Newsletter, October/November 2008

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our praying friends!

On Friday evening twenty-two IMB missionaries to Burkina Faso and northern Ghana and their children will gather for a time of thanksgiving, worship, and good eats. Just like you, we will eat turkey, cranberry sauce, gravy, sweet potatoes, green beans, apple pie, and any other traditional Thanksgiving foods that you can imagine. As we sit down to worship and offer thanks, one of our greatest blessings is your faithful prayer support. Thank you for reading this newsletter and going before the Father on behalf of the Shafto family and all of the Bissa people of West Africa.

Twice a week Kathy, T.K., and Todd head into the nonzoned, shanty town of Ouagadougou to share the gospel with Bissa immigrants to the city through evangelistic literacy classes. The students arrive with babies on their backs and books on their heads. We sit in a small circle under a straw hanger and help mothers and young men learn to recognize drawings in a book so that they will learn to hold it right side up. We write on old-fashioned slates and chalk boards and hold fretful babies while mothers try to form the letter “a.” And in the midst of a reading lesson, we share truths from God’s Word. “How do you think this world came into being? The sun? The moon? The stars? Let me share a story with you.” Pray for these students and their children, most of whom are hearing the gospel message for the very first time in their lives. Pray that God’s truth will resound in their hearts above the noise in the streets and above crying babies.

You prayed for Kathy’s dear friend Solange Ouedraogo and her surgery. Praise the Father that her surgery on one hip was successful and that the doctors will monitor the other hip in the months to come. She left the hospital in Benin today and will be returning home in one week. Please continue to pray for her complete recovery and rehab and that God will bless her return to ministry among the Baptist women of Burkina Faso.

It has been such a privilege and joy to have Todd Groff and T.K. Uhrich as fellow Bissa team members for this short time. They have a little less than one month left in their HandsOn term. Todd and T.K. have been faithful witnesses here in Ouagadougou and in northern Ghana as well. Pray that they will finish well as they travel out to Garango and Soumagou in Bissa land to encourage the believers there. Continue to pray especially for their friend Adam to be convicted of the truths they have shared with him and that he will make a decision to follow Christ.

Jay’s Field Strategy Leadership ministry has taken him to the Gambia for most of this month as he participates with colleagues in church planting training. He has been blessed and challenged by both the fellowship and the training. Pray that God will help him and Kathy to put these new ministry principles learned into practice in their ministry among the Bissa.

You prayed for James and Robbie and Madeleine and their ministry in southern Burkina Faso. Thank the father with us for a fruitful ministry there. To see how your prayers were answered, click here.

As we approach this holiday season, the great celebration of our Lord’s birth, we are constantly reminded that the generosity of Southern Baptists makes our life and ministry here in West Africa possible. The simple truth is that we couldn’t be here without your gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. Those gifts are the means by which we devote ourselves to full-time ministry, providing us with a home, food, medical care — even schooling for our children. Thank you! Please know that many people around the world are truly celebrating Christmas for the first time this year because of your sacrifice for God’s Kingdom.

Blessings,
Jay & Kathy Shafto
James, Robbie & Madeleine
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Newsletter, September 2008

Dear friends,

Thank you so much for your continued prayers for our family and for our ministry. Although our stateside assignment time was hectic (7 states in 9 weeks), we were able to accomplish all of our goals, including wonderful, refreshing visits with family and friends, encouraging visits with supporting and partnering churches, attending debriefing conference in Richmond, VA, and touring 6 universities with James and Robbie. We screamed our way through roller coaster and water rides, relaxed at the beach with friends, canoed on an Arkansas river, jumped off a bridge into the North River in Massachusetts, attended a Boston Red Sox game, and cried when my 94 year-old Aunt Ora passed away. We reconnected with family at two fantastic reunions and enjoyed having Adam and Lydia, Jay's niece and nephew, with us for a couple of weeks. A resounding thank you goes to our home church family at Scotts Hill Baptist in North Carolina who rented us a mini-van for our extensive travels.

We are back once again in Burkina Faso, where we are enjoying the privilege that it is to be ambassadors for Christ among peoples who need desperately to hear the good news of His love and sacrifice on our behalf. The children have returned to school, and this past weekend we celebrated Robbie's birthday at the new paintball course in the city of Ouagadougou. The last week of October, our children will be joining other members of their youth group on a mission trip to southern Burkina with the intent to share Christ with the children of a village where a Christian Peace Corps worker lives. Please remember to pray for James, Robbie, and Madeleine, who are not just missionary kids, but kids who are missionary. They very much desire to have an intentional witness in their school, the International School of Ouagadougou. Pray that God will give them opportunities to share Christ with their friends. Pray also for the preparation of this mission trip as they learn how to share their faith in several different ways.

We are privileged to have two Southern Baptist churches "partnering" with us to reach the Bissa for Christ. As you pray for us and for the Bissa, please include Scotts Hill Baptist of Wilmington, NC and First Baptist Church, Clarksville, Tennessee in your prayers. These two churches are going the extra mile in helping the Bissa hear the gospel. Both are regularly sending evangelistic mission teams to West Africa.

Scotts Hill has adopted and engaged the Bissa people of Accra, Ghana. As reported from the team from Scotts Hill:
The Scotts Hill team continues to stand in awe of the work that God is doing among the Bissa in Accra. The team has made contact with Bissa in seven areas of the city. They are continuing to share the Gospel through various methods of personal evangelism and the Jesus Film. In September the team baptized three new believers. They have also seen a bible study formed in Maamobi with four of the believers attending weekly. Dramane, a young man who first heard the Gospel in Garango and who prayed to receive Christ in February 2008 was one of those who were baptized. He is leading the bible study in Maamobi. The team will return to Accra in February. Please praise the Father with us for Scotts Hill's commitment to push back darkness in Accra as they share the truth of the Light with the Bissa there.

