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We've just come back from the bush where we have seen what you usually see in Eastern Africa, outside the 10/40 window, but NOT in Mali. We've been blown away to see the kingdom of God come down in power to heal and save in unprecedented ways, saving whole villages, and this is only the beginning! Muslim-animist Mali, with less than 1% Christians, where few go as His ambassadors, will be saved! The glory of the Lord is starting to spread, from village to village, going from region to region, and we're available as His vessels to be the carriers of His presence, power and glory.

I took my kids and adults, and six young Americans, into the bush, where we did three nights of meetings in a little town, and we went to two unreached villages, where no white people had ever been before, and where they had never heard the good news. Hundreds in those villages were healed and gave their lives to the Lord, including one village chief, declaring to follow Jesus from that day onwards. We tried to count - during those 3 days, 550 people were healed, and 320 saved. And I'm talking IN MALI! PRAISE GOD!

LEAVING FOR THE BUSH

We rented one of the public transportation vans that took most of the team and equipment to Dio, while I still had to drive our little old van to Dio where we would need it. Not long ago I thought it impossible to use it again for this trip, but your prayers made our car work, to the point that I was totally amazed at how well it ran - especially with all the bush roads and heavy load it had to carry.

Picture: Our car with the team hanging on the outside so we would only have to go twice to take everyone and everything to the village.

We stayed three nights in Dio, with our pastor there, camping in his courtyard. And we were quite numerous - six Americans, three adult Malians, my four teenage kids, and myself. We arrived on Tuesday afternoon, with the first meeting that night.

Dio is a little town of 4000 people, and our pastor Enoch is the only pastor in town and the surrounding villages. He's been there for 14 years, but has hardly ever had any adults in his church. Since he joined our network and has come under my covering, he and his ministry have been totally transformed. He is now alive again spiritually, and seeing for the first time in his life people interested in the gospel and people healed. He is starting to catch the vision not only for his town, but his region, and has understood that children have value also. He was excited to have us come to Dio, because these past few months we have already seen the beginnings of revival. We had high expectations coming, high hopes, and much anticipation, and we were not disappointed. The Lord even exceeded our expectations!

I and my team prepared this time for 7 weeks with prayer and fasting, and we were ready, as was the American team. When they arrived, we already knew them in the Spirit, and were immediately one in heart and mind.

THREE OPEN-AIR MEETINGS IN DIO

Before we even went to Dio, I kept seeing in my mind pictures of a Todd Bentley crusade, like the one I participated in when I was in Africa with him, and tried telling myself that this is Mali and it won't be anything like that. But in a very real sense, it was more appropriate than I could have imagined. Much was similar with one after another being healed, and saved, and one testimony after another coming forth, with the whole village gathering to listen, and with the anointing of God not only being on me to preach the gospel like I've never seen before, but on my team who prayed for the sick. Awesome God!

Before the sun went down each night, we set up our two generators, sound system and lights on the local soccer field where we'd have plenty of room for people. As the sun went down at 7 pm, we'd get started with Bambara worship, singing and dancing, and the many kids that had already gathered would join in. The Lord really came down on Paul who led worship like I have never see him do it, with so much joy, and much dancing. All our kids joined in dancing with all their might like never before, and the Americans also danced with the kids. I could not resist myself, and danced the Malian way with much joy - which especially my kids enjoyed a lot.

After an hour of worshiping and swirling up much dust, the pastor would greet the people, and then hand the mic to me. Each night one from the American team took a few minutes to share, before I went from there, preaching and sharing the gospel.

The first night I first talked about healing, and asked all those who wanted to be healed to come forward. At first nobody moved, then one child stood up and came forward. People started laughing, mocking the kid, but then one child after the other stood up and came forward and the laughing stopped. The team then prayed for them, and I asked for those healed to come and testify. One after the other they came, and I interviewed them, what they had, and how it was now. "Gone", "gone", "gone".... Praise God! I was so excited! I noticed though that it was all children, so I asked whether there were no adults who needed healing. When they were done, I asked them to sit down, since we still wanted to talk to them. I then preached the gospel, and made an altar call. Several kids raised their hands, but nobody was willing to come forward. So we just prayed from the front. That first night about 50 hands went up when we asked who had been healed, but we don't know how many started living for Jesus.

