how do you spell november?

Well in this household, November is spelled S-I-C-K! If ever a month has been dedicated to being sick, it's this one. The second weekend in November, I had malaria & a sinus infection. Luckily (if you can say "luckily" with something like malaria), we were in Niamey already & once I started having a fever, I got tested within the hour & was pumping the meds soon thereafter. A day in bed and I was back in action.

A week and a half later, Mark got to feeling sick. This time we were in Ayorou & not scheduled to come back to Niamey for another 4 days. He wanted to "wait it out" to see if it was just a stomach bug or something else ... bad idea! By the time his fever hit & we realized it was probably malaria too & we needed to get to Niamey ASAP, it was well into the afternoon. With Izzy in her "I want Mama only & don't like to play by myself" stage, it took me 3 hours to pack! That left us leaving at 7:30 at night & arriving in Niamey at almost 11 pm. For those of you who've never had the "privilege" of driving on African roads, you cannot understand the stress of doing so IN THE DARK! We got Mark tested as soon as we got to Niamey & the results said: Malaria - POSITIVE. He needed 2 days in bed before he was back. I don't think I have ever appreciated him more than when he was unavailable & I did Izzy duty solo!

Not even a week after that, the Belle got a fever and we wasted no time in getting to Niamey. Praise the Lord, she does not have malaria but the poor little thing has an ear infection in both ears & a high bacterial infection. She's taking a round of antiobiotics & is already back to her boisterous self ... no days in bed for the ball of energy we call Isabelle!

We are all finally either healthy or on the road to recovery! Hopefully we've gotten all our sicknesses out of the way for the next year! And this Thanksgiving season we are very, very thankful for the MANY of you who pray for us & our health!

the women of ayorou

The Songhai women are a hard working bunch. They start their day at the first glimpse of daylight and work almost non-stop until it's dark outside. Most of their day's activities are filled with getting meals ready (which includes pounding millet, shopping at the market, & cooking over an open fire), washing clothes & dishes (sometimes at the river or bringing water back to the house to do it there) and taking care of the children. A lot of times they are doing some of these activities at the same time - as in pounding millet with a baby strapped to their back!

The majority of Songhai women are uneducated & illiterate. They do not know or understand what they believe. They think that knowing religious things is reserved for men. They do not understand that they have a choice, a freedom to choose what to believe or who to believe in.

In August, Living Hope came and shared the Creation to Christ story with men & women. The girls went out twice a day strictly targeting groups of women to share this story with. As a result, they found that many women were interested in knowing more about God, about Jesus, and about the Bible. This left Isabelle & I with a lot of follow up to do!

After returning from the Ivory Coast, Isabelle & I went out and met with many of these ladies (6 to be exact). I told them that I would like to start studying the Bible with them. We set a date, agreed on a time & I began to make all the preparations for our first study (including writing a translating a story from the Bible). The first meeting came & went and only one lady showed up. Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed but one is better than none, right? So we agreed to study the Bible twice a week even if it was just us.

Well, the next meeting 7 women were there! Only 2 of them were from the original "invites" - they had brought friends with them. I shared my story with them & my goal for our Bible study - that even though they cannot read, they can know the Bible. I wanted them to be able to know this story by heart before they left. They became very excited about this - being able to know the Bible for themselves! And I am excited, too! Please pray for these ladies that they would be faithful to come twice a week to the Bible study, that as they hear stories of Jesus they would yearn to follow Him, and that as they learn the stories they would share them with their friends & family.

Here are a few of the women you are praying for ...

september/october 08

We've decided to start posting our newsletters on the blog for those of you who do not receive it via email. I know it's tee tiny but I can't make it any bigger. Just click on it & it should pop up bigger. If you would like to receive a copy of our newsletter through email, just send us a message with your email address and we'll gladly add you to the list!