First Baptist Church Clarksville, Tennessee has adopted and engaged the Bissa of northern Ghana. This very week, a team from FBC Clarksville is doing both evangelism in villages and health care ministry at the Baptist Medical Centre of Nalerigu, Ghana. Many Bissa from northern Ghana, as well as others from other people groups, seek physical healing at BMC. When they arrive, they find both their physical and spiritual needs attended to. Pray for FBC Clarksville as they share Christ with Muslim Bissa men and women who, for a long time, have been closed to the gospel. Pray for those who minister at the BMC to have the compassion and vision to offer both physical and spiritual healing to the patients who come to the hospital.

We are pleased to share that we have two new members on the Bissa team. Todd Groff and T.K. Uhrich are semester missionaries through the HandsOn program for young adults offered by the International Mission Board. They are presently in northern Ghana and, with Jay, will be working alongside the Clarksville team in village evangelism ministry. We've been amazed and very proud of the progress that they've made in Bissa language study. Already they've been able to share the gospel with several Bissa families who live here in Ouaga. Pray specifically for a young Bissa man named Adam whom they have befriended. He is fasting and praying during Ramadan. Ask the Holy Spirit to use T.K. and Todd's witness to convict his heart of the truth of God's word as he seeks God during this Muslim holy month.

Some of you have been praying for my friend, Solange. She is the president of Baptist Women in Ouagadougou and a tireless worker in Baptist women's ministry in the entire country. Solange will be traveling to northern Benin on October 12 for hip surgery. She has advanced arthritis in both hips and will have replacement surgery in mid-October. Please pray that the hands of the visiting doctors who do her surgery will be guided by the Holy Spirit. Pray for quick recovery so that she can return home to her family as soon as possible.

Many thanks to all of you for your prayerful support. A special thanks to our Southern Baptist friends. We are reminded regularly by the daily needs in life that without your financial support of the IMB through both Lottie Moon Christmas offering and the Cooperative Program, we would not be able to continue this ministry.

Blessings,
Jay & Kathy Shafto
James, Robbie & Madeleine
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Newsletter, April/May 2008

Hello, praying friends.

I apologize for neglecting to write these past couple of months. Those of you who consider yourselves technology challenged will relate. My email accounts have had problems, and it has been a very frustrating process for me to try to solve them. Hopefully, when you receive this, the difficulties have been taken care of.

Thank you for praying for the closing session of Sylvie and Natasha's literacy class. Several family members of students were able to attend and heard once again the Good News of Christ's love for them. No public decisions were made at this time, but three women showed special interest in further conversation about the peace that Jesus offers. One young woman from the literacy class named Rosine attended our women's camp the following week. She has now heard several times in several different ways how much God loves her. She desires very much to know this peace that He alone can bring in the midst of a home situation that is not peaceful at all, but she is hesitant because of a hostile, unbelieving husband and family. Please pray that Rosine will continue to be convicted of Truth and that she will have courage to follow Christ. Give praise to the Father for Sylvie and Natasha and for their growth as Christian leaders as they conduct these evangelistic literacy classes.

You also prayed for our discipleship and leadership training camp at the end of April. Praise God for glorious answers to your prayers. Twelve women attended including two who are seeking. We had an incredible week of worship and Bible study. We studied the institution of the early church and took a very close look at the church at Philippi through a study of that entire book. Three of the women helped to lead studies in Philippians, and each day a different woman led in the singing and worship time. We made beautiful salvation bead necklaces to give as gifts to friends when we share God's truth with them. We memorized together Matthew 16:15-18 and took time each morning in personal devotion time (or 2x2 devotion time to help non-readers) to meditate on these verses and what they mean in the life of the church today. Watching women lead, tentatively at first, and then with increasing confidence is such a joy for me. As Paul said in Philippians 1:4, they are my "crown."

Jay continues to meet weekly with Yaya for discipleship and recently another young local church leader has joined them. Grace Baptist Church where Yaya is attending in Ouaga has asked him to be prepared each Sunday to sing a worship song in Bissa. Pray for this church to be a vibrant witness to the Bissa and others in their neighborhood and that they will exemplify God's grace to the entire the area.

His Field Strategy Leadership ministry took Jay to Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire last month for church planter training along with other IMB West Africa leaders. His sessions were encouraging, and he especially appreciated the spiritual emphasis of this particular training. Thank God that this time was both a spiritually refreshing and an inspiring time for all of these missionaries. Pray that God will continue to work in the hearts of the Bissa young men with whom Jay was able to share during his time in Abidjan. As part of this FSL ministry we have the privilege to work alongside several West Africa church planting teams. One of those is the team led by Phillip and Teresa Lyons that reaches out to the Wala people. The Wala are some of the most ardent keepers of Islam in Burkina Faso and Ghana. Pray for Phillip and Teresa and their 6 children. Pray especially for their oldest son Zach who will be returning to the US to attend college this year.

This very afternoon we head to the airport for a four-plane ride to North Carolina for a summer stateside assignment/furlough. We hope to see many of you in person as we make the rounds through North Carolina, Louisiana, and Massachusetts. Thank you for praying for safety in our travels and for clarity in our communication about God's work through us to see the peoples of West Africa come to Christ.

May you experience the greatest blessings of our Lord,

Jay & Kathy Shafto

James, Robbie & Madeleine

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso