One of the things I love here is the formality of friendly visits. When you arrive at someone’s house, it's normal for them to formally welcome you, for you to formally announce why you have come, and to leave with a formal blessing. Blessings are important no matter what your faith.

For that reason, I’m preparing my final goodbye blessings ... some for fellow believers, and some for those who have heard. We all think Paul’s flowery greetings and goodbyes in his epistles hardly seem like normal conversation, but here, they are entirely appropriate. I’m working through my French Bible to create my own goodbye blessings from Paul's blessings, like Col. 1:9-10, Eph. 3:16-19.

“I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better … and that your eyes will be enlightened so you can know the hope to which he has called you …” Eph. 1:17

They will respond, "Amen," and possibly touch their foreheads to signify they have accepted it.

Please pray for:
- Me to persevere this last week in spite of a mean head cold that has sapped all my energy.
- Adema, the Koranic teacher that is seeking hard and wants to come see me one final time on Wednesday.
- Oumou, that she will truly seek to grow in her new faith while I’m gone.
- Olivier, as he figures out exactly how he will serve God with his life.
- All those I have shared with that have not responded.
- Me to tie up final media office work on a magazine and a video.
- Me as I figure out next steps in life.

Fatimata decided she wanted to paint my toenails bright bright red!

So I was pretty discouraged today.

I left the office about noon to head over to Cocody, an urban neighborhood across the lagoon. I had a gig to tell the high school English club about Abraham. Then, to the university campus to study the Bible with Oumou. (She’s the girl from the M0slim village who recently realized Jesus is The Man.)

I got to the high school and the meeting had been canceled. I went on campus, but Oumou was gone.

As I got in the car and started driving home, I actually said out loud to myself, “Alrighty then. O for 2 today. Great.”

Right then, one of my best friends from church called and said he needed to talk to me about something. On the way up to Olivier’s apartment, (where he lives with like 15 other people), I stopped downstairs where I had recently met a Muslim Hausa woman from Niger.

Rokia invited me in and mentioned something about the upcoming Christian holiday, (called Noël in French).

“Do you know why we celebrate Noël?” I asked. No, she didn’t, but she said I should tell her.

So I wove through the story. I told how Adam and Even were in the garden with God, but He had to run them out of the garden because they, just like us all, just continued to fall into evil. God sought a way to be with his people again, so he came to earth. Mary was a virgin, but she’s pregnant, and the angel reassured her fiancé that she hadn’t been with another man. Jesus was born where the animals sleep, and, finally, he was given his name on the eighth day in the temple, (something the M0slims actually do here, so they can relate).

 “Ah,” Rokia said. She clicked her throat in the way women here show affirmation. “That’s good. I have never heard that before.”

How I love to hear those words. I’m not grateful that she had never heard, but grateful that now, she has. And thanks to Olivier being her neighbor, she will hear more…

How do I know that? That was one of the things Olivier wanted to talk to me about today. God is revealing to 26-year-old Olivier that he should be a missionary to his own people in the rural villages in the central part of the country. What amazing news. 

As I was leaving Olivier’s house, Oumou finally called back. She was on campus, and since I was still in Cocody, I decided to go by.

We talked forever about Noël. I told her the same story I told Rokia, and she didn't miss a word.

“The light surrounded the shepherds, and they were…”

“Etoneé,” she said, finishing my sentence. Amazed. How did she know they were amazed? Because her face had that very same look of amazement that I bet the shepherds had. In her head, she wasn’t imagining the cute little neighborhood kids that dressed up as angels every year for the Christmas pageant. She was imagining the actual magnificent, brilliant glory of a company of shining divine beings in the open night sky singing praises to God. Etoneé, she said. She was there, and she was amazed.

And today, I am etoneé (Eh-toe-nay). I can’t begin to explain how amazing it is to share this story to people who don’t know. Everyone in the U.S. at least knows what Christmas is supposed to be about. It’s hard to see the story through fresh eyes, like I did today.

God sent Jesus in this incredibly miraculous way so we would all be etoneé forever. But what really amazes me is how we let this story get to be so ho-hum in our hearts after hearing it so many times. Today, I am amazed at how this story transcends cultures and oceans and languages and still, 2000 years later, can leave people etoneé.

I pray that somehow, some day, each one of you can have the thrilling experience of telling this story to someone who has never heard it before. Not only for their sake, but for your sake. There are few blessings that compare on this earth.

So the day started out 0 for 2, but God didn’t let it end that way. Just like he didn’t end the story when he had to chase Adam and Even out of the garden. I bet that day, he said to himself, “Alrighty then. 0 for 2. Great.”

But he made a happy ending. He found a way to be with us again. He came back on Christmas as Emmanuel, God with us. He was sure with me today. And I know He will be with Rokia, and Olivier, and Oumou.

And may he be with YOU this week and make you etoneé at His story once again. 

Wanna donate to the worldwide mission? Most of my financial support comes from the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, taken up in Southern Baptist churches every Noel. The Lottie fund supports thousands of missionaries all over the world! I don't know where I'd be without it! See a video of West Africa missionaries saying thanks here, and donate here.

I want to share with you some notes from some African pastors I’ve interviewed recently who have lived in the center of conflict. Tough stories with amazing silver lining. Now, you will know how to pray for your Christian brothers and sisters in conflict. Please keep in mind these are pastors that lived through tough situations and not all ministry in West Africa is like this. (In other words, I'm safe mom! Don't worry!)

First, there were the Jos pastors.

