Please Pray through the Transitions

As the school year is quickly coming to a close I have a number of subjects that I would appreciate prayer for:
·        Visitors: we are praising God that we have the opportunity to host some visitors from Canada who are considering whether Niger is the place where God is calling them to minister next. Please pray for them that God would lead them at this time. Please pray for us in that we might give them a realistic experience of what life and ministry is like here.
·        Praise also for God’s provision in the moving process: God has provided us with many good friends and contacts here that have helped us find a temporary place to stay for our last few weeks and a truck to help us move our things into storage.
·        The church: that God would continue to move amongst the people here strengthening their faith and their relationships and that they would see God at work bringing others to know Him.

Window grills for the building

·        The building/moving: please pray that a couple of rooms in the new building would be able to be closed off this week so that we might begin the process of putting our things (and the things that we have accumulated for the building) in storage until it can be completed. Pray that the power would cooperate so the welder can finish the work.
·        Health concerns for our family: Please pray for Ben’s surgery that he will be having in France in June. We are told that this will determine whether hearing will be restored to his ear or not.  Continue to remember our family that we will be able to stay healthy and strong until the end so that we might finish this term well despite the difficulties we face.
·        Healing for others: We would really appreciate prayer for our friends that are teachers at the boys’ school. The father was treated for skin cancer last fall and we praise God that he is cancer free, but the mother has been diagnosed with a bone marrow disease. Please pray for her healing, for all the decisions that they will need to make about treatments and comfort for the whole family (they have 4 school aged children).
·        Decisions: Please pray for us as there are so many decisions that need to be made as we transition home for our furlough year. Praise that Ben chose to be baptized this past weekend, pray that he and those baptized with him will be strengthened in his journey faith.

Baptismal candidates

·        Graduation: please pray for Cole (and his class) as they graduate from high school that God would be leading and directing them in their future path.

Ben was baptized this past week!

 
 

Regaining perspective

About two weeks ago I started to write this blog about the crazy roller coaster my life has turned into but then it didn’t slow down enough for me to finish. So here are the abbreviated highlights:
Wednesday, Ben invited some kids from his English class to sleep over so they could work on their major project for the unit (considering I am the teacher how can I refuse that kind of motivation!)
The morning of the sleep over the doctor looked at his in-grown toe nail and told us it had to come off, the sooner the better. It couldn’t wait until Monday for her clinic hours. So he got to be the model for 3 other doctors who had never seen a nail removed (I’ll save the picture for the end for those who may not want to see) I suspect having the friends to distract him, helped to keep his mind off of the pain (and surprise, surprise –they actually go the school work done & got some sleep despite the fact that our power went out three times)
The next morning the boys got to sleep in but I headed into school for a Professional Development Day that ended up with setting up for the yard sale Ben’s class was holding the next morning
So much for sleeping in on Saturday, we were needed to help Ben and his class with the yard sale or as a friend describes it “the annual missionary treasure swap” (I even got to re-sell toys that our boys had purchased and played with at the end of our first year here 11 years ago!)
Sunday was the usual crazy-busy with the added bonus of Dave preaching and the month end extra prayer service. (He’s preached the last three Sundays).
My mind is fuzzy about what came next as there were many power cuts and sleepless nights, but somewhere in there I got my marks into the school reporting program and started gearing up to take over Cole’s English class (as the teacher was only here as a temporary substitute and the regular teacher isn’t going to make it back until graduation). Oh and I had a birthday in there somewhere (just no cake because I wasn’t ready to bake my own in the heat).


