Youth Camp

Hi. This past week was a busy one for our family.The youth were at youth camp in Sikasso. The Alliance church put on this huge youth event, and we took our youth. Between our church and the Alliance church in Kadiolo, we took 34 youth! We rented this bus to send everyone on.
Loading it was pandamonium, of course, so unfortunately I didn't get a pic of our whole group. Oops.There were 230 people at youth camp this year! We were the biggest group outside of Sikasso. (The Sikasso youth could come to camp on their bicycles!)

Camp involved a lot of singing, dancing, and eating of course.There was also a great opportunity for the youth to hear the best Bible teachers available. There were two sessions in the morning,and a session in the afternoon, followed by some free time, and a big session in the evening. The theme for the week was:"Youth, what are you doing with the gifts God has given you?"A very fitting theme. It also allowed the teachers to talk about all the different areas in your life that God has given, and how to live those areas as a Christian.

Here are some of the girls from our group in the session.

The afternoon dating topic was particulary heated with questions and answers. Several questions embarrassed the leader in front. Finally, they called me up. "Hey, white guy. come and answer this question for us." So I got to come up and answer if it was okay to hug or kiss someone you aren't married to. I was really explaining differences between western dating culture on TV, and western dating culture as accepted by Christians in the church. Fun.It was a fun afternoon.

The next day, I got sick. So I was hampered a lot. I struggled through the night, but wasn't any better. Ernie had to come to Sikasso on an errand, so I ended up going home with him to Kadiolo.
I was sad to miss half of the camp week, But was glad to have participated as much as I did. Next year, I'll be there for the whole thing. Freddy tells me after speaking a bit in the sessions, they'd like me to be a teacher maybe next year. That could be fun.

Here are some of the pics,Food is done differently at a Malian camp than an American one.Everyone brings their own plate & utinsels, and scoots off to eat with friends. Food was often rice & sauce, of course. One day they had cabato (Corn dumplings with sauce.) One day they had spaghetti as well. They had 30 women from Sikasso churches who volunteered to cook for camp. Here is q pic of two of our guys enjoying riz gras. (fried rice with meat.)

Rice is ready, come and get it!

Camp closed out Sunday night with a campfire, and an all night sing n' dance. Our kids arrived back in Kadiolo on Monday afternoon, tired, but full of the joy of the Lord! Here is a pic of some of our group at Camp.


Thanks for stopping by:Tom & Lisa Seward

4th of July Party

4th of July

We had a big party this week for 4th of July. If you live in a capitol city where there is a US Consulate, Americans are often invited for hot dogs/hamburgers grilled on a bbq. We were far away from Bamako where the Consulate is, even though we were invited, too.So we had our own party. Tom & Laura came from Fourou, Ernie and Jan came, we invited our friends the Curry's. So we had a lot of people over. We grilled meat kabobs, and enjoyed a variety of potluck cuisine! We had time to talk, play some card games, and enjoy each others company a bit. No fireworks, but a good time was had by all.Here is a pic of Ben watching over the brochettes (Kabobs.)They were tasty. Want to come visit next 4th of July.

The party was made even better as we made the day before a plumbing party. Ernie and Tom helped me get Lisa's kitchen sick operating properly.We also got our washing machine and water pump hooked up.(Its amazing how productive 3 men can get when spurring each other on to love and good deeds in house repair!) Of course it did cost us our bathroom sink, but that will be back in use again soon!

I only lamented Cornerstone for a little bit. (I, Tom try to do Cornerstone music festival whenever possible. It happens over 3th of July weekend, and it makes me homesick for such goings on.)I sure miss stretching my borders, and passing time with fine brothers and sisters in Christ there. (See ya ASAP, friends!)

Thanks for stopping by,Tom & Lisa Seward

Schools Out!

School is out now. All the kids are happy. We were invited to the ceremony at the school, celebrating the end of the school year. We went, and sat under big tents, watching songs, theatre pieces, and dancing. Then Tom was called up to give away honors awards for each class.

I did a good job at shaking hands and saying "Bara Akani" (Good job!) in Bambara.

Here is a couple of pics of some of our church kids who go to that school.

(Ecole Fraternite. "School of Brotherhood." is a private school that many of our kids go to.)

We thank God that the school year ended up well. It seems like everyone is getting their grades,

and there won't be political issues.

