Why a short term mission?

I began to write this post to show you some of the pictures from one of the ladies (Tracey) who was just here on a short term team. I was not with them all the time in the villages and I often find looking at things through their eyes is refreshing, like cool water to my heart and a reminder of how once you are here a while you sometimes can “forget” what is around you.

And then I got this email from one of the men who was on the team. It is profound and full of insight and a wonderful challenge, so I wanted to share that with you as well. So enjoy both of these glances into Niger and the work of our team here.

Why a Short Term Mission – by Jim
Proverbs 3: 5,6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your understanding: in all your ways  acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Helen Keller epitomized the adventuresome spirit, “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” Seeking the Father’s heart, developing a shared love, pursuing relationship, living beyond self, coming to understand ‘no respecter of person’ all are a result of my struggle to live God’s way and genuinely experience the gifts that he brings into my life.

He explains these gifts in Gal. 5:22 and Acts 10: 34 – 36 – affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity, willingness to stick with things, sense of compassion within the heart, conviction that basic holiness permeates things and people, ‘finding’ myself in loyal commitments, able to marshal and direct my energies wisely. I can’t achieve these ends reading a book or counselling with others. My nature is to learn by doing and so I if I am to achieve my relational goals I need to work – come alongside.

Short term missions have allowed me to touch fingers with an autistic Mexican boy, pray for a Mexican suicide survivor in his hospital room, pick fruit with a Leprosy affected person in China, hold a Chinese Down child in Banna, and now talk dreams and desires with an African man aspiring to achieve a welding ticket.

I have come to realize that God’s desire is not that I be who I am, but rather be the man that I am becoming. And so the ministry of reconciliation takes on an even deeper meaning to me. 2Cor. 5: 12 –21 …’a new life burgeons. God settled the relationship between us and him. He has called us to settle our relationship with each other. God has

given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. God uses us to persuade others to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ our friend now …. The Message (loosely). I see my task as to impact one soul at a time and I want to understand how that person approaches life each day.

When I first went on a mission trip I was overwhelmed by the requests for money or pleas for aid to escape. I flippantly spoke of how difficult it was to survive in my “arctic’ environment and that my lot was basically the same as the person requesting cash (no money left at the end of the month). I have come to see how shallow these arguments are.

Niger’s Sahel life is a daily encounter with malaria, cholera, dysentery, yellow fever, parasitic worms, starvation, heat, religious oppression, termites… and my lack at the end of the month is only evidenced in my current bank account – it doesn’t take into account my real estate, my investments, and all the social network provisions that I have put in place – and all the result of the happenstance of being born in this land. I don’t know ‘life and death’ as a daily reality except in coming alongside my brothers in a missions setting.

The subtle nature of sustainable NGO projects are beginning to make sense to me but only through walking those dusty roads.

I saw this somewhere

Watch you thoughts they become your words
Watch your words- they become your actions
Watch you actions-they become your habits
Watch your habits-they become your character
Watch your character it becomes your destiny

Short term leads to realization of destiny – pretty profound for a two week stint.

 

 

a well where the water is a long ways down, but a significant improvement over no well at all!

The blessings of an overcast day to keep the heat down

The streets lined with garbage

life in a village of huts and animals

Giraffes in the wild – the Zoo will never be the same again!

The orange clouds of a sandstorm blowing in

Sunset over sand dunes

Short term sewing team!

Here at our Niger “Girls at Risk” Vocational Sewing school we are thrilled to be hosting a short term team this week from Rockpointe Alliance church. Currently they are hard at work with the girls. There are 6 women who came to work side by side with a group of 12 girls for the whole week. That means each woman has 2 girls “under her wing” for individual support and help the whole time. They don’t get that kind of help during the year on such a personal level! We are making some awesome placemat and napkin sets which I am loving already! I want to buy them all myself! But the girls are also learning about straight seams, seam allowance, ironing and pinning their fabric. These are all valuable lessons that will help them in this year to come! There are also 3 men who are working with Paul to re-lacquer some desks, paint the blackboards, install some new lighting and other odd jobs to get the school ready to go for a full school year October 1st!

So here are some pictures from our first few days to give you a taste of what we are up to here in Niamey. For more pictures, check out my Facebook album!

I am a fan of these little pin cushions they made!

Paul and Jim and Bennett hard at work with the lacquer.

Two years gone too fast

So today is a very sad day. This morning my dear friend Rebecca left the country of Niger. As many of you who follow our blog know, she has been a staple in our lives here in Niger the past two years! Let me show you a little of the things we did….

Both Rebecca and I love the Tuareg tea and we went through pounds of it with our friends!

We celebrated marriages, birthdays, baptisms, and anything else that came up together!

Goofing around the Grain Aid distribution program the day we also handed out blankets to the families.

We love having Chapatta sauce together at Miriama’s hut most every Tuesday!

Rebecca also made excellent friends with many of the young women we work with and get to enjoy spending so much time with. Aminata will miss you so much too!

And what would I have done if Rebecca had not been here to help launch the “Girls at Risk” school here in Niger? Clearly her help, teaching, support, work behind the scenes and dedication is irreplaceable. We tackled something we felt clearly called to do but that seemed huge and daunting, and we did it!  We will all miss you this year at the school Rebecca! You have left your mark and we can’t wait ‘til you walk through the School doors again.

So I am sad that she is gone. I shed some tears. When loading photos for the blog I realized that she is in every single month folder of photos. We did so much together. We shopped, went to the tailors, went to church, went out for weekly breakfasts, picked up the kids, visited Nationals, sat in the moonlight, worked out, watched movies, laughed, cried, ranted and raged, napped, took walks, swam with the kids, read stories to the kids, celebrated birthdays, baked, and so much more. Seriously- she has been not only an excellent close co-worker, but my best friend. Ok….now I am making myself cry again.

 

I send her off with joy though. I am excited for what these next two years of study and life in Calgary will bring her. She is getting a Master’s Degree in the same area I have a Master’s Degree in, so that will be fun! She can enjoy the changing weather, lots of coffee shops, parks, family and grocery stores. I know she will be blessed by those of you around her and be a blessing in return wherever she points her considerable energy and enthusiasm. Rebecca is hoping to return to Niger long term in two years- and we can’t wait!