Fred’s Africa Report

Togo

Fred, along with Bill Hoffman, left New York on October 11th and arrived in Accra, Ghana, on Friday morning. We were glad to see Bishop Gake of Togo, waiting for us when we came out the door. He took us right to Lome, Togo. On the way his car broke down. What a miracle, in this village was a mechanic that had the parts and fixed it and sent us on our way in less than 1 hour! God truly answers your prayers for us. In Lome, we unpacked, set up the computer system we brought for the Video Bible School, and preached that evening at his church.

Saturday morning we were on the local Sports Radio station at 5 am. (No sleeping in after our long trip.) After breakfast and packing we went to the central town of Vogonville, to arrange for the seminar we will do there in March. It is an area full of witchcraft and the churches are divided. We have been asked to come have a Leaders Seminar there. Pray for the seminar and leaders there.

Benin

Fred taught the book of Hebrews at the Bible School in Cotonou, Benin. Bill was off speaking at the orphanage and village churches. At the same time we had to buy plane tickets to Bamako, Mali, for Monday for Bible School there. But, ended up with tickets for Thursday – days late. This gave me time to visit 4 of our 15 Video Bible Schools in Benin. Tori-Gar is a small town that could never have it’s own Bible School to train workers – but it can have a Video Bible School. Another one I visited, was in Akpapa, a section of Cotonou. I was glad to see folks that I hadn’t seen since 2003.

Here is a list of where we have Video Bible Schools;
Benin – 15
Ivory Coast – 7
Senegal – 3
Mali – 3
Togo – 2
Burkina Faso – 1
Central Afrique –1
Ghana – 1
Nigeria – 1
Congo – 2
TOTAL = 36 Video Bible Schools in West Africa!

Mali

I arrived there 3 days later than I had planned and my suitcase never did. The Bible School had many more Bombara speaking students then ever before. They were excited learners. On Monday we learned that the airport was closing and so we had to leave 2 days early. We got the last seats on the last flight out and that only took us to Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso – only half way back to Cotonou, Benin. We had to go the rest of the way by road.

Togo

After the 2 day road trip back to Cotonou, Benin, I found my suitcase – untouched after a week sitting in the airport! Another miraculous answer to prayer. Friday, Bill and I went by road to Lome, Togo, again. The seminar started on Wednesday and I missed 2 days at the Video Bible School also. The 3 days of service we did make, where great.

Ghana

Bill flew back to America and Pastor Geoff with Jeremy and Mark from New Hampshire, flew in to meet me in Accra, Ghana. We had a week of school and one week of church meetings.