We woke up pretty early and headed on to Philadelphia. My original plan was to go to Boston first, but I decided that there really wasn’t much I wanted to see in Boston. We were going to see MIT, but decided that going to Keene was more important.

We got into our hotel room around 10 am and got all our stuff into the room.

I figured out the maps for the town and headed off. Jesse really doesn’t care about any of that stuff, so I did the Lone Ranger thing. Probably all for the best because I have an unusual way of touring: I do the run/visit thing. I ran at least 7 miles today between locations. There is no way that J could have kept up with me, not that he wanted to.

Ben Franklin is one of my main heroes. I really got a kick out of running around his neighborhood, visiting his grave (throwing in a penny!), seeing where his print shop was and generally just imagining he was just around the corner.

Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell were also awesome.

Then to top it all off, the Franklin Institute had the King Tut exhibition in town! I enjoyed seeing that plus watching the IMAX movie of the Mysteries of Egypt. I have to admit that I was disappointed that the main face mask for Tut wasn’t there. Apparently, they don’t let that out of Egypt any more. Bahd luck. It was still super!

Ran back to the hotel. J and I ate pizza. I’m tired.

Peace.

Sunday, February 25, 2007

J and I finished up the Liberty Forum conference in Concorde, New Hampshire this morning.
Congressman Ron Paul was the final speaker. I enjoyed listening to his presentation.

We packed up the car and headed over to Keene, NH. That’s the town that J really wants to move to. It’s a beautiful place, lots of friendly folk. But too far from dead old Dad for my taste. Plus it got like 21 feet of snow this year! It was nice when we went through.

Our plan was to drive to Philadelphia, but we ended up about 50 miles short stopping just outside of Allentown, PA. Weather really got bad with heavy snow and road icing. I’ve had some bad experiences with icy roads and I started to get the fear. Turns out they closed the roads about an hour after we got off them. When the Yankees close roads, fer sure an ol’ African like me needs to be off ’em. Give me mud any day.

We stayed at a Scottish Inn run by a bunch of Gujarati Indians. The room was ok but the toilet seat was broken. I sat on it and it slid off and I thought I broke my back. It’s ok.

Thanks for praying for us!

Peace.

It’s about 7am.  I’m sitting in the quiet of the hotel room.

Just went through all my email.  This morning is the missions conference at First Baptist Church Mountain Park.  Ashley and Bennett will represent our work in the area.  I’m praying for that to be a fantastic meeting.

The Saturday conference in New Hampshire went well.  The more I hear about our Federal Government and the incredible waste of money . . . the more I wish we could get rid of the whole group of them and start over.  I sure don’t think the founding fathers thought this is how it would turn out!

Do you ever ask yourself “What do I get for my tax money?”  I come up with roads and police and schools.  Roads are almost always better privatized.  Schools, at least in Georgia, seem to be a near total failure. The police are doing a good job, but are way undermanned and out gunned by the bad guys.  Does our federal money even pay for the police locally?  I’m not even sure about that.

Does it seem to you that ALL the politicos in Washington are rich?  Do you ever see an average guy in that bunch?

I think of Jesus and the things he did.  He was basically homeless!

Bottom line for me, the real solution to this country’s problems is a spiritual solution, not a government one.  Christians have got to be more socially active.  Maybe not politically active, but at least socially.

See a problem and try and help fix it.

I have a burden for education.  I believe that helping our kids learn is THE critical element in our society improving.  When the guys I work with fail school, their next step is gang life.  The better they do in school the more they steer away from the bad guys.  It seems really clear.

Who are you investing in?

Peace.

J and I are on our second day of the conference!

There sure are a lot of liberty lovers in this hotel!

I am at heart of Libertarian.  I have become distrustful of the major political parties.  Seems like one big business that isn’t particularly interested in the “little guy.”  And I am really tiny.

Had a good run yesterday.  Did four miles in about 35 degree weather with a strong wind chill of about 29 degrees.  BRISK!

The conference has been interesting and thought provoking.  My son wants to move to New Hampshire and be part of the Free State Project.  It’s a beautiful state with no state taxes, no sales tax, the lowest crime rate in the country and one of the best areas of tech guys.  But it sure is a long way from Mom and Dad.

I know my parents had concern for me as I tromped my way around the world.  Guess it’s genetic.

Peace.

J and I are in New Hampshire at the Liberty Forum Conference!

After driving nearly 1,200 miles in rain, sleet and snow we made it!

