life

Just wanted to post a couple random pics of life in Ayorou. We are continually amazed at how challenging, exciting, and fun life here is each and every day! God continues to show us his great faithfulness!


As always, packages make our home feel a little more...well...like home! There is just something right about opening a cabinet and seeing one of most beautiful sights known to man: the Twinkie! Thank you Gilliams and Coyles! Also thanks to Tara Perry and our awesome friends and families who keep us stocked!


Parker, Cephas and I were thinking about starting a band. This would definitely be the cover!


Meet Soumelya (just call him Samuel). We call him "Bandio" which means "The Bandit." He keeps life interesting! He can be quite the little rascal but (as you can see) his smile just sort of melts your heart. I usually have to carry him out of our compound at least once a week for calling down curses on the other kids when he gets mad but through it all, God is softening his heart. We are so amazed at how God is transforming the next generation of Ayorou with grace and love (two brand new concepts)!



Here are some of those kids! after a long day of language, one of our favorite things to do is just open the gate and let the kids file in!

Thank you for your prayers! God is using them to transform Ayorou into a place where Jesus will be exalted to His rightful position as the Name above all Names!

ayorou's 1st VBS

A volunteer team from McElwain Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama conducted the very first VBS in Ayorou. While looking very different from a VBS in the States, it did contain all your typical VBS ingredients - crafts, songs, recreation, Bible stories & crazy kids!

Playing freeze tag African style!


Coloring Bible story pictures


50 kids under a hangar coloring pictures


Red Light, Green Light anyone?


The fellas hanging out after an exciting day of VBS.

never a dull day

We mentioned in a recent newsletter about our house having to be re-wired. Well, the process has officially begun!


Can we just tell you how much we love Annette Hepner & Mandy Hansel? These two fabulous ladies hooked us up with some major care packages. We live for the days that the postman calls to tell us a package has arrived!


And Miss Mandy Hansel (one of our recent volunteers) and Mark shared a love for the great film “Monty Python.” She told him that any fan should not be without it!


A few days ago we had a much needed rain storm and it brought some cool weather. As you can see on the thermometer, it got down to 87 degrees!! That was enough for a jacket. Brrrrrrr!!!

sowing the seed

In an oral culture, one of the main ways to abundantly sow the seed is to pass out cassettes with Gospel presentations or readings of Scripture. One of our neighbor kiddos brought his tape to our house the other day because he wanted to hear about Jesus. His name is Ibrahim (Songhai for Abraham) and is very interested in learning. Please pray for him as we feel he is very close to believing.


These kids dropped by when Ibrahim brought his cassette. We took a little break after the cassette finished to show them America through the eyes of a Reader’s Digest. They were quite impressed! And for some reason, they love to pose with their “serious” faces.


This is Ibrahim. Burn that smile into your minds as you pray for him to know and believe that Jesus is indeed Lord of ALL! And then pray for yourself about coming this way to meet Ibrahim face to face or the countless other children who are just a cassette away from hearing about Christ.

5 wonderful years

On June 29, Mark and I celebrated 5 wonderful years of marriage. Of course our plans had to be tweaked a little since there were 2 electricians at our house on that day!

Our WONDERFUL team leaders, Brad & Sally, provided us with a delicious “anniversary” basket. And it is just sparkling grape juice, people!


Of course we’ve got to play with our fruit before we eat it.


I guess we just get a wee bit excited about presents!


And of course an anniversary cannot be complete without Mark’s favorite, Parmesan Chicken. And it’s coke!! We like to at least try to make things look fancy!