To Win…or to win.

Where to begin.  I ‘blog’ in my head all the time.  I just don’t get it into print very often.  Then I forget what I wanted to write about.   Today I’m going to write about the weekend of October 10th.  The Annual NUTS tournament.  It’s a French acronym for the Niamey Universal Softball Tournament.  This is Trae’s 3rd year to be a part of it, and Neal’s 2nd.  Trae of course was on his school team the Sahel Suns.  There were several teams from Niamey and teams that came from Burkina Faso.  Neal was on Team USA, which was made up mostly of Embassy people and missionaries.  The games began Friday afternoon.  Both my guy’s teams were doing well.  Then they had to play each other on Saturday.  Someone had to win.  Which meant someone had to lose.  Team USA pulled ahead with victory.  There were some very exciting games, and 2 in particular where both of their teams (not playing each other) were down 7 and 8 runs in their last inning and they had last ups.  Even though they were different games, the end of each game was almost identical.   ‘My’ team came from behind and the game was cut short when they made their winning run, much to the surprise of their opposing teams who had been ahead the entire game.  Those victories put them in the finals together – playing each other for 1st and 2nd place.  Neal’s team hadn’t lost any games, and Trae’s team had only lost to Neal’s.  The final game was Sunday afternoon at 4:20.  I really enjoyed watching the games, especially when they weren’t playing each other.  I really did find it hard to know who I wanted to win – who I should be shouting for.  In the end, I just ended up shouting the whole time.  Trae would have a great hit.  “Yeah Trae – way to go  – Run!” I would shout.  While Neal was on 1st base getting the runner (Trae) out. “Yeah Neal – way to get im outta there!”  What’s a body to do?  At least I wasn’t the only one with split interests.

So, the final game.  I did not attend.   I could end here, and allow one to think that I just couldn’t take the pressure, but that’s not entirely true.  Actually, it’s not at all true.  It’s fun and it’s competitive (if you know my family) but it’s not THAT competitve.  My absence was due to the medical team we had arriving at precisely the same time THE game started.   So I was at the airport, anxiously waiting to see the whites of the eyes of our team of 7 from New Orleans.  The plane landed and with the help Number 11, our baggage guy, we begged my way into the airport (people are no longer allowed in b/c of security) and wore down the security guy with our determination, use of Hausa, and explanation that our guests needed lots of help (sorry team).  I was in and wondered after 4 bus trips from the plane to the airport (It’s about a 50-100 meter drive, I think the busses are for ‘show’) if they had actually been on the plane after all.  They finally showed up on the last bus.  We waved through the glass after I got their attention.  Then Number 11 went to wait for their bags and that’s when Neal called.  The game was well under way and I could hear all the shouting.  I could hear what I was missing.  He was calling between innings to see if they had arrived.  Yes, they had.

The baggage finally started coming.  If you’ve never been in an African airport, you’re missing out.  Oh the things people check onto the plane.  But that’s material for another post.  It took patience, but we finally collected all 14 of their bags and had all carry-ons accounted for.  While in the parking lot introducing the team to Niger sweat,  loading the vehilces and fighting off all those attempting to ‘help’ with the bags, Tanika called my cell phone shouting- “Mom!  We won!  We won!”  “Great” I said!  But wait a minute.  Who exactly is “We”?  I guess I should have known that she, being a member at Sahel Academy, would be rooting for the Sahel Suns.  Instead of her father??!  Yep.  Sure enough.  When I inquired who ‘we’ was she incredulously said “The Suns”, and I’m sure was thinking to herself ‘who do ya think?’

We finally made it out of the airport and the team arrived at our house welcomed by 2 very sweaty guys – one victorious, and one, well, – not so much.  I gotta say though, Trae didn’t gloat much at all.

After a weekend full of softball, sweat, hot dogs and cotton candy (yep, the school has a cotton candy machine) it was time to change gears.  Well, the sweat thing wasn’t going to change.  The next morning we would be on our way in 3 vehicles driving 9 hours into Niger’s interior where masses of spiritually and physically sick people were waiting and hoping for victory.  That’s a game we were ready to play…and win!

I Just Gotta Testify!!!

It’s only 70 degrees right now!  That’s not my whole reason for testifying, but it sure is icing on the cake!  Rainy season is here in full force now, so though it’s quite humid, we have been enjoying some ‘cooler’ days.  But this really takes the cake.  Almost need to get out the sweatshirts!

I have blogged so many things in my head since my last post.  But for various reasons, I am just now getting around to putting it down on ‘paper’.

The month of May was a pretty crazy one for our family.  Even before then, in the ministry, crazy things seemed to be happening much too frequently.  And on top of that, financial responsibilities were piling up into a pretty good sized mountain.  I have long since learned however, that mountains can be moved.

We have good medical insurance, so medical issues, including airfare for Tanika and I to Ghana, and for Trae and Neal to Paris were taken care of.  We just had to buy my ticket to Paris.  Our accommodation in Ghana was very inexpensive, so that even fell under our benefit limit.  Paris, however, was another story.  Neal was allowed $80 for accommodation per night.  One might think that could fetch a decent room.  However, when converted to Euro’s the the cheapest room he found was $158 – per night!  He stayed there for one night.  A meal for Neal in the hospital was E30 – $48!  For hospital food!  So Neal trekked around the streets of Paris looking for more ‘suitable’ food.

In the meantime a good friend of ours was sending our prayer updates to her friends.  One of those friends belonged to a church where the pastor was getting ready to do a missions trip to Paris and knew of a kind of guest house there.  That pastor contacted the people at Parole de Vie (Word of Life) on our behalf.  Parole de Vie then contacted Neal in Paris and told him that he and Trae (and me, when I arrived) would be welcome to stay there.  Wow!  The guest house turned out to be an 18th Century 16-room house that was under renovation.  All I can say is that it was a very cool place.  Though there were people coming and going, Rob and Caira basically gave us the run of the place.  I arrived several days later.  We had our own rooms, a kitchen to use and a TV and DVD player.  The charge per night?  Nothing!  And we gained some friends out of the deal as well.

While in Paris, Neal’s parents were holding things down in Niger.  A ‘funny’ sound was heard by Dad in the engine of our car and he promptly took it to the mechanic.   He emailed us with the news that the engine on our ‘new’ vehicle (now 4.5 years old – guess the honeymoon is over) needed to have the engine rebuilt.  To the tune of $2500.  Well then.   Also due, tuition for our kids school.  Huh.  In addition two of our pastors needed motorcycles, among quite a few other ministry needs.

We know that God provides and frankly, in these situations, I know there isn’t a whole lot we can do but trust in Him.  That’s really nothing new.  That’s one of the benefits of missionary life.  Trusting God every month for our ‘salary’.  When Tanika first got sick, Neal preached a message on joy – that it’s not based on circumstances.  Ours was being tested.  And we were determined to pass the test.  Some days I had to actively choose not to worry.

We were amazed at how people supported us with prayer, and also with extra giving.  It’s quite humbling.   We knew God would provide, but when we got our monthly giving ledger, we were astounded – jaw dropping astounded.  There was enough over our regular personal and ministry budget to pay all of our bills–  car repair, school, expenses in Paris, as well as enough extra to buy at least one of the motorcycles!  It’s funny how we expect God to do it, but are then amazed when He does.

That’s enough to build our faith for all the other things that we believe God has put on our plate to do!

So, as you can see, I just had to testify!

Adventure in Benin – Days 8, 9 & 10

Since we were supposed to be at his church for the Sunday morning service, Pastor Joseph was a bit nervous that we had made plans to go back to Grand Popo – back to the beach – on Saturday. He understands the whole traffic situation, but he doesn’t understand our need to get as much of the beach as we can. He saw us off at about 7am on Saturday morning and we re-assured him we would meet him at his church at 9am the next day. Two hours later we were checked back into the same rooms we vacated Wednesday, and we were on the beach. This time Rufus came with us. We had so much fun swimming (if that’s what you call being slammed down by crashing waves), walking, talking, playing frisbee, football, & beach long jump and hanging out at the pool. I went on a walk with Tobi and had an interesting conversation. I asked him if he liked my message the night before. He smiled and said he did. He said I preached on obedience, and that God wants to bless us when we obey Him. Then he asked me a question.

