Situated in West Africa, Benin became independent of French rule in 1960, and changed its name from Dahomey. It has a population of around 7 million, and the major religions include Christianity, Islam and traditional beliefs.
Sharon and Johannes work as translators and anthropologists in Benin. Their aim is to understand the local culture and societies in order to translate the Bible into some of the 51 languages in Benin. They work in the North East of Benin in the rural Atakora region. Around 350,000 people live here and speak nine different languages.
October 2008
Please pray for Johannes and Sharon who are no in the UK on furlough. They are having busy time travelling, attending conferences and visiting. They will be in Selly Park in December.
January 2008 Update
From 7th-20th January they will be in Kara in Togo. At the end of January they will travel to Cotonou in Southern Benin as Johannes is flying to the UK on 1st February to present a paper at the Wycliffe conference so our main prayer for them this month needs to be for safety in travel and for wisdom and guidance for Johannes as he prepares his paper. They will be having a furlough from June this year and hope to be in the UK from October…..more of that nearer the time.
September/October 2007 Update
Johannes & Sharon have recently had their annual retreat which they say was one of the best they have had although afterwards they both had colds.That should remind us to pray for their physical needs as well as their spiritual ones.The only other news from them is a prayer request for a replacement Finance officer as the present one is leaving.
They have not suffered too much from the flooding but the direct routes to Kara are cut off and if they want to get out of Cobly and there is a new river where the road used to be.The flooding has slowed down their work as it is impossible to reach some of the villages where they do research.There are signs that the rains are easing now but.we need to continue to pray for them that they will be kept safe and that their work will go ahead.
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