Posts Tagged ‘Africa’

« Older Entries

Taking a step of faith

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Wednesday, December 21st, 2011
it can be about impossible to get a group of Africans to smile for the camera! Our group has grown a little since this photo, but these our guys!

it can be about impossible to get a group of Africans to smile for the camera! Our group has grown a little since this photo, but these are our guys!

A few months ago Steve and I started talking about wanting to do a Bible Study with the group of teenage guys who spend most of their afternoons at our home.  It’s a little scary at first to think about doing public Bible teaching in a group.  We never forget that Christianity goes against their religion and their beliefs.  Their religion (and I can’t use the specific title here) affects every aspect of their life…so, openly teaching about Christ is a big deal.  Of course, we share about our personal faith with people on a one-on-one basis, but a group Bible study is a much different story.  We spent a lot of time praying about it and in the end decided that we just couldn’t go on NOT teaching them.  We needed to be faithful to speak up and see where it led us.

It has been such a great experience for our entire family.  Our boys love Thursday nights when the whole group comes over to eat.  They hang out for a while when they first get here – playing foosball with Micah or coloring with Ephraim are the big hits!  Then it’s eating all together…let me tell you, those boys can eat!  One of their moms is the woman who does the cooking for us and when she first told us how much rice she would need each week I couldn’t believe it was true.  But, each week not a drop of food is left over.

Steve is going through the book, “The Lamb”, with the guys right now.  We wanted to start with something that wasn’t extremely threatening to them.  This book is one we’ve used with our own boys to clearly explain creation, sin, sacrifice and our need for a Savior.  Much of the story the teenagers are familiar with – it’s the details that have been changed to suit their religion.  We want to start at the beginning and lay the right foundation so they clearly see where the differences started and what affect it has.  After Steve goes through the chapter he asks questions to see if they are following him…yes, we are using candy as incentive for getting the answer right (hey, whatever works!).  They are asking good questions themselves and we are so thankful that we are taking these relationships deeper.

Keep praying for this group of young men.  Pray that they would see the truth of God’s Word.  Pray that they would have the courage to seek this truth.  Pray that we would communicate in a clear way that brings God glory!

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Family, Ministry, News Article | Comments Off

It’s important to them…

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Wednesday, December 21st, 2011
Getting some action shots

Getting some action shots

Soccer is a VERY important part of life over here.  Soccer is THE sport.  I’m amazed when I see boys and young men running in 120 degree heat gearing up for a big match.  Every boy dreams of becoming a famous soccer player.  The market walls are lined with uniforms from all different countries.  When you live in a pretty remote village with no means of transporation and nothing much to do – a soccer match with a rival village team is a big deal.  Notices are written down, (and then usually brought to my house for me to make photocopies) passed around to different groups, and everyone shows up at the soccer field to watch the big game.

It’s just a gravel field at the edge of the village, just homemade goals, but you’d think they are celebrities.  If it’s going to be a big match then they rent speakers and microphone so there can be announcers yelling loudly through the whole thing.  Our village just had a week long soccer match with different grades playing each afternoon.  The boys who spend their afternoons at our house were playing one afternoon, so Steve went with the boys to cheer them on.  He took a ton of pictures and then when they came over for Bible Study he played them as a slideshow.  They loved it.

It may seem like a trival thing, but we want to be involved even in the soccer games.  Whatever is important to them needs to become important to us.  We need to show our neighbors that we care about the things they care about.  It’s the only way that we can become a part of the community.  Praying for these moments of outreach…

Such serious determination

Such serious determination

Presenting the team

Presenting the team

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Family, Ministry, News Article | Comments Off

Gathering together

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Wednesday, December 21st, 2011
Our family at our Christmas dinner during conference

Our family at our Christmas dinner during conference

School is out for a few weeks…I’ve been looking forward to this little break from the busy routine.  It’s nice to have time to visit with the people coming to the house because I’m not trying to teach the kids at the same time.  Although, now that they know I’m on a break, it seems that EVERYONE needs to come and ask me something.  I had big plans that I was going to make the kids do more schoolwork during this break so it all stayed “fresh” in their minds, but it just isn’t happening – not that the boys mind too much!

We had our annual field conference all last week.  A guest speaker and his family came over from the States to encourage us during morning meetings.  It was nice to hear a hear someone new share things from a new perspective.  It was a very full week of meetings and events, but our kids loved the non-stop action of being with their friends.  Here’s a few photos from the week…

We had a kids day with games and activities...water balloons are a big hit over here.

We had a kids day with games and activities...water balloons are a big hit over here.

Trying to catch those water balloons being launched at them

Trying to catch those water balloons being launched at them

All our missionary kids!

All our missionary kids!

The kids did a Christmas play and Malachi was a woodcutter

The kids did a Christmas play and Malachi was a woodcutter

Micah in the play at a rapping Jesus - Ephraim is one of his rapping disciples.

