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.