Back in the city

We are currently back in the city. We have decided to come down for two conferences, a retreat with YFC and also a Muslim convert conference, where Christians from a Muslim background are invited to come and share their thoughts and be taught about Christian life. Here is our update on the Muslim Convert conference it was Awesome!!!!!!
The conference was a Huge success. Praise the Lord. Gambians, Guineans, Senegalese, Malians, and even one man from Guinea Bissau came together to share ideas and thoughts about their new found faith ( as well as old found faith) Each person that was in attendance was a Christian from a Muslim background. We had about 130 people in attendance and God really moved throughout that place. We were able to come together for 4 days and dig deep into God's word. Christian family and marriage was taught, and what it looks like to have a Christian family and what the Bible says about living in a Christian home, we also heard from one Missionary about the problems between Missionaries and the national Church, and we discussed possible solutions. This was also a time for people to voice their opinions and concerns. It is interesting to see how the past is still being dwelt on. Very sad, that people have so many misconceptions about each other. I feel that one of the main reason the conference was held was to bring unity back into the Missionary/Chruch relationship. We had one man come as a Seeker and decided to give his life to Christ. Tom and I were able to meet not only missionaries from Gambia but also missionaries from Guinea Conakry and Mali. We were able to hear about their experiences and share our own. We were greatly encouraged by these missionaries and hope to continue to build relationships with them. Tom and I were so greatful to hear both sides of the many problems between Missionaries and Nationals, with this new found information we hope to try and rebuild the missionary/National relationship. Many nationals are never happy about Missionaries we are hoping to show them that not all missionaries are the same by coming in with a new focus, a focus on working for the nationals instead of the nationals working for the missionary. As far as the Missionaries go we are trying to assist the Missionaries to understand the nationals and build trust between themselves and to take the step of faith to look past nationality and work together as one Body of Christ. All in all we really enjoyed this time together and learned so much. Please be praying that we are able to find our own piece of land to live on and use as a Mission base. We feel ready to leave the family compound that we are currently residing in. Also pray for the missionaries of this area as well as the nationals that they would put aside their differences and finally come together for the work of God's Kingdom. Amen
Thank you so much for all your prayers and love and support.
Tom and Andrea

Well guess what. The truck is still not ok. We had it in the workshop for 4 days they changed the disk, the mounts, the fuel pump and then they decided to get the carburetor serviced. we thought it was running better so we loaded our entire shipment into it and headed off, back home. We got two hours up the road and the truck was not doing well, it may even be said that it all got worse. So we turned around and came straight back to the Mechanic. We had to unload all of our stuff (we're talking alot of stuff) and left it with the mechanic. So who knows how much longer it will be. Anyway, with that said, one can guess how we are feeling right now, tired, depressed, discouraged, to name a few. Please pray that God would give us rest in His love and peace about everything. We are anxious to get back home, especially sine it hasn't rained much, we have to water the Bananas. Keep us in your prayers.
Andrea and Tom

Hello everyone, I just wanted to let you all know about everything. We are now in the city once again, our truck was very sick and we don't really have any good mechanics in Bansang, so we prayed like crazy that God would get us back to the city in one piece, Thank you Lord for being faithful! The mechanic ended up dropping the entire engine and changing the clutch disc and some mount things and also the fuel pump. Anyway hopefully it will be good now. We have our shipment out of the dock now it is in the care of one of our pastor friends, we'll take it home this trip. Anyway, prayer requests, we are part of a team that is hosting a conference, it is a Muslim Convert conference, Christians from a Muslim Background will be coming from all over West Africa to The Gambia this will be happening Aug 20-24th Please pray for safe travels, for everyone, pray for the speakers and the team that is hosting everyone, pray that God will really call these nationals into a life of ministry and devotion to the Lord. Please also join Tom and myself in praying for our vision of sending out nationals from Gambia to neighboring countries and also finding support for all of them. We are so greatful to have an amazing group of Prayer Warriors behind us, God will bless each one of you
Love
Andrea

bananas are growing!

Hello everyone,

This Andrea Johnson, Tom and Andrea’s friend. I called them last week and got a good update from them. They are still waiting on some final paperwork and other things to get their shipment. The Gambia is a very corrupt country so if you are not willing to pay bribes you have to wait a long time to get what you want. They said they are doing well back in Bansang and that they have half the plantation planted with bananas, so that is keeping them both busy. They have two dogs now that are going to serve as watchdogs on the land. Andrea told me that they are very healthy for the most part but we could pray for their health to stay that way. She also told me about the spiritual warfare that is going on there. There are people that are “falling down” and it is getting worse and worse, please pray for the stronghold of evil in this town would be broken and people would find the comfort they need in God. They are praying a lot and feeling led to help start a program in west Africa like Gospel for Asia (www.gfa.org) to help support the local Christians to go out in their country to their people and tell them about the hope and life they have in Christ. Please pray that God would make this clear to them and lead them in the right steps to bring this opportunity to the people of The Gambia and West Africa.

