Picking up the Pieces Pictures

The church office and library

The pastor's house

Picking up the pieces

How do I find the words to express the feelings and the loss of the past week?
The destruction seems surreal and all too real at the same time. Our church and the pastors house was looted, and burned and they lost everything but the clothes on their back and the vehicles that they had with them. It is tragic, especially because this wasn't one isolated incident but happened to numerous pastors and numerous churches across this country.
And yet...
We have much to be thankful for.
It has been beautiful to watch the church come around them and support them in various ways helping with food and clothes and just being there for them. God is at work.
Please pray for the church in Niger that they will rise up stronger as a result of this persecution. Pray for us as we process what has gone on here and help others do the same. Pray for the pastor and his family as they start over again and the many others in the same situation. Pray for the government as they try to respond to what has happened here. Pray for peace.

It was a two house coat morning

I guess it is all about perspective... for me it was a two house coat morning (keep in mind that both of my house coats are lightweight cotton and all of my pjs are summer weight), however for my sons it was shorts and t-shirt weather (one was only because he didn’t remember that he owned a pair of track pants!). The actual temperature was 14C in the house at 6 this morning when everyone was rushing to get ready for school. Aahh cold season! If it wasn’t for the dust in the air (and basically in everything) it would be almost heavenly. My neighbours tend to disagree with me on that and bundle up in their winter coats and hats. We were even told this week that there wouldn’t be Sunday school because “no one will make it for 9am, it too cold!”

I am sure that if you are reading this from somewhere other than Niger you must be laughing and thinking that we don’t know cold and it is so true. But sometimes cold is relative to how hot it gets, so I’ll bundle up in my two house coats and try to remember this feeling when hot season rolls around next March/April.

Two exciting new developments happen this week: company is coming and we finally have paperwork with the electric company for the new building. It isn’t that they have actually started to connect the building to the electricity (that will probably be weeks if not months away by the time the power line is put through) but we have paid our dues and so they will hopefully start the work soon. We are also looking forward to a visit from our boss and another Canadian pastor as they come to help oversee the first ordination service that we have in Niger.