the end

My journey in Niger has come to an end. Thanks to each of you who accompanied me via sporadic posts here. It’s been an incredible, exhausting, challenging, life-changing, blessed journey. A journey with God. God’s the reason I took such a journey and he’s the reason I survived it. I’ve seen his power and provision through every birth, death, healing, friendship, dilemma, … through every imaginable and unfathomable experience.

Now I move on...and when something interesting happens or I get bored I will update my original blog -link on the right.

to, sey yeeso...

the last days

This uncommon, gregarious Fulani will also be greatly missed. He frequents our house in town on market day, where he gets some good eats, a nap, and some good conversation.

Meet Halima and her son, Issia. Issia is a young boy who has been very sick, but thanks to God and some good medical help he is doing well today.

This Fulani chief has become a dear friend. He is like a grandfather. I will greatly miss him shaking his finger at me, followed by putting his hand on his chin as he emphatically says, “haba!” whenever I make a crazy comment…which is often, right?

Welcome to FBC Chez Jessica & Sarah. I love this church and will miss it, especially the singing part. I do look forward to more fellowship and teaching though.

hats, tires, beans, and a cow

Young Fulani men in the Tessaoua area wear these funny hats, which they make themselves.




Recently we had many tires go bad; here is one of the blowouts.



Beans, beans, good for your heart…sorry, granny. I love beans!



In the village where I have my medical practice, I was recently asked to treat a cow’s sore…too funny. Just so you know, I only looked!

in the hole, in the road

recently my travels in this land have been numerous, accompanied with:

3 blow outs
more flats than i can count
2 puking kids & their sick mother-in the seat with me
1 staring man
1 flip-flop cut in order to plug a tire
13 hours one way
50 cfa manioc flour; mixed with water to seal tire
off-roading in a bus
too many over-packed buses and bush taxis
the aisle seat: a fold-down plank between two rows
dirty black market gas
the good seat: by a broken window
gas shortages
passenger door nearly ripped off
999 speed bumbs, okay i don't know how many, but it's a lot
9,999 potholes and craters...

i will miss this land, but not this road

likitajo

does the fact that my mom, aunt, and grandmother are nurses give me the right to practice medicine? nope, but i do...sometimes.


















here i am cleaning a leg wound for this elderly fulani lady.

the man watching is my "likitajo" or doctor in training.
i leave him with some cleaning supplies and he takes care of folks' sores and such when i'm not around.

my expertise: sores & wounds. nothing else.
everything else is left in the hands of the real doctors and our Great Physician.

i enjoy loving the fulani by playing doctor. it is a blessing.

Niger/America

Random thoughts
Things I’ll miss
Things I won’t miss
Lessons learned

You’re 40 years old, right?; Talking to neighbors while in the “bathroom;” Duct taping the ceiling so lizards can’t come in; Africa, where is that?; You’re men only marry one woman; always have water; Entertaining the neighborhood kids; Beautiful stars; the living Word; Cramming folks into vehicles; 4-wheel drive; The heat; The unknown; Trying to tell a Fulani about my skydiving experience; Cool mornings; Solid relationships; Using a stick as tissue; Cooking from scratch; My job: to proclaim the Truth; Playing doctor; Church; You’re not married; Coke in a glass bottle; The public restroom; Brown eggs; mosquitoes; The trash dump; sticking out like a sore thumb; community; utter dependence upon the Lord

a few more, hopefully

a change of scenery...this is actually in Niger. sarah & i discovered this beautiful, green, hilly land...ahhh. too bad its hours from us.


me and the bush taxi driver...remember from below, 15 folks? only two had on deo...can you imagine?!? don't forget the temp here. yep, it wasn't too nice, but you can see i was smiling...or maybe that was for another reason!


sarah and i ... how do two girls living in niger entertain themselves? tell stories, sing, make faces, make things...on this day we even stooped so low as to play MASH. oh my! thank God we have one another for entertainment!



this is my friend, A. he's more than a friend. he is like a brother. he spends most his time chez moi...he shall be greatly missed.

pics, hopefully

our Hausa neighbor kids...the little one comes busting into our house at 630am!


bush taxi from out east; 15 folks in this vehicle plus infants...we got stuck



a favorite past time here...painting nails


sarah and i out in n'guigmi...eastern niger. the land of sand

in remembrance

a friend. a father. a son. a brother. a husband. a leader. a follower...now worshipping in the very presence of our Lord.

"I sat with him for hours
And listened to his voice
As he read stories about our Lord
I listened as he stumbled
But never did he grumble
He said the work was hard
But he was ready for the challenge

My prayer was for him
To read the Scriptures
In his own tongue
In his own time
For his people
So they could know the truth
And be set free

[he] Will never have to read
Another Word again
For he can hear them
Spoken from the very lips of God "

-parts of a poem by chelsea, a summer missionary

itch, itch, ahh

can you see it? that little devil, a caterpillar

as soon as i returned from tessaoua from my trip to senegal...i began itching. it was weird. but then i realized that i wasn't the only one itching. sarah was. my neighbors were. everyone was itching. i'm talking painful, burning, itching. nothing took away the itching.
















rumor has it that the source of the itching was the little caterpillar above. they were everywhere! supposedly if they touch you or if their hairs touch you - which were all in the air - you would itch. think it's funny? well, it wasn't!

there was one funny aspect though. the fulani added, "how are the catepillars?" to their greetings.
imagine: how's the family? how are the rains? how is work? and how are the catepillars?!!

my fulani friends were shocked that the caterpillars even touched us white folks...like we're immune or something!

















after about a week or two of itching, the caterpillars turned into annoying, little moths!
check them out on my wall below.

through my windshield

take a look through the eyes of anasara.
anasara essentially means white person.
in this case though, "anasara" is the name of my truck.

















in the middle of the bush. a dump truck sunk! yes, it's been raining!

















the donkey cart path to *T through fields of millet and groundnuts
















the main road out to SM. as you can see, we like hitting the mud puddles!

out in sm

above: me (nayejo) chit-chatting with "surbajo."

I call her "young, unmarried girl" and she refers to me as "old lady." We have such a fun-loving relationship. She may be old and widowed, but she has a wonderful since of humor. I always enjoy hanging out with "surbajo." Unlike her 5 grown sons and their wives, she has yet decided to follow the way of truth.



above: walking to the well with the twins

These two older ladies are also a joy to be around and neither of them are walking with God. Many of their grown children are believers, so pray that one day (soon) they would have a change of heart as well.



above: watching as two of the men attempt to match pictures with words

boy, is literacy a challenge in an illiterate culture! i know, duh! slowly, slowly. it is my heart's desire that these men will one day soon be able to read God's Word on their own and in their own language.

change in subject:



look at me: i've lost 185 pounds!

ha ha, not really. but this is my big mama shirt and i always have a blast when i wear it.