tower

here is the water tower that me and a mason built for a plantation in the kombo area it took the two of us about three weeks and cost about 1500 USD. It has a holding capacity of about 2000-2500 liters. I have installed two out of the 4 taps it will supply and soon i plan to install the well pump. Its a lot of work but once it is all complete it will help provide some income for a ministry called house of wisdom that outreaches to muslims and helps muslim converts learn how to live with their new faith and outreach to their friends and family. House of wisdom has one church in gambia and a affiliate church in Guinea, each church is composed of 95-100 nationals from muslim backgrounds. That is extremely uncommon in west africa for those of you that dont know. Most Churches have christians from nigeria, ghana, the west, or people who were born in a christian home. The muslims who comprise of 95% of west africas population have still been unreached despite years and years of effort by missions and churches. Yet with house of wisdom they are effectively evangelizing and seeing people come to the Lord. However they have no constant support and are a grassroots ministry struggling to do more ministry and outreach. So feel our current mission work in gambia and west africa will be to help empower their ministry by any means we can. Please pray for them and us to do mighty exploits for the kingdom that will never end! Hallelujah shouts and cheers from all people....

hello everyone we are still in the kombos the shipment has arrived we are now waiting for the duty wavier to be approved feel free to call or email us we miss you all

Ok God, Where is the boat?

Hello everyone,
Tom and I are still here in the city, our boat with the shipment has
yet to arrive still now, this is The Gambia and nothing goes at
planned really, it's just something we had to learn the hard way. We
were told it would come on the 20th of April and here we are in the
middle of May and still waiting. Tom has been working on a plantation
for a national Pastor to help him raise money for his ministry. He is
off working most days. We are really looking forward to getting back
to Bansang and to our own plantation. We had our first rain shower of
the season yesterday, this is the rain that the locals claim is a
warning to the farmers to get their fields ready for the season. We
won't have another rain for like a month, just enough time to get
planting. This is why Tom and I need to get back home, to plant our
own garden. But we have realized that God has a perfect plan and His
time is the best time. We hope all is well at home and we are
constantly in prayer for you all. Thank you for all of your prayers
and support.
In His service
Tom and Andrea

hey everyone so first the ship was to come april 22, then it was delayed till may 5th now they are telling me may 10th So we will see. meanwhile we are still waiting here in Kombos. please tell us what is happening in all your lives we really want to know.

update

hello everyone we are here life has been hard but we praise God for sustainign us,presently we have 300 holes dug for the banana trees and we want to plant within two weeks if possible. Right now im in the city are awiting our crate to try to clear it at the ports. We have been working with Pastor Modou Camara and helping develop his own garden to empower his mininstry. We had a chance to see Pastor Lamin from Guinea last week and we are looking forward to partnering with him in the future in ministry. God seems to really be leading us to working with those two people and their congregations. We are praying and ask you also to pray with us, about starting to send national missionairys out into Gambia, there are presently a few weel equipped Gambians that are ready and many more that are awaiting training but willing to be sent. The plantations we are starting will help sponsor these missionairys, but andrea and i are also praying about starting something along the lines of a Gospel for Asia type thing, were we create pampletes of the missionairy and then maybe a video (we want you cassie and andrea to come here) which we can then use back in the states to raise funds. But we are only praying about that now and still trying to focus on what we already have to do here. We love all you and pray for you. Please pray that God strengthens our relationship here, as satan seems to attack that aspect of our lives. Also please pray God guides and gives us disernment to know his voice.

later

tom and andrea

Pictures

Hello everyone My name is Andrea Johnson and I am great friends with Tom and Andrea. My husband Brian and I have been to the Gambia many times and we were just there with Tom and Andrea this last Dec/Jan. We are going to help Tom and Andrea update there blog when they can't get to internet. Here is a slide show of pictures from our last trip to the Gambia.

And we're back

Yes, we are back in the Gambia. After a nice break in the US Tom and I are back and we are refreshed and ready to go once again. We have huge plans for the banana plantation and will be heading home to Bansang tomorrow to get started on those plans. We spent the past week in the city area trying to ease our way back into the culture. We are fully stocked with supplies for building and reinforcing and are going. Please be praying for us. Pray for patience for the Gambians, and for the opportunities to speak to people that we have been building relationships with about the love of Christ. Pray that Tom and I feel comfortable back in the Gambia and that God comforts and protects us and really pushes us to be bold. Thank you all for al of you prayer and support until now and please continue. We\ll try and update every month or so but you all know how bad we are at that but we really are going to try hard to keep everyone enformed.
Andrea and Tom

we are in the hood, for about a month doing research, getting supplies, raising support, and resting. Give us a email or drop by.