Sadjo is a believer who is also a blacksmith in our village. He walks with a walking stick because he fell out of a tree and broke his back several years ago. He limps much and looks like he is in great pain when he walks. But he has not given up. He still forces himself to walk and continue to do his blacksmith work. He has been persecuted since he decided to be a follower of Jesus Christ. There are two other blacksmiths in this village, and many go to them instead of going to a “caffre.” (This is what one is called who has left the dominant religion here. To others he is now a traitor and worse than a dog.)

We try to help Sadjo by ordering our work from him, not from other blacksmiths. Sometimes we will even buy things from him when we don’t need them, just to help him get spending money for his daily rice and sauce. Many people here are so poor that they only have enough to eat one big meal a day. The rest of the day is spent looking for locally available snacks like peanuts, bananas, oranges, mangos, cucumbers, etc., depending on the season. Sadjo comes to visit me on my porch a couple times a week. He lives on the far end of the village, so it is a long, painful walk for him.

When he came last week, we were just buying a cassava and fish meal that a village lady comes around selling once a week. Michelle had already made supper, but JJ really wanted some, so I told her to buy two plates, one for JJ and one for Sadjo. He was very happy. In fact after he ate, he thanked us and showed me a paring knife he had made that day. He explained that he was going to show me and ask me if I wanted to buy it so he could buy a plate of rice. He hadn’t eaten all day. But he decided not to, for some reason he did not feel comfortable with the idea. Then all of a sudden, he had a free plate of food before him! He was praising God for this provision!

He asked me to pray for him and his older brother. They had a fight the previous day and his brother hit him in the jaw with a stick, cracking his tooth. He admitted that he had been angry with his brother and provoked him. He asked me to pray for him, that God would help him with his temper. We had a good time of prayer together. Then I took out a cassette tape I had found in a box of things from several years ago.

I had been wanting to put it on to see what the message was. It was a Bible message from a Guinean pastor, and was in the Susu language, which Sadjo speaks fluently (and which I also speak, but less than fluently…) I just felt led to put it on and see if it would speak to his heart. The opening illustration told of three young men who found a treasure on a hill. They decided one of them should go down the hill to town to buy some wine so they could celebrate. The one who went down decided to put poison in the wine so the others would die and the treasure would be his alone. While he was gone the other two decided to beat the other one and kill him so they could split the treasure two ways, not three ways. When the first one returned with the wine, the other two killed him immediately. To celebrate, they both drank the wine and died of the poison. So now none of the three had any treasure!

Sadjo quickly pushed the stop button and told me he must borrow this tape and listen to it at home. I let him, and the next time he visited he said it was such a good message! So the meal and the Bible message were all divine provisions for Sadjo that day! Praise God for His timing.

Thank you for praying for my last trip to Guinea and Senegal, from May 30 to July 12. It was the longest Michelle and I have ever been apart in our 30 years of marriage! But the Lord blessed, and got me safely home in time to help out with the last four days of wedding preparations.

My flights from Dakar to New York to Boston went off with no delays; the bus from Boston to Concord was a half an hour late due to heavy traffic and road construction. Michelle was there to meet me at 7:00 p.m. at the bus station and we went out to dinner to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary (which was that very day, July 12!)

The highlight of my last three weeks in Senegal was a visit to the Konyagui work, nine hours drive from Dakar. There we heard from a local Konyagui believer that a delegation of Konyagui men, from a town 30 minutes away, came and asked to be taught the Bible! They even gave him a piece of paper with the names of all 45 people who have expressed an interest in knowing the message of the Word of God! What a blessing to see the Lord opening such doors of opportunity. Pray for the 60 Konyagui villages (in Guinea) that have no gospel witness.

UPDATE ON GUINEA ELECTIONS

Guinea did hold elections as scheduled this month, but not one of the 24 candidates received the required 50% minimum of the votes to be declared president. So it will go to a second round of elections, with the top two vote-getters having a run off.

Pray for peaceful elections (early August?) and for all parties involved to accept the outcome. This is the first time in the country’s history that there have been free elections with neither a standing president nor a military leader as one of the candidates. Pray that our flight July 31 will not be delayed due to any election problems.

