Coming your way ;)

Here we are yet again, I'm writing and you're reading a blog that should have been written a long time ago.

It's sad to say that this one will be short because of the many things that are on my list to do today. But I thought that while I had just a few minutes I needed to sit and write.

I want to share so much with you about America and what it's like. What it's been like and how things have gone since I got home. What my reaction was when I saw my family at the airport. The tears I shed while saying my last Fulani goodbye. But there is a time for everything and now is not that time.

I do want to let you know that I have not forgotten you. My plan is to continue writing as much as I can and make this a fun blog filled with the Lord and life.

But right now I just want to update you quickly about what's going on in my life.

I have accepted a job position in Hannibal MO as a Dorm Director at Hannibal LaGrange College. It's the same college that I graduated from in May 2007. I will be moving to Hannibal the last week of July and I start work on August 1st. I am SO excited about this position and I am thrilled that the Lord would give me an opportunity like this one to minister to the girls going to school in Hannibal.

I just got back from a week at Bates Creek Camp with over 20 grade school girls from my church. Bates Creek is a Southern Baptist Camp that many people and churches go to and have fun with every Summer. I'm headed back to Bates Creek tomorrow to be with the youth from my church. I will be cutting this week short though because I'm headed to SC on Thursday with my mom! My Aunt, Uncle and 5 of my cousins live there but are moving back to MO next week! My mom and I are headed down that way so we can help them pack up. I am also going to be speaking to a couple different groups within my Aunt and Uncle's church while I'm there next weekend. I can't wait to meet so many that have been praying and lifting me up for more than two years while I've been away.

That's all the time that I have for today.
Love you all and thanks for your prayers and being so faithful to me!
Happy Father's Day!
AnnaK

My Last

Hello!
Believe it or not I am writing my last blog from West Africa. I will leave for America in just a few short hours and be with my family late on Saturday night.

Because time is short I am just writing a huge thank you for all you have done during my time here. There is so much that I wish I could write now, but again, time is short. I will update soon after I get settled in America.

I said goodbye to my people in my villages and in my town last weekend and I made my way to Niamey (where I will fly out) last Sunday. Please pray for me as I travel home and get readjusted to life in America.

Before I go, I want to let you know that we have a new Fulani believer! He accepted Christ the first week of April and is excited about his new faith. I will fill you in more once I'm home. Please pray for Hue as he desires to learn more and is dealing with persecution from his family for following Christ.

I love you and am more appreciative than you will ever know for who you are in my life,
AnnaK

The Stinger

It's been almost a month since I've written and there is so much to fill you in on.
I have talked to Stephen and he and his family are doing ok. He was given two baby girls (his cousins) to watch and take care of for an inevitable amount of time. He wanted to travel with the girls to the village his mother lives in many hours away. But within about a week there was another one his family members that was able to take the babies and they are no longer in Stephen's care. He is ok with that.
He was a little stressed when he had the girls. He told me, "Anna, I have no wife and I have never had babies to care for before! Pray for me!" It was kind of a humorous situation and he's doing fine now. I have not heard what the killings were a result of. I don't know if it was religious or cultural or if just happened for no reason. But if I do find out I will let you know.

I have had my ticket for America for a few weeks now and I was leaving on the 1st of May. I was planning on being reunited with my family next Friday night a
and spending all day Saturday with them... But as it seems to be a pattern in Niger with the airlines, my flight got cancelled and changed. I am leaving on May 2nd instead of May 1st. I just found out from Deanna, who is a Guest House worker in Niamey, also with the IMB.
Disappointment and frustration shot through me. "Why can't anything go like I want it to?" I was really upset at first and then the Lord brought to mind how useful it is for me to be upset about something that I cannot change. What good will it do? It doesn't justify anything nor does it help me or my attitude.
So I let it go and although I may still have feelings of disappointment, I know that regardless of when, I will be home with my family one days soon.

I have said goodbye to two of my villages and I'm saying goodbye to my family in the chief's village tomorrow. I spent the night out there on Monday night. It was dark and "my" little boy, Irahi, was sitting on my cot next to me when he said "I like it that you live in Niger. I never want you to leave, you make me happy!" I couldn't believe what I heard him say... it broke my heart to tell him that I was leaving for Niamey in a week. He put his head down so his chin touched his chest and he told me that he wouldn't accept for his mother to leave him. Before I realized it, I had tears streaming down my cheeks. I couldn't help it. I wrapped my arms around him and held him close as I cried. One of my sisters came over and shone the flashlight on me and Irahi and them told everyone that I was crying. It wasn't a big deal. We have talked for a long time about what our goodbye would look like when it finally came. My sister ask me to stop crying because if I started now then it would break all of them and it wasn't time for tears yet. I dried up at that time but let the tears come later.
My youngest sister in my village got stung by a large scorpion that night. I had heard different things about which ones were poisonous and which ones were only painful. I texted a doctor that works at a hospital about an hour from my house. I told him the situation and he told me not to worry about her that it would only be painful. She didn't sleep well that night and cried for a long time because of the pain. I felt for her. I wanted to take the pain from her for myself. I can't stand it to see other people hurting - it kills me.
The scorpion reminded me of how faithful the Lord was a few days ago when I found a scorpion in my bedroom. I was getting in the shower and going to bed after that when I saw him. He was sitting on the wall above my bed. It could have very easily fallen onto my bed and stung my foot/feet in the night. I caught him in a jar and kept him for a couple of days before I gave him some poison that I use for termites in my house. He died in the middle of the night.
So, so far I have seen 3 scorpions. Two in my village and one in my bedroom. I'm praying that I don't encounter anymore while I'm here!

Pray for me as I pack up. There is so much to do and I feel like there's not enough time to do it in.
B has been gone for about 3 weeks now. He got a job with a bus station and they sent him to another town to work. He said that he would be back in a few days. I haven't seen him and K and Fati tell me that he won't be back before I leave. Pray for me as I deal with this. He was so like my brother. I didn't even get to see him the day he left. I didn't even know he had left until I came outside that morning and asked Fati where B was. She told me he was gone. I took a motorcycle taxi to K's work (at the bus station - he works there every morning)and asked K where he was. He told me was already gone and not to worry because he would be back in a few days. That was 3 weeks ago. When I talked to K the other day about it he told me to have patience. But at this time I'm so sad...

I hope to post again soon. I want to tell you all so much more! Pray that I will be diligent with my time that I have left and use every minute that I can to invest in people and share Christ with them.

PLEASE PRAY

My friend Stephen, who I've written about before and is a Christian Fulani, and I talked on the phone last night. Monday a group of Hausa people attacked his family's compound killing 15 family members and two friends (all Fulani). At this point no one knows why the attack took place. I'm not sure if the family members killed were Christians or not. It could have been cultural or religious attack, Stephen doesn't even know at this point. His mother's sister and husband were both killed leaving 5 children parentless, one of which is only 3 weeks old. He said many more of his family are also left without parents.
Please be praying for Stephen and the rest of his family as they walk through this together. Pray that it would pull those who don't know Christ closer to Him and that Stephen can be a witness to them during this time. Pray for peace and comfort.
Thanks for all you do and being faithful pray-ers.

Passion

Oh, the wind! It seems that just before rainy season every year that the wind picks up and makes things dreadful for everyone. It blows dust and dirt and sand all over everything, in your eyes, down your shirt, through the air vents in your car, etc. This is the time that I wish it would just rain! But it's not quit full fledged hot season yet, we still a few weeks to go. By the time I leave here I will be ready for cooler days. Right now the temperatures haven't been above 110 and that's been nice. It has even been cooling off nicely during the night (low 90s). So much that I pull my sheet up over me just before sun-up. I have my ceiling fan on in my room to keep the mosquitoes off of me and to keep it cooler before the sheet time of night comes. But just the same, it's nice to have the lower temperatures for the time being.

Things have been very different here since Karissa has been gone. It's been funny having just me at the house. I will be talking to myself about something and think "I should tell Karissa!" and then I realize "she's not here anymore:("
The people have asked since the day I got back from vacation where she was and why she didn't come back with me. The work world in America makes no sense to them and they have no clue as to why we can't just stay here forever! Some can, those who are career, but for Karissa, she was a volunteer, so it's different. They always ask me when I talked to her and how she and her family are doing. They ask if she was tired of Niger and if that's why she left. Then when I tell them that she loved Niger but needed to go back to America to find a job and be with her family the Fulani consensus is "Ohhhhhh, she has a boyfriend! She had to go back because she wants to get married!" And, well, that's not the truth either... The Fulani for some reason think that when us single girls head back to America it's so we can get married. It was that way for a Journeyman two years ago, but not for the journeymen since that point. When they hear me talk about leaving in a few weeks, they all tell me to send them pictures of my boyfriend and to tell them when the wedding is. Sometimes I just want to "make-up" a random guy so that I won't be told I'm lying to them! But then to make someone up would be lying, so I'm sticking to my "single" story, even if they don't believe me.

B has been excited about hearing more stories. Him and I sat down the other night and I told him about the story from Luke 5 about Jesus healing the paralytic. I told him there were so many people in the house listening to the teachings of Christ that the men couldn't get in with their friend on the mat. They had to go to the roof and lower their friend down on the mat in front of Jesus. I told him that once Jesus saw their faith that He told the man his sins were forgiven and for the man to get up and walk. B was amazed! He thought it was awesome that Jesus healed the crippled man right then and there! As always, B repeated the story to me to make sure that he understood all of it. Then I ask him if was liking the cassette tapes that I had given him to listen to. He said "yes I do! But I'm finished listening to both of them and I want another. I also have one that Jay gave me and I like it a lot too." I went in the house and got the third "Look Listen and Live" book and cassette and he made sure that the tape worked in his cassette player. He was so excited about it!
Please continue to pray for him. I feel as though he may be finding it difficult to tell those he is closest to about his new found faith. You see, K has many friends that have become B's friends as well. They all hang out on my compound in the evenings for a few hours. Many of them pack the bread on nights that it is brought. I find B very reluctant to talk and very watchful when one of his friends walks by us or sees up talking with the cassettes and the Bible story cloth laid out. He says that he has been telling his friends at his work and they all listen to the cassettes. But I do believe that K and B deal with a certain amount of persecution from the guys that they are with in the evenings. K has told me for as long as I have been here that the guys are always nagging him about not praying during prayer time or not fasting during Ramadan. K tells them the truth about his faith in Christ. B hasn't said much about things his friends in the evenings have said, but I know he deals with it too. B and K need prayer as they try to live out their faith in the midst of this Islamic culture. Pray that they would be bold and not hide their light from those that need to see it.
Fati, K's wife, and I have been able to begin building our friendship again. She returned to my town in late January after being with her family for a few months. Karissa had the opportunity to love on her and become friends with her as well. She has never seemed interested in the Bible or listening when I've wanted to share. But lately she has been more open to anything concerning Christ or the gospel. Pray for her and she sees K, B and myself live out Christ. Pray that she would let the walls fall down around her heart and that she would believe. It would bless my heart to know that Belki, K and Fati's daughter, would be raised in a Christian home and not a divided one. Pray the Lord's salvation to take place on my compound even more than it already has!

As you know, Susan has a night guard just like I do. His wife was very pregnant up until last Monday when she had the baby! Altine and Aissa, Susan's guard and his wife, have three boys and Aissa has wanted a girl this entire pregnancy. I have prayed for the Lord to give her what He willed, but I prayed selfishly that His will would be a girl for them. And... she had a GIRL! Altine called me (at my request) in the middle of the night on Sunday into Monday morning. I popped up out of bed, made myself decent and drove to Susan's as fast as I could. Altine had said on the phone that he wanted me to take Aissa to the hospital. Before I left my house I called Susan to let her know I was on my way over.
I got to her house and ran to check on Aissa and she had already had the baby! There was Aissa's mother giving the tiny baby a bath in cold water and holding her up by her little right arm. I couldn't believe it! Aissa sat on a stool watching. She had her head and body covered with a light cloth and didn't say much as I and Susan stood by and took everything in. The baby's body was so light in color that she could have been mistaken for a white child. I told them right off that the baby was really mine and not a Fulani... They all laughed!
I called my mom right away and told her about the baby. I ask her many "baby and birthing" questions knowing that she would more than likely know the answer.
After the baby was bathed and placed in a clean cloth Aissa laid down and they put the baby next to her. I encouraged Aissa to nurse the baby even though she wasn't going to. She said that she didn't have any milk but that her milk would come in a couple of days and she would feed her then. Aissa's mother has been with her for a few weeks waiting until the baby was born so she could help out. You have to be careful in this culture to not go against what the older people say. They are "older and wiser" and I didn't want to offend her at all. I did though want to throw my opinion out there and then let them chose whether or not to heed my advice.
I told them "I just talked to my mother on the phone and she has had nine babies! She wants you to know that even though you may think you don't have milk right now you have to nurse the baby and it will come." I continued to talk to them and tell them how good it would be for the baby if she nursed right away. Aissa and her mother were both very surprised by this and Aissa's mother handed her the baby right away and told her to feed it! Amazing!
Aissa got to the point that she didn't feel the need to go to the hospital so I left her house a little before 5 that morning. Susan had already gone back to bed.
After I had slept some more and eaten breakfast I went back over to hear that the baby had eaten again and was doing great! Praise the Lord that He worked in that situation! I couldn't even begin to imagine Aissa going two days without feeding the baby just because she thought she didn't have milk for the baby. Just because she thought that her breasts were dry. The Fulani have some crazy ways of thinking and this is just one of them.
I have taken some cute pictures of the baby and I will try to post some of them once I'm back in America. The baby naming ceremony will be on Monday when the baby is a week old. I will let you know the name after the buki! (A buki is a ceremony of just about any kind. A wedding buki, a baby naming ceremony buki, a graduation party buki, a going away party buki... they are all called the same thing - Buki).
She is a cute as a button and perfect in every way. Her eyes are as black as night, yet her skin color is just a little darker than a white baby. Her hands and feet, knobby elbows and knees have been formed without flaw. This baby was known before it was conceived. Her nose sits in just the right way and is "flat" as the Fulani say their noses are. Her ears are tiny and fragile and her hair is as black as coal. This baby is beautiful. She sleeps all the time and I've only seen her eyes twice. I've seen her everyday since Monday but only her eyes on the day she was born and then again today.

Once I was home on Monday morning the night air was cool. I closed myself in my house and felt a wave of unrecognized tears flow down my cheeks. Many of you may not know of the desire I've had for many years to be a mid-wife. My plans through the beginning of college were to go to school to be a nurse then continue my education and get my midwifery degree. The Lord had other plans in store for me. Although I know it's not His plan for me to be a mid-wife, my heart swells and cries when I think of how much I desire that sort of thing.
My mom had my last four siblings at home with a mid-wife and I couldn't get enough of that kind of work. I wanted to know all I could. I wanted to soak in all the knowledge on the subject that was available to me. But after my first semester in Nursing, I knew that the Lord was leading me in a different direction. I always wanted to be able to help with births and build a ministry overseas that was centered around babies. I wanted to use it as a way to share the gospel and love on women.
Since I was in ninth grade I knew that the Lord wanted me to work with women. I didn't know how or where or in what way. Well, when I began to desire all of the above, I thought midwifery was it. But now, after being led from that I know that the Lord is leading me somewhere new. I love high school and college age girls and would love to do ministry with that age group. I would love to work with youth (or be a youth pastor's wife) and be a Sunday School teacher. I have also thought and prayed about pursuing Biblical Counseling in Seminary. And I am definitely not opposed to serving overseas on the mission field. There are many options and I know that the Lord can use me in each one at one time or another. I also believe that I have the gift of teaching and speaking. I am anxious to see where the the Lord will lead me in the near future.
Please pray for me as I seek Christ about the next chapter in my life. If you didn't catch my drift, I'm very passionate about working with women and I would love to pursue that, but only if that's what the Lord wants. So my prayer is that I would step out of the way and allow the Lord to work in my life. He will give me the desire to do what He wants me to do and I want to be out of the way so He can do that.

I've had a bad cold this week that has slowed me down some. Pray against illness for me so that I can end strong and do as much ministry and village visiting as I can. My time here is short and I don't want to use it sick in bed!

Leaving Asia

This is Mallory and I on the underground metro


This was a really cool graffiti wall that we found along a main tourist shopping street.

I have more pictures for you! I have placed three links on the left of my vacation here in Central Asia. I would love for you to check it out.

I am headed back to Niger tomorrow afternoon and will there sometime in the middle of the night. Please pray that I will have a safe trip and make my flights at both places. I am flying from here to Morocco and then catching another flight from there to Niamey.

Mallory and I were able to talk to our friend Casey on the phone tonight. He lives in Asia but on the opposite side from Mallory's. He is on vacation right now and Mallory has a vonage phone. So we called him and put him on speakerphone so we could all talk. That was such a blessing! Pray for Casey as he is on vacation and continues the Lord's work in Asia.

My computer is not working at the moment. It fell off a chair a few weeks ago and the hard drive is messed up. It can't be fixed until I get back to America but I'm going to try and use Susan's computer to post blogs.

Thank you all for your prayers and support in many ways. My plan at this point is to wrap up my time in Niger within the next few weeks and head back to America at the end of April. Please be praying for me as I finish up and say my goodbyes.

City Life

This is Mallory and I at the water's front in her beautiful city!

Right off the bat let me tell you all that I'm posting pictures from a link on the left. It's titled "Pretty Pics" and you just click on the link "Niger Photos #1" and "Niger Photos #2" and you can take a look at a few photos that I posted on my facebook. There are several of Karissa and I and many of the safari that we took at the beginning of February.

I have been here in Central Asia for 4 days now and it feels like just yesterday that I was in Morocco waiting to get here. Yesterday Mallory and I had brunch and headed to a mall across the water - which meant that we had to take the boat! It was so fun getting to ride and see the birds, not to mention the city from a completely different view. The mall was so much fun! I bought a t-shirt from "United Colors Of Benetton" and looked in tons of different stores. They have Adidas, Nike, Reebok, and many other athletic stores as well as many dressy clothing stores too. It was a lot of fun to just browse. I didn't have a change to go to the mall in America when I was there in September but I did go to one in South Africa. But this one was a bit bigger with more of an American selection. Mallory and I went to a bookstore were I read an article in the "People" magazine about the pilot who landed a plane on the Hudson river. I hadn't heard that story before and if you haven't read it yet either you should get online and check it out. It's pretty amazing.
Mallory and I made a stop at Starbucks and I had my favorite - A cold chocolate chip creme. It was so good! We left after dark and took the bus back to the water where we then took the boat back to her side of town. It was raining and the bottom of my pants were soaked which meant that my shoes and socks were soaked too. I thought that I was going to lose a toe from frostbite or something!
We stopped at a vegetable and fruit stand and bought some of each. We made vegetable and chicken stir fry in a tortilla wrap and it was so good! Then we ate the most amazing orange I've ever had for dessert.

This morning Mallory and I left for her language tutor's house. Her name is *Aleah and she lives a ways away. We left and hopped on a bus where we rode for about 25 minutes before hopping off and climbing a killer hill to Aleah's house. She is a very nice 28 year old who knows how to speak English but refuses to do so around Mallory in order to help improve her language skills. She talked to me through Mallory the whole time and it was a great cultural experience for me. She served me Chai (the same tea drink that we have in Niger only not near as strong) with a little chocolate chip cake and a warm croissant. About halfway through Mallory's language lesson I put on my winter gear and took my camera out to take some pictures of the city from a distance.
Mallory and I left a little bit later and went to her office where I met up with a couple of people from my FPO two years ago! It was great to see Ryan and Laura. We are headed to their house for dinner tomorrow night and I will take a picture. I will get to see their little girl, Selah, again too. Laura told me that regardless of the fact that she won't remember me, she will be my best friend in less than 5 minutes:) I'm excited about tomorrow evening.
I was also able to meet another Journeyman, Jeremy, today and talk to him a little bit too.

