Donations:

3000 sq.m. Property
for Orphanage & Community Center

Construction starts in April.
Projected Costs: 500,000 USD
Building Fund: 25,000 USD

God took this little mustard seed of my life, and planted it in Mali three and a half years ago. The seed had to die and wait for the waters to come, before starting to grow and bring fruit. And it's still a tiny, little plant, that watches its Creator in amazement at what He does, how He miraculously makes it grow to become all He's destined it to be. He who knows no future or past already sees the end from the beginning - a grown tree that gives refuge to birds, a tree where birds can build their nests and raise little ones, who then fly off into all directions.

I'm amazed as I'm watching this little plant grow. I'm full of excitement and anticipation, as I see (a little of) what is 10 years down the road. I'm amazed at a 46-year-old Malian pastor wanting to come under my covering and become the first pastor of our network. This is unheard in this culture! I'm excited about reaching those who have never heard the gospel with the good news. I'm excited about going into the villages and see His kingdom come. I'm excited about strategizing to reach the different villages, and excited as the Lord shows what He is up to. I am entering into my destiny, entering into what He has prepared for me since the beginning of time. If there is anything I'm passionate about, it's taking the gospel to the last and least of these, those who are forgotten, those nobody cares about, those who have never heard, and those nobody goes to. And it's starting to happen.

MINISTRY IN DIO

Car and sound system battery repaired, the five of us piled into the car with all the equipment to start the 80 minute-trip to Dio, outside of Bamako. Pastor Enoch comes to Bamako every week to attend our Bible School and then stays overnight. Today he was riding home with us. My most faithful assistant Paul was with me as well, as were two of the kids - Saloum and Fousseni.

Arriving in Dio, all the kids on our list for sponsorships (19) were already assembled, waiting for the new vitamins we were bringing. HIM - the apostolic network I'm a part of - graciously gave us a supply of MANNATECH vitamins to distribute to those malnourished children. The kids received their vitamins with joy, while at least as many had to go without. We're in the process of applying to MANNARELIEF to regularly receive a supply of those great vitamins.

After the kids left, it was time for the baptism service. Three people were supposed to be baptized, but it ended up being only one. Five minutes before it started, Enoch told me I was doing the whole meeting, asking me what way I wanted to do things.

Enoch is the only pastor of the only church in the region. Half a year ago, he was a dead pastor with an empty church. Today he is more alive than ever and catching the vision to take the gospel from village to village.

About 20 people including kids gathered, as it was time to start the meeting. We sang a few Bambara songs, and as I closed my eyes, the presence of Holy Spirit was so tangible. I chose not to kneel on the sharp stones, but bowed down before Him in awe of His presence.

Enoch had me come up to preach, and Holy Spirit started speaking through me, leaving me in awe. I hadn't known I was supposed to preach, but He did. I started prophesying over Enoch and the ministry and the village and region, as I could see with the eyes of the spirit what God would do. How exciting! I finally made myself read a baptism passage, and talk about dying to live for Him, paying the price, and living a holy life worthy of our calling.

Then we went over to the barrel the young man would be baptized in. He sat down in it, and we baptized him. Awesome! After that, we all had communion together, that I led everyone in as well. Finally I anointed the young man with oil, and we laid hands on him. Again, the prophetic was flowing mightily, as I prayed for him - it was awesome!

The sun had set in the meantime, and it was time for the MATTHEW film in Bambara. I counted about 50 people that had gathered, children included, who came to watch the movie. People were captivated by what they saw and heard, and we learned later how much they were impacted by it. Nobody made a decision to follow Christ, but several children came up for healing prayer.

Three children all had the same issue - stomach problems, and it seemed like they had parasites. One girl had malaria, and then they handed me a little baby-girl. Her twin sister had died, and she herself had a lot of health problems. I took her in my arms and started praying. I felt led to pray for deliverance, and she started crying loudly. Then she suddenly stopped, and actually fell asleep!!!! She looked like she was resting in the Spirit! I was amazed! When I handed her back to her Mom, she awoke and was all calm. Praise God!

That reminds of the little 2-year-old boy that has so many problems - remember him? The first time we prayed he would start walking - and he did a few days later. Last time we prayed he'd start talking - and now he talks all the time! Praise God! This time we didn't have a chance to go see him and pray for him. His parents are pagans and Muslims and have tried everything they could think of for their boy to get better. Pray they'll come to know the one true living God.

The following morning we had two influential visitors I had the joy of sharing the gospel with. One of them is one of the local imams (Muslim religious leader), who invited us to come back often and offered to help us. The other is a businessman who wants to introduce me to the mayor and leadership of the 4000-inhabitant-village. He said he wanted to know more about Jesus and what we believe, and asked us to come back as soon as possible.

