We Have Arrived!

After days on planes, we finally arrived in Niamey, the capital of Niger. We stayed for three days at the SIM guest house to get a feel for the culture and to pick up some needed food and supply items to take with us to Galmi.

SIM Guest House in Niamey

African Gazebo

No joke - about 2 persons wide and  4 persons deep!

We headed to the store first, which was about the size of a walk-in closet, and then proceeded to choose from the bounty of the open-air market:

          The vegies    looked delicious!

             Bananas and eggs were everywhere!

Bananas or Eggs?

                                             Fresh fish for dinner?   Catch of the day . . . ?

                                              Or maybe fresh - REALLY FRESH - chicken?

 

                                      This vendor takes literally the phrase "laying down on the job!"

                                            When it's time to pray, IT'S TIME TO PRAY!

        

                    Who needs a water bottle when you can buy it really cold by the bag for about 10 cents?!

                                             Christopher and Nancy show us how it's done!

                     We were very thankful for Christopher's multi-multi-lingual abilities to guide us and

                     Nancy's gentle loving ability to relate to people in this very foreign environment!

                                             A refreshing dip in the American Embassy pool!

A stop at the local Starbucks . . .

                                                                       Where the coffee is always HOT . . .    

And you can get your sandals polished while you sip!!!

                                                          

Then it's back to the Guest House to crawl in bed . . . under your own "cozy" mosquito net!!!

                                                    Next stop --- Galmi!!!

We are going!!!

Travel details have been worked out . . . bags packed and repacked . . . ten-pound suitcases traded for three-pound duffels . . . duffels packed and repacked . . . and my wonderful friend, Ilje, even picked up more things to pack . . . and send!  And - September 15th we’re off to LA to say a tearful good-bye to daughter and grandchildren, then to London, Casablanca, and finally Niamey, Niger, via Ouagadougou, which we have all had fun practicing saying!  I love the online “audio dictionary,” which I am sure will become my new best-friend in a country with so many languages!  (BTW - say “wah-guh-doo-goo!”  And be careful, because if I lived there, I would not want people calling my city “wah-guh-doo-doo!”) 

Wait for it . . .wait for it . . .!!!

      About a week ago I took my 3-year-old granddaughter, Minley, to Trader Joe’s.  At at the check-out counter, the clerk gave her the world’s cheapest, best toy, which I call the “wait-for-it” toy.  It is a 1” diameter green rubber “cup” which you turn inside out, place on a surface, and wait for it to pop up.  It is always a surprise and causes great delight because you are never sure just when it will pop up!

We seemed to be long in the “wait-for-it” stage, as far as finding out when we would actually leave for Niger.  But it caused me to think about all the people in the Bible who had to wait for something, which was followed by a wonderful blessing from God. Of course Joseph comes to mind first . . . and the people wandering through the desert for forty years . . . Abraham and Sarah for Isaac . . . Jacob for Rachel, and Rachel for Joseph . . . Paul in prison . . . Jesus' counsel to the disciples to “wait for the gift of the Holy Spirit” . . . and God, Himself is waiting patiently for all to have a chance to believe!  Romans 8:25 gives the position for all believers - “But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.’  So . . . we have been patiently waiting on several levels . . . 

What in the World . . . ???!!!

Both a question and an answer!  The “what” we will soon (hopefully) find out, and “into the world” is where we are going!  We look at this change as a great adventure, and call it “Our New Story” because one of my (Barb’s) favorite authors, Don Miller, has challenged people to “write a better story” with their lives, and to think about what our actions and decisions tell others -  tell the world - what we most care about!