Back Log of Stu Updates

Below is pasted a series of letters from Stu as they continue work on the Project in Chad, beginning with a phone update on November 26th and running through the next week and a half.

Stu's updates are in bold light blue.
Mary Stone's (our Chad contact) are in italicized light green

Stu phoned in with an update this morning:

He and Rich had an entertaining bus ride from the Chad capitol down to Moundou. He said the bus drivers go REALLY fast (80-ish?) on these unimproved roads, and at one point, they almost hit an ostrich! Wow!

So far they are all managing to remain healthy, so thank you for your prayers. Stu and Rich did wake up this morning with an interesting array of little red welts on their bodies, they think its due to some No-See-Ums biting during the night. They will sleep in Mary's house tonight and hopefully escape another night of it.

They would request prayer for the upcoming week:

The Actors:

Please pray that the actors will be able to arrive at the shooting location. They are coming from all over the place and there is MUCH warfare. They are being attacked and thwarted, physically, spiritually and emotionally. Please pray that everyone will be able to get there, and will be courageous to show up. Some were even getting cold feet, due to pressures.

-Equipment:

There is sand everywhere. Very FINE sand, and there isn't a Radio Shack nearby where they can replace components if they get ruined. Please pray there would be no equipment failure.

-Spiritual protection:

Chad is like Haiti in the fact that it is in such bondage. Demonic activity is rampant. Please pray for the protection of all involved - not just during the shooting but especially afterward, where the Chadian Christians will be taking this video out into the villages and showing it to the indigenous people. They will be setting themselves up for death threats every time they press the "ON" button on the DVD player.

-Energy Levels:

They have 5 days, from 5:30 am to 5:30 pm (sun-up to sun-down)to get all the shooting done. Its a lot of shooting. Please pray especially during the next week, for the health and energy of all participants. It is VERY hot and VERY humid in Mundou.

Please pray that every thing will flow smoothly.

They have almost no internet at Mary's. It is sporadic at best. Sometimes you have it for a little while, sometimes you don't.

All in all, things seem to be flowing along smoothly.

That is absolutely miraculous!

God is hearing your prayers and He is working all things to His plan.

Please continue to be a part of what God is doing in Chad by holding up in prayer, those who are there physically. They desperately need your prayers and we can rejoice with God, that He lets us be a part of what He is accomplishing in Chad!

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

In Christ,

Stu

Mary Stone Writes:

Wednesday, November 26^th

Hello again. Just another quick update to let you know how things are progressing with the f`lm and how you can be praying. We are praying and fasting today and tomorrow for all of the following:

PRAISE

· All 3 guys from the States (the Tech Team) and all their equipment arrived safely in NDJ despite the ongoing strike at Air France. They were able to bring and get all the equipment through customs with no problem and attained all the necessary paperwork.

· The actor who is in prison has been temporarily released to take part in the f`lm!
· Everyone is safely in M`undou as of yesterday lunch (meaning Mary and the tech team.)

PRAY

· There was some delay getting authorization to film here so 2 of the guys had to stay in NDJ to attain that last paper and did not arrive in M`undou until Tuesday. This puts a time crunch on the preparations since the plan was to work on setting up scenes etc. Monday through Wednesday. Pray for quick completion of these practical details.

· Pray for good internet reception, necessary to maintaining the prayer chain.
· Pray for unity, humility, sensitivity and a spirit of prayer between all involved as they work together. We are working with major language and cultural barriers. This morning Mary, the tech team, and the 2 Ch`dian script writers will be reviewing the entire script together. Pray for wisdom.

· Several key actors have not received permission to arrive tomorrow to begin filming (due to jobs, obligations, etc.). Please pray that any and all of these obstacles be removed from their path so that all the actors can arrive tomorrow (Thursday, 27^th) and filming can begin as planned. Please pray for safety as they travel.

· Please pray for the safety of the families of all involved.

Thank you for standing with us at the Throne of Grace. Please read 2 Corthians 10:3-5.

Love Mary

I rec'd the following updates, first from Stu, and then from Mary Stone.

They are pasted below, in that order.

Hi all,

Terribly slow internet connection here in Mondou. I was hoping to send
pictures, even small ones, but it won't happen tonight.

We just finished day 2 of shooting. 2 and a half more to go. Yesterday
was slow because of translation issues and some cultural
misunderstandings. This is Africa after all. We didn't roll tape till
after 9am the first day. That left us very behind going into today
quite a few pages behind schedule. We started shooting at 7:30 this
morning and finished at 5:30p (sundown), shooting practically straight
through, with a few quick breaks to catch our breath. We were able to
catch up though which was a huge answer to prayer. I think were all
suffering from heat exhaustion even though we worked hard at staying
hydrated today. My back is killing me, but hope to get good rest
tonight. Rich was sick last night, got him on Cipro and is doing fine.
Rob has been pretty exhausted as well. I'm feeling a bit queasy
tonight, but won't do meds until either I get worse, or start real
physical signs. It's a dark world over here with a lot of witchcraft
and people are very suspicious. If you even try to take a photograph
in a public area they harass you. Can't quite figure it out.

The Christians over here are great, very hospitable. Instead of
denominations, their churches are divided by tribes, which is
interesting, but even among Christians there can be a lot suspicion of
Christians from other tribes.

