Letters to African Women

 

One of my roles as Regional Coordinator for Women Serving God  in French speaking Africa, is to write monthly letters to our women in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Togo.  These are emailed to the women who have been selected as coordinators for the WSG ministry in their respective countries.  They in turn, share the message with their leadership teams, or use it as devotional material for women’s study groups. 

The wonderful result of doing this for the last 5 years is that we have developed deep friendships!  The letter below is from October.  Next time, I will share some of their responses back to me! 

 

To our dear sisters in Christ,

October 2011

We rejoice in the LORD to hear of your ministry through  email news.  The Lord is advancing His kingdom through your work by His Spirit.  Our prayers are with you continually.

I want to thank you, pastors and women, for the prayers for our family.  We have been sustained by the faithful prayers of God’s people.  As my husband’s earthly tent is decaying, his spirit grows stronger in the Lord day by day. He anticipates being in the presence of Christ with joy. (2 Cor.4: 16-18)

This morning before I came to write to you he was struggling with pain and nausea. He asked that I read the Psalms to him.  Though I have times of being very sad, I am also aware of the immeasurable privilege of walking with this godly man during this time in his life.  It is a precious privilege to help give strength to him through God’s word and to pray with him and for him.

The Lord also strengthens me with His Word.

How blessed are those whose strength is in You, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage!  Passing through the valley of Baca (weeping) they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.  They go from strength to strength, until each appears before God in Zion!  Ps 84: 5-7 NIV

“Blessed.”  This word speaks of the divinely given well-being that belongs only to the faithful in Christ.  We realize that we have no strength apart from Him.  And when we rely on His strength, we are stable, we prosper spiritually.   We are blessed.

“their hearts are set…”  Here we question – what are our hearts set on?  Material blessings?  Clinging to the earth below us?  David’s heart was set on the fact that he knew he was just passing through this life.  His heart was not set on “staying” but on “passing through” this world to Zion!  Praise God.  This is NOT our home!  This imperfect, painful, difficult life is not our final destination.   Alleluia!

His promise is clear.  At the end of our journey as pilgrims on this earth – each of His Children will see him face to face. What comfort! What divine anticipation!

Our home is not in this world ladies , our home is with God Himself.

“Therefore – encourage  each other with these words.”  1 Thess.4:28

Your sister in Christ,

Gaynelle

Let’s BEGIN in the MIDDLE

The challenge of telling a story in  motion is knowing at what point to begin!  I suppose this time, I should just  jump right in the middle.

In 2006, Women Serving God (WSG ) began serving  in the French speaking  African countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Togo.  In French, Women Serving God is: 

Femmes au Service de Dieu. 

Through the venue of Teacher Training Workshops – our WSG team has travelled to all of these countries teaching lessons on …

Bible study methods

Teacher training techniques

Storytelling

Small group discipleship

Teaching oral learners

Servant Leadership

 

In the last few weeks, the WSG team in  the coastal city of Lomé , Togo, led  workshops in the towns of  Kara, Sotouboua,  Pagala (68 km w. of Sotouboua), and Dapaong teaching a total of 168 women representing 55 churches!                                                                       

 

 

These women have eagerly followed Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 2:2 … “ the things that you have heard me say … entrust to reliable  men who will also be qualified to teach others.”

They are reaching women whom we cannot reach, so that all will  be strengthened in their faith, grow in the Christlikeness, and become a blessing in their homes and communities!

There are so many to thank  for ministry such as this.  My first thank you goes to the Lord Jesus Christ, who has called me to continue the ministry He had while on earth.  And not only does He call, He enables. We  jumped into the on going ministry the women already were doing in Togo – adding teaching materials, teaching helps,  and instruction in godly living.  It is really  like  sowing seeds.  We add seeds, others water, God causes the growth.   

Thank you for sending me!

Many of you have contributed to the African women’s work in Togo and other countries.  Because of your gifts, they have had funds to travel, to print materials for the teaching sessions, as well as aid women and children who are suffering.

As you view the picture of their recent teaching workshops, see if you can guess where this team cut their costs!  The answer will be on the web album. Check out the TOGO – WSG album.   https://picasaweb.google.com/113807244223252897201  

Until next time ….

Joyfully serving the Savior,

Gaynelle

 

 

from Steve

When I met Gaynelle I heard about her experiences that summer in the Peruvian jungle when she was just 11 years old. Her parents were helping Wycliffe missionaries. She was ready to sign up to be a missionary right then. And more than once she heard about the trip I took around the world during a semester at Baylor. I fell in love with Africa during that time, in fact I ended up being a groomsman for an African friend in his wedding after that.

Gaynelle and I joined SIM in 1987 and really thought that we would spend out adult lives living and serving in Africa. We have, but it has taken on a different form since then. We took our family of 6 to Côte d’Ivoire in 1990 to live 500 miles upcountry and work with the Muslim Dioula people. We had some very good learning experiences there. But since 1994 we have had a US based international ministry.

I have been involved in a pastoral training program in French speaking African countries since 2000. Gaynelle desired to continue ministry in Africa, and did accompany me on a few occasions, but her primary ministry was with our family as the kids were going through high school and then on to college.

Often when I would travel to Africa, the women would ask me, “Where is your wife? When is she going to come and to teach us?” We did plan to add a women’s component to the ministry, but didn’t know when we would begin.

The Beginning came at a very unusual time.

In November 2005 I received the crushing diagnosis of Kidney Failure and Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow. I was in intense treatment at the Myeloma Center for Research and Development in Little Rock, Arkansas for the first 4 months of 2006. I had a stem cell transplant which didn’t work and survived a stroke during dialysis treatment. Things didn’t look good for me. We anticipated that I would live a few more months at best per the doctors.

We left Arkansas and returned to Texas for me to recover from all the treatments and just spend the rest of my time together as a family. As soon as I was strong enough to function well, I told Gaynelle, “I want to help you get the women’s ministry started while I am still here.” It seemed ludicrous to some, but it was very important for me to be part of this. It had been our plan all along for Gaynelle to begin work again in Africa, but be based in the US, just like me. We just hadn’t gotten it going yet.

From there the Lord began to open doors. You can read all about that in her achived letters. I have been so very encouraged to see how the ministry has developed, and still to this day endorse all that she is doing – in fact, I encourage her all the more to continue and pray that she will long after I am gone. The Lord is increasing and blessing the ministry of women in 4 countries – and she is going to a 5th one this year! Will you pray for her as she continues? I hope so.

Her husband of 36 years – Steve

Beginnings

Where does a person's story begin? At which beginning?

When I try to pinpoint the exact "beginning" of God's call on my life to serve as a missionary - I can think of several beginnings to this calling.

Does this story begin when Steve and I knew that we wanted to serve as missionaries in Africa?

Or did it begin outside of Yarinacocha, Peru, where as a young girl I accompanied my dad down a river to visit a tribe with small pox in a remote village?

Perhaps the true beginning was later, as my parents followed me down a church aisle. At 11 years old, I knew I wanted to give my life to serve in missions. I chose to be a missionary.

What does it mean when Jesus said "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last?”

For me it is an understanding that all of my beginnings are in the One Who called me. For He has said in His word, the Bible:

"Before I was born the Lord called me; from my birth He has made mention of my name." Is. 49:1b