- 2 – Countries, Liberia and Ivory Coast
- 8 - Counties we ministered in
- 107 - Villages/towns/cities we ministered in
- 78 - Mission trips
- 40 – Baptized
- 22 - Completed the Bible Marking discipling training
- 28 – Attended our 1 week Wordsower Bible institute
- 75 – Attended our 2 week Wordsower Bible Institute
- 614 – Attended our 2 day workshops in 3 locations
- 23 – Dental patients, 37 teeth pulled
- 377 – Families either received a water filter system or had a follow-up visit
- 9 – Times the Jesus film was shown to approximately 1,000 people
- Hundreds of thousands of Bibles have been distributed in over 1,000 villages. For those who are illiterate we have given away many audio Bibles on small memory SD chips, in their dialects, that can be used in phones and music players.
I, Kim Smith, returned to the United States on August 22 to apply for my Social Security retirement. I return to Liberia on October 22. A few days before coming I was on our indigenous missionary base. We call it the Capemont Base. It is in Grand Capemont County and mostly populated by three resistant unreached Muslim tribes. According to “The Joshua Project” statistics, The Vai tribe, of 138,000 people, are 0.23% evangelical Christian, the Gola tribe, of 170,000 people, are 0.82% evangelical Christian, and the Mende tribe, of 2.4 million people, are 1% evangelical Christian.
Our team has been there for about a year. They have been going from village to village. Some of the villages will allow Christians to be in their town but most do not. We will evangelize, disciple and form Bible study groups in the villages we are allowed to enter. Most villages have a mixture of the tribes. Many times, when we enter a town and introduce ourselves, the town elders will tell us that we are not welcome and to leave because they do not want Christians in their town. Often, our team will return to the same town and receive the same response. They are resistant. The question has been how do we get in? Well our Lord has shown us the key! We have learned to, “Give them what they want so we can give them what they need.” Every resistant Muslim town that we have gone to has said, “No, no, no” multiple times. But, if we enter with the right “key” the answer is always, “YES, we beg you to come!”, even when they know we will teach from the Bible. The discovered key is adult literacy training. Most of the adults do not know how to read and most of the children have not attended school.
A couple days before returning to the US, I was in one of these resistance Muslim villages that has said no several times. It was remote and had about 30 houses. We were 3 on the bike. Upon entering, there was a cry made for all to come to the “palava hut”, which is an open walled shelter where the towns people meet. Most were on their farms, but there were a few elders and about a dozen others. Very few if any white people have ever visited them so everyone was curious. After our introduction, I talked to them about their needs and what we offer. We provide clean water, dentists, optical, literacy and would also share with them about Jesus Christ and the Bible. Everyone listened intently with enthusiasm. The unanimous decision was to come, assist and teach them!! Every one of these formerly closed resistant villages have invited us in. I learned long ago to just show up. Our Lord already has the plan and people prepared.
As birth in the natural is messy, so it is in the spiritual. Our Capemont missionary team has been working in the adjacent village of Wacco. In that village, mixed with Christians and Muslims, many have become Christian, have been baptized and are being discipled. Long before Christianity or Islam entered the country the people were Animistic. Animists are led by demonic, wicked and violent spiritual leaders. One of their ritualistic practices is to gather the females, 13-25 years old, and take them into the forest for a month. They will be indoctrinated into the religion. The training includes multiple rapes, vaginal circumcision, hunger, sleeping on the ground, scaring of the body and being tied to trees. It is not unusual for the resistant and weak to never return.
A couple days before I arrived women had been taken for the indoctrination. Two of the women we have been discipling, one was about 15 the other had a young baby, escaped and ran to our mission. The others, that did not escape, were paraded through the village and taken into the forest. That night a group came onto our base to forcefully extract the two women. Our team confronted them so they left. What a heartbreak. Some of the females taken were those we were discipling. And, to our shock and shame some of the men doing this were also those we had been discipling and who have claimed to be Christian. In our love of those taken and of those who took them we deeply grieve. We boldly and fearlessly advance. The battle is real and our enemy is evil beyond understanding.
The 5 unreached tribes of Liberia. We are working with 3 of the unreached tribes. There are 2 more we need to send teams to in Liberia, the Mandingo tribe, of 101,000 people, is 0.03% evangelical Christian and the Maninka tribe, of 49,000 people, is 0.01% evangelical Christian. Look at those numbers!!! Looks like a challenge. Our Lord has commanded us to bring His Gospel into all the tribes. For sure, I know that if His obedient show up they will walk into a people prepared by our Lord and a harvest will be taken in. Let us, united, participate in this great opportunity! We have indigenous teams trained and ready to go but are waiting for financial support.
Participate with us in Praise and prayer:
- Praise, our 2-week Bible class was overflowing. We had 75 students from 4 counties!
- Praise, our new base in Ivory Coast is operational. The team has moved onto the base and started doing missions.
- I will be in US August 22 – October 22. Time will be spent with family, friends and supporters. Pray that our Lord will orchestrate meetings where our vision and desire to expand will be heard.
- Truly the harvest is plentiful and the workers few. Pray for more indigenous harvesters. Pray that our Lord would send more Western missionaries.
- Please pray with us, our growth here has increased and we are prepared for much greater growth. But, the available finances are not allowing us to send our prepared indigenous teams into the unreached tribes. Pray that we will receive an increase in donations.
- Pray for the safety of our teams. There are many dangers lurking.
100% of all donations go to the mission. None is used for administration. Tax-deductible receipts will be sent each January.
Online Donations:
1. Click on the link: https://woodsidebible.onlinegiving.org/donate/form/523#/
2. In the middle of the page you will see “India Children at risk” and a down arrow. Click on the down arrow
3. Choose Wordsower Africa
4. Enter information requested
Check Donations:
Please make checks payable to the “Woodside Vision Foundation” designating “Wordsower Africa” on the memo line of the check. Please include your name and address for the receipt, if the information is not already on the check. Mail to:
Woodside Vision Foundation
6600 Rochester Road
Troy Michigan 48085
If you have questions or problems with donations or want to contact me, Kim Smith, then email me at kimlogansmith1957@gmail.com
Financial Report for August:
Summary of expenses:
$755 - Staff support for 7 employees
$309 - Assistance to the poor
$460 - Radio Ministry
$751 - Base Expenses. Covers food cost for the team, visitors and maintenance on the base.
$1,106 – Mission; teams that are sent out to preach and teach
$1,158 – Water filter team is in Maryland County installing home water filter systems
$2,114 – Wordsower Bible Institute we had 75 attend our two-week class on our base
$750 – Wordsower Bible Institute one week class in Grand Kru County
$1,525 - Capemont Missionary team working with 3 unreached Muslim tribes
$102 – Printing press supplies and labor
$667 – Motorbike maintenance and repairs
$1,052 - Gas for bikes and generators
$80 – Adult Literacy
$1,968 – Wordsower Ivory Coast base
Total $12,797
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