Micah in the play at a rapping Jesus - Ephraim is one of his rapping disciples.

All our missionary kids singing Christmas carols at the end of their play

All our missionary kids singing Christmas carols at the end of their play

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Family, News Article | Comments Off

A new brother in Christ

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Thursday, December 1st, 2011
Kinda in his fields

Kinda in his fields

We’d like to share with you about a man named Kinda and his family.  God has blown us away with how He turned a terrible situation in Kinda’s life into something really great.  A few months ago we wrote about a little boy who was near death when we took him into the hospital.  This little boy was Kinda’s son.  It was honestly such a scary time trying to get him admitted and trying to get a doctor to notice this little boy who was unconscious by the time we got to the hospital.  But, he made a slow recovery and is now back working in the fields and getting into trouble.

Since that time Kinda has visited many times.  He brings gifts of vegetables to say thank you for saving his son.  We have enjoyed getting to know him and his family through these visits.  Then Kinda began to express that he was interested in hearing more about God’s Word.  It was exciting to see how God used that medical outreach to start working in Kinda’s heart.  So, Steve and another co-worker (who speaks a language Kinda understands much better than French) began visiting him, sharing with his family about the Bible, bringing them tapes with Bible lessons on it.  There is a small group of believers meeting each week and Steve brought Kinda to join them.  This group translates from their language into Kinda’s language so that he can follow the teaching.  When a pastor came to speak to the group about a month ago, Kinda afterwards prayed with the pastor and said that he wanted to be a follower of Christ.  What a privilege to be a part of this!  Steve is continuing to meet with Kinda to be sure that he is listening to the Bible lessons and really comprehending what he is hearing.  What an exciting time!

Last week, Kinda became very ill and Steve took him into the hospital.  We have watched as his health has continued to decline and we’ve been frustrated by a lack of answers from the doctors.  Steve was just there again this morning and we learned that Kinda in fact has AIDS.  We are so saddened and discouraged to hear this.  We live in a country where the religion does not anyone to know if a person has AIDS, so it is a very hidden disease.  We only learned of it because we are the ones responsible for paying for the medical care.  We pray that we can use whatever time is left in Kinda’s life to be sure he understands the Gospel.  We ask you to be praying for Kinda and his family in the difficult days ahead.

Kinda's son, whose illness started the whole relationship

Kinda's son, whose illness started the whole relationship

Kinda's homestead

Kinda's homestead

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Ministry, News Article | Comments Off

Tiny but growing

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Monday, November 7th, 2011
Little baby Alisan

Little baby Alisan

They were each just three pounds when they came to us.  Hard to believe that two little twins had made it that far and were still alive. Their mother was exhausted and unable to provide any milk for her babies.  We decided to have the mother move from her village – which is very remote – and come live here in our village to seek care.  A family offered to have the mother and the babies move in with them while we tried to get them on the road to recovery.  We worked with our local medical clinic to make a plan.

The mom began a diet of corn, fish, rice, and peanut.  She was so tired when she first came.  They babies were starving and crying all the time.  She was trying to feed them, but was unable to give them enough.  So, she desperately needed sleep and to get her strength back.

The twins were six weeks old with sunken faces and just looked so sad.  They were so hungry!

Using formula is a rare occurance here.  Guinea does not want mothers to use it unless absolutely medically necessary. Even if they can get a doctor’s clearance, the formula is completely beyond their financial means.  The formula costs would be the same as feeding an entire family.  And, culturally, women don’t nurse other women’s babies.  So, most often, these little ones who cannot get enough milk from their mother’s will eventually starve to death.

We did not want to see that happen with these two little precious ones!  The mother started her special diet of food to gain more milk and we started giving the twins formula for every other feeding.  It was a big deal to see two babies with bottles in the village. Many other ladies came and sat around to watch and I was so excited that I could be there to show them exactly how to prepare the bottles – and I showed them how to feed them.  They drank it right down!  I was so afraid it wouldn’t work, but they were really hungry.  Their mom was so visibly relieved that she couldn’t stop smiling and thanking me.

It’s been a few weeks now and they are really growing.  They’ve gained over 2 pounds each!  Their mom is so much stronger and more rested.  They were telling me that in their village, when the ladies saw how tiny these two were, that everyone told them they needed to poison the babies.  People said that they were demons.  But, the mom said that she knew she was supposed to go for help.  She says that we missionaries were brought here to show everyone in her village that these babies aren’t demons.  Some people came from her village this past week and she showed them the twins and said “see, you believed they should die, but look at how they’ve grown”.

I love that we can show Christ’s love in ways like this.  I love that God continues to bring people into our lives and gives us the opportunity to be a blessing.  Please keep praying for this family…keep praying that through all this their hearts may become open to hearing the Gospel!

