Author name: Bob Gillespie

Let’s start this month’s update with some praise:

Remember when we asked you to pray for ‘customs’ work to be completed on our container – in a way we could all afford? Those prayers have been answered at last: we received official documents this past month totally exonerating the contents of the container. In other words, we owed no more money for bringing the container contents into the country. This is significant in that we could have been charged as much as 50% of the value of the contents. In fact, because we had paid monies ‘up front’ to help cover costs, we actually received a ‘refund’.

Five weeks from today, we will be returning to the states for the summer. Lois will be taking some additional training, we’ll be doing some personal and school shopping, we’ll be taking care of some business, and we’ll be spending time with our family and friends. We are so thankful that God has given us this opportunity.

We thank you for your many prayers for us as we endure the heat of Niamey’s May. Lois probably feels it most, as it is over 100 degrees most afternoons in the kitchen. We’re told this is called ‘crock-pot season’. Lois is most definitely thankful for her crockpot!

We know you’re continuing to pray for Boubacar. He hasn’t asked many questions lately, but we believe that God works in his heart even when we don’t see the evidence. He has told me that he would become a Christian, but the cost of family rejection is too great. I tried to explain that if the gospel is really true, then no cost is too great in exchange for eternity. It made me wonder how much we really believe that this life is only temporary. What are WE willing to give up for the sake of eternity’s values?

Last of all, we ask you to pray once again for a renter for our home in the states. Our current renter has been wonderful, but she is moving out this week. So far, we don’t have another renter. Please pray that just the right person will find our little house is just right for them.

One new friend and co-worker here at Sahel wrote in her recent update: “I feel like an alien! We look different from our neighbors, we speak a different language, and our neighbors live in a hut.” How we could relate! In addition, we drive a car while they walk, ride a bike or take a taxi everywhere they go. Some even put on coats when the temperature drops below 80 degrees.. “No, Toto; we’re not in Kansas anymore!”

But we rejoice in that we seem to be adjusting – if only a little. Being settled in our own house has made a huge difference, and we’re so thankful we were able to move in before we began our responsibilities at Sahel Academy. School has been in session for about 3 weeks now, so we’re also settling into a schedule. All in all, life does seem easier. Thanks so much for your prayers that have carried us through this settling in time. Don’t stop praying; I’m sure there are still some surprises out there for us!

We’re also rejoicing because of some new supporters from Michigan and West Virginia who have joined our financial support team, bringing our support level to 97.4%. We know that once again God is working through the prayers of His people and is answering the prayers of our prayer support team.. Thanks to all of you for your part in this.

At Sahel Academy this year, I am teaching 3 Bible classes to Grades 7-12 as well as 1 history class and a geography class. I not only want my students to come to recognize in a new way how God has worked throughout history, but that He is actively working today on their behalf.. Please pray for me as I try to make my Bible classes personally and individually meaningful – not just academic. As I ‘train the next generation’, I want to encourage them to love God’s Word and accept it as the Roadmap for their future.

Lois has her hands full with a network and computer lab that has been without regularly-available technical help for several years. Unlike missionaries who have responsibilities in other areas and struggle to find time to ‘fix’ their computer woes (or those of their team members), Lois is here to support the missionary community – specifically Sahel Academy and the EBM team – by helping with their technology needs. She loves the challenge which is good since it looks as if the challenge will last for a while. She’s very thankful that staff and students alike are patient and appreciate her efforts in trying to create an enjoyable place to learn and/or use these tools God has given us.

One of our ‘delights’ at Sahel Academy is a student who is this year’s student body president. We first knew him as an 8th grader in the Ivory Coast. We’re thrilled to see how he has grown and watch as God uses him in this leadership role. During our first assembly, he challenged his fellow students to step up and become involved in their school and community and not to be ashamed of what they believe. We’re looking forward to what God will do this year in the student body at Sahel – and in Niamey and throughout Niger as this generation becomes active in sharing their faith.

Each day as we travel across town to Sahel Academy, we drive past a very large sign which declares (in French): “Our god Allah; our prophet Mohammed; our book the holy Koran”. We are reminded again that we are aliens – not only in Niger, but here on Earth as well. As children of the true God, we are ‘just a passin’ through’. We’re also reminded of why we are here in Niger, a country where 98% of its people claim to be Muslim. Although our ministry doesn’t involve as many opportunities to present the Word of God to these Nigerians as the parents of the children we teach, we are conscious every time we interact with our neighbors, our workers, or others we meet in the marketplace that WE are ambassadors (if not prophets) of Our God Jehovah. We know we are being watched; that, too, is an ever-present knowledge. Please pray that we will be good representatives for our God, that what they see in us will help create more opportunities to share His truth, that we will recognize those opportunities when they come, and that we will have the right words to share (in French) from God’s Book the Holy Bible.