Good morning. Word for life. That's word for your life. And of course, that is what gives us wisdom and direction on a daily basis. The last couple of times we've been together, missionary Ann Dreisbach has been sharing with us how often the Word of God became the source of her strength, direction, encouragement, And Anne, thank you for sharing your heart with us. We're glad you can do one more broadcast with us. And you were sharing with us how the Lord has just blessed you in tremendous ways. Last time we left off our discussion, you were in Africa, and the Lord had just blessed you with an amazing birth of a young lady in a very, very difficult situation. Pick that up, if you will, from that story. Sure. As Pastor has said, my first term of missionary service was in Africa. In fact, it was in the Sahara Desert. At one point where we lived, it took us four days to cross the desert to do our grocery shopping, and so we didn't go grocery shopping very often. And we complained about a 30-minute drive. Right. And we had to drive by compass. There were no roads. But anyway, while I was doing that first term of missionary service in the Sahara Desert, I had a dream. I knew I could not be a preacher, but I had this desire to live right amongst the people, believing that our actions speak louder than words. Of course, my idea was, because of having been raised in the sub-Sahara and then serving in the Sahara, was to travel in a camel caravan and sleep under goatskin tents and draw my water from a well with a goatskin bucket and eat gruel. That dream didn't come true. because due to a counter-revolution in Niger and an overthrow of the government, I had to leave Niger, and I ended up going to Suriname, South America. And there my dream came true, because for the last 36 and a half years, I've lived in a small village nestled in the jungle. I'm working with the descendants of runaway slaves, so I'm actually working with misplaced Africans. I bathe in the river, do my dishes in the river, wash clothes in the river with a scrub board. I've learned to hunt and to fish and to have my own garden. And one time a lady came to me and she said, before you came, we knew that when the missionary was preaching, he was preaching God's word, but we didn't think that we Bush Negro people could really live it. But you being here on the river helps us to see that it can be lived. For 14 years, I lived in a 9 foot by 14 room house. and sat around the campfires and ate the food that they ate and lived right with the people. And to this day, I am still in the same village, sitting around their campfires, eating what they eat, living the way they live. And I am reminded that Psalm 21 too says, thou has given him his heart's desire and has not withholding the request of his lips. Psalms 37 4 says, delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Amen. And I'm so thankful that as a little six year old girl, I believed with all of my heart that he would have me be a medical missionary. And as I has lived for him and chosen to serve him, he has indeed given me the desire of my heart. It reminds me of Jeremiah's statement, where he said, I sat where they sat. And that's exactly what the people saw, that you were willing to be right there with them, enduring all the hardships that they're going through, and still have a faithful God and be faithful to God. That's right. I think of another little story that happened when I first moved into that village. Well, it wasn't when I first moved into the village, but in the early years when I was still living in that 9 foot by 14 foot house. I was celebrating my 38th birthday. It was back in March of 1986. There was not one person in the village that knew it was my birthday. So nobody wished me happy birthday. Nobody brought me a card. Nobody brought me a gift. But you know what? I was so content. I was the happiest person in all the world. And later on in the day, I thought, you know, I can still celebrate my birthday. So I took some money with me and I walked to the village canteen to get a little soft drink. And as I walked to the village, a little naked three-year-old girl walked up to me and held my hand and she looked up at me and she said, sister, why don't you dye your hair? And I said, you'd like for me to dye my hair? And she said, yes. And I said, why? She said, we don't want you to ever get old. And here it was right on my birthday. So anyway, I bought that soft drink. It was a green one, and it was warm. So I took it back to the house, and I put it in a refrigerator that I shared with another villager, ran off a kerosene. Sure. They don't ever get cold. No. No, no. But anyway. You can stick them in the freezer overnight and they still don't freeze. Well anyway, I did want it to get a little colder than it was. Right, right. And so then that evening, I got the soft drink out and because my house was so small, I didn't have furniture except for my bed really. Right. So I sat on my bed, opened up that soft drink, and had my quiet time. I read from the Word of God, I sang some hymns from the hymn book, and then I opened up a magazine that had been sent to me, and right in the center of it was a short story on Jim Elliott, who had been a missionary, and it was entitled, A Man for God's Plan. and in that little short story of jim elliott and how he was martyred by the indians he mentioned that his life verse had been psalms 143 10 teach me to do thy will for thou art my god thy spirit is good lead me into the land of uprightness and so right then i decided you know what i'm going to give myself a birthday present I'm going to pick a verse that is going to be the verse I claim for this year. And I'm going to pick a song that's going to be my song for that year. And so for that year in 1986, I chose Psalms 14310. Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God. Thy spirit is good. Lead me into the land of uprightness. And then the song I chose was Ode to Be Like Thee, and it became my prayer. O to be like thee, full of compassion, loving, forgiving, tender, and kind, helping the helpless, cheering the fainting, seeking the wandering sinner to find. O to be like thee, blessed Redeemer, pure as thou art, come in thy sweetness, come in thy fullness, stamp thine own image, deep on my heart. Philippians 4.11 says, Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. And every year since then on my birthday, I choose a verse to claim for that year, and almost every year I choose a song that I claim for the year as well. And that's my birthday present that I give to myself. That's a great idea. You know, nobody else there but God, but he was enough. He was enough. And that is the lesson for us, that when we're feeling lonely and dejected and deserted and, you know, nobody loves me, everybody hates me, guess I'll go eat worms attitude, you know, to just stop and say now, how stupid can I be? God said He'll never leave me nor forsake me, so He is right here with me. So Lord, do you want to sing along with me? And you sing in harmony with the Lord, and He puts that sweet song in your heart that just lasts the entire year. That's right. Well that is awesome. That's a neat story. A great word of testimony for the folks that are listening. That may be something they want to start doing on their birthday. Right. Be a great idea. So did you have other missionary folks working with you when you went to Suriname? Yes, I've worked with the team all these years, but not in the same place. On the river, we had a main jungle station where a number of missionaries were, a couple couples, a single woman who was a nurse, and that's where I began. And then six months later, I moved to the outpost village. We've had missionaries working in a nearby former mining town, and then in the capital city. Actually, we turned the main jungle station work over to the Nationals. The work on the interior we have presently put into the hands of the Nationals. And in the capital city, four churches have been established amongst the Bush Negro people there, and they are now in the hands of the nationals. Only one of our churches is presently still in the hands of missionaries, and that would be in the former mining town on my river. I have a national evangelist that comes down river on Sundays, and we go into four different villages to hold services. We go into two villages one week, and the other two villages the next week. And I wouldn't call them established churches yet. We don't have the male leadership that we need in order to have an established church there. But he comes faithfully every Sunday, and he helps in the ministry there. Is there any kind of Sunday school ministry, or just an adult ministry? Well, what we do is, in one of the villages, I take the children out when it's time for the preaching, and I have Sunday school with the little children, third grade on down. And in my village, I have Sunday school with a handicapped lady, and then the children come to that Sunday school. The other two villages we don't really have a place to meet. Right. But this might be interesting. I do write Christmas programs and Easter programs, and so the children from some of the villages are in the program. Sure. And we have to commute by canoe from village to village. We carry the all the costumes, the cast and props and everything. But that's an interesting trip. And it rains a lot in the jungle. So we often get rained out. But we have people come to the programs that don't come to church. Oh, sure. Some of the programs we end up meeting in palaver houses or out under the mango trees. Palaver houses? Yes. What would that be like? Where the village meets to discuss village problems or situations. Okay, okay. It would be just like a lean-to. Yeah, yeah. stakes in the ground with tin roof type thing. And we hold the programs there and sometimes it's just out under the mango trees. Right. But if they don't come to church and they come to that, they'll hear the gospel? They'll hear the gospel. Right. Yes. Some folks are listening to us this morning, Anne, and they may feel discouraged about their opportunities to share Christ where they work or go to school or whatever, but often if they invite folks to come to like a Christmas cantata or an Easter cantata or something like that, God can use that in the same way. That's right. Any last thoughts as we're running out of time? I believe I would just say be faithful. You never know the impact that you have on another person's life. One of our national pastors in the capital city claims that he became a Christian because his handicapped sister prayed for his salvation and that She was a lady that I had led to the Lord. I led a handicapped girl to the Lord, and even in her mental inabilities, she knew enough to pray for the salvation of her brother, and he is now one of our pastors. Isn't that exciting? So, I guess you'd say anybody can pray. That's right. Folks, you're listening to us this morning. Just keep on praying till light breaks through. The Lord will answer. He'll answer you. God keeps His promise. His Word is true. Just keep on praying till light breaks through. Till the next time. The Lord bless you in an awesome way.