Greetings to you all, our supporters, well wishers and those who care for the preacher training work that we do in Gueckedou, Guinea.
Yes, the good Lord has not only kept us alive, but in sound health and has also enabled us to continue doing our usual preacher training and other related activities. All has been successful to the glory of God and we are glad to share with you details of these: a new batch of students, resumption of classes, and the evangelistic activities of the Guinea teams. Now follow with me.
A New Batch of Students
Our last report concluded that the third batch of students had come to a close of their academic work in the school. Some 12 students are now awaiting their graduation ceremony which hopefully will take place in November.
Main while, the school staff, church leaders and these prospective graduates have identified some 18 individuals who sat to an entrance exam of which 15 are maintained as the current class, the 4th batch of Gueckedou Bear Valley.
Classroom
As stated above, 15 students have started their classes and have already completed the following courses which were taught by their respective instructors namely:
Old Testament 1, the Law - by Antoine Fassa Tolno
Old Testament 2, history - by Saa Robert Kamano
The Cost of Discipleship by Saa Michel Yombouno as well as 1st, 2nd Thessalonians and James.
Evaluation of these courses are scheduled to be conducted at the close of the quarter. Meanwhile, the students are being engaged with reading, memory work and other assignments.
Resumption of campus church and devotions
It is a good thing and it is appropriate for the students to have a campus church where they are to hold worship services not only for practical exercice, but especially so to worship our Lord.
We started this on the 21st of July and it is ongoing.
Also, campus devotions started on the 18th of July and since then this exercise has continued to date. We are thankful to our visiting staff especially to Francis Lavaley who proposed and volunteered to sleep on campus and to begin devotions. We are also thankful to Francios Tenguiano for his voluntary services to lead the church and help direct these activities.
With the church now on campus we shall soon begin to conduct house to house evangelism in the community.
Evangelistic Teams in Guinea
There are at present 6 Evangelistic teams in Guinea located in various areas around Gueckedou and in Conakry. These have had some follow up and Evangelistic work to do during the month under review as par the details below:
The Ouende Kenema team:
This team had done follow up work to exhort and strengthen the brethren of both old and newly restored churches. They reported 2 baptisms in 2 different congregations.
The Gueckedou team:
This team members made follow up work and also converted 2 persons in the newly planted church at the village of Kamalo. At the same time one of her members, Francis Musa in a combined effort with another member of the Conakry team, Francis Lavaley made a successful evangelistic training mission in the town of Danane in Ivory Coast. There were some 35 in attendance to whom we also shared our field experience. Soon, we began to receive encouraging reports of conversions and restorations.
The Tekoulo team:
With the rains heavely pouring and with some other personnel issues, this team was unable to plant a congregation as had planned. Therefore that mission was transfered on to the Koundou L-Bengou team whose detail report is given below.
Nevertheless the Tekoulo team itself was regularly making a follow up work every weekend at the village of Workuma from where we now have 2 candidates in the 4th batch at the school.
The Yaladou kongonani team:
Not only has it accomplished follow up work during which some 5 souls were baptized in the village congregations of Fassaba and Baladou, but was also able to convert 3 other persons in a new area thereby planting a congregation in the village of Woladou. Brother Eloi Tolno, the group leader is one of our hard working evangelist carring on these missions.
The Koundou L-Bengou (KLB) team:
Bro Saa Many who leads the KLB team has worked hard and has planted a congregation in the village of Maadou. It began with 3 baptisms on the 30th of June, but Sunday attendance is encouraging -45 and since then other evangelistic work has continued and we are optimistic that sooner or later additional conversions will follow. Then in the village congregation of Kongola, this team's follow-up work has increased conversions. During the months of June and July we have registered 13 baptisms and the Sunday attendance some Sundays raise to 100+.
Also, the Koundou L-Bengou team is giving a hand to the Tekoulo team which was scheduled to plant a congregation, but was unable to due to unbalanced circumstances. So the KLB team is on a mission this weekend to plant a congregation in the village of Yarakorodou.
The Conakry team:
Much effort is being applied by the members of this team to win new souls and to strengthen already existing congregations. There have not been any new conversions registered, and new grounds are being exploited along with follow-up visits in communities where they preached before.
It was of this team that a member cooperated with a Gueckedou team member, Francis Musa, for that successful evangelistic mission at Danane, Côte d'Ivoire mentioned above.
Conclusion
In summary, the activities for the month of June were few, but with a successful outcome. We have started classes with a new batch of 15 students, resumed morning and evening devotions, and started the campus church.
We did make a successful evangelistic training mission at Côte d'Ivoire where the outcome is to the praise of God.
Finally, our follow-up and evangelistic campaigns resulted in a total of 28 baptisms.
We are grateful to God and are thankful to the Bear Valley International Administrative body especially the West Africa Coordinator, Steven Ashcraft, and all well-wishers who support this work.
I thank you all and personally remain grateful to Steven Ashcraft and Keith Kasarjian.