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.