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PRAYER & FASTING

The Lord was talking to us clearly about the importance of prayer and team building as well as faith through different people and events. So we immediately obeyed and acted and set the month of April aside for prayer and fasting. After half an hour of a devotional time with the children before they went to school, we had 45 minutes of our personal time, and then Paul would join us for at least one hour of prayer (and teaching). We focused our teaching on faith, and put our faith into practice, declaring and proclaiming the truth of God's word. Our joy, peace and love grew steadily in the process, and suddenly worry was replaced by peace, heaviness was replaced by joy, and frustration was replaced by love. Everything had changed! And we started to see fruit....

DEAF FROM BIRTH HEALED

Randy joined Paul as he went on his weekly visit to our church in the village of Dara, and they prayed for this lady deaf from birth who could therefore not talk. She started hearing, and now needs to learn to talk. Praise God!

CONSTRUCTION CONTINUES

We had a big donation that allowed us to continue construction. We're now standing in faith for it to be finished and our school to start! We have yet to see a breakthrough when it comes to the ministries' finances as we are more in debt than ever, but we are confident that the Lord provides for all our needs according to His glorious riches, and we trust to find financial victory as well!

PROFESSIONAL GUARD SAVED

A few months ago we changed professional guard company, and now have one of the best (though pricey) ones day and night. Our day guard is at the gate and writes down every person passing through the gates, and when we have our weekly service, he hears and sees what's going on. Over the weeks, he has moved closer and closer to the service and listened more and more. He started reading the Bible as well, and became more and more interested, asking questions about the Christian faith. And then he said he was close to giving his life to the Lord, and he was so happy when I gave him the gift of a Bible.

On Sunday, April 22, the Lord gave Paul a vision. He had already had a dream about a week before that the street children would come with the rain. The first rains usually come in the middle of May. That Sunday morning Paul saw a big group of children coming to our center that very night. So he called our guard Bekay and let him know, telling him to look out for those children.

You have to know that for months we had only had one child show up every night and nobody else. We were puzzled about that, as that had never been the case before, and had been talking about what to do. That Sunday night, a group of 21 children showed up at our gate to spend the night. Bekay was so astonished, he immediately called Paul and let him know. And Paul said it had rained a little in his village. On our base, it rained a little the next morning, and you can see the dark rain clouds on the pictures. Bekay was so amazed to see that God was alive and actually spoke to his children that he wanted to give his life to Jesus immediately. Welcome to the new citizen of heaven! The change and joy in him is so very visible! Awesome God!

CROWDS OF KIDS

Not having had street kids show up for months, we were unprepared for 21 children (Paul had not called me in advance), so we quickly bought some bread and fries to feed them. I just wanted to hug each one of them as my heart went out to them with so much love! We didn't even have any mats for them to sleep on, but bought them the next day. Paul spent some time teaching them about Jesus in the morning, before they went out on the street for the day. Nearly all of them are coming back each night, and they have been really well-behaved. Others have also shown up, and we expect many more to come as the frequency of rain increases. Please pray for these children to get to know Jesus, and for us to know which ones to take in.

LOST SHEEP RETURNS

In March I received a prophetic word from someone who did not know anything that said that I had a big disappointment last year, but that the Lord would give a 100 times back. One of our prayer focuses has been on the 13 children we lost last year. We prayed for them, prayed for their deliverance, healing and relationships to be restored.

One of those 13 children was Adama (10) who we had just taken into our home. He ran away last summer when our new guard would get drunk and beat him up. He went to central Mali where he lived on the street again. One day in April - as we were praying - he suddenly, out of the blue, decided to return to us. He found his way back to Bamako, and even ran into Paul in town (Bamako has over 2 million inhabitants). He told us he wanted to come back to live with us, and while he did not smile that first day, his big, beautiful smile has now returned to his face. Adama has never been to school and will start first grade in fall.

Awesome God! Believe with us for a few more to return, and for all relationships to be restored!

The remaining 12 prodigals.

QUICK NEWS

•        Construction Update - Construction of the next building that will house our school in the beginning, as well as dorms and the carpenter's workshop, started on February 5th. After a short pause, construction is continuing now. Believe with us for the remaining 60.000€ or $73,000 to come in so we can finish it and start our school.

•        Language Learning - Randy is studying both Bambara and French on his own. Please pray for him to master those languages.

•        First-Grade Teacher - We are still looking for a French-speaking first grade teacher to join our team in September. There is such a need for a good, Christian school where the children are treated with dignity and learn something. Many of our Muslim neighbors would send their children to our school. Please pray we'll find a teacher by fall!

•        Malian Leader Paul - Please pray for Paul who carries a lot on his shoulders. Pray for his health, strength, and for his wife to fall in love with Jesus and support him in ministry.

•        Security Situation - The presidential elections are planned for July 28th. Mali is becoming more and more radicalized by jihadists. Please pray for peace, and for protection from jihadists.

•        Carpenter - In a shocking turn of events, our Christian carpenter I have known (and helped) for many years, suddenly has no interest in working for us at all. We don't know what happened, but think he might have received a better job. Please pray we find a carpenter where Bakary can do his apprenticeship. Pray also we find the right new carpenter to work for us.

•        Miracle Baby - Please continue to pray for our promised miracle child to manifest in the natural!

•        USA & Quebec Trip - Please look to the left when we are when. We'd like to see many of our friends, and still have openings to do meetings.

•       Volunteers - Do you want to come change an orphan's life? Do you want to heal the sick? Preach the gospel to those who've never heard? Come to Mali for a season and let God change your life. No language skills needed, but French skills are helpful.

And my God will liberally supply (fill until full) your every need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Phil 4:19, AMP)

Trusting HIM,

Claudia (& Randy)