Much has happened in the past few months. Many answered prayers and some new things are happening. The Lord has been faithful in all things and He is making a path for us in this spiritual wilderness.

Isaiah 65:23-25 - They shall not labor in vain, Nor bring forth children for trouble; For they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the LORD, And their offspring with them. “ It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” Says the LORD.

God is adding to His church and we are blessed to be a small part of what He is doing here in west Africa in these last days.

Calvary Chapel Abidjan-Cocody (This is our Church name now):
Good news…we are officially recognized as a non profit church by the Government of Côte d’ Ivoire. Unfortunately this does not give us any special tax advantages. The Lord is moving quickly now in several areas here. We have been praying for a new location to meet on Sunday mornings as the Sunday evening service was difficult for people to attend. The Lord supplied the money to rent a building in Cocody which is centrally located on the public transportation routes here in Abidjan. It is a school for government training. We have use of the cafeteria on Sunday morning and Wednesday night. We also have use of other rooms during the week for classes as needed. It has been a great blessing. We have been there now for 6 weeks and the Lord has tripled the amount of people attending. Last week we almost ran out of chairs.

We also prayed for a worship leader, musicians and a keyboard. The Lord supplied a wonderful young man who is handicapped in a wheelchair. He has a great love for the Lord and his desire is to worship and praise Him, His name is Jacklin. Please keep him in prayer. We were given a Yamaha keyboard and the next week a person came who teaches voice and piano. He is helping with worship now. His name is Mark, he needs employment, pray for him also. We were able to purchase two microphones from a missionary who was leaving the country, but we still need 3 more. Pray for that please. We still need a guitar, bass guitar, guitar amplifier, microphone stands and a set of drums. God will supply!

Evangelism Outreach:

Movie Night-
Three weeks ago we did an outreach to the University Campus showing the movie “Facing The Giants” in French. After the movie we peached a salvation message and many received Jesus as Lord and Savior. Noelle then talked with all the women about problems they face and encouraged them. Afterward we had those who were saved give us their information and there were 62 persons who made decisions for Jesus. We have been following up with them for the past two weeks in the mornings. I visit them with my friend Daniel and we encourage them, pray for them and invite them to church. Also, each time we have visited them they have invited friends and family to listen to what we have to say during our visit. In this culture, when someone visits you it is a very important event and they invite family and friends. Some of them even took off work to be there. So we were able to share the Gospel with many more while visiting. Many received Jesus. We will continue visiting them until all have been seen personally by us. The great news about this is that they are coming to church now. The Lord is adding to our number each week.

University Of Cocody College Career Day 2009 -
On February 6 we were blessed to be able to organize the first annual Career Day. We had seven speakers from Local and International Business, Communications, Government, and Education. Our partner in the event was the English Language Department of the University of Cocody. We had been praying for the students because many of them are discouraged and feel that there is no opportunity for employment after graduation. The University has no office or program for job placement because everyone believes that there aren’t any jobs. So, the event was a great success and the students were very blessed and encouraged. We were able to encourage them in God’s Word a bit and at the end we gave an invitation to receive Jesus. Many came forward to do just that. We have now added them to our list of visitations. Pray that the students will trust in Jesus and also have a new determination to succeed in life as the Lord leads them.

Friday Afternoon Bible Study on the Campus of the University of Cocody-
We were offered a permanent room on campus but were told we would have to furnish new electric wiring and lighting for the room to make it usable. The Lord provided for the materials and we completely rewired the room and added new lighting. The room is now the Student Christian Fellowship Room. We have use of it on Friday afternoons and evenings. We are still teaching through the book of John. The students are learning and asking many great questions. Many have received Jesus at these studies. It is a blessing to see students from differing religious backgrounds here. We have seen Muslim and Buddist students receive Jesus during these studies. One of the biggest attractions for them is that they can ask any questions the want to ask. Many times we have to say we don’t know the answer and we look it up and talk about it the following week. Many of the questions recently have centered on areas of church tradition versus what the Bible actually says. One young woman asked if God allowed a woman to marry a man who is younger than her. The tradition here says it is unacceptable for her to marry a younger man. Another tradition allows men to have many wives. Someone asked, what should be done if a man has three wives and children with all of them and then becomes a Christian. Which wife and children should he keep? It is interesting to be sure. Pray for us to be led by the Holy Spirit and able to teach effectively.

