Bob and Dian Harner

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Prayer Letter/Ministry Update

Jan. 14, 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

For those of you who do not receive our e-mail updates (or get the news in them from someone who does receive them), it has been quite a while since you’ve heard from us. It may come as a bit of a surprise to you that I am sitting near our wood burning stove in our family room in Ohio instead of writing to you from Guinea, where I wouldn’t need a wood burning stove to feel warm enough!

As you may remember, we returned to the States in September for medical exams, short tour ministries, and vacation. We were planning to return to Guinea Nov. 4 but we decided to extend our time here in the States for family reasons. We will both be going on spring missions tours soon. In the meantime, we need to decide by April 30th whether the situation is such that we’ll be able to return to Guinea on June 30th, or need to remain in the States and go on a leave of absence. We’d really appreciate your prayers for God’s wisdom, insight, understanding and discernment for this decision.

Guinea is in need of prayer these days as the political situation has been deteriorating. A renewal of the strikes that took place early last year and resulted in the loss of about 186 lives was barely averted last week. The union and civil leaders were calling for another national strike to begin January 10 as a reaction to the president taking back control of the central bank and firing one of the ministers. Around midnight January 9 the strike was suspended until March 31. Things are still quite tense. Please pray for a solution that will bring lasting changes that will alleviate the economic and social suffering of the majority of Guineans, and draw this land to Jesus as THE solution.

We've been informed that "church giving to the Great Commission Fund (The GCF) which supports us and our work here in Africa has been increasing this year. However, with the weakened dollar and the fact that legacy gift income is substantially down this year, these realities are having a serious affect on the Alliance budget.... International Ministries is being asked to cut 1 million dollars from an already tight 2007-2008 budget." Would you pray that God would intervene so that the work will not be hindered? If you wish to contribute financially to the GCF, your tax deductible donations can be ear marked as follows: “GCF - support of Bob and Dian Harner." Donations can be made either through your local CMA church, by sending checks directly to the national office of the CMA at P.O. Box 35000 Colorado Springs, CO 80935-3500, by calling toll-free 866-443-8262 or online.

We thank you for your financial and prayer support. Many of you have been faithful in these areas throughout our entire missionary career - about 20 years already! Please continue also praying for our family. Pray for God's wisdom and guidance as we remain in the States to work on some family concerns. Pray for Matt and Christy as they continue to pursue God's call to missions. Pray for Mike, in the Army in Arizona, that he'll be aware of God's grace and kindness. Pray for Megan that she'll have freedom from the chronic cold, flu, and bronchial symptoms she's had since graduating from high school in 2004, and that she would know God's direction and find a better job. We praise the Lord that she was just promoted to assistant manager at her present job, which will increase her salary and give her more training that should make her more attractive to other employers. Here are some more requests for preparing for our eventual return to Guinea and for what is going on there in our absence:

a. We need to know where to live when we return so that we can take the next steps of transitioning into our new ministry among the Maninka. Our desire is to take the heart of the church with us in this step or to go with them, so as we spy out the land pray that God will guide us not only in the WHERE but also in the HOW and WHEN of this step.

b. Pray that the Maninka people will hear the calling of God's voice and have the courage to respond in the face of persecution, and that the Bible translation can rapidly go forward with excellence, that the Maninka might more fully understand God's letter of love to them.

c. Join us in asking God to raise up 100 laymen and women from the church of Guinea to serve as short term missionaries out of the seminars and elsewhere to help in the planting of the Maninka church.

d. Pray for the 5 EPE (CMA national church of Guinea) missionary families working among the Maninka and related groups along with the pastors working in the Maninka area. Ask God to provide for their daily needs, to give them supernatural courage, wisdom and hearts of love and compassion for their resistant neighbors. Ask God to give them fruit that will last!!

e. For the expatriate mission community ask God to continue to give us His Spirit to cooperate under His leadership that we might truly submit to his guidance on a daily basis that our united labor might increase in Him. Pray for all of the missionaries who are married that we would be fortified in our homes through love for and submission to one another.

f. The Kpelee Bible final corrections finally got to the United Bible Society in mid-December so that they can be entered. Hopefully soon the Kpelee will have the entire Bible! AND The work on the Maninka Bible is moving ahead. In January and February the main translator will be checking his work with nationals. Pray for both of these translations, so long in coming, that God would surround them and all involved in working on them so that they will be available to the people for whom they are intended in short order.

Looking to Jesus,
Bob and Dian

Just to remind you, if you are interested in contributing to our ministry, you can contribute through your local Christian and Missionary Alliance church or the National Office of the C&MA (P.O. Box 35000, Colorado Springs, CO 80935-3500) and receive a tax deductible receipt, clearly designating your check:

The work of Bob & Dian Harner if you want to contribute funds that we can use for ministries that are not covered by our mission budget.
The Great Commission Fund, Support Bob Harner if you want to give toward our support.
Development work/Maninka if you want to help us purchase tools for development work that will not only help improve the lives of the Maninka people, but also help us develop relationships among them.
Maninka Ministries if you want to help fund future ministry to the Maninka people.
Harner personal gift if you want to send us a personal gift, however no tax deductible receipt can be issued for such gifts.

Prayer Requests/Answers to Prayer

PRAY: For the political situation in Guinea.

PRAY: that our daughter will find a permanent full-time job. PTL that she has been promoted to assistant manager at her current job.

Here are some more requests for preparing for our eventual return to Guinea and for what is going on there in our absence:

a. We need to know where to live when we return so that we can take the next steps of transitioning into our new ministry among the Maninka. Our desire is to take the heart of the church with us in this step or to go with them, so as we spy out the land pray that God will guide us not only in the WHERE but also in the HOW and WHEN of this step.

b. Pray that the Maninka people will hear the calling of God's voice and have the courage to respond in the face of persecution, and that the Bible translation can rapidly go forward with excellence, that the Maninka might more fully understand God's letter of love to them.

c. Join us in asking God to raise up 100 laymen and women from the church of Guinea to serve as short term missionaries out of the seminars and elsewhere to help in the planting of the Maninka church.

d. Pray for the 5 EPE (CMA national church of Guinea) missionary families working among the Maninka and related groups along with the pastors working in the Maninka area. Ask God to provide for their daily needs, to give them supernatural courage, wisdom and hearts of love and compassion for their resistant neighbors. Ask God to give them fruit that will last!!

e. For the expatriate mission community ask God to continue to give us His Spirit to cooperate under His leadership that we might truly submit to his guidance on a daily basis that our united labor might increase in Him. Pray for all of the missionaries who are married that we would be fortified in our homes through love for and submission to one another.

f. The Kpelee Bible final corrections finally got to the United Bible Society in mid-December so that they can be entered. Hopefully soon the Kpelee will have the entire Bible! AND The work on the Maninka Bible is moving ahead. In January and February the main translator will be checking his work with nationals. Pray for both of these translations, so long in coming, that God would surround them and all involved in working on them so that they will be available to the people for whom they are intended in short order.

Guinea

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