Final revisions

Last week I had my thesis defence via skype. I had been anxious about what might happen since neither the power nor our internet service has been reliable for the last month. I had actually looked into getting a back up connection with a cell phone company in case our main connection went down. My stress levels went up a notch when four days before my defense my modem died altogether and took almost 48 hours get the connection up and running again. In the end I felt at peace and didn't bother with the back up. And even though the power went out momentarily and then later the internet connection came to a stand still, we were able to complete the process without serious interruption.

I had been told the defense would have four possible outcomes:
1) pass with no corrections necessary
2) pass with minor revisions
3) pass with major revisions
4) fail with no possibility of correction

At the end the committee decided on door number two and so I have until April 25th to complete the revisions they've asked for. I would appreciate your prayers as we are now in the height of hot season and the humidity is rising and my brain is starting to melt.

The construction is moving closer to the second floor as the builders work towards pouring the cement ceiling. Please pray that things go smoothly and according to plan.
 

The electricity and our internet connection have become unreliable. The power’s been off two or three times this morning and I’m waiting for the phone company to come and sort out my internet connection. I’m writing this blog on faith.

Jennifer is in Germany at a Christian education conference with the other staff from the boys school. The last time she participated in this conference she enjoyed it and felt inspired to teach once more. Hopefully the cool weather and the fellowship will give her some needed time of renewal.

In the meantime construction continues move forward and will soon reach the second floor as you can see in the photo.

The boys are for two weeks of Easter break. They seemed to be taking it easy but aren’t making much progress on the chores mom left behind. So far dad has managed to keep them fed.

Please pray that the internet cooperates for my thesis defense which is scheduled for next week. I have bought plane tickets for my graduation in my May and I’m hoping that wasn’t premature.

It is finished! Well sort of…

This week I handed in the final draft of my thesis for evaluation. A week ago I handed in a complete version that included all the chapters, etc, but my professor sent back a few final revisions. I’d like to think it’s the last that I’ll see of it but of course it isn’t. In a month’s time I will give an oral defense of it, which will probably require a final round of editing and corrections. Even then it will not be the last of my work.

A while ago another missionary asked me what I was writing about. “Something esoteric that rest of us have never heard about no doubt,” he said. When I told him I was writing about church planting in Niger he was pleasantly surprised. The goal of the thesis has been to provide some working material for our ministry here in Niger and the final editing will not be for the seminary but in the trial and error experiences of our work with believers here.

 

In the mean time construction is continuing on our ministry centre as the walls go up on the building around us. Please pray that things for the construction go according to the plans.

We have much to Praise God for

Dave got the final draft of his thesis done Monday night (well technically it was Tuesday morning but if he didn't sleep does that count?) only to have the internet kick out just before he was ready to send it.  Our power and internet has started to become a bit sketchy lately as the heat has started to return. Thankfully he was able to send it the next morning. Unfortunately the rejoicing was diminished a bit by some of the other events of the next day...
I tried to drive the boys to school Tuesday morning only to find that the truck wasn't going anywhere. We had lent it to someone to go to the village the day before (they were trying to make some connections for an out reach event this coming weekend) and it had overheated but they drove it anyway. Thankfully they were able to make it back into town without getting stranded somewhere. We are grateful that only the fuel injectors needed to be replaced. If that wasn't enough...
I started a load of laundry at 8 am and at noon I thought it was strange that it wasn't finished, but then I was really worried when 3pm rolled around and it was still making the right noises even if the corresponding actions weren't happening and it wasn't finished going through the cycle. (Note: this is still my old washing machine that sort of survived the flood so it wasn't totally unexpected to die). But, if that wasn't enough...
I went to use the microwave in the kitchen and realized I was smelling something burning. My adaptor was melting and the outlet was charred. So, I quickly unplugged it and disconnected it from my microwave. You would think by then I would have got the hint, but no I had to go find another adaptor and try another outlet (because Dave's lunch was cooked but my wasn't), only to do the same thing all over again.

I was either so totally exhausted from too many nights of limited sleep (editing Dave's 100 + pages) or there were people praying for us (or more likely both!) because through it all there was an incredible peace that God was at work and taking care of things.

We praise God that we were able to get someone to get the washing machine running again. It turned out to be something minor and inexpensive. Dave was able to replace the electrical outlets. I couldn't watch, but made sure someone else was around to intervene if he tried to electrocute himself (he doesn't have a great track record with electricity!). We are also grateful that labour is fairly inexpensive here, so as long as too many parts don't have to be replaced, it should only be a matter of time before the truck get back on the road. I guess I can't thank you enough for keep us in your prayers. May God bless you with His presence this week too (but maybe without all of the drama).

Headaches & Other Adventures

I hope that not too many of you have been searching for new updates and come up empty these last two weeks. Unfortunately I have fallen victim to headaches the last few weeks, both the physical and the figurative kind and as a result have let the blog slide. (Dave was going to pick up my slack but was too caught up in editing his thesis). The figurative ones have come in the form of trying a new program to send our newsletter with. Just when I think that I am getting it figured out and that it is going to work something goes wrong and I have to start all over. (Maybe this coming week I will be able to get it to work). I am also still trying to sort out the source of the physical headaches. It may be as simple as not drinking enough and getting dehydrated, but I am afraid that it is more likely due to changes in my vision. I was supposed to go visit my doctor friend today for some tests, but got a little side tracked and didn't make it. Oh well, maybe things will slow down a little next week, so that I can look into it then.

This past week Dave and I participated in an Ajami workshop. Ajami is when Arabic letters are used to write in other languages. This was a review workshop for Dave but something new for me. Hopefully we will be able to put these skills to use when dealing with some of our friends and neighbours that don't read Roman characters but where trained to read the Arabic letters at Qur'anic schools.

The bricks are starting to build for the new ministry centre and we are hoping that there will be enough of them starting this week to start work on the first floor walls. Please continue to pray that this will be built well and will be a blessing to all that visit or use the facilities.

We are praising God that Dave was able to complete the first draft of his thesis last week and only has some revisions to do in the next couple of weeks. Thanks to all of you who have been praying for this.