Dear friends and family,

A Good Samaritan Story in Gambia

As we prepared for our morning walk, Sol and I held hands and prayed: “Lord, show us what you want us to do today; let us see with your eyes and help us to be your hands and feet wherever we go.”

It was in early January, one morning during the “cold season” in Gambia, when the temperature gets down to the mid 60’s and we get to enjoy the cool ocean breeze as we go on our morning walks. We approached an area by a canal full of water when we noticed two men talking and pointing to a man’s figure in the distance on the ground. Sol translated for me that they were saying “there is a man sitting in the dirt that is not well, he must be “mentally unstable” so they were keeping their distance from him.

We quickened our steps and cautiously got closer to the man, only to realize that he was wet and shivering and could not even stand up to his feet. We stopped next to him and then we realized the other two men were following us. Not too far from the man was a pile of garbage and I noticed some good clothes that someone had discarded (probably because they belonged to someone that died because people would not wear a dead man clothes). So I grabbed a couple of jackets and put one on his shoulders and one on his trembling legs. He pulled it and covered his head, he was so cold. I touched him, and held his shoulders, telling him it was going to be OK!

By then, two more people came and one told us how the old man on the ground was going to the Mosque to pray that morning, when he lost his way and fell in the water. He heard him yelling for help and pulled him out to safety and left him on the ground. We found him about two hours later, wet, cold, and shivering.

The man went on to say that he saw a truck full of people that drove by, but they didn’t stop. People walked by him, but no one stopped. A man on a motorcycle drove by too… We gave them money to go look for a taxi to take the man home, while we went to go get him some food and water. We found a compound close by where we could take him, wash and feed him, give him some hot tea and find out where he lived so they could take him to his family. We left him with the man and told him we’d be back in the evening to check on him. By that evening, we found out that the man was taken home to his family and he was doing well. As a result of this happening, we became quite well known in the neighborhood! Going for a walk is a little different now as we constantly run into our new friends.

This experience showed us how much it means for us to just be here, to be Jesus in action. It’s not about what we preach, it is about what we do; how we live out our faith. This is just one of many stories we could share that we have had the opportunity to be a part of, as God shows us the many needs around us and the many ways we can be Jesus to the “least of these.”

Faala Outreach

God is enlarging our territory and our influence in Gambia.

We are so excited about the Faala Village Project where a new water pump and tank have been installed and where we are just finishing up the foundation for the Community Outreach Center.

Every time we go to the Faala Village, we feel peaceful, so full of hope and anticipation about what the Lord plans to do through the Outreach Center. By hiring the people from the village to do the work, we are already establishing relationships with the community and providing jobs for the locals. We look forward to the team from Grace Church who will be coming in March and working together with them to continue to strengthen our relationships and influence in the community by working and building alongside the locals. God is at work!

 

Workshops and Seminars

January has been a busy month, not only because we’ve been working in Faala, but because we held a couple of workshops with our staff before we reopened the school for the second term. We also organized a much-needed Marriage Seminar for a group of pastors from the community, at their request. Because of transportation issues, previous commitments and other things like that, we conducted two sessions per day. This way, we were able to finish the teaching in three weekends. Even before we finished the seminar, several of them were asking us about when we would be able to do it again so they could invite other people!

Since most of them minister to people in the villages and the villagers do not all speak English, our plan now is to train the pastors and give them the tools, so that they can translate the material into their tribal languages and adapt it to their culture; they will understand how to apply it and live it out. One pastor told us that in one of the tribes he ministers to, the man MUST steal, or they are not considered a man! So, who do you obey, God or the culture?

At the beginning of this year, as we prayed for God’s will and direction, the verse that He gave us was Ephesians 4:11-12 (emphasis on 12) “11 And He gave the apostles, and prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for building up the body of Christ”.

Thank you so much for your faithful support and partnership; we could not do what we do without you! We ask for your prayers for us and for this nation. He is faithful to answer the prayers of the righteous one.

In His Service,

Sol and Manuela Bah