A Mountain Of Information To Share

Greetings again from Mali, West Africa!

Some of our friends and faithful supporters have been wondering if all was well with us, since we missed sending a newsletter this past quarter. We are doing fine and are so grateful for your prayers and partnership as we minister in this predominantly Muslim land.

So much has happened that we are struggling with a mountain of information to share in this report. Here are some of the highlights:

Our Teaching Ministry

The task of equipping national ministers and Christian workers has taken us beyond Mali’s borders to other African countries and beyond, even to far away places such as the Philippines. Part of our teaching ministry involves work through the new ICI-Global University center which Linda has launched in Bamako.

Timbuktu

It is a joy to tell you about our work at the “Ends of the Earth” — in Timbuktu! The Lord is doing great things in this famous and mysterious city which in the past has murdered many Christians and still persecutes believers today. It is just amazing to realize that here, at the edge of the Sahara Desert, in one of the most Islamic and hostile environments in the world, the Church stands and souls are being saved no matter what the risks are. Praise the Lord for the two growing evangelical communities there, the Assemblies of God and the Baptists. Our French colleagues pioneered our work in Timbuktu a little over three years ago, and now at least 25 adult believers, and also many children, attend regularly. It was my privilege to meet some real trophies of grace, and I would like to tell you about them ...

Sidi al-Wafi Ag-Issa Cissé

Sidi al-Wafi Ag-Issa Cissé is the son of a well-known Muslim cleric in Timbuktu. When it was learned that he had accepted Jesus Christ as his savior in 1998, his family persecuted him publicly. He was beaten and then tied up and exposed on the main street of Timbuktu for three days without water or food in order to make him recant. When he was released he headed straight for the church to worship. This happened three different times, but Sidi held firm.

Holiday Greetings!

Holiday Greetings from your partners in Mali, West Africa! We have much to rejoice about as we look back and consider what has happened in our stewardship since we got back to Bamako, the capital of this Muslim nation, since January 2000. Allow us to share some facts and faces, as well as a word about the future.

Facts & Faces

Here in Mali, the Land of Timbuktu, where ox and plow are a common sight even in this third millennium, there is a saying that “It is not how wide or straight you plow, but how deep and long.” With the Lord’s help, we are striving to plow deep and long. It has been a year of significant events and strategic involvement in the work both in Mali and in the West African region:

• Joining Hands!
  We joined hands with the church leaders from such West African nations as Burkina Faso and Togo to reopen our Bible School and to target key cities in Mali where their African missionaries would help us plant new churches. Some professors, 15 Bible School students, and 18 new pastors from the Burkina Faso Assemblies of God are coming to Mali to meet those goals. A new work has just been established in the city of Koutiala. It is our shared objective to have a church in every major city within the next three years.

• Thirty-Four Attend First Kinshasa Extension Courses
  Training of key workers for the harvest has been our priority. We work with WAAST, which is our advanced school of theology operating out of Lomé, Togo. In February and March, we taught the very first WAAST extension school session in Kinshasa, Congo. We’ve been touched and encouraged by some extraordinary moves of God in the pastoral training sessions that were assigned to us in our region.

• In The Philippines
  We continue to train Asian leaders for evangelism in Muslim nations through the annual Institute in Islamic Studies which was held again last Spring. That’s a long way from Mali, but well worth the effort! Asian missionaries, pastors, evangelists and lay workers are poised to make significant inroads into heavily Muslim areas.

• Miracle Of Reunification In Mali
  In June, the Mali Assemblies of God experienced a special move of God that healed this church that has been divided for over 8 years. Ever since the US Assemblies of God missionaries have come to labor in this Muslim nation, we have had to contend with the Malian church’s division with the French Assemblies of God mission here. It has been a painful process, but God’s Spirit has triumphed over the chaos. As a result of this new unity, individual churches have experienced growth, and the total number of churches has doubled.

• Out Of Islam
  These formerly Muslim women have been beaten, deserted by spouses, and ostracized in their community because of their faith in Christ. They are faithful members of our church in Kati which is providing for them now.

  It is my joy to share the Gospel one-on-one with many Muslim men. Recently, I led Tidiane Diallo, a Fulani, to Christ. The Fulanis are one of Mali’s unreached people groups. Tidiane has been abandoned by friends and persecuted by family, but, praise God, not the victim of violence. He is an able building contractor, fairly fluent in English and Russian, but he has been unable to get any steady employment since his conversion, because the Muslim community has blacklisted him. Please pray for him!

Faith For The Future

• Believing God For A Resolution Of The Bible School Issue
  American, Swede, French and Burkina missionaries are collaborating together with this reunited Malian national church. Therefore, the two Bible Schools (ours in Tienfala and the French Assemblies of God school in Moribabugu), have also been temporarily merged. It has been decided that our campus will be closed until two parallel French-speaking and Bambara-speaking programs are set in place, hopefully next year.

