On the Ground in Africa - LTLA Prayer Bulletin - June 2023

 

Greetings from Africa, Thank you for your prayers for my time with the LTLA team in Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe. I have been able to spend time with Shelton & Tino and meet their baby daughter, Kunashe. What a joy to rejoice with them in God's gift of her life! She is now home with them and they are busy doing "kangaroo treatment" with her, where they wrap her to their body for skin to skin contact. This treatment allows their body temperature to keep her warm so that the nutrients she is receiving from Tino's milk can be used for her growth and not to just keep her warm especially with the cooler temperatures of their winter..Please pray for Kunashe's continued development and for sustaining grace for her parents as they care for her.

Kunashe was well loved by friends from the US who provided the wrap she is wearing along with the blanket she is laying on and the toys she is beside.

I learned while here that another team member, Stella, became a "gogo" (grandmother) for the first time. She was doubly blessed with twin boys born to her daughter in early June. They were also born premature at 30 weeks and are still at the hospital connected to feeding and breathing tubes. Please pray for their lung development as one in particular is struggling to breath. I have also spent time with Tsungai, who has completed one week of radiotherapy treatment for cancer. She is encouraged in spirit and is just experiencing some dizziness physically. Other ladies on the LTLA team will take turns to be with her in Harare, the capital city where she is receiving treatments, to provide help and encouragement. They are graciously being housed by friends of the ministry in Harare.

Mike with Tsungai.

While here, I have also been able to encourage Arthur, the LTLA director. It has been a challenging past year on many fronts as we feel attacked by the enemy. The ministry teams here have increased their resolve to pray, asking the Lord for His protection and victory. Would you join us in praying for the Lord to strengthen our faith and bolster our courage to continue carrying the great news of Jesus and His Kingdom into Chinhoyi and beyond? I have the opportunity to carry the Gospel of Christ to farmers in northern Malawi with a good friend of the ministry, Tim Mooney. Ron Shimkus discipled Tim as a student at ISU and he went on to serve with The Navigators for two years in Uganda. After that he taught social studies at Ames High School and would take groups of students with him in the summers back to Uganda to help build schools. Tim developed a heart for coffee farmers in Uganda, so we met in Malawi yesterday along with a Ugandan farmer friend of his, Charles, to visit coffee farmers in northern Malawi.  You may remember four years ago that I traveled to Malawi to visit another ISU student, Tyler Marshall, who was serving there with the Peace Corps. On that visit I met Park, a young man in that community, who desires to make an impact for Christ. Park and Shelton, LTLA Community Ministry team leader, received sustainable farming and stewardship training together that year from Foundations for Farming in Malawi. Would you pray for Tim, Charles and I this week as we visit Park to encourage him in his efforts with farmers in Misuku, Malawi? Grateful for your continued prayer support while I travel in Africa! Mike Sulc Life to Life Africa

Mike and Tim Mooney