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.