Allan and Robbin Ballard

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Prayer Letter/Ministry Update

Greetings from Dakar, Senegal. We are doing well and are off to a good start this year. We look forward to all that God has in store for us this year. He is full of blessings and the giver of all good gifts. We hope that you are aware of all the good things that He is doing in your life and that you know that His love is over you each and every day! Here is a brief update on our family.

Evan– Evan recently turned 8 and is in second grade. He has the funniest sense of humor which keeps us laughing most of the time. He loves to play with friends and Legos are his favorite hobby these days. Evan was quite sick off and on much of last year. He was diagnosed with Relapsing Fever from a tick bite in Dakar. Last June we were able to see an Infectious Disease Specialist in Atlanta who prescribed just the right antibiotic for him and he has been fine ever since. We had tried several rounds of different antibiotics in Dakar without success. How grateful we are to see Evan feeling well once again! We praise God for this.

Cari Brooke- Cari Brooke turned 11 this month. She is in 5th grade and is having a fantastic school year. She loves sports and spends a lot of time playing soccer. Currently she is practicing with a track coach and will compete in an area track day with a number of different schools in a couple of weeks. Recently on Olympic Day at her own school, she won first place in the 50 and 100 meter, 1 mile, 3 kilometer, broad jump, long jump and high jump.

Cari Brooke also saw the neurologist in Atlanta last Summer and he suggested taking her off of her anti seizure medication. We are thankful that she does not seem to be having difficulty with mild seizures any more and no longer has to take the medicine. We thank all of you who have prayed for our family regarding some of these difficult health issues that we have gone through. We praise God for good health these days! We do not take this for granted and are incredibly grateful that everyone is feeling well. We sure appreciate your prayers!

Robbin- Robbin continues to the bookkeeping for the C&MA staff and dorms at Dakar Academy. She is also on a committee that plans and hosts a ladies retreat each Fall for missionary, embassy and other English speaking women. However, a favorite ministry that she enjoys is leading two women's bible studies. One of the studies is for staff ladies at Dakar Academy. The other group is made up of missionary ladies from many different denominations. Please pray that God would continue to teach and refresh missionary women in Senegal as they seek to bring His kingdom to West Africa.

Allan- Allan continues to do the bookkeeping for several countries. He works for Gabon, Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal. He finds it a challenge each month to meet the deadline for three fields but he enjoys the work and is happy to serve different countries in this way. Several missionary families are returning to Côte d'Ivoire this year to work at our Seminary in Abidjan. This will increase Allan's bookkeeping for Côte d'Ivoire but we rejoice to see missionaries able to continue their work in Côte d'Ivoire.

Blessings,
Allan, Robbin, Cari Brooke, and Evan

Prayer Requests/Answers to Prayer

Prayer Requests- Please pray that we would be faithful in all that we do in ministry, parenting and all other areas. We would especially ask you to pray for a Senegalese friend of ours. We regularly buy vegetables from him and have been able to share the gospel with him this past year. He says he believes all that he has heard and read in the Bible and is very interested in the gospel message. However, he is reluctant to join the family of Christ without his wife and children who are Muslims. Please pray that God would reveal Himself to this "veggie man" and his family. Pray that they would understand their need for Jesus. Pray specifically that they would understand that salvation is a free gift and not something that they can earn or deserve. This is a difficult concept for many people in the local religion here. There are few converts among the Wolof in Senegal. We pray that this man will choose Jesus and will be able to share the love of Jesus with his whole family and village.

Giving- Thank you to all who give to the Great Commission fund through the CMA. This fund enables us to live and minister in Senegal and we depend on faithful giving to this fund in order to stay in Africa and do what God has called us to do. So often we wish you could be here and see first hand what God is doing through your gifts. You would be encouraged to see the fruit of your giving!

We have seen God provide for us in so many ways. Right now though we are in need of a vehicle here. When we left Côte d'Ivoire, we were not able to ship our car to Dakar because of a law prohibiting the import of cars over a certain age. We sold our car there but due to the war, we were not able to sell it for the cost of replacing it here in Dakar. Even older used cars are very expensive in Senegal. We will need to raise at least $10,000 just to buy a small used vehicle that is about 10 years old. If you would like to give to our vehicle fund, you can make a tax deductible gift to Ballard Vehicle Would you prayerfully consider giving to this fund perhaps regularly over the next several months? We will need to raise the funds before we are able to purchase a car.

Approved Specials

If you wish to contribute to one of our specials (vehicle funds, building projects, etc.) you may select it from the Approved Specials List.

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