Dear friends, family, and supporters,
The past two months have been wonderful! We have several praises and continue to rejoice in the goodness of God. At the beginning of April, we had our first visitor-- my (Paige's) mom! She stayed with us for around six weeks and we SO enjoyed it.
Our sending church, Independent Baptist Church in Bolingbrook, Illinois, was so kind and generous. They bought a very nice suitcase, worked together to fill it up with supplies and goodies, and paid for the extra piece of luggage so my mom could bring it with her. Many people-- from our sending church, supporting churches, and friends-- also sent us gifts and special treats. It was so fun to open the toys, books, medical supplies, chocolate, coffee, and so many other things that were sent to us! We are so touched by the generosity of those who sent things to Africa with my mom.
Mom was so helpful while she was here, helping us stay on top of laundry, babysitting her granddaughters, loving on all of us, helping with unpacking boxes, and organizing things. We are still in our moving-in process and will be for several more months. It was so nice to have a fresh pair of eyes to look at things and gave suggestions for how to sort and store things that don't have "homes" yet. The girls enjoyed spending time with their Nana, going for walks, playing games, cuddling, and just following her around everywhere. And I enjoyed having her with me. There's nothing like getting hugs from your Mama after over a year apart. It did my soul a world of good.
In April, four of our girls from the village (Niezeko) prayed and asked Jesus to be their Savior! We were overjoyed to see some of these dear ones finally come to Christ. We continue to build our relationships with them and disciple them as best as we can. Several of them come over to our house a few times a week in hopes of getting to play on our playhouse in our yard. They are always sweet and make sure to clean up whatever messes they make-- and ones they didn't! It's hard to convince them that they don't have to sweep our driveway and clean our yard every time they come over. :) And if they come over while we're doing yard work, they are happy to jump in and help. We will often have a brief bible lesson before they leave, and they usually get some sort of treat on their way out-- lollipops, or a piece of gum, or some small packs of cookies. Eventually, we hope to hire one of these girls as a house-helper to come and help with some work/chores a couple of times a week. Please continue to pray for these kids! We long to see more of them come to Jesus!
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Left: Village girls who recently got saved! from left to right: Anne-Marie, Laura, Lynne, and Vanessa.
Right: Our first church service in our carport! We had muffins and bissap (a sweet, cold drink made of hibiscus blossoms).
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The month of May was busy as well. At the beginning of the month, we headed up to Abidjan so that my mom could get her covid test before flying to the US. We spent a few days sightseeing in Abidjan and Assinie, which is known for its gorgeous beaches! After my mom's departure, we spent one more day in the city doing some shopping and errands.
A couple of weeks after she left, Seth's dad flew in for a quick trip. He had some meetings he needed to attend and some matters to take care of at his church in San Pedro. Eden and Zion were so excited to have their grandpa here for a few days, and we enjoyed housing him for a few nights. He and Seth traveled back and forth to San Pedro a few times during that week (it's now a three-hour drive due to road conditions), and then Seth drove him to Abidjan and dropped him off, returning the next day.
Last Sunday, May 30, we celebrated Seth's 28th birthday, and had our very first official church service with our church plant! We had our service at our house in our carport. By the end of the service, we had around 25 people. A handful of them were the men who come to the regular discipleship Bible study Seth has on Thursdays, some were "visitors" that are unchurched but were invited to come while working for Seth, some were friends who attend a different church but came to celebrate such a special occasion with us, some were actually working upstairs over the carport and did not want to attend the service, but stopped and sat by the windows to listen, and some were girls from Niezeko. One of the men that visited used to be nominally Muslim, although now he claims he is only "Spiritual." He has heard the gospel a number of times now and doesn't seem impacted by it, but we were happy to see him at our church service! His name is Amara, and we would appreciate it if you would pray for his salvation.
Seth has been working with some pastors in our area who are victims of spiritual abuse. There is an older man in Abidjan who has them so frightened of him that they are completely under his control. He is a pastor and tries to maintain that he is the pastor of all of these churches and that these pastors are like trainees or junior pastors. The churches have not been allowed to have communion or baptisms without him, and he rarely visits, so they are being held back from fulfilling their Christ-given ordinances because of this man. Over the past several months, Seth has tried to have reasonable discussions with this man to work things out so that these churches can be free; however, the man took these conversations not as firm-but-loving rebukes and honest questioning, but as slander and challenge of his authority! He even went as far as to send hate mail to Seth's mother, insulting her and Seth's dad. This past week, Seth was able to meet with this man and a few other pastors, and it seems they were finally able to resolve everything peacefully. We are praying that these problems are finally solved. It has been twenty years in the making!
Seth has also been busy hunting online for upgraded computers for the two of us. Seth's laptop was damaged several months ago, and he shipped it all the way to Abidjan for repairs, but they were not able to fix it. We believe the hard drive is fine, but the computer itself is completely unfunctional. We have been sharing my laptop, but can tell that it is certainly beginning to slow down. Sharing my "elderly" laptop has certainly not been very convenient. Seth has his eye on a couple of models that he likes but hasn't made any final decisions yet. Please pray that God would lead us to something that would be an upgrade from what we've been using, but is also affordable!
For those of you who have been asking about the girls' health, we are thrilled to say that they continue to do very well! Both of them continue to be very healthy, energetic, growing girls, and I know we don't thank the Lord for that anywhere near often enough! Eden especially has grown taller and filled out some, and looks wonderful. When we look back at pictures of her from January, we can hardly believe it's the same little girl. Our God is merciful!!
Thank you so much for your love and prayers! We are thankful for each of you!
Happy in Christ's service,
The Cuthbertsons
Seth, Paige, Eden, and Zion
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