• Believing God For Strong Churches In Timbuktu, Gao, & Douentza
  A construction team from Oak Grove, Missouri is coming in January to put up several pre-fab churches provided by Evangelism Tabernacles. Three of them will be built in Timbuktu, the historic Islamic university city, in the Dogon town of Douentza, and in the Tamashek city of Gao. All three are Muslim strongholds. Two more tabernacles will also be set up, one in Bamako, the capital city, and one in the southern town of Kumantu, where we have several new Fulani Christians. Please pray with us both for protection and for impact, that these small “ends of the earth” churches would flourish.

• Believing God For Desperately Needed Food & Medical Relief
  Large portions of West Africa, stretching from the eastern part of Mali into Niger and Chad will be experiencing famine this year due to a short, uneven rainy season. Our churches in the north desperately need food for their hungry now. Medical help is also urgently needed for our AIDS patients. We seldom, if ever, solicit any funds through our newsletter. However, we are pleading with you, our supporters, to make a one-time gift to meet these needs. If you wish to help in any way, please send your gift payable to DFM Assemblies of God, 1445 Boonville Avenue, Springfield, MO 65802, USA. Thank you so much for letting the Lord work through you to make a vital difference in this part of Africa.

Family & Friends

Our nest is empty. Our son and his wife live in Roseville, California. Our daughter and her husband live in Auburn, California and are expecting our second grandchild in April. Linda’s parents, retired Bethany College professors, Reino and Bonnie Tilus, have just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

More Photos

We thought you might be interested in seeing some more photos of our ministry here in West Africa. These wouldn’t fit in the printed version of our newsletter, but they can be included here on our website!

The Church in Kati

The Church in Selingue

A Beatiful Malian Baby

Greg and Kiralie, Who Came All The Way From Australia To Help Us!

A New Pump

Thank you for your many, many years of faithfulness to us, and we wish you a truly joyful Christmas and a fruitful New Year!

David (Faouzi) & Linda Arzouni

Off To Mali

This is our last newsletter for this furlough as we “close up shop” and get everything ready for shipping. In fact, our next report to you will be sent from Africa in the Spring of 2000, since our container is slated to arrive late in March. God willing, David (Faouzi) will fly to Mali on January 10, and Linda will join him on February 7 right after finishing some schooling.

We Will Hit The Ground Running!

Here is a glimpse of what awaits us in the next few months:

• Speed-The-Light has informed us that our 4X4 car will arrive in Bamako around January 13. Praise God for His provision through STL! So as soon as David lands he will have to clear our vehicle with customs. That’s usually a nightmare of paperwork before that car can be put on the road. Please pray!

• Short-Term Missions Volunteers from Australia: On January 16, David will be joined by Greg and Kirralie Smith to help him set up house and office, do some repairs at the Bible School, and help set up a “prefab tabernacle church” in the town of Koro. Please intercede for strength, productivity, and protection.

• Bible School Directorship: Please pray for important meetings that will take place February 11-17 concerning the leadership of our school. Key African leaders from Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali, and the USA will convene to discuss the needs of the school and insure its continuity in this needy Muslim land.

• Teaching in Kinshasa: From February 19 to March 11, we will be in the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire) to teach advanced courses to students participating in WAAST’s extension program.

• More Customs Work: Our shipment arrives mid-March. There is important equipment for the Bible School and for various projects in our container. We covet your prayers to find favor with customs authorities.

• Purchase of Land for Surakabugu: A piece of property has finally been found for one of our Bamako churches, and the $10,000 price is very reasonable. We need help from our supporting churches and friends in any amount to seize this rare opportunity. Can you help? Would you please pray about this need?

• Former Muslims Baptized in Christ’s Name! Rune Högberg, our Swedish Assemblies of God colleague in Bamako, reports that 25 converts have been baptized in recent months. Praise the Lord!

• Seventy Voices of Hope: 70 of our Malian sisters joined hands for a week of intercessory prayer on behalf of our churches. They were later joined by other women from the French Assemblies of God and a delegation from Burkina Faso.

• Unprecedented Demonstration of Unity: Evangelical Christians from all over Mali will come together for an all night Christmas celebration and evangelism outreach at one of the main stadiums of Bamako. Many Muslims who are resistant to Christianity all year round will permit themselves to attend Christmas festivities. Please pray for a great harvest of souls. All denominations will also share a common service at the Palais de la Culture auditorium on Christmas day.

Future Activities

Looking further down the road, here are events that we will be involved with:

• Institute of Islamic Studies, Baguio City, Philippines: From May 27 to June 3, David will again participate in training key workers from many Asian countries who are reaching out to the Muslim world.

• Teaching in Ivory Coast: It will be a joy to spend three weeks (June 19 - July 7) in the land of our first missionary labors to teach advanced WAAST (West Africa Advanced School of Theology) courses.

• AG World Congress, Celebration 2000, and Other Meetings: We will be in the USA at the end of July and in August for those key meetings in Indianapolis. It means a lot of hard work doing French translation, caring for many African leaders who will be attending, and running conference errands. The African General Superintendents who attend will then hold a special two day session to strategize for the new millennium.

“BARIKA ZAAME!” - ” AW NI CE KUNU!”

