Island on DVD.  They almost have the theme memorized. I taught them how to sing Amazing Grace to Gilligan’s theme music.

Sonya and I are in the midst of trying to negotiate the rental of the apartment next door and the sale of our Toyota . Things have been crazy the past few days. I spent three hours trying to have a meeting with Moise while people were at the door wanting to check out the car. Moise’s brother Matthieu is helping us with interested buyers. That is helping a lot.

We’re in the middle of trying to start a huge teacher training program to help prepare pastors. Suffice it to say, lots to do there.

We’re in the calm before the storm right now. In about three weeks or so, the schedule kicks into high gear. Right now is a time of preparing and planning along several lines. It takes a different kind of effort, and many interruptions or emergencies are bound to arise. So, keep that in mind as you pray for our work. It’s during these times that we’re tempted to lessen the intensity of our spiritual awareness. That’s when it becomes dangerous in a place like this.

We have new friendships beginning as we encounter parents of the boys’ friends at school and new arrivals at the embassies and NGOs who we occasionally see on the street or in restaurants. We would like your prayer for us as we try to extend a witness of grace into their lives.

Now to the really important subject of this newsletter. We have good friends named Joey and Karen from college and KC who are now working in a Nazarene compassionate ministry center in Cincinnati , Ohio . They sent this request tonight. Please be in prayer for this little girl who is the same age as Parker. Candace is their niece. Her E-mail reads as follows:

“Candace Howard, age 8, is the daughter of Dana and Sherry Howard, missionaries serving in Quito , Ecuador . We just learned that Candace has seven tumors in her lymph node and thyroid area. She is undergoing tests this week to determine if any of the tumors have cancer. Please help us pray for this precious child and for the family as they go through this stressful time of testing and waiting.”

Please be in prayer for this little girl.

More grace to you this week.

Matt

It’s been an interesting week since I returned from my long trip to Cape Verde and Senegal .

When I arrived at home, I found out that Rosaline, Moise’s wife, had been staying at our house since last Monday—almost two weeks. She had been having false labor. Sonya took her to the doctor and then offered for her to stay at our place while the doctors determined why she was having contractions.  Sonya took Rosaline to the doctor several times over the past week. The doctor said the baby could arrive at any time.

We’ve learned a lot about Rosaline and Benin , and Rosaline has learned a lot about us and Americans. It has been time and effort well spent. Finally, on Tuesday we had to go to Lome , Togo to renew my visa. We returned on Thursday evening and Rosaline came back over.

Yesterday Rosaline went to the doctor for a check-up. Last night she was pretty quiet. Then, last night around 2:30 a.m. it was time. Sonya took Rosaline to the clinic. Around 4:00 a.m. Sonya returned. Then, around 11:30 a.m. Sonya called. Rosaline gave birth to a little girl. Sonya called Moise and then me. No details yet, it literally occurred during the last half-hour.

Blessings from Benin ,

Matt

Just show how it rain when it pours, here’s an E-mail from Sonya on Wednesday:

“Moise [the Benin D.S.] had to go north overnight because of what happened with the pastors there.  I told him to send [his wife of almost one year] Rosaline [who is nine months pregnant] to me so she took a taxi and then a ZIMM (that’s a taxi moto!) to get [to our house].  She doesn't seem too bad, but I can tell she's having a hard time.  Her back is hurting her and the baby's head seems to be over to her left side, not quite in the correct placement--I got to feel her tummy and I think the feet are over on her right side, up a little bit.  If I understood correctly, she said she was starting to dilate, but I'm not sure if she or I understood that conversation or not.”

Before I left Senegal , one of the few places in Africa blessed with very fast Internet service, I talked to Sonya on a netphone service. She had been back and forth to the clinic where the doctors were observing Rosaline. Apparently, today the doctors said that an infection was causing the false labor. At least that’s the story for now.

Rosaline has been staying at our place since Monday or Tuesday night. Right now, they are at home and eating ice cream and graham cracker pie—not fair! But, I’ll be back there just after I send this E-mail.

Then, Mark Louw, the Field Strategy Coordinator and other leaders, including myself, received this follow-up E-mail today from Moise, the Benin D.S., about the happenings in northern Benin .

Just imagine the stress of what’s happening at home with your pregnant wife plus all of this. The following is translated from French:

“After the sickness from earlier this month that I survived and the pregnancy of my wife that has had so many complications, and now this, Satan wants to attack the Church of God on all sides.