Horrible accident in Virginia made us go around a big detour that lengthened our trip by a couple of hours.  I improvised another route by talking to locals that saved us about four hours in traffic.

We’re going down now to register, eat breakfast and check out the conference!

Thanks for praying for our safety in travels!

Peace.

Woke about about 4 am.  Stayed in bed till about 5:30 then got up and started working.  Hopefully my body will get back into the regular time schedule soon.

We’ll be leaving for the conference in Concorde around 8am.

I’ll be taking my computer with me, so hopefully I’ll keep you guys informed!

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Up around 5:30am.  Jet lag seems to be getting better.

Got my newsletter together.  Wrote my article and did the layout.  I’ll have Ashley write her article and then make the copies and seal the envelopes.

Visited with the kids at the mission.   They helped me with the mailout labels.  I really appreciate them doing that!

Went to Decatur Bible Chapel this evening.  I spoke about our work in the International Village.  Bennett Ekandem–our director in Clarkston, Ray Vaughn and Renee were also there as part of our team.  Great to see them!

Jesse and I had talked about maybe leaving for New Hampshire tonight, but I was just too tired.  Went to sleep around 10:30pm

Monday, February 19, 2007 

Go up around 4:30am.  Been working on my admin duties.  Finished catching up on all of the people who had called me while I was in Niger.

Took care of my email.

Went to the office in Doraville to collect the rest of the mail to give answer and give bills to our treasurer.

Spent time with Kathy watching the sun set.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

I spent the day with Kathy. We went out to eat then went over to the zoo.

We had an especially good time watching the elephants and getting to see the baby panda. Super cute.

I continue to upload pictures that I took. About 1,450!

Saturday, February 17, 2007

One of the longest days of my life. We got on the plane with no problems and flew back to Paris over night. I slept a few hours.

We arrived into Paris before sunrise. We had a few hour lay over at Charles De Gaulle airport before catching our connecting flight back to Atlanta.

Really serious security through all the check points along the way.

We chased the sun arriving into Atlanta about 1:30pm–still the same day as when we left Niamey!

It’s incredible to see how fast we can travel around the world now! From the Iron Age to the 21st Century in less than 24 hours. Amazing.

Sure is great to get back home with my sweet family!

Friday, February 16, 2007

This is our tourist day. We went shopping for friends. I purchased a few little masks made out of soapstone, a few pieces of jewelry for Ashley and some cloths that I plan to make book marks out of for our supporters back home.

Worked on my email for about 5 hours. Had 178 messages while I was in the bush.

We went to the airport at about 10:30pm.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

We pack all our gear back into the truck.

I walked around the village and shot extra pictures and video of where we stayed. I’ll post them on our YouTube channel soon.

After sad “Good Bye’s” we climbed back into the truck and headed back down the rough roads to Niamey–the captital city.

We ate Chinese food at Chez Chin–pretty good for the world’s poorest country!

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Valentine’s Day! My wife and family wrote me little notes which the Barringtons took over with them. What a surprise to see love letters from my girls! Really made me cry.

Showed the Jesus film for the last night in a village WAY out in the bush. The people were pretty responsive to the film, even though there were no conversions.

Medical emergencies made Cherry have to drive a woman into town. Dr. Pat watched another woman who had IVs and bleeding. At about 4:30am she tried to find her way back to our camp site. It is incredibly dark in the bush with no electricity. She got lost and really frightened. The Father woke me up to hear this plaintif call “Tim! Tim! I’m lost!” I jumped out of bed, grabbed my flashlight and went to look for her. She finally saw my light and was able to make her way back to our camp. What a relief! God is good!

A lot of excitement for our final night in the bush!

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Continued to share the Gospel in small villages around Diatiandou. Ran 4.5 miles into Burkina Faso with Musa and Habadura on his bike.

We had a feast with the translators and a few other men in the village. We ate rice and beans, ground millet with some stew and drank hot tea.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Went to Burkina Faso–just a couple of miles from our camp. Shared at a village over there. Showed the Jesus film at Gite. Trained the other African men how to run all the equipment

Sunday, February 11, 2007

I led Isa to Jesus! I’d been talking to him for three days. He also speaks limited French so we were able to communicate without another interpretor. He called me over and told me he wanted to pray. As we talked he shared with me that he wanted to ask Jesus into his life! Praise the Lord! I didn’t think we’d be blessed to see someone actually convert in this nearly 100% Muslim environment! His brother Omarou is a Christian, so I hope that they can support each other.

Walked about in the bush to watch the birds during the heat of the afternoon before we went back to the villages in the evening.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Another baby is born.