Jana (Mallory's roommate) returned from the States today from a work conference she was attending. It was great coming in from the freezing cold to be greeted by her! Jana and I walked to the Post Office to pick up a package that she has there. It's quit different than my Post Office in Niger. I have one for the whole town that I live in and there are well over 10 here in this huge city. Jana and Mallory talked about which one she had to go to in order to get her package. So Jana and I took off and left Mallory talking on the phone with a friend that's in America. We walked a few streets and went through security at the mall and down a flight of stairs to the Post Office where the man told her to come back tomorrow morning because they were closing up. So we came back up to their apartment and sat down to check email and facebook. We then began talking about what to have for dinner when they informed me that they could order just about anything and have it delivered... WHAT?! That's awesome! So we all decided on McDonald's and Mallory got online and ordered us all Double Cheeseburger meals. It was at our door within 10 minutes! We put in the movie "Top Gun" which I had never seen before and I ate my first McDonald's in over 5 months:) Boy, was it good!

Tomorrow morning Mallory and I are hitting up the gym for a good workout. So I'm going to close at this point. I hope that you all enjoy the pictures and stories thus far. Be watching for more!

Update + Two Pictures

I am writing to you from one of Central Asia's largest cities! I know that this information may come to a shock to some of you, but I am on vacation right now with my girlfriend Mallory were she is serving here in CA. I will have plenty of time to blog more later but while I have a few minutes at this time I want to post a couple of pictures for you all to see... Enjoy!



As you read at one point, I have a guy friend that bags all of his bread on my compound and then sells it at the bus station the next morning. He is a Zerma guy and his name is Yawo. Here is a picture of him in the blue and colorful shirt with a friend. They are hard at work one morning at the bus station that I was leaving for Niamey. I decided to snap this one.

This was the day when Karissa and I were buying gas off the black market.


These are the only two that would upload at this time but Mallory just said that I can upload more and do it faster during the morning. So be watching for more!

He Need Us Not

Writings from Karissa...
Haba! (an expression used here similar to “holy cow” in America)… Where to start my dear family and friends?

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul. HE guides me in paths of righteousness for HIS name’s sake… Psalm 23:1-3

Maybe this passage would be a good place to start. This probably was not the passage I would have thought my heart would need while I was here in Africa but the Lord has used it to humble me and still me in moments of discontent…

On January 28th a team of four from Perryville, MD came to Kondike (Anna’s hometown) to serve and continue building relationships with the people here and in the surrounding villages. This team has come here twice a year for the past four years. Anna and I had a blessed time getting to serve with them while they were here. Our translator and driver for the week were both Muslim men that the team uses each time they come. We are praying that these men might come to know Christ through the presence of these believers in their lives. Jay is a man from Nigeria that has a heart for the people here and worked with us as well. He was able to translate and already has relationships with many people here. He reminded me very much of the apostle Paul and his presence was invaluable.

There is a village that Anna had been invited to a couple months of ago because the Fulani, her people, had a desire to learn about Christ. She was able to share with them truth and the Gospel. As the team was here, Anna shared this with them and the team told us that they had been to that same village years ago and yet the Lord had not really allowed them to share and build relationships like the other villages they had been to. After hearing of this open door, the team got very excited about the opportunity to go back and share more with them.

It was on the afternoon before we were going to this very village that my heart began to struggle in discontent. There was a married couple from the team that were going to be sharing some Bible stories with the people and I wanted to share a story as well. I was trying to figure out my place within this group and had it set in my mind how I wanted to serve the Lord that night. When it didn’t seem that this was the way things were going to work out, I became frustrated. I wanted to share truth! I wanted to DO something…Wasn’t this a good thing? Wasn’t this why the Lord had brought me here? Being still and waiting on the Lord’s timing went against my heart. As I called out to the Lord, He gently brought me to Psalm 23. This Psalm was His answer to me that day. He stilled me and brought me to a place of surrender and willingness to do whatever HE wanted. That night I helped hold up a corner of the story cloth as others shared stories from the Old Testament. And it was a pure joy… The Lord is funny isn’t he. The Lord has had to humble me time and time and time again since I have been here and I am so thankful. I don’t know what you all are praying for me over there but keep them up. I would have been very disappointed to come back to America the same as when I left. The Lord disciplines those he loves. I am his daughter and have definitely experienced His faithful love since being here.

Many months before I had decided for sure the Lord was leading me to Niger, He spoke to me Isaiah 55:5… Since I have been here, he has reminded me of Isaiah 55:8 which says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts”. It is this truth that He has been teaching me to me to believe…

Last week Anna and I and a couple of other girls that serve here were able to spend a couple nights in a safari park… He had our very own tour guide and armed guard… We didn’t see any lions but did see an elephant, antelope, crocodiles, cranes, deer… It was precious time being in God’s creation. Oh yeah, and I got to swim in a pool! This was also a pure blessing.

The Lord has also brought about the opportunity to teach English to an 18 year old girl here in town. You can be praying that the Lord would bless my relationship with her and use it for His glory.

Thank you again for all your prayers. They are so needed. Please be praying for Anna and I this next week and a half that the Lord would give great wisdom and discernment how He would have us spend our time. Pray that my spirit would be yielded to HIS guidance. Pray that I would fully support and encourage my sister in Christ (which was my main purpose in coming). God Bless and see you all soon!!!

Writings from Anna...
Here we are, almost two full weeks into February and I feel like Christmas was yesterday. I feel as though the New Year has gotten away from me just like my evenings with Karissa seem to fly! Just about every night her and I will look at our watches and it’s around midnight or so and we ask ourselves “what happened to the last four hours? What were we doing?!” The evenings and nights have been good for us because we are both more night people than we are morning people, although some say that her and I are “all day” people… We are able to work best in the evenings after dinner and often have our best conversations and times with the Lord then. I have also seen myself fall into a much more regulated pattern of many things since Karissa has come. I eat three square meals a day (if you count cereal for dinner every once in a while), I am consistently in bed after midnight (haha!) and my workout/running schedule has been wonderful for me to keep up my physical activity. Another big thing is that when Karissa spends time with the Lord, so do I. When she first got here we didn’t want to leave one another’s sight so we forced ourselves to have our quiet times at the same time so we could be together more. I was teasing her the other day saying that when she first got here I wanted her near all the time, now that she’s been here a few weeks it’s ok if we are in separate rooms for a while doing our own thing… but now that she’s leaving in a couple of weeks I want to have her near all the time again!

All that to say I LOVE KARISSA! She has been a true blessing to me and the Lord has taught me a lot in her time here. We have bounced scripture back and forth and sought the Lord through His word and I feel as though she has been my iron that Proverbs talk about in chapter 27 verse 17 “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” I had forgotten what it was like to have consistent accountability. I had forgotten was it was like to be loved by a friend in a tangible way. She has continuously been encouraging and loving, patient and kind. Gentle with her words and her heart is so soft to the leading of the Holy Spirit. I praise the Lord for the friend I have in her.

The Perryville team was so fun to have around. There were two ladies and two men. The pastor of the church, Pastor John, always comes and then will bring two to four people with him every time. There was a married couple, Michelle and Jack, Pastor John and Akiko who is from Japan. Akiko was the cook for the week and has a gift of mixing ingredients together to form delightful tastes for the tongue She made me want to lock her in my kitchen until I leave!
Saidou was our Muslim translator from Niamey area and we also had Jay whom I’ve talked about before. Jay is the man who led B to the Lord last month. And then the driver was with us as well and his name is Yahiya and didn’t speak English or Fulfulde. So we all had fun learning new Zerma and Hausa words in order to include everyone in the conversations.

The team was able to go to four different villages during their time here and one of those villages more then once. Every year the team has a gathering on Sunday mornings for the few believers that we have and anyone else that wants to join. This year my favorite day of their trip was the Sunday gathering.

We had made arrangements beforehand to go and pick up our believers in two different villages. One of those villages being my village where my Fulani family lives. I wanted the whole family to be able to come but wasn’t sure how that was going to pan out knowing that there was work that had to be done. I went out with Saidou and Yahiya (in Yahiya’s bush taxi that the team rents every year) to my village to pick up those there. The chief wasn’t around because someone had died in Nigeria and he had to leave to be with the family. But Dez came with two of my older brothers and one of my younger sisters! There were four from my family that made it! All of them are believers. Last year we only had the chief from my family. So this was a large increase to the amount of people from the trip the team made here last October. We loaded everyone up, including three other people that are friends of the family, one of them being a Hausa guy, and we took off. I felt that I was helping run the bus ministry for the day! We stopped alongside the road at the other village and picked up four more people that were waiting. Two of which were my two believers from that village (a man and a woman from different families), one was the chief and the other was a friend of them all. We got back and Yahiya dropped me off at my house so I could drive Michelle, Akiko, Karissa, Fati and Belki over to Susan’s while Yahiya and Saidou took the “bus” full of people to Susan’s. Akiko and Michelle had prepared the drinks for the day (a ton of ice tea) and deviled eggs and I had asked Aissa, Altine’s wife (Susan’s night guard), the day before to cook a meal for about 30 people. I asked her to make it for that many because I wanted to make sure that we would have extra incase we needed it. She had agreed happily and that Saturday Akiko, Saiduo and I went to the market with Aissa to buy all she needed for the meal. Aissa made a wonderful rice meal with a vegetable and meat tomato base sauce. It was so good!

After I dropped the ladies off I went to find B. I had told him about our meeting and he said that he wanted to come. So I drove to his work and told him that it was time for church to start. He took large pieces of cardboard and covered his table of tea making supplies, grabbed his purple sock cap that he wears religiously and hopped in the truck. When we got to Susan’s I was amazed at the amount of people that were gathered for church that morning. My heart rejoiced! We had over 30 adults and several children including Yahiya’s wife and young daughter that had come to my town for a couple of days.

We took turns telling Bible stories and after each story was told there were two questions asked. 1) What was sweet about this story? 2) What was not sweet about this story? These questions got the people’s head turning and we had many speak up with answers that were very appropriate, showing us that they understood everything in the story and for our believers, that they trusted that the story was true. My two older brothers, Gary and Doo both spoke up at different times with truth in all they said! I have known that they professed Christ but had never really heard them talk openly about Him. This is a huge step for Believers here and I was very proud of them to say the least!

After the service was over and the meal had been eaten we all loaded up in the “bus” again and Saidou, Yahiya and I took everyone back to their homes. It was a long and exhausting day but… So worth it to see people from four different nations come together to glorify the Lord and hear stories from His Word. It blessed me beyond what I am able to express with words. The Lord is so faithful in all He does.

I want to just take a paragraph and love on the Perryville team – They were amazing! They did nothing but love on Karissa and I and blessed us beyond measure. They were fun to have around and we had a great mixture of hilarious personalities that made everyone one to look forward to everyday. But above all else, they love Jesus and that shined through all they did and in every conversation we had. They were gracious and helpful, giving and kind and I’m so thankful for all of them! Not only those on this trip but the two teams that have come before as well. I just want to thank you all by name – Pastor John and Pastor Chris, Michelle and Jack, Cathy and Scott, Akiko and Brandon, Saidou and Yahiya – Thanks for bringing so much joy to my life!

Karissa and I made our way to a really cool safari park for a couple of days of rest and fun. I would say that the two days we were there were more fun than restful but we had a great time. Our gun holding security guard was a Tuareg man that grew up around Fulani people so he spoke Fulfulde. Our quieter but funny tour guide was a Zerma man (I think) and spoke a little bit of English. So between Karissa and I and Melissa and Emily and the two guys we had a good time and were able to appreciate the creation of the Lord before us. And to top it off, Karissa and I swam in a pool that made the trip even better! Just to let you know, Emily is a career missionary not too much older than I am and is working with the Tuaregs past Niamey toward Burkina Faso. She’s a good friend and I always enjoy her company

The Lord has been good in teaching me a few different things these last few months. One of those things I am going to share with you now…

I have kind of been struggling with this for the past few months and just this last month has the Lord really revealed Himself to me through it and taught me the lesson that He has desired that I take from this struggle.
I have been dealing with having to leave Niger when things have just seemed to pick up a bit. B is saved and I have K and Fati that live here for me to share with and encourage. I have found the M village where the people want to just listen to stories from the Word and hear more. My language is getting better everyday and I am so comfortable with this town and all my people around me – why would the Lord ask me to leave when it would be so easy and beneficial to stay? What would I do elsewhere that would compare to what I could do here for the kingdom? There’s work here to be done and people to be discipled and so many others to tell. And one of the biggest kickers for me is that there is no one coming to replace me…
The Lord, trough scripture and others around me, has revealed that He doesn’t need me. Period. His word never returns void and His faithfulness will endure forever. His mercy and grace will be lavished on those that He wills and in the end He will be glorified regardless of if I’m here through it all or not. He doesn’t need me to expand His kingdom or to take the Word of the Lord to the world. I am simply allowed the beautiful grace of the Lord to be spilled over on me to even have been able to be here for such a time as this. He will do what He desires to do and He doesn’t need me to do it.

Please be in prayer for B. He is so anxious to learn and grow and my Fulfulde dialect being different from his makes it hard to communicate at times. Pray that the Lord would work through this barrier and that B would benefit greatly from the times that Karissa and I meet with him.

Pray for the young girl that Karissa is teaching English to. She has a sweet spirit and a desire to learn. She was supposed to come for her second lesson this week and didn’t show up. K often sees her on the road because his work at the bus station in the mornings is very near her school. He hasn’t seen her these last couple of days. Pray that before Karissa and I leave for Niamey that we would be able to connect with her. Pray that Karissa would have great opportunities to share Christ with this young girl.

Pray for me as I am getting ready for vacation in Central Asia! My girlfriends, Mallory and Jana, serve there as Journeyman and I will be with them for about 10 days. Karissa and I are flying out of Niamey on the same flight to Casablanca, Morocco and then we will split ways there. Pray that my time in Central Asia will be refreshing and encouraging to Jana and Mallory. Pray that we would experience the Lord’s presence as we get together and love on each other during the few days that I will be there.

Pray for my ankle because it has started to bother me a bit during my runs with Karissa. It has never bothered me before but it’s begun to flare up a bit and is often painful just after we run. We did a much shorter run today and I ended with lots less pain. I’ve been icing it a few times a day these past three days and it seems to be helping. But that would all I needed – to have myself back in the doctor’s office because of my ankle…

Pray for Karissa and I as we spend these last 11 days together. Pray that the Lord would bless it and we would soak up one another as we praise Jesus for bringing Karissa here these last few weeks.

We love you and appreciate your faithful prayer support to us. We are more than excited to get back and share what the Lord has done here! Not only that but also the pictures that we are not able to upload as we wish…

We are headed to my village tonight and will sleep there for two nights. We will be back in my town on Tuesday. Pray for our time out there that we would be an encouragement to my family out there and also have opportunities to share new Bible stories with them.

Love you all!

Rakiya and Hawa

Benchmarks

Sooooo... Karissa has been here for 4 weeks today! We are shocked and can't believe how fast time has flown and we know that we only have a little bit of time left before she will head home. The Lord has been faithful in all that He's done and given both Karissa and I amazing experiences and time together. We are looking forward to her last two weeks here and what the Lord will do.

Today also marks a year from the day I went to the bush last year for my first full week. I spent a week with my family out there. It was one of the hardest times of my time here because I was new to the culture, family and language. Oh how far the Lord has brought me - my love for these people and desire to serve here is truly from the Him...

Be watching for a blog in the next couple of days - we have a lot to say so you should make time for a sit down date with us!

Truth = Freedom

To:
Tom and Connie, My (Karissa's) dad, Dana, Rachel, Claire, Amy and Anonymous for posting comments on our blog and encouraging us as you have. Thanks for the prayers that you send to the Father on our behalf. We couldn't do what we do without your dedication to lift us up to Christ.

This is a compilation of writings from Karissa and I over the past few days. Please remember to take note of the names of who is writing as you read...


(Writings from Karissa)
Monday January 19

Pure eagerness and joy was painted all over B’s face as Anna and I shared with him the true creation story… We also shared with him what a relationship with the Lord looks like and how God wants him to talk to him all the time… On his way to work, when he is sad, when he is overwhelmed with joy. I spoke to B and Anna translated in Fulfulde and made sure that B was understanding. B was sitting on the edge of his chair and after almost everything Anna would tell him, B would readily repeat it in order to make sure he remembered what we were sharing with him. The Holy Spirit was so evident in Him. This young man BELIEVED and was ready to learn all he could. I am so excited to see this young man share Jesus with his friends and how the Lord might use him to affect future generations! The hold that the Muslim religion has on this culture is great, more than I could have ever realized without being here. Another thing that I have learned is that this is a culture that is controlled by the man… Men here do not have relationships with their wives like I am so used to seeing in the Christian marriages around me growing up. It makes me sad and gives me the great desire to pray that the Gospel might permeate the Fulani family here in Niger.

Today was “doctor day”. We took Anna’s teammate Susan, to a hospital about 40 minutes away. While there I asked about a missionary named Linda that my home church supports. She works at the hospital! I saw her in a picture with some other nurses and doctors and look forward to talking with her some time while I am here. We found out that the missionary staff at the hospital has a little cinnamon bun gathering on Wed. mornings and we were invited to come ANYTIME.

Another fun adventure for today was pretty unexpected… As many of you know I enjoy running. Well, I didn’t really think this was going to be an option while I was here due to the fact that women wear long skirts all the time… running in a skirt just did not sound all that appealing! Well, last night we were talking to K (the guard for Anna’s compound) and he said it was no problem for us to run if we wore pants and t-shirts. This was very surprising to Anna mainly because you don’t really see women running here EVER! To make sure we were getting legit information on this subject we visited one of the older women here in town (Mama, the Fulani lady that lives across the street from us). She is the type to tell you like it is. She said that it is no problem if you are playing a sport (including running) ☺. So today, we went on a couple mile jog out of town. There was a lot of exhaust and dust in the air…. It was an intense breathing situation, but such a blessing all at the same time!!! Who would have thought.



(Writings from Anna)
Friday January 23

I have to echo what Karissa said about running. I also enjoy running but have just gone this past year without it because I didn’t know that it was an option. I ran with my sister, Naomi, a few times back in September when I was home. It was fun and refreshing and like running has always has done, just made me feel good. Well, here, since my house is just a little ways from the outside of town we leave my compound gate and start running right away. At the end of our run when we are coming back into town I pick up full speed in order to end as strong as I can. It’s kind of funny here because the people on the road (mostly men) all yell and cheer for us as we finish our run! I feel like I’m in a race and being pushed forward! It’s really funny and gives me that extra boost that I may not have without 57 (est.) Africans hollering at me in 5 different languages…
Once Karissa and I are inside and have stretched we normally do a short workout in the house on our core. I tell you what, carrying buckets of water on my head and cleaning rice and cooking is not going to work the core muscles that I haven’t paid attention to in the last couple of years. So Karissa’s name while we are working out and running is “Coach”. I have to say that she is quite the coach. She’s good at motivation and pushing herself as well as me when either of us wants to quit. She also ran Cross Country in college and is in better shape than I’m in at this point – but not for long – look out Karissa! So as we are doing our short workout inside one of the exercises we do is “The Plank”. I would like to refer to it as “The Killer”. You have to position yourself on your stomach and then lift yourself up on your toes and forearms and make your body as straight as you can. Then you hold it until your coach says to let go. In this case, my coach says one minute is a good amount. But we don’t just do one, one-minute plank. We do two or three or, etc… I say that if I have to do another one-minute plank then she’s fired! No, but for real, our whole bodies hurt after that. I told her that’s why I don’t like doing them and we need to find another one that’s a little easier on our bodies… Coach reminded me that if it hurts my muscles that bad then it must be working! So I’m going to stick with it while it’s working and I’m feeling it (unless I die first!). It was pretty intense though after the first few days of working out when I had to roll out of bed and I couldn’t sit down or stand up without feeling pain every muscle in my legs. NO PAIN, NO GAIN.

Just an update on Susan, she is doing much better. She had developed a rash on her arms around Christmas time and it spread to her eyes. When Karissa and I visited her last Saturday she was in a lot of pain. Then on Sunday she asked that we take her to the hospital to have her rash looked at. The doctor there (American) said that he thought it was an allergic reaction to something that’s she’s been eating or maybe a soap she’s been using. Pray for her that she will be able to figure it out so she can discontinue using it and not have to worry about the rash anymore.

