Posts Tagged ‘prayers’

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

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At the rivers edge

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Saturday, July 23rd, 2011

Getting ready to take the plunge

Getting ready to take the plunge

A few weeks ago we were able to be a part of something really great.  The local church in town had 15 people who were ready to be baptized.  This is a very big deal in Guinea.  I know, it’s a big deal everywhere – but here, being so public about your life puts you at great risk and can have severe consequences.  For most of us, we’re familiar with baptisms within the safety of our own church walls.  Here, it’s a trip to the river and you stand before everyone and tell them that you’ve put your faith in Christ.  Not an easy thing to do in a country like this.  And we sure made a lot of noise as we went in a caravan of vehicles from the church to the river.  In pure Guinea style, all the teens packed into the back of pick-up trucks and sang, clapped and yes, even danced as we drove down the road.  Everyone gathered at the rivers edge as the pastor shared from the Bible and prayed for each one being baptized.  Micah’s drum teacher, Samuel, was the first one to go and had asked us to take lots of pictures.  Each one came into the water, shared a brief testimony (which was being translated into a few languages for everyone else) and then they were baptized.  Every one on shore sang, clapped and ran to hug each one as they came out of the water.  It was a really great thing to be a part of.  Sometimes I get bogged down in the thoughts of how things aren’t moving fast enough, but then there these moments that remind me that God is in control and at work here…even when it’s not on in our time frame!

The pastor praying before the baptisms

The pastor praying before the baptisms

Being congratulated by members of the church

Being congratulated by members of the church

People from the church there to encourage the new believers

People from the church there to encourage the new believers

The whole group together afterwards

The whole group together afterwards

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Getting a name

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Thursday, July 21st, 2011

 

 

Shaving the baby's head

Shaving the baby's head

It’s hard to believe that it’s been over a month since Fatou’s baby was born.  He is just a bundle of cuteness and I love any time I get to spend time with him.  I have been meaning to write about his baptism for a while.

 

On the 8th day of a baby’s life the village comes together to celebrate the new baby.  Prayers are said, the name is announced and then everyone shares some rice and sauce.  We were excited to share in this special day with the family.  Since everything is on it’s own time schedule, someone in the family to get us to tell us it was time.  When we arrived the family was finishing up the cooking in the back and the men were gathered out front.  Steve took his place with the big men of the village and I headed inside the house to see how Fatou was doing.  All the women were bustling about trying to finish up and get ready.  The ladies sit on one side of the circle and the men sit on the other.  The mother sits on a mat in the middle of the circle with another women who holds the baby for her.  The religious leader stands up, says their religious prayers, admonishes everyone to behave correctly and then he announces the name of the baby.  The baby is usually named after someone in the family that they would like to honor.  In this case, it was after Fatou’s uncle who had died not long ago and so there was wailing in his honor.  Then everyone gives the mother money to help her pay for the things that the baby will need.

 

It’s about this time that the bowls of rice start getting passed out, but we looked up to see huge storm clouds rolling in.  Fatou wanted pictures taken with people, so we were snapping them quick as we could before the rain hit.  It was so funny to see these groups of people in all the rooms of the house huddled around bowls of rice and sauce waiting out the storm.  Even though it got cut a little short, it was still a great celebration of little Daouda’s life.

 

We’re excited to be a part of the family and this little guy’s life…thanks for praying that we can have a positive influence in the lives around us!

 

 

Crying in memory of the person that the baby is named after and money being given to the mother

Crying in memory of the person that the baby is named after and money being given to the mother

 

 

Daouda at one month

Daouda at one month

 

 

Fatou and I trying to get a picture before the huge storm hit

Fatou and I trying to get a picture before the huge storm hit

 

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3 weeks…

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Saturday, March 26th, 2011
We seem to always attract a following - they absolutely love the camera

We seem to always attract a following - they absolutely love the camera

I feel like we’ve been in Guinea a lot longer than just three weeks.  3 weeks seems like not near enough for all the things that we’ve experienced so far.  3 weeks of over 100 degree days doesn’t seem like much – until you are in the middle of them!

