MISSIONARY PROFILE
Mike
& Cindy
Haley
Missionary Information
Name:
Mike Haley
Age: 53
Spouse:
Cindy Haley
Age: 56
Child: Brock Haley
Age: 30
Child: Emily Haley
Age: 28
Mission Field: Africa
Home Church: Grace Baptist Church
New Castle, Indiana
Missions Agency: Baptist International Missions
Harrison, Tennessee
Our Missionary for 8 years
Missionary Update 09/04/2018
AUGUST 2018 – PREACH THE WORD! Our seasons here in Botswana are opposite of yours back home. As you are heading into fall, we are heading towards summer. Temps are pleasant but we are still in the dry season and have had no rain for four months. It will be dry, dusty, and windy and then the rainy season will come. Everything is THIRSTY. But the rains of God’s grace and goodness at Grace Baptist Church have not failed to satisfy our thirst for Him. We are experiencing A BLESSED MOVE OF GOD in the church, that, to put it plainly, is just amazing! Sometimes I find myself wondering if it’s a dream only to realize that, no, it’s GOD - doing what He promised He would do when He called us to this needy and opportune place to PREACH THE WORD! Two weeks ago, our national Pastor in training, Brother Amantle, and one of our faithful laymen, Brother Donald both preached on a Sunday morning. As part of their Bible Institute training they were to preach on the Attributes of God and specifically on the love of God in Christ. MAN! They both preached with an incredible anointing and the Lord worked mightily through them. That morning, in the adult services, FIVE PRECIOUS SOULS WERE SAVED! We are so thankful for the love these men have for Christ and their commitment to faithfully PREACH THE WORD! In 1967 John Wayne starred in a movie called, “The War Wagon” about an armored stagecoach and an army of hired guns transporting a shipment of gold. For several weeks we have been busy designing and building THE WORD WAGON! This “cargo/bush trailer” will be used to transport the Scriptures from the Lilly Project (50,000 Setswana New Testaments) to the villages and towns in the northern regions of Botswana. Our wagon will be loaded with the “gold” of God’s Word sitting in the cargo area underneath us and as hotels and restaurants are non-existent in these areas, we will live out of a tent perched on top of the trailer distributing Scriptures during the day and preaching evangelistic meetings in the evenings. These efforts will take us out of the capital city to the “regions beyond” where people are less evangelized, and many have never owned a Bible in their language or heard the true gospel preached. I’ve used power tools my whole life and am a fanatic about safety. But recently I was working with a grinder cutting some welds underneath the trailer in a tight spot when the grinder hit a bind, jumped out of my hands, came across my wrists, climbed up my arm and cut a line across one side of my chest. The motor kept running but the wheel finally quit cutting when it tangled up in my shirt. I was home alone and if the grinder had cut deep enough across my wrists it would have been tragic. As it was it served as a painful reminder that power tools have no conscience, and our Heavenly Father is always with us. I’m very thankful for His watch care over us each day. Please pray for the Lilly Project as we continue to work on the printing of the Scriptures and make preparations to PREACH THE WORD in the regions beyond. Mike and Cindy Haley
Missionary Update 05/07/2018
April has been an exciting and fruitful month! Our precious church family is growing in the Lord and the building is filling each week with the visitors THEY are bringing in. Last Sunday, Sarudzai, who has only been coming for a short time herself, brought THREE other ladies with her. It’s great to see the first-time visitors blessed by the loving spirit in the church and “glued” to the preaching of the Word. And it is exciting to see the Batswana taking ownership of the church and working hard to reach their family and friends. The past two weeks’ attendance has been in the eighties and in the past month seven adults received Christ as Saviour as well as several children. With the children, we never discount their sincerity, but as many children would “get saved” week after week we are careful to take ample time to really make sure they understand the gospel before they make a profession of faith. I’m oft reminded that fruitful ministry is a result of being faithful through all seasons. There are distinct seasons of preparation and planting; watering and watching; weeding and waiting, then FINALLY the wonder of it all, harvesting the fruit. As we are faithful to the task – CHRIST IS BUILDING HIS CHURCH! Of course, the goal is to have “fruit that remains” and so we are very committed to the ministry of discipleship. Leading someone to Christ is always a joy but the work of discipleship is the enduring and sometimes, exhausting, work of the gospel. Again, we’re thrilled to see the older Christians in the church stepping up and accepting the responsibility to reach and teach their people. Three folks will complete their “Continue” discipleship course this next month and are already engaged in