Curt Iles

I write to have influence and impact through well-told stories of my Louisiana Pineywoods life.

Holding the Rope: 3 Prayer Requests

It’s Sunday. With your permission, we’re mentioning several prayer requests for Uganda and our region of Africa. As you worship today, please share these with your friends, families, and fellow church members. 1.  Pray for our colleague J.D. “Jonathan” Hull.  J.D. is scheduled to move into the South Sudanese Bush with  team members the Lane and Jeremiadoss families.  His priority …

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Saturday Shots: 5 Photos to make you smile.

It’s Saturday. You’re beginning your day (if you’re in America). We’re eight hours ahead and watching the African sun sinking lower. It’s a good time to look back over the recent week(s) and share photos. Ververt Monkey. He may look cute but he’s a four-legged thief. UN trucks on their way to the South Sudan war zone.  Taken on the …

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Different Mother, Same Father

3 Key Prayer Points: Our home church, Dry Creek Baptist (La), arrives on May 7 for a week among their people group, the Kakwa. Curt and DeDe as they plan a late May trip to the Gambela region of Ethiopia. Wisdom and safety as we choose where to go in the coming months.               …

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Footin’

  A word from Curt Africans call it “Footing.” It’s a verb.  As in “I’m footing today.” I’ve discovered that to really know Africa, one must “go footing.” Or as we’d say back home in the land of the pines and missing g’s, Footin.     I grew up at the dead end of a one mile gravel road. Daddy …

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What a Journey: From Harrisonburg to Rome

A Word from Curt: We’re on Day 11 of our Nairobi hospital stay. Today’s word is Gratitude. I’ve been without diarrhea for over 24 hours. This is the longest dry spell (literally and figuratively) since early May. Still have a long ways to go but we’re moving ahead. DeDe and I cherish your prayers.   To my early readers:   I …

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See Dirt? Throw Seeds!

If you see dirt, throw seeds. It’s called Gospel seed-sowing. And our folks back home are involved in it here in Africa. Our home association of churches, Beauregard Baptist Association, has been an integral part of our work in Africa. This is a compilation of various ways they are involved. Beauregard Baptist Family, Greetings from DeDe and I. We are …

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11 South Sudanese Churches you can pray for

You may not have any desire to come to South Sudan and its borderlands. But that doesn’t mean you cannot pray. You can pray for these churches and pastors from your prayer closet in America. But be warned:  these strategic leaders and churches may capture your heart and you’ll find yourself on an airplane bound for Africa. You were warned. …

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Part 2: Bo the Dog (from A Good Place)

  Yesterday we shared Chapter 15 from our novel, A Good Place. This part of the novel continues with Chapter 16. Enjoy!   Chapter 16 I THOUGHT about picking Bo up to tote home, but any attempt to move him brought a terrible whimpering, and anyway, he weighed too much for me to carry that far. Leaving him was out …

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Loving and Losing a Dog

Lent Lourens, a South African living in Uganda, is a dear friend of ours. Yesterday she had to put down her twelve year old dog. I was reminded of the pain of losing a dog. I thought about this story from our novel,  A Good Place. Male readers often say,  “Curt, I cried when I read that chapter about Bo the …

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Saturday Shots from The Sojourn

A word from Curt Sojourner It defines a person making a temporary stay. It goes along with the Swahili word for white men, Mzungu. Mzungu means “always moving about.” i.e. a sojourner. Below are photos from our current sojourn. Enjoy!   P.S. A Picture is truly worth a thousand words. Maybe more.         Will you join us …

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Holding the Rope: How you can be involved

 We call it “Holding the rope.” This saying goes back to the first Baptist missionary, William Carey. Before leaving for Asia, he told his fellow believers, “If you’ll hold the rope, I’ll go down in the well.” We are dependent on our friends in America for prayer and encouragement.   Sunday Prayer Points 1. Please pray for Daniella Jeremiadoss who …

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3 People Groups you must know about

  Chadan is an IMB cluster focusing on the over 100 Unreached and Unengaged People Groups of South Sudan and southern Chad. Here are three people groups you can pray for:   The Meera live in the semi-desert Majara region of Chad. The Meera* of Chad presently have no believers. Their strategic crossroads town is 100% Muslim. They have newly …

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The Things that Matter

Question: what’s the most precious material possession you’ve lost? Reply here or in form at end of post. . . .  it was a reminder that the things in life that matter aren’t things.   I stared at the Ethiopian security worker as she removed my knife out of its case. “You cannot take that with you.” She handed the …

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“Her Name was Mary” Guest Blog by DeDe Iles

    Wow. That’s what I thought when I read this story by my wife, DeDe. It is powerful, full of insight, and written in the concise eloquent style of my wife. With her permission, I am sharing it with you. Enjoy. Reflect. Worship.   By DeDe Iles   My third Easter abroad. There is strangeness to holidays spent in …

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