It’s a very small world

Let’s put Niamey in context.  It used to be that if you wanted to refer to a place that was “no where” or out in the boondocks you called it Timbuktu.  Well, Timbuktu is a more-worldly city than Niamey.  Niamey is an expensive, impossible place to get to.  There is no tourism in Niamey and it is not included on any Touck Tours, cruise lines stops, and all the information about it on Travelocity is 10 years old.  Niamey is not high on many American’s radar screen.  Yes, there are a few here but percentage-wise, the number in Niamey if far right of the decimal point.  That said, let me tell you three stories about how closely Niamey is connected to life in the US and Minnesota.

First, Sally and I have wandered up the road to the American Rec Center for dinner a few times.  I need the walk and she needs the chocolate milkshake.  We have also rented videos from them and as a result, have gotten to know Lindsey.  Lindsey runs the Rec center.  She was a former Peace Corp Volunteer in a village and has found a boy friend here so she is still in Niger. 

Lindsey, we find, is from Lincolnshire, Il.  In my conversant manner I happen to pass on that my brother and his wife live in Lincolnshire.  Why I volunteered this little tidbit I don’t know.  They live there but they are in an apartment complex, are not socially engaged there, are in town less than half the year, and there are over 6,000 people who live there with a few million more in the surrounding area.  Lindsey gives me an “Oh, that’s nice” response. 

A few days later Lindsey is talking to her uncle, who also happens to live in Lincolnshire, and because the conversation had to be getting a little slow mentions that she met a couple in Niamey who have a brother living in Lincolnshire named Manhard.  Turns out he not only knows them but he works for them.  He is a civil engineer and has worked for Manhard Consulting (my brother’s engineer firm) for 10 years.  The Manhard crowd gets around.

Second, when Sally and I were camping our way in Florida last year and found ourselves considering going to Niger, we were using Janet Hagberg’s Lenten series on Teresa of Avilla as a devotional.  (Janet is a friend at Colonial Church and we have had many points of contact with her through the ages, and if that sounds like a long time, it is.)  Her main point was that God is Enough and we ended up using that as our “theme” for this trip.  You might say, Janet’s series is to “blame” for our being here.

So we come to Niger and life goes on.  I preach at church one Sunday and use Bob Guelick’s Sermon on the Mount book as my main reference.  (Bob was teaching minister at Colonial Church, a good friend, and member of our Koininia Group.  He also wrote a book on the Sermon of the Mount while teaching at Fuller Seminary that is still used as a major reference today.)

This last Sunday, our last Sunday here, the sermon was on faith and the preacher used as his reference a book by Janet Hagberg and Bob Guelick (they co-authored a book on the Steps of Faith while Bob was at Colonial) He had slides of their material and refered to them and their book several times as really helpful to his faith journey.)  You might say that God used Janet to call us to Niamey and by having Janet at the end of this time feels like confirmation that even though we still aren’t sure why we are here, God is!!  So we began and ended our journey with Janet.  And in the space of 2 months, Bob Guelick’s name and his words have been on slides in this small English speaking church held in a school lunchroom in Niamey, Niger.  The Colonial crowd gets around.

Finally, this may show how little Sally and I know about missionary work, a while back we were working in the Center’s library here applying some of the things we learned in college, law school, and business school.  We were dusting, sweeping, restocking the books, and generally making the place more usable.  In the Christian book section there were a number of books (15+) by a guy named John Piper.  We had never heard of him.  One of the SIL people was in the room with us at the time so we commented about this author.  She was aghast.  You have never heard of John Piper and you are doing missionary work in Niger?  Where have you been?  John Piper is to missionary work and missionary theology what Rubik is to cubes.  Everyone one has read John Piper.  He was even given as much time in church as Bob Guelick. 

To make our lack of missionary education more apparent was the fact that John Piper is the minister of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis.  Surely we have heard him preach?  I mean, weren’t you on your Churches Outreach Committee?  The Sally and Elgin crowd are quite narrow in their thinking.

Three coincidences that remind us that home is not so far away.