Getting ready to pour the ceiling

We have been gearing up for the transition home, unloading the stuff that we’ve grown out of or no longer need, selling off and giving away some things and packing up others. The construction at the building site slowed down for a couple of weeks while the missionary who is overseeing it went to France to get out of the heat. (His wife was concerned for his health). Almost $200 worth of electrical wire went missing while he was gone but the night guard responsible for the site has agreed to repay what went missing. We are praising God that the finances for completion of the building have been approved by the denomination!
This past weekend, I got the word that my niece (who is Ben’s age) was admitted to the hospital and early this week she had back surgery. Being away from your family is never easy but it is times like this that can be some of the most challenging. From what I have heard the surgery went as was expected and they are hoping that it will help to reduce her pain so that it will be more manageable in the future. Please keep her and the rest of my sister’s family in your prayers.
All of this comes on the background of the major wild fires in Ft McMurray where thousands of Canadians have found themselves fleeing their homes and losing everything. I can imagine the devastation and loss that they are feeling and my heart goes out to all of them and those in the province that have opened up their homes and lives to help those who are experiencing this crisis. I am truly grateful for a news report I heard this afternoon on the BBC that there were no deaths as a result of this situation. It is truly a reality check for my whining about power cuts and sleepless nights, that I have a LOT to be thankful for. My prayer is that out of this crisis would come countless stories of God’s intervention and grace despite the devastation

Adding Freezing

Nailess! I saved you the infection pics

 
 

Looking for Jesus in the Difficulties of Life

I read a great devotional the other day that reminded me that Jesus Christ is always present in a believer’s life but Satan uses three tactics to keep us for looking for Him in the difficulties we face. Those three “D’s” were distraction, deception and discouragement. I have found this so true over the years. You know that that is true when you are facing what seems like a major crisis/disaster of life, but more often than not it is the little things that tend to get to you the most. They kind of slip under your radar as something that you “need” to take to the cross—
You know the kind of things that I am talking about:
The waist band you are about to slip into goes “crackle, crunch, snap” (in protest of living too long in the desert heat) just as you are about to pull it on
The dog jumps on you with muddy paws just as you are rushing to an important meeting
You catch you favourite shirt (and it rips) on the corner of the chair that you keep meaning to fix and never seem to get around to
Or worse you keep hearing those voices inside your head that tell you “you aren’t good enough”, “you can’t do it”, ”you really messed up and will never be able to fix it”, “your fat, ugly and your mother/wife dresses you funny”... that sort of thing
I started writing this a week ago and at the time I really thought that I was getting a handle on the concept of keeping my focus on Jesus and letting him handle the little things and then I got really busy. I had one of those weeks when everything seems to be booked into the same week and you are running from event to event because there is just enough time to make it and they all seem like opportunities that you can’t miss. This was also coincided with Dave started preaching on 2^nd Timothy –renewing your calling, “pass on what you have learned to faithful men” (that you might have a legacy), oh and let me not forget “share in the sufferings of Christ”. I also went to the English worship service that night and heard a great sermon on how Satan tries to deceive us by misdirecting us. (Anyone else notice a theme here...)

Needless to say, I wasn’t too surprised when our power cut out at 3 am and didn’t come back on. What was surprising was that Dave and I had the same response at 5:30 am when we were trying to get ready for school in the dark –“check the breaker”. But it was the source of the issue that really got our attention. As I flipped the breaker on the house and the power came on Ben called me to see what he found in the pantry. The electrical outlet on the freezer had exploded out of the wall. I don’t know if you can see from the picture but the heat of the fire melted the outlet and fused it to the cord of the regulator. The regulator was fried but thankfully the freezer was fine. Nothing else (other than maybe the wiring in the wall and a second outlet) was damaged. We are so grateful for God’s hand of protection on our lives and for people like you who pray for us regularly.
I guess what I am trying to get at, but maybe not communicating all that well because of my hot season fatigue, is that trials and difficulties come to all of us in this world. But you don’t have to face them alone and that can make all the difference

Sahel Academy

Which one is mine?

Library murale

There is a part of all of us that wants to know that our life has meaning an a purpose and that maybe we have made a difference in the lives of those around us (or maybe it’s just me). One of the things that I appreciate the most about teaching is being able to see progress and development in my students. It really helps me to feel like maybe I am making a difference with my life. What is hardest about teaching is that you rarely get to see the long term affect. For the most part you lose touch with those that you have taught and rarely do you get to know that your class had any lasting value to those you have worked with. So, if you are reading this and you have had a teacher or pastor that has really made a difference in your life, my challenge for you is to take the time to let them know that you appreciated them.

