Our teen group at church has started a new mission project. We're to pick a few countries and a U.S. state to pray for everyday. We're also to e-mail a Independant Fundamental Baptist missionary or preacher living there and get any prayer requests. I've chose to pray for France, Andorra, North Ireland, and the state of Hawaii.
Many people in the U.S. have never heard of the small country of Andorra. I learned about it my freshman year when I had to do a report on a country and I searched for small countries. As the map on the left shows, Andorra is a small country between France and Spain. In fact, it's about half the size of Manhattan Island. The people there speak Catalan (the national language), French, and Spanish.
The small country of Andorra has an amazing history. "Tradition holds that Charles the Great (
Charlemagne) granted a
charter to the Andorran people in return for fighting against the
Moors.
Overlordship of the territory was of the local
count of Urgell and eventually to the
bishop of the
diocese of
Urgell. In
988 Borrell II count of Urgell gave the Andorran valleys to the
Diocese of Urgell when the count expanded to the south.
[2] Since then the Bishop of
Urgell, locally known as the bishop of the
la Seu d'Urgell, has owned Andorra
[3].
Andorra did not have any type of protection and the Bishop of Urgell, who knew that the Count of Urgell wanted to reclaim the Andorran valleys,
[3] decided to ask for help and protection from the Lord of Caboet. In
1095, the Lord of Caboet and the Bishop of la Seu d'Urgell signed under oath the recognition of their sovereignty over Andorra. Arnalda, daughter of Arnau of Caboet, married the Viscount of Castellbò and both became Viscounts of Castellbò and Cerdanya. Years later their daughter, Ermessenda,
[4] married Roger Bernat II of the
French Count of Foix. They became Roger Bernat II and Ermessenda I Counts of Foix, Viscounts of Castellbò and Cerdanya and also sovereigns of Andorra (shared with the Bishop of Urgell).
In the eleventh century a dispute arose between the bishop of
la Seu d'Urgell and Count of Foix. The conflict was resolved in
1278 by the signing of the first
paréage, with the mediation of
Aragon, which provided that Andorra's sovereignty be shared between the
count of Foix[3] (whose title would ultimately transfer to the French head of state) and the bishop of
Urgell, in
Catalonia. This gave the small
principality its territory and political form.
Over the years the title passed to the kings of
Navarre, and after Henry of Navarre became King
Henry IV of France he issued an edict (1607) that established the head of the French state and the Bishop of Urgell as co-princes of Andorra.
In the period 1812–13, the
First French Empire annexed
Catalonia and divided it in four
départements. Andorra was also annexed and made part of the district of
Puigcerdà (département of
Sègre)." (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andorra#Languages)
The most dominant religion in Andorra is Roman Catholicism. I haven't been able to find ANY Baptist churches there yet.
I've had a love for France since I was about 10. This summer, I met the Dodeler family, a sweet missionary couple to France. Actually, both of them were born and raised in France by American missionaries to France. Each of them have one American parent and one French parent. lol They visited our church and we took them on for support. Madame Damarias Dodeler was very sweet to me and actually invited me to come and help work at their Christian youth camp, Camp Arc-en-ciel (Camp Rainbow). She also invited me to spend a year in thier Bible college so I can become fluent in French. I took two years of French already and was quite good at it, but I'm not at all fluent yet. About .02% of the French population are Independent Baptists. For more information on the Dodeler family, go to
http://www.dodeler.com/Home.html Please keep them in your prayers.
I'm still looking for information on missions in Northern Ireland.
This past summer, my family and I visited the Hawaiian island of Maui and I fell in love with the people. Whenever we go on vacation, we always try to find a like-minded church to visit. We fortunately found Grace Baptist Church, the only IFB church on Maui. It's a very small church in Lahina, and the people are so kind. We were very grateful for their hospitality and love.
Please pray for these missionaries and projects as they grow.