In various parts of West Africa these expressions literally mean, “Thank you for yesterday! Whenever you do good to someone, should that individual meet you the next day or a week or two later, the first words out his or her mouth are “Thank you for yesterday!” This expresses exactly our own sentiments toward all of you, our friends and supporters. As we embark on our fifth term of missionary service our hearts are overwhelmed with gratitude to the Lord of the harvest and to you. May the Lord grace you with a very special touch this holiday season. Joyeux Noël et Bonne Année 2000!!!

David (Faouzi) and Linda Arzouni

Refreshed!

We want to take this opportunity to share with you some of the superlative things God has done in our lives during this, our most encouraging furlough. Linda and I came home from our hardest 4 year term in the 23 years of missionary endeavors in West Africa. We were worn out from grappling with the hostilities that accompanied our ministering in Bamako, Mali, a 97% Muslim land on the edge of the Sahara desert. Yet, both of you, pastors and saints alike, have ministered to us with compassion, encouragement, prayer, vision, insight, and support. How can we thank you enough! We feel so refreshed, refocused and ready to again tackle spiritual warfare, soul winning, discipling, teaching, training, and the sending out of young harvesters.

Additional Furlough News….

Present Activities: We officially finished “deputation” this Spring. We are now concentrating on our graduate studies, on training others in strategic evangelism to Muslims, and on preparing to ship ministry equipment overseas.

We Owe You Thanks…. We are deeply grateful to the now closed New Life Christian Community Church (San Carlos, CA) for a very generous offering that will enable us to carry on our regional ministry in West Africa. The Lord has also graciously provided us with a generator (from Seaside Assembly of God in California) to use in very hot Mali where we have been averaging for months now only 4 hours of electricity a day. The Rueck Company (Portland Christian Center) is donating an invaluable water pump and generator combination for the Mali Bible School. Bethany Church (Wyckoff, New Jersey) has supplied us with computer equipment. Praise the Lord!

4 Weddings: This has been a most remarkable furlough for weddings. Our son was married on Dec. 27, 1998, and our daughter married David Salter on April 3, 1999. Added to our own two children’s weddings, Linda was a bridesmaid in her sister, Judy’s, wedding in March, and we also helped tie the knot for Jenice & Tamer Sabra, a converted Egyptian-American Muslim, discipled by another missionary and myself.

3 Surgeries: Medically, this is the furlough with the most surgeries, first for Linda’s shoulder, torn in a fall in Mali before coming home, then for a knee injury I incurred while hunting, and finally for my heart surgery after two “small” heart attacks in May. We are praising God for the superior quality of doctors and facilities available to us in America for such crises. We are also uncomfortably reminded of the fragility and shortness of life.

Philippines Trip 2 Overseas Trips: In April I traveled to Manila and Baguio City in the Philippines for a two week, graduate level, intensive training course offered to Asian pastors and missionaries from more than 20 countries. I was one of five professors sharing the annual Institute of Islamic Studies session with the purpose of teaching Asian leaders how to penetrate and reach Muslim societies. This will have a tremendous Missions impact, because we’re talking about key leaders who will be going to heavily Islamic countries such as China, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

Just 12 days after my angioplasty, I headed out for Bamako, Mali for church business meetings.

During this time, I spent a weekend in Dakar, Senegal, with four of my Muslim brothers, prayerfully witnessing and challenging them to meet the Christ. I was very conscious of the battle for their souls, maybe no more so than when I was hit by a car on one of Dakar’s busy streets, bounced forward, and one foot run over! Praise God that no permanent damage was done!

1 Graduation and 1 Baptism: We are proud of our son and his wife who graduated from Evangel University, Springfield, Missouri, in May of this year. They’re finishing up a couple of additional courses, then they hope to relocate right here in our home in Roseville, California, just 15 miles from our daughter and her husband in Auburn.

To top off our joy, I had the privilege of water baptizing my new son-in-law on Father’s Day this year.

Our Schooling: In and around a busy itineration schedule, weddings, overseas trips, surgeries, graduations and baptisms, Linda and I have been studying for our respective degrees in Biblical Counseling (Masters and Doctorate levels), attending stimulating seminars across the country, reading books, and doing research.

Also, for those of you who know my sister, Rada, we praise the Lord for her excellent progress in her studies at Trinity Life Bible College, Sacramento, California. She is the fifth of thirteen siblings in my Muslim family to serve Christ.

Our future plans: We leave for Africa shortly after Christmas. Our new work profile is regional, meaning that first, we’ll be available to all the West African Bible schools for block courses. Second, we’ll help to plant new missionary couples in our predominantly Muslim Northern Tier countries. Third, we’ll be teaching Muslim converts either in their respective countries (if safe enough) or by pulling them out for short periods of time. Fourth, we’ll be encouraging a Missions vision in our better developed African churches, teaching them to send their own missionaries into the neighboring countries. Fifth, we will continue to be based in Bamako and work with Mali’s new Bible School, which we pioneered last term.

Malians Interceding for West African Muslims

We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: These plans will only become realities as we are covered by your prayers, which we need now as never before, as we penetrate more deeply Islam and its strongholds. Thank you for upholding us in prayer.

In the grip of His grace,

David (Faouzi) & Linda Arzouni