Land we just purchased in Liberia

Bible Training Center

This short video starts by showing the back of our church planting hub in Zwedru and ends by showing you the land we just purchased for the Bible Training Center.  Our house is connected to this hub so, this is literally our backyard.

The property has 4 nearly completed smaller buildings on it.  These buildings will likely be used to host pastors and church leaders who come to be trained.

The property also has this larger building on it.  This building will likely be used as a training center.  As you can see, this building needs a lot of work.  

This is another angle of the larger building

In these pictures, a group of our field leaders are meeting to praise God for the new land.

In these pictures Brandon and the team are hard at work clearing brush.

To clear the land, the team burned the brush away.

Look at the size of this snake!  It was found on our property.  This is what we call fast food!  Just kidding.  The team burned it.

By God's grace, our ministry is now working in over 275 locations.  This Bible Training center will be used to train pastors and church leaders from the churches we have started.  Please pray for this new ministry as it is being birthed.  It is estimated that it will cost somewhere around $10,000 to get the Bible Training Center started.  This land will also be used for literacy training.  

Road to our House in Zwedru, Liberia

Road to our House

Sorry this video is a little shaky.  It was taken by Brandon Hicks as rode on the back of one of our motor bikes.  In this video you will see images of the road that leads to our house in Zwedru, Liberia.  The video starts at the edge of Zwedru and ends at our house.  We are now 100 days away from our moving date!  Lord willing, we will fly to our home in Liberia on May 16.

Home Sweet Home

Recently Allison Smith and Brandon Hicks went on a short term mission trip to Liberia.  Here are a few images of our house that they captured.  Our house has been constructed by the donations of many people.  THANK YOU!

Our house is part of the church planting hub in Zwedru.  There are 6 other families who live here.  On the left is our house.  On the right is the rest of the base.  

Our house is made of mud brick.  The brick will be covered with cement to protect it from the rain.   Our house consists of two bedrooms and one multipurpose room.  The mission will use the multipurpose room to house guests in the evening and we will use it to homeschool our children during the day.

This is our front porch.  This looks like a perfect place to spend time with God in the morning!

Looking up from the kids bedroom.  Our house will have exposed rafters. 

The first room on the left will be for our children, the middle room will be for Mel, and I and the room to the right will be the multipurpose room.  The only way to enter our house is through Mel and my bedroom.  There are no exterior doors in the kids room.

Every brick was made by hand.  Thank you wordsower team for building us a good house!

The construction of our house is costing more money than was originally anticipated.  Recently, the work stopped because they ran out of money.  Kim thinks it will cost an additional $4,000 to complete the work.  We hope to send money soon so the work can continue.  

January 2013 Newsletter

Riley Family Christmas

Please pray for us as we prepare our Children for Liberia.  Melanie and I feel God is calling us to move to Liberia in May rather than when we close on our house in March because we believe God wants us to focus on pastoring the hearts of our children through this radical transition.  We believe God is saying that we must give our children adequate time to grieve the loss of the things that are most precious to them and to process what good bye really means.  The next few months will be challenging ones as we pastor our precious children.  Please keep us in your prayers.  Here is what it feels like: It feels like Melanie and I have found a treasure hidden in a field.  This treasure is greater than anything we have ever seen or experienced in our lives.  To obtain this treasure, it requires us to give up everything.  We must sell all our possessions and walk in obedience.  What is the treasure?  The treasure is not Africa.  The treasure is intimacy with the Creator of the Universe.  It is the thrill of waking in the morning, listening to our Heavenly Father’s voice, and then walking in obedience.  Obedience for us looks like Liberia, Africa.  Liberia is not our goal, it is the fruit of our goal.  Our goal is that we would know Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship that is found in sharing in His suffering.  We are blessed.  We get to run our fingers through the most abundant treasure that any man can have, intimacy with Christ!  We are BLESSED!  We desire our children to know this treasure as well.  We must pastor their little hearts gently through this transition so that we may serve our Lord together with one heart wherever He leads us.  

