Vol. 2, No. 11

Hello,

I’m writing to you today on the morning of the day before my marriage to Aïchatou. I’m in Zinder at the moment with a little bit of time on my hands and tomorrow is the big day. The wedding will be at 10:00 a.m. at the Evangelical Church of Niger.

Interesting, it will be a double ceremony. The Zinder church’s pastor’s daughter will be getting married at the same time as Aïchatou and me. We both announced our engagements in December and both the brides are from Zinder and grew up in the same church. In fact, the other bride is actually the cousin of Aïchatou’s father. Both the brides currently live in Niamey, which is 12 hours away, and there are many friends and family members originally from Zinder who now live far away. Therefore, when we were planning the wedding, many people (especially from Niamey) suggested how nice it would be if they would only have to make one trip to Zinder. That made a lot of sense, particularly since it is basically the same family and the Christian community here isn’t that large. So, while the two brides will have to share the spotlight on their special day, there have been many advantages in having the two weddings simultaneously.

I’ve been in town since Monday. I haven’t done too much here, except spend time with Aïchatou’s family on Tuesday and Wednesday and make the final arrangements. On Thursday and Friday, the wedding party goes to a relative’s home and receives visitors and prepares for the wedding. The men sit outside under a tree (we do have those plastic lawn chairs) and talk while the women are inside the home braiding the brides’ hair, doing their nails, and busying themselves with other details for the big event. The groom is not permitted to see the bride for the two days before the wedding date.

We’ve already had one unexpected development: my best man broke his collarbone in a hit-and-run accident last week while riding his motorcycle on a street in Niamey. Harouna Issaka was a friend from my Niamey days who works with a Christian development organization. He was an easy choice to be my best man here. After he first had the accident, he called and told me that he was sure that he would be fit to travel in a week’s time. However, he has been in a lot of pain because of all the bumps and bruises he suffered from his fall and the broken collarbone has restricted the movement of his arms and neck. Several people called me from Niamey to tell me that he was in no shape to travel between Niamey and Zinder. So, yesterday, we asked Boubacar, a friend of Aïchatou’s family to be the stand-in best man. I only know him slightly, but I do appreciate the fact that he can speak English, should I need a translator in the middle of the marriage vows! The service will be in French and I will also benefit from watching the other party getting married first, since they are a bit more senior than we are. Instead of saying, “I do,” in the French version one says, “Yes, I accept” (Oui, j’accepte.)

Because Aïchatou and I will be coming to the United States in July, none of my family members will be coming to Niger for the wedding. Instead, we’ll have a reception in Iowa. Actually, April is a terrible time to come to Niger: it is one of the hottest months of the year and just not a good time to make your first visit to the country. However, many of the foreign missionaries who work in Niger will be coming and they will serve as representatives from home.

After the wedding we’ll spend a few days in the Zinder area before going to the Maradi region. Last month I moved into a vacant SIM (Serving in Mission) apartment at their Leprosy and Health Center in Danja (about seven minutes from the Dogon Gao Bible School) because my own house still isn’t finished yet and I really needed a place to set up house. So, I’ll take Aïchatou to Danja for a week before returning her to Niamey, where she will continue with her medical studies. There, we have found a vacant missionary house to reside in temporarily. I’ll stay with her there for about two weeks, then we’ll separate until the end of June. Right now our plans are to fly to the United States in early July. We’ll be together there for six weeks before Aïchatou needs to return to Niamey for her studies. I’ll stay in the States until late September. While we’re in the United States we’ll be available to meet with churches and missions committees, but we’ll also try to see family and friends, too. I’m sure we’ll find ourselves on the road quite a bit. As you can see, our first few months of married life will be quite a whirlwind! Our schedule is still a bit fluid, so we’re ready for whatever may come.

I need to also share a little bit about life in Niger during the recent Gulf War. As many of you know, Niger is over 90 percent Muslim, and the Christian community was concerned how the population might react with Muslims in Iraq getting killed. We took a few precautions, like asking the civil authorities for a regular police presence near our homes and we all tried to avoid Maradi on market days and on Friday prayers at the Grand Mosque, when incidents are most likely to happen. Fortunately, there were no problems at all during this time. Most of us were glued to our radios during the war. I actually followed the war on the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) and NPR (National Public Radio). I had bought a satellite radio in December of last year and found it to be a good investment during these times.

To be honest, it was getting pretty tough to get a lot of work done this past month with the Gulf War and the hot season coming. Things slowed down quite a bit. One piece of progress, however, has been the launch of a “food-for-work” program at the Dogon Gao Bible School. The students, many of whom have young families, often come to school with little more than the clothes on their backs and a few other possessions. Many have trouble feeding their families once they are in school. The Reformed Church World Relief Service agreed to purchase some millet for the students and I have been involved in using the millet to pay students who work at the school. Right now we are trying to finish up two buildings that are under construction. We’ll also do some painting, tree planting, and other improvements to the school in the next few months, until the students’ fields have a chance to produce after the rains have come. It has been a very positive development and we are already seeing great improvement in the grounds and in people’s attitudes.

Prayer requests

• Pray for Aïchatou and me, for our wedding, and for our new life together. Please pray for blessings upon us and for God’s guidance and wisdom throughout our lives.
• Pray that God will arrange our time in the United States well, as we plan for our future ministry together as a couple, fundraise for Aïchatou, share our work in Niger with U.S. churches, and spend time with family and friends.
• Pray for a short hot season and for abundant rain for Niger. We actually received rain this week in Zinder and Maradi, which is quite unusual and very encouraging. Zinder, in particular, has a severe drinking-water shortage at the moment.
• Pray for the family of Dogon Gao principal Mamane Halilu, who lost his 12-year-old son to meningitis this month. I drove the sick boy to the health center, but he died a few hours later.
• Pray for the Church in Niger, particularly for godly leaders who are concerned with following His will for the Church.

Thomas R. Johnson

The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, page 35