The Carter Girls

The Carter girls are now in Raymond Poincare hospital just outside of Paris. Both are still in ICU. Abigail is recovering steadily and will probably be downgraded today. Emma continues to be in a coma. The malaria is quickly disappearing, but they have discovered a lung infection and brain swelling. Time will tell.

Since the Dutts are out of town, Jane and I are coordinating the information flow. She is calling Paul and Kate several times a day and we're typing up a prayer e-letter. If you would like real updates, contact us and we'll put you on the mailing list.

Please pray for Emma and Abby

Our colleagues, the Carters, are in the midst of a family crisis. Their two oldest, Emma and Abigail, went into the hospital two days back with advanced malaria and were put into intensive care. The girls have not improved substantially and will be evacuated to Europe today.

I've posted a bit more information on my personal blog listed at the side here.

In any event, the family needs your prayers.

Christmas at the Phare

Strangely enough, we had a full house over Christmas. I was quite surprised. There were several Brazilian families up Guinea Bissau. And there were some English speaking African missionaries. I'm not sure where they are from, but I think the Gambia . And come to think of it, I helped Mr. Parks to get on our wireless system sometime in the last couple days. So we had a Korean missionary, too.

That is wonderful. The Phare de l'Esperance was an exotic get-away for these families, a refuge from their busy lives of ministry. We rejoice in being able to give them an affordable place to renew and refresh their spirits in a place of peace and beauty.

Merry Christmas

We hope you all are enjoying wonderful time with family and friends during this time of year.

The Lord's great gift to us, coming Himself to earth, is an inspiration to give ourselves in service others. It is also a cause for worship and repentance. May the reality of what God did work its way deep into your soul this year and transform the way you think and act.

Businessman as Salt and Light

It's been a while since I posted. I am so impressed with these folks who do the big blogs, like Instapundit and all. How do they find the time to read and write like that, posting many times each day? Even if I had the time, I certainly don't have the right personality!

This is December, traditionally a very quiet month here at the Phare, with very few guests. But some kind of new era seems to have arrived here in the last 18 months. Even our quiet months see a steady stream of visitors. Some Korean folks spent last night next door in Apartment B. At the end of the week Geoff and Esther and the kids from SIM were here on there way back to Canada for the holidays. Others, too, will be in to pick up kids from DA for the holidays. Thanks for praying with us for all these years! We are so encouraged by all this.

John D shared the taxi to the airport with Geoff and his son at midnight on Friday. John is the guest from a couple of posts back whose jacket and airplane ticket were returned by a taxi man. It was a long stay. He finally has returned to the US to his family for Christmas.

John is businessman brother who was here to explore the possibility of setting up a factory in Thiès to make small, inexpensive utility vehicles for rural transportation. (My camera is on the blink or I’d show you the one actually sitting on the basketball court as I type!) It is a three-wheeled affair with a small diesel engine, like a motorized trailer. It has no cab or anything. It only goes 20 mph. It is very, very simple. For the moment, it doesn’t even have a way to go in reverse.

But folks here were very interested. He met government officials and aid agency leaders and various businessmen. More exciting, as he drove that thing from the port to the Phare, he was stopped by people wanting to buy one. If he can get the business side of it worked out, there certainly is a market.

So what does that have to do with the Gospel and God’s people? Matthew 5. John’s desire is to be salt and light in the business world. That is a rare thing in Senegal. He is willing to move here with his wife and kids and make this their home so that he can be “Jesus visible” for people here.

It was wonderful for us at the Phare to be able to play a small part in his effort, hosting him during those first slow, dry days seeking contacts with the right people. We were a home to come back to each day, a quiet refuge during his cross-cultural adventure.

AIDS Conference

On Friday a large group of young adults (college students mostly, I believe) descended on the Phare for a World AIDS Day event. Renee Mbongo's son, Junior, had organized a conference for the youth of the evangelical churches of Dakar. World Vision sponsored it. Even college students aren't always well read. Junior told me it was eye-opening for many.

The Presbyterians were in their last day of training and filming upstairs on Friday. Somehow Herve kept his sanity and arranged the whole thing. The evangelical "youth" stayed overnight and continued on Saturday, so dorm housing was the key complication as the Presbyterian leaders were still here, too.

Meanwhile, the ITES library was packed with volunteers. Charlie C and Alice S and a number of others were sorting books and entering titles into the computer and finally making headway. They held classes in an elementary school last year, so their library was in boxes in storage. Even before then, it had been neglected a bit for lack of manpower. Now with all the new missionaries who came from Ivory Coast, the school has the reinforcements it needs. They will soon be organized and know what they really have and what they still need to acquire to have a top notch theological library.

And all this is happening at the Phare! God is good.