Melanie and I have discovered a book that we highly recommend you reading.  It is called Kisses from Katie.  This book describes a 21 year old girl’s discovery of the same treasure we have found and are now embracing.  For those who are struggling to understand why our family is going to Liberia, this may be a good read for you.  I don’t believe we have read a single page without tears.  It is our hearts.  Love you all!

Updates:
1.  Our House Sold!  FREEDOM!  God is setting us free to pursue His calling and He is also setting us free from all debt!  We praise You Lord!  We will be closing on our house March 29th!  After we sell the remainder of our possessions, our family will be completely debt free while still owning our second house!  Praise God.  We are renting our second home to some of our friends.  The money we receive from the rent will help offset our living expenses in Liberia.

2.  We have set a moving date!  By God’s grace and with His provisions, our family will move to Liberia May 16th.  This will be a fun time for us to move because May marks the beginning of rainy season in Liberia.  From May to October, Liberia will receive somewhere around 14 feet of rain!  Fun!  After our house closes (March 29th) our family will temporarily move in with Don’s parents until our move in May. 

3.  Prayer Requests:  Please pray for our family’s airline tickets.  A ticket to Liberia costs around $1,500.  To move our family to Liberia, it will cost around $9,000 in airline tickets and around $2,800 in passport fees, visa fees, and other travel expenses.  We have saved enough money to cover all our expenses except the cost of airline tickets.  Please pray for our family in this area.  Literally, all that stands between us and Liberia is airline tickets!!!!!!  Praise God!!!  Once we get to Liberia, our operating budget will cover the need of all future airline tickets.

4.  Land was purchased in Liberia.  Praise God!  In my last newsletter, I asked you to pray for the 2 lots that are next to our home in Zwedru, Liberia.  These two lots with their 4 partially completed buildings have been purchased by our ministry.  Over time, these two lots will be turned into a Bible training center where leaders from churches will come and receive further training for their ministries!  The senator who owned the land had invested over $10,000 in the land and buildings.  When he heard our vision for the Land, he requested that we give only $2,000 to him to help him start a literacy program in a different region of Liberia.  Earlier in the month, God had laid it on someone’s heart to give our ministry exactly $2,000 toward the purchase of this land.  Isn’t God awesome!  In time, the buildings on this land will be complete and the sounds of pastors and church leaders will be heard coming from the buildings as they are being discipled.  Praise God for what He is doing.  I have heard that it will cost around $10,000 to get this new part of our ministry up and going.  

5.  Please pray for Judah!  Judah is Kim Smith’s grandson.  Kim will be returning to the States in February due to Judah’s illness.  2 year old Judah has cancer around his heart.  The cancer has not responded well to the treatment that has been given.  Judah will likely have a life threatening surgery in February to remove the cancer.  

Update from Christian

Hi, my name is Christian.  I am moving to Africa.  Yesterday, I went skiing.  I went on a bunny hill, then the green hill, and then the blue hill.  It was fun.  I wish we could have stayed longer.  Oh well!  It is just one trip.  We sold our house.  We are moving to Liberia, Africa May 16th.  I am excited!  I can’t wait to get there.  We got a bunch of Christmas presents for Christmas.  It was fun.  I love having fun.  I love hunting, knife sharpening, and everything outdoors plus using the knives of course.  I love my cat and dog and my family.  I am kind of nervous about moving to Africa.  I will miss my family and my cat and dog.  Oh well.  I have to move forward.  I will miss some of my toys and America.  It is time to move forward though.  I told you my heart.  From Christian.  Bye.  Please pray that I will not miss my toys and family too much and my stuffed animals and pets.  That’s it.  Bye.  