Student Resource Center:
The Lord has given us an opportunity to partner with the University of Cocody to create a Student Resource Center. The center would be a place for students to come during the week to use computers and library books. It would function much like a library does in the USA. The University has agreed to provide a building, utilities and security. We will manage and staff the center by inviting missionaries to come and serve with us for short or long term assignments. During school hours students use the center for research and after school hours we use the center for Bible teaching, fellowship, and Christian entertainment. We will also have a permanent office there for Gospel For Africa (our mission name). It is a great opportunity to bless the students and have a continual Christian witness on the largest University campus in Côte d’ Ivoire. We have plans to install a 150 computer system network in the center. We have an agreement with an organization in England who have the computers ready to ship to us. The cost for handling and shipping is $40 US per system (Computer, Monitor, Software, Cables, Mouse, Keyboard). We are asking the Lord to supply $20,000 to pay for the handling, shipping, installation and furnishings to complete the project.

Translation of Pastor Chuck’s c-5000 Series Into French:

Here in Côte d’ Ivoire -
Progress has been slow on the translation work. We now have one person working with us full time. His name is Daniel. He is translating and also serving in the church where he is needed. The Lord has provided three computers for translation work. We have set up a small work area in our home. We are praying that the Lord will provide two more people to work with us until the translation work is completed.

Worldwide -
There are many people interested in helping to translate these teachings into French. Pray that the Lord would provide for them financially and allow them the time to work on this project. Everything is being done on a voluntary basis. All of the servants working on this are doing it after their normal
work day. There are people in California, Haiti, Burundi, Ghana, Côte d’ Ivoire, Canada, France, Florida and South Africa praying and working on
this project. Pray with us that this project would be completed soon.

The Jones Family (Pastor Chris, Noelle and Louis):

Louis -
Louis will be 9 years old on Feb. 20. He is growing very tall and loves to play football (soccer). He is doing well in school and his French is very good now. He has been healthy for the most part. But we discovered he has an allergy to insect bites. Here in Côte d’ Ivoire, and all of Sub Saharan West Africa insects are very numerous and most of them will bite you. Somehow Louis’ bedroom in one weeks time became infested with bed bugs. We thought he was being bitten by bugs outside the house while he was playing. He had bites all over his body. We discovered the bugs were in the house and they only come out at night. We had to fumigate the entire room and all the furniture. The bites left scares. Please pray that these scares will go away with time. Pray that the Lord will protect Louis from future bites as he reacts with swelling and it can be life threatening.

Noelle -
Noelle is well now, she has been sick for the past two weeks. She is working very hard as a math and science teacher at the International Community School of Abidjan. It is difficult to hold a full time job, be a mommy and wife and also serve in the ministry. What is normal in the USA is not normal here. Transportation is difficult and nothing runs on schedule. Pray for Noelle hat she will be able to balance her work and serving the people in the church. We are praying that she will be able to cut her work hours to part time next year so she can devote more time to the ministry and family.

Chris -
Chris is currently having some minor health issues. By God’s grace none of these issues have prevented him from continuing to minister, rather they are a nuisance. His lower back has been giving him problems for several months and allergies brought on by the seasonal Harmatan (dust from the Sahara Desert in the air) make sleeping difficult. He also has been experiencing pain in his left foot for two weeks. Pray that the Lord would heal his body completely and deliver him from the allergies. Chris is growing in the Lord daily. He loves teaching the Word and sometimes gets to teach four times in a week. Pray that Chris will continue grow spiritually and that he will be filled continually with the Holy Spirit. Also pray for rest and protection for Chris. Serving here in Africa can be quite tiring. Rest is hard to come by and spiritual attacks are numerous. As the church grows and the mission opportunities begin to materialize Chris will need to rest and pray more. Pray that God will send workers to take on some of his responsibilities also.

The Jones Family Transportation -
Please pray for our Jeep and the situation of importation. It has been a year now since the government released the Jeep to us. The taxing authority is again asking us to pay taxes on the import of the Jeep. We thought this was all over but it has resurfaced. We have been ordered to pay $2500 US dollars to the government immediately or we will have to surrender the Jeep. They have not given a deadline, but said they could take the Jeep any time they desire.

We thank God for all of our friends reading this letter. You are our partners in ministry. We pray that God will bless you with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus and that you will grow continually in the knowledge of His will and the abundance of His grace.

Thank you for praying for us and supporting us!
God Bless You All,
Chris, Noelle and Louis Jones

Gospel For Africa » Mission Update January - February 2009!

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