October 2007

Vol. 7. No. 5

Hello Everyone,

We’re still in the United States and have been traveling and visiting churches in earnest now. Late September saw us leaving Iowa for the first time since our arrival and venturing out to Lakewood, California, for a church presentation. It was our first trip ever to the U.S. West Coast. I’ve long heard of the marvelous California weather (obviously there were no brush fires at that time), but what amazed me was that there were so few insects! Both in Niger and here in Iowa, we are constantly killing flies in our home and running across various beetles, mosquitoes, and other creepy-crawlies. Our California hosts left their back door wide open to enjoy light breezes without any fear that bugs would enter. Of course the weather was in the balmy 80s, which made it perfect for a few tourist activities after Sunday.

We spent two wonderful days at Disneyland during our visit to California.

The Mayfair Community Church had sent their pastor and a deacon to Niger in 2006 for the opening of the Words of Hope-funded recording studio. These two invited our family to visit them, so we took them up on their offer. The deacon works at Disneyland in Anaheim as a sound engineer and promised us that he could provide our family free admission into the park, while the pastor promised us a place to stay. A pretty cost-effective way to visit Disneyland! We were there for two days and the whole family enjoyed it a great deal. Of course with both our daughters less then 4 years old, we weren’t very ambitious in riding all the rides or trying to see a lot of shows, but  even then, we were still pretty tired by 5:00 p.m. We were remarkably successful in avoiding all the shops and the girls clamoring for “stuff,” but we’re noticing that Marie is starting to become much more aware of products that are marketed toward kids. That’s not much of a concern in Africa, where children don’t guide purchases, but we are now beginning to get hounded for “things”—like various Barbie products!
 
After California, we had a quick trip to Lanark and Freeport, Illinois, and the following week we moved the family to the Reformed Church of America’s Mission House in Orange City, Iowa, and spoke to churches in Worthington, Minnesota; Rock Valley, Sioux Center and Maurice, Iowa (six churches in total). We also spent one evening with a former volunteer to Niger who now practices medicine in Sibley, Iowa, and who is planning on a second trip in 2008. We saw other past visitors to Niger, too, since that part of Iowa has sent over 12 people to us in the last six years. A fairly busy time, but we also appreciated having our own “place” for a week. This past weekend had me (Tom) making a solitary weekend trip to Detroit, Michigan, to speak at a mission festival there and the following week should have the whole family driving to western and central Michigan for some more church visits. For the most part, we’re using these trips to re-connect with and report back to supporting churches and it is great to see so many familiar faces and to learn that so many churches and mission committees really do follow our ministry work. We still need some new support and we’ve made a few new connections that could evolve into long-term commitments.

We do have some big news to announce in this letter: Aïchatou is expecting and we’re looking at an early April 2008 arrival date! Yes, that would mean the birth would take place in Niger, assuming that no problems emerge during the prenatal period. Aïchatou is doing OK now, but tires easily as she is also battling allergies and a sinus condition.

Jeremy and Susan Beebout are new RCA missionaries to Niger and after two years of preparation, they arrived in Niamey on October 7. The early reports are that they are transitioning very well to a new culture and climate. The RCA assistant, Usman, has been helping them on a daily basis, as they look for permanent housing, get their kids enrolled in a pre-school, discover shops and markets, and generally adapt to their new life and work. Jeremy will be coordinating RCA volunteers coming to Niger and working with agricultural ministry, while Dr. Susan will help the EERN denomination start a health ministry, almost from scratch. They’ll stay in Niamey, but we look forward to working with them when we return to Niger.

Prayers and praise

• Continue to pray for our various visits and travels during our home assignment period. We give thanks that our trips have been fairly uneventful and the girls have generally traveled well.
• Pray for Aïchatou’s health during her pregnancy, as well as the health and development of the baby.
• Pray for new RCA missionaries, the Beebouts, as they become familiar with life and ministry in Niger.
• Pray that our remaining support will be pledged during the next few months so that we’ll continue our ministry into 2008 without interruptions.
• Give praise for the support and interest from our existing churches and individuals.

In Christ,

Tom, Aïchatou, Marie-Florence and Laurey

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