Update from Grace

Hi, I’m Grace.  I have three brothers and I am the only girl besides my mom.  Anyways, Tommy is the youngest one and I am the second youngest, Christian is the third youngest, and Don is the oldest.  Even though Don is the oldest, he is a little smaller than Christian.  I went skiing last night.  It was really fun.  I went on a green diamond hill and a bunny hill.  We had really fun.  I went on the  chairlift. I had skies that you stand on, not sit on.  I had tons of fun.  Our house sold.  We have a couple more showing to do like making our house all comfortable for them and to make sure that everything in the house works right for them.  My cat Noah and my dog snickers kind of get along but not when they are next to each other.  Kitty sits on the chair so snickers will not see him.  Kitty hisses but he is a good tom cat.  Snickers stays on the floor so Kitty won't hit him.  Snickers is a good house dog.  My mom and dad, Christian, Tommy, and of course Don, they are all my family.  My name is Grace.  My mom’s real name is Melanie.  My Dad’s real name is Don, the same as my big brother.  I love my family very much.  My Papaw boings (bounces) us everywhere and my whole family including my friends give me such a joyful heart.  Love, Grace.  

Update from Tommy

We are going to Africa.  We are going to be eating monkeys.  I went snow skiing last night.  We went skiing down the big hills and went on the chair lifts.  It was really fun.  We went with Papaw and Aunt Mindie.  We went on a green diamond.  We went on the bunny hill.  My favorite part was riding the chair lifts.  Good bye from Tommy

Update From Don

God, thank you that our house sold.  Please help our family go to Africa.  Please help Kim in Africa.  I love You.  Thank You for all You do. 

Donations:
If you are interested in supporting our ministry, donations can be mailed to:

Wordsower
P.O. Box 1648
Piqua, OH 45356

Checks should be make out to Wordsower.
Tax-deductible receipts will be sent each January

House Update

Yesterday, we had our last house inspection!  Here is the good news, the future home owners only requested that we fix a light in the basement bathroom.  This is a very simple fix!  These two inspections were the last hurdle we needed to cross to sell our house.  The future home owners are pre-approved for the loan and inspections are over!  Next is closing!  The future home owners have also asked if we could move the closing date to mid March rather than the end of March.  We are excited about this because it saves us a mortgage payment!  Praise God!  It is starting to sink in that God is really opening the doors for our move!  I praise Him from the bottom of my heart!  Thank You Father for graciously allowing my family to serving You in Liberia!  Yesterday, while preparing our house for inspections, Mel and I realized this was the last time we would need to clean our house from top to bottom for a showing!  NO MORE SHOWINGS!!!!!  PRAISE GOD!!!!  Thank you for your prayers and support!

May 16th Moving Date!!

By God's grace, we will fly to Liberia as a family May 16th.  We have talked to the team on the ground in Liberia and this date works for all of us!  The remaining time we have in the States will be spent moving out of our house, preparing for Liberia, visiting family members, and speaking at churches.  Thank you for your prayers and support!  

Prayer Request:  

1.  Please pray for Airline tickets:  It cost $1,650 per airline ticket to move our family to Liberia.  Total cost of airline tickets: $9,900.  We already have enough money to cover our passport and visa fees.

We will purchase airline tickets as soon as we have the funding.  

If you are interested in giving toward our airline tickets, checks should be sent to 

Wordsower 

P.O. Box 1648 

Piqua, OH 45356.  

Please make checks payable Wordsower so that you will receive a tax receipt at the end of the year.

Thank you!

Update

Update:

1.  The people who are buying our house are having a house inspection this Tuesday from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
2.  We will be closing on our house March 29th.
3.  The new home owners will get possession of our house after closing.
4.  After closing, we will temporarily move into my parents house in Indiana until we move to Liberia.
5.  We have been communicating with the team in Liberia to set a moving date.  No decision has been made at this point in time.

As more details become solidified, we will keep you updated.  Thank you for your prayers and support.  

WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!!!!!!

WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!!!  PRAISE GOD!!!  AFRICA, HERE WE COME!!!  HALLELUJAH!!!

