August 2007

Vol. 7. No. 3

Hello Everyone,

There’s so much to do and so little time to do it as we prepare to leave Niger for five months, beginning August 29 and lasting until January 31. We’ll depart from Dogon Gao on Monday, August 27, make the 10-hour trip to Niamey with the whole family and wait in Niamey one full day before boarding our Royal Air Maroc (Morocco) flight at 4:00 a.m. Wednesday. Our flight will take us to Casablanca, New York, Minneapolis, and finally Des Moines at 11:38 p.m. Central Daylight Time. Even then, we’ll have a one-hour trip by road to my parents’ house in rural Oskaloosa, Iowa. From the time we leave for the airport in Niamey to the time we open the door in Oskaloosa we will have been in transit for about 29 hours. We’ll make this trip with a 21-month-old and a 3-and-a-half-year-old (who will have their own seats on all the flights)!

We’ve been busy with visits and volunteers. My RCA supervisor, the Reverend Derrick Jones, made his annual visit to Niger from August 14-21. I went to Niamey for the initial meetings and then three days later we drove to Dogon Gao and then back again to Niamey after two days. Once he left, a return trip to Dogon Gao was required. That’s a lot of road time! His visit went well. Not only were all our issues and concerns addressed, but Derrick made considerable progress in preparing our denominational partners, the EERN, for the arrival of our future RCA colleagues, Jeremy and Susan Beebout, who arrive in Niger on October 7. They will be involved in health, agriculture, and volunteer ministry.

Derrick, Tom, Anne, and Kara.

Derrick’s visit wasn’t all that was happening during this period.  Anne B from Grand Rapids, Michigan, came to Niger on August 3 for a three-week volunteer stint with the EERN’s community library in Maradi. Anne is studying library science at the University of Michigan and graciously agreed to help the library advance in its operations and programming. Fortunately for me, my Presbyterian colleague, Kara, was willing to host Anne in her home while I was in Niamey with Derrick. You can read more about Anne’s time here by reading her blog. I think you’ll see that her first visit to a developing country to be eye-opening for her, but she found aspects to appreciate, as well.

Ted and Eleanor V, retired educators from Battle Creek, Michigan, are also in the country now, although I had no responsibilities in hosting them. They first came to Niger in early 2004 to see how they could support Christian education in Niger during their retirement. They’ve since found some other like-minded people in the missionary community and have conducted seminars to help Nigerien teachers develop a Christian ethic to their teaching and to design holistic Christian curricula that can still meet state education objectives. It has been wonderful to watch this couple put their faith and their professional skills into practice for Nigerien Christians to learn from. They are updating their friends and family of their Nigerien experiences.

Currently two members of the Words of Hope ministry team, Lee and Randy, (also from Grand Rapids!) are in country. They are here strengthen the recording studio in Maradi. Currently, over 20 private FM stations in Niger air their programs in French and Hausa, and a listener’s club around their programming has just started in an animist part of Niger.  I don’t have any direct responsibilities with their time or work in Niger, although they are using our Land Cruiser for some of their rural traveling. Their ongoing presence in Niger stems from a conversation I had with the Words of Hope president (who is volunteer Anne B’s father!) in 2003 about ministry in Muslim countries. We were both staying in the same home on a Saturday night in northeast Iowa before speaking in local churches the next day.

Lastly, I need to mention Steve DH, from Pella, Iowa, who lived in our home for seven weeks and left on August 3. Steve worked faithfully on our home and the adjoining apartment, which we are preparing for future teachers for our daughters. (See job announcement at the bottom of this page). Although the apartment still isn’t ready, the electrical and plumbing systems are now fully functional thanks to Steve and Usman, my assistant. The two handymen also resolved a problem we’ve had in our new home—a lack of water pressure to take a shower. By a providential circumstance, a departing missionary who had lived in the bush, asked if I wanted his 12-volt pressure pump that he was selling. It is identical to what recreation vehicles use to maintain water pressure for their bathrooms and kitchens. I had never considered such a device, since we were thinking we might buy a new water reservoir, place it next to our house and then make sure it was high enough to ensure adequate water to our bathrooms. We have a 12-volt solar system back-up in our home, so we simply connected the pump to the system and voilà: we can take a shower thanks to these two guys. The pump also allows us to use our small water heater for the first time, since previously there wasn’t enough pressure to push the hot water out of the cylinder. 

We’re looking forward to our time in the United States and to see our family and our friends. We’ll celebrate my parents’ 40th anniversary on September 9 in Leighton, Iowa, and will speak to churches and other groups until the end of January. We still have some open dates. RCA churches should contact their Synod mission stewardship contacts, while everyone else can contact us directly.

Prayers and praises

• There is a small, but consequential rebel movement among the Tuaregs in the Sahara Desert. They dispute ownership of uranium and other minerals found there. Many Nigerien soldiers have already been killed, and the region is becoming increasingly unsafe. Please pray that the government and the rebels can negotiate a peace.
• We give thanks for the plentiful rains that have fallen for most of August in Niger. We pray that they will continue for another month to insure a good harvest. Pray for those who have lost their homes and farms due to flooding.
• Give thanks for the volunteers and visitors who come to Niger and have helped in so many ways. Pray for three future groups that may come next February and March (all from Iowa!).
• We praise God for the submission and final approval of the goat-herd project for the Dogon Gao Bible School. Please pray that a good and faithful herd manager to be found to lead the project. We also give thanks that the same funder is willing to repair the village well in the town closest to the Bible School.
• Pray for our family’s travels as we leave Dogon Gao and Niger for the United States. Pray also for Aïchatou’s and Marie’s health, as they both have been sick this past week.

 In Christ,

Tom, Aïchatou, Marie-Florence and Laurey

The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 319

We are looking for volunteers to come for 9 to 11 months at a time to teach our pre-school-aged girls, beginning in August or September of 2008 (when the girls will be 4 and a half and 3 years old). The RCA Volunteer Office coordinates finding such teaching volunteers for missionaries with children who live in remote areas or places where English-language instruction is not available. A one-bedroom furnished apartment with kitchen, living room, bathroom, running water, electricity and basic Internet access that adjoins the Johnson house at the Dogon Gao Bible School will be provided. This would be ideal for a single person or for a couple with no children at home. Other volunteer opportunities with the ministry could be found for a spouse who accompanies a teacher in Niger. Relevant degree or experience preferred. Recent graduates encouraged. Fundraising is required. Contact Jay Harsevoort of the RCA at (800) 968-3943 for more information.