something(s) to think about

I go to sleep on a normal mattress, but wake up in a water bed.
Often there is a gigantic, invisible dragon blowing dirty, flameless fire on me.
When the dragon is asleep, God’s natural A/C kicks on.
It’s hot, yet I want to wear long sleeves to alleviate the baking sensation outside.
There is no need for a hot water heater; tap water is already hot.
Evidently people think I am Santa Claus, because they’re always asking for gifts.
I can literally wring the sweat out of my clothes.
There are more than 7 languages spoken in Niamey and the surrounding area.
There is a different dialect of Fulfulde when you go to the east and west an itty bit.
I am learning a mixture of Fulfulde, Hausa, English, and French (Hausfrengulde.)

Fulfulde, the language I am really learning has a verb for nearly everything.
A few examples:
-to be yellow, to be red, … and other colors. Yes, each color has its own verb. Wait, but not green. If you want to say the car is green, literally you say the car is fresh grass.
-to run away from your husband
-to put eye makeup on
-to stand around fire
-to be a woman who no man wants to marry
(yes, in Fulfulde one word describes these phrases)

Look at Luke 8 and the explanation of the Parable of the Seeds. The seed represents the Word of God and the ones who hear the Word. How can that be? We translated this story for language class earlier this week and our language teacher pointed this out to us. He encouraged us to think about it, because he believes Fulani will have a hard time understanding that the seed represents the Word of God and people. What do you think?

Welcome to Tessaoua!

This is the sign you will see if you come visit me in Tessaoua, after riding for 10 or so hours from the capital. It’s a straight shot from Niamey.















Driving through the middle of Tessaoua.

Now, if you fall asleep while riding, you’re likely to pass through without even realizing it.















Even though Tessaoua is a small town, there are several mosques.

Please pray for the men who go to these mosques and their families. Pray that God would open their eyes to the Truth. Most of the people who live in town are Hausa people, not Fulani. But they all need Jesus, right?




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Looking at a map with some men, discussing locations of Fulani villages.

After inspecting the house, we began our search for Fulani villages around the area. Thanks to God, we found two villages that are open to our coming back.

yet another story

today i was in my first ever car accident. not my first in africa. my first, period.

driving home from buying groceries...boom. this car was at the intersection, where it was supposed to stop before entering the road. he failed to stop causing us to crash. yep, i was driving. i stopped where we were, we all jumped out of the truck. the man came up to me, smiling. i asked him why he didn't stop. the response: i wasn't thinking, i'm sorry. what?

sarah had already ran down to the guest house, because we weren't far away to get the bossman to come help us. i was trying to get the man to wait, but he kept refusing. just as he started his car to drive off, a friend drove up and was able to assist us. Praise the Lord. In the end, he messed up his car much more than our truck, which is plenty banged up as is. of coure we had a nice audience, which was good...because they are all witnesses that it wasn't my fault!

Hillary, when are you coming back?

i met hillary when i arrived in niger. she was a volunteer with the Songhai team, and was out in the bush most of her time here. but we still spent a great deal of time together...especially toward the end of her stay.





















my new friend left friday, heading back to kentucky. i'm sure she'll be back, right?
















who else will jump with me on the trampoline at night? and make tapes with me? and make brownies? pick up Dr. Peppers???
















you're greatly missed hillary!