Now we start the process of moving our family to Liberia.  Over the next few weeks, passports and visas will be purchased, travel dates will be set, and our family will begin to make the big move to Liberia.  Please keep us in your prayer.  We will keep this blog up-to-date with information so you will know how to pray for us.  I am sure there will be many posts within the next few weeks.  Thank you for your prayers and support!!!!!

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October

Praises from our family:

1. I praise God for all He is doing in our lives.  Last month, we got an e-mail from Kim (our 
partner in Liberia) saying, “We are ready for you, you can come anytime!”  

2. Our house still needs to sell.  Last month we hosted three open houses.  Two of the open houses had no visitors.  One open house had one visitor who seemed somewhat interested.  Please pray with us that our house will sell.  Our house needs to sell before we make our big move.

3. While in the States we have continued ministering here.  We felt the Lord told us to start a Bible study on our street.  6 out of the 10 families on our street are part of this group.  When we stated, there were 3 believing families on our street.  Last month, one man gave his life to Jesus for the first time.  Our street is feeling more like a family now that the group has been started!  Next week, the group will be hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for our street.  Once we leave for Liberia, others on our street will take over this ministry.  We praise God for all He is doing.

4. I have taken a temporary job working for Piqua Monuments.  I told the Lord that I wanted work wherever He wanted me to work.  My heart’s desire was to be a missionary to whatever workplace He led me to.  My neighbor works at Piqua Monuments and told me of their job opening.  I took the job because I feel the Lord is calling me to be a minister to my street until He moves me to Liberia.  Now, I get paid to set headstone all day long with my neighbor.  My neighbor and I have become close friends as a result of working together!  I praise God for what He is doing!  He is good!

5. Several years ago, I wrote a survey through the New Testament curriculum.  Last week, I felt the Lord telling me to teach the course one more time before we move to Liberia.  We started the class yesterday.  My hope is to be able to train someone who will offer this class once a year here in the States within the network of house churches to which be belong.  

6. The rainy season has passed in Liberia therefore construction on our rooms has started again.  As of last week, the rafters on our rooms have been set!  Praise God!    

Praises and Prayer Requests from Liberia:
1. PLEASE PRAY: There are 2 lots adjacent to our home in Zwedru.  These 2 lots have 4 buildings being built on them.  3 of the building are 90% complete.  The 4th building is 45% complete.  We would like to buy these lots so that the ministry could host 2 week long workshops to train church leaders.  Do to the low reading and education level in Liberia, it is best to train leaders in person rather than giving them training material to read on their own.  We believe this opportunity will help us in our mission to see that there is a healthy church in every town and village of Liberia.  We have sent a letter to the owner of the land letting him know of our interest.  Please pray for this opportunity.  If the land is bought, I will likely play a large role in this ministry.  Funds have already been donated for the purchase of this land if the owner is willing to sell.

2. PRAISE GOD!!!  The Gospel is continuing to move forward!  Here is a bird’s eye view of the amazing things God has done in Liberia in the past 10 months.  By God’s grace, we are now working in 269 locations. 10 months ago we were working in around 150 location!  Praise God!  In the past 10 months God has helped us start new works in over 119 new locations and baptize 344 people.  Just last month the ministry started working in 14 new villages, distributed 11,000 pages of teaching material and baptized 13 people.  Praise God for what He is doing!

3.  PLEASE PRAY FOR RIVER GEE COUNTY!  In February we will be starting a new church planting hub in River Gee County.  We will be sending one of our core team leaders to join two trained leaders in River Gee to start this hub.  Our prayer is that there would be a healthy church in every town and every village of Liberia within our lifetime.  Our vision is to start church planting hubs in every county of Liberia.  From these hubs churches will be started in every town and village of each county.  Our ministry provides funding only for these hubs.  The churches that are started are self-supported from the start.  A church planting hub costs between $1,000 and $1,500 a month to fund.  That is literally all the funding that is required to reach an entire county for Christ.  Will you please pray for River Gee as we begin this new work there.  We are still in need of the funding for this hub.  Pray for God’s provisions.  Also Pray for Sino County.  We have leaders trained and ready to start a hub there as the Lord leads.  Praise God for what He is doing!

