Dear friends, partners and family,

Life on the mission field is exciting and challenging, full of joy as well as fears, victories and uncertainties…so much has happened, some things we can’t share for privacy and security reasons.

As we continue to minister in this nation, we realize more and more every day how the school is much more than a place to educate the children. It is clear that it is a spiritual nursery, full of opportunities to minister to the children and their families. Here are a few stories about how a nation is being impacted with the love of Christ in action.

One day as I was talking with “Anna”, one of our girls at the school, I noticed she was not eating lunch with the rest of the students because she had a toothache. Anna is in Grade 8 and she is an amazing student, one of the few who loves to read and has an inquisitive mind. Her mother passed away when she was in 5th grade, and she doesn’t have a relationship with her father because he is from a Christian background and her mom was Muslim, so they were not allowed to be together. Her mother’s sister and her husband, who are not showing her much love and compassion, are raising her. She complained of her toothache to her aunt and uncle but they didn’t do anything about it. We sent Rose, our secretary from the school, to ask their permission to take her to the dentist and he was able to fix the painful tooth as well as another tooth that would have started to give her problems soon. That act of caring and kindness was the beginning of an open door for us to reach Anna! As Anna spends time with Rose, who is a strong believer, she is open to the advice Rose gives her. Anna is also opening up to us every chance she has. As soon as we get to the school, she comes looking for us. We spent a lot of time answering her questions about God and His Word; she loves to read. We’ve provided school shoes and clothes for her, books and school supplies, and recently when she opened up to Rose about not having breakfast at home, we started providing food for her and a few other students that Rose had noticed were hungry because they didn’t have breakfast. Our prayer is for Anna to find the love of Jesus that would fill her aching heart and for Him alone to satisfy her needs with His presence!

“Lidia” is another student that was very distraught one day; we found out that her mother had been very sick for a long time. She was so concerned for her Mother’s life, Lidia was not able to focus on her studies. We were able to provide for the family to take her mother to a private clinic for proper assessment, and the staff there concluded she had TB and needed immediate attention. The clinic referred her to a British Medical Research Center that is free of charge and has some of the best equipment in the country. Sadly, her mother passed away a few weeks later, because she had been sick for a very long time without proper care. Lidia is now another student that we will watch to be sure her needs are met. We don’t want her education to be interrupted and her future affected because of her circumstances.

“Kathy’s” story continues to unravel before our eyes and she continues to need all the prayers we can pray for her. We spend a lot of time with her, taking her to our house overnight to spend time with us and to allow us to speak into her life. Recently she opened up about her family and the poor examples she has in her life – an aunt that recently had a child out of wedlock and after giving birth, the baby never made it home. Kathy was concerned that they “hurt” the baby to cover up her aunt’s mistakes.

“Faith” opened up to us about being abused by her uncle and even though the family knew about it, they would not do anything about it because of the shame that it would bring to the family! She was worried sick about contacting a STD and was depressed and broken. We were able to step in and calm her fears by sending her to see a doctor who confirmed that she is clear of any disease. She has since moved to live with her father and stepmother where she is safe and is being raised in a Christian environment since the father is Christian.

These are just a few stories of what our children are going through. God has positioned us in a place of influence in their lives that allows us to step in and show love and compassion to their broken and full of despair souls. We would appreciate your prayers for our children, especially the girls who can be very easily taken advantage of with no consequences for the person hurting them. Also pray for God to bring to us a Christian social worker that we can hire at the school to be available to talk to the children that are hurting and need so much direction and care.

God has called us all to a ministry of reconciliation for the broken to the Source of Life and Hope and to the only One who can save us, Jesus, our Savior. Pray the Holy Spirit will do the work that only He can do–to restore the broken-hearted emotionally, mentally, physically and spiritually. To reveal the Healer to them in a life changing way that will cause beauty to rise up from the ashes.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for partnering with us in changing a nation, one child at a time. Thank you for your faithful support in giving and in prayer. We cannot do what we do without you!

Have a safe and happy summer with your families and loved ones.

God bless you mightily,

Sol and Manuela Bah

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