May 2006

Vol. 5, No. 12

Dear Friends and Family,

We are now in May, the hottest time of the year, and everything just seems to slow down to a crawl. We have day after day of 106, 107 and 109 F temperatures, and now in the night we are lucky if our bedroom drops down to 94 F. The girls’ room is between four and six degrees cooler. It is shaded by a tree outside, and that makes a huge difference. Also, it faces a southern open space in our lot, whereas our bedroom is directly next to a property wall on the north. So, little breeze can enter our bedroom, but for the girls, they have a nice breeze all night. Ah, the sacrifices we parents make for our kids!

Except for correspondence, it has been a very unproductive month. No one (including us) wants to work during this heat. I’m basically waiting for things to develop in the new community development unit of the church. The best things I have accomplished were in preparing two other church workers for their next activities. My PC(USA) colleague, Kara VanderKamp, is in the United States for a month for meetings and presentations on Niger. I worked with her in developing some of her materials and reviewing her plans. Also, I was able to help our partner church’s new permanent secretary, Ibrahim, to prepare for his responsibilities in Maradi, which is the headquarters of the EERN. The local Niamey church has already hired his replacement, a young mother named Marie. I’ll enjoy working with her too—I notice that she’s not afraid to ask questions, which is a rare trait among Niger’s often shy and silent women.

Ibrahim is a real pleasure to work with. Just slightly younger than myself, he started working for the Niamey Boukoki church as their first-ever administrative secretary. His background is in accounting. Now in the West, we take it for granted that most churches have offices and staff besides the pastor. This is very new in Niger, but because the Niamey church was the largest in the EERN denomination and since it was located in the capital city, it had many demands placed on it that required some sort of permanent staff presence. Fortunately, the Niamey church had enough resources to pay Ibrahim a modest salary, although it wasn’t an easy decision to have two professional people on the payroll (the pastor and a secretary).

With the wrong person in that position—someone, say, who only wanted a paycheck and lacked initiative—it could have created a Niamey church office where nothing more happened than the phones were answered. Ibrahim was always willing to get the job done, even if it took long hours, and he took a real pride in his work and permitted no corners to be cut. He has modestly said that God bestowed him with lots of patience as that is the most important trait to have when working in the church (I’m ready to agree with him!). The church leaders noticed how effective he was, and the decision was made to promote him from the local church to the national headquarters in Maradi.

Now, Ibrahim will actually have a huge challenge, since that national office hasn’t been very strong of late. In effect, he’ll be starting over, organizing a modern office (one that now lacks a fax, photocopier, working printer and typewriter) and, I think, redefining what a church headquarters can do. As we all know, the right people in the right positions can do marvelous things. Many of us are convinced that Ibrahim plays in important role in the future of the Evangelical Church of the Republic of Niger (EERN).

Let’s move on toward some family news. Aïchatou had mixed results on her two exams. She passed the internal medicine exam, but needs to repeat the maternity/obstetrics exam, including the rotation. The principal reason she failed was because she showed up late for the exam because a presidential motorcade blocked the route to the medical school that day, and she was unable to complete the exam. No exceptions were given (she probably could have left earlier!). This isn’t all bad news. Maternity is Aïchatou’s favorite area and where I think she can make the biggest contributions. Repeating the ob-gyn rotation is probably the best out of a worst-case scenario for her exams, and she can use the time to gather data for her required thesis, which will be on neo-natal infections.

temperamental if things aren’t going her way (her grandfather calls her turbulent, which in French also has a sense of being rambunctious).

Believe it or not, the girls share the same size diapers! We can buy disposable diapers here (the brands are either French or Arab), but we only use them for times when cotton diapers won’t be convenient, since the cotton is obviously less expensive and won’t result in any rashes, as they “breath.” Anyway, the size is from 18-36 pounds, and Laurey is just over 17 pounds, while Marie is closer to 26 pounds. There’s no question which parent each one is taking after!

Next month we are hosting visitors again. We’ll have Amanda M from Grand Rapids, Michigan, with us in our home for two months! She’s finished her freshman year and is studying French and African studies at North Park University in Chicago. She asked the RCA Volunteer Office if she could experience French-speaking Africa this summer and they directed her to us. She’s agreed to help with the girls and we’re happy to have the extra help. Stephanie and Katie H are two cousins from Sioux Center, Iowa, who will be coming for three weeks to experience rural health care in Niger. They are both university students considering medical careers. They will be working primarily with Dr. Habila, a Christian doctor who has a rural posting at a government hospital just an hour from Niamey. So, we’ll have our hands full!

Praises and prayers

• Pray for encouragement for us! In the heat, everything looks impossible or too much trouble to be worth the effort. Pray for Aïchatou and me to finish our studies.
• Pray for good rains in 2006! We’ve had our first little showers, and we’re getting more southern winds (the rains here come from the south) as well as some cloud cover. These are all good signs, but no certainty that the rains will come or be plentiful.
• Pray for a good experience for the three young women who will be with us this summer, that God will reveal to them a sense of His will for their lives, as they consider how they will serve Him in their careers.
• Pray for the development of the Words of Hope studio in Maradi, as they search for dedicated and talented production staff. Their grand opening will be September 2, 2006, and Words of Hope is promising to send a team of 10 people for the inaugural event.
• Pray for Ibrahim as he begins his new responsibilities with the EERN, that he will have wisdom and courage. Give praise that he has accepted this job and that his service will glorify God.

In Christ,

Tom, Aïchatou, Marie-Florence and Laurey

The 2006 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 314