Home Assignment Updates

We want to thank all of you who prayed for our safety during our recent trip to Niamey, Niger. Thank you also for praying that the Lord would ‘direct our paths’ while visiting that field.

After visiting the field in Niger and talking with our sending church, we believe that God would have us serve at the MK (missionary kid) school in Niamey, Niger. Our mission, Evangelical Baptist Missions, has a number of ministries there including a seminary for the training of national pastors. We are excited to become a part of these ministries.

Currently, we will continue our furlough. This also includes raising additional support to be able to return to Niger. (As you know, the school in Ivory Coast subsidized our support; the one in Niger does not.) We are scheduling meetings through November, 2005, with hopes of being on the field by the first of 2006. We would love to visit your church and give an update. For scheduling, we can best be reached by e-mail.

Thank you for your faithful support and for being behind us in prayer during our most recent adventures.

Praise the Lord we are back here in Niamey. Amidst our 3 vehicles, we experienced 4 flats and 3 other breakdowns. We only traveled with our trucks through Cote d’Ivoire; during that time they experienced 4 breakdowns. UGH! But we are here – our trucks aren’t. They were held up in customs; hopefully we’ll get that cleared up tomorrow. Such is traveling in West Africa!

Thank you for your prayers for our safety. We truly did experience safety during our ‘adventures’ of these past few weeks!

After 23 hours of traveling over 2 days (1500 km, about 200 km of which was horrendous), we arrived here on campus and were warmly greeted by the campus pets, some of our workers and some of the French soldiers with whom we had made friends. We were pleasantly surprised to be invited to eat all our meals with them, and we are eating well! Tonight was special. We dined privately with the Colonel (of all the French forces here in Cote d’Ivoire) and were treated to a 6-course french meal, some of which I didn’t recognize. (But then, I don’t recognize some of the African foods I eat either.) Having our meals prepared for us enables us to concentrate on the packing, something we really appreciate. We hope to be ready to leave by this weekend.

Thank you for your prayers for our safety. We ask you to continue in prayer on our behalf for our safety as we travel this weekend with 2 40-foot trucks over some unbelievable roads. We also ask for prayers that God will make clear His direction for our future ministry as we visit in Niamey, Niger.