Guinea, West Africa

Dear Friends in Christ,

"You intended to harm me but God intended it for good." (Gen.

50:20). Although these words of Joseph to his brothers aren't an

exact parallel to the situation we've lived through in the last two

months, we do resonate with them strongly. A person wanted to harm

God's work here for his own benefit, but God turned his bad intention

into strength for the emerging church. The story is sordid and long,

one of greed, betrayal and deception, but instead of going through

all the gory details I want to tell how God used all of this for His

glory.

A man came here to help us, we thought, with discipling some of

our friends who were new in the faith. He was someone we'd

considered a friend for 6 years, and who had claimed to be a

Christian for 20 years. In reality his only interest was in gaining

money and status for himself. He started by creating divisions

between the English speakers in our church fellowship and the Maninka

speakers. He then started to divide the Maninka speakers away from

the mission. In the end, what he wanted was more or less every

earthly possession the mission owns here in Upper Guinea to become

his own. At first I wasn't aware of any of this, but as time wore

on, it became clear that these were the man's intentions.

Although it got to the point where we had to threaten the

intervention of the police (he was holding the papers to the land

recently purchased for a worship/ministry area) he eventually gave

up. He has left our area for good. We rejoice that the numerous

rifts that were created have been healed. There is a new trust

between the English speaking members of our fellowship and the

Maninka, there is a renewed vision for how to evangelize people with

the Gospel and not false promises (this man had given many). We also

dedicated the land to the LORD on Sunday, June 8 for His glory and

His work. Everyone of the people who had been driven away by this

man's false witness has come back and either asked for forgiveness or

expressed a desire for a renewed relationship.

Damage was done in almost every place this man went, but by God's

grace most of these problems have been healed. One village that I

had never visited myself was anxiously expecting things from this man

because of a false promise he gave in the name of the mission, but

they were very forgiving when I went to see them and still expressed

a desire to collaborate. The Holy Spirit has been working in the

hearts of one family there for a long time, but fear has inhibited

them from expressing their faith openly. The father of this family

had leprosy and went to a Catholic clinic in Mali for treatment some

years ago. He received the healing he was after, and in the meantime

most of his children were struck by the witness of the priests, nuns,

and lay people they encountered there. The oldest son in this family

told us he is a Muslim but he has more faith in Christ than he does

in Mohammed. Please pray for this village, "M.G.", it could very

well be the site of a mass conversion if the people are able to

overcome their fear.

There were times in this ordeal where we didn't know how it would

end; we didn't know what was going to happen to the very small group

of believers here. But, praise God, this attack was thwarted! We

can rejoice thoroughly with Joseph, that what some intended for evil

God has turned into good. Please pray with us the following requests:

-That the man who caused all these troubles would repent and turn to God.

-Thanksgiving that God kept our fellowship together and strengthened

the believers through this trial.

-Prayers for the people in village "M.G." that they would respond in

boldness to what they already believe.

-Thanksgiving for the new believers who have a better understanding

and renewed commitment to evangelism.

-For our family's continued health, we've all been ill this month

with varying degrees of severity.

In Christ,

Tim, Heidi, Philip & Leslie Norton

LCMS World Mission

Guinea, West Africa

Our Savior Lutheran Church  808.488.3654
98-1098 Moanalua Road  Aiea, HI  96701