Tobi: “Do you love God or Jesus more?”

Mom: “I love them both the same. I love God because he sent Jesus, and I love Jesus because of his willingness to come.”

T: “I love God more.”

M: “Really? Why?”

T: “Because He’s fast.”

M: “Does He run?”

T: (very matter of factly) “No, He flies.”

M: “Oh, I didn’t know that.”

T: “Well, I love them both, but I love God more.”

What followed was an attempt at explaining the trinity by drawing pictures in the sand. Not sure he got it, but it’s a start.

We wanted to try another local place for lunch so headed out for a hopefully quick lunch. We found what looked like a promising option but were disapointed when we sat down and again everything we asked for on the menu was not available. This of course was after wiping down the tables and chairs and moving them through the sand so we could all sit together. We thanked the ‘waiter’ and went on our way. We ended up finding a ‘food is ready’ place and ordered rice and stew and frites (fries). Everyone got the same thing so we could cut down on the confusion. The available meat was mutton, and you purchased it by the piece. The food started arriving randomly so some of us began eating. When we had been waiting a few minutes for what we thought was the last plate, we finally asked about it. No, we were told, they had already brought us everything. Huh. OK. Rather than wait for them to go harvest some rice, grow some potatoes, and slaughter a sheep, we opted to ask for an extra plate and divided what remained among those who hadn’t eaten. Everyone left satisfied, and we were pleased with how cheap it all was. We spent the rest of our time between the ocean and the pool, until everyone was starving and ready for dinner at 8:30. We ordered our favorites (hours in advance) and it was ready when we sat down. We packed up the car (again) Saturday night since we were leaving at 7am. We didn’t want to disappoint Pastor Joseph. Before going to bed that night, Neal and I enjoyed a lovely stroll on the beach, thankful for the time we’d had to spend there. The stars were incredible.

Sunday morning we were again off and arrived on time. I had hoped to find someplace along the road as we got closer to Cotonou to buy some bread or something for breakfast. The granola was gone. That didn’t happen. We did have a package of cookies in the car so some of us ate those. This morning’s service was the culmination of the week of meetings. Celebrating the anniversary proper, as they said. What a day it was. The service started on time at 9am. It’s a happening church so there was much to be done. Much to be done. Neal preached for about 35 minutes. By the time the final amen was said, it was after 2pm. 2pm!! We had been there for over 5 hours. It was hot. We were hot. Dripping, really. But it was good. Trae, Tanika & Tobi were sitting together and though I know Tobi knows how to sit in church, I was amazed that he sat there the entire service, sweating, without even attempting to come to me and complain. I was getting restless! And we were in really comfortable chairs. Pastor Joseph kept apologizing for the length of the service and from about 11:50 on he kept telling us it was almost over. It was fine, though, as that was why we were there. That was our plan for that day. Well, that, and we were going to start on our journey home. But the drive to Parakou was only about 5 hours so we weren’t concerned too much with time. Our plan was to leave after the service and stop at the place we ate the night we arrived in Cotonou. They had incredible schrwama’s and Tobi had a great hamburger. He said it was his favorite restaurant. We were also planning to change out of our sweaty church clothes and into our travel clothes. When the final ‘amen’ was said we tried to convince Pastor Joseph of our plan to get on the road right away. He would have none of it. He insisted that we go into his office for just a few minutes. His office was a narrow room, suitable for maybe 6 chairs/people. No fan. He had also invited all the other pastors that had attended the service into this room – making at least 20 chairs and people. But we managed to keep scooting over to make room for more of our happy family. The jolof rice and chicken, juice and cake were worth it. We were trying to leave but the kids were requested for way to many photo ops. Pastor Joseph finally had to grab us by the hand and lead us to our loaded down vehicle. He was now getting concerned about us getting on our way. They honored us with the top cake from the anniversary cake. Loaded down as we were, we found a way to fit it in. Not to be denied my schwarma, (or the opportunity to get out of sweaty clothes) we tootled our way to Tobi’s favorite eating establishment and carried out the rest of our plan. We changed and ordered the sandwiches to go. We were on our way by 3:30. Going was slow behind overloaded trucks on a narrow 2-lane road. Darkness arrived by 7, so it was 2 hours of even slower going (keeping in mind that a truckdriver may decide he’s had enough and stop his truck in the middle of the road.) There are no street lights so one has to anticipate obstacles. We arrived in Parakou before 10pm, tired, hungry, and safe. The missionaries there were able to direct us to a pizza place that would still be open. Pizza! It was wonderful, and while some of us had the foresight to save some of their pizza for the next day’s journey, some of us (who will not remain nameless, Neal) figured that they could play on the compassion of others to get some of the saved pizza the following day.