Our high school students do not have their results yet.

The teachers are striking against the government, having not been paid for the years work yet.

So they are holding grades until being paid. We hope grades come out by August. The kids have to make their plans to go to univeristy in the fall, based on whether they passed or not. They are also counting on the same government that didn't pay the teachers to pay them a student salary if accepted into the government grant program.

Also, Hilary said that it was good that her picture hasn't been in the blog for a long time, so I just have to add in a new one. :-) Dads always do these things, don't they? Anyway, you may like to see a new pic of our family. :-)

Thanks for stopping by,

Tom & Lisa Seward

God is at work in Southern Mali

God is at work in Southern Mali.

Yesterday, our friend from Loulouni came by. He is the believer who was a m-lim teacher, and heard the radio stationprograms, visited 2-3 times, and accepted Christ. We've been able to get him started on a basic theology correspondence coursein Arabic. So he came by to talk, very excited about his studies, and asked me to print some more off for him.He said his job as a teacher is over. (When he became a Christian, the mosque kept him as a teacher because they needed teachers,but demoted him to younger students to minimize his corrupting them.) He is happy about his job being over because it wasdifficult for him to continue teaching what he no longer believes to be true.
He wants to move his family to Kadiolo to better learn and grow in is faith. This presents a problem/prayer request. We need to be able to help him start up some kind of mini business so he can support his family.We really need about $400 to help him get started. We're not sure yet what kind of business fits him, although we know he can teach people to read Arabic. Pastor Youssouf would like to see him get trained as an evangelist/pastor because many will listen to him because of his strength in Arabic.

If anyone is touched and would like to be involved in this process, please write usand we'll see how we can proceed to help him in a cautious manner. Please pray that this would be a success story,that he would be able to be self-supporting.

Also, about three weeks ago, Tom went on an outreach weekend with a drama team of Christians from our local church.They spent 4 nights in a village, each night either performing drama or showing evangelistic films.This village, Woroni, has one believer and no church at this point.Many people came out each night to see the dramas, and to watch the films.Villages are fun because so many people come out, especially to see live drama.The main night we had at least 500 people out to see the drama, and stayed to watchthe film about a witch doctor who is powerless against Christians, and becomes one himself.

One young man, who lived in the courtyard of the Christian who was hosting us,decided to accept Christ. His name is Abdoulai. He comes from an animist family.He asked for prayer because he anticipated opposition from family members.He also mentioned that he was appying to the military, and if he was accepted, he would beviewed as an adult. He explained that this would be a good thing because it would minimize the family opposition.So we prayed with him, not sure how strong his commitment would be. (As you may have experienced, sometimes people pray to receive Christ, but get flaky later...)

So it is now approximately 3 weeks later, and the Christian man who hosted us came to Kadiolo to visit.He said that Abdoulai is doing very well in his faith. He said that Abdoulai's family members are pleased about his becoming a Christian, because everyone is talking about how his life has changed for the better.He explained that Abdoulai is now at a 2-week camp trying to be accepted into the military.But in a way, that's a shame because his new life in Christ is such a witness to his family. I was explaining how exciting it is because only the Holy Spirit living in a new Christian can makesuch marked changes in one's life as he is being made into a new creation. I said that is true evidenceof God being active in Abdoulai's life.

Please pray for Abdoulai, and his whole family. With these two believers, we have the beginnings of a body of believers in Woroni; and with their local witness in the community, who knows what God can do?

Quickly, here is another radio station story about another village 35 km away from us. A Fulani man is working in his fields,radio in hand, as he herds his cattle. He is very touched by the messages he is hearing, so he asks his friend,"Have you heard the messages from Radio Yeelen? They are very interesting, and I would like to know more about these people's God."His friend scoffs, "Don't have anything to do with those people, they're crazy."He shares the same interest with at least two others, who respond in the same way. So a few days later, he doesn't go to the field, butcomes to Kadiolo. He meets with Pastor Youssouf, and in the courtyard in front of the radio station accepts Christ.Fulani people are extremely resistant to the gospel. They are a least evangelized people group, less that 1% Christian.But God doesn't care about statistics, this man was called to Christ while he was in his fields, herding cattle, a long way from the nearest local church!
God Bless,Tom & Lisa Seward