Aside from my philosophical ponderings about lasting impact, school has been on my mind for other reasons this week. It seems like every semester posses a new challenge to Sahel Academy (the boys school) and even though we are only into the third day of this last quarter we have already been faced with a number of issues:

Man power is always an issue because Niger is not the easiest country to live in so recruiting has its challenges and as we start the quarter we have additional challenges. We are losing one teacher  that has to go home due to illness, we are waiting on another teacher/principal who is delayed in returning because of health issues and in addition to that our IT person (a former student) was hit by a car while crossing a street on Monday and is recovering from severe blood loss and soft tissue damage (his sister, another teacher at the school, was with him at the time and while she wasn’t hit she has had to deal with the shock of the accident). Please pray for these various people and their families and those that are trying to fill in for them.

As well as the manpower problems we have also had to face some technical issues. Our school server crashed and the IT person was not aware that the back up drive hadn’t been working for the last few months, so a significant amount of data was lost. One of the most painful pieces being that most of the layouts and pictures for the yearbook was lost. This hits particularly close to home as this is Cole’s senior year and he was very involved in producing the yearbook. Please pray that when the IT guy recovers from the accident that he will also be able to recover what has been lost or that the students will find another way to have a lasting memory of their final year at Sahel.

On a personal level we have been having issues with our phone line and have not had internet at our house for awhile, so have patience with us as we try to respond to messages that have come our way (It can be a challenge to find internet in town during hot season when the power is sketchy).

We are quickly moving into the home stretch of our term here in Niger and have already begun the task of sorting and packing in order to move out and head home. This home stretch is always the hardest because it comes at the hottest and most tiring part of the year. Please pray that we can keep it up and make it home in once piece.

PS If you want to find out more about teaching at Sahel check out their website: www.sahelacademy.com
& some pictures from the building:

Supports & bricks for the ceiling



Pouring cross beams

 

A wedding, an election, a baby and Holy Week or is that Spring Break??

Guess who is behind the paper!



Waiting for a wedding

This has been an incredibly busy week in our house. My plans to get a head start on the sorting, sifting, and packing that goes into moving have not really worked out as I had hoped but I guess that is life and sometimes other things have to take priority. This past weekend started with the wedding I mentioned a little while ago (after four trips to the tailor we all had matching outfits that actually fit!). Although the ceremony started an hour and a half late things wen
t well, the electric company even cooperated and kept the power on for the whole time. Four hours after our arrival the couple were married and starting to enjoy the wedding feast. 


3hrs old, ears pierced & eyes open

The next day was the final voting for our presidential election and our present president was re-instated for another five year term. As far as we could tell this election went smoothly and without incident (not that we have much knowledge of these things) –other than the fact that the other candidate had to be evacuated for medical reasons just before the election.
In addition to the wedding we had a naming ceremony to participate in. Our house help had a baby girl last week so that means that eight days later there is a big celebration to announce the baby’s name. We were happy to be a part of the celebration that brings in not only family and friends but everyone in the community. By the way they chose Leila for her name.
In addition to all of these celebrations and events we have been remembering the death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour this week as a family. Taking time to read the stories and follow the events leading up to the cross and more importantly the empty tomb, has been a good reminder of all that Christ has done for us. It is our prayer that you will know a fresh sense of God’s goodness and Christ’s sacrifice this week!

I have a few prayer requests this week. We have discovered that because the architect was financially unable to restore the building to where it was when it collapsed the money that we had left is not quite sufficient to complete it. Please pray that there would be finances in place to at least get the building closed off before we have to leave this summer. Also, Ben received a letter this week indicating that he was chosen to represent his school at the National Student Leaders Conference at one of a number of leading universities in the US this summer. Pray that if he is to go that the finances and details will come together for it. Also, please pray that despite the business of the break that we would be refreshed and ready for the final quarter of the school year as we go back this week.