We had another night without AC, but I was surprised at how long it took me to get to sleep considering how tired I was. I did sleep though, because at some point in the night I woke up and wondered if I was sleeping next to the incredible shrinking man. Neal woke up and decided that Tobi’s single bed was cooler than ours, so he switched places with him. It was a good idea for us all. We got on our way about 8am and had an uneventful trip. The borders were quick and easy this time and the few times we allowed ourselves to stop and use the bush (bladders were all sychronized so as not to waste time), we were amazed at how much drier the climate was. Barren, but dry. We arrived home at about 4pm with enough time to unpack everything and prepare for the next day, one that would start early and be busy for us all.

We had a wonderful family and ministry time away. I’m all about memories and some great ones were made. It’s always good to get away and renew our perspective. We were encouraged by what we know is possible, and what God wants to, and is doing in Niger.

That’s all she wrote!

Adventure in Benin – Days 6 & 7

I have got to get this finished.  I did manage to figure out flickr photos and have finally uploaded everything I want to from our Benin trip.  Our connection here is so slow it literally took days of being persistant.  I love though that I can have this online photo album all categorized.  It plays right into my need for organization.

On to Thursday.  We had a leisurely morning and around 9 Pastor Joseph showed up at our door with breakfast.  Put away the granola!  He had omelettes, sardines (Neal & Tobi enjoyed that delicacy), tea, coffee, chocolate drink, juices, jam & 2 loaves of bread — all prepared by his wonderful wife.  We enjoyed getting to know him better over breakfast, which was a bit awkward at first since he refused to eat with us.  He said he brought it for us.  We tried to insist but he persisted in his refusal.  We then had more down time – Neal prepared for his message for that night and we read and relaxed.  Trae had plans to spend the day with Rufus exploring Cotonou.  The rest of us went with Pastor Joseph when he returned for us at noon.  We took Tanika and Tobi to his house to hang out with his kids and he took us to a very nice, air conditioned, business center.  It was nice with the exception of the French keyboard.  It’s amazing how a few differently placed letters can really make a mess of things.  We sent and received essential mail – and their ‘essential-ness’ was determined with the mis-arranged keyboard in mind.  In other words I sent very few as typing was hen and peck.  That done, we went to Mama Benin’s for lunch where we enjoyed real Benin food.  Very fun.  Pastor Joseph was so gracious not only taking care of our physical needs, but he spent all of his time with us as well.  We spent lot’s of time at lunch talking about ministry, what we see going on in Benin, and what we believe will take place in Niger.  From there we decided we needed to get some ice-cream.  That is a luxury for us.  We couldn’t believe our eyes when we entered what might has well have been a Baskin Robbins Ice Cream Shop combined with a Bob Evans Restaurant.  The ice cream looked wonderful so we had some packed up to go (we’d have to ‘go’ quickly or melting would become a real issue).  We got enough for our families and went back to Pastor Joseph’s house where we all enjoyed the ice cream together.  Since he lives near the hotel, we were able to make our way back there on our own, where we went to prepare for the evening service.

