Niger pics

Our guide to the desert (Sali) is doing his part to fight desertification.
This was the one time we got seriously stuck in the sand. After about 30 minutes of digging we were free and on our way. The gentleman with the automatic weapon was a military guy hitching a ride. It's hard to say no to a guy with a firearm.
Some say Niger has the last herd of giraffes in West Africa. Here's evidence.
Sali again posing
So Sam told Nehemiah (our guide/interpreter) that he'd like to ride a camel sometime. Next time we saw a guy on a camel, Nehemiah flagged him down. Up Sam went.

Buduma people

This is a group of Buduma men (known as tall people - compare to Sam [white guy] and Nehemiah just in front of him) who we had a good long visit with. They gave us a lot of information and were very open. They say they realize they are an unknown people and need help. They pleaded for us to get out the word about them. Despite to pressing needs of daily life, what they need most is the Gospel. We know of no Buduma Christians.
These are some Buduma houses. They are made of millet or sorghum stalks. This village, according to the GPS, is about 20 miles into Lake Chad. Obviously, since it's not underwater, Lake Chad is no longer there. It's shrunk drastically in recent years.
Some of the same Buduma men with Nehemiah (a Nigerien missionary and our guide/interpreter) on the far right.
Apparently all Buduma women wear nose-rings. The Buduma also do a lot of facial scarring as you can somewhat see on these two ladies.

Tal dessert

Who knew sand could be so beautiful and interesting? What a wonderful Creator!

Burkina newsletter #15

Greetings from Burkina Faso! I’ve been to the desert and back! It was a great African road trip (over 3000 miles roundtrip)! I really enjoyed Niger despite it being ranked (on the HDI) as the least developed nation in the world (a few spots below Burkina). Our trip was not without incident yet it was blessed and well planned by the Lord. In Ouagadougou and Niamey (the capitals of Burkina and Niger), the truck underwent some maintenance work causing us to be delayed a couple days in each country. However the delay was not a waste because we got to hang out with many in our mission family. Sam was also able to recover from a slight illness. From that point on we had no health problems and had almost perfectly uneventful travel (aside from getting stuck in the sand for half and hour, being taken to the police station after refusing to pay a bribe, and the A/C going out a few hours from our return to Ouaga – so maybe that’s a big “almost”).

One theme of the trip would be fellowship with, and hospitality from, our Christian family. Nearly everywhere we went on the trip we were met with open doors and delightful dinner tables. We were hardly roughing it as expected (we were well stocked with granola bars, tuna packs, and peanut butter). As best as I can count, we stayed the night with six different families (some multiple nights) and were fed 24 meals over about three and a half weeks. Still, I didn’t feel like a bum but more like a member of a large, generous family. I think I can now better relate to the instructions Jesus gave his 12 disciples as he sent them out as the first missionaries. He told them “that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belt.” (Mark 6:8) In that situation I believe they were expected to rely on the hospitality of non-Christians. How much more should we expect Christian hospitality? In fact it was commanded: “Let love of the brethren continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:1-2). Sam has commented that it seems wherever we go we seem to find great folks in the missionary community. It’s true. I’m very blessed to have the relationships I have here. I thank God for them and their hospitality.

As for the research portion of the trip, we investigated seven groups, but the three furthest east were the most striking. It was not terribly surprising to find that the people around Lake Chad are almost completely untouched by the Gospel. We learned of only 6 believers among the two Kanuri groups and 0 believers among the Buduma. The difficulties in taking the Gospel to this area are obvious. Just getting there much less living there is an enormous challenge. It is a 23-hour drive from the capital (with some stretches of terrible road) and the landscape is very dry and barren. Yet these people need the Gospel so desperately. I know God can equip His ministers even for such a difficult task as this. Let us pray that He will do just that.

The coming weeks will be fairly busy. First I’ve got to write up the reports on our research. Next week we plan to attend a Thanksgiving celebration for the whole missionary community in Bobo. Two days after that I will fly to Lomé, Togo for a 3-day conference. Soon after arriving back we expect to receive two volunteers on December 10th and then a couple more on the 20th. I thank God that it’s a good busy.

Praise God for:

* the heath, safety, and good information that God provided on our trip through Niger.
* the many hospitable families who took care of us and encouraged us on the trip.
* Sam (a fine traveling mate) and the other volunteers coming in December.

Please pray for:

* God to make a way for the Gospel to reach the peoples of the Lake Chad Basin.
* the conference in Togo to be beneficial and refreshing (the name of the conference is “Re-new”).
* our preparations for, and the coming of, the volunteers in December.

As always, thanks so much for you thoughts and prayers. I am encouraged by you despite the distance between us. Note: Amazingly we now have high-speed internet access in Bobo (Praise the Lord!). This means you will benefit by getting to see more pictures on the blog.