keep praying for the Central African Republic

Shortly after the last time I blogged in June, we had a visit from one of our Central African colleagues. He told us a little about what his family had been through over the past year or more. Then, over the next few weeks, several other friends from the Central African Republic came to visit us. The visits were dear times of being reunited, talking, and praying together. But as we heard their stories of what they've been through in recent months, and the difficult situations in which their families are still living in CAR - our hearts were so heavy.

Now that we're back in Cameroon, we're right next door to CAR. And being physically closer (perhaps, most of all, being able to now connect in person with many Central African friends who are in Cameroon for various reasons) makes us feel more deeply the reality of the difficulties and the destruction that are going on there.

Please keep praying with us for peace in CAR. Pray for those who have lost loved ones and seen family members killed. Pray for people to have enough food, and safe places to sleep and live. Pray that those who have recently gone through a wonderful "Trauma healing" course, led by our colleagues and friends, would find healing through Jesus and His word...and that they will be able to counsel many others who need healing from the trauma they've experienced.

Also, please pray for Adam as he heads to Bangui for two weeks (starting next Saturday) to work with the Gbaya translation team and to observe some Bible translation checking: pray that Adam can be an encouragement and help to the friends he will interact with during his brief time in CAR.

In our last email newsletter (just let me know if you'd like to be added to that list!), we passed on a plea from three of our friends who are widows caring for many refugees. They needed money to buy food for the children and refugees in their care, and food has gotten much more scarce and expensive as of late. We received a number of generous gifts which we were able to send to our friends in Berbérati. These gifts are a big help to them, and a huge encouragement to us. In such difficult times, the love and unity of the body of Christ is a precious thing.