Trae enjoyed his day and met us at the church for the service.  More great music from their choir and very talented and anointed musicians.  Neal had me come up to greet the people, and finish one of the stories he’d left unfinished the night before.  Before doing that, I invited Trae up to give his greeting.  He didn’t know I planned to do that but he did well ‘off the cuff’.  Neal’s message ‘going forward’ was well received, and fit in well with the conference theme of Divine Advancement.  The kids and I have heard the message before but I have to say that I don’t think any of us get tired of hearing Neal preach.  Trae was even taking notes. 

That night food was again prepared and brought to our rooms – French fries and plantain with a type of onion/oil/egg/tomato sauce to dip them in.  I wish I could duplicate it!  Though the electricity was off and on all evening, it ended up staying on all night so we slept another night with AC!

Friday morning we told Pastor Joseph that we still had plenty of the previous days food so there was no need to bring more for breakfast.  There was a fridge in our room that they had filled with juice, soda, milk and fresh fruit – including grapes.  They had no idea how huge the grape thing was.  That’s something we never get in Niger.  Grapes are imported but they are something like $15/pound.  Maybe more.  So finding them right there in our fridge for us to enjoy was quite a big blessing for us! 

I spent the morning preparing for the evening service where it would be my turn to take the stand.  Pastor Joseph then picked us up and wanted us to meet with his Bishop, a Benin national with an incredible church.  He is building a new church and took us to see it.  We were impressed.  More than impressed.  Inspired by what was being done in a country right next to Niger.  The building was incredible.  It was 6 or 7 stories high – we weren’t quite sure because of the different levels.  It was beyond anything we’ve seen in West Africa.  Our mouth’s were hangning open.  It’s close to being finished and up to that point about 1.5 million dollars had gone into it.  The reason that is so impressive is because it’s money that has been raised entirely in Benin!  It really gave us hope as to what is possible when the people learn to give.  That’s really what stood out to us the whole time we were there.  The way people give.  We don’t see that in Niger.  We teach it, and it is slowly changing, but there is a long way to go.  People in Niger for the most part live with their hands out.  And why not?  That’s how the government operates.  But I truly believe that once they get a revelation on giving they will find a door out of poverty.  We went to Benin expecting to take care of ourselves during this ministry time so we were amazed at the care that we were given.  Blessed.

From there we went to Pastor Joseph’s house where his wife had prepared a vegetable stew to be eaten with Semolina (I think that’s what it’s called.  It resembles cream of wheat prepared like mashed potatoes, to be eaten with one’s hands.)  The stew was made mostly of fresh greens, onions, tomatoes, meat, oil, peppers and crayfish.  This is one of Neal’s favorite things to eat.  I would have absolutely loved it myself without the fish.  The proper way to eat it is to dip your right hand into the provided bowl of water.  Then you take a small handful of ‘paste’and sort of roll it with one hand and then flatten it between your thumb and fingers, sort of making a well in it.  Then you dip it into the stew, scooping up a good amount which is then quickly transported into your mouth – preferablly without losing any stew along the way.  Tobi is quite good at this, though he does get both hands involved.  He and Neal love the fishy taste.  Tanika, Trae and I could do without it but we all enjoyed and were very thankful for the food provided.  I can be thankful that the training our kids received when they were small pays off in these situations.  They eat and enjoy all kinds of food, but I knew this was something neither Trae or Tanika would be particularly fond of.  However, without a warning from me they ate what was set before them without complaint and were thankful.  I appreciate that.