So tiny

So tiny

The twins with their mom

The twins with their mom

Growing more every day

Growing more every day

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Ministry, News Article | Comments Off

Building with a purpose

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Thursday, October 27th, 2011
Putting the trusses together

Putting the trusses together

Steve loves when his construction skills can be a part of seeing Bible teaching move forward.  He had a great opportunity to see that happen a few weeks ago.

A team of co-workers, living about 2 hours away, had just begun daily Bible teaching sessions when disaster struck.  Everyone was meeting together in a building that the village uses for community events.  Right before the teaching began, the roof fell in on everyone.  Thankfully there were only minor injuries, but looking over the damage revealed that faulty trusses were to blame. That’s where Steve was able to help.

The missionary team there talked with the village and the leaders asked to be taught how to build them correctly.  The missionary team then asked if Steve could make a trip out and see the job done.  Steve headed out with his right hand man, Mohammed, and a couple other guys from here on center.  Steve was glad to see excitement in the faces of the men as they started the project.

It was a lot of work to get everything built and set up in just over a day, but when you’ve got the huge team that Steve was working with – you can get a lot done in a short amount of time!  Steve really enjoyed his time there.  Getting to know people and teaching building skills is his favorite combination!  He’s thankful that he can use his skills to help the village move forward with their Bible teaching…

Here’s a few photos of them hard at work…

The portable command center

The portable command center

It takes a lot of people to hoist those trusses

It takes a lot of people to hoist those trusses

Working with the team

Working with the team

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Ministry, News Article | Comments Off

Guinea is back in school

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Wednesday, October 12th, 2011
Proudly showing off their purchases

Proudly showing off their purchases

School officially started this week here in Guinea and I’m not sure who’s more ready – the kids or Steve and I.  The last month has been a constant whirlwind of activity as students have tried to earn the money needed to go back to school.

Although to actually go to school is free – you have to pay for a uniform, shoes, notebooks, chalk, a little chalkboard, and you have to pay for every exam that you take.  So, for most families in our village, these costs add up to just too much.  When you are just trying to keep everyone fed, there isn’t the extra to send eight kids to school.  To get even four kids outfitted with everything that’s required it would be two months salary or more.  There are no bank loans, layaway or credit cards.  So, most families just choose the one or two that will get to go.

All that to say that the summer break can get crazy for us as everyone wants to earn enough to go to school.  Kids even as young as eight were here asking for whatever work we could come up with.  Steve got creative with some different projects and we had quite the summer work crew.  It’s great to see the teenagers and young adults working hard to earn their school money.  They kept envelopes here with us and we added to their savings.  They were all very excited to come and show us their supplies and let us know that they were set to go.

We have a couple of students who need to village this year to go on with their education.  They have had to find a room to rent with someone and are trying to adjust to living more on their own.  We told them that we would help them with an “allowance” each week so that they could concentrate on their studies and not have to worry about how to pay for that room or what to eat.  The stipulation is that they have to bring home a note from their teacher on Saturdays that tell us that they are working hard and doing well in school.  I feel a bit parental about it, but they all said it was a good idea and would make them work harder.  If you’d like to “sponsor” any of these boys, just let us know.

Of course, not everyone can work for their school fees.  We have quite a few single moms that are just unable to come up with the money to send their kids to school.  Actually, it’s not just the single moms.  Any mother – married or not – is responsible for what her kids need for school.  We sent them to town to make a list of what they would need and how much everything would cost.  We are so thankful for the generosity from people back in the States that made it possible for us to sponsor so many kids to go to school.

We were more than ready for the work projects to come to an end, the lists come to an end, and the kids to head to school.  But, again, we thank God for these opportunities to show Christ to our neighbors and be a part of our community.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Ministry, News Article | Comments Off

Grilling out

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Tuesday, September 27th, 2011
New experiences

New experiences

Yeah, I’m not sure why we feel the need to create a fire and roast hot dogs when it’s SO unbelievably hot.  Maybe because we’re from Michigan and this is just what you do in the Fall.  Maybe because I’m really sick of cooking and this was a super easy meal for a group of boys.  Whatever the reason, we created a little sensation with this “meat on a stick” thing.  As is usually the case, our family really can’t do anything just as a family.  This is good in the sense that we have lots of opportunities for building friendships and bad in the sense that it drives us a little crazy – but that’s a whole other post :)

Anyways, we made our little fire and soon we had very curious boys wondering what we were going to do with this fire.  Yes, they are used to their moms cooking over a fire, but it’s rice and sauce in pots – and there were no pots to be found.  They wondered why Monsieur Steve would be collecting small sticks and sharpening the ends – are we going hunting???  But, then I pulled out the packs of hotdogs and showed them how to put them on the stick.  This whole process of roasting the hot dogs was honestly quite hilarious.  They didn’t like the idea of patiently waiting for the whole hot dog to be ready, so they would heat it up a minute – take a bite and put it back in the fire for another minute.  I have never seen packs of hot dogs be eaten so fast.

