Cinnamon Buns

Ah, Wednesday, what are treat you are in Galmi!  

Today we once again enjoyed fresh homemade cinnamon buns thanks to the Z family.  

Mrs. Z serving warm cinnamon buns.

Dr. Z serving cold juice.

This weekly refreshment time is sweet in so many ways:

Sweet eats,

Sweet fellowship,

Sweet meat?!?

Yes, this is the meat moto.  

This local butcher makes a compound "house" call every Wednesday morning selling freshly slaughtered beef by the kilo.

All four of us (D,D,M&S) have taken a turn using the communal meat grinder in the guest house to transform these slabs into ground beef.  Here's Stephanie hard at work:

We are steadily learning tricks to tenderize the meat (letting it sit in fridge a couple days before grinding, sending meat through the grinder twice, pressure cooking, etc.).  The latest we've heard (and may try this go round) is marinating the meat in papaya skin or with papaya seeds.  Feel free to pass-a-long any other meat tenderizing tricks that you know!

Gracie continues to explore her surroundings.  

Most recently she has discovered that "bubbles" can be found most mornings...

Yesterday she even helped wash a bit herself:

The ladies are great with kids (they have mothered many of their own) and really seemed to enjoy the amusement G and Haawa (pig-tailed cutie above) brought to the morning's chores.

Enjoying a refreshing tomato while washing.

Yummy yogurt smile

Realizing just how richly blessed we are on this leap day!

DD&G

What is the World Coming to?

What is the World Coming to?

The Indy 500? A Lady Gaga meat dress concert? The Niger Traditional Wrestling National Championships?  Something much better (or worse)?

There is good news and bad news.  

Maybe the good news first, since it is really, really good:  Jesus is going to do what He set out to do.  As you might suspect, nothing can stop the One who created all things and by Whom all things hold together.  God the Father was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Jesus’ death for us on the cross (Colossians 1).  So, Jesus has a plan that is going to happen, all the way through. 

In Matthew 24, Jesus was talking to His disciples about signs of the end of the age.  He told them about some pretty scary things happening in the world (and even to them).  And then He hits them with a climax (which may have seemed a bit hard to swallow since He had just described a famished, quaking, world at war where false prophets abound, the love of many grows cold, and His followers are handed over to be persecuted and killed.)   He says that the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.  

Pretty bold statement to make.  When I think about how it can be intimidating to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with friends and neighbors in my world of relative peace, it is hard to imagine the gospel being preached to all nations (ethne) in the setting that Jesus described.  But He said it will happen.  And if you look through history at times and places where the gospel has been suppressed and the church has been persecuted, it hasn’t stopped God.  (Check out growth of the church in China in the last 50 years).

Jesus said that all nations would hear and then the end will come.  So He basically is saying that the end won’t come until all nations have heard.  There may be mixed feelings out there about desiring the coming of the end.  But with Jesus‘ promises that He will come to reign giving us a hope that we can cling to, I am really looking forward to the end (but I’m still a bit taken aback by many of the scary-sounding things that will happen between now and then).   Since none of us know when the end will come (later in Matthew 24), we can’t really sit and watch the countdown.  But God has given us an amazing opportunity to jump in and be a part of what we know God will accomplish between now and then.

Jesus was chosen before the creation of the world to redeem us, and through Him we have faith and hope in God (1 Peter 1).  Once time began, and Abram showed up on the scene, God chose to bless all peoples on earth through him (Genesis 12).  Through Abram (Abraham) came Jesus, and through Jesus came redemption to those who believe.  And Jesus said that all nations (peoples) will hear the gospel of the kingdom.  And then the end.  So, the stage is set, the plan is in place, and it’s gonna happen before this thing is over.  Good news, eh?

The bad news?  So many of us are missing out on the blessings of being a part of God’s  plan.  We are so involved in so many things that will pass away.  But all around us moves the ongoing, unstoppable, eternity-reaching plan of God to bless all peoples with the gospel of His kingdom.  The end of this world will come, after God’s purpose is fulfilled.  The end will also come to the time that each of us has been given to be in the world joining God in His plan.

So, the good news is really, really good.  And the bad news can become good news, if we ask God to show us how we can get involved.  It’s his plan; He is going to make it happen (He’s not letting the absence of witnesses in some places keep Him from revealing Himself in people’s dreams).  We just get the privilege of being a part of His plan (here and for eternity).  He wants us to be a part.  That’s why Jesus explained things further to His disciples in Matthew 25.  And gave them the “Great Commission” in Matthew 28.  And before He went to be with His Father, read what He prayed for His disciples and all believers in John 17:13-26.  (Really, take the time to read it - great stuff about God loving us, unity, Christ in us).