On the second night worship was already going strong, when suddenly our little generator started having problems and couldn't operate the sound system any more. We were thinking hard what to do, connected the sound system to the bigger generator, but ended up connecting too much and destroying that generator also. Thankfully the little one was still able to operate ONE light, and so we just kept going, without sound system. I started sharing testimonies and talking about the healing power of God, and the Lord gave me the voice necessary. We then did a healing call, and the team prayed for all the sick. However, without the sound system, we weren't able to call them back, and had to end the meeting.

On the third night, black clouds were covering the sky and many in the team started fearing the rain would keep us from doing the meeting. As the time to pray before the meeting came, half the team was still gone, but we started praying anyway. As I looked at the sky, I saw the same sign I had seen on our last trip to Dio (see that email) - the sunrays breaking through the dark clouds, but this time there was a vertical bright shaft of light in the middle, going straight from heaven to earth, as if a powerful spotlight was on. I remembered that the Lord had spoken to Paul before our trip that He would give us a sign. I was excited to see that the Lord coming down from heaven and piercing the darkness had gotten brighter. A few raindrops were falling down on us, but then the Lord spoke to me that He was saying to us tonight that no rain would fall on us where the meeting would take place, even if it rains all around us. Paul chose to believe, while many still had doubts as we packed the car in the rain. When we got to the location of the meeting, it was not raining, and never did all night. Praise God! The pastor was amazed by that.

That night, we borrowed a generator from the local business man, who is coming closer and closer to Lord. We finally managed to get it working, and got started, having a working sound system again, as well as one light. Joy and exuberance was so very evident as Paul led Bambara worshiped and danced with all his might, as did our children, and the whole team. One of the Americans spoke a few minutes, and then the Lord simply gave me the words to speak to preach from there. It was awesome, and many gave their lives to the Lord and were healed. Again, we had testimony after testimony.

In total, over 150 people got healed, and over 60 saved during those 3 nights. The pastor was totally blown away, hardly believing what he saw with his own eyes. This little town, where he's had only children in his church for years, where people would pay a high price to leave their family's Muslim religion, he was seeing fruit like never before. May these new baby Christians be set on fire, come to his church, and become mature believers in Christ.

Picture: My kids with the pastor's "adopted" son, who all enjoyed every single minute of ministry.

VILLAGE OF SOTOLY

On the first morning we went to the village of Sotoly that has about 750 inhabitants. No white people had ever been there, and the gospel had never been preached there before. The village chief told everyone to come to the meeting, and they came. In fact, all the students from the elementary school came together, as school was cancelled for the special event. The women all greeted us with dancing and singing. Many had already gathered under the big tree by the time we got started. Paul was leading Bambara worship, and the people danced, especially the women! It was wonderful!

The pastor then greeted the village people and introduced us. I took the mic, and after a few words, gave it to one person from the American team to share. After that, I started preaching the gospel to those people who heard it for the first time. Everyone was listening very intently. Towards the end I asked the village chief forward and presented him with a Bible in his language. I asked whether we could pray for him, and he agreed. So we blessed him and his village (picture to the right).

Finally it was time for prayer. I had split everyone up into 4-5 groups, with an American, one of my adult team members, and one of my kids, and they started praying, for a long time. One after another came with all kinds of sicknesses, and while Paul and I were doing the testimonies, we were also busy praying for people. Nearly everyone said that the pain was gone or they were feeling better, and everyone was ready to give their lives to the Lord. We were so busy, having healing testimony after healing testimony, it was wonderful!

That day in Sotoly, we counted over 260 healings, and over 130 salvations (one team forgot to ask whether they wanted to follow Jesus), and who knows how many more have started to follow Jesus. Sotoly is NOT animist any more, it now belongs to Jesus! Our pastor will be pretty busy with follow-up; what a wonderful problem to have.

VILLAGE OF GORO

The following morning we went to Goro, a village quite a bit smaller than Sotoly. The village chief had been eager to invite us, since no one had ever preached the gospel, and he was fed up with animism and Islam. Again we were the first white peope to come to his village.

We set up under a big tree again, and discovered that the generator we had borrowed wasn't working either. Frustrating. But we gathered in prayer, not allowing the enemy to get at us that easily.

The worship was already going, with Saloum playing the drums, when he suddenly saw a mad bull running towards us. He was afraid he would hurt somebody, but when he got to the people, he suddenly stopped, turned around and walked away.