Things with B have been very encouraging and Praise the Lord he is sticking with this! It’s a very exciting thing to witness his enthusiasm for learning all he can. As Karissa shared above, he was literally sitting on the edge of his seat as if he couldn’t get enough of what we were saying! At the end of our time Karissa prayed in English and I prayed in Fulfulde for B and that he would stand strong in his faith and that the Lord would bless him with wisdom. Karissa and I gave him a tape with about 30 Bible stories from Creation to the Ascension of Christ on it for him to listen to and learn from. I also gave him a small cassette player to use. When we were finished with our story telling he took the cassette player and hit the play button as he walked away with it next to his ear. Everytime I’ve seen him since then he’s had the cassette player in his pocket or sitting beside him and he’s had his earphones in, listening away. My heart has been so happy!
This precious new brother in the Lord has faith like a child and the smile on B's face reflects the freedom in Christ that he has.
Please continue to lift B up to the Lord as he desires to live out his faith and learn all he can. He told Karissa and I that he wanted to meet often because he didn’t want to forget anything but also because he wanted to learn all he could and quickly. Lift him up that he would gain understanding as we share scripture with him and that he would develop a mature faith as he learns. Pray for him that he would desire to walk in the Truth of the Gospel.


Please pray for Pastor John and his volunteer team. Pastor John’s church comes to my town twice a year to do ministry in many surrounding villages. They are scheduled to be in my town by this coming Wednesday evening. Pray for the Lord to open huge doors and soften hearts as they share the Word of God. They will also be visiting the new village, ML, which I have been to. PRAY that the people will be responsive and that they will ask questions that they have. Pray that the Holy Spirit would work there and that we would see salvation.

Saturday January 24
Today Karissa and I got up at Melissa’s a little later than we should have. We wanted to be in town and doing our internet work by about 11. Well, here we are and it’s almost 1pm and we just got here. We did some of our laundry this morning and just underestimated the amount of time that it would take us. So last night we were up talking and reading and writing the blog until about 3:30 in the morning. Karissa made a very true statement when she said that we are both night owls… When you put the two of us together it means late nights! We have also noticed that this past week that we have been together that our evenings have flown and we’re not really sure where they go or how the times just shoots by… Time is a thief, that’s for sure.

We are posting this now and heading to the pool for a day of relaxation. Tomorrow we will go with Melissa to her market and then we are headed to a ceremony that is a tradition amoung the Fulani. I’m not sure what it’s called but it’s the process for the guys here to go from boyhood to manhood. I’ve heard it’s kind of intense and I really wanted the opportunity to see one of these ceremonies before I left. I’m also glad that Karissa is able to see a new part of this culture as well.

Pray for us as we continue to seek the Lord over His will for our work here. May His glory be what we strive for and our lives reflect Him alone.

Thanks for stopping by – we are encouraged by our supporters and readers in so many ways. Love you all!

Rakiya and Hawa

The Green Truck is BACK!

This is Karissa writing... On Anna's way to Niamey, her little green truck began to get slower and slower as she went. SO, it was brought into the shop. Yesterday, we asked everyone to be praying that the truck would be fixed but really didn't even pray for it ourselves. We were given a different vehicle to take to Anna's home and as we stopped to get gas this morning before heading out, Anna looked over and there was her truck! She didn't even know where it had been taken... This was a blessing this morning and we were thankful that the Lord provided even when we didn't ask Him... So, thank you all for praying!!! He is gracious and HIS mercies are new every morning!!!

Yesterday, we went into the market. It was definitely a new experience... It is amazing to me how different this culture is. I have been taking everything in and learning more about the people here. Anna asked me what I thought about everything and I said I didn't really have words. It is just altogether different,

The IMB missionary that let us stay in her home here in Niamey was precious and her hospitality was encouraging. I really enjoyed hearing about her ministry here as she teaches English.

We will probably be heading out here shortly... Have a blessed day!

My God Can

Isaiah 40:29
“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”

*B has always been a fun guy and I’ve never seen him without a smile. Every since I met him I’ve seen him as my kid brother, never really knowing how old he was. B is K’s nephew and lives on my compound.
B goes out everyday with his tea making supplies and walks the streets. It’s not just your typical tea, it’s called shy (that’s not how you spell it but it’s how it’s pronounced). It’s what all the men and some women drink here. It’s done in three courses and you only take a little bit because it’s so strong. The first one is very bitter with very little sugar. They use the tea remains from the first batch to make the second and third batches. They get milder and sweeter until all three have been taken. They are given in small quantities in shot glasses about a quarter to half full. So it’s not very much, but if you take all three it will give you a buzz. I have to be careful and not drink it in the evening or I can’t sleep for hours after that because of all the caffeine it has in it. But the men here drink it all day, everyday.
When I go out and walk through my town or to Susan’s or the post office, I often see B on the streets and he always greets me like he would his good friends. His Fulfulde is a bit different than mine because of where he’s from in Niger but normally we are able to communicate without much of a problem.
Last week B was really sick. He came home in the afternoon and I found him sleeping outside on my large porch. When I went outside the door woke him up and I asked him how he was. He said that he had a fever, no strength, an ongoing headache and a very bad cold. Naturally I wanted to feel his head or neck for warmth but because he’s a guy I had to go off of what he told me. I ask him if I could give him some medicine and he agreed. I gave him some Daytime Tylenol for fevers and colds and just prayed that he would get better. Flashbacks, terrible flashbacks, shot through my mind as I remembered K and how sick he was back in April. I didn’t want this to be a repeat of that time.
Later that night B said that he was feeling a little better and went out to sell his tea. For the next two days I found B sleeping in the middle of the afternoon and getting worse each day. He told me that he was having hot/cold flashes and I knew that was (normally) a sure sign of malaria. Although I wasn’t excited that he was sick my heart was relieved to know that he could have been sick with something that was curable with a three day malaria treatment.
The third day he was sick was this past Sunday. Susan and I and our Christian, Fulani friend from Nigeria, Jay, all went to church service in my new village. We went to the pastors church and worshiped in a tiny mud-brick building with 4 Hausa Believers. Susan and I made up a quarter of the congregation! Jay speaks very good English and is a translator for some of our volunteer teams that come. Jay helped translate the service from Hausa to English for Susan and I.
Being there that day made me feel as though I was in Nigeria again. We sang and it was all in Hausa just as it always was for me before I moved to Niger. It was a good reminder to me that this is what we are striving for among the Fulani… to build up a body of Believers and form a church!
Jay rode back into town with my truck because he had left his motorcycle at my house. As he was leaving my compound I heard B clear his throat from inside K’s covered porch area. I, nor Jay, knew that he was there. I thought better of greeting him because if he was still asleep I didn’t want to wake him. I knew how sick he was because he’s never home from selling his shy during the day.
As I was getting ready to walk back inside the Lord told me to greet B. I hesitated. “I don’t want to wake him up, Lord”.

“Anna, greet him.”

That’s all I heard from the Lord. So I called out, “B? A jamo? No bondu?” (B? How are you? How is your body?) AS SOON as Jay heard me greet B he left his motorcycle and walked to where B had struggled to stand. Jay just asked how he was feeling and how long he’d been sick. Just as you and I would do in America. Jay turned to me and said that he was going to talk to B and pray with him for his health. I left them alone and went inside after telling Jay that I thought he had malaria and I had some malaria medication if B wanted to start it that day.
I prayed for them both as they say outside on my porch in my chairs. About 10 minutes later Jay came to get me. I walked outside and Jay asked B “how is your headache?” B shook his head and said “komi wala, hoore am jam plem” (it’s no problem, my head is fine). I stood and listened in astonishment as every symptom that B had been dealing with had been healed while Jay prayed for him. The only complaint that he had was a little stiffness/pain in his neck that he hadn’t felt until that point, and he still had a little bit of a cough. Now that’s God! But it only gets better…
Jay began telling me in English what had taken place after I went in the house. He said that he asked B questions beyond his health. I don’t know all the details but B related to Jay that he was having dreams and visions of his mother and it was bothering him so much that he was afraid of going to sleep at night. Jay felt that the Lord was asking him to pray for whatever was causing these dreams and visions to leave B’s body in the Name Of Jesus. (I believe that B’s mom died a while back).
Many of the Muslims here deal on a regular basis at times with what is called “Ancestor Spirits”. Satan attacks in many terrible and effective ways and this is only one of them. Jay has seen and prayed for others before who have been affected by this and the result is always similar.
Jay had asked B to close his eyes while Jay prayed and then after the prayer was over he asked him if he saw anything while he prayed. B told Jay that he saw darkness. Total darkness. “It was everywhere.” Then he said that a great light came and fire fell from the sky and forced the darkness from his sight. “After that, all I saw was light and brightness everywhere.” At the moment that B saw the fire force the darkness away he said that all the pain and the fever left his body immediately.
I felt that this was the most amazing thing I had ever been able to witness. How amazing that the sickness and fear that B was dealing were gone after Jay had prayed for him?! I was praising God within my heart and asking Him to use this for His glory and that B would see beyond his own physical healing and realize his need for inner healing that only Jesus could bring.
I sat down and listened as B told Jay how thankful he was that he had healed him. Jay jumped on the opportunity to share with B that Christ was the one who had done the healing. “B, I am nothing. I prayed for you. I prayed for you in the name of Jesus that you would be healed and HE healed you. Not I.” Jay went on to ask if B understood this and then laid out the plan of salvation for him. Jay explained the “Jesus road” for B and the whole time B was nodding and smiling. When Jay was finished talking B said quietly “I want to follow road to Christ.” Jay asked him if he was sure that was what he wanted to do and B smiled and said “yes!”
At this point I was bubbling over with joy and gratitude that Christ had not only heard my prayer, but answered it. I could hardly sit still and I wanted to shout at the top of my lungs so all of the heavens could hear me! But I knew that heaven could hear my heart and I’m sure that was enough to make heaven feel as though I was with them and getting ready for B’s party!
Jay ask B to repeat after him as Jay prayed. They closed their eyes and B followed after Jay in a prayer to repentance. Tears made their way to my eyes as I watched B ask Jesus come into his heart and save him… He repented of his sins and asked for forgiveness!

B IS SAVED!

He is saved and free from the bondage of sin and no more will Satan have hold of his heart. The God of the universe made His presence known that day and called another to Himself. Not only is there a new Believer among the Fulani, but there is a vibrant, young man with loads of personality and love for those around him that is now on the loose!
Just after they prayed I saw the most miraculous physical change I’ve ever seen in my life. The smile on B’s face was shining… It was real, because B was now sitting in the palm of the hand of GOD.
B got up and the first question he asked was “can I pray before I go to bed tonight?” Jay assured him that it was great to pray all day and whenever he wanted to. B was still nervous about going to sleep at night and I told them that I would pray with B before bed that night. The three of us talked about B and I setting a time to meet regularly to talk about scripture and share Bible stories. He was SO excited! He kept telling me not to forget and I assured him that I wouldn’t ☺
B went to where he’d been sleeping and put away his bed. He grabbed his hat and with a huge, happy smile told us goodbye and walked out to the streets! It was amazing to see not only his health, but his strength fully restored. I was reminded of Isaiah 40:29 – 31 at that point:

“He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak, Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.”

BEAUTIFUL!

I don’t know about you but I agree with my mom when she said, “Well, praise the Lord! It’s about time!” PRAISE HIM WITH ME! Whether you have tears in your eyes, are laughing from excitement or awed by the beauty of our creator I want to ask that you would pause right now and tell God what’s on your heart. This story is too big to not share with Him how it’s made us feel. So go ahead and share with Him and I’ll wait right here.

Waiting…

I know that was a long story but I think it was worth it! I know that many of my readers don’t comment on my blog but I would say that this story of the power of God deserves a few comments! Let’s get together and praise HIM in the comment section!

Karissa made it here last night and we had the best reunion at the airport EVER! Please be patient with us as we won’t have the internet everyday but will both be posting as often as we can. Karissa will have her own stories to tell and share as well so be looking out for that as well.

Please be praying for us as we make our way back to my house tomorrow. Pray for safe travels.
Also be praying today that my truck would make it out of the shop. It’s not a major problem but may take more than today and tomorrow to get it fixed. I have another vehicle that the mission has given me to drive but it’s always nice to have your own truck.
Please be lifting up B as he learns more about this new walk of faith and that he would stand strong in the midst of persecution that will come.

Thanks for all the support, love and prayers that you send my way – you are all appreciated!

Foto Fun

I'm in Niamey at the moment. I came in so I can pick up Karissa from the airport tomorrow!
So her visa situation was solved yesterday when it came in. We were getting antsy and wondering why the Lord would procrastinate with it... He has taught me a lot over the past week about trust and faith and what it means when we put both in Him alone. That's all Karissa and I could do. And we prayed - a lot!
She should be leaving on her flight at 11am Central time and she will be here tomorrow night... I can't hardly sit still!
Below are a couple/few pictures that I have uploaded. They were coming in really fast at first and then it slowed way down. So I'm posting the ones that uploaded. Enjoy!

This is Mama who lives across the street from me. This was taken on *Tabaski in December. She got all dressed up and put on her jewelry and then made the picture complete by holding her cell phone. (The Africans think it's cool to have a cell phone in their picture!)

This picture was taken on Tabaski. The people will kill many sheep on this day and then line them up like this and place a fire in the middle...

This is a picture of Ussa and Altine. These are Susan's guards and they are brothers. They are also Fulani. Many Fulani men wear this traditional headdress. This was also taken on Tabaski so they were a little more dressed up than "normal". They were excited that I would capture a holiday photo of them!

Here are three of my sisters in the bush modeling the new earrings that I'd given them from America.

This is Iissa putting henna on my feet the week before Christmas

Funny Story behind this... I use an old peanut butter jar for mixing up my dry milk. Well, I used the correct measurements to make milk for my cereal one morning and after shaking it up I sat it down to pour my Lucky Charms. When I picked up the milk to pour it, it looked like this... it had completely separated in the jar. I was curious as to why because my milk has never done this before. So I tasted it. I do believe that I used cornmeal. But I'm not sure if cornmeal separates like that or not... I'm still baffled by this. But the funniest part about this is that the Chief came to visit me last month and him and K were sitting in my living room talking while I was making them coffee. Well, coffee is not coffee without milk... or in this case - Cornmeal! I have no idea how it tasted but I do know that I put a load of "milk" in it! I'm just not sure how I mixed up my powdered milk container with something else!


I think that's about all the internet will upload for today. So enjoy these pictures to the max and be looking out for a few more posts in the next couple of days - I have a PRAISE GOD story to tell you! But I want to write it all out and make it good and not just post the details - it's too good to not share all of!

Tabaski is the most important Muslim holiday. On this day, celebrants slaughter a sheep to commemorate the biblical story of Abraham, who was on the verge of sacrificing his son to obey God's command when God interceded by substituting a ram in the child's place.

Partner in CRIME

So I've officially been in Niger for a year and a day today! How about that? And I'm in the same town today that I drove into a year ago from Nigeria.
I drove Melissa home yesterday from my town because she was with Susan and I for the New Year. So we came back yesterday and I made my way here to check my email and write a short blog.

Things are going good. I have been sick with a bad cold these last few weeks but I think that I've finally kicked it out of my system. I also went to Niamey last week for one night to pick up the truck that the mission has given me to use! I will have it until I leave in 4 months and it's a blessing to be able to travel everyday to my villages and not have to take bush taxis or ask Susan for rides. I can now do things on my own schedule and it makes it a lot easier.

Please pray for Karissa right now. She informed me this week that the Niger Embassy never got her passport and visa application. So her and her parents got everything together over New Year's and they are having to express everything to have it done in time for her to leave on the 13th (Which is very expensive).Please pray that the Lord will be in this and she will have her passport and visa by next Saturday when they are saying she should get it in the mail.

In the next week and a half before Karissa gets here I'm going to be studying Fulfulde a bit more and doing more Bible story translations along with visiting my villages. Things seem to be coming along nicely. I just CAN'T wait til she gets here! It will be like I have a partner in crime (ministry)!

The Shepherd And The Star

I laid there on the ground in the dark and stared into the night sky. There was no moon this night, and there was only one star. It was the brightest star I had ever seen. I wondered if maybe there were no others because this one was so bright that it didn’t allow me to see the other stars that were really there. I won’t ever know.
I laid there and thought to myself of how unreal the feeling that I had was. The animals were sleeping just a few feet away but they continuously made their animal sounds. The breeze was warm and I didn’t have a cover over my body, only the clothes that I had worn that day. Voices were carried from a distance as the wind blew slightly. The voices were speaking a language that I didn’t understand. With every big gust of wind I could feel dust cover my body and I would close my mouth and eyes to keep it from getting in.
As I felt the warmth of the air on my body and the hardness of the ground below me and as I tasted the dirt in my mouth and smelt the animals nearby and as I listened to the voices from a distance, I looked deep into the black sky for something more than was visibly there.

I felt like a shepherd.

Now I know that the shepherds didn’t follow a star to find Baby Jesus, but I do know that I hadn’t ever imagined feeling like someone else like I did that night. I pictured the sky filling with angels and thought of what my reaction may have been. I wonder if the shepherds were the only ones able to see the angels or if the glory of the Lord that accompanied the angels could be seen from miles away… I wonder what the stable looked like that Jesus was born in. I can’t even imagine. I thought “surely there is something here that may resemble a stable” but I have yet to see anything that may be even remotely similar to what a stable in Jesus’ day may have looked like. They don’t house their animals here and I have never seen them in pens or corals. Only tied up.

My mind thinks a lot when I’m in the bush and have nothing else to do… This is only one of those many times…


My Christmas went very well and I celebrated it with Susan and Melissa, my teammate and supervisor. Melissa’s brother was here from America for the holiday and it was nice having a new face around. It was the first time in my life that I’ve opened my gifts on Christmas morning alone. It was weird but ok.
My favorite gift this year was a CD set of “GT and the Halo Express”. I was SO excited when I opened it up that I grabbed my camera and tried my hardest to capture my thrill with snapshots to show my family! For those of you who don’t know what “GT and the Halo Express” is I will explain. The closest thing that I have to compare it to is “Adventures in Odyssey”. They are children’s CDs and GT (for short) sings all scripture. The first CD in the pack of seven starts with a brother and a sister that are preparing for a scripture memory contest and the brother just can’t get the verses down. All of the sudden there is a loud noise in the closet and out walks an angel. The children are scared and before too long a second angel appears. They introduce themselves as Good Tidings (GT) and Guardian. GT and Guardian explain that they want to help them learn Bible verses the Heavenly way – by singing them! Guarding tells Michael, the younger brother, “that once you’ve learned the song, you’ve learned the verse!” The Halo Express band is brought in with many instruments from heaven and they begin playing and learning verses.
My sisters and I grew up on these tapes and I have been keeping my eye out for them for quit some time. I mentioned it to my mom a while back that I wanted the set but she said that they were really expensive. BUMMER! I looked online a few times and couldn’t even find them (limited internet access) and just thought that all hope was lost, until… Christmas morning!
When Susan and I got to Melissa’s on Thursday I was playing one of the cds in the kitchen and singing away as I made the pie crust for the chicken pot pie. Later at the dinner table I told the others that I loved the movie “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” which is a musical and also a Christmas gift that I got from my sister Naomi. I went on to say that I always like to drive alone because I can blare my music and sing really loud. It was then that Melissa’s younger brother told me that I’m the type of girl that he makes fun of in the states! We all got a great laugh out of the fact that he did not like the GT cd that I played and sang to while I cooked, he hates musicals and thinks people that sing in their cars are crazy!