4. PLEASE PRAY FOR ALLISON SMITH:  Last week Allison Smith arrived in Liberia.  She is a single lady who specializes in special education.  Allison will be spending 3 months working with the two schools we have started as well as working in two prisons we work at.  She has come equipped with curriculum and training resources for these schools and will be starting literacy training within the prisons.  Please pray for her as she trains both teachers and students.  Allison spent her first week in Liberia flat on her back, very sick.  We think she either got malaria or typhoid.  She was treated in an area hospital and is recovering.  She is hoping to begin working with the schools next week.  Please pray.

Update from Melanie:

Hello!  Thank you for your prayers and support!  It is fun serving Jesus, our Savior together!  This past month, we visited several house churches, including our street’s house church.  God has been using these times to encourage us and others.  This past Sunday, God used the time to remind me to be careful with my words and actions in regards to my precious children and husband. I could do everything right and then say or do one thing wrong and it could really scar them.  (So many times, I may make a comment under my breath or I may make a face which can be wrongly interpreted.)  So, that is my prayer this week.  I want to make every moment count for my family.  Also, we took a couple weeks off of dairy and realized that this would be good to stay off of it in preparation for Africa.  I pray that you all will have the best thanksgiving yet and that God will continue to bless you in all the ways that only He can!  Love in Christ, Mel :)

Update from Christian:

Dear Friends and Family,

I am going to be moving to Africa soon.  Here are some of my thoughts about moving to Africa.  I am excited to move.  It is going to be fun.  We are going to have friends to play with every day.  I will be eating monkey, bird, mice, snake, rat, deer, and other animals.  It is going to be fun.  There is no hunting season there so I can hunt anytime I want.  Here are some ways I hope God will use me.  I hope He will help me change lives in Africa and help start churches in every town and village of Liberia.  I am hoping to help the mission by hunting for food.  I can also help the friends I will have in Africa learn how to read, write, and do math.  I want to help them learn about the Lord.  I will also get to be on the motorcycle with Dad helping plant churches.  

Let me tell you about one of my recent hunts.  Dad, Tommy and Don were out working on the lawn.  Tommy ran in the house and told me to go get my gun.  I was thinking there was a squirrel they wanted me to shoot.  Tommy told me it was a raccoon.  I didn’t believe him.  Dad came in and told me that it was a raccoon and to do 10 pumps on my BB gun which puts a bunch of air in my gun to shoot the bullet.  I was going to load the gun with BB’s but dad said wait a minuet, you are going to kill this thing, load it with pellets.  So I got the pellets and loaded the gun.  I handed Daddy the extra pellets to put in his pocket.  I got on my coat.  Then daddy told me the plan.  The plan was to go around our play boat where the raccoon was sleeping and stand next to the pine trees for the shot.  When we were in the garden behind our house, Daddy told me the plan again because I was not understanding.  We got between the trees, I said, “Where is the heart.  Dad said shoot in the middle of the body.  Dad said I killed it on the 1st shot.  I did 3 or 4 extra shots to make sure it was dead.  Two shots were to make sure it was dead.  After it was dead I asked if I could shoot it one more time.  Daddy said yes.  Then we threw it into the woods.  I am glad it is dead because the raccoons have been coming to our house and eating our cat food.  The raccoons would eat Noah’s food and try to fight our cat.  In the past we created a homemade trap but the raccoon got away.  One time the Raccoon was going to try to kill our kitty.  The Raccoon had our cat cornered but Daddy helped the kitty. I am glad the raccoon is dead.  

