He made it!

Art arrived in Mongo last Friday, no problems. He said several times that it was hot. Mongo tends to be a bit hotter than the capital, and then living right up against the “mountain” is worse as more heat reflects off of the mountain that his Mongo housing backs up against.

Then Art had a meeting for Scripture Use that several people were a part of including a few past and present Chadian missionaries to the Dadjo. The discussion went very well among all in attendance.  Art is now starting the week going over Galations before testing it in nearby villages.

On a different note, the strikes that I mentioned about last week continue. It’s been four months that teachers and health workers have not been paid, so the strikes continue. There is a skeleton crew of health workers who have been put back on duty, but many of the hospitals have closed, and those that are open are way under staffed.

Not only is the lack of pay affecting teachers and healthcare workers, it is having a trickle down affect on much of the population. Because these people are not getting paid, they don’t have the money to buy in the markets, so the marketplace is fairly empty. And because there are not many buying in the market, the shop owners don’t have the money to feed their families AND keep their shelves full. It seems like some of them are on the brink of closing their doors. A friend that Art got to know pretty well used to have his shelves packed, but now the shelves are nearly empty.

Also, as far as the harvest of millet goes, apparently rainy season did not end very well. Several areas dried up too early in the Mongo region leaving much of the grain not ripe enough for harvesting. This is true for Izzo’s field and many around his. So it doesn’t sound like 2016 is ending up that well for many people in Chad. We can pray that they would find our heavenly Father to be the provider of all their needs.

TEAM publication

Horizons magazine from TeamThere are several mission organizations that work in Chad, and during our time there, we got to know several people who work with TEAM. We’ve shopped many times at little boutiques that became known as the team shops because they were next door to their compound, and we’ve also stayed at their guest house a couple of times. We recently came across a magazine that TEAM puts out quarterly, and we grabbed onto it as soon as we realized that this edition was exclusively on Chad. There are many interesting articles on the varied ministries they are involved in from digging wells, to Christian radio broadcasting and Bible translation, literacy to ministering to

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sad news

We just received news this morning that a good friend in Chad died last night. He was a big, yet very kind Dadjo man who has always been very helpful in gathering people to help test different portions of translated Scripture. Art got to know him over the years and has helped him several times getting medicine for a heart condition that he’s suffered from. Art has been able to spend time visiting with him on his visits back to Chad, and this friend shared with Art how he’s been reading the newly translated Scriptures. We pray that he took to heart God’s Word before his end came and that his family would be comforted and provided for in their loss.

prayer

As we are excitedly anticipating the arrival of some good friends from Chad this evening, I’m reminded of the importance of prayer.  When we were living in Chad, we would always let friends know of our travel plans so that they could pray for our trip.  And we likewise did the same for them.  Travel was not an easy thing, with rough roads, sometimes breakdowns, and sometimes also

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