discipling others. Our next BAPTISM SUNDAY is planned for the 27th of May. With a list of more than 15 prospects to counsel with about baptism and over 30 that need to be followed up on to present the gospel it is going to be a full month with four weeks of intensive soul-winning and visitation effort. All of these persons represent those who have recently visited or are regularly attending the church. Each one is a precious soul and another opportunity to see someone saved. Please pray for God to fill us with His Spirit and to empower us both physically and spiritually and that many will be saved and that the new converts will be obedient to believer’s baptism. BUILDING NEED – Please continue to pray for our need of a new location for the church. We’ve made a proposal on a very promising possibility and are waiting to hear back from the owner. For now, we’re ok where we are but that will soon change. SCRIPTURE PROJECT – Please pray about giving towards the estimated $15,000 needed to print New Testaments in the Setswana language. Our goal is to print here in Botswana and we are working through a tedious process of getting permission to use the Setswana translation. Today, I visited a hospital in hopes of witnessing to a dying woman. The room was filled with loved ones representing four different religions including Islam. I don’t think anyone there was a born-again Christian. Our visit was cut short, but we left behind a New Testament readily received by the family. That New Testament is a lantern in the darkness that lights the way to salvation through Christ. So is every single one you help to provide for as we put them into the very hands of the lost souls living in darkness here in Botswana. Mike, Cindy & Emily Haley
Missionary Update 12/01/2017
Dear Family and Friends, This is not our prayer letter. It will follow in a separate email. Attached here is a Thanksgiving meditation that I wrote from the bush on Thanksgiving morning. It might seem a bit dated by now, but internet issues and a busy schedule has made it difficult to send till today. I pray it is a blessing to you. Here's a funny post script story best read after reading the attached meditation: I wrote this meditation on Thanksgiving morning. Cindy joined me later that day (Emily was feeling poorly and stayed home) and we had a wonderful dinner that evening. There is no a/c in the bush where we stayed the night but there was electricity so we ran a box fan blowing across the bed to keep the "literal swarm" of mosquitoes away. It was unusually hot and stifling but with the fan we enjoyed a pleasant night of rest...UNTIL! At 2:00 a.m. a resident troop of baboons with two competing males were fighting it out just outside the door of our chalet (very normal in this part of Africa). In the dark I reached over to get my flashlight just to look out the windows and knocked over the fan which made a horrendous noise as the plastic fan blades broke off inside the cage and locked up the motor. With the current blowing over the bed now gone - EVERY demon filled (think I'm exaggerating - read Mark 5: 11-16) mosquito in the room came swarming in for a buffet. I slatheredevery ounce of the insect repellant lotion (totally worthless) provided in the room on myself and retreated under the bedsheets. It was sweltering, I'm sweating profusely, covered in lotion and then the mosquitoes found their way under the sheets. I ran out to a cold shower and then retreated to my pick-up truck parked outside and was relieved when the a/c started forming icicles on the windshield (well almost). Cindy came a few minutes later pecking on the door and wanting in. All was well until she said, "I'm cold turn off the a/c." Well, I try to be a Christlike husband but that was not an option!!! She took the sunshield down from the windshield and used it to block the a/c. Being the hero I am - I ran back into the hut and retrieved a wool blanket from an old musty linen closet. Not long after that I got chilled and ran back in to get a bath towel to use as a blanket. In all the in and out three mosquitoes managed their way into the truck. There's nothing more annoying than the whining sound of a kamikaze mosquito that is zeroing in on you in the middle of the night when you're trying to sleep. Aiming my flashlight on the ceiling of the truck I managed to lure them in to a certain spot and then sent them straight off into their eternal destination. We finally managed to sleep from about 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. and then woke to another glorious morning in Botswana with all the incredible sights and sounds of the bush. All joking aside, we had a precious time of prayer and conversation as we reflected on God's goodness in our lives, marriage, family, and ministry and reflected on what the days ahead will bring. I did not know that my "spiritual retreat" would result in a retreat to the truck to spend the night evading mosquitoes but it's good to look back and laugh at the lighter sides of life. In case you're wondering, this is the stuff we don't usually put in our prayer letters. Ha ha!! Bro. Mike and Mrs. Cindy Acts 20:24 Botswana, AFRICA