Update from Grace

Hi, my name is Grace.  I have a story for you.  I got my two teeth out right next to each other.  Daddy pulled really hard on the first tooth.  That was when it was hanging on the side.  When I woke up in the morning Daddy kept telling me, “let me get it.”  I felt it moving around in my mouth.  Then it was on the other side of my mouth and I picked it up.  

On my second tooth, Daddy did three yanks and I didn’t do any yanks.  It took three yanks and it was out.  When it came out, it flew through the air and landed on the counter top.  That tooth was bleeding.  Sometimes are fun and sometimes aren't but the most fun part is spending time with Jesus.  So, don’t get frustrated about anything because there is nothing to get frustrated with.  So be joyful, always, pray continually.  The Bible also says that if you walk one mile for someone, go ahead and walk the extra mile with them.  The Bible also says to respect your mother and your father.  So, God is always with us, no fears.  Please be praying that our house will sell so we can go to Africa.  So, happy days are happy days, no fears or crying, obey your father and mother, and go the extra mile.  If you don’t know what that means, I can explain.  This is how I am going to explain it, if your mom and dad tell you to do your chores and you are done with your chores, just help them.  That is going the extra mile.  That is what it is like to be a family and to have friends.  The Bible also says that if someone grabs your coat, then give it to them.  It is kind of hard to do things God’s way but that is ok.  It is God’s grace and it is part of knowing Him.  So remember, respecting is respecting.  So if you have any problems fighting remember that family is family.  So, remember don’t get angry, go to the extra mile, and also give thanks to the Lord.  Bye, remember my name is Grace. 

Update from Tommy

I’m Tommy,

Hi.  I am a missionary to Africa.  They have bumpy roads in Africa.  We will be teaching people about Jesus in Africa.  I want to teach people about Jesus.  In Africa I will hunt.  I like to play with my legos.  I like to make boats, cars, airplanes.

Update From Don:

There are good people who live in Africa.  Today I have school.  Mom says I need school.  She makes Tommy, Grace, Christian and I do a lot of school.  I have learned that we need to worship only Jesus.  The Bible tells us not to worship false Gods.  In Africa we will hunt all kinds of animals to eat.  We will hunt monkey, alligator, birds, snakes, and raccoons.   I want to shoot and eat a tiger.  In Africa people are baptized all the time.  I like to hear stories from Africa.  I have heard that there are bad roads in Africa.  These roads make cars dirty.  I don’t like bad roads.  I like to play with my brothers and sister.  God has given me a good family.  Jesus, thank you for giving me my family.  Please help Kim in Africa.  Please help our family go to Africa.  Please help Kim.  Please help Africa.  Thank you for the legos I play with.  Please help me know and do what Jesus says.  I love you.

August

Thank You!  Thank you for your love, support, sacrifice and partnership!  My desire is to live a life that is worthy of Christ and to please Him always.  My desire is also to live a life worthy of the sacrifice people are making to support our ministry.  Here are a few things God has done this past month that make me stand and shout praises to Him.  

Please pray that our house will sell!

Praises from the United States:

1.  Melanie and I are fully supported for our mission to Liberia!  There are still several onetime expenses that need to be covered but we have received pledges that will fully support a long-term ministry in Liberia.  Praise God!!  

2.  Melanie and I have desired and felt led to be our family’s missionary.  Here is what I mean by that.  Melanie and I have been blessed to have been raised in Christian families.  We didn’t desire our personal support to come from churches.  We have been praying that we would be completely funded and sent to Liberia by our families.  This has become a reality!  Praise God!  100% of the money necessary to support our family in Liberia is coming from our family!  THANK YOU FAMILY FOR BELIEVING IN AND BECOMING A PART OF OUR MINISTRY!  Our family’s only financial need now is money for Airline tickets, and money for a few other onetime expenses.  God is providing!  

3.  God has been providing me with side work so that I am able to support my family until we are able move to Liberia.  I praise Him for meeting every one of our needs.  He is good!

