Good friends visit :-)

We just had a visit from Glenn & Kathy. Many of you from FBC Wheaton will know and remembe them well.

For those of you farther away, Glenn & Kathy are good friends. Glenn was appointed Africa Director for World Venture at the same time we were appointed as missionaries back in '94.

At least once a year, they show up, spend an afternoon or an overnight in our home, and encourage us.

They help with accountability, evaluation of us as a couple, in our ministry, and provide an educated sounding board for suggestions/ideas.

We greatly look forward to these visits, and were so glad once again to see them on this particular trip.

Some of you were asking for a pic with the whole family. So here is us with Glenn & Kathy.
(Hilary is at boarding school, so not in the photo.)

But Glenn & Kathy came from Senegal, and had visited with her there as well.

They too are pleased with what they see in her these days.

Thanks for stopping by...

Tom & Lisa Seward

Cutting trees not a simple job!

Here is the story.

(Note this happened a week ago, but internet in Kadiolo would not permit me to post with pics at the time.)Today I was given a job by Ernie. They went to Bamako to meet Glenn & Kathy Kendall.
He had already arranged for a tree cutter to come take down a huge tree in front of their house.

He asked me to supervise.
This huge tree very close to the house, and very very close to power lines.
Note the 2nd pic. Fun! I fired the cutter twice during the job,
because he was up a tree with a running 4' chain saw. I told him to cut one (very fat) limb, just a little, and I would use the car to pull it down after he himself was to safety. He went ahead and cut through the whole thing and let it fall where it may! It was amazing that he and the chainsaw didn't fall on top of the limb they cut.

Thankfully that limb was not the complicated side of the tree. I was upset with him.
I told him that I saw his coffin open up, and asked him if he was trying to kill himself on purpose?
I was suggesting the way I did to preserve his life, everyones life on the ground, and the wire and the house. Anyway, we move on to the second limb. Same thing, a bit worse. I say, okay, you are fired. Go home!
He was not happy. I said if you won't do what I tell you to do, then why are you working here? I said if he kills anyone, including himself, who answers to the charges of negligence? Who is responsible? Me.

Our workers Jonas and Marikot wanted me to pardon (forgive) him. I said pardon, no problem.
Take him back to work? Then I am the crazy one. They said Mr. .. please. I said you will push me just until someone is hurt, won't you?
Nobody is hurt yet, they said. I said No, and lets keep it that way.
Meanwhile I decided on a compromise that allowed chainsaw man to clean up the fallen limbs, cutting them into small pieces. Then I worked with him on one of the smaller trees. Total difference, He was working as a team unit with me... Great.
So then I told him, okay, you've earned the right to finish the job with me, but we're going to work together.
And we did. All ended well. But Yikes, it was very difficult there for awhile....


We ended up felling 5 smaller fullgrown trees, and one huge monster tree. (That's one trunk and one limb in the photo, it was a two trunked monster tree.)
So he cut them partway,and I pulled them with the car.

So that is life on the mission field. I preached on Sunday, and played lumberjack on Thursday.

How is life in your department going?

Thanks for coming by!
Tom & Lisa Seward

Emergency departure for USA

Sewards Mali, West Africa, with WorldVenture
On Thursday morning, Lisa's Step-Dad, Dr. Melbourne Edward Holsteen, went Home to Heaven for Christmas after a massive heart attack. He'd been struggling with Parkinson's Disease for over eight years, and some other more recent health issues, and at the age of 82 years, he was ready to meet His Lord, face to face.
Those who spent time with him knew quickly that he was Heaven-focused, even those with whom he struck up a conversation while mall-walking every morning. While it's still a shock to write these words about his death, it's also difficult to realize that for my Mom, she faces widowhood again at Christmastime. With her own health issues, including battling breast cancer this past year, we would appreciate your fervent and specific prayers on our behalf in the coming days and weeks as we grieve and try to re-establish life for her.
I, Lisa, and our son, Ben, will be travelling to Michigan for the funeral, which will take place on Tuesday morning at the Gorsline-Runciman Funeral Home on E. Michigan Ave. in East Lansing. A viewing on Monday afternoon (2-4 pm) and evening (6-8) beforehand is available as well for anyone in the area wishing to offer condolences to me and my family. We'll be staying in the States for about a month to help Mom get settled, while Tom, Caleb, and Hilary celebrate Christmas and New Years at home here in Kadiolo, Mali.

Fetes! Again

A fete is a party/celebration. Last week we had a celebration of a wedding. This week is the church at Fourou's celebration for the groundbreaking of their new building.

This all happened 2 Sundays ago. We've been unable to upload the blog in that time. Sorry.

Hopefully, this will go as planned. :-)

Fourou Fete!
We are so excited about the church in Fourou. Lisa went over there with Ernie and Jan for the church service today. (I stayed behind because I was asked to preach at our church here in Kadiolo.)Today Fourou was celebrating their building project, today was the ceremony of the first brick.The church at Fourou is a small body of believers that began meeting about 3 years ago. They don't have the Bible in their language, and they sing out of a bambara songbook. (many of the believer speak bambara as a second language, but it is not their mother tongue...)They started with 6, and now are between 35-50 regularly. (heavy on kids, more than adults...)They had begun to pray for a missionary and about 2.5 years ago, Tom & Laura Requadt, colleagues from Ivory Coast came to work on translating their language so they can have the scriptures in their language.Shimpere is how you would pronounce the name of their language, one in the family of Senoufu languages.Today was miraculous because not only did God provide the land, (a central location in the village.) and money to help the congregation build their church, but today there were 100 believers encircling the land to dedicate it to God's work! (No, not all of those 100 believers were Fourou members, but it was a huge encouragement to that small group to have so many there. And, when ever has there been 100 believers gathered together in Fourou? Many many years, if ever at all.)So today was special. :-)

Pics:Here is a small part of 100 believers who came to encourage the church today!

Here is Jan and some of the ring of believers, beside her in blue with a gold headwrap is Aminata, the smily face believer who works in our kitchen & laundry. She was so excited to be able to go with us today to celebrate with those in Fourou!

Here is Pastor Youssouf from Kadiolo, Ernie, and in the center is Moussa.

Moussa is from Kadiolo.Moussa is a m-lim. He is a mason, and does cement construction. He has done so much good work for us. So the Fourou church has hired his group to build the church building. Moussa is a good friend, and we continue to pray for his salvation.He's a talented hard worker with a good spirit. But he needs Christ.Anyway Lisa was pleased to see him at the celebration today. He stayed throughout the whole church service, and was invited to eat with the believers afterwards.
It is always so exciting to watch God work to build his church! Pray with us as this group of believers continues to teach Gods word, and to grow in Faith!

Thanks for stopping by,Tom & Lisa Seward

Blog Issues

I'm sorry. I've been trying to upload for the last 3 days. Our internet connection has too many issues right now.
I'm getting a message that says my connection in Bamako is out of order.
However, I can occasionally get email, and I've been able to write this today. (although it would not allow me to post pics today....) So what is up with that?

Thanks for praying for us, certainly pray for this computer internet issue.
Internet is our connection home. :-)

God Bless,
Tom