“But, that’s talk instead of what has happened so that glorifies the Name of our God. In Tabota, the political chief was converted in one our our new church plants. In Ganvie, the chief fetischeur [witchdoctor], who followed the god Hevieoussou (the god of thunder) has given himself to Jesus Christ and aroused much anger among the other fetisheurs. The Nazarene church building was nearly ravaged in this place. In Fifajdi (a neighborhood in Cotonou ) in a new church plant, an aged operator of a temple for fetish worship was converted and gave all of her house for the new Christian believers’ meeting. My friends, these testimonies are almost too much to believe possible without living here among them. I promise to write all of these testimonies solely for strengthening other Nazarenes and Christian believers in Africa and even around the world. This is what the Lord has done to have a divine revolution in Benin .

Now, to the follow-up concerning the situation in the north.

“In [the center of our work in northeast Benin ], it’s a notable Muslim that closed firmly his Koran in order to follow Jesus in a nearby village. That’s when things started to go bad. I’ve seen the wounds and those dispossessed of their goods and their motos. Our main pastor in the area was one of the ones who offered a complaint to the police.”

[Let me summarize and paraphrase]: The local mayor is a Muslim and sided with those who injured the people and destroyed or stole property. He also refused to recognize our church in the area, although we presented the formal documents showing we are fully recognized by the country. He refused to acknowledge that any goods were damaged or stolen. He fully sided with those of his religious persuasion and against us.

“We then turned to the national authorities. We will have a meeting with them on Friday [today]. We will ask them to affirm that our church is recognized to operate throughout this country and that they help us recover the stolen motos and repair some of the damage. We also want fellow believers in this area to have a certain amount of protection as citizens of Benin .

“We ask that all pray for us that we seek and find justice in this situation . . . That God will be blessed!

“I will inform you of the situation in the hours to come . . .”

I just got off the phone with one of the pastors there. He said that the meeting today with the authorities has not been entirely cleared up the situation. And that Moise is on his way back and will meet with me tomorrow to discuss the whole situation. I assured the pastor that hundreds, and by now, even thousands of people around the world were praying for him and this situation.

Should I add that Moise sent a separate E-mail to say that seven churches were planted during the month of July? One of the churches planted in January has already planted two more. Right now, that’s an average of one church planted per week during 2006.

To top it all off we got a box full of PopTarts from a new friend in Florida .

I still hope to write that E-mail about Cape Verde soon.

Keep all of this in mind as you head into the weekend. Do not forget to pray it all out and toward God.

Continued Grace,

Matt

I just returned from an amazing visit in Cape Verde . I want to write all about that visit, but it will have to wait.

Reality strikes again. It requires your prayer in action for the young and growing church in Benin .

Here is an E-mail from a young leader in Benin . He has been in our home many times. We attended his wedding last summer. He is a dynamic preacher who can communicate in nine languages. And, we have been watching carefully the new work he has undertaken in one of the most difficult places in Benin .

 I was copied in on the E-mail he just sent to Moise, our district superintendent, and translated it from French:

“Several weeks ago I met a Muslim named [name withheld] to whom I spoke about Jesus and through the Holy Spirit he came to believe in Him. This man invited me back to his home after many conversations.

“This past Friday I went to his village accompanied by two pastors. We evangelized all day Friday and Saturday. We were to spend the night in the village on Saturday to lead a worship service on Sunday morning. It was around 1:00 a.m. that we heard loud shouting and arguing outside. We looked out the window and saw around thirty individuals armed with machetes and sharp tools for digging. They were threatening our host to put us outside. If not they would destroy our host’s house. Having understood that this was a declaration of war, God helped us escape by a side window while abandoning our two motorcycles.

“We had walked quite a while before reaching the main road, where we alerted the local police. Unfortunately, it was too late, the house [belonging to our friend and new believer] was ravaged, our host and his family were in the hospital, and our motorcycles were gone. For the moment police are investigating, but they have no leads.”

Please pray for this young leader, his pastors, and his new friend in Christ. Not to mention, the men who created this havoc. I do not feel as if I can write his name, but volunteer teams to Benin have met this young leader and spent time with him. They know him personally.

For me, these are not headlines or stories about faraway places. It was difficult to see the screen through tears as I typed the translation. We do not live in a world where everyone agrees with us and who believe it is their obligation to silence the message we have of hope and new life. They spread fear through intimidation, we believe something else: “perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18). That’s my hope and my message. I hope I can be as courageous in living and proclaiming this message as these young heroes from Benin . They are my courage and my champions in the faith as they live at risk to their lives as Christ would. I only hope I can live up to their example.

Grace,

Matt