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NEW CHILDREN'S CENTER IN MOPTI/SEVARE

Paul and I have just come back from our first scouting trip to Mopti and Sévaré, twin cities nearly 700 kilometers north (and east) of Bamako. We're right now looking for a house to rent in Sévaré to use as our new children's center there. Unfortunately we did not find it this first trip. It was good to connect with the street children there, but our bus ride home turned out to be 17 hours with a broken down bus and the next bus smuggling drugs and being busted.

If you'd like to see pictures from this trip and read about our adventure on the way home, click here.

Next time we'll be driving ourselves, as we continue looking for a house to rent in Sévaré so we can start the children's center there shortly.

We're still looking for a Westerner to come be the leader of this new center.

FAMILY REINFORCEMENTS

Americans

It's now been nearly two months since a family of three from Pennsylvania arrived in Mali to reinforce our team. They're settling in amazing well and are using their gifts to be a great blessing.

Ray (Yakou) oversees construction and is amazing when it comes to repairing anything that's broken.

Mimi is gifted in sewing and has a passion for gardening, investing her energy into planting vegetables and trees.

And their 16-year-old daughter Julie has just finished up her academic year online, and can now spend even more time being a blessing to our children.

If you'd like to write to the Heisey's, click here.

If you'd like to read Mimi's blog, click here.

If you'd like to read Julie's blog, click here.

Malians

A few weeks ago Fanta's husband Seybou returned out of the blue. Three years ago he moved out together with his family, and two years ago he abandoned them to make money in Algeria, and that's when we took them back in. Fanta and the children have flourished in our household, and handicapped Hama now actually has a future.

A few weeks before his return I had a dream that he was coming back and would be working for us again. I was amazed when it actually happened! However, after 3 days of half-hearted work he quit. Please pray for a resolution that ensures the safety and future of Fanta and her children.

Tierno (20) - a former street kid - once was our day guard but had to leave because of an incident. A few weeks ago we reemployed him as our night guard, and he's been doing a wonderful job. He loves Jesus, and is great with the street children.

Our previous night guard Dami now works as our day guard, and our previous day guard Adama is one of the two 18-year-olds to go up to the new children's center.

Austrians

After 11 months and a few days, we had to say good-bye to our 21-year-old helper Christian from Austria. This picture shows all of us praying for him and sending him back home. He was a great blessing, and we pray for his future. We're also praying for others to come and serve for a year for the sake of the children in Mali.

While Christian left, Eva (23) from Austria is back! She meant to come for longer, but just found out she already has to head back in a few weeks as she was accepted into nursing school in Austria. So our joy is mixed with sadness, but we know she'll be back - and to apply her knew medical knowledge.

In a few days we have a student from Austria coming for 3 months to help us out.

Would you like to do a few months serving God in Mali like Eva and Christian and others did? We're looking for young people who can come starting Sep/Oct.

Email me if you're interested.

QUICK NEWS

•        Wedding Invitation - Paul and Rokia are getting married on January 7, 2012, and would like to invite everyone to come join them in the celebration. Contact me if you'd like to come. Contact me if you'd like to contribute financially to pay for his wedding and honeymoon.

•        Papers - In June we finally received the papers from the government that I told many of you about. Praise God!

•        Financial Needs - We depend on one-time donations to cover more than 50% of our monthly expenses. We've hardly seen any this past month which is a problem. If you've wanted to give to the work in Mali, this is the time. Thank you.

•        Construction Progress - We have been working on our third house, and thanks to Yakou the quality of work has improved. We've now run out of money to continue work, and are praying for more to come in so it can be finished within the next few weeks.

•        Daouda Returns - Our 11-year-old Daouda ran away in February and returned after 4 months. Thank God.

•        Electricity Shortage - The power goes out every night now. Thankfully our additional solar equipment will be installed in two weeks. Also we have finally figured out why we have less electricity than we should; two of our panels are damaged which took out 8 of our 24 panels, making us operate on 16. We're looking into the costs of connecting to city electricity.

•        "New" Activities - I started teaching a marriage class for our church (and our aspiring couple) twice a week, as well as meeting with Paul & Rokia twice a week. I also enjoy teaching Bambara to the Americans and Eva who are making great progress. Finally we started the literacy class for street children again, though it's hard to get a commitment from them to stick it out. Now that's school is out, I also teach our resident kids English every day - they're motivated with that much English around.

•        My Book - My book can now be ordered from all over the world. Just click on the link on the left side.

•        Personal Assistant Needed - I'm looking for a young lady to accompany me on my September/October US trip as an assistant. Email me for more details.

Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. (Isa 58:8)

Loving HIM,

Claudia