Went to villages to share the Gospel. Showed the Jesus film in the evening.

Walked to the river with the men of the village.

Friday, February 09, 2007

We went to Daresalam and Windemama villages where we did storying and also showed the Jesus film in the evening. It was incredible to release that technology on a village that had no electricity or running water. For them to actually see the Jesus story was incredible. The people were interested in hearing more about this.

Dianne got pretty sick. We’re worried about her. She rested in bed the whole day eating cipro anti-biotics/diarrehea meds.

Aisa delivers one baby. A few hours earlier another baby died. This place has over 50% mortality rate for infants. Really sad.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Unbelievable heat in our first full day in the bush. Temperature gauge was over 111 degrees in the shade. I felt like I was going to pass out from lack of sleep. I walked over two miles with one of the interpretors past the village with the rest of the team.

We started a regular pattern of driving to a village, splitting up into small teams with an interpretor and then sharing the stories of the Gospel. I focused on three stories which I told in a form of a drama: The creation story of Adam and Eve, Daniel in the Lion’s Den, and the Prodigal son. A common theme of sin and final redemption ran through all the stories.

I about froze. Temperatures got down in the mid 50’s. An engagement party went on until after midnight. Then I listened to braying donkeys, crowing roosters/guinea fowl, and team members snore the rest of the night. Lack of sleep is a killer.

Wednesday, February 07, 2007

We drove about 2 hours to Diatiandou down some of the worst roads imaginable.

We got to our camp site and set up our gear. I slept outside on my airmatress with a mosquito netting around me.

We met the other translators who came from an English speaking country nearby. (For security reasons I can’t say where.)

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

We arrived in Niamey, Niger. I was pleasantly surprised to see how well my French was still hanging in there. We got through customs fine. Cherry Faile (whose African name is Aisa–which means Second Born Daughter) picked us up.

We went over to the Baptist Mission Guest House where I was able to check email.

We ate together and went to sleep. Sorta. I really didn’t sleep but maybe two hours all night long–a recurring motif for this trip.

Monday, February 05, 2007

The rest of our team (Drs. Carl and Pat Barrington and Dr. Dianne Sheintal) picked me up from the Chic-Fil-A on 78. We rushed over to the airport and got through security just in time to board the plane. That was closer than I like it!

I took this sleeping pill on the way to France. I had a weird reaction to it and my eyes started seeing double.

I’m writing this post actually on the 19th. The pictures of the trip are on line and can be seen on our photo gallery from www.whirlwindmissions.org.

I had a real upset stomach last night. Kathy hasn’t been sleeping well. She’s pretty worried about me going on this trip to Africa. Sounds like we are going to be WAY out in the bush. I reckon there’s cause for concern.

I stayed home this morning to take care of Kathy’s mom.

Finished the last of my packing of my video equipment. It’s unbelievable to me how that tiny little camcorder can get such great pictures—equal to all that heavy gear I used to carry around for WTOC in Savannah!

Kathy and I watched “the Life Aquatic” with Bill Murray. It was funny in a quirky way.

I’m going to try and go to sleep early since I didn’t sleep well last night.

Tomorrow we head to AFRICA! Man. It’s been a long time–over TEN years since I’ve been back.

It’ll be a while until you hear from this blog. Make sure and scroll down to February 02 for a day by day account of what we’ll be doing.

Peace.


Saturday, February 03, 2007

Ashley and I met with a group from Toccoa Bible College to talk about urban ministry. We had a good time as I discussed with them what their dream ministry would look like. We enjoyed sharing our vision for Clarkston while we ate roast goat!

I took Ashley over to Best Buy to get her a radio for her car. The other one stopped working years ago. The new one sounds great!

Later I went over to Carl and Pat Barrington’s house where we did our final packing for the trip to Niger.

I’ve been waking up early (like 5am) and can’t go back to sleep.  Getting a lot of work done!

Just about got all the packing done for the trip to Niger.  Still kind of hard to figure out how much stuff to take.  Does no running water mean no way to wash clothes?  Guess I’ll be kinda funky after a while.  Normally, I go native.  I see what the people wear, and that’s what I adopt.  Not sure the rest of the team is into that concept.  I always figure that the people that live there long term have got clothing that works best.

Trying to rest and get completely over my cold.  Still stopped up.  Please, Lord.  Speed this healing!

I want to go spend time with Jesse.  He likes going to the bookstore with me.

Peace.

