Current Update & Prayer Needs:

Prayer Update - May 31, 2026

God's Grace for Kids Cotonou and Hevie are entering into the last segment of the school year. They will begin holidays as of June 12th. The 6th and 9th graders will be heading into the national exams. During the mock exams, there were one 6th grader and two 9th graders who failed. The teachers are working extra hard with these students so they will be successful and God's Grace for Kids Cotonou will continue its 100% success rate.
This past year had 250 students at God's Grace for Kids Cotonou, 23 at God's Grace for Kids Hevie, a teaching staff of 35 and an administration staff of 8. These numbers are expected to grow!

Josue has been very busy with speaking engagements. He has had the privilege to speak at many churches. This week there will be a pastors conference in Parakou with 300 pastors expected. This conference has been organized in partnership with one of the French online Gospel organizations. They want to start a branch in Africa and have selected Benin to be the headquarters of that branch. Josue will not be part of this organization, but he has been invited by them to speak at the pastors conference.

The ministry team, pastors and families are all doing very well.

Prisca, Glory, Isaac and Gedeon are also doing very well. Isaac wants to continue studying in the United States and applied to many universities. He was accepted to a school in Oklahoma that is also giving him a $10,000 scholarship!

PRAYER REQUESTS:

*Pray for the students at God's Grace for Kids as they approach the end of the school year. Pray especially for the 6th graders this week and the 9th graders next week going into the national exams. Also pray for the 3 students who failed the mock exams, that God will provide them the wisdom and guidance needed to be successful.

*Pray for Benin. The transition to the new president has so far been peaceful. The president is planning to go next week to Niger to meet with the government, and wants to restore the relationship between the two countries.

*Continue to pray for the young people in the churches. The teams are noticing they need to work on establishing a process with the young people, as there currently seems to be a disconnection between what takes place within the church and what the young people are facing outside the church walls. Some of the young people no longer attend church activities, because they feel things are "boring". Pray for an awakening among the leadership of the church, for them to adjust their strategies with the young people. 

Prayer Update - May 22, 2026

Josue has had many opportunities lately to share the Gospel, and he is incredibly grateful for this privilege. 

Last week, Josue spent some time with Esdras. Esdras has expressed some worry about his children and their future. One of his children is in university and one is going for the 12th grade national exam. Together, Josue and Esdras talked about trusting God with the future of children. Esdras felt more comfortable after this conversation. Esdras's 4 children are now 21, 19, 14 (his children with Judy who passed away from breast cancer), and 4 years old, his child with his wife, Pascaline. Esdras and Pascaline are doing very well as a couple with a solid marriage.

Last Sunday, Josue spoke at a church in Semepodji, which went very well. He spoke of the Holy Spirit. This church is not very stable. There are a lot of young people who are reaching college age, and are now leaving Semepodji to pursue their dreams, as there are no education opportunities there. Josue has challenged the church to make missionaries of these young people, so wherever the Spirit is leading them to, they can be missionaries there.

This past week has been very full for Josue. Wednesday and Thursday were spent working with the church is Djeffa. And also yesterday (Thursday) the church in Cotonou started an evangelistic outreach to share Jesus. The same program will continue today, with many people expected to attend the outreach.

Next Thursday, a group of Christians involved in politics have asked Josue to speak to them on the impact of the Christian in a political setting. 

Next week is the big event to hand over power to the newly elected president. This president is very involved in idol worship. Josue wants to ask for an appointment with the president so Josue can share the gospel with him. Josue has no idea if this is even possible, but feels he needs to be bold in asking and approaching the president to tell him about Jesus.

The 6th graders at God's Grace for Kids Cotonou attended the mock exam last week. One student did not pass, missing by 3 points. We pray she will improve and pass the real exam which starts in a week. The 9th graders also attended the mock exam, but, as of this writing, the grades were not yet out.

PRAYER REQUESTS:

*Pray for Josue's many speaking engagements. May the Spirit guide his words, and open many hearts to receive them. Pray for the meeting with the Christians in politics, that this will lead to bringing Jesus into the government. 

*Pray for the hand over to the new president. May this be done with peace in Benin. And pray for Josue, that the Lord may grant access to the president, and for Josue to be bold in his words.

*Pray for the 6th grader who did not pass the mock exam that she may improve over the next week. Pray for all the 6th and 9th graders as they prepare for the upcoming real exams. May the Lord give them clarity and wisdom. May God's Grade for Kids be granted the same favor of again 100% success.

*Pray for the summer program and mission trip, as the teams start preparing. May the Lord bring forward the right people. Pray for the people of Hevie, that God would prepare their hearts to respond to the Gospel.