January, 2008 Newsletter #60 from the Moores.

“If God always delivered us instantly, we would see His greatness once, but we would soon forget. On the other hand, if He teaches us victory in Christ day by day, we live in the constant awareness of His greatness and sufficiency.”  Praying God’s Word by Beth Moore

 Greetings once again from Guinea! It has been a long time since we sent out a newsletter. We were in the States for six months and visited the churches in Washington, Oregon and Idaho. It was a joy for us to be them and they received us so warmly!

 The month of December went quickly as we spent a few weeks with our children in California then drove to Tulsa and spent Christmas with Tom’s family. God was very gracious to us as we traveled keeping the ice and snow just ahead of us or behind us!

 We left the States on January 3^rd to return to Guinea. On arriving in France we received word that there was talk of another general strike in Guinea and rioting going on in Conakry. We didn’t want a repeat of last year so we stayed in France until we heard that the strike had been called off and then we flew to Conakry.

 We spent the first couple weeks doing a lot of cleaning as dust and dirt covered everything! The screens on the windows are disintegrating. When you touch them holes appear so we have been battling lots of mosquitoes! Pray that we will be able to find the man who originally made the windows and that he will be able to replace the screens quickly!

 Right now the African Cup (soccer) is going on. Guinea played Ghana in the first match! They lost to Ghana but have now qualified to go on to the next level so excitement is high! Since there are soccer matches on the local television every day we have been having extra electricity! Praise God! We normally don’t have any electricity during the day but it has been coming on around 4:30 PM so everyone can watch the games at 5 PM!

 Yesterday, some of our young men were helping Tom clean the yard. They were working around a rock pile behind the house when all of a sudden there was a lot of yelling! I ran out to see what the commotion was about. They had found a huge rat in the rock pile! As soon as they saw him they got excited and began to yell “Viande! Viande!” (Translated: “Meat! Meat!”) One of them poked a metal bar between the rocks while two others waited at the side with pieces of wood to kill the rat. The rat came out and met his demise! Then they saw a second rat! How exited they were when they caught both of the rats! (Picture of the month) One young man said, “This is about two kilos of meat!” They wanted to cook the rats so we gave them a little money to go to the market to buy what was needed for the sauce. We took pictures of the rats from being “dead meat” to “delicious sauce”! They invited us to eat some of the feast but we graciously declined J and took their word that it tasted just like chicken! We were thankful to be rid of the rats! (Info: The rats, from nose to end of tail, measured 30” and 31”!! We got the male and female so hopefully there aren’t a bunch of little ones growing beneath the rock pile!)

 Had, the young woman we’ve been writing about for several years, came to see us this week. God has miraculously taken care of her and continues to provide for her needs. Last August we had written that she was taking care of a little boy, Alpha, and he had fallen sick with typhoid fever. He is now completely well! Thank you for your prayers. She has been staying with Alpha’s parents for a while now. Alpha’s mother and father are both Christians. His dad went to a town about six hours away and found work helping build a two story building. He asked his wife to come be with him and bring their baby daughter. They left Alpha with Had. One day while Alpha’s father was working he fell from the second story of the building and he broke his back. This week Had told us that he died! Not knowing what else to do his wife returned to her home village leaving Had with the responsibility of paying rent for their two rooms and taking care of little Alpha. This was very difficult for Had as she has no means of visible support. But she testified about how God took care of them! Miraculously God provided food and the money needed for Alpha’s medicine and school fees! Had’s mother has called her several times over the past months asking her if she has returned to Islam yet. She keeps telling her “No.” She told her mother that she respects her for being her mom and that she will do anything for her if she can but she will never return to Islam. Had also said that some of her family are starting to get tired of harassing her all the time about being a Christian. But she still has to be careful! She ran into one of her uncles down town the other day. He saw her she didn’t see him. He asked, “Is that you Had?” She greeted him respectfully and addressed him as her uncle. He said, “Am I your uncle?” She said that he was. Then he wanted her to go with him so he could buy her a little something to eat. She declined saying that she wasn’t hungry. He then offered her some money for her taxi fare. She declined that too saying that she had money. (She doesn’t want to be beholding to any of her extended family member for anything as they could later use it against her.) Her uncle wanted to see her get in a taxi and then it was his intention to follow her and find out where she is living. So she walked away and pretended that she had other things to do until she saw that he had left. Then she took a taxi home. Her older sister (the one who tried to kill her and then went blind) is back in town. Her sister can see a little bit now although not clearly and she has had family members call Had and ask her to come back to the house. She says she won’t do anything to her anymore but Had doesn’t trust her. Had said, “How can I trust her after she took her own money and hired people to kill me!” So please continue to pray for Had and for her safety. She also thanks all of you who have been faithfully praying for her for the last several years! She believes that it is only because of your prayers that she is alive today! But she also asks that you would pray that her family would one day come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Thank you!

 Thank you for your faithfulness in praying for us and God’s work in Guinea! A special thank you to those of you who support the work financially! Together we are working for His Kingdom! God bless you and keep you and may this be a great New Year for you!

 In His Service,

Tom and Sherry Moore