If you didn’t know, the main city of central Nigeria erupted in riots Thanksgiving weekend over local election results that uprooted tension about everything from tribalism to land rites to M0slims v. Christians. Rioters destroyed homes, businesses, mosques and churches.

Jos has a thriving Baptist community. I had met some of them when I spent January 2007 in Jos, so I called to see how they were doing and wrote a short little story about it for imb.org.

I got Pastor A. on the phone. He was at the hospital with his sick daughter when the riots broke out. They watched dozens of people come in on stretchers. Some were burned. Some had been shot. Others wounded by machetes. He wasn't terribly upset when the hospital asked them to leave to make room for all the injured.

Then, I talked to Pastor M. Since the gunfire calmed and the federal curfew was lifted, he had ventured into the smoldering town to assess the damage to the Baptist Community. He saw at least 5 churches charred, a handful of pastors left homeless and churches mourning members who had been killed in the fight.

People told him in one church, people sent motorcycles into the sanctuary and ignited them like bombs. Another rural church said they sent their women to flee in the mountains while the men hid inside with bows and arrows to scare off any attackers.

The churches that survived are helping out those who didn't fare so well, and our missionaries are also finding ways to help.

Pastor M. himself actually ran into an unruly crowd about to overtake a man … he soon recognized the man as his neighbor, a local M0slim leader. Pastor M. somehow calmed the crowd so they would release him and his family. That's a huge gesture that I'm sure showed everyone around a glimpse of hope for the religious divide. What would I do in that situation? I can only hope I would be brave enough to do the same....

Jos is usually an amiable place where we have a lot of mission teams, and the missionaries expect that things will return to normal and Jos will still be a good jumping off place to take the Gospel to northern unreached regions. Pray it's true!

Then there's Pastor D. in the Ivory Coast.  

His church is in Bouake, the central part of the country where the civil war hit hardest from 2002-2007. His church is actually just a few hundred meters away from where the rebels set up the border to divide the government-controlled south from the rebel-held north. That’s where the soldiers from both sides armed with automatic weapons set up checkpoints for anyone who wants to pass through.

When the war broke out, his church was plundered. Multiple times. They broke down the doors and stole everything. They even pulled the electrical wiring out of the walls and took the light bulbs.

“Through it all, I never had it on authority from God to leave,” he said, determined to serve the faithful Christians who stayed. He stayed. Even though his congregation had dwindled from 250 to 50. Even though his wife was eight months pregnant when fighter planes dropped bombs nearby that shook their home. He stayed.

After years of such strife, the pastor's church still stands. He is amazingly sincerely free of all bitterness and somehow still hopeful.

“I used to teach about having faith,” he said. “Now I can teach from experience because I know what it is to have to live by faith.”

I could write forever about how these men have inspired in me, about their churches, about my shame at how much lesser things have caused my faith to flounder. But I’ll just let their stories speak and praise God for their testimonies.

I found a guy to butcher a turkey for us for Thanksgiving, (but he charged me extra to cut off the head).We had a great holiday. The McAfee family hosted the dinner, and Heather McAfee made sure our “free range” turkey turned out quite tender! A few African friends came and ate, and we taught one of them, Safi, how to play American football. She caught on quickly! It was a tough match-up since she’s like two inches taller than I am. I know! How is that possible? Here's heather's turkey.

So I don’t have to tell you guys about the American economy. It’s in a bigger slump than those Texas A&M Aggies right now, (and that’s saying a LOT). So, in my heart I think I’d really like to move back to the states when my contract ends Jan. 31, but I’m just not sure that’s wise considering the job market. Should I stay on the mission field, or just head home and take my chances with finding a job? Please pray I can really hear from God about this. As I told someone recently, it would be really easy to confuse a calling to go back home with a serious craving for a chicken fried steak!

Updates on some of my friends:

Oumou – The college girl I’ve been visiting with Heather on campus. She’s lost interest in our Bible studies, largely due to some romantic drama. DRAMA! This boy has broken her heart. Pray she can learn to put her full dependence on Jesus and realize there is Life after this boy. Pray she can find some healthy diversion so she doesn’t stay depressed! 

Hausa women – SarahO has been asking for the Jesus stories every week. She has even found a neighbor boy to read to her from a book of Bible stories she found, but she can’t read it herself. She loves talking about how the stories apply to our lives. But even if she thought Jesus was the right way, I’m not sure she thinks it would ever be possible to follow Him. “C’est inderdit,” she says. It’s forbidden. The culture here is so fixed, only God can work to change it. And that might not happen overnight. Pray I can make the rest of our conversations count, and that God can continue to reveal himself to her.

Zechariah – This is our M0slim office worker with the rough marriage. I set him up to start Bible studies with Mike McAfee he has been coming (somewhat) regularly. This week he told me he’s glad there is peace with his wife. He has really worked to keep from being provoked into arguing with her, (just like Jesus did when they led him to the cross). This is a seemingly small victory, yet HUGE! I love watching people choose to love, and watching LOVE WIN! (1 Cor. 13:7-8)

Two upcoming events to pray about:

The M0slim holiday of Tabaski is coming up this week, when they sacrifice sheep to celebrate the day God sent the lamb so Abraham wouldn't have to kill his son. Pray I have opportunities to share the rest of the story ... about the final sacrifice God sent in Jesus.

The epic Christmas party! This year, once again, we'll invite all our friends and neighbors to eat and hear the Christmas story. Some might hear it for the first time! Pray for our preparations.

Bonus picture: Here is a little Hausa girl that never has any clothes on! I call her Bebe-Nu. (Naked baby). I'm trying to get some clothes on the kid and she doesn't seem very happy.