I want to share with you all the most exciting news of my last few months here…
I had the opportunity to visit a NEW village last week! It’s a village that I’ve never been too either. The village has Hausa and Fulani in it and the population of people there is over 80, 000. There is a Pastor from Nigeria working in that village to reach the Hausa people and he only speaks Hausa and English. Although Fulani speak Hausa and Fulfulde, he is targeting the Hausa. He told the Fulani chief that he had heard of a white woman in a nearby town that spoke their language – Fulfulde. The chief and his wife were very excited and said that they wanted to meet me. The pastor there also told them that I was a Christian and would like to talk to them about Christ. The Chief was VERY happy to hear about this. The pastor tracked me down and found my house the week before Christmas and asked when I would be able to come and share the plan of salvation with these Fulani people. I told him “Tomorrow works great for me!” He came the next day with a friend and we took motorcycle taxis back to his village because I didn’t know the way.
A couple of hours later we trekked to the Fulani Chief’s home (The village is HUGE) and found only three young girls there. We were then told that everyone had gone to get others because the white woman was coming to talk about her god. A few minutes later over 20 men, women and children all gathered on the ground around my chair and listened as I introduced myself, told my testimony and then shared Jesus Christ. These people were sitting on the edge of their mats the whole time! They told me later that evening that they are all ready to follow a different road than the one that leads to Islam. They asked when I was coming back and if I would share more stories from the Bible. They wanted me to stay and keep talking all night long, but they had convinced themselves that I was cold, tired and being eaten by mosquitoes. All three were true but I would have stayed for days had they let me.
All of this was in the dark so I didn’t get to see anyone. The next morning I went back to greet them all and meet them “face to face”. What a wonderful blessing these people are. They gave me a very warm welcome and a good size plastic coke bottle filled with fresh milk – the best gift that the Fulani can give.. Many of them have never seen a white face and many of the children were so scared they refused to come into the compound.

I am SO excited to see what the Lord will do in my last four months of being in Niger. There is nothing that I want more than to see salvation come to the Fulani people. It would be glorious to see it happen in my time here if the Lord wills.
• Please be praying for the people of the ML village. They are eager to hear and learn about Christ. Something that I have never seen from any Muslim here.
• Please pray that their hearts will be open and they will see the Lord in and through my actions and that I would speak Truth into their lives (1 John 3:18).
• Please pray that as I plant seeds here that the Holy Spirit would water them and that we would see fruit come out of the work in ML.
• Pray that we will have many new sisters and brothers in Christ soon!
• Pray for me that I would be bold in sharing the gospel and that I would not hesitate when the opportunity comes to tell them about Christ.
• Pray AGAINST spiritual warfare and ask that God would grant me wisdom and grant the people understanding.
• Pray that Satan would have no room in this village and that the Holy Spirit would make himself present there.
• PRAY PRAY PRAY FOR SALVATION! I believe that I may have found not only one Person of Peace, but many!

May the Lord bless you all as you walk into the New Year. Thanks for bathing me in prayer and caring for me as you do. I love you all so much.

Karissa will be here in 17 days and I can’t hardly sit still I’m so excited! Please pray for her as she prepares to come. This last week there was a young girl that came to me and ask me to teach her English. This is a great opportunity to share the Word of God. Please pray for her heart and that the Lord would be working in this situation. I’m hoping that between Karissa and I we can not only teach her English, but also the love of Christ.

I’m going to call it a night. My family in America is gathering today for Christmas with my mom’s side of the family. My grandmother (my dad’s mom) is there also. I just got off of skype with them and I got to SEE them through the video! This is the first time since I’ve been overseas that this has happened. I have been able to video with my cousin Stephen but this is the first time I’ve been able to see everyone. It was a blessing and there were MANY tears on my side.

Until next time!

P.S. I was reminded this week of why I never put up pictures with sticky tack. The air is so dry and it’s so hot here that the pictures just slide off of whatever I attach them to. I walked into my room today and below where my pictures hang was my open dresser drawer… with my mom hula hooping inside!

Seasons

Last Friday night I got on a plane and headed to Dakar, Senegal. I went for the region wide ReNew conference for all West Africa, IMB personnel in their first terms.
I landed about six hours late and then stood in line to go through immigration for about an hour. I waited with about 1,000 other people and was later told that this is the time of year that all the Muslims make the trek to Mecca. They can go anytime, but I guess that this is the most popular time of year to go. The airports reflected that so I'm guessing it's true.
I slept a lot of Saturday while the other Journeymen did their own thing. That night we went to Hamburger joint and it was so good! It was called Steers and I think I've eaten there before, maybe in South Africa, but I'm not sure. Then my friend, Alyson, reached into a deep freezer and pulled out ice - cream bars for the two of us! How convenient!
Sunday, I led a session on Language Learning where we all got together and talked about the ups and downs of what LL involved. We debriefed on that subject and it was good to hear what others had to say about how they learn, what things work for them, etc. It was a great time to bounce ideas off of each other.
The rest of the time we covered other topics like: relationships, supervision, CPM (Church Planting Movement), Stresses on the field, Ending Strong, etc. The "Ending Strong" session was good because it helped me to see the little time that I have left and how I can make the most of it.

The CPM session was really good for me because it opened it my eyes to not only the need in West Africa, but the need worldwide for missionaries. While we were talking about it a thought rushed through my mind "How can I leave?" "How can I not come back?" There are so many people that need to hear and no way to know about a relationship with Jesus Christ unless they are told. Why shouldn't I stay? Or at least come back? The Lord reminded me that even those in America need to hear and a life that accepts Christ is His child just the same - no matter where they are from. He gave me a peace about where He is leading me next (America) and just prodded me to stay tuned to His voice and ready to follow when He leads.

I took my camera to take hundreds of pictures and my batteries were dead. GO FIGURE! I hated that. But others took many pictures, so maybe if I can get my hands on a couple of them I can post them on here.

I flew back to Niamey on Wednesday and am headed back to Kondike in the morning. I talked to K yesterday and told him that I would be back today and when I didn't show up by noon he called. I felt bad for not letting him know sooner that my plans had changed. "K, I'm sorry I forgot to call you and tell you that I'm not coming until tomorrow!" He was worried for just a second and then realized that I was ok and said that he would see me tomorrow. I love how these people take care of me. They are always checking in on me and making sure I'm ok. They always want to know where I'm at and where I'm going and when I'm coming back. I am loved, I am dearly loved. I can't believe that I only have a few more months here. I dream about the day that I walk into the arms of my family again, but I dread the day I say goodbye to my family and friends here.

In the past, during the process of hellos and goodbyes, I would get discouraged when I would have to leave or watch someone else leave not knowing if I would ever see them again. Since then the Lord has taught me that relationships are for seasons. Some of the seasons last a lifetime and some only last a little while. But the season that you walk through with those people will forever change who you are.
I pray that I'm changed for the better because of the seasonal relationships I've been blessed with. But more than that I pray that those around me have been changed for the better because of the Jesus in me. Because without Him, my life would be in vain.

I don't think I've informed my blog readers about the good news! My friend, Karissa, (whom I wrote about in my last blog) is coming to serve as a volunteer here for six weeks! She will be here in the middle of January and she leaves at the end of February. I'm looking forward to being in the bush with a friend and allowing her to help me with ministry. We have been praying about this for months and the Lord has led her to pursue this and I believe is preparing the time that she will be here as well.
Please be lifting Karissa up as she is graduating from college this next week. She has a busy holiday schedule and then she'll be coming here. Pray for guidance and direction and clarity as she packs and gets ready to come.

This blog is about all I have time for at the moment. If Susan's internet works in a few days you may find another blog.
Love you all and thanks for your support.

Mouse

There were things eaten that I didn’t eat and little turds left in my kitchen drawers that I didn’t leave there… I have a little “demon” in my house (maybe more than one) that chewed into my last package of Blueberry Poptarts. I’m now on the hunt and out for blood. This little mouse has caused me more grief in the last couple of weeks than ever before. I was packing yesterday for Niamey and Senegal when I heard him (or her) chewing on something in my clothes drawer. I went and sat in front of my dresser and opened the drawer as fast as I could. Nothing. I opened the bottom drawer. Nada. I pulled the drawers out and set them on my bed and still came up empty handed. I had a little handbag in-between my dresser and the wall and I knew Mouse had to be somewhere. So I pulled the bag out and away from the wall quickly. Mouse scrambled to get away and ran over my foot and out my bedroom door and into the room across the hall. I got up and closed my door and the door across the hall and went to get K to help me find Mouse. Even with K’s help we did not succeed in the capture of Mouse. We couldn’t even find him. So…
K had gotten me some demon medicine a few days ago at the market and I used it like K told me to and Mouse left my kitchen and apparently went to my room. He didn’t eat the poison and K says (literal translation) that Mouse “has a head” or he’s smart. I agreed. When I was at Melissa’s over the weekend she told me to put the poison in peanut butter and then Mouse won’t be able to smell it and he’ll eat it like he does all my other good food. Well, I have a hard time justifying giving Mouse MY peanut butter but I guess if it will kill him then it’s worth it. I don’t need nor do I want little Mouse Juniors all over my home.


I’m sorry about not blogging when I said I would. I tried several days to get on the internet at Susan’s and every time I tried it didn’t work. I’m in Niamey now and am able to blog for a little while until I head back to Konni next week.
I’m spending Thanksgiving in Niamey with other IMB missionaries and then Friday I’m flying to Dakar for a short – term personnel meeting. I will be able to get together with many other Journeymen and a few married couples as well. I will be able to see Sara and Katy from Nigeria too! I haven’t seen them since July when I was in Abidjan. Melanie and Kav, who were also on my team in Nigeria, have both ended their terms. Kav is doing another term in a different region and Melanie headed back to America a few weeks ago and will begin seminary in the Spring. So it will be just me, Katy and Sara and I’m really excited about this reunion ☺

America
I was sitting on the Delta plane Wednesday, September 11th and still trying to run everything through my mind. “Anna, are you really going to America?” “Will you really be with your family in less than 18 hours?” (even as I write this, I’m getting choked up). I had other emotions running through my mind as well, “Grandpa really won’t be there when I get to see everyone.” “Is the reason I’m flying home really for a funeral?”
All of it seemed too surreal and like a dream and nightmare all at the same time for me to believe it until I landed in Atlanta, Georgia. My Aunt Amy and her family weren’t going to be able to make the drive to Missouri from South Carolina for the funeral. But I had talked to Amy the day before and she said that there was a possibility that she could drive from South Carolina to Atlanta for my four hour layover. But there was nothing set in stone by the time I left South Africa on the 10th.
From the air America was beautiful. Everything that I remembered it being. But once I landed I felt like I was walking on air. I was nervous and hungry. I didn’t know if I should wait outside for Amy or just go to my next gate. I made my way to a pay phone but realized that I didn’t have any change. And I know that my South Africa rand coins wouldn’t work. I opened my little folder with my travel papers and extra moo-lah in it and found some American dollars. I put them in the exchange machine and waited. It ate my money. I tried a different one. It ate my second dollar. I only had one left and tried for a third time. Finally I got four quarters. I went to the pay phone and followed the instructions. I was putting my fourth quarter in when I realized that it wasn’t going all the way. In my frustration I forced it and knew at that time that the pay phone had eaten my third dollar. I don’t remember what happened next, all I know is that somehow I exchanged a larger bill and got more quarters. I just wanted to talk to my family! I followed the instructions again and within seconds the phone was ringing. My 14 year old brother, Luke answered the phone and I began to cry slow, desperate tears. My hands were shaking and I felt like if I spoke then I would wake up from this American dream. I tried to collect myself and I asked for Mom. She got on the phone and the only thing I could say was, “Mom, I’m in America!” We talked for a very short while and I ask if she knew if Amy was coming or not? Mom confirmed that Amy was on her way! I got off the phone with Mom and called Amy’s cell phone. She was about an hour and a half away from being with me! The plan was for her to pick me up outside and then we were going to go to breakfast.
I found a plug-in outlet and sat down with my computer on the floor. I had to do something to keep my mind off the waiting. I started the movie “Braveheart” and soon realized that I was being looked at/watched by every person around. It couldn’t have had anything to do with the fact that I was sitting on my African wrap skirt on the floor and not in one the many open seats nearby (there were no plug-ins near the seats) and the bottoms of my feet were covered in what looked like a solid, black tattoo. It was really just henna. I didn’t care. “Let them look” I told myself as I tried to focus on the movie.
A few minutes before Amy was supposed to be there I packed up my computer and headed outside. My watch and cell phone (that didn’t work in America) were both still set on African time so I continually asked people walking by what time it was. I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t way too early or way too late. Nope, I was right on time. Before too long I could see Amy coming my way and she was waving at me frantically with a huge smile on her face! I picked up my backpack and ran toward her van as she put it in park and jumped out for a good, long hug. Oh, how wonderful it felt to be in the arms of family. We were both crying and I didn’t want to let go for fear that if I did she would disappear and I would find myself hugging a tree in South Africa… (haha) But our embrace ended and we were still both there. We jumped into the car and made our way through traffic to McDonalds.
Once inside I had a little bit of trouble figuring out what I wanted because there was so much to choose from! I’m used to having a menu of Couscous and sauce or rice and sauce with onion rings or fries. But we ordered and found a seat in a corner. Amy took my picture of my first meal back in America.

We knew that we didn’t have all day so we tried to pick what was the most important to talk about during the little time that we had. How do you do that when you’ve not seen one another in over a year and you only have an hour?! But between Amy and I we didn’t have trouble finding things to talk about. I showed her a lot of pictures from here and my house and my people. It was fun to show someone in person and not just over my blog. And it was fun showing her because she’s never been here and I was able to see her expressions and here her questions about the photos, etc.

The time with Amy was all too short and it felt like we had just said hello when she dropped me off and I had to say goodbye. There was so much that I wanted to share with her and so much I wanted to hear about from her and we just didn’t have the time. We had a teary goodbye and I didn’t want to let go. But I waved and made my way inside as she maneuvered her van back onto the road.
I got myself checked in, to my gate and on the plane with no trouble. Once on the plane the whole idea of being back in America was real. I had just had breakfast with my aunt and was hearing English and speaking it to everyone around! THAT was amazing by the way! But on the flight I was feeling anxious about getting home. In Atlanta Mom had said on the phone that we were going straight form the airport to the funeral home and I laughed at her. “Mom, you must not know what I look like right now! You have to let me shower and change my clothes.” She had just been teasing and was planning on taking me to Granny’s house first anyway. Granny and Grandaddy’s house is near the funeral home so it made it easy. She told me that her and Daddy were going to be leaving in a few hours for the airport and they were excited about seeing me. As real as it felt to be in America it was still unreal!
I got to St. Louis and I couldn’t get off the plane fast enough. My whole body was shaking and I just wanted to run. I got through the gate to the waiting families and I looked around. I didn’t see Mom and Dad. I walked to the baggage claim and they weren’t there. “Maybe they got the airline mixed up…” my luggage came and still no parents. I propped my backpack and my suitcase against the wall and I just prayed as I paced and looked out the doors. I kept telling myself to be calm but every once in a while this small pitiful cry would leave my lips and my heart just ached to be with my family. I was so close to being with them! I looked one way for a few seconds and then the other… that’s when I saw my mom walking toward me and she had tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. I let go of my luggage that I had been carting around by that time and it fell over and hit the ground with a loud bang. I didn’t care. I was with my mom. The hug lasted a long while and I savored how it felt to be so close to her; it was almost more than I could take. I was so happy! Mom and I talked back and forth through tears about not believing the moment and how good it felt to be each other’s arms. I ask where Dad was and she said up the stairs waiting in the car along the sidewalk. I jetted that way after my mom and we headed up the stairs. “Mom! Where is he?!” I didn’t recognize any of the cars and I couldn’t see in the windshields very good because of the sun. “Right there, Honey!” She pointed to the red car pulling quickly toward us. I was already emotional and then seeing my dad about put me over the top. He jumped out and I fell into his arms and again let the tears flow. Dad wrapped himself around me and held me close. “You’re home, Baby. You’re home.” We got in the car and Mom sat in the back with me. Everything about St. Louis was the same. Nothing had changed or moved or anything. It was the same as when I left it. But it did feel different to be back. I don’t know what I expected things to look like and I had no idea how I was supposed to feel in the midst of the moment. By the time we got to Festus I was ready to see my sisters and brothers. We pulled up to Granny and Grandaddy’s house and all but Lettie was outside jumping up and down and laughing and waiting their turn for a hug. I wanted to hold them all for so long but there are so many in my family! Grace, Abbie, Naomi, Luke Phoebe, Lily and Levi were all there. I gave good hugs to them all and then repeated them. Words can’t express what it felt like to be surrounded by so much family. Granny was taking pictures until I made my way to her and hugged her and then Grandaddy (or vice a versa, I can’t remember the order of the hugs, you wonder why with so many people to give them to☺).
I showered and changed and PUT ON MAKEUP and then I straightened my hair! I hadn’t worn makeup like that or straightened my hair in over a year. A few of the family had already left and the younger ones asked to stay until I was ready so they could go with me. I think that Grace drove and drank up all that I could of everything around me. We got to the funeral home and my older sister, Lettie, was at the door with my nephew Tucker. He was so fat! He was 3 ½ months old when I left in 2007 and now at 1 ½ years he looked so different than before. I had seen some recent pictures but they don’t do justice to real life sometimes. I hugged her and all my cousins (but not Tucker, he wanted nothing to do with me) and I was looking for Theo, Tucker’s older brother. Around the corner he came and I got on my knees and held my arms out and Theo gave me a wonderful hug! Not too squeezy, not too light, but JUST perfect! Lettie told me later that they had been practicing and talking to Theo about a good hug since I had been gone for so long. Thank you Lettie!
I walked into the other room and saw my grandma from a distance. I had to keep myself from bawling right then and there. When I left America last year I wasn't sure if I would see her or Grandpa again. I walked to her and tapped her on the shoulder and she turned and asked who I was. “I’m Anna, Grandma. I just got off the plane from Africa. You remember when I left last year?” Recognition filled her eyes and she gave me a bug smile and placed both her hands on my cheeks and said, “My Anna! My Anna! It sure is you isn’t it?” It was a wonderful reunion with her. I also met up with my Aunt Sis, Uncle Loyd, Aunt Karen and Uncle Charlie, my brother-in-law, Ted, and my cousins Linda, Eli, Jaime, Lacie and Bobbie.
The henna on my feet turned many heads that night and into the next day as everyone around wanted to know why my feet were black. Many people thought that the henna was a substitute for a pair of shoes, which is not the case. It’s simply a sign of beauty for the women here. Had I known that I was going to head to America from South Africa I wouldn’t have done my feet. But there was no turning back then. The henna would be wearing off a little bit by the time I left but until then I told the story of my henna about 124 times. It was amazing to me how many people noticed it, but it was hilarious how many people wanted pictures of my feet!
The next day, Friday, was the funeral and two of my friends from school came to spend the day with me. My dad had to run an errand before the funeral that afternoon so he took me to Panera (St. Louis Bread Co.) in Festus where I met up with Dana and Karissa. There were hugs and more hugs and lots of talk as we visited and showed pictures and stories. The time went fast and we headed to the funeral home where the funeral took place.
The rest of the day was filled with family and visiting. After the funeral and burial we went to my cousin Eli and Jaime’s home to be with family. I said goodbye to Dana and Karissa (which was so sad!) and stayed with family for the rest of the evening.
It was a blessing to be with them all. I showed pictures to Granny and Grandaddy and Tucker and had a good evening of laughs and remembering Grandpa.

More on America is to come and I'm trying to get more photos up but the internet has decided to slow down at the moment.

A year and a half!

Today marks my one and half year! I am leaving Niamey as I type. I will be back on in about a week and a half with a "real" blog. I think that I'm going to Melissa's house in two weekends so I can celebrate my birthday!

I will be posting soon!

Giraffe Pictures

While I take my time in getting up the latest blog (I'm really tired after a ton of travel and last minute things in S. Africa) I'm going to post giraffe pictures for you guys! I'm also putting up a picture of Emily who lives in Abidjan. She's the one that took care of me during my much too long layover in Abidjan on my way to S. Africa...

How cool is that!

This is me with the giraffes

Me and Susan with the giraffes. Pretty good photography skills going on here... I put my camera on top of the termite mound and turned the timer on! You can see the termite mound in the picture of me with the giraffes.

This was taken when we were back at the truck and the giraffes were doing their own thing. This was also the time that the man was trying to talk to me in Hausa and to Susan in French...

This is Tara and Emily. Tara is on the left and she's the Journeyman who's house I moved into when I moved to Niger. She ended her term in Niger in March and went to Mali. Her term in Mali ended in August.
Sweet Emily is on the right and is living in Abidjan. Thanks Emily for helping me get out of Ivory Coast!


Another blog is coming soon - stayed tuned!

Keep reading! One of the two posts below is for YOU!

