We Are Back

We are back.  We are very glad to be home.  We have missed Minnesota and all that goes with it but we are leaving a lot behind. 

On our last day in Niger, Sally led the prayer time and gave out invitations to everyone at the center (Muslims and Christians) and we had the biggest attendance ever - 28 people came.  They have never invited everyone (Muslim and Christian) to a Christian prayer time and we think they wondered how that would work but we think it was great.  Sally did a message based on Ecclesiastes 3, on “Time,” and ended thanking everyone by name with an individual message about how that person made our time in Niger so wonderful.  She did just a great job and they loved her. 

When Sally was done, they turned the tables on us, Ibrahim, the director, gave a speech about how disappointed he was, at first, that we didn’t know French and were so old.  He wondered what good could we do?  Then he said some real nice things about how we communicated without knowing the language and helped in so many ways.  We have felt so bad not being able to converse in the language so it was nice to know that we were able to relate without it.  All in all it was a better “finish” than we even dreamed of.  What verse is it that says God will give you even more than you hope for?  Well that was definitely our experience Friday.  We didn’t really accomplish anything specific but God blessed us with wonderful relationships and connections beyond language or age or things in common.  It has been a language of the heart and as we reflect on the day, our hearts are over flowing.

What we have experienced here is like the pictures we have tried to show of the traffic and road conditions in Niamey.  A picture just misses – you need to FEEL cars, motorbikes, donkey carts, and camels all coming right at you at the same time.  You need to feel the heat and the dust.  And most of all, you need to experience the people, their joy for living, and their contentment.  You can’t capture those feelings in a camera.

So we know that trying to put this experience into words for others to understand will - just miss!   

Our plane left at 2 am – flying to Casablanca where we had a 6 1/2-hour wait and then the long flight to JFK and finally arriving in Minneapolis – at 9pm on Saturday, March 10^th.  Six months is a long time and yet at this moment he seems like it just flew past. 

Thank you for your interest, your concern, and your prayers for us and for our time Niger.  Whatever you did worked and we are so thankful for the support from all of you.  They had said at the beginning that home support was very important to the assignment and they were right only we came with for more support than most people come with and were blessed because of it.

Again, thank you!