If this is the first e-mail you’ve received from us since before we left ICA and Ivory coast, I apologize. It seems that the e-mails sent by satellite while on the road may not have gone out as expected.
After a frustrating 2-day trip, we arrived at a very nice hotel in Bamako around 8:00 Sunday evening. Our various missions planned for us to take 2 days to recoup followed by 2 days of ‘debriefing’ etc. Since this may be the last time some of us are together, we are taking advantage of every minute. Yesterday we joined together in our last praise and worship service as ‘ICA’ during which several shared precious promises that God had revealed to them from His Word in the last week. I was especially blessed by some of our students who shared. What a week of life application we have all experienced!
Now, for all of us, the questions begin. Not just where do we go from here, but why were we here in the first place only to evacuate again 11 weeks after school began. All of us agreed with one staff member who shared that, even though we may never know the ‘why’, we knew that we had been faithful in what God had lead us to do.
We aren’t the only ones to have come out of Ivory Coast. As we sit and talk with other missionaries and hear of their amazing ‘escapes’, we realize how ‘busy’ God has been, and once again we are awed at His faithfulness. This must be a small taste of what we will experience in heaven as we praise and worship God by relating how faithful He has been.
We hope to fly out tomorrow around midnight, although at this point the embassy is still negotiating ticket prices. We have been very blessed by their help, by the love that has been shown to us by the missionary community here in Bamako, and by all the prayers offered up on our behalf by all of you. We can’t wait to see you and share in person what God has done once again.