For the most part, I love sharing our lives with the people around us.  Yes, there are the moments where I just want to hide when they are calling at the door.  But, we have such an opportunity to get to know people, to show them we care, and live life with them.  That’s what we’re here for!  The next day, people were telling me all about this new food everyone wants to try…but, I’m not sure I’m up for village wide hot dog roasts quite yet!

He's just too funny

He's just too funny

Tags: , ,
Posted in Family, Ministry, News Article | Comments Off

Not big fans of bees

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Sunday, September 18th, 2011
Still swollen more than a day later

Still swollen more than a day later

We’re not big fans of bees around here.  I have shared MANY times my extreme fear of them after Malachi nearly died from an allergic reaction during our first term.  It was honestly the scariest moment of my life when I truly thought I was going to lose my child.  Thankfully one of our co-workers had an epi-pen and we were able to get him breathing again.  We never suspected that he had any type of allergy to bees.

Even Ephraim, who is not allergic to bees, had a major run in with one a few weeks ago that had his eye swollen shut for three days.  Even the bees are tougher here in Africa!  I jokingly said that to someone the other day, but I really think it’s true.

A few days ago, Malachi was climbing high up in a tree when he suddenly jumped out of the tree screaming.  We didn’t have a moment to think of it then, but later realized that he could have easily broken his arms or legs.  He was grasping at his mouth and screaming his lungs out.  By the time we got to him we could already see where he’d been stung.  He started to go into shock and crying that he was going to die.  His vividly remembers the other time that he was stung, the intense hives and his inability to breathe.  We carried him into the shower trying to clean him off and calm him down.  His face was already swelling and the hives were popping out.  We gave him a major dose of Benadryl and didn’t leave his side.  We had his epi-pen ready, but we think that the Benadryl in that large of a dose so close to the time he was stung, probably kept his breathing under control.

He’s had a few days of a very swollen neck and face.  The next day he couldn’t really open his eyes and was pretty out of it.  He loved seeing the reaction on people’s face when they looked at him.  Micah and Ephraim just stared at him.

It’s one of those really hard situations.  I’m sure that many people back in the States would say that they would never bring their child to a country with no medical care in these type of situations.  We’ve had some really scary moments with malaria as well, and I remember people telling me that they could never take their kids away from doctors and hospitals – and instead take them to a country filled with disease.  I understand all those thoughts, believe me, I’ve had the same ones.  Am I crazy to bring my boys here?

But, at the end of the day, I have to ask myself if God is truly in control.  Is He the One who numbers the days of my life – and my child’s life?  Because if He is, then no bee can take Malachi until God says it’s time.  We can keep ourselves only in our “safe places” out of fear of what might happen – and still lose our children.  Or we can put them into God’s hands and follow where He leads – knowing that His plan will happen no matter where we live.

But, we’re still not big fans of bees.

Ending the post on a happy note, swollen but smiling

Ending the post on a happy note, swollen but smiling

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Family, News Article | Comments Off

It’s been a long month…

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Thursday, September 1st, 2011
Praying at certain times of the day

Praying at certain times of the day

This week brought the end of Ramadan for everyone in our village.  It’s been a month of fasting, special prayers, and feasting at night.  A month more dedicated to pleasing their god than any other month.  It’s been a very long month for me, so I can’t imagine how long it was for all of them.  It was filled with frustrating conversations with moms who won’t drink all day and so have sick, starving babies.  It’s filled with days of watching people work in their fields – sweating terribly – and they won’t even swallow their spit.  It’s filled with special, more fervent praying.  It’s hard for us to sit back and watch all this – watching how hard they are all trying to make their god happy.  To make themselves worthy of his favor.

We’re thankful for the opportunities to learn more about their religion, however, and to learn how we can challenge those beliefs.  We’re thankful that even though we don’t share those beliefs, we are able to still care immensely for each of them.

This month came to an end with a day of feasting, which turned out to be a tough day for us.  In past years we have been a part of the feasting that we were invited to and gave out candy to kids as part of their customs.  But we have been talking with someone who left this religion and became a believer and his thoughts have really challenged us.  He advised us not to share in the feasts by visiting with people and to not follow the culture on this day especially.  He said that we have to stand firm on this or the people will think that we are in fact being won over to their religion.  He shared a lot from his heart and since he knows so much more than us, we decided to follow his lead.

We’re glad for the opportunities to learn from the wisdom of those around us.  We pray that we can continue to use this guidance so that we may make a greater impact here.  Pray for the people here.  Pray for their hearts and minds to see that everything they try in vain to do is really worthless.  Pray that they will seek after Jesus who already did all the work for them.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Ministry, News Article | Comments Off

« Older Entries