January 2013 Report

Dear Friends,
pic 1Thank you so much for your prayers and support throughout 2012.  We can really feel the strength that comes from your prayers.  They are needed and very much appreciated.  We are grateful for your partnership!  THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!  Please continue to pray for us and support us financially, as you can, throughout 2013.

PASSPORTS
A U.S. passport is good for 10 years.  Fred’s had reached it’s end and he had to send for a new one.  When you buy a visa for a country, it takes up a whole page.  Then when you arrive, they put an entry stamp on another page and another stamp when you leave.  Traveling into and out of so many countries as we do, our passports get filled up.  Then we have to get more pages added.  Fred had pages added 4 times.  A full passport like that is a sign of a lot of work for the kingdom of God in many countries.

PLANS
Marie-Louise started Bible College this January.  This is a wonderful answer to prayer for her and frees us to be able to travel more.  We have our tickets to the Philippines for March and April.  Please continue to pray for us to be in the center of God’s will as we travel.  We have so many invitations to more countries in Africa, also for Europe and now we have an invitation to Bangladesh.

Supporters
We are so thankful for each one of our supporters and we pray for them.  With the bad economy, our support has fallen off and we are behind financially.  We need new supporters that would join us in prayer and perhaps $25 or more each month.

FRED’S AFRICA REPORT – Fall 2012

Different Time In Africapic 2
This time in Africa was different then many of our trips.  Fred got to be a part of 3 crusades and they reminded him of how much he loves crusades in Africa.

Second, it is normal for us to be in 5 counties and sometimes we only spend a week in a country.  We planned to be in 3 countries, but we were not able to go to Mali because of an error in our plane tickets, so we were only in 2.  Also we spent a whole month in Benin, spending longer there than we had in a few years.  Then we went to Togo and came back to Benin because of our plane tickets.
God truly blessed and made our time in Africa very fruitful.  Thank you so much for praying and being a part.

Benin
pic 3Fred and Sonny Grottanelli flew via Casablanca, Morocco, to the city of Cotonou, the capital of Benin.  We arrived at 5am on a Saturday.  Then we went the same morning to Boichon, 3 hours North, to a funeral.  We spent the rest of the month covering Benin from South to North and then back South again.

The first week Fred taught at Pastor Nazaire’s Bible School in Cotonou and the second week at Pastor Augustin’s.  We were also on the radio and went to our orphanage.

Then we went North to Parakou where a team from Pastor Augustin’s church joined us and we all traveled on to the top of Benin to the town of Banikoara.  It is the center of over 200 villages that are almost entirely unreached with the Good News of Jesus.  We had a tremendous crusade in Banikoara.  This is one of the first crusades ever in this town and the first to use the soccer stadium.  We had 500-700 people every night.  We were only expecting a few hundred.  The first night when Sonny gave the invitation to come forward to receive Jesus, we were equally amazed as nearly 200 came forward and crowded all around us.  Many people came forward when Fred preached as well, but not as many as the first night.  On Sunday we were in the new church and glad to see new believers.

We bussed the few pastors from Banikoara over an hour away to the town of Kandi for a combined Leader’s Seminar.  It was a privilege to teach and encourage these pastors that are on the front line of the Gospel.

Next we kicked off a new Bible School back in Parakou.  Augustin has had a Video Bible School at his church there for years and Fred has been there for graduation.  Fred taught the book of Romans to these hungry students.
Afterward we came back to Cotonou.

Togo
We went to Lome, Togo, and had a powerful time of ministry there.  Fred had a wedding, preached at church and taught at a church conference / Bible School.  Sonny traveled to and spoke in 4 prisons.

Back to Benin
We came back to Cotonou, Benin, at the end of our time in Africa.  Sonny ministered in the big prison there.  Fred also worked on recording languages for the Video Bible School.

Please Continue to Pray for Us
We have many ministry opportunities and many asking us to help.  Last year we went farther into debt and now we need to pay off about $18,000.00.  Pray for the needed increase of about $1000 per month in our support.  Please pray for our trip to the Philippines March and April.

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