Last month, my team had the privilege of hosting a prayer team to Niger - from my home church in Calgary!! It was such a joy to see friends from home and to share my life, villages - the Fulani people and ministry with them. To pray with them and cry with them for those around me - my guards and those in our Fulani villages. And I know that they return home to pray with a view of everyday life here and for a picture in their head of whom they are praying for.
Their two weeks in Niger were packed daily with trips to villages and other organizations in Niger that our team partners with. The second day, I drove the team out to visit Bani Fandu and Kongu - the regions/village that I worked with in July following the destruction of their huts. We met our friend Adam in the area of Bani Fandu and headed to the village region in Kongu.
As we reached the chief's huts, our trucks - and consequently, us - were surrounded by about 20 chattering villagers all exclaiming their joy over our coming. The team greeting them back . . . neither group speaking a language which each other understands. It was a such a joy to see this reunion. Last year, a team from our church had come on on a eyeglass trip and some of these fulani people had received eyeglasses, and some of the teammates were returning members. There were three men in particular, who looked so cute as they proudly presented themselves with their eyeglasses for the team to inspect.
The ladies and myself went into the hut to visit with the ladies (read: halting sentences from Kristi to translate a few questions and repetitive stutter of 'I don't understand' to a fair amount of their replies). This time also included quite a few photo opportunities. The men eventually all wandered outside to visit with the village men.
To conclude our visit, we all gathered in a hut - close to 15 people - to pray for this village and the villagers. We returned into town to a meal that our host Adam had prepared for us - spaghetti pasta (a typical white-guest meal, but beyond their regular fare of meals), rice & beans, and sauce - with two pieces of meat (also, added to the sauce for guests, not typical in their regular daily meals).
The next evening, I hosted the team at my house for supper. I love this part of every visiting team! I love to cook and have people over, and I enjoy getting to know the team members just a little bit more personally. Before we ate, we went across the street to the courtyard where my day guard Aklinine squats - to pray for him and his family. As we sat on the mat in his yard praying, the mosque down the street began the evening call to prayer. This was an emotionally and spiritually hard moment to sit and pray for my guard during the muzzein, knowing that when we left he would go down the street to pray at the mosque. And to ache for him a day when he can come to our Father freely.
The next two days, the team went to Tillaberi . . . a town about 1.5 hours outside of Niamey. Recently, members of our team (the Marineau family) finished their language study of Tamasheq and moved to this region to begin searching, amongst the surrounding villages, a place where they can minister. The team spent this time to pray with this family, the McIvers (more recently arrived and who will be studying Tamasheq as well), and to pray ahead for an opening in a village.
The team returned on Friday afternoon . . . stay tuned for Part 2 - weekend fun!
Last month, my team had the privilege of hosting a prayer team to Niger - from my home church in Calgary!! It was such a joy to see friends from home and to share my life, villages - the Fulani people and ministry with them. To pray with them and cry with them for those around me - my guards and those in our Fulani villages. And I know that they return home to pray with a view of everyday life here and for a picture in their head of whom they are praying for.
Their two weeks in Niger were packed daily with trips to villages and other organizations in Niger that our team partners with. The second day, I drove the team out to visit Bani Fandu and Kongu - the regions/village that I worked with in July following the destruction of their huts. We met our friend Adam in the area of Bani Fandu and headed to the village region in Kongu.
As we reached the chief's huts, our trucks - and consequently, us - were surrounded by about 20 chattering villagers all exclaiming their joy over our coming. The team greeting them back . . . neither group speaking a language which each other understands. It was a such a joy to see this reunion. Last year, a team from our church had come on on a eyeglass trip and some of these fulani people had received eyeglasses, and some of the teammates were returning members. There were three men in particular, who looked so cute as they proudly presented themselves with their eyeglasses for the team to inspect.
The ladies and myself went into the hut to visit with the ladies (read: halting sentences from Kristi to translate a few questions and repetitive stutter of 'I don't understand' to a fair amount of their replies). This time also included quite a few photo opportunities. The men eventually all wandered outside to visit with the village men.
To conclude our visit, we all gathered in a hut - close to 15 people - to pray for this village and the villagers. We returned into town to a meal that our host Adam had prepared for us - spaghetti pasta (a typical white-guest meal, but beyond their regular fare of meals), rice & beans, and sauce - with two pieces of meat (also, added to the sauce for guests, not typical in their regular daily meals).
The next evening, I hosted the team at my house for supper. I love this part of every visiting team! I love to cook and have people over, and I enjoy getting to know the team members just a little bit more personally. Before we ate, we went across the street to the courtyard where my day guard Aklinine squats - to pray for him and his family. As we sat on the mat in his yard praying, the mosque down the street began the evening call to prayer. This was an emotionally and spiritually hard moment to sit and pray for my guard during the muzzein, knowing that when we left he would go down the street to pray at the mosque. And to ache for him a day when he can come to our Father freely.
The next two days, the team went to Tillaberi . . . a town about 1.5 hours outside of Niamey. Recently, members of our team (the Marineau family) finished their language study of Tamasheq and moved to this region to begin searching, amongst the surrounding villages, a place where they can minister. The team spent this time to pray with this family, the McIvers (more recently arrived and who will be studying Tamasheq as well), and to pray ahead for an opening in a village.
The team returned on Friday afternoon . . . stay tuned for Part 2 - weekend fun!
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