After lunch, we took advantage of our only opportunity to visit the market.  Pastor Joseph insisted that both he and his wife go with us, as they didn’t want us to get cheated.  We really were monopolizing their time.  In fact we later learned that Pastor Joseph never goes to the market.  They asked what we wanted.  The problem was, we weren’t shopping from a list.  We just wanted to see what was out there.  A different concept for our hosts.  The market in Cotonou is much bigger than the one in Niamey so when we arrived, I was thankful we weren’t alone.  We started pricing already made clothes.  That probably sounds like a funny term.  In Niger – and I’m sure many other parts of the world, most of our clothes get made by a tailor.  Yep, I pick out my own cloth, I have a tailor and my clothes are custom made.  (Sometime I need to include a picture of what that tailor shop looks like, but let me just say the sewing machine is powered by said tailor’s feet)  Let me also add that getting my clothes made is one of the most frustrating things I do.  That said, I was interested in looking at ‘ready-made’.  We all found stuff we liked, with the excpetion of Trae who for some reason has an aversion to wearing African outfits.  He’s ok with the shirts, but he can’t bring himself to wear the print trousers.  And the stuff we found was so cheap.    Especially with the help of Pastor Joseph.  Entire outfits for $7-10.  They thought we were hilarious with how excited we were over stuff they thought was too expensive.  I’m sure they heard more times than they wanted “but in Niger it’s so much more expensive”.  We ended our excursion buying inexpensive avocadoes, pears and apples. 

We couldn’t pass up one more opportunity for ice cream so we all hit that shop before heading back to our hotel to prepare for the evening service.  I was pretty nervous at this point.  I even thought I might ask Neal to fill in for me – except it had already been announced that I was that evening’s speaker.  So I just swallowed hard and looked over my notes again.  And prayed.  But that had been going on almost non-stop! 

More great praise and worship, then I was called up.  Rev. Mrs. Neal Childs.  (hee-hee).  I wanted to look around to see who that might be.  I started by inviting Tanika and Tobi up to help me sing and drum a song in Hausa.  I also employed the talented band.  That was fun.  Then I began my message.  I was being interpreted into the local language, Fon.  Neal is a preacher – in every sense of the word.  And this group of people love that.  I on the other hand, am not.  I am a teacher.  So all week I had been trying to figure out how I would be received, knowing how much they were loving Neal.  Neal kept telling me they would love me too, since I was so different.  Okay….different is good, right?  I was nervous to start but kept praying.  I knew that I had a message that would bless and help the people.  It was the delivery of it that concerned me.  I finally felt like I got into my groove and begin to enjoy it.   My message was basically that God has an intense desire to bless us but in order for that to happen we have to obey Him and His word.  Disobedience ties His hands.  When I was finished, I asked Pastor Joseph to come and pray with the people.  He came up and talked about the revelation he had received and basically ‘re-preached’ my message.  He later said that it was ‘like a bomb going off in our hearts’.  I thank God for his help, and for the opportunity.   I so want people to get that God wants the best for us.

More food back at the hotel - Jolof rice, one of my favorites.  Then another nice night of sleep, complete with air-conditioning.

Adventure in Benin – Day 5

We had another wonderfullly chilly night and Wednesday morning we were ready for more beach. Not really sure how long it would take for us all to get our fill…or if that was possible. We let the kids eat the standard restaurant breakfast for a change, while Neal and I enjoyed my trusty granola. Today is the day we were heading back into Cotonou for the start of the meetings that actually brought us to Benin in the first place.

We packed up our load – everything except what we’d be changing into – and loaded it into the car. Then it was off to the beach for more sun and surf. We decided up front that we had to be driving out by 12pm so everyone had to plan accordingly.

When making our plans to come to Benin, we looked into a few different options as to where we could stay, based on what other missionaries had told us. There was another option – a very nice resort about 25 miles from where we were staying. Casa del Papa, in the town of Ouidah. We opted not to stay there, as it was about 3X the price. But we did want to see the place, so we planned to eat lunch there today, on our way back to Cotonou. It was a grand place! Three swimming pools, close to the beach, tons of activities (for a fee!) and a nice restaurant. The place was huge. We had pizza for lunch and it was enjoyed by all. We discussed it while waiting for our food and decided that we would much rather stay where we were for 3 days, then to stay in this place for 1. It was a no-brainer. It