Bathtime.

Bathtime
Do you ever feel like this? I don't want a bath!!
Sometimes God tries to clean up an area of our lives, or is just working on an ongoing project in your life (like patience...)
And we respond with the same response as this kid in the picture!
"I don't wanna bath!!"
I felt like this a bit this week. Too many things broken or not working at once.
Feeling a bit overwhelmed with honey-do jobs in the new house.
For example. The two toilets don't refill to flush. Water pipes to both of them leak. So I'm working on the leaks, trying to stop them. One of the pipes breaks.
The water from the water filter tastes soapy, so we decide we need to get drinking water from the old house.
The guardian is pulling water out of the well by hand, and putting it in a barrel where a small pump lifts the water up the tower to feed all the water needs in the house. But the rope breaks on the bucket, the bucket falls into the well. 18-19 yards down.
So I decide to use the van to get the drinking water at the same time as a rope to reach the bucket in the well, and get it back out again.
The van won't start. Battery is worn out.
Well, you can see how all this may have made me feel.
Maybe God allowed these things in my life that day to be like a soap scrub on my patience. Maybe I was just yelling back at Him "I don't wanna bath!!"


Sunday School


Today was church. I was helping at Sunday School. The message was about Christ's
wisdom. The lesson was how when He was 12 and being left behind in Jerusalem, but his wisdom was shown among the pharisees in the temple. I was amazed at the ability of these kids to learn their verses. The theme verse for this segment they are doing on wisdom is Proverbs 3:13-18 "Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand, in her left hand are riches and honor.
Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace."

When I am saying "I don't wanna bath!" I am rejecting Gods wisdom in my life. I am
turning away the gift of wisdom that is more precious than rubies, more profitable than silver, and yields more than gold.

Thanks for stopping by & God Bless,
Tom & Lisa Seward

Moving Day!!

Moving day!! All is not yet finished in the house, but we were ready to move in. The kids were excited about their new rooms, and wanted to sleep in them.
So we began to move beds, and a few things into the house.
The problem was that the new van didn't have the room to carry furniture, and the old one would not start. So how do you move your fridge, sofa, and a few other bigger items?
We rented a donkey cart. It worked quite well, and Lisa & Caleb got their first donkey cart ride...

One snag we have in the new house is that the well is low on water. So we need a few
weeks of rain to bring it up to normal. So in the meantime, if I put in my powerful water pump, it will slurp all the water, and damage itself with the mud at the bottom of the well. So for the moment, we are getting water the old way via buckets, and I'm using a sump pump to lift the water up to the water tower. That seems to be working.

On ministry side of life, I've been finding possible students for Danielle who will be coming, and able to give an English conversation class. Problem is, the students will all be gone, as school is out. So I've contacted 6 non-students, businessmen who are interested. I hope we can add a few more to these, so Danielle will be able to work with them.
Please pray that God will bring the students that he has prepared to study with her.
She arrive in Mali the 18th of May. Continue to pray for her adjustment to the world here.

:-)

Thanks for stopping by, God Bless,
Tom

Danielle Lillo

This is Danielle Lillo. She will be coming out to Kadiolo this summer to be a short term missionary. She'll be flying May 15th, and staying until August. Pray for her as she travels. She'll be travelling by herself, she'll stay a couple of days in Senegal with missionaries there, then come on to Bamako where we'll pick her up the 18th of May. Pray that God would bring ministry to her here. She will be at the study room, but we're praying for new people for her make contact with for the gospel.

Pray for her as she transitions quickly from life in Colorado to life in Mali.

Thanks,
God Bless,
Tom & Lisa Seward

Monkey business

We had some interesting visitors this week. A guy came by on a camel again.
Second time since we've been here that a camel guy came through.
And some friends brought a monkey to buy. It was a baby, but one of the ugly orange
monkeys. They get to be very big & ferocious. Joannie thought he was cute, and was
tempted to take him. But the dogs don't like monkeys, and they are difficult to keep, so we had to let him go. We did get a few pictures, though.

We're progressing well on the house. We should be ready to move before May is over.
We really need to make room because we have another girl coming short term for the
summer. Her name is Danielle, pray for her as she makes the transition from life at home to life in Mali.

Danielle will be working the study room teaching/practicing english. Pray that people would respond to the possibility of an English conversational class, and that their hearts would be open to the gospel. Actually, summer is not an ideal time to start a class, because students are out of school, and many go home to villages. But it is a good time to offer local businessmen time to teach them.

Calebs birthday is May 20th, he is looking forward to being 6. Also Joannie's birthday is May 22nd. We hope to celebrate these birthdays each in a special way.
Joannie has been so helpful to us while she has been here, but a birthday far away from home can be a bit depressing. Pray that the celebration goes well, and her day is special for her.

The rains have come back, bringing cooler weather, but also power outages. Our power has been out 2 times for the whole night, and several times for an hour or two. Nights are especially difficult without fans.

The kids are nearing the end of the school year. Our kids as well as the national youth. Pray for the youth as they enter exam time. It is especially challenging this year, because teacher strikes have made them miss almost 2 weeks of class recently.

Thanks for stopping by,
God Bless,

Tom & Lisa Seward