Thursday was a great day! It was the first day of school for God's Grace for Kids. 150 students arrived for the first day at God's Grade Cotonou and approximately 20 students at God's Grace Hevie! Officially schools in Benin start on Monday, however God's Grace starts early because they teach the students more than what is required by the government and so they need more time. Josue expects the 270 students enrolled in Cotonou and 30 enrolled in Hevie to all arrive on Monday. Pray for even more students to come!

God's Grace Hevie team did so well welcoming the students. Some children were quite emotional as this was their first time attending school and didn't want to leave their parents! It is quite new for the students and their families and we pray for them through this transition. The team is organizing a caravan for today, including a brass band, to go through the streets of Hevie to spread awareness for the school and the church plant!

Josue and Prisca have started attending a fitness gym! They have a training coach and will learn the routines. We pray this will be of such benefit to both of them!

Gedeon started Grade 11 at God's Grace Cotonou. Glory is finishing up her internship and is awaiting confirmation to start classes on September 22nd. Next week, Josue is taking Glory on a father-daughter trip to Abuja, Nigeria. This is a primarily English speaking area, and as Glory has not taken much English education, Josue's hope is this will help her with her English. While there, they will also visit some tourist areas, as well as visit food processing and technological businesses to give Glory a ideas of what she can do in the future. Isaac is doing very well. He experienced a very busy summer, summer school was stressful, but he did very well. He is loving the experience now that he is used to being in America and speaking English. Bent Tree Fellowship is a church in Texas that has been supporting Josue. They are having an event on October 5th showcasing the multiple ministries they support. Pam was going to travel to represent TUM, but is not able to. Isaac has volunteered to take her place!!! This is something Isaac would not have done before, but now he has confidence in his English, and Josue is quite pleased to have Isaac represent him and the ministry at this event.

The pastors are all doing well. They are currently preparing the school year for students attending the churches, and preparing their end of the year programs. The pastors are doing something a little different this year - normally they would do 3 weeks of prayer and fasting in December. Instead they are moving this to the 3 weeks at the end of September and first half of October, to allow times for the pastors and their families to spend the end of the year seeking God themselves and preparing for next year. We pray for the upcoming 3 weeks of prayer and fasting, that God will speak powerfully during this time!

The Head of State has finally announced that he is stepping down at the end of this term. He has appointed his right hand man for the past 10 years, the Minister of Finance, to replace him in the spring election. This man has the same mentality as the current President. He is guaranteed to win the election as the opposition is currently very weak. We pray God will raise up the right person for the opposition to win the election.

Josue is currently working on his personal plan for 2026. He would like to continue writing his book, and he is continuing to prayerfully consider the option of earning his PhD. This will be a 2-3 year process, but it would allow Josue to teach university level courses. While he would not be finished in time to teach the currently Grade 11 students at God's Grace when they are ready for university, we pray for God's wisdom and guidance for Josue as to whether His plan is for God's Grace University!

*God's Grace Cotonou and Hevie staff, students and their families, and upcoming initiatives Prisca is working to bring into the school: (1) A week for Grade 6-11 students to have internships with local companies in order to see what life is like outside of school, and what work is like. Staff are currently working to set this up with the companies. (2) Prisca would like to organize a math and physics competition and ask other schools to participate, sending their top students to complete.

*God's Grace staff spent a day of fasting on Wednesday, the day before school started. Not all of the staff are Christian, one is Muslim, but they were happy to join in. We pray God will move in the hearts of all the staff and that the non-believers will become believers!

*Martha has been having a lot of pain in her knees making it difficult for her to walk, along with her other health issues. Josue is meeting today with his 2 brothers to discuss Martha's care needs. Martha isn't wanting to leave her home, and at the moment, she has enough help to be able to stay home, but they need to determine what to do when she needs a higher level of care.

*Josue is currently working on a 10 year plan for God's Grace. Once it is completed, he will present it to the teams to evaluate and they will start working on it. Please pray for Josue and for the team during this process, and upon future schools planned in other areas of Benin.

*The pastors and their families as they do the 3 weeks of prayer and fasting starting at the end of this month.

*Truth Unleashed Ministries as we are looking for people who can take over treasury and bookkeeping duties from Pam.