Retreat & Tea Time

This has been a pretty full week. We were finally able to plan and have a short spiritual retreat. It wasn’t the visit to some solitary place to commune with God through nature that I envisioned, (I’m really not sure how well that would work in Niamey). So it was probably more productive just to be in a comfortable place to spend some extra quality time with God and do some ministry evaluation and planning. Thanks to all those people who prayed that it would happen, it made a difference! Who knows maybe some day I get that time in the mountains or by the ocean…

Dave is starting to make “tea time” a regular part of his week. No he isn’t returning to his British heritage! He is spending time in the evening having Tuareg tea on the street with our guard and anyone else who happens to come along. The local way of making and sharing tea here takes about an hour and a half and is always a communal thing. Please pray that he can make the most of the conversations that he has at that time and that God will lead him to other ways to connect with neighbours.

I have been able to visit a bit with friends in the neighbourhood this week, but have been struggling with a voice box that just doesn’t want to cooperate. I have been trying to do all the right things to stay healthy (well maybe not “all” of them—there were a few too many good things that came back with us from Canada for that), but I am still struggling with head colds or maybe it is allergies. It was frustrating when we went to a naming ceremony for one of our neighbours, I could only say congratulations and hope that I didn’t pass any thing on to the baby or anyone else. Hopefully I’ll be able to get back to visit with the baby and mom in the next few weeks.

On more of a personal note…
Fifteen years ago last December, I married my best friend (for those of you that didn’t realize, the day after our open house was our anniversary so you were not only coming to see us and check in on our ministry, but you were also helping us celebrate our anniversary!). This past week he got a little bit older. He had the opportunity to celebrate with family back home, so he wasn’t up for a major celebration (not that Dave is into parties). We were loaned a BBQ from some missionaries that are home right now, so there was BBQ steak! I also made him a carrot cake with cream cheese icing which is a delicacy here because it is not easy to get cream cheese (but we had some treats from home) and had a family celebration.