This will be an interesting day of blogging. As I write I’m not even sure how it will turn out. There is so much that I want to write about and a few great stories that I have to share… but, there are some people out there that don’t appreciate the longevity of my blogs (I’m talking about a SPECIFIC Journeyman who’s name is Daniel) and would rather have a overview of the happenings in my life rather than the entire story in detail.
So for those of you who love to read the details and those of you who don’t – you’re both in luck! I’m going to give a “shorter” blog that talks about the last few weeks and then I will give a “longer” one that goes more into detail. I will be posting them at different times so stay tuned for both – I am spending the rest of my evening writing so hopefully you will have them to read by tonight. I will be writing the shorter one first.

So Daniel, if you’re running out the door but have 4 minutes, then you should sit and read. All the others out there that have nothing to do tonight and want to read funny, sad, and interesting things, grab a cup of hot chocolate and settle in on the couch because you’re in for a treat tonight!

Short Version

The last blog that I wrote talked a little bit about my time at home and the reunion that I had with my family.
I’m going to start this blog before I left from Niger on September 6th.

I was headed into Niamey at the beginning of September to prepare to head to South Africa. Susan was driving and we were almost to Niamey when I spotted giraffes on the side of the road! I had my camera nearby and we pulled over and jumped out. I did a short video and then we took some pictures as the giraffes just stood there! It was so neat to see them in “real” life! I will post pictures on the other blog.

I had my ticket to fly to S. Africa for the morning of the 6th. Susan took me to the airport and I flew away. I landed in Abidjan, Ivory Coast where another Journeyman picked me up and I spent the day with her for my long layover. The rest of my travel time was ridiculous. I added another country to my list to travel through and it took me about a day longer to get to S. Africa. All because my original flight from Abidjan to Accra, Ghana didn’t exist.

Once I was in S. Africa I made a trip to the grocery store where my stress level was taken to the max and I left without buying ice-cream! That afternoon I went to see the doctor for my knee and he took x-rays but said that I needed an MRI. The doctor was unable to pinpoint the problem. I had the MRI the next morning and was still struggling from the complete lack of sleep from my travels in the previous days. That Tuesday night I got a phone call from home that my grandfather had passed away.

Within 12 hours I had help purchasing a ticket and getting myself to the airport to catch a flight to America. I was met at the airport in St. Louis by my parents and I thought that I was living in a dream!

Over the next few days at home I did many different things which included, a girl's night out with my mom and the five oldest girls in my family, motorcycle rides, time with my grandma, a Cardinals game, visits with out of state (and in state) family, Settlers games, a drive in movie birthday bash for my younger sister, sleepovers with my nephews (they didn't last very long), long walks and a couple of nice dinners out.

I left America and headed back to S. Africa on Sunday the 27th of September. I made it back without any problems. I started physical therapy the following day and have been doing that ever since.

I have done a few different and fun things since being back in S. Africa. I have gone on a Safari, gone to a “Lion and Giraffe Park”, shopped at the mall, eaten at a Wild Game Restaurant (!) and visited with my friends Paul and Kimber and the Berry family, all who I went to FPO with (and I went to Italy with Paul).

I take walks often with Dean and Donna, two wonderful ladies that the Lord has blessed my time with while I’m here. Someimes we walk two or three times everyday.

That brings me to right now and I have finished my therapy and am waiting on my tennis shoe soles to come back. I gave them to the therapist and she is putting pieces on the arch part of them so that they will help support my feet better.

Diagnoses on my knees: my kneecaps are in the wrong position. Meaning that I don’t need surgery but physical therapy is a must. Right now my plan is to return to Niger this Friday.

Thanks for reading and have a great night!

Five Countries in HOW MANY HOURS?! (the long version)

I said goodbye to the chief’s family and my friends and told them that I would be back at the beginning of October. Boy, was I in for a surprise!
Susan and I always have a good time on our Niamey drives. We laugh and carry on and talk about “our people” and all the different things that are going on in our villages. We left Kondike early on September 4th for Niamey where we would spend the next couple of days. I was headed to South Africa and Susan was going to Abidjan for a Church Planting meeting for a few weeks.

Well, on the road to Niamey, there is a section that you are able to see giraffes on, but mostly during the rainy season. I had seen one when I was with the others on the drive into Niamey when all IMB missionaries were leaving for ADVANCE in July. But I wasn’t fortunate enough to see him for any longer than a second or two because we were in a hurry to get to the capital city.

On this particular drive we were going through giraffe territory and I mentioned how cool it would be to see some giraffes. I fished out my camera “just in case” and Susan and I continued being Chatty Cathys. Within about a minute of retrieving my camera I looked over and saw a couple of giraffes in the distance. “Susan! Stop the truck! I just saw giraffes!” She slams on the breaks and we got out and locked the doors. We couldn’t see them from the truck at that point but by golly I knew they were there! We ran out into the bush a little ways and stopped when I spotted them in the near distance (oxy moron?). I immediately turned my video on my camera on and did a small clip before turning it off and taking some snapshots. They were SO COOL! It was so unlike any giraffe that I had ever seen in a zoo. These were much taller and, well… this was real life! I ask Susan to take a picture of me with them and I did the same with her. We were careful not to get to close because we didn’t want to scare them off. There was a huge termite mound right there in front of us and I put the camera on the timer and set it up there. Susan and I ran toward the giraffes to get in the picture. “Take One”, Hmmm….. it got one of the three giraffes but only our backs. “Take Two”, BooYa! Success! It turned out great! Susan looks so excited and I’ve got this “oh, my goodness, they’re really giraffes!” look on my face ☺

We started back to the truck only to find a man on a motorcycle pulled over and writing our license plate number down. “Oh, great.” I said. Turned out that the man spoke Hausa and French. There was a Fulani boy standing nearby watching the three of us. The man started talking to us in Hausa and all I got out of it was that there was a problem and the police were on their way. Susan and I exchanged glances and wondered what it was all about. I told the man that I didn’t understand what he was saying, so he tried talking in French. Susan knows a little French but amazingly, she played dumb (which I didn’t know until we were back on the road a minute later). The man asked in Hausa what I spoke and I told him “Fulfulde”. He motioned the young boy over and asked him to translate. The problem here was that the young boy spoke a different dialect of Fulfulde that Susan and I did. Now the man thought that I was lying to him and kept pointing to my camera and the giraffes that were now a little ways across the road. Susan made the comment that we should get going and I rolled up my window as the man told me to wait because the police were coming “right now, right now!” I waved at the man and said “Sai anjuma!” (“Until later!” in Hausa). He just waved us on angrily.

Susan and I couldn’t figure out what the problem was but we knew that if they really needed to get a hold of us that they could find us with the license plate number. No biggie that we were both leaving the country for a few weeks! Later, after thinking about it, we realized that the man was a driver for the giraffe viewing trucks. You are able to pay a guide and pay for your camera and go out and take pictures of the giraffes. All we can think of is that he got upset that we hadn’t paid and had used our camera to take pictures without paying for it. As far as I know they haven’t contacted the mission AND I have great pictures and a video!

Once in Niamey I did some running around and saw a few of my Fulani friends from the JAPCYN group. Friday night I packed up my things and made sure that I had my tickets. During that time I realized that I had forgotten my credit and debit cards. “I’m traveling internationally through many different countries and I don’t have a credit card?!” I was just a little upset with myself. Truth of the matter is, I haven’t used my cards since I went to Italy in April and have only used my debit card ONE TIME in West Africa and that was when I was in Senegal last year for ADVANCE. They just slipped my mind.

The next morning I dressed myself in my new green dress from the tailor and Susan took me to the airport. My first flight was to Abidjan, Ivory Coast and I got away on time and my flight was uneventful.

The night before (Friday night) I had talked to my friend, Emily, who is a Journeyman and lives in Abidjan. She had the day off and agreed to pick me up at the airport for my 9 hour layover.

I didn’t have to collect my luggage because I had a connecting flight to Accra, Ghana, that I was going to catch at 9pm that night. From Ghana I was going to catch my last flight to South Africa at about midnight. That would have put me at the airport about 7 am the next morning (Sunday).

Emily and I met up with another IMB couple and we had lunch. After that we went back to her apartment and talked for a few hours. I changed my clothes to a pair of jeans and a t-shirt knowing that I had a longer flight from Ghana to S. Africa. I wanted to be a little more comfortable. Then I took a nap while she did other things and we left a little later for a light coffee and doughnut dinner before I had to catch my flight. Once at the airport she told me to run in and make sure that my flight was on time. I ran in knowing that this was West Africa and they have things under control! No worries! YEA RIGHT.

To my surprise (not really) my flight wasn’t on the screen and it was supposed to be leaving in the next hour and a half. “Hmmmm” I thought. I ran back outside and told Emily that I didn’t see it. She parked the car and came in with me to help me figure it all out. I would have asked someone myself about it but I don’t speak French and I knew that I couldn’t communicate effectively with my unique dialect of Fulfulde. We got to my airline office which was open, praise the Lord! and she began talking to the lady behind the desk. Emily had to show her my information and the verdict we got wasn’t pleasant. The flight that I was scheduled to take NEVER existed – ever. Emily got all the information that she could before calling someone to help us out. The lady told us that there was a flight leaving for Accra a little after midnight and that I could take that one. Ok, great. But by the time I get there my S. Africa flight will already be in the air. Oh, boy. The non-existent flight stress just got worse…

Emily worked with the lady and found as many different options as she could. Some of which would take me through a couple of other countries before I would reach my final destination. There was another option of going to Accra the next day and waiting until Monday morning for a flight to S. Africa. That would have been fine with me but I would have missed my doctor’s appointment that I had scheduled months ago. We left the office and we used a pay phone to call Mark. He is Niger’s Business Facilitator and he’s the one that had got my tickets for me in the first place. Emily talked to him and filled him in on the whole deal. Emily and I made our way back to her apartment knowing that we had a few hours before I could catch the soonest flight… and we waited.

Someone (Emily or Mark) called Gary, the Business Facilitator for the Ivory Coast. He came to the apartment to help us figure things out. I called the Guest House in S. Africa and told them I wouldn’t be there in the morning but would let them know my new flight schedule when I got it. I called way late my time and they were an hour ahead of me… so I woke up Nancy and Stan, the Guest House directors, and I felt so bad! Nancy said that she was happier with me waking her up than her going to the airport in the morning and not finding me.

***So by this time I’m getting a little antsy. My fingers were tingling and I couldn’t sit still. I also couldn’t help but feel bad about the situation – even though I couldn’t change it and it wasn’t my fault. Gary was with Emily and I and it was already 10pm and poor Mark had gone down to the travel agency in downtown Niamey to figure the mess out. When the guy at the travel agency got there to let Mark in and look up my flight information, he had grabbed the wrong keys from home and had to go back and get the correct ones. So everything was taking a little longer than we had time for! I was getting nervous even though I knew that I couldn’t change anything. The Lord continued to remind me that He had already gone ahead of me and knew that this was going to happen before the creation of Adam!***

Mark told us that he would call when he figured something out on his end. Gary called anyway. Mark said that they were trying to get me to S. Africa by Monday morning but that meant a complete re-routing of my travel plans. That’s okay, right?! I’m flexible!
Mark asked if there was anyway that I could get on the flight to Accra a little after midnight. It was a tad after 11 by this time and I didn’t have my luggage. I’m not sure what they were planning to do with it since the flight they were supposed to put it on was never there in the first place. But anyway. Gary and Emily and I headed to the airport while Mark tried to get things taken care of on his end.

Here’s where the big stresser comes in…

Mark was trying to get me a flight from Accra, Ghana to Lagos, Nigeria. Then from Lagos I was going to get on a flight to S. Africa. But they didn’t want me leaving Abidjan without everyone knowing my flight schedule, especially myself. I didn’t want to get to Accra and not know for sure if I was going to Lagos or not. So in the mean time Emily and I went on an Anna’s luggage search. Emily works in the media department for West Africa and knows many of the airports here inside and out from traveling so much. She knew exactly where to go to get my luggage. The man that we had to get through would only allow one of us to go. She couldn’t send me because I spoke no French and she couldn’t go in fear that they wouldn’t give her my luggage. She was sweet and kind to the man (without being inappropriate) and he let us both through. She led me through a maze of doors and walkways and finally straight to my luggage. It was sitting with a few other bags next to an office that had a lady working in it. Emily explained the situation and the lady let us go with my luggage. We went back to the office to find Gary talking to Mark. I waited. I paced. I prayed. I laughed at the sense of humor that God had putting me in this situation knowing that He had it all taken care of when I was wondering where in the world He was?!!!! Emily and I had a few nervous laughs over the whole situation and she said that she had an extra bed if I needed to stay the night.

Gary got off the phone with Mark and said that Mark was buying me a couple of new tickets and that I needed to be ready to go when they showed up in the system. The lady behind the counter worked with us and waited with us while we watched the screen for my name on the new flights from Accra to Lagos and Lagos to Johannesburg to come through. They never showed up. By this time it’s pushing midnight but the lady told us not to worry because the flight personnel were all eating. Ok, yea, great, that makes me feel so much better that my flight is leaving in a few minutes, I’m not checked in yet and I have a feeling that you don’t REALLY know where my flight even is!

Emily made sure that the lady knew that I didn’t speak French and the lady let her know that she would take care of me. A few minutes later she told me it was time to go. We still hadn’t seen the information come through but we trusted that Mark had gotten it and I would get my connecting tickets in Accra. I said goodbye and thanks to Gary and Emily and I was off.

Once I got through the first passport check that got me to the room where I was supposed to check my baggage, the lady disappeared for about 10 minutes. Oh, my goodness! There was nobody at the checkout counter (probably because every other person on my flight was already checked in and was ON THE PLANE!) but within a few minutes the lady was back and so was another worker. They got me checked in and I ran through the rest of security to my gate. There were three other people sitting there. “Yup, I knew it. I missed my flight.” I waited for someone to come to the counter so I could ask. It never happened. It’s 12:30am at this point and every once in a while a few more people trickle down to my gate. By 2:00 there was a plane that came in. It was mine. I got on and we were off. It was a short flight, which I was happy about. I knew that I had about a 6 hour layover in Accra before I flew to Lagos.

We got off the plane in Accra and walked into the airport where we were all going to fill out the customs paper. All the passengers entered this huge room that was completely dark. It was about 3:30 in the morning and they didn’t have the lights on – holy cow – West Africa…

The lights came on and I got in line after mine was filled out and ready to go. Once I got to the window they asked me, in English, for my Ghana visa. “I don’t have one, I’m in transit” I told them. The man looked at me and asked where I was going. “Lagos.” Then he looked through my passport and made a note to me that my Nigerian visa expired less than a month ago. “Yes, I know. I’m going to be in transit there too.” Then he looks at me with an ‘are you kidding me’ type of look and asks to see my tickets. I knew it! I knew that someone would ask for something that I didn’t have. I smiled, “Well, Sir. You see, I don’t have them. But I’m going to get them from the airline office here as soon as they open.”

By this time there are several other people listening and almost laughing at the crazy white girl who is traveling through Ghana and Nigeria without a visa for either and no proof of a connecting flight to get out of Accra. The man asked me when my flight for Nigeria was supposed to leave and I told him 9am. He told me at that point that I had to wait for the transit office to open and that would be around 7. He told me that I had to sit over in the corner nearby with my luggage that I didn’t have at that point. He kept my passport and told me to go get my luggage. When I came back he led me to a chair and told me to wait for the next three hours and he kept my passport. He said “Come and find me at 7am when the transit office opens. I will be in room two and I will give you your passport back then” Hmmm…. I was exhausted at this point and didn’t even care. I just wanted to lie down and there was a man in the chair about five feet from me snoring away with his neck in a position that would have had death close to my door. He looked so uncomfortable! I sat for a few minutes before the sleeping man woke up and just walked away – random. So I moved over to his chair behind a desk in the middle of the walkway/corner that they put me in. I pulled my wrap-around-skirt from my backpack and put it around me and I laid my head on the desk. I was almost asleep when an immigration worker walked over and said “what are you doing sleeping behind this desk?!” Oh, boy. More drama. “The other immigration worker told me to stay here until the transit office opens at 7am because I’m in transit to Nigeria and I don’t have a Ghana visa.” “Give me your passport,” he demands. “I don’t have it. You’re immigration friend took it from me and he’s in room two,” I replied. The man smiled and then asked me if I wanted a mattress to sleep on while I waited? “Are you serious?!” I asked in shock. “Yes, I have one for you, I will bring it out.” Sure enough, a couple of minutes later he brought me a small mattress. He moved the desk and positioned it just right so that it was in between the wall and the desk. Then he took the stray chairs and lined them up at the end of the desk and mattress so that people walking by wouldn’t be able to see me well. He told me to sleep good and walked away. I put my suitcase at my head and my backpack under the desk. Lying on my stomach I was asleep in no time.

Sometime later I woke up to “hey, you, what’s you’re name? Hey, girl, what’s your name?” A little louder, “LADY, WHAT’S YOUR NAME?” I looked up and saw two more immigration workers standing about six feet from me. I could see the sun coming up outside and I was cold. “What?” I asked groggily. “What are you doing here sleeping on the floor?!” the Ghanaian asked. I glanced at my watch ‘6am – an hour and a half of sleep’ I thought to myself. “I’m waiting for the transit office to open.” I wasn’t quit awake yet and I was now going off of about 12 hours of sleep in the past three days (the lack of sleep in Niamey before I left for Abidjan was my fault but none the less, I was like a walking zombie). The man looked at me and said, “Where’s your passport?” What is up with every person that walks up wanting to see my passport when I don’t have it, when I can walk through security checks with it ready to show and they could care less to see it?! “I’m sorry, I don’t have it. The immigration man in room two took it and will give it back at seven when the transit office opens.” The other man wasn’t saying anything but looked at me like ‘you’re crazy’. The first guy looked irritated and waved me up “well, get off the floor, you can’t sleep here!” No way! I was agitated at this point and said “look, the nice man down the hallway gave me this to sleep on until the transit office opens and I’m tired!”
“Get up off the floor and give me that mattress! There are going to be people coming in from flights and they can’t see you sleeping here behind this desk. Here sit in this chair.” He motioned me to the chair and I declined his hand to help me up. I was not going to give him the pleasure of touching me, even if it was just my hand… He asked to see my tickets and again I went through the story of how my flight didn’t exist so I came on the next available one. I told him that I was going to Nigeria and from there headed to South Africa. I explained in detail why I didn’t have my tickets because they didn’t show up in Abidjan by the time I needed to leave. But I assured him that I would get my tickets when I was given my passport and allowed to leave “the corner”.

I moved to the chair and tried to wake up. A few minutes later the man that gave me the mattress walks down the hallway and sees me awake and sitting in the chair. “Where’s your mattress, Mam?” I told him that there were two other immigration workers that woke me up and took it away. He looked irritated but didn’t say much. He asked what I was waiting on and I told him “the transit office”. About 7:00am the man that took my mattress came and told me to come with him and that he was going to help me get my tickets. Out of all the men that I had dealt with in the last couple of hours, he was the one that I didn’t want to have help from. He was about my age and his commanding attitude was getting to me a little bit. He said “go down to room two and get your passport and come back here and we’ll go get your tickets. (It was about 7:15am and the transit office still wasn’t open yet). What could I do. I walked down the hallway and peaked my head in the door. There were about five immigration workers sitting in there with one of them being a woman. As soon as she spotted me she looked at the man with my passport and said “Hey, your girlfriend has come to see you”. AHHHHHH. I ignored her and the smirk that the comment put on the man’s face and I asked him if I could have my passport. He put up a fuss because the transit office wasn’t open and he wanted me to sit until the people came. I had tears ready to overflow from the stress of the multi-personalities within the immigration workers. I didn’t realize it at the time but I think that I raised my voice with the man. “Sir, there is a man down the hall that wants me to come with my passport so that we can get my tickets. I only have an hour and forty-five minutes before my flight leaves and I have no ticket and my baggage still needs to be checked!” He handed over my passport after verifying that the man I was going with wouldn’t let me out of his sight.