We kept worshiping the Lord, and dancing, with the local people joining in, while people gathered. Paul's voice was already in rather bad shape, and so was mine, but the Lord made our voices last and carry.

The pastor greeted the people and introduced us, and handed the mic to me. I then had one of the American team come up who talked for a few minutes, before starting to preach. I shared a story, an allegory for the gospel the Lord gave me a while back, and took time to share all of the gospel with them. People were listening extremely carefully, including the village chief who wanted to leave his religion. I invited him up, presented the Bible in his language to him, and prayed for him. He was very thankful.

Then it was prayer time. The team spread out to pray again, and since we didn't have a sound system to do testimonies, Paul and I joined in. The village chief (picture to the right) came up to me and asked for prayer for his eyes. You could tell he couldn't see much. We prayed, and he said amazed that he was seeing better. I then asked him whether he wanted to follow Jesus. He said yes, and Fousseni led him in a salvation prayer. I was proud of Fousseni who prayed with person after person to be born again.

We also prayed for an old man who had a hard time walking. After praying, he was visibly walking more easily. He then also dedicated his life to the Lord (pictures below).

That day in Goro we counted over 140 people getting healed, and over 130 people being saved. The village chief of the neighboring village was there too and implored us to come over to this village, but time would not allow us to do that. We left with much joy, and much work for our pastor to do.

The team prayed for hundreds of people during those three days, and nearly every person said he/she was healed, and then giving his/her life to the Lord. Pains left, many having suffered for many years, people were delivered, vision was improved, and many more my team could share with you. Even between the meetings there were opportunities to pray for the sick, and each one was healed. The business man who lent us the generator had his sister healed of many years of pain in front of his eyes, to his greatest amazement.

When I asked my team how they've been impacted by those few days, they all testified to having been changed forever. All my kids are excited and loved it, and want to keep going. Fousseni said he now loves praying, which he didn't before, and the Lord has called him to be a pastor. Saloum was delivered of fear of man - he couldn't even play the drums in our Sunday service, and now he is free of that fear. He's also received boldness to witness and pray for the sick. Abdias loved praying for all the sick, and seeing them healed.

As for my adults, Firmin had never prayed for people that way before, and just wants to keep going and going. Issa wants to pray for every sick person he sees, having received a new compassion. Paul testified to never having worshiped like that before, and to having enjoyed every single minute of it all, wanting to keep doing this.

As for me, it was another step forward into my destiny. I feel like I've stepped into what I'm made for, and I could just go on, preaching to the unreached, and seeing village after village turn to the Lord. And we will do it!

One of the American team members is a film school major and has been doing a lot of filming. In the summer a one-hour documentary will come out about their trip to Mali and this ministry, and I hope many of you will get a copy and show the world what God is beginning to do in Mali.

QUICK NEWS

•      Bamako - We've been back in Bamako for a couple of days, and continue to see the Lord at work. If you want to read any details, check out my blog on the website.

•    Three more open-air meetings - This week we're doing three evenings on our property, like we did in Dio; on Wed, Thu and Fri night. Please pray for us. During the day the team will go house to house to pray for people and invite them to the meetings. We're also giving 50 kilo bags of rice to single mothers, whether widowed or divorced.

•     Dogonland - On Sunday we're leaving to go north for some sightseeing. Please pray for safe trip and return. The team is leaving a few hours after we get back, onTuesday night.

•     Strength - The team is young (average of 20), but I'm the oldest by far, having just turned 34. I've been extremely exhausted after all the ministry, and we have one more week to go. Please pray for me.

•    Construction Update - Please keep praying as the delays just don't end. Now we're planning to start the drilling next week. We're moving onto the property end of September, by faith, whether anything is built or not. We also still need the money to build.

•     Paul - Please pray for Paul as he is doing his final exams this week. He studied as much as possible before the arrival of the Americans, but has had little time since, and he's also very tired.

•     A few days after the Americans leave, I myself am leaving to go to Austria, where I'll be from June 4 until July 1. Details are on the left, and always updated on the CALENDAR page of my website. Also, the schedule for my summer trip to the US can be viewed there as well.

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.(Hab 2:14) INCLUDING MALI!

Giving ALL GLORY to HIM,

Claudia

Our Resident Family of 12
(March 2007)