From Mary Ann's Desk...

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“O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever.” Psalm 136:1


Wishing you a very happy Thanksgiving
I love this holiday we call “Thanksgiving.” It makes us stop our merry-go-round routine of daily living to reflect on the goodness of God to us in the current year. My family used to come to my house. I would cook for the better part of two days, and we would have a wonderful time together remembering, being thankful, laughing and having fun. Now, I go to my children’s home’s and they cook, and we have a wonderful time doing those same things. Wherever you celebrate, I hope you have a wonderful time.

After a very busy three months of travel and hosting nationals from Nigeria and India, last month was a welcome time of catching up with duties in the home office. And there was plenty of catching up to do. All was not quiet, however, as important communications from both Nigeria and India have been ongoing. Because there is too much to share in one newsletter, I am focusing only on Nigeria this month.

NIGERIA
Chawang Davoe shared with me that his ministry organization, Grace and Peace Foundation International, conducted a leadership conference in  late September/early October, with 34 attendees from Northeast Nigeria (the headquarters of Boko Haram and the place where so much of the violence against Christians in recent years in Nigeria has taken place). It is also the home of the Kanuri tribe that we first ministered to in 1989. At that time, no one had been able to reach this tribe with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the first sub-Saharan African tribe that the North African Muslims had converted from paganism to Islam.

After learning the only way to effectively reach this tribe with the Gospel of Jesus Christ was through medical missions, we petitioned the Lord to give us a medical missionary who would take this mission as his own and run with it. The answer to that prayer was Larry and Sarah Koontz of Dorcas Medical Missions, who are longtime friends of ours. Both of them are Registered Nurses, and Larry is also an ordained minister. They answered that call in October, 1996, and have faithfully plowed up the fallow ground and planted seeds of righteousness with visible fruit that is pressing on.

Eleven of the thirty-four attendees to the above mentioned conference are from the Kanuri tribe, and we are very thankful to God for them. Each minister represents a group of believers in Jesus Christ, the number of which I do not know. I am sure that the total number is still a very small percentage of the tribe’s total population of 5+ million. I am also sure that whatever the number is, it is much greater than the fourteen believers in 1989. The work among the Kanuri’s is painfully slow and arduous, but it is worth the work, and souls are still coming to Christ. To God be the glory. One plows, one plants, one waters, and God gives the increase. Thank you Lord.

I Am Especially Thankful To God For You
The work that God has allowed us to do in the various fields that He sent us to could never have been done without you. I never forget that fact. In every sense of the word “partners”, you have been and are partners with us in the Gospel. Thank you for your faithful support in prayer and financial giving. May the Lord continue to bless your faithfulness abundantly.

Because there are over 4.4 billion people in the world who still need Jesus, I remain

Yours in missions,


Mary Ann Cassidy

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