The young man walked a little too close to me the whole time. He took me outside the airport and carried my passport the whole time. I looked like someone in trouble to everyone watching…

We walked and walked and walked all over the place. I’m pretty sure at one point we weren’t even in the airport parking lot. Finally after lugging my luggage and carry-on for what felt like a mile ling hike through airport territory, we came to the check in counters and airline offices. He stood nearby and watched with a smile as I got my ticket and showed my “new immigration friend”. I was saying a prayer of thanks that the Lord allowed everything to go through and that I had my ticket to Nigeria. But they couldn’t give me my ticket from Lagos to S. Africa until I got to Nigeria.

I went to check in and the immigration man that was with me – the same man that woke me up and took my mattress away from me – gave me his “official” card with his name and title on and ask me to call him when I got to S. Africa so he would know that I made it okay. I smiled “thanks, sure.” I took the card and I’m not sure where it went after that but I can assure that he did not get a call from me…

I weighed my luggage and my passport was looked at by a couple of really nice workers. “Can we please see your connecting flight ticket from Lagos to Johannesburg, please?” Great, just what I need. “I’m sorry I don’t have it with me. I will get it in Nigeria”. They exchanged looks and then the man said, “we can’t legally allow you to check in until we see verification that you are a transit passenger. It wouldn’t matter if you had a valid Nigerian visa but it’s expired.” I’m guessing by the kind way that the man and woman treated me they had had a full nights sleep the night before, unlike a couple of immigration workers I had already dealt with.

So at this point the only thing that I can think of to do is get a hole of Mark and ask him to email it to me. The check in workers told me where the internet room was and I headed that way. I had my backpack on and I carried my suitcase up a huge flight of stairs to the second floor where I collapsed into a chair. My knees were killing me and I was running out of time. I got there and ask if I could use the internet and the guy working there told me it was one Cedi (Ghanaian money, it’s pronounced CD) for 30 minutes. I didn’t have any Ghanaian money! I asked him where the exchange desk was and he told me I had to go outside and around the corner, down the walkwa… I was gone. I ask people along the way until I was led outside and pointed to a door a ways away. “Go in there and then to your left and you’ll find the desk.” Guess who is at the door? The immigration man that took my mattress and gave me his “official” card so that I could let him know that the little white girl he had the pleasure of helping was okay. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be checked in and going to your gate”. I wanted to say “what are you doing here? You’re supposed to stay with me and not let me out of your sight until I get to the gate!” But instead I explained the situation to him kindly. I didn’t have time to waste. There were about 18 workers standing there, not working. Maybe they were all on their morning breakfast break at the same time. They told me that I couldn’t take my luggage inside and that I had to leave it with them. “Fine” I said. I found the desk and you wouldn’t believe what the two ladies there were doing?! They were exchanging shifts and counting all the money. The lady getting off the clock was in a great mood. The lady walking into her shift I cannot say the same for. I stood and waited and finally about 15 minutes later the lady asks how she could help me. I explained that I needed to exchange money to get on the internet and didn’t know how much I should exchange. She said that I wouldn’t need very much because the exchange rate was 1 to 1, so I gave her two 5s. While she was counting up other money I was an idiot and asked how much I could get if I exchanged cfa (my money in Niger). I wanted to get the most out of it for sure. She said that I could get five more Cedi from the cfa. So I forked over the cfa and asked for the dollars back. I got a HUGE huff and an eye roll from the lady and she said angrily “you are my first customer and you’re already causing problems!” I quickly asked her to just do the dollars and she said “no, I have the cfa, don’t worry about it.” She took her time and by now I only have about 45 minutes to get checked in and get to my gate after I get a hold of Mark and get my itinerary printed for my next flight! Anna! Don’t freak out!

The man that was watching my luggage outside peaks his head in the door and asked what was taking me so long. I assured him I was coming. She took her time again and by now the first lady is back again. To make this long story about the exchange lady shorter, she got mad again because she didn’t have the right change and so we exchanged money from cfa to dollars again and she gave me the 10 Cedi as I should have originally taken.
I flew out the door and down the walkway to get my luggage. When the man asked again what took so long (over 30 minutes to exchange 10 bucks?!) I told him that the lady wasn’t having a good morning and that we needed to pray for her. He laughed as I ran.

I made my way back up the stairs to internet room with all my things and forked over the Cedi. I got online and emailed Mark. Then it hit me that Mark may not check his email this early on a Sunday morning. I asked the guy if I could make a call? “Sure you can.” I forked over the two Cedi and whipped out my cell phone (that doesn’t have service anywhere except Niger) and I found Mark’s number. I had one minute from the time that the boy started dialing – not from the time Mark answered the phone. “Hello” I heard 32 seconds into my one minute. I talked FAST “Mark, it’s Anna, I’m in Accra and they won’t let me check in until I have proof that I’m leaving Nigeria. I need you to email me the itinerary please. My flight leaves in 40 minutes!” we hung up at the one minute mark and within minutes I had a scanned copy of my itinerary. “I hope this works!” I ran back downstairs and when the man and woman saw me they let me bypass all the others. “Great! I need to keep this one and you have to give one to the people up there when they issue you your tickets.” WHAT?! I only had one copy! They told me that I could check in and bring them another one once I got my ticket.

I was given my ticket and also handed a little card that had some numbers on it and something about a lounge. I didn’t have time to read it. Back up the stairs and to the internet room a third time. Before running back downstairs I paid the internet guy for the copies. He had forgotten to charge me for the first one. While he was getting my money I met a guy from New York checking his email. He didn’t say much except “get her the money fast, she’s gotta go”. I thanked them both and left in yet, another hurry.

I gave the workers the other copy and ran to go through security. Once on the other side I had about 25 minutes and I was hungry. So I went to this little restaurant and bought a bowl of fruit with the few Cedi that I had left. I sat there until I heard my flight called a few minutes later. “Whew! I barely made it this time too! Thanks God!”

I was in line to board the plane and there was a guy and a girl in front of me. Both looked Nigerian but spoke in perfect English with no accent at all. I wanted to ask them where they were from but didn’t get a chance. Maybe I didn’t get a chance on purpose – it’s kind of tricky to do that here sometimes. Because if I were to ask and they were from America they may think “um, yes! What the heck are you thinking? That I’m a crazy Nigerian?” But the flip side would be “Right, just because I don’t have a Nigerian accent you assume that I’m not Nigerian”. So I didn’t say anything.

I got to the gate and showed my ticket and passport. The lady checking them saw the little card that I was given when I checked in and she asked confused “why didn’t you go to the lounge?” Huh? Lounge? What the heck are you talking about lady? I was so lost. “What?” I asked. “The lounge? Why didn’t you go?” I was being pushed forward and just turned around and walked down the terminal to get on the plane. The flight attendant looked at my ticket and said, “good morning, your seat is 4B, first class, right there” and pointed to the seat just a few feet away. FIRST CLASS! That’s what the lounge ticket was all about!

Bummer that my flight to Nigeria was only about 45 minutes long. The shortest flight I had was the one in first class. Just my luck!

I get to Lagos and boy did it feel good to be back! I couldn’t believe that I was really in Nigeria! How I longed to be outside the whole time! But that’s ok, I was about to sit for the next 13 hours in the airport and dream about sunshine.

All the passengers took a bus to the entrance of the airport and while we were riding I decided to ask the couple where they were from. “Here” they answered with smiles and a showing of their passports. I made a comment about their lack of accents and they agreed. We got to talking and I found out that they were brother and sister and had both been in and out of America their entire lives. They had both been to college in America and had business degrees and crazy, random minors and I was shocked at all this! Their dad lived in Ghana and their mom lived in Nigeria. They had just come from a long visit with their father.

Once in the airport I was waiting for an immigration escort and the guy and girl walked up. They said how good it was to have met me and asked what my plans were from there. I told them that I was in transit and would be leaving in 13 hours. “Oh no!” The sister said. “You don’t have a visa do you?” They felt really sorry for me for some reason. Not that I looked like some pitiful, pathetic, un-bathed, white girl that had been traveling for over 24 hours just to get to the country DIRECTLY below where she left from in the first place! The sister dug into her wallet and pulled out 500 Naira (about $5). “Here’s this so you can at least buy yourself something to eat and drink!” Oh, no. A pity gift from an actual native of Nigeria. I felt so dumb. “No, no. I’m ok really.” She looked at me and gave me ‘the eye’. “Our parents are loaded, don’t worry about it and have a great rest of the day!” I was barely able to thank them before they were gone. Funny encounter…

Then I was led by a BIG, Nigerian immigration man to the transit office where he took my passport and told me to wait in the South African Airways lounge until 6pm when I would go with him to get my ticket. “Ok, Anna, sleep is right around the corner – maybe. Just find the lounge and then take it from there…” I couldn’t find the S. Africa Airways lounge for the life of me! Finally after asking 83 different people and being led in the RIGHT direction I found it all closed, dark and locked up. I’m laughing at myself at this point. Why not make the bad situation that could be worse, funny?! It was hilarious to me! So I went back to the nice, HUGE immigration worker and I told him my problem. He told me to go to the Virgin Nigeria lounge, because that’s what I flew from Accra. Ok, sounds great. I walked up this full flight of stairs and was kind of unsure as the where the entrance was. So I asked a guy that was mopping the floor. He smiled at me and said, “it’s just right there” and pointed around the corner. “Thanks,” I said and turned to walk away. “What’s your name?” I turned around and smiled “My African name is Hawa and my American name is Anna” I said. “You have an African name?” He gave a little surprised laugh (although I’m not sure what he was surprised or laughing at, because I’m a pro African liver and a magnificent traveler among West African countires! Haha!) and he then he grinned really big and with a head nod he said “I like the face!”

I like the face? What?!

“Thanks” I mumbled and turned to walk away. Once in the lounge I was treated like a queen. One of the ladies walked me around the corner to a big couch and I laid down and was out in less time than it took to say “goodnight”. I wasn’t afraid of oversleeping because I had about 12 hours. Although I knew I could sleep that long if given the opportunity. When I woke up a few hours later the lounge was significantly fuller than when I went to sleep. I stumbled to the restroom while people watched me like I was drunk. I felt like I’d been hit by a train. On my way back to the couch I talked to the lady and told her that I needed to leave the lounge in time to get my ticket and get checked in. She assured me that she would help me keep track of time because she knew that I was tired. I asked her if I could have some water and she got a bottle out of the fridge. I told her that I only had 500 Naira and asked how much it was. She just smiled but didn’t say anything. How poor and clueless did I really look that these people were just handing me things?! I was thinking “well, ok. At least I tried to pay her.” I went back and drank the water and fell asleep again.

I woke up about 5:30pm and went to ask for something more to drink. I got a coke that second time. I asked her how much it costs? She looked at me and smiled “Mam” she said softly, “this is the airline transit lounge and it doesn’t cost anything to eat or drink here. It’s all included in the price of your ticket.”

I felt like an idiot. I know that many of you are now laughing at me but I had never done anything like this before!

I got something to eat and finished my coke and was out of there a little before six.
I found the immigration/transit office with no problem and the same man was there with my passport to help me. But he seated me between two of three guys that were sitting on the couch in the office. The three of them were getting yelled at for causing a ruckus over something. I tried to pretend uninterested even though they all knew that I was listening.
The immigration man led me to the S. African Airways office that took us way to long to find and I got my ticket. After that he led me straight to the security point where he watched me until I was through. He was a nice man. Much better than those in Ghana. Except for the mattress giver, he was my favorite.

So here I am over two hours early for my flight and already sitting at the gate. I was cold so I pulled my wrap-skirt out and put it around my shoulders. There was a man sitting in the chairs across from me and about 10 seats down. There was a little bench next to my chair with a seat on the other side. A Nigerian guy a little older than me came and sat right in the that seat. He looked in the mood to talk. Not me! I just wanted to write in my journal and talk to Jesus. That was it… but the guy next to me had different plans. He talked to me for the two hours about religion and leadership, politics and authority. He was a Free – Thinker and told me that he believed in the survival of the fittest and about how everyone is their own god and has to watch out for themselves. I shared the scripture story from Adam and Eve to the ascension of Christ. He said “that’s great but…” At that point the Lord allowed me to see that the Muslim sowing field that I live in in Niger is no harder or different than anywhere else in the world.

I boarded my last flight and headed to Johannesburg from Lagos. I sat next to a little girl about 11 years old. She wanted to lean her seat back so badly but I just reminded her that we had to wait until the seatbelt light went off. She drifted in and out of sleep a few times before reaching down into her bag. She pulled out a well-used Bible and opened it to the middle of the book of Psalm. She was done reading by the time the light went off and not long after that the stewardess brought out food. The little girl bowed her head and prayed before she ate.

After dinner I helped her lean her seat back and she fell asleep with her earplugs in, listening to the movie she had left on in front of her. Later on when we were both awake we made small talk about her family. Her dad lived in Nigeria, where she was from, and her mom lived in S. Africa. She hadn’t seen her mom in over a year and was going to be with her for the next two weeks. An ache went through my heart as I thought about how I knew how much she missed her mother...

I asked her about the Bible and if she knew Jesus. She answered with a confident “yes, I’m a Christian.”

That little girl was such a huge encouragement to me. I sat with tears in my eyes as I thought about her innocence. What a blessing to be a child and to feel that the love of Jesus is so simple. When really it is, but then thoughts of the Free – Thinker from earlier in the evening came to mind. The lives of the lost were heavy on my heart that night.

I made it to Johannesburg and got my passport stamped with a fancy sticker. Once I got to the baggage claim I waited until all the luggage was gone only then to realize that it had been lost. I have been traveling internationally for over six years and this is the first time I had ever lost a piece of luggage. I got the claim number for it and was told it should be there by Wednesday morning.

So, after two days and five countries from start to finish, I was finally in S. Africa. My big bloop for the morning was on the ride from the airport to the guest house and I spotted a truck with several men in the back. I asked Stan, “Hey is that your South African bush taxi?” His answer was kind but I could tell he wanted to laugh, “No, Anna. That’s a work truck and they pile all the workers in the back and drive off for the day’s work.” I just sat there, baffled.

What day was it again? And where the heck was I?

A Taste So Sweet

Many of you know that I traveled to South Africa at the beginning of September for some doctor's appointments on my knees. The travel time from Niger to S. Africa was supposed to take about 24 hours... instead I traveled through 5 countries in 43 hours from start to finish before I made it there. I was tired and worn out and my knees hurt terribly but I made it in time for my appointment that early, Monday afternoon. The next day I had an MRI scheduled. I got that done and was able to see a little bit of Johannesburg before I went back to my room at the Baptist Guest House to call it an evening. The evening that I thought was going to be spent sleeping was interrupted by an email and many phone calls to family and friends that night.

I opened an email from my mom that night that said she had tried to call me in my room and it wouldn't go through. She told me in the email that my Grandpa Vaughn (my dad's dad) had been taken to the hospital that morning and wasn't expected to live through the day. Uncontrollable tears raked my body as I quickly dialed my mom's cell phone number and waited for her to pick up.

The rest of the evening was spent praying and calling others in the states to pray for my family and my grandpa. By about midnight that Tuesday night nothing had changed but the whole family was there with Grandpa just waiting and cherishing the last moments they had with him. I made my way to my bed and told Mom that I would call sometime in the night to check on the things. I set my alarm for 3:30.

I could hardly sleep knowing that I wasn't there with Grandpa. One of the things that kept going through my head was "I really did say my last goodbye on July 18, 2007 when I flew out of America." The only person that really knew it was the last time for my grandpa and I was the Lord, but I praise Him for making that day sweet.

My sleep was heavy and restless but I woke up quickly when my alarm went off in the middle of the night. I called Mom from my skype phone and she picked up after a couple of rings. I could feel something was different but I couldn't pin point why. I had wanted to be there in hospital that day so badly, just so that I could be with my family and not have to do this alone... I didn't really know how I felt about all this, I wondered if I would have felt differently if I were at the hospital. But I had a deep ache in my heart and an emptiness that I couldn't seem to fill. I wanted to be near those that loved me. I wanted to be with those that knew Grandpa and I didn't want to have to grieve alone. Only the Lord knew what was about to happen. There was sadness in Mom's voice as she told me that Grandpa was gone. At that time I knew why I felt different. Even from a world away the Lord was comforting me in the midst of loss in a way only He could. As I sat and cried and wondered if it would work out to go home the emptiness faded and I was filled with hope. Hope that said that no matter where I spent the next few days, in S. Africa or America, it would be all of the Lord.

Well, He provided for me to be able to come home from S. Africa to be with my family during this time... I left Joburg that very day and made it to St. Louis, Missouri by 1pm the next afternoon, (Thursday the 11th of September.) I was met at the airport by my mom and dad both of whom I didn't want to let go of once I was in their arms. It was a beautiful, blissful moment!

All of it went so fast from the time that I got the email to the time that I was driving down Interstate 55 that I hadn't had a chance to take a breath at all. My parents took me straight to my other grandparents house where I was welcomed by my sisters Grace, Abbie, Naomi, Phoebe and Lily and my brothers Luke and Levi and of course my mom's parents Granny and Grandaddy! What a reunion! I showered quickly and we all headed over to the funeral home where I was met by my older sister Lettie, her husband Ted and my nephews Theo and Tucker. As the Fulani say when they are happy "my heart was sweet!"

The rest of the day was a blur and the following day was the funeral. It was good to be home and in the midst of my family and those that I love so much. I only have a few days left to spend here and wanted to update you all before I got out of America and nobody knew!

I am leaving this Saturday to return to S. Africa and finish up my medical appointments on my knees. After that I will head back to Niger to finish up my last 7 months or so.

Please be praying for me as I travel and get back in the groove of African life. Pray for me as I say my goodbyes again that it will be a reminder of why I left in the first place. Pray for my family and I as we remember Grandpa and all that he meant to us and the love that he showed us everyday. He was one of a kind and will forever be remembered.

The last day that I ever saw my grandpa I thought that I would not make it through the morning without a major breakdown. The Lord kept me strong. I had gone to visit him and Grandma with my little brother Luke and had asked Luke to video tape me with them, not knowing if I would ever see them again. Grandpa loved to play his accordion and of course he had it out that morning. I ask him to play Happy Birthday and a Christmas song for me. Both of which are on my video tape from that day. For the rest of my life my family and I will be able to sing a Christmas Carol with my Grandpa on Christmas Day. And all the while we can imagine him playing his accordion for a host of angels and the Savior of the World! The words "Joy to the World" can be translated "Joy in my Heart" right now - because I know that my grandpa is with Jesus!

A little bit of photo life...

We were in Abidjan for ADVANCE and Me and Melissa took Ruth, Rebekah and Deborah out to the mall


This is the day we went to the beach. Me and Katy, we lived together in Nigeria - I miss her SO much!


4th of July water fight with my team at Melissa's house!
yes, we had some that were THIS big!

Kind of scary I know!

Melissa's dog, Jake, was in on all the action!

Mike and Jennie's daughters made cupcakes and they were so good!

Mike was "the napkin head"


Me and Fati were sweeping and mopping my house - it was so dirty!


This was my hair after I took my braids out last week!

I was at a gas station with Melissa and saw this calf leading the kid around :)

This guy had a bigger load than he should have had and it was way off balance

This was a van bush taxi loaded down with chickens...

up close

This guy fell asleep while he was driving... (Actually I'm not really sure how he ended up on the wrong side of the road in the water but...)

Me and Melissa

These are two little boys that Susan and I met when we were on the road going home from Niamey a couple of weeks ago. They were passing by with their donkey and stopped to watch us as we had our lunch/stretch our legs break from driving.

This is Melissa and I having a milkshake at a Lebanese restaurant in Niamey. We were watching the Olympics at the same time. We got a kick out of the the cups they gave us our icecream in!

This is a motorcycle cart that we saw in Tuss
This is Melissa, Me, Sawyer (in the middle in yellow and green with the white headtie), Jessica and Daniel.


More pictures and a blog coming soon!