Overall the shooting is going very well, but the proof will be in the
edit. It's really dusty and dirty over here with a lot of cooking
fires and of course not having any paved roads for a city of 200,000
kicks up a lot of dust, so keeping everything clean and running is a
constant worry and chore.

We shoot the initiation re-creation scenes tomorrow as well as a rape
scene tomorrow night. It will be pretty intense, so we need continued
prayer for wisdom, cultural sensitivity, working equipment and
especially protection from the dark forces operating in this part of
the country. Initiation is a live and well over here, even for
Christians, I hope I can send pics before this is all over. It's
pretty crazy, but also a huge blessing to serve God and our fellow
brothers and sisters in Christ in this way. We pray that this project
can be completed and that God will use it to change lives.

Thats all for now,

In Christ,

Stu

Dear Beloved Prayer Partners.

Our Lord is a Good and Faithful God! We praise Him.

Life has been on high speed (as you can well imagine, since my brothers arrived on the 2oth)

The 21^st. We spent the day in Ndjamena, getting to know each other by sharing testimonies…. We had hoped to have the filming permits on Friday, but alas, it did not happen. With Rich’s needs for internet access to finish his course work, we finally decided that it would be better to split up. … so

22^nd, Rob and I left on Saturday morning to drive to Lai to do some sound bites. We got there about 3pm. Rob found the last 2 ½ hours of the trip rough as we were now on sand/dirt roads complete with large and regular potholds. But he was a great travelling companion and enjoyed the trip with joy. I had one Chadian friend and pastor with me as a prayer partner on the trip. As we were driving south, only we learned that his daughter (15 months) had been seriously ill and almost died in his absence. He had spent days fasting and praying for this project, and thus the enemy was giving out a full attack. God be praised (Elisha’s daughter was much more healthy by the time we got back to Moundou on Sunday.

23^rd. Rob, Elisha and I got up early and did some sound bites, in a couple of languages with bible school students. It was great, then we drove 15km (30 minutes) to church over very rough roads. God was faithful and we had a good time recording and being in the church service….. we had planned to leave Lai at 3pm with a car barge across the river, but the word of flexibility still carries weight as we were told that the barge was grounded in the sand and I had an extra 2 ½ hours drive back up north to the black top to drive south again. We got home at 8pm, rather tired.

24^th. Stu and Rich did not get the permits until late afternoon, so they stayed in the capital and left Tuesday am rather early. Rob and I and 3 Chadian brothers (Daniel, Justin and Pastor Malachie) spent most of the day getting the permission to get (Meurdé) out of prison on leave to join us for the camp/film project. God was so very gracious and by 1:30pm, he was free for 10 days, to come and stay at my house. Then we left for Koutou and began to work on building 4 lean-to’s. it was so late in the afternoon, that we only got one built and the 3 others, we traced out their positions.

25^th. Meurdé, Albert (my househelper), Rob and I went to Koutou to work on putting up grass mats as village walls and 3 lean to’s where people sit outside and visit. At 12:30p, Rich and Stu arrived, what a joy and blessing. We went back in the afternoon and finished up a little more of the scene set up.

26^th I had to drive to Deli to help out some church leaders and to pick up Ozias (Hosea) to come and help me with translation. We got back to my house at 7:30a. Then we began a 5 hour meeting with Stu, Rich, Rob, Daniel, Justin, Meurdé, Ozias and I. We went over the script line by line. To talk over all their ideas of changes and give cultural relevance at the same time. In the afternoon, Rob, Daniel, Ozias, Meurdé and I went back to Koutou to finish building the set.

27^th the actors arrived about 12:30p. we thanked God for the 25 or so that arrived, but there were still about 10 missing by late afternoon. We met with them on the set and tried to give them an idea of how a film shoot would work (take my word for it, it is hard work – not for the timid)

28^th we got to Koutou at 7:30 am. Some prayer warriors came and spent time with the actors early morning. I praise God for this strong arm of encouragement. We worked on the set all day until 5pm and came home. (there was 27 pages of script and we filmed about 9 pages). All during the day we still had many key character actors that had not come. But God be praised 5 of them made it by night fall…. Learning to film in a more professional style is a stretch, but I praise God for the training, prayer and wisdom of Stu, Rich and Rob and their willing servant’s heart.

29^th. Today we were able to get another 1/3 of the film shot. But the hardest part is tomorrow when we will be shooting Initi~tion. Please pray as the enemy will do all in his power to bring the work to a halt. We trust in God’s provision of prayer warriors to build of a tower of Godly protection that we can work in while we shoot vulnerable stuff. Pray especially that we would be invisible to the hand of the enemy and be able to pass, unperceived before others around that might think to do us harm.

To be noted the names of the actors have all been passed around Bein~mar with the idea of doing harm to them, and this is one key reason several people have not come.

Well, I have not been able to have internet access for a week, so I am grateful for this moment with you all.

Thanks for your love and prayers, I know that God has ordained this battle from ages past for the advancement of His kingdom.

May He encourage us all to go forward with Him,

Thanks for standing in the gap and praying.

Love you,

Mary, (for all the team: Stu, Rich, Rob and my beloved Chadian brothers),