Colorado Part 1

Hi, Lisa and I have been in Colorado the past 2 weeks. The first week was a week of debriefing/encouragement. It was a really neat time. We got to know several missionaries that we hadn't met before.

We actually took an Amtrak train out from Lansing to Denver. It was a very nice experience.

We also were able to visit friends in Colorado Springs last Saturday.



Our colleagues Charlie and Sherri and their kids.

Our nephew Andrew. We had a really neat time with him.



And one of Lisa's college friends, Liesl. Who we haven't seen in a long time. She actually sang in our wedding. It was nice to meet her husband and kids.

It is always a joy to reconnect with old friends, isn't it?

Stand by for part 2 of our Colorado trip installment. :D

Thanks for stopping by,

Tom & Lisa Seward

Goodbye to Hilary

Hilary flies back to Dakar, Senegal

No, she is not flying in this plane. (One of her Christmas presents was a demo flight with instructor from her cousin Andrew, and this is a pic from that trip.)

It is hard to send her off again, but we are so excited for her because she enjoys school at Dakar so much. We'll see her when we join her in June at the end of the school year.

Pray for her as she travels today. She is scheduled to arrive in Dakar at 5am tomorrow the 11th.

Thanks for praying,
Tom & Lisa Seward

Two stories from Kadiolo

Tom & Lisa with Ernie and Jan.

Story 1: A lady and her husband came to see Ernie and Jan. He explained that they were from a village about 15 min away. He said they were family (Aunt and Uncle) to one of our village pastors. This aunt has been sick a long time, and neither she nor her husband are believers. (in fact there are no believers in this village as far as we know.) They have been seeking treatment from a witchdoctor who is in their village. Finally they decided that was not working, so had come to see Ernie & Jan, explaining that they've decided to give the Christian God a try, and if He could heal her, their whole family would turn to Christ. So Pastor Youssouf prayed for her, and they went back to their village.

We received another note from Ernie and Jan about 3 weeks after the first. The aunt was really showing improvement. Keep praying for this lady. It would be so neat for the village to see a miracle of new creation if this family does trust Christ.

This is the drama team all dressed up for their competition theatre piece.

Story 2: We've talked several times about the drama team. They do radio theatres, and record them, and they are played on 55+ radio stations. 3 years ago, they performed theatre in the Mali national competition. They did not win, but were asked for perform for the president of Mali. This year, they entered the national competition again. They won the local and state levels. They went to the nationals, and did very well. They did not win, but Lydie Konate was given the award of best actress in the competition.

This is a pic of Lydie.

(FELICITATIONS LYDIE!!)

The competition IS a great opportunity for evangelism. Not only the audience, but also the other performers. Performers for orchestra, dance, choral, instrumental as well as theatre all represented our region (state) Sikasso. All the performers lived together for more than a month during all the competitions. Last time they held services every morning, and attracted others to join them. We'll hear more stories of how they influenced them. From the competition 3 years ago, one man accepted Christ, (he was a drummer in the instrumental groups) he moved to fourou, and was baptized.


We are here in Michigan, doing what we can to help Lisa re-establish what she can. It is a bit hard to be away from the ministries going on in Mali. But we know God is at work there, and rejoice when we hear news like this...

Thanks for stopping by,
Tom & Lisa Seward

Update on Lisa

Hi. Lisa is doing well with her 2nd cochlear implant. She is a bit bothered with it because it doesn't compare with the first one yet. But in reality, the new implant started even farther along than the first one did. (If you remember, she has had fantastic results with the first one.) So we are really encouraged that this 2nd one will be as effective as she adjusts to it.

We have a lot to thank the Lord for. Lisa has come from completely deaf to being able to hear, talk on the phone, do conversation. We thank the Lord for her progress.

Do keep praying for her, therapy is not done. Every week she advances in her adjustment to digital hearing.
Thanks for praying, you have all been so encouraging to us. We have felt Gods' love through so many of you.

in Christ,
Tom & Lisa Seward