May 2008
Vol. 7, No. 12

Hello Everyone,

Ellie Johnson at 7 weeks. Tom says she's "growing like a weed."

The hot season is coming to a close, and the rainy season has already hinted (we’ve had two showers) that it has arrived in Niger. Everyone is in agreement that it seems less hot this year. Here in Maradi, we haven’t recorded any days over 110 F, which is unusual. Our family has been able to sleep every night in our home, whereas last year we were forced to sleep outdoors several days due to inside temperatures (even with fans) of over 100 F, while outside it was only 85 F. Yes, we could get air conditioning here and one day we might (probably for our bedroom). I haven’t ruled it out, although the operating expense and the distance it might place between us and the Nigeriens makes it seem like a poor idea at the moment.

Ellie is growing like a weed and is constantly eating. She’s now 2 months old and only wakes up once or twice in the night for her feedings. Her biggest problem is not being left alone by her two sisters, who have woken her up from a nice nap on too many occasions to count.  Marie assumes that she can pick her up when she’s crying and deliver Ellie to their mother, although we don’t encourage this.

Aïchatou, Marie-Florence, Laurey with the new desks in the new school room.

We have officially finished with the girls’ classroom construction. It has been painted, electricity installed, and ceiling fans mounted. We even found two cute little desks in Maradi, which we bought and assembled. As you can see in the photo, the older girls look like they are ready for school! We still need to build or buy a few more pieces of furniture (bookshelf, cabinet, teacher’s desk) but it is really starting to look like a classroom. And we have good news: The RCA Volunteer Bureau found us a teacher!

Elizabeth W from Ravenna, Michigan (she attends Unity Reformed in Muskegon) should arrive in Niger this August.  She graduated from Kuyper College (in Grand Rapids, Michigan) in 2007 as a cross-cultural studies major. She herself was home-schooled and she’s done many things with small children. Since we’re just doing pre-school in the mornings, we’re very happy with Elizabeth’s experiences and looking forward to how she can help us prepare for a home-school situation. She’s certified to teach English as a second language, and she’ll probably be able to work with some Nigeriens in that capacity during the afternoons, which will help her advance in her profession.

In other news, we’re still making arrangements at the Bible school to start a goat herd and an irrigated garden. This is taking forever, but we feel much better that everything will be properly in place (both in people and in policies) for the project to succeed. Nothing happens very quickly in Niger, and I believe many projects have failed simply because they were rushed through as funders wanted instant results. That’s not a good way to do either development or ministry, as those who are excited about short-term gains fail to put in place what’s necessary to see long-term results.

Prayers and praises

• Please pray for a good rainy season in Niger. Pray that the rains will fall regularly and be abundant. Pray for the majority of Nigeriens who will plant their crops in the next few weeks. 
• Pray for the Nigeriens who are now in the “hungry season,” the period after planting when all of the grain from last year has been eaten or saved for planting.
• We give thanks for Elizabeth W and her decision to come to Niger to teach our pre-school children. We pray that the Lord will adequately prepare her for her time here. We pray that she will have the funds she needs by early August.
• Pray that Marie and Laurey will be ready to start pre-school this fall. Pray that they will have the discipline for handling a structured morning of activities.
• Pray that we’ll be able to replace our DC multi-voltage well pump that somehow suffered an electrical short and was fried. This pump was connected to the wind and solar system. We have a second pump that runs on AC current that is meeting the school population’s water needs, but this will not be adequate for when we add irrigation and a goat herd to the water use.

In Christ,

Tom, Aïchatou, Marie-Florence, Laurey and Ellie

The 2008 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 7