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Letter from Tom Johnson in Niger,
West Africa |
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September 2005
Vol. 5, No. 4
Hello Everyone,
I’m writing to you today from Jenison, Michigan. Tonight
I’ll be attending the 60th anniversary celebration of Words
of Hope, a radio ministry affiliated with the Reformed Church
in America. The program will feature the new recording studio
in Maradi. In fact, the last few days we have been busy with WoH
matters since their board meeting was in Pella, Iowa, last week
(20 minutes from my parents’ home) and we have been with
EERN Pastor Sani Nomaou for the week of the meeting. Pastor Sani
will direct the studio and will record the messages in Hausa and
French at the studio. He’s in the United States for three
months to improve his English and to learn more about radio production
techniques. Together, we’ve been able to speak to several
groups about this exciting new project. |
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Some of the leadership of the Evangelical Church of Niger in front
of the new studio for Words of Hope. |
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Otherwise, we’ve been traveling. I can’t
believe we’ve been in America for a month. Time just flies!
We’re settled into my parents’ home in Oskaloosa, and
our lives in Niger seem so distant now as we enjoy all the comforts
of home life in the United States! Well, except for the fact we’re
speaking about Niger each week. I’ve been to churches in Worthington,
Minnesota; Sioux Center, Iowa; and Washington, Iowa, and as a family
we’ve visited churches in East Lansing, Michigan, and Pella,
Iowa. |
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We also did a short program about
the Tibiri Primary School in the Battle Creek, Michigan, home
of Ted and Eleanor Vonks, and Pastor Sani and I met Third Reformed—Pella’s
mission committee to talk about capacity building in the Nigerien
church. We vacationed in Glen Lake, Michigan, (near Traverse City)
during the first week of September, but because there aren’t
too many recreation activities suitable for a pregnant woman and
a 17-month-old girl, we had a lot of quiet leisure time. During
the next four weeks we’ll visit several churches in northwest
Iowa (Maurice, Sioux Center, and Rock Valley); Zeeland, Michigan;
and South Holland, Illinois. I’m just hoping the baby doesn't
come early!
Aichatou is doing well, although her energy level during this
pregnancy is much less than during the first. We’re still
looking at mid-October for the arrival of our next baby (a girl,
we are told!). Please pray that I’ll be in town for the
delivery, as we are depending on the baby to be full-term! Marie-Florence
has been bouncing around with us on our travels and seems to be
doing pretty well (a portable DVD player for the car and the whole
set of Baby Einstein videos makes road travel surprisingly pleasant).
She enjoys her grandma and grandpa and is today playing with her
two-and-a-half-year-old cousin Megan. Her English is improving,
and somehow she seems to understand that her grandparents in Iowa
don’t understand the Hausa and French words that she learned
in Africa. For example, last week she asked her grandma for “water”
but still requests “de l’eau” from Aichatou.
She’s also started to string words together and can now
say “I see dog, car, chair, you, etc.” |
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The tragedy of Hurricane Katrina is shifting
the world’s attention from Niger’s famine. Thankfully,
though, it looks like that over $10,000 has been raised for EERN’s
primary school in Tibiri to date. That will make a huge difference
for dozens of Nigerien children and their families in a year when
household reserves are exhausted and there may be no money to send
a child to school (It isn’t too late to contribute, please
go to RCA
Web site for more information. |
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Pastor Sani (center) with Tom and Aichatou Johnson (left) and new
RCA missionaries to Niger, Jeremy and Dr. Susan Beebout, and their
newborn child, Eliza, |
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We’re also seeing more interest
in some of the longer-term development projects that the church
in Niger wants to launch, and Reformed Church World Services remains
totally committed to helping out with starting the goat project
and is willing to consider some other key organizational assistance
for helping the Niger Church increase their capacity for relief
and development. I’m still waiting to hear further about
the Presbyterian Disaster Assistance after their investigative
trip to Niger early in September. (They did send funds to help
the Child Nutritional Recovery Center in Zinder, Niger.)
Prayers and praises
- Give praise that we’ve been able to collect enough funds
to send dozens of Nigerien children to school!
- Give praise for all the hospitality and genuine interest in
Niger, our mission and our lives that we have received while
in the United States.
- Give praise for the progress in the Words of Hope recording
studio in Maradi. Pray for Pastor Sani while he is in the United
States and for his ability to improve his English and learn
radio production skills.
- Pray for Aichatou and our upcoming baby. Pray for a full-term
baby so that the whole family (Tom!) can be together for the
birth.
- Pray for church leaders and ministry directors in Niger as
they decide how to assign important ministry responsibilities.
- Pray for Tom’s Ph.D. studies and his ability to progress
on his dissertation proposal. Pray also that the funds will
arrive to replace his battered four-year-old laptop before he
returns to Niger.
In Christ,
Tom, Aichatou and Marie-Florence
The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p.
316 |
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