We spent a few days doing some repairs to our house and thankfully were all moved in within a week.  It has been such a blessing to be in our home and have water and power.  We remember very clearly what it was like when we arrived in Guinea the first time and to have these things has definitely made the transition easier.  One of the guys helping us moving in was in awe of ready to assemble furniture like the shelves we brought back with us.

We’ve settled right back into ministry and life here in Guinea.  I guess this is why it seems like we never left…we’ve basically just gone back to life being just the way it was before we left.  Lots of projects to be done – especially in Construction for Steve.  He’s taken inventory of his shop and he’s ready to get out there and get to work!

The village seems very glad to have us back.  They gave us a few days of just coming to greet and say hello, but now many are coming because of sickness and hunger.  We’d appreciate your prayers for wisdom as we seek the best answers for each individual.  We want to be generous, but also do what is best for them in the long term.  We want to build relationships in such a way that we are not simply “the answer”, but that we are the friends who lead them to the true answer, Jesus Christ.

We have a lot going on in the next few weeks…building projects, meeting up with other missionary teams in other villages to seek how we can be a blessing to them, a youth outreach in the village, a church dedication in another village, and the constant requests for help in the village – we are trying to do more than just listen to the request.  One of us tries to get them something to eat and sits and talks for as long as the person needs to stay.   This is not easy!  Especially to our American mindsets that have an agenda for the day – and with three kids that need a consistent routine.

Pray for us!  Pray that we would work as a team to see our goals accomplished.  Pray that we would look to God to meet our needs and give us joy.

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Finding our vehicle…

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

Us with our incredible new vehicle

Us with our incredible new vehicle

We have seen God answer a huge prayer request.  We shared earlier that we had received the funds that we needed to be able to purchase a vehicle for our ministry in Guinea.  Now came the huge task of selecting just the right one.  We are thankful for a mechanic from our church who offered a lot of his own time to help Steve in this process.  They researched online, talked with dealers, thought through many of challenges that vehicles face in Africa and decided on certain type of vehicle.  Then they started searching for  Mitsibushi Montero’s that were for sale within a few hundred miles of our house.  It seemed like God was leading them to one about six hours from our house – all the pieces just kept falling into place and other doors for other vehicles were closing.  After many phone calls and discussions, Steve and our mechanic friend met the seller of this vehicle at the halfway point and they made the deal.  This is when we found out that the seller goes to church with many New Tribes missionaries – pretty cool the way God brings people into our lives!  Steve will be taking the vehicle to N Carolina in January to put it on the boat to ship over to Guinea.  We are so excited about this vehicle.  It will be such a huge blessing to us in the village.

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Good things are happening!

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Monday, October 25th, 2010
Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord!

A few weeks ago we sent out an email update asking our team to be praying with us about our return to Guinea.  We asked for prayer for the funds needed for a vehicle and to see a dramatic increase in our monthly support.  We feel privileged to be able to go to our team and ask for their prayers knowing that they will be speaking to God on our behalf.

It’s also a privilege to be able to write them all again and have them rejoice with us over seeing God at work.  Since we wrote to them a few weeks ago and asked for their prayers we have seen some great things happening.  First we received the amazing news that one of our supporters was donating $15,000 for a vehicle.  You can imagine how overwhelmed we were!  It’s a blessing beyond belief and we pray that this vehicle will be a blessing for those in our village as well.  Steve has been looking into the best choice for us and we’re hoping to find something here and ship it over before we leave.

We have also received another large gift towards our one time needs.  We’ve been able to pay off our return flights and are now able to start setting aside funds for all the things we need to purchase before we go back.

We’ve also seen a few new supporters come on board this month!  It’s exciting to see people getting excited about what we’re doing and wanting to be a part of it!  Keep praying for an increase in our monthly support!  We so appreciate all the prayers!

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Believers worshipping together

Posted by Steve and Casey Cretsinger on Friday, January 8th, 2010

IMG_4989There are so many difficult things to living here.  There are some days that we feel just throwing up our hands and saying it’s all too difficult.  But, there are also the days when we see God working in a very real way here and we are encouraged to keep going.  This past weekend, Steve took a handful of believers from our village to meet up with believers from a couple of other villages so that could have a special Christmas service all together. (more…)

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