Our next time in Dio will be on Feb 28, just for the day, to show around the visiting NGO director from Germany.

March 17-18 I'll be in Dio for the weekend to preach on Sunday morning and officially accept Enoch into our network, anointing him and spiritually putting him in place before the visible and invisible world. Saturday night we will go to one of the villages in the region that has never heard the gospel to preach the kingdom of God.

If you have GOOGLE EARTH, you can type in "Dio, Mali" and see where exactly we are ministering. If you zoom out a little, you can see Bamako and should even be able to locate us towards the east, south of the river. If you can't see Centre Apostolique Malien, let me know and I can send you the placemark by email.

ANOTHER CHILD GONE

In December we took in 3 new children at once - Daouda (14), Eli (11), Solomani (12) - and that's when suddenly stuff started being stolen. Daouda was caught more than once and had to leave because he wasn't willing to stop, but the stealing has continued until now. Last Sunday Eli left us. I'm not sure why, but maybe he was the one stealing the other stuff, including money, that would keep him going on the street for a while. It's heart-breaking to see these children turn to the Lord and grow in every way, and then one day they decide they want the "liberty" of the streets rather than the rules of our home. But they are in His hands, and I pray the seeds that were sown in their hearts will bring fruit in the future.

HEALTH UPDATE

I hope we have conquered the scabies and lice now. In a household of 13 people, it's not easy to make sure everyone washes his clothes all at once and at the same time, and that everyone does the treatment faithfully. In fact, one kid didn't and was reinfested, and did the treatment a second time - hopefully before passing it on to the others.

We also constantly have sick people - right now Hama and Sarata, and Abdias hurt his inner ear. We thank God for our doctor, and trust Him to provide for the (often expensive) medication. We praise Him for having provided for the scabies treatment!

CAR UPDATE

The car repair was more costly than we thought, but thank God, it's running again, and He provided for the repair! It's 20 years old now, and too small for all of us, so we desperately need a new car that will faithfully take us to the villages and back, without us having to do fasting and prayer for that ;-)

Once we move to our property (planned for the summer), we will also have to go to the bus station to pick up street kids by car and then bring them back after our program, because we'll be too far away. That will only be possible with the Toyota pickup we're praying for. A new one costs $40,000, and a 6-year-old one about half that.

We're praying and believing the Lord to provide the truck by this summer. Can you agree with us?

QUICK NEWS

•    My friends who have contacts with a prison ministry are going to find out whether Daouda is in a local prison for children. If he is there, I can go visit him. They told me that they lock kids away for anything, without any trials or anything. Once we have moved to Yirimadio and have room for more kids, they will be sending us children that leave that prison and don't have a place to go.

•    Paul was recently called into the prinicpal's office of his private High School (that I'm paying for him). Unsure why, the principal started praising him. Tears were running down Paul's cheeks as he was told that all his teachers respected him and were amazed at his behavior and earnestness in his studies. He was told that because of that the school was doing something unprecedented - applying elsewhere for a grant so Paul can do his final year next year without having to pay. Not only the teacher's have seen the transformation in Paul, but he has many opportunities to witness to classmates at school, and to pray for them.

•    We've been doing many Theophostic Prayer Ministry (TPM) sessions with adults and kids alike, and seen the fruit of it, especially with the adults. The (former street) kids have a much harder time, not realizing the bad fruit in their present lives, and therefore not seeing the point of remembering painful events. They need to be willing to find truth and freedom, so please pray for them.

•    I'm teaching TPM every Saturday evening now, and the interest is great. Especially Simeon (who turned 34 yesterday) - who's had and caused many troubles over the past 2.5 years - has started to HOPE again, and been more joyful than ever. Please pray for the sessions with him that we're gonna start soon - what great testimony his healing will be!

•    Please pray for our legal adviser Daniel who has been extremely busy. We need his help to take care of our legal status in the country, and start two more organizations so that all the papers are in order with our children's center as well as church.

•    Heike, the director of the German NGO that manages the sponsorhips for our kids, is coming to visit for a week. The week after, our US architect Peter is coming to finalize the drawings for the first building phase, meet our builder Kossi, see the land and ministry, and start drawing the second building phase. Please pray for a fruitful time where much can be accomplished.

•    Mali is electing a new president at the end of April. Please pray for PEACE for our country. A lot of countries surrounding Mali are in turmoil - civil war in Ivory Coast for several years, over 100 dead in clashes in Guinea that don't stop, some unrest and danger of a coup in Burkina, and clashes as elections approach in Senegal.

[You] have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. (1 Peter 1:2)

Serving my BELOVED,

Claudia

our team and seven sponsored kids
(Nov 2006)