Dubai signs

We are just finishing packing up and getting ready to head to the airport. If all goes well, we will be home 24 hours after we leave Paul’s parents. Pray all goes well and our luggage arrives with us. Especially the one with all the frozen bacon and cheddar in it. That would be a bad one to lose for 8 days….

I thought I would leave you with some funnies. The signs here in Dubai are often cause for a double take! Here are some great examples! (A few taken from Bryan’s visit here too)

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Internet cafe – Virus, Virus!  - Yeah, like I am really going to want to take my computer or anything in there!

Restaurant – Foul fulawful (meaning Falafel) well if that is the name of your restaurant why would I want to eat there? Foul and awful?

Butcher – Meat trading company! – Bring in your old meat and swap for something different! This is right across the street from the restaurant above so maybe that is why they are so foul and awful!

Window covering shop – Bestfull Window Tracery Co Ltd.

Chinese Goods (Dubai) Ruilin Comprehensive Trading Company -  Comprehensive trading company, provided the only goods you need to trade are hair bands and earrings.

Juijiang Woodpecker Trading Company – and not a  bird in sight…

Zhejiang Guanglu Vibrator Co Ltd. Nope- they didn’t sell those either. It was a hardware store.

A few schools: Smart British Education. As someone in the vehicle said (don’t blame me!) isn’t this an oxymoron?

Another school – Bud’s Private School. Hmm….between this and Smart British Education it is a toss up!

Handyman - U call we fixx. We can fixx it, but we sure can’t spell it!

Hair Saloon. Not just one, but they are all saloon’s instead of salon’s. Maybe they serve beer with their haircuts?

Al Fida Flour Mill. They sell all mattresses. Makes perfect sense right?

And finally – the School of Knowledge. Man, i really need to go there!

 

Now assuming there is power, internet and we arrive safe and on time (all of which are big if’s!) we will talk to you soon from Niger!

 

On Vacation

It has been quiet here on this blog recently, I know! However, we are currently on vacation! If you have followed my pics on facebook you will see some of what we have been up to, but I thought I would post a few here as well.

We are thoroughly enjoying this time away as a family, with family. The chance once a year to get away and refresh, rejuvenate and recharge is vital to us and our capacity to operate at 100% in a tough place like Niger. We need full batteries, and this time away is such a blessing to us, and a lot of fun too! I have been doing a lot of thinking about and reading about compassion fatigue, self-care, recharging and stress relieving, but i will share some of those thoughts later with you. For now, just enjoy a brief photo-journalism look at our trip thus far!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Nomads of Niger – Shawn Vickar Guest Blog

 

Paul and I and the kids are away on vacation at the moment. We are getting a much needed time of refreshing! You can follow us on facebook and see pics if you are so inclined.

In the meantime I had asked Shawn Vickars to write a guest blog for you all and to share his impressions and thoughts on his time in Niger with us a few weeks ago. Enjoy the read. Thanks Shawn!

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During the end of March through Easter Sunday in April, our family (Gin and myself, our children Eden, and Kiam, and my parents Lesley and Shelley) spent two full weeks in and around Niamey with Paul and Chantelle and their team. Let me tell you, this was truly an eye-opening experience.

I remember the last sermon I preached before heading out to the Alliance Assembly and then to Niger was a message on stewardship. It began with some thoughts from 1 Timothy 6: 17-18 which says, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. ¹⁸Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.”

First, I remember commenting in my message on the fact that as Canadians, Calgarians, and Westerners…we are rich. All of us belong to a part of the world and people in the world whom God has blessed. We are a privileged people, and consequently, we are those that God calls rich in this world, and therefore he calls to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. Let me tell you: before I left for Niger – that is, when I preached that sermon – I knew that we were blessed people, a privileged people; a rich people. Anything I had read, anything I’d thought about, my life experiences themselves had affirmed that this was true.

Nevertheless, nothing could have prepared me for the kind of realization and conviction that I now have about this truth. Whereas I believed it before, now I have seen it and know it in a completely different way. Having visited Niamey and the surrounding areas, having walked the dirt paths of the villages, having seen the malnourished or the exploited Talibae children who are sent to beg on the streets by their local religious leader – I believe it in a completely different manner.

I truly believe we are the rich in the world…and because of that…Jesus is calling for a response from His church to be the solution in parts of the globe like Niger where there is so much need and so little help.

A day following the launch of the grain aid distribution program, Gini and I went with a translator to visit one of the families that had participated in the program and received grain, oil, and powdered milk.

* visiting with a local elder who was part of the grain aid program

We spent some time seeking to understand their needs and their way of life in Niger, how things are changing and how they long to get ahead, how they strive to feed their children and provide an opportunity for their children just to get an education. We learned that through the team that Paul and Chantelle are a part of, this food distribution and education program was the first time anyone from the “outside” had ever helped this family. I’ll never forget that. What blew me away was the reality that there are people in our world, living in conditions that we Westerners would never imagine or perhaps even believe, and that they have never even been extended a helping hand.

* visiting a home. This family lives in two straw huts on an open lot with many animals running around. They pull one electrical wire from a neighbours house to run a small light bulb or fan occasionally for the night.

How amazing is it that Rockyview Alliance Church would send me as their pastor to Niger to see the McIver’s and their ministry firsthand? How amazing is it that the Lord provided the way for my entire family to come with? How amazing is it that Paul and Chantelle would open their homes, their lives and their ministry to us for two full weeks? It was all so incredible, as have been the continuing lessons, conversations and implications that we have brought home with us personally, and for our church at Rockyview.

*Gini helping the women wash and sift through the rice to remove bugs and stones before cooking it over an open fire.

In the end, when I consider that family that we spent time with – and realize that they represent countless other families who have never received a helping hand – how amazing is it that Jesus has called each of us who belong to His church to be those hands…His hands to a hungry and helpless world.

"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' 

⁴⁰"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

-Matthew 25:37-40

 

 

* visiting children who are a part of the education programs