So, how to get involved?  

1. Pray - God wants to talk to you.  He wants you to know Him and to know how He is working in your life and in all peoples.
2. Read the Bible.  The plan is laid out in there.
3. Read The Surge by Pete Briscoe.  Full of insight, inspiration, and practical ways that you and your church can start now.
4. Attend the Perspectives course (perspectives.org)
5. Revel in the fact that we serve a God whose plan won’t be stopped, no matter what.

What is the world coming to?  The end that God has ordained.  Don’t miss out on your part in God’s plan for the world.

At the end of a busy day

Local school

School yard

Harvest Fields

Another full week and weekend for us here in Galmi!

We have enjoyed hosting several folks in our home and have been blessed with not only good food but also great fellowship.  Visitors included the Fulani and Hausa men with whom Dean has been praying (see previous post) as well as several family/couples/singles serving alongside us here.

Pizza night with the M family....

was one of our favorites!

Other adventures in baking have included fresh pumpkin from which we've enjoyed Chocolate Pumpkin Tea Bread, pumpkin pancakes, and Pumpkin-Carrot-Date-Walnut bread.  Also we've mastered the preparation of fresh coconut...

from the cracking and hulling...

 to the shredding and baking...

now we are ready to spice up our granola and other baked goods!

Plus we've been the recipients of some tasty treats from the Carrigans...check out their blog for pictures.  Warning -- they will make your mouth water!

Creative play continues to be sprinkled throughout our days here:

Tire swing

(Note our "new" housing in the background.  Hoping to move in soon...)

Girls with the dump truck...

load'em up!

And why not take a dip to wash off all that dirt?

Actually the laundry basins were empty...but G still likes to climb in and out of them.

Saturday, we decided to take advantage of the "cool" morning and ventured off the compound for a stroll through the adjacent farm land.  Green fields were a refreshing change of scenery after spending our days in red dirt.

 People were harvesting onions, peas, millet -- we even saw a few cotton plants.  

Pile of purple (sweet) onions with well and village in the background.

These children happily responded to our Hausa greetings and posed for a photo.  

It’s nice to at least know how to say “Good morning.  How was your sleep?  How is work?  How is the tiredness?”  This is the standard flow of greetings here.  Folks particularly enjoy it when Gracie chimes in with her broken Hausa phrases.

A little baby show-and-tell.

Can you find all 3 babies?

Not everyone was enthusiastic...

this shy little cutie just starred at us as we passed.

A little over a mile from the compound, we came to a local well where a small crowd was drawing up water.  

Some were filling large plastic jugs that they carry home and use for cooking and washing.  Others were watering their livestock which varied from sheep and goats to cattle...

like this big guy!

Intimidating?  Nah!  Just look at Gracie...

taking him in stride as if he's no big-horned deal!

For people here, drawing water from the well is a daily task, a necessity for life.  On the walk home we reflected on how blessed we are.  We take for granted that we can walk to the sink and turn on the faucet -- our water needs immediately met -- while so many others must walk a mile or more to a well, draw up water, fill jugs and return home...repeating this task day after day after day.

As we observe life and culture here, we recognize areas where the Good News really resonates with people here.  Such as, the truth about He who provides living water from which we never thirst again (John 4:7-14)!  Please join us as we pray for the people here...

His harvest fields are ripe.

Matthew 9:37-38

Trusting the Lord of the Harvest,

DD&G

Spirits

It is easy to look at the human suffering both inside and outside the hospital and to think that our biggest battle is against flesh and blood - that we should strive to overcome the physical causes that bring so much pain.  And we should.  But God is teaching us many new things about the reality of the spiritual battle we are fighting (Ephesians 5:12).

Before we talk about the spirits that mean men harm, let's talk about the Holy Spirit of the one true God.  Jesus promised that the Spirit would be our Counselor - that He would be with us forever, teach us all things, and remind us of everything that Jesus said to us.  The world will not see Him or know Him, but God's children know Him and He will live in us (John 14:15-26).  And He will give us power to be witnesses for Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).  We have even been promised that the Holy Spirit will give us the words to say when we must defend what we believe (Luke 12:11-12.)

As God's children, we have been promised an amazing spiritual connection - being inhabited by and empowered by the Spirit of God Himself!  How amazing to consider that we are the chosen ones of a God who wants to live inside us and to work out His good will through us (Ephesians 2:10).   So many of us know about God but have had only a glimpse of what He wants to do through us by His Spirit (I thank the men in my life who are committed to helping me know the true power of the Holy Spirit).

