November 2007

Vol. 7. No. 6

Hello Everyone,

As you gather with friends and family to give thanks to God for the many blessings we enjoy in this country, our family would like to wish you a happy Thanksgiving. We’ll be going to my aunt’s family home in Marshalltown, Iowa, to celebrate with Tom’s extended family.

The last month has again found us traveling, this time to Michigan, Illinois, and even New York. We know that these could be the last days of visiting churches as a whole family for a while, as we grow in numbers (one more to come in 2008!) and due to the children getting older. So far, it hasn’t been too crazy traveling with two small kids. Some of this is because we have a portable DVD player in the car that minimizes boring car trips, but much of it is because the girls like to move about. It has been fun watching them get comfortable meeting new people and even helping to shake congregants’ hands after the church services.  I suppose it works because they consider it all normal activity.

We spent the first weekend in November at University Reformed Church (URC) in East Lansing, Michigan. This is the church where I was a member during grad school. It was their missions weekend, and we were scheduled for four different events, along with another RCA mission couple, the McAuleys and others in the URC community who have been active in missions. We enjoyed sharing the weekend with so many people who are enthusiastic about missions. I also had a chance on Friday evening to speak the Graduate InterVarsity chapter. While it was great to see so many old friends, I was struck by how much I had changed since living in that wonderful university community. Having a family and living thousands of miles away in another culture will do that, I guess.

After URC, we were vagabonds, spending a few days in Zeeland, Michigan, with the DeVissers. I went to an interesting meeting in Grand Rapids to see if there were some subjects where my Christian Reformed World Mission colleague in Niger and I could work together for the good of the Nigerien church. It looks very positive and we’ll have another meeting to discuss it further. We continued on to South Holland, Illinois, and a visit to First Reformed there, where we presented an update on our work. The following day took us to Chicago and our RCA African Missions supervisor to catch up on some work topics. From there we drove to Kalamazoo, where I toured Tillers International, an organization that promotes appropriate technologies for the developing world, such as animal-drawn equipment for places where tractors are not feasible. They were quite helpful and gave me some ideas about the work in Niger at the Bible school and preparing the students for more vocational instruction. That weekend kept us busy with presentations to two great churches: Bethany Reformed in Kalamazoo and Faith Reformed in Zeeland, before heading home to Iowa.

Our time in Iowa was brief, as Aïchatou and I had been invited to Hopewell Reformed Church in Hopewell Junction, New York (about an hour from New York City along the Hudson River) for their 250th Anniversary. We were delighted to help celebrate that weekend with them, as they had sent four church members, including their pastor, to Niger in the past two years and they always show such warmth to us and the ministry. There aren’t many churches that attain 250 years, and this achievement is likely attributable to their dedication to their mission: “To know Christ and to make Him known,”  which was evident throughout their events. It was our first weekend without the kids, and we appreciated this time to be “husband and wife” and not “mom and dad.” The only downside was the plane trip back to Iowa. Weather delays made our four-and-a-half-hour flights drag on to 20 hours of travel time!

As I finish this email, we’re experiencing the first snow of the season in Iowa. Of course, Aïchatou has been feeling cold for weeks already, but the girls can’t wait to go outside and play in the snow!

Prayer and praise

• Give thanks for our time with family and friends in the United States and for the warmth, hospitality and the divine protection we have received while traveling.
• Pray for the new baby that we’re expecting around April 2008 and for Aïchatou’s health as the pregnancy progresses.
• Pray that I can use this time in the United States to gather ideas and prepare for the work in Niger.
• Pray for all those who do ministry in Niger—whether as missionaries or local church leaders and pastors.

In Christ,

Tom, Aïchatou, Marie-Florence and Laurey

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