4.  Last month I was able to complete a 4 year music CD project!  By God’s grace, the CD sounds awesome / professional!  I am planning on giving the CD away to everyone I know as well as giving away the rights of duplication to everyone so that the message on the CD can be heard.  I pray that God would use this CD to encourage His church.  If you are interested in receiving a CD, please send me an e-mail request (donriley4@gmail.com).

4.  While in the States, we desire to be on mission for God.  God has been leading us to start a Bible study with the people who live on our street.  Some of the people on our street would never step foot in a traditional church but they have committed to being part of this Bible study.  5 out of the 10 homes on our street have committed to join. Please pray for this ministry as it is getting started.  We are trusting that when the doors open for us to go to Liberia, someone else will take over this ministry.  There is a man on our street who is studying for the ministry.  Maybe he will take it over?

5.  Before we can go to Liberia, our house needs to sell.  There are still no offers on our house.  Please pray!

Praises from Liberia:

1.  Last month, 98 people were baptized and 35 people completed our extensive Bible study program.  Please pray with me, “Father, thank You for your grace.  Thank You for saving me from my sins.  I praise You for these people who have surrendered their lives to You.  I pray that they will now grow to maturity in their faith.  Please give wisdom to those who are discipling them.  I also pray for these 35 people who have been in training for Your Kingdom.  Please lead them and use them to help others know You better.”  Thank you for praying!

2.  Last month, 800 - 1,000 people watched the Jesus film and 8,500 pages of teaching material was distributed to people who are being discipled. Praise God!

Stories and Reports from Liberia:

1.  Bertin is a refugee from Ivory Coast; she is single and lives by

herself.  She stays down the road from us.  We have a regular Bible

study at her place with her and other refugees that live around us.

As we are able, we assist them with food.  One day Bertin ran out of

food and money.  She went to bed and prayed, “God you are my Father,

no money, no food.  If I die, I die.  You are my Father, take care of

me.”…. A man showed up at her house.  She didn’t know him nor had ever

met him before.  She invited him in and offered him some water.  He

said he was passing through and gave her $20.  She was overjoyed and

asked him his name.  He said, “You do not need to know it.  I will

return.”  She asked for his phone number.   He said, “You don’t need

it.”  He left.  She was amazed and so very thankful.  That night she

couldn’t sleep wondering about what had happened.  About 4:00 AM she

fell asleep and dreamed.  In her dream a man came up to her.  She

asked him, “Where did that man and money come from?”  The man said,

“The man and the money came from God.”  She is in a constant state of

rejoicing and peace.  She says, “I know my God sees me, knows me and

can take care of me.”

2.  We help start churches and work with existing churches.  Most of the

leaders of the existing churches have had no training and are eager

for our training.  We have produced a manual called, “Where There is

No Church.”  It is a training manual for discipleship, for starting

churches and for existing church leaders.  Typically we will do three

day trainings and give them a copy of the manual after the training.

We did the training in Moserado County, about 20 attended representing

about 7 churches.  In the church where we held the conference their

roof had recently blown off.  They had patched in some rotten roofing

pieces to cover a small section of the building, there we huddled for

the training.  The pastor and his family live in a deplorable shack.

After our training, instead of using their small money for their roof,

that pastor and some of their church members took the training and

traveled to 4 other remote village churches they had started and are

united with.  In two weeks of revival services, with those churches,

they baptized 83 people!  We have provided each of those baptized with

certificates and will start them on discipleship training.

3.  Road bandits are increasing.  Liberia is sparsely populated and mostly jungle, forest and bush.  There are long stretches of wilderness between settlements.  Thieves will shoot and rob lone bikers.

