following the LEADER

I think in my last post I mentioned that “Uncle Dan” is in town.  It is customary for MKs to call the other missionaries Aunt and Uncle.  We’ve been having quite a lot of fun lately with Uncle Dan Ligon who is here from Maradi.  Dan came last weekend for an Ordination Service.  He stayed because the containers that contain the roof for the Cinema HD (a large out door theatre recently purchased for the AG National Church here) are supposed to be arriving tonight.  Actually only two of them are going to arrive.  The third is still lost in translation somewhere.

So, Dan’s been here biding his time while he waits on the containers.  We’ve had him for a few meals at our house, but maybe more than we’ve eaten here, we’ve gone out to eat.  Dan has taken it as his personal responsibility to take us to all the restaurants in town that he knows about and we haven’t been to.  This has been especially fortunate for me.  I spent all last week in a hot kitchen, and I have savored every meal that I haven’t had to cook.  On Sunday we went to La Rionir [luh run yea].  I had the mixed grill which included steak, a pork chop, sausage, and BACON!  That’s right.  I haven’t smelled or tasted real bacon since May (or maybe April) and it tasted sooooo good.

Last night it rained and we were supposed to go to an outdoor place called Marquis 2000  [markee duh mil], but it was raining so hard that the streets were literally flooding. (A note to Liz- I’m pretty sure this is the place you were talking about that has the Bush Rat.  Dan said he took your team there.) Instead Dave, Uncle Dan, Sammy, and I paddled our car around town and he showed us where all these great places were.  Our favorite was the hamburger stand at the Grande Hotel.  It overlooks the Niger River, and the view was breath taking at night.  We will definitely be taking Jon and Nicole there in October.  We finally ended up at a Chinese place that we’ve never been to call Dragon D’Or.  I had awesome wonton soup and curry chicken.  Dave had sweet and sour pork.

The other wonderful thing that Dan has done for us is encouraged Dave to make some very necessary changes to our house.  The one I’m most excited about is an exhaust fan for the kitchen.  Dave went today to look for one, but couldn’t find one.  Every meal that Dan has eaten here, he has commented on how much cooler the house would be if we had some kind of ventilation for the kitchen.  He’s also been encouraging Dave to put the propane tank that sits on the floor of the kitchen next to the oven outside.  This will require a small hole in side of the house for the pipe to run through, but Uncle Dan told Dave exactally what he would need to accomplish this.  Today, Dave changed the cord on one of our 110 lamps to fit a 220 plug.  I can’t even tell you what a difference it makes in our house to have light that is not halogen.

So, kudos to Uncle Dan.  Many of you who visit Niger will probably benefit from our restaurant eduction, and even if you don’t, we’ve had a lot of fun learning.  Sorry, but I didn’t bring my camera.  We have however included a link to the Ligon’s website so you can check out their goings on.

Love to all!

Well, we’re hosting again. Pastor Terah, who is a fellow missionary here in Niger from Nigeria is staying at our house this week along with two of his Nigerian pastor friends. They are speaking at the national young adults conference. We are really enjoying having them here, although we haven’t seen a whole lot of them- except for meals. It’s great to get to know some Africans that speak English. They have a very awesome perspective on Christianity and on the world in general. This is a picture from lunch yesterday.

Dave and I had our first test today for our French lessons. We think it went okay. It’s kind of fun, and very interesting to evaluate our progress so far.

Things continue to stay busy for us, but we are glad for all the hustle and bustle. Amina and I have spent a lot of time together in the kitchen lately.

Sam has been very vocal about everything lately. Most of the time we don’t understand him, but sometimes we get a glimpse into the fact that he’s really saying things with intent. That’s exciting. On Monday night Jeremy was feeding Sam raisins, repeating the word over and over. He heard Sam say raisin. He said it actually sounded more like rathin. Liz and I heard Sam say more after repeating it with the sign about a million times. Yesterday, Sam came out with a very good Mulligan (usually it’s just Momo). Right now he’s toddling around the living room with a measuring spoon in one hand and a cracker in the other while I type and Amina makes eggs for breakfast. Have I said I love Amina? I love Amina.

Yesterday the Teague’s dog, Snickers, came to our house for a little visit. Poor Snickers has been so lonely. Every time Dave and I have gone over there since the Teagues left, Snickers has literally been out their gate and climbing into our car. He’s starved for attention. So, yesterday when he climbed in, Dave said “Ok!” and shut the door. He enjoyed his little visit, but I don’t think he’ll be coming again because he and Mulligan just couldn’t figure out who was in charge. Snickers is a Jack Russell, but he definitely thinks he’s as big as Mulligan. When Dave put Snickers back in the car and drove him over to the Teagues, their guard, Balko was out searching for the dog. He thought Snickers had gotten out and was roaming the nieghborhood. (This has happened before). Balko finally showed up at our house (how he found it we don’t know) asking if we had seen the dog. “Yes,” we said, “he’s back in the yard.”

This picture is of Sam and I at the dinner table on Sunday night. Please excuse the sauce on my face. Sam thinks it’s fun to feed me his dinner.

The rest of the pictures are of our trip to see the Giraffes last month with the Oklahoma team. The little girl that some of you may not know is Pastor Burama’s daugther Hulda. She is one of Sam’s best friends here, and it was her first time to see the giraffes.

Well folks, we’re on our own. On Tuesday we said goodbye to Brent and Shelley.

I kind of feel like I just moved away to college and left home for the first time. You say goodbye to Mom and Dad and watch them drive away. You’re excited, and maybe a little apprehensive, but mainly excited.

We’ve jumped right back into our French lessons now that the business of teams is over. We feel like we are really learning a lot. After only 2 days of lessons, Amina was complementing my French today.

The power just went out and now all the bugs are congregating around my computer. I know from experience that it can be a long hot night with no fan if it doesn’t come back on, but I’m hopeful because it’s not raining. Sometimes it just goes out for 20 minutes to an hour for no apparent reason.

My concerns here are pretty simple. My days are pretty much oriented around Sam and our meals. (YES! The power just came back on!) Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we had guests for dinner. To make a big meal, it takes Amina and I most of the afternoon. We’ve been starting around 3 to have dinner on the table at 6:30. My first attempts at hosting have been relatively successful and very, very fun. Dave and I have both really enjoyed having people in our home.

This Monday we have two African pastors coming to stay with us from Nigeria. They will be staying here with the missionary from Nigeria who is our friend, Pastor Terah. They will be our first African guests, and I’m very excited about it. They will be speaking at the national youth convention that will be taking place next week.

Sam continues to grow and change. He helped Moumouni (our guard) water the plants this afternoon. Towards the end he started singing a little happy song. He’s been throwing one of Dave’s softballs around the house and he counts before he throws it with “dah, dah, dah!” He always does three before he releases the ball. Sometimes it goes behind him and sometimes in front. Daddy is proud, already, at his natural affinity for sports. Sammy also cut two new teeth this week. He’s been drooling like crazy and ran a fever last night.

We are enjoying the green that surrounds us now in the rainy season. We are not enjoying the bugs. Yesterday Amina and I made the mistake of opening the back door to the kitchen to try to get a breeze in there while we prepared spaghetti and meatballs. BIG MISTAKE. This morning I walked into the living room to find a carpet of flies. Yuck.

These pictures were sent to me by my friend Jessica who visited us with the kids’ camp team in July. They’re several weeks old, but I think you will consider them worth the wait.