TWO YEAR TRIP TO WEST AFRICA

This time Michelle and Janelle will travel with me, on July 31, for a two year term of service in Guinea. Janelle will graduate June 2011, from the mission school, and then stay with us for one year. Pray for safety in travel, and for fruitful ministry as part of our mission’s West Africa Leadership Team (FLT). In the next update we will give you an overview of what our responsibilities will be over the next two years. Thank you for your prayers and support!

Dan and Michelle Dore

Praises: -Three safe flights from: Boston to Paris, Paris to Dakar, Dakar to Conakry, on May 31 and June 1. -Safe trips to all of the villages where our church planting teams work (most were made by motorcycle—only got rained on once.) -Good opportunities to preach (in French) in a small tribal church, and in the larger church in the town of B. -Safe flight from Conakry to Dakar.

Prayer requests: -Pray for presidential run-off in Guinea this Sunday, June 27. Pray for peace, and for a leader to emerge that will be good for the country, and who will continue to uphold freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, etc. -For the time in Senegal to be profitable. Three days of leadership meetings for the West African Field Leadership Team, four days of church planting seminars, one week of village visits. -For Michelle as she is working with Danielle on wedding plans in NH. -For Dan to not be delayed on his return flight from Dakar to NY on July 12 (the wedding is July 17!)

Thank you for praying for us.

Upon returning to NY after spending six weeks serving the Lord in that Christian camp in northwestern Ontario, Rochelle and Seth finally got married. The big day, August 15, was sunny and hot in the beautiful hill country of upstate New York.  It was a God-honoring ceremony, in a beautiful outdoor location.  Pray for Seth and Rochelle as they start off their new life together as a married couple.  They plan to live and work in NY for one year and then continue their training with New Tribes Mission.

by Dena McMaster

The Jalunga people of Senegal are discussing God’s Word among themselves and wondering what to do. They have rejected the message but God’s Word continues to challenge their hearts.

Missionary Aaron Hefner was disappointed at the lack of response after he taught evangelistic Bible lessons and presented the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. But as missionary Penny Warner continues to translate the Bible, the team hopes that God’s Word will penetrate Jalunga hearts and change lives.

Because of the rejection of God’s truth by the Jalungas, Aaron and his wife Lindsay are planning to go to another people group and learn that language and teach evangelistic Bible lessons.

But they extended their stay in the village until the end of the year so Aaron can finish teaching evangelistic lessons to Sirifu, a young man who was away from the village during most of the teaching and asked to hear the whole message. Pray that Sirifu will hear the entire message and trust Christ as his Savior. Pray also that he will be an example and testimony to those who chose to reject the Gospel message.

There is some hope for the Jalungas. Last year Penny taught her friend Xonidii the evangelistic lessons and Xonidii trusted Christ. A few years ago Daxaa, one of the village elders, trusted Christ. However, these two believers have not been able to influence others to consider Christ.

Penny is working on the book of Acts and hopes to have it finished and ready to be checked by another experienced translator soon. As she reads the translated Scriptures to Jalungas, pray that God will use His Word to convict them of truth and righteousness

The believers understood that baptism is a declaration of faith, but not necessary for salvation in Christ.
 
March 24, 2008
by Patrick Hatcher

The Tanda Church in Guinea recently had a baptism for 11 believers that helped to show the people’s understanding of the Gospel.

The ceremony had been postponed for a while so the entire Tanda missionary team could be present.

Before the ceremony, the NTM missionaries "sat down with each believer to check their understanding of the biblical reason for baptism," wrote Dave and Lori Hernandez.

"They wanted to make sure the believers, having been brought up in a very ritualistic culture, clearly understood that baptism is a declaration of faith and an outward symbol of an internal spiritual truth, but that it is not necessary for salvation in Christ."

It’s a good thing the missionaries did that.

"In the end, there were a few that did not truly understand the meaning and reasons for baptism, so they were encouraged to keep pursuing God’s Word and see if baptism would come at a future date," wrote Dave and Lori.

The rest were baptized, and we celebrate with them on their public act of inward faith and trust in Jesus.

Pray for the growing Tanda church, that they would be encouraged and challenged with the Gospel.