Financial Update:

Here is a summary of where we stand financially:

1. It will cost $30,000 a year to support our family once we are in Liberia.  Praise God, this need has been met!  THANK YOU FAMILY!
2. Wow, Praise the Lord, my wife just got a phone call from Kim in Liberia.  He shared with her that $5,000 was given for the construction of our house in Liberia.  PRAISE GOD!  I wish you could see me smile!  Thank You Jesus for opening doors!  This gift is enough money to complete the construction on our house!  Praise God!
3. It will cost around $8,000 for airline tickets to move our family to Liberia.  We have been able to save $3,820 so far.  We are still in need of $4,180.  
4. We will need around $4,300 in one time expenses such as passports, visas, in-country travel, and set-up cost.  So far we have been able to cover $1,500 of these expenses!  Praise God!  We are still in need of $2,800.  

Thank you everyone who has contributed toward our expenses!  Thank you!  Once these onetime expenses have been met, we will be able to completely support our family off of the $30,000 a year that our extended family is contributing.  Please pray for our unmet expenses.  These expenses and the sale of our house are all that stands between us and Liberia.

Donations may be mailed to: 

If you are interested in donating toward these needs, donations may be sent to

Wordsower 

P.O. Box 1648

Piqua, OH 45356

All donations are tax deductible.  Please make checks payable to “Wordsower.”  A receipt will be sent at year’s end.  

Family Updates

Christian’s Update:

“Dear Friends and Family,

Christian and Don's Raccoon trap

Thank you for supporting our family on our mission to Africa.  A couple of days ago we went to Nanny and Papaw’s house for a family reunion.  I have been studying Philippians 2:5-8.  It says, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, and being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross.”  I feel that this is for everyone, not just missionaries or important people.  It is not just one person’s mission to reach out to the world.  It is everyone’s mission.  God is calling us to make ourselves nothing, be humble, be a servant, and be obedient even if it kills us.  Lord, please help everyone understand that it is not just one person’s mission but that it is everyone’s mission.  Lord we love you.  We know that You are our God and not something else.  Lord we will honor You.  Amen.”   

Grace’s update

Grace and Tommy

“This letter is by Grace.  We learned in our devotions about John the Baptist.  John would sleep and then wake up and eat bugs and wild honey.  After that, he would go and baptize people.  One time Jesus came while John was baptizing.  John said, you don’t need baptized.  I need to be baptized by you.  Jesus said no, I need to be baptized by you.  So, Jesus got baptized and then He went into the desert.  So that story is done and I am going to talk about something else.  We went to a river at our Nanny and Papaw’s house.  I went tubing.  I will see you later, goodbye.

Love, Grace”

Tommy’s update

“Hello from Tommy.  I am a missionary to Africa.  I hope you like time with us.  Last month we went skiing on the river.  We went tubing and I stood on the tube.  The only tube I can go on and stand is the red tube.  Hi Nanny and Papaw.  Hi Grandma and Grandpa.  Nanny, I love you.  Goodbye.”

Little Don’s Update:

This is little Don’s message to you.  As you will see, we needed to reteach the story of John the Baptist to him.  There was a lot that got confused in his interpretation.   Enjoy! :)

“Hi, I have been learning about John the Baptist.  John told the people, you need to stop sinning.  Then he baptized them.  Then John said you need to go see Jesus.  God sent a bird.  John said, “you know these bugs, you need to eat them.  Eat bugs!”  In Africa we may eat bugs.  John the Baptist is in Africa.  This I know because in Africa people are baptized all the time.  John said, “stop sinning.”  John told the people, “go away.  I will see if I can get money and buy bugs.  Do you want bugs.  I will give you bugs for food.”  John baptized Jesus.  John told Jesus, “watch out for that bird it will get you.  The dove will make you the devil.”  The devil took Jesus into the wilderness.”  

 Melanie's Update:

Thank you all for praying for us.  It is fun to see how the Lord works and shows up when we are least expecting it! Praise Him!!!!! As my children have told you, this past month, we have enjoyed visiting with family and being with our cousins. :):) I do not think that Don mentioned this but my brother in law became very sick and even needed to be on a ventilater for quite a few days and I know many of you were praying.  Thank you.  He is doing well for the most part now.  Praise Jesus!!