And all around us are people who are searching for a means of power to fight both flesh and blood battles as well as spiritual battles.  Some have never heard the name of Jesus Christ and many have no idea about the power of His Spirit.  This became real to me in a new way at the hospital last week - a woman came in with a physical complaint that we could not explain from a medical perspective.  As we talked more, she expressed her concerns that her problems may be caused by the evil spirit that often manifested itself to her.  And she gave graphic details about how this spirit tormented her and was disrupting her family life.  She was very open about her fears and her need for help.  The Hausa evangelists told her about the power of prayer in Jesus' name and prayed for her.

This week she returned for more prayer.   She explained that the spirit had visited her again but was not able to torment her in the same way and that it expressed anger about this change.  We invited her to come back at any time for prayer and told her about the local church where she can learn more about Jesus.



At the end of the day I sat and held hands in a circle of prayer with a Fulani man and a Hausa man who work at the hospital.  What a joy and a blessing it was to sit with these men from other tribes and tongues to pray in the name of Jesus Christ for Mariama (and another woman - Zalahatou).  We thanked God for His power over all things and for intervening in Mariama's life.  And we prayed that these women would become His children so that they would see their entire world: physical, spiritual, temporal, and eternal, as being under the power of Jesus Christ.

As we finished praying, Daouda reminded us that we must continue in the fight - we must continue to pray and not assume an instant and complete victory.  We were reminded of Matthew 12:43-45 when Jesus describes an evil spirit leaving a person and returning with its companions when that person's spiritual "house" was left unoccupied.  Please join us in praying that these women (and so many other men and women here) will be filled with the one true Spirit of God.

Praises:

1. We serve a loving God who wants to fill us with His Spirit 

2. The power of God is above any evil force in this world

3. We can pray to the same Father with our brothers and sisters from different tribes and tongues

4. God continues to fulfill His promise to bring worshippers to Himself from every tribe and tongue

5. Through prayer, we can join God in His plan, no matter where we are

Prayers:

1. For Mariama, Zalahatou, and so many others who need the truth and the power found only in Jesus

2. For churches all over the world to be awakened to see that God will continue His advance of reaping the harvest of nations.  He will do it - it is just a question of whether we will enjoy the blessings of joining Him.  Pray that people won't stay on the bench while God keeps moving on.

3. For wisdom in sharing the truth in a different culture

4. For the Christians here, a small minority, to have real vision and power to share the truth with their families and neighbors

5. For strength, trust, and balance to deal with each day's trials

Last Week in Review, briefly

It was a busy week.  We enjoyed having our VC friends here, and we are thankful for the encouragement they were (and still are) to us.

Conversing after dinner at Carrigan's house

Guys walking out in the countryside

Group picture before their departure

Uncle Todd goodbye hug

We have word that Todd, John and Matt made it home safely.  Thanks to everyone who helped make their trip possible...and a special thanks to them for going the distance to be with us here!

After saying farewell Friday afternoon, we were looking for some distraction.  

What better than a camel ride?

Gracie was very excited about the "idea" of a camel ride.  Once Eli mounted with Marc, she was begging and pleading (on verge of tears) to "ride camal."  So we hoisted her up; she smiled and laughed until...the camel actually moved.  Gracie did NOT like the camel's bumpy gait.  Thankfully, she was content (enough) riding in the Ergo, so we were able to continue on with the caravan.

After the morning ride, we had a relaxing but productive afternoon blanching, grating, and freezing carrots as well as chopping, blending, cooking and freezing tomatoes.  We are trying to make the most of the current abundance of fresh produce and store up for the coming hot, dry season when fresh veggies will be scarce.  We've been quite busy in the kitchen (which proves to be a never ending task); will try to post some pictures of our latest culinary adventures soon.

Saturday evening was a special treat: Valentine's Dinner!

Four single ladies worked very hard making this dinner special.  They thought of everything from babysitting to table decor to music with candlelight, plus they prepared a 3 course meal for us that ended with fondue!

Thanks ladies!

Sunday we all went to church wearing our new outfits.

We are pleased with the tailor's handiwork!

We took a new route to church this week, trying to steer clear of the main village street (often busy with motos, trucks, carts, and foot traffic).  It was nice and relaxing to stay on the outskirts.  On the return trip home, we encountered some local livestock:

and kept our distance (look at those horns!).

A few other random happenings:

Gracie loves helping with chores.

She's also become quite fond of her camel.  Yesterday she told Dean "camal hungee" and proceeded to feed him onions (freshly picked for us by our gardener).  

She definitely keeps us entertained with her creativity and budding vocabulary.

Today we had a surprise visit from the US Ambassador to Niger.  

She was very kind and is supportive of the work here at Galmi Hospital.

Marc greeting Ambassador

Dean has been having some exciting conversations (and prayers) at the hospital, so stay tuned for a hospital update from him soon!

Sai anjima ("until later"),

DD&G