Shomog's Leader

Sarah and Jessica were two Journeyman that lived and worked with the Sokoto Fulani in Niger. Their town, *Tuss, is about 6 hours from where I live in *Kondike.
Sarah and Jessica’s terms ended last January and they said goodbye to their villages and headed home to America; Sarah to Seminary and Jessica doing a third year with the IMB and working with a church doing recruiting for WA in Louisiana.
During Sarah and Jessica’s time here they had volunteers that came to work with them last summer. One of the guys that volunteered for the summer was a member of the church that Jessica was apart of for her one year of service in America. As Jessica and Daniel got to know each other the Lord began leading them in a new direction towards a relationship and they are getting married in November. But because Journeymen aren’t allowed to date while serving, she had to resign from her position. They have a desire to come back to WA and serve as career as soon as they can be appointed.
This summer Daniel came back to work with the Tuareg people near Niamey leaving Jessica in the states. He lived in a village for almost three months until last week when Jessica and another girl, Sawyer, from their church in Louisiana, flew over to do a mission trip in Tuss. Melissa and I were both in Niamey during that time because it was right after ADVANCE. We picked them up at the airport the same night that we took Mike and his whole family to fly out for their six month stateside assignment.
Daniel was really excited about seeing Jessica since it had been almost three months! They are really cute together too!
Jessica, Daniel and Sawyer left on a bus for Tuss early last Wednesday morning. Melissa and I headed to my house and Melissa stayed the night with me and headed home to *Danji.
I took a bus on Friday to Melissa’s house and her and I left on Saturday morning for Tuss to be with the others for a couple of days.
Monday morning we got up and the five of us headed out to *Shomag planning to visit with the people. If they chose to let us… and so here goes the story…


There was a *Hausa1 man that lived in Tuss that had become a Believer when he heard the gospel from missionaries living there a while back. He spoke pretty good English and found out about Jessica and Sarah living in Tuss.
One day Hausa1 came to Sarah and Jessica’s door. He told them of a village called Shomog that had Fulani men that were meeting and worshipping with a *Hausa2 man. Hausa1 wanted the girls to go and meet with these men.
The Hausa2 man in Shogom had accepted Christ a few years earlier when missionaries came and shared Christ in his Hausa village. This one particular man learned Fulfulde and began sharing Christ with the Fulani in Shomog just next to his Hausa village.
The girls agreed to go and check it out and were excited about what they would find once they got there.
Jessica and Sarah left one day for Shomog with Hausa1. The girls wanted to meet the men that were worshipping. In Shomog that day 17 Fulani men made open commitments to follow Christ. They said that the man they had been worshipping was who they wanted to follow and change their lives to model. Hausa2 from the town next to Shomog went with them and the girls did Storying Trainers For Trainers (ST4T) with the men. The girls had been trained to do ST4T while in America. (It’s almost the same thing that Alyson taught my group while we were at ADVANCE.) 12 out of the 17 men were baptized right away! The others had been saved and baptized a couple of years earlier when Hausa2 had shared Christ with them.
They continued to do discipleship with the men, going through the book of Luke. On occasion Mike would go with the girls out to Shomog as well. The girls then lived in the village for days at a time and for a long time the women in the village were not involved with any of the teachings, storying or discipleship. They were friends outside of the discipleship group but not included in it. A while later a few women started coming and accepted Christ but had not yet been baptized. The week that the women were planning on being baptized something tragic happened…
There was a married couple that had both accepted Christ. The man was one of the five that had been saved a few years earlier when Hausa2 came to their village and shared Christ with them. This Fulani man became the “leader” for all the new Fulani Christians within Shomog. Leader was strong in his faith and committed to Christ and the stories within Scripture that were told to him.
Leader and another Believer left for Lagos, Nigeria to look for work. While the two men were down there Leader got sick and didn’t have the funds for medical care. They thought it best to begin their trip home because he wasn’t getting better. They were almost home in Hausa2’s village when Leader died leaving his pregnant wife and four children behind.
When someone here passes away the people bury them right away in the town or on the road where they died. But the Hausa people in Hausa2’s village refused to allow Leader to be buried in their village. They said that he was a dog because of his faith in Christ and a Fulani so he didn’t deserve to have a proper burial. At that point a few men from Shomog took him back to his home to be buried there.
Soon after Leader’s death the 16+ Shomog Believers began doubting their faith. The men and women alike said that they didn’t want to follow anymore because of the way Leader was ridiculed after his death. They realized how they were viewed in the eyes of others and didn’t want to be treated like that. They also said that since the girls weren’t giving them food and items they weren’t getting anything out of it. The villagers ask that Sarah and Jessica not come back to the village ever again.
Heartbroken the girls honored the desire of those in Shomog until the end of their term last year. They returned to tell them goodbye and let them all know that they wouldn’t be back.
The people in Shomog gave them the cold shoulder and they were not welcomed by anyone. Anyone except one Muslim man and a lone widow that had grown to love Jessica and Sarah. Brokenhearted and suffering over the death of her husband the widow welcomed Jessica and Sarah with open arms.
With prayerful hearts for the people of Shomog, Sarah and Jessica left Niger not knowing if they would even see any of those people again.
Yesterday, the five of us piled in Melissa’s vehicle and headed to Shomog. We had spent a good amount of time on Sunday morning in prayer for this trip and then again on the road out there. What would we find? How would we be treated? Would we be spoken to or run out of the village that Sarah and Jessica had invested so much of their Niger lives in?
As we pulled up a few people from all over came and welcomed us with beautiful smiles and kind welcoming words. One of our first greeters was a little old lady that didn’t even reach my shoulder. Then we were welcomed by identical twin sisters in their 70’s or 80’s.
Jessica was then taken by the hand to a nearby hut where an old blind man used to live. When Jessica and Sarah had first come to Shomog the old man could see but developed such bad cataracts that by the time the girls left he could see nothing at all. The people informed her that they had taken him to the hospital and he had been given surgery and could see! Sure enough, the old blind man was walking around when we got there he greeted Jessica with a warm handshake and big smile.
The people were friendly and open but Jessica wanted to find out if they were following Christ or Islam. She was hesitant to ask in front of any others so she kept quiet until we got back in the car with one of the previous Believers. He was going to take us to the field that his two wives were working it so that Jessica could see them.
She leaned forward from the backseat and ask the man, “Who’s road are you following now?” His reply was, “I’m not worshipping anyone in any form and neither are the others.” Shocked, Jessica asked, “As if there is no God at all?” He sat silent for just a moment and answered with “Yes. We left the road of Issa”.
“Why?” Was all Jessica could think to ask at that point. The Fulani man then answered, “because we didn’t like it and we wanted to walk away.”
The conversation ended then and I sat back and went over all of it in my mind again and again. What would make people walk away from something like that? Their faith appeared to be so strong at one time, so would the death of Leader cause them to back away and let go of the only thing that was stable in their lives?

We all left with heavy hearts over their lack of faith, but had a reason to smile because of their warm welcome. There are no missionaries at all living in Tuss at this point. Mike and his family will be back in January or February. Please pray for the people of Shomog that they will turn back to Christ and desire to walk down His road as Leader did.

Even the sand dollars and sparrows

Three weeks ago this Monday, I left with all the other Niger missionaries for Abidjan, Ivory Coast. We met up with all the other IMB missionaries in West Africa (WA) for our region wide meeting called ADVANCE. It was a blast!
The Niger people were the first ones to get there and ADVANCE (that’s what our conference is called) didn’t start until that Sunday, so we had time to relax and visit with many of the volunteers that were there also.
On Monday Melissa and I went to a store there called ORCA. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I’d heard that it was really nice. I walked in and wasn’t prepared for what I found. It was HUGE! It was really about the size of a large Pier 1 store or something along those lines, but from what I’ve come from, it was bigger than anything I have seen here yet. It had a furniture section, a clothes section, a BOYS AND GIRLS clothes section, a candle isle (!!!), a home décor section, a rug section, a everything section and more! It was truly unbelievable! I bought some fun candles and looked at the rest of the things for what felt like forever. Melissa and I checked out and they gave us a 20% discount that the store was having at that time for some reason. It turned out really good for us because 20% off in cfa is a lot better than dollars! So that made our day
The next morning Melissa and I went with two families to the “zoo” in Abidjan. Altogether we had 6 children and 5 adults (one of the husbands stayed behind) and a bunch of random animals. They had one elephant there that wasn’t in a fence. It was in a large grass area with a deep, concrete gully around it. Cindy, one of the mothers, had brought peanuts with her so we all lined up to feed the elephant. With a handful of peanuts I walked up to him and he sucked them from my hand with his trunk like a wet vacuum cleaner! I was laughing while getting all the muddy snot off my hands when he took his trunk and tried to grab the sleeve of my shirt! I jumped and he blew OUT of his trunk. So I had a few nice, black, snot spots all over my sleeve and back of my shirt – from an elephant… He didn’t get any more peanuts from me! Not to mention that I wasn’t completely thrilled to be that near an elephant after my experience at YANKARI game park in Nigeria last Christmas. If I haven’t told you that story please let me know. It’s a must read!
Wednesday, more of our missionaries got there and a few pre meetings began, so Melissa and I took our Supervisors girls to the mall (yes, I said MALL!) and out for cheeseburgers and ice cream. It was a really fun afternoon.
Thursday I could hardly contain my excitement as the time grew closer for my Nigeria peeps to fly in. I was sitting at lunch with the family that was scheduled to do the airport run for the Nigeria crew and I asked if I could tag along and “help”. They agreed happily I don’t know why I hadn’t thought earlier to ask if I could go. We jumped up from the table and headed out right then.
I was able to meet each and every one of them as they came off the plane and out of the baggage claim. Many hugs and greetings and smiles came from all over the place as I made sure to see every individual there. It was amazing! Seeing my girls (old teammates) was the absolute best! They all had their hair braided like I had mine done last November. I was kinda sad that they didn’t tell me, or I would have gotten it done before going too. When I mentioned that Katy chimed up and said sarcastically, “it’s not our fault that you left the team and abandoned us!” Everyone was laughing about that
The next few days were a blur as everyone was catching up and we were all getting to know the new Journeymen that had come to WA since last year’s ADVANCE. (By the way, I was last year’s newest personnel on the field because I flew to ADVANCE straight from America, so I knew no one, but I didn’t have any trouble making friends that week).
On Saturday many of the singles and a few married couples headed to the beach in the Ivory Coast for a day out before ADVANCE started “for real”. It was such a fun day! I took my ipod and walked down the beach alone in my swim suit and shorts, just me and the Lord. We had some good talks and I serenaded Him with songs (haha! I can’t sing worth anything!) But on my walk I watched the waves for seashells and sand dollars, which I found many of. And the sand dollars have a fun light green color to them like I haven’t ever seen before. I thought about how much the Lord cared for me at that point. If He is willing to add color and life to the sea, where no human being lives, and make it beautiful for us to look at, then how much more does He care about me? (Matthew 6:26)
One of the Journeymen, Krystal, is getting married next Spring after her term ends and she returns to America. She’s having a seashell theme and she collected a huge bag of them while we were there. She was really excited about having them from another country for her wedding reception. It was fun to talk to Krystal and get to hear about life as a fiancé… I wouldn’t know about that (or even having American guys friends overseas) because missionary guys are scarce around these parts for sure. Here’s the story…
Between the ages of 21 and 30 WA has over 50 (!!!!! Yes I said 50 !!!!!) single women serving here with only 2 (!!!!! Yes I said 2 !!!!!) single guys. I’m not sure about you but the ratio seems a little “off” to me. Why is it that there are so many more girls on the mission field today than there are guys? Really if you think about it, it’s not just in our generation that woman have been the majority on the mission field. We do have our Lottie Moon Christmas offering named after a lifetime committed, single woman who chose to live and die serving the people she was called to.
Does all this mean that the Lord isn’t calling single guys?
I am curious about knowing why there are so few guys on the field. I know that some regions have more than others, but the ratios are still WAY unbalanced. I asked one of the two guys in WA why he thinks guys aren’t coming or responding to the call and his response surprised me a little bit, “being a guy, I believe that it’s because guys want the American dream and you can’t live out an American dream in Africa [or anywhere else in the world].” So, if you’re a guy reading this, we (or any other region) would love for you to check out the job possibilities the IMB has to offer. If you are reading this and know a guy who would do good at overseas missions then tell them! I will say that I believe that West Africa is the hardest place in the world to live. And any of the other missionaries that have served here or in another region would most likely tell you the same thing. We missionaries don’t just do missions here. We live in this land and it’s tough. Tougher than I ever banked on. So the people at ADVANCE gave us girls a good round of applause for coming and sticking it out in the most difficult place in the world. Then they gave the guys an applause for joining us! Us girls like to say that boys are sissies and can’t take the life here… (I’m saying a lot of this to motivate you single guys to check out WA and start praying about coming! Just try and show us up… if you dare! You only need 20 seminary hours to serve as career!)
Sunday we started with worship and had Dr. Bruce Ashford from South Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (SEBTS) as our speaker for the week. He did a GREAT job! Him and his wife, Lauren, are fun people with a huge heart for missions and ministry. I have always leaned towards SEBTS over other seminaries and after having lunch dates with them and evening talks with Lauren I’m sold on attending there if the Lord leads me to pursue seminary.
Sunday afternoon we had the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering Auction. This is the day that everyone comes and gets to bid on the items that have been donated. A lot of what was for sale was food items. We had many other things given too though. The way it works is that many of the volunteers brought things over for us to auction off. We get to give the highest price we want for the item being auctioned and all the money goes to Lottie Moon! (I’m at Melissa’s house writing this blog now and don’t have my list of things that was auctioned off, but I will give it to you in the next blog.) To my knowledge the West Africa missionaries raised over $50, 000! That’s roughly around 200 adults! WOW! I will get you the final amount with the list of goodies…
The rest of the week was fun and busy as we all had different things to do in our free time and many people to see and get caught up with. During that week the Lord taught me a lot about my ministry here and gave me a new level of motivation for serving. Two days in a row we had our OS girls lead many different small groups. (For an explanation of a One Story girl – and I say girl because our ONE OS guy finished his term in February – see below). I had Alyson as my team leader and she is a fun, outgoing, 23 year old girl with a huge heart for the people she is serving in Timbuckto, Mali. She began with teaching us the story that OS always starts with when they share the gospel. It’s the story about the demon possessed man that lived in the graveyard. He cut himself with stones and broke the chains and irons that the villagers tried to subdue him in. Jesus came to the shore and cast the evil spirit out of him and into a herd of pigs. The pigs then ran into the water and drowned themselves. When the pig herders ran to tell the villagers what had happened they returned to find the man sitting with Jesus and in his right mind. The villagers pleaded with Jesus to leave their region. As He was getting ready to leave the man, named Legion, or Many, asked to go with Jesus and Jesus said “no”. Jesus told the man to go and share his story with all his family. When he did all the people were amazed with how much Jesus had done for him. (Open your Bible to Mark 5 and read verses 1 – 20 for the full detailed story!)
After Alyson told her true version of the story we had to retell it and act it out. I got to be one of the pigs – it wasn’t easy being an animal that is gross and smelly AND demon possessed! She shared with us the importance of getting into our villages with stories straight from scripture. She encouraged us to work hard on our testimonies and get them down pat in our languages.
I have to admit, being out here alone is hard. Susan lives here in my town with me but we do most of our ministry separately and differently. Being alone and working alone means learning alone. It’s been tough to get out there and be motivated and learn the language – alone. Especially when the people tell you that you can’t speak Fulfulde. Or that you don’t know how to wash your clothes by hand. Or you don’t know how to work because you’re white. Or when everything that you do is compared to what the girls before you did. I will say that Seng and Tara and Danielle left me some BIG shoes to fill when their terms ended!
So I’ve been praying and thinking about how to make my ministry my own apart from what the previous Journeymen here in my town did. We all have different ways of doing things. There were career missionaries in my group with Alyson that have used other tactics for years and have been effective. OS did this mini training with us to give us a new option for sharing Christ. You all remember when I was able to share the story of Daniel in the lions’ den when I was in the chief’s village. I wasn’t prepared for that and I told it anyway. The kids loved it! We still talk about that story to this day. So why has it been so hard for me to get through this and really start making a difference with story telling? I’m not sure exactly, but I know that Satan has played a part in it. I had some Jesus time that week and I was excited and still am about my new ministry opportunities in the same villages that I’ve been going to! I have a new level of motivation and desire to start something new that is my own to these people.

I’m home from the beautiful, tropical country of the Ivory Coast to the hot and dusty desert of Niger. I only have a few short weeks, that are full of visitors coming and going and a couple of trips to Niamey, before I head to South Africa for my doctor appointments for my knees. While I’m there I’m going to be studying my Fulfulde full force and working on my testimony in Fulfulde. I also have a children’s Bible that I will work on translating stories from into Fulfulde. I’ve set goals for my time in South Africa and I hope that you will be praying with me to meet those goals. I want to see the fruits of my labor!
Pray requests:
My dad has a bulging disc at the base of his spine that is causing him consistent pain. He has been home from work for three weeks now and might get to start back part time in a couple of weeks. It’s not bad enough for surgery but there is a section of his thigh that he can’t feel and he often has trouble walking. Pray for full healing.
Continue to lift up my aunt, my dad’s sister, who is undergoing chemo from the liver cancer. Thanks for your prayers thus far on that.
John Piper once said, “to be passionate about missions means to be passionate about Christ.” Pray that my passion for Christ would grow daily so that my desire for missions and love for these people will never end.
Pray that I would not allow Satan a foothold on the negative things that the people here tell me. Pray that I wouldn’t allow doubt to flood in and take over what I know I can accomplish in Christ alone.
Pray as I get ready for South Africa that I will be prepared mentally for the translation that I will be doing.
Please lift up the Fulani that I am in daily contact with. I desire to lead a life of transparency that shows Christ alone and His love for them. They are so blinded to the worship of Islam and lost in the lies of the Koran. Pray that the Holy Sprit would begin work now so that when I come back from South Africa to share more stories with them they will recognize who He is and what He came for.
I will be leaving for South Africa at the beginning of September. My doctor appointment is set for the 8th. Please be praying as I wait for that day and that the pain will subside enough for me to get out to the bush for a while before I leave.
One of my best friends is praying about coming and serving as a volunteer for a few weeks at the beginning of the year. Please be praying for direction in this. Pray for the finances to come through and the details to fall into place if the Lord desires for her to come.



One Story: One Story is a two to three year commitment of working with an unreached people group (UPG, people group = PG) to get the Bible translated in their language to cassettes. Teams of two or three people (all girls or all guys or a married couple) moves to the location of the people group and learns the language. It’s up the OS team to put together a series of about 30 Bible stories that go from Creation to the ascension of Christ. Each story is about four to five minutes long. They work with a few different people in their PG and test the stories for understanding. There is also a person in the leadership of OS that checks all stories for Biblical accuracy. In the end they have a national of their PG tell the stories on cassette. The end product gives them Creation to Christ on a tape in an illiterate culture so all people within that PG can hear the gospel!
Tara and Seng were here as OS working with the Sokoto Fulani. The same dialect of people that I’m working with. I have the cassettes that they worked for two and a half years to finish and I have already started using them in my villages!
OS has seen many salvations come out of the work that they are doing. Including the chief of my village and his wife! Pray that they would be able to see the harvest of their sowing.
Pray for all the OS girls out there right now. Pray that they would learn their UPG’s language effectively in order to translate the scripture into the native language.

I want to say thanks on behalf of all the WA missionaries. Thanks for loving us and supporting us in SO many ways, we couldn’t do what we do without you.

Were you aware...

There are many things that I experience and different things that happen in everyday life here that I may have never blogged about. There are lots of things about Niger and the people that I haven't talk about – so here’s your chance to find out a bit more than you may have knows…

- I left America a year ago today! Check out these airport pictures.
This one I'm checking my flight times... are they sure that my flight leaves in an hour and not three - I'm not ready to say goodbye yet!

This one is my parents and I. If you look close enough you will see the way my eyes are all red - there were many tears that day :(

Last minute hair fixing before heading to the plane!

And then the Lord gives me times like this to smile about...
This was taken when Fanny and I went to Susan's village with her. We were hanging out on a mat and Susan snapped this shot on her break from working in her field.