On Monday, Carl & Pat Barrington, Dianne Sheintal and I will head to Niger, W. Africa for 12 days. We’ll be working with the Fulani people WAY out in the bush with no electricity nor running water. We’ll be working with Dr. Cherry Faille. The following is a prayer guide that Dr. Pat Barrington developed for our prayer supporters. Since I doubt I’ll have access to the Web, this prayer guide is the next best way to keeping up with our team. We need your prayers! The Fulani people are nearly 100% Muslim. They need Jesus and we want to show them the Light!

NIGER MISSION TRIP PRAYER GUIDE

Team Members: Carl & Pat Barrington, Tim Cummins, Dianne Sheintal

Feb. 5-17, 2007

We are fully convinced that the two major weapons with divine power in our warfare over darkness are the Word of God and Holy Spirit-empowered prayer. Prayer IS the work.

Monday Feb. 5 – 5:45 p.m. Atlanta–Paris–Niamey, Niger. We arrive in Niger about 4:00 p.m. local time the next day. Pray for our safety and adjustment to a new time zone. Pray that we will make our connection and that we will have no problems at customs and immigration. Pray for Cherry Faile as she drives to pick us up and for the hearts of the Fulani people to be receptive to the gospel. Read and pray Psalm 121 over us.

Tuesday Feb. 6 – After leaving the airport in late afternoon, we will spend the night at the Baptist Mission Center there. Pray for safety and for us to focus on our mission there and not on the circumstances of our accommodations. Pray that we will adjust to the expected high temperatures (about 100 degrees this time of year). Read and Pray II Cor. 10:3-5 over us.

Wednesday Feb. 7 – We will drive about two and a half hours from Niamey over rough roads to the village of Dantiandou where Cherry lives. Pray that Cherry’s pickup truck has no problems. We will unpack and get ready to begin our work. Pray that we will all get situated so no one will be too uncomfortable with no electricity, running water and limited cooking facilities. Pray that the powers of darkness will flee from this area. Pray for our safety from snakes, scorpions and the sun. Also pray that we sleep well in these conditions and that we will focus on God and the Fulani; not our circumstances. Read and pray Psalm 91 over us.

Thursday Feb. 8 – Meet the chief and people of Dantiandou. Pray for the people. Ask God to give us safety and prepare the hearts of the people so that He will be glorified as they are receptive to Him. Pray that our translators are ready and able to help us with everything so the people understand God’s love and His message to them. Pray that we remain healthy and able to adapt to the conditions. Read and pray Romans 12 over us.

Friday Feb. 9 – We will begin going to more remote villages for immunizations, sharing, & praying. Since 98-99% of the people are at least cultural Muslims, pray that God will reveal Jesus to them in dreams or visions so they will come to us and ask more questions and will open their hearts to Jesus and give their lives to Him. Pray that we will be flexible. Read and pray Psalm 3 over us.

Saturday Feb. 10 – In the morning, we will visit the religious leaders in Dantiandou and discuss their beliefs and get to know them. Pray that God will give us opportunities to share Jesus. We continue going to remote villages to do medical exams and vaccines and to tell Bible stories and teach about Jesus in the afternoon. Pray that we focus on Jesus and not on our circumstances. Read and pray Romans 8:28-39 over us.

Niger Prayer Guide – Page 2

Sunday Feb. 11 – We will share God’s word in Dantiandou and then in another village. Later we will visit a small group of believers in Gourmanche Village to strengthen and encourage them and fellowship with them. Read and pray Psalm 19 over us.

Monday Feb. 12 – Pat and Dianne will do medical exams and see pregnant women. Carl and Tim will go by donkey cart to two nearby villages to share the gospel. Pray that God will open the hearts of the Fulani to receive His message. We will show the Jesus film in one of the villages that evening. Pray that the response will be good. Read and Pray Isaiah 55:11-13 and I John 4:4 over us.

Tuesday Feb. 13 – We will go to another village to do medical exams and immunizations, pray for the people and share the gospel. Pray that God will bring people to us who will open their hearts to Him and receive Jesus. Ask Him specifically for new believers. We will also visit the local market to visit the people and pray for them. Ask God for divine opportunities to share with the Fulani people. Read and pray Psalm 46 over us.

Wednesday Feb. 14 – We will share God’s word to the people and do immunizations and health teaching. We will pray for the people and witness as the opportunities present. Ask God to open their hearts to receive Jesus. Read and pray Ephesians 6:10-19 over us.