- My supervisor and his family are headed back to the states for a few months. They served in Nigeria for 14 years (I think) and have been here in Niger for 2 years (I think). They have 4 daughters and they are so much fun! They live in a town about 6 hours from me but in a few short weeks they will be oceans away! Please pray for them as they make this transition back to the states for a while.
- I haven't met a national in Niger yet that couldn't speak at least two if not 3 - 5 languages. Except for one...
- The one person being Belki, K's daughter. She refuses to speak anything but Fulfulde. The problem is, only Fulani (and random, white missionaries) speak Fulfulde. So she's in for a treat when she grows up and can't communicate with the rest of the world around her!
- Those languages being - Zarma, Hausa, Fulfulde, French, Tameshequ, English. I have not yet found a person who can speak all 6.
- There is a Zarma man who’s name is Yawo who sells bread in my town. My American friends and I call him “the bread guy”. Most every night him and his friends bring the bread into my compound and set it all up on tables. He normally has about 100 loaves. Then they clean it and cut off the hard corners with a pair of scissors and bags the bread two to a bag. Then Yawo sells the bread for 500cfa, that’s a little over a dollar for two loaves. But if I only want one, they separate them for me and I give him 250cfa.
- Yawo speaks Zarma, Hausa and I think one other language. He thinks it’s great when I greet him in his native language! Then he always tells me that I can speak Zarma. I make sure he knows that I’m only able to do the greetings and say thank you.
- I live in a 4 bedroom home with two bathrooms. One of which does not have a working toilet.
- Everytime I go out for a walk in the streets I'm amazed at how many people know my name and know that I speak Fulfulde. Most of those people being men.
- It's not wrong or bad to stare here.
- It's not wrong or bad to follow the white girl around and watch her every move. Or mimic her, or copy whatever she says. I can't keep the children away!
- During the hot season (right now) the temperratures can easily reach into the high 120s and sometimes into the 130s.
- There is no humidity in Niger except after it rains.
- When it rains it gets cold and we love that!
- I wear African clothes all the time now with a head tie. I only wear American clothes or t-shirts when I'm at home or in the bush for a long period of time. Other than that, I don't leave my house unless I'm decked out like the women here.
- Anassara is the word for "white person" here and I hear that about 59 times everyday from random people.
- I walk to Post Office about twice a week. (sometimes more if I know that I have something coming.)
- I call home about once a week for .26 cents a minute.
- I live right on the main road in my town and it's quit busy all day, everyday. Early in the morning when the buses leave they blow their horns as they pass by my house. I'm determined they do it only because they know that I .
- Not only is the road busy but my house is a great stopping point for everybody and their brother. I have company everyday and sometimes for hours a day.
- I was sent a box of Lucky Charms (my favorite!) back in December by my friend, Kelsey. I saved them until last month to eat them!
- There are motorcycle taxis EVERYWHERE here. I can take one anywhere in my town for 100 cfa. That's about 25 cents.
- I have a motorcycle but I don't use it very much. I find it easier to hop on someone else's and fork over a quarters worth of cfa.
- There is nowhere here to print pictures for good quality. I could pay a dollar a picture and have it printed and look like it came from the early 1900's but I'm just going to wait til I get home... (for those of you who know how much I love taking pictures and what a huge part of my life that is, you know how hard it is for me to not have a place to print them!)
- The Fulani men and women don’t eat together. They separate the food into different bowls and give the men theirs and the women take theirs to separate places. They then set the bowl on the ground and everyone eats it until it’s gone or they are full. Then they cover it and wait til later, or the next day to finish it.
- To my knowledge Susan and I aren't the only Americans that live in my town. I've heard that there are a number of Peace Corps workers. But I have only seen one other American and she was dressed like I would dress in America with the exception of a head tie. She was on the other side of the road and kept walking like she was on some kind of power mission and she couldn't lose her train of thought. I talked to two PC girls in another town last week and they said that there are many PC in my town but they hibernate in the hostel here and don't come out except for work...
- The Fulani love jewelry. They wear large necklaces that sometimes cover most of their chests and have earrings that are huge! Most all Fulani women wear anywhere from 5 - 20 bracelets that have a distinctive "Fulani" look to them. Even baby girls where the bracelets and when they grow out of them, they are cut off and replaced new ones that fit.
- A baby girl will have her ears pierced within days of being born.
- The women carry their babies on their backs as early as a day old. They wrap a piece of material around the baby and tie it snuggly around their breasts in the front.
- Many of the women and young girls, even baby girls, will wear waist jewelry. This consists of many strands of the same color beads (normally bright green, pink, yellow, etc.) wrapped around the waist and covered by their clothing. The babies don't normally wear much clothing so the beads are always seen. It's a sign of beauty to wear the waist jewelry.
- Another sign of beauty is the hena that the women place on their feet (and sometimes their ankles, hands and forearms). It comes from a leaf that is dried and then crushed to make a fine powder. They add water to it and it makes a green paste. Here in Niger the women will use electrical tape and place a long strip of it that runs along the length of their foot. From their big toe, around the back of their foot and then it stops at the pinky toe on the other side. The tape is about half an inch from the bottom of their feet. Then tape is placed on each toe so that the tip of the toe and the toenail are still showing. Sometimes they will place small pieces of tape on their toenails to keep the die off of them. After all the tape has been applied, then they take the hena and spread it all over the bottom of their feet and the tips of their toes to the edge of the tape. They wrap their feet in plastic bags to keep the paste moist and they wait a few hours. Normally this is done at night when they can sleep or in the afternoon when it's rest time. After it's all washed off they have a bright orange die from the hena. The second step is to take the salt like crystals that is ammonia based and mix it with water and soot, so it will go farther. They place this all over the orange on your feet. This won't die the actual skin, only the places that are orange, so it's ok to take all the tape off. They again cover their feet with plastic bags and wait about an hour or so for this one. Once it's all washed off they have a beautiful solid black that covers the ends of their toes and the base of their feet.
- All women getting married prep themselves with hena on their feet and sometimes cover their hands in beautiful designs. But just because you wear the hena doesn't mean you're getting married. Even small baby girls have their feet done. I love to wear the hena on my feet!
- It is not uncommon to see camels everywhere. Sometimes I walk out my gate during the day and there are two or three camels walking in front of me loaded down with supplies for the market or with a man or two riding.
- Most of you are aware that I had a lizard friend visiting for a while in my home. I was ok with him being there until he invaded my personal space. The day I got home from vacation in Italy I found him in MY BED! If you remember, K was sick during that time so I went to Yawo who came to my rescue. Fati was standing by in case she was needed. With a big stick Yawo chased the lizard around my room as I pulled all my things away from the wall and all my drawers from my dresser. The lizard was eventually knocked out with Yawo’s stick hitting abilities and taken outside. Issabu Yawo! (Thank you – in Zarma – Yawo!)
- There are many nights that Fati and Belki will share their dinner with me in the evenings. They will bring the rice or noodles with the sauce into my house or invite me outside. We chow down using our right hands – Yummy!


I will for sure have more “were you aware” information here and there. And when I do, I will share. There are always things that come to mind every now and then that I think about sharing.
I hope that you have enjoyed this tid-bitty blog and helps you to see a little more into my life here.

This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago when we were in Fanny, Mary and Adam's village. From left to right is Adam, Me, Stephen, Fanny, Mary and Allen.


Last Monday night (the 16th) Fanny and I stayed up all night until Pastor B took us to the bus station. That was at about 3:45am. We were hanging out with the Japcyn crew, knowing that it was our last night all together for a long time.
Once at the station and in the bus Fanny and I crashed! We slept as much as we could off and on when the bus wasn’t crashing its way through the bad roads. We made it home in one piece. Once we got home though we slept the afternoon away yet again!
On Wednesday we went with Susan to her village and visited with her Fulani friends. Susan bought a piece of land in her village not too long again and has started planting a few different things. So Fanny and I went out to her field with her while she worked and sat on a mat and talked. Susan wanted to work the field by herself and with Fanny being a guest Susan didn’t want her working at all! It was fun and I got to take pictures of her out there working in her very own crops.
Thursday Susan, Fanny and I headed to my village to visit a bit. Fanny and I wanted to stay the night but wanted them to know that we were coming. So we headed out there for a bit on Thursday afternoon and let them know that we would be back on Friday for the night.
The biggest new news is that *Sara, the chief’s oldest daughter living at home, got married! I had no idea and they dropped the bomb on me when we were out there. It wasn’t the getting married that took me by surprise but the fact that she was going to be moving to her husbands village a ways away. I told them, “Jonni, Mi hida sitago nder woro ma.” They said, “Gom dume?!” My reply “wuro ma wela, Sara wala!” I got a great laugh out of that! (I told them, “Now, I don’t want to live in your compound.” They said, “Why?!” My reply, your compound is not sweet without Sara!”).
They said that she would be leaving the following Monday so at least I would be able to spend the following night with her.
Fanny and I made our way to the bush taxi the next morning at about 10. We waited for 3 hours for one to come that was headed to my village! That has never happened before when I was leaving in the morning, but it gave her and I a chance to sit and visit with the Zarma/Fulani family across the street until a bush taxi came.
We loaded up and the sun was hot. The truck we were in traveled SO slow! It took us about 2 hours to get there when sometimes it takes about 45 minutes. It was after 3 in the afternoon by the time we got there and we thought that we would have been there before noon. They were all waiting for us!
It was a fun night of visiting and fellowship. Fanny loves my family and they love her. Their Fulfulde is a bit different because of living in different parts of the country, but it didn’t keep them from talking the day away.
The next morning we headed out early. I wanted to be home when a missionary family living in Niamey made a bathroom break at my house on their way to my supervisors another 6 hours down the road. They got there about noon. They have two children both of whom were adopted. Shiloh is 6 and a beautiful little girl with hair that’s almost white, while her younger brother Ethan is 3 and half Zarma, half Tuareg with hair as black as night! I love these kids like they were my own siblings and it was fun to have them in my home.
Saturday Fanny and I walked the streets of my town and visited Susan and her guards family. We ate at a little restaurant here and got sandwiches and cokes. The sandwiches are pretty good so if you ever come for a visit you are guaranteed a trip to this restaurant!
Sunday Susan came over for worship and afterwards Fanny and I cooked Nigerian food for lunch for us all! It was great! We spent Sunday evening again out walking and by this time in her stay we were really comfortable with talking about anything under the sun. I’m amazed at how much English she understands. She just doesn’t speak it well at all. I was talking to my mom on the phone and was telling Fanny afterwards about it and she had picked up quit a bit of our conversation! But then when I think about it I guess I’m that way with Fulfulde too. I understand a lot I just don’t speak as much as I’m able to comprehend.
Having Fanny with me was amazing for my Fulfulde because she corrected me every step of the way. She said my Fulfulde was really good and I was doing great in speaking and learning. We studied just about everyday she was there. I gave her my Fulfulde book and she copied all the notes into her notebook for her English studies. It was good to be able to feed off of one another! It was fun too talking in whole sentences but mixing English and Fulfulde. We got some strange looks on the streets!
Monday and Tuesday were fun and full of visiting with Fulani in my town, walking the streets, eating mangos and pineapples, pizza and chicken potpie. At night we would pillow talk (the thing I miss the most from home). The lights were out and we just talked about whatever was on our minds. I felt like a girl again! We talked about boys and families, clothes and friends. It was so refreshing for me to have her there! I have a pretty good friendship with Fati, but the different in the two of them is that Fanny knows and loves the Lord and Fati doesn’t.
Wednesday Kris and Shelley, Shiloh and Ethan made their way back to my house to stay the night. We went to my village and visited out there that afternoon and had a great time! Sara was GONE and they all laughed at me when I pooched my lower lip out and pretended to cry! Shelley had never met my family out there so it was good for her too. Her and Kris have lived here in Niger for a little over 10 years so their Fulfulde is wonderful and were able to keep up good conversations with the chief and his family.
Wednesday night Susan had us over for a full meal of spaghetti, green beans and rolls, and the night was topped off with the chocolate cake that I made for my friend, Paul’s, birthday that was on Monday. He lives in South Africa. Go ahead and laugh. But we took pictures and I will email them to him! HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAUL!
Yesterday we all loaded up and made our way back here to Niamey. Susan and I weren’t planning on coming in but we both realized there were a few things that we needed that couldn’t wait any longer. So it’s a two day trip and we leave in the morning.

It was such a fun week! Thanks for your prayers and comments on the last blog.

New prayer requests and updates on the others:
Stephen has another appointment in Niamey in a couple of weeks to get his head looked at again. At this point everything is the same.
As far as I know my grandparents and Aunt Sis are all stable right now and doing ok. Thanks for your prayers on this. Please continue to lift them up.
My travel to S. Africa is still in the making. I will let you all know when things are written in stone for my travel dates.
Please lift up all the missionaries in West Africa right now. We are getting ready to head to the Ivory Coast in less than a month for our annual meeting. It will be a time of fellowship and learning, some training and meeting new missionaries that have come to the field since last year’s meeting.

Thanks everyone for stopping by!
Until next time!
AnnaK

J.A.P.C.Y.N

Has it been a doozy of a week or what?! The Lord has blessed it beyond what I could have asked for and I don't know where to start in telling you all about it.
This picture is of me and my friends, *Stephen and *Fanny. They are two Fulani Christians and this picture was taken back in March when I went to the Fulani Conference then. They are engaged and planning to be married in the near future. The near future for Fulani's can be tomorrow or two years. But they're engaged none the less!
Last Tuesday Stephen came to get me at our Baptist Guest House (BGH) here in Niamey and we headed to the church to begin our week. Once we got to the church (which is within walking disatnce from the BGH) I met up with *Allen, *Adam (who is Fanny's uncle but a few months younger than she is - weird!) and also with Fanny's cousin who is a Fulani Pastor. His name is *Pastor B. All of whom I met when I was at the Conference in March.
The reason for this get together was to talk about the planning and ministry that is being done with the Fulani Youth in Niger. That's what J.A.P.C.Y.N is. It's is French so it doesn't translate correctly, but basically it stands for "The Alliance of Fulani Youth in Niger".
On Wednesday our friend *Hame joined us. (Also from the conference in March. I am only telling you this to let you know that I have met them all before.) We had meetings and prayer time and spent some time in the Word as well. It was a good time to come together and hear about what everyone is doing in their villages. Most overyone on the Japcyn counsel lives in a different place in Niger. Stephen traveled for about 20 hours by bus to Niamey to be there this week. We are literally from all over the country! It was really cool to see the hearts of my friends and their desires to see their own people come to Christ. They are working so hard to get the name of Christ out there and it's a struggle for them working many times as the only Christian Fulani and dealing with rejection on a regular basis.
One thing that they talked was their lack of finances in the Japcyn budget. (I'm the treasurer so I know all about it!). There are often members who can't make it to the meetings because of lack of transport money. They are also trying to raise money so that they can GO OUT into many more villages to share Christ. But without the funds they are limited on where they can travel. So we talked about different ways to raise money and how exactly it will be used. They want to have a youth camp next year for all the Christian Fulani youth and are now praying that the Lord would provide the funds for that. Please join us in prayer as we strive to follow Him.
On Thursday we headed out to Fanny and Adam's village where they grew up. I was able to meet their families and we were also reunited with *Mary, Allen's fiance. It was an amazing time in the bush! The people in this village are a little more well off than others I have seen and much more well off than my village that I stay in with the chief and his family. Thursday afternoon we went to a huge mango orchard to have our meetings and fellowship with everyone. We took our huge mats and placed them in the shade under the huge trees. It was SO beautiful! I took lots of pictures too. (now that my blog is here I think that I will be able to post pictures much better now!) Thursday night we set up a projector and a video and there were over 200 people that showed up! It was in French so Adam translated into Fulfulde and then another man translated into Hausa, just so everyone could be included ;) During the video me, Allen, Fanny, and Stephen did some visiting with other Fulani in the village. We went to encourage one young girl that accepted Christ a while back. She has had a baby out of wed-lock and says she in no longer a Christian because of it. Please be praying for this young girl. I don't know her name.
Fanny and I slept that night at the pastor's home in her village on a big matress under the stars. We got us with the sun and had coffee and bread with everyone once they made their way from the places they stayed on Thursday night. That morning we made our rounds in the village and I met more family and we took more pictures. As we were leaving and saying our goodbyes there were four women that gave me handmade gourd bowls! I have never been given anything in a village before and it was so sweet of them! Then as we were getting ready to pack up a lady came to give me a big bag of mangos too! It was such a blessed time for me...
Friday we made it back and I came back to the BGH and rested for a little bit and Friday night and Saturday I spent it with all my friends again. It's really nice to have been able to get to know everyone a little bit better this week - we are all in our twenties too! It was just such a fun week!!!!!!!
Saturday afternoon I headed to the American Rec Center here in Niamey to play softball with other Americans. I can't tell you how good it felt to wear shorts and a t-shirt! I truly felt American again. My team won and I hit the ball everytime I was p to bat. Two of them were line drives to the short stop and the others headed straight out into right center. I was glad to see that my softball skills hadn't been affected during my "off-time" overseas. Although I did miss the ONLY ball that came to me in the outfield... oh, well. So I need to brush up on playing left-center - no biggie!
Sunday morning I headed to a Fulani church with two other career families here in Niamey. We did some cooking before service and then all gathered under a leanto to have worship. There were about 10 Fulani believers there and it was only the second time I have had church with my people since I got here.
We got back late yesterday afternoon and I rested before heading back to Fanny's house (the church) to spend more time with all of them. Stephen has been staying with his sister here in Niamey and I've gotten to meet a lot of his family as well. It's been so good to get to know everyone's families this week.
Adam came down with a bad cold yesterday and hasn't felt like doing much. Well Saturday night I gave him my ipod to listen to. He speaks a little bit of English but not enough to understand the words in an English song. But I was showing him a couple of my favorites and let him listen to my sister Grace's song "My Father's Heart". For the rest of the night he played that one over and over and over again. He had my ipod for about an hour and then again yesterday he took it and listeded to Grace for a couple more hours! He had all of his friends that came by listed to and they would just sit and press the play button again when she was done singing. I called home to talk to my dad yesterday for Father's day and I got Grace instead (go figure right?!) Well I told her about the guys liking her song and she asked why? So I looked at Adam and said "Gom dume a hidi dum korey?" ("Why do you like this one so much?") He said "Gom hunduko makko weli" (Because her voice is sweet") I thought that was so nice! So anyway - mad props to Grace on the singing! A wawi! (You are able, as they say it here)
So that brings me to today and I'm packing up and leaving Niamey in the morning with... Fanny! She is coming to my house with me for a week! She will visit my village with me and help me with my Fulfulde (she speaks a tad bit of English but understnds it fairly well too). I'm SO excited about this! SO I'm headed to her house now and will spend the evening with her. Then about 4am Pastor B. will take us to the bus station.

This week was by far the best week I have had in Niger yet. I felt so normal this week being with a bunch of people my own age that loved the Lord. Not to mention how encouarging everyone was. They told me over and over again how thankful they were that I was with them and that they didn't see white skin but a sister in Christ. I love my new friends and ask that you will lift them all up in their ministeries of reaching the Fulani Youth in Niger -
Fanny
Stephen
Adam
Allen
Mary
Hame.

Prayer requests -
After this week I have seen how few people we have serving the Fulani. Please pray that the Lord would send workers to this harvest field. We have one family and three single women here now among the Sokoto Fulani and we would love to see another family or a couple of guys to help lead the Fulani men. Having women on the field is great, it would be good though to see a few guys here to minister to the men. A lot of the time, when the man gets saved the family follows.
Pray for my week with Fanny and that the Lord would bless our time together.
Stephen is having some health trouble. He was in a motorcycle accident a couple of years ago and wasn't wearing a helmet. He is going to try to go to the doctor before he leaves Niamey and get it checked out. I don't know the details, I just know that he's in pain a lot.
Please lift up my grandparents at this time - Violet and Robert and my Aunt Sis. They are all dealing with some health problems that we pray the Lord would take away - I love you Grandma and Grandpa and Sis! You're in my prayers!
Right now I'm in the process of heading to South Africa in September. I've dealt with knee problems for many years and last years MRI results said I have a torn meniscus. So I'm looking at possible surgery. Please pray that all goes well in the planning and the timing. Right now I'm scheduled to be there for 4 - 6 weeks.

Thanks everyone for stopping by. I will be working on the layout of my blog and making it look new and fun in the near future!

*Names changed for security reasons at this time.