Thursday Feb. 15 – We will say good-bye to the people of Dantiandou. We will teach in Wuro Hesso on the teachings of Jesus. Later in the day we will drive two and one half hours back to Niamey. Ask God to open the hearts of the people to Jesus. Read and pray Jeremiah 32:17 and Habakkuk 3:2 over us.

Friday Feb. 16 – We will be in Niamey to do some shopping and praying for the people. We will debrief and evaluate our trip. Our plane leaves about midnight for Paris and then Atlanta. Thank and praise God for His work in Niger and ask Him to continue it. Ask Him for safe travel for us to home and to Cherry in her drive back to Dantiandou. Read and pray Rev. 7:9-17 over us.

Saturday Feb. 17 – We arrive in Atlanta about 1:30 p.m. Praise God for all that He has done. Read and pray Psalm 48 over us.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Today was such a great day!

I’m finally starting to get some nguvu (energy in Swahili) back in my old body.  Glad to be on the mend.  Not my usual Tiger Tank self, but getting there.

This morning I went out with a new partner from First Baptist Atlanta–Paula Martin.  I took her over to Azalea Place, Huntington Creek and Huntington Station to introduce her to the managers and get her keys to the apartments.  She’s leading a team of singles from FBA to host valentines parties on February 11th.  I’m sure that the kids will have a great time and so will the singles.  This mission stuff is a win-win for everyone!

After visiting the missions we went over to my “Office Dos”—commonly referred to as El Torreros.  I’ve probably taken 200 people to eat over there over the years.  As we ordered, I was taken aback when she started speaking Spanish to the waiter.  I hardly EVER hear gringos speak anything but English.  I was shocked.  As we talked, I felt led by the Spirit to share with her about the Mission Service Corps program with NAMB.  She seemed very interested in the idea of raising her support as a NAMB missionary.  Very exciting to have passionate folks like Paula even considering being on the team.

Seems like lately I’ve had a number of folks I’ve led in that direction.

I’m not sure if you like movies, but my favorites are always the team building themes, whether it’s for a football team, military operation or bank theft.  I love the idea of all these different characters coming together bringing their unique gifts that results in winning the big game.  I’m all about the TEAM, baby!

I regularly have people tell me, “We need 10 more Tim Cummins!”  I’m not sure if that’s a good idea but I’m doing my best to replicate myself as many times as possible.  Pray that the Father will continue to put people in my sphere of influence that I can get in the game.

After my meeting wtih Paula I went over to my office to work on email and catch up on phone calls.  I have a cell phone, but I’m a believer in giving whomever I’m with my total attention.  When I get you on the phone, you have my total attention. Otherwise you go to voice mail.

Then on to Kensington Station with some of my favorite partners: Pastor Robert and Shelita Carter and Minister McGee.  I had an INCREDIBLE time with them introducing them to the manager of the largest apartment complex in Georgia–Carlos Martinez.  He’s a super cool guy and really interested in helping this complex come back from being a total war zone to a happy, healthy community.  When I first started working over there the cops would ask me, “What kind of piece are you carrying?  Glock, Smith and Wesson?” When I told them “the Bible,” you’d always see their eyebrows go up  like I was crazy.  Maybe I was.  “We never go there without back up.  Never.”

I always have back up, too.  Regular folks just can’t see Him.

The Carters have enormous experience working in challenging areas like Kensington Station (located on Memorial Drive just behind the Dekalb Jail).  When I first started talking to Carlos about this location I was really led by the Father to contact the Carters.  It’s taken some time but it looks like ministry is going to take off over there.

Made me think of Chris Skinner with Atlanta Youth Project–another of my favorite partners.  Two years ago he faithfully ran a basketball program for the kids there.  Because of his work the door was wide open for us now.  Blessings on you Chris!  He’s having a wonderful  ministry at Avondale High School.

After our time at Kensington Station, we went over to Willow Branch to meet with Bennett Ekandem and the team helping the kids there.  I get SUCH a kick out of seeing all these friends of mine get together, sharing, getting fired up about what the Father is doing.  Ray Vaughn with I Teams, Renee with Campus Crusade, Carters with Greater Faith Ministry, Bennett with Family Heritage Foundation. . . .what a crackerjack team!  As we gathered in a circle, Sister Shelita prayed for me as the Barringtons, Diane Sheintal and I head to Niger.  I dig Shelita!  She gets to praying and it’s a Holy Spirit thing!

My friend, I’m not sure where you are in your spiritual journey.  But PLUG IN wherever you are.  You miss the blessings of seeing the Father work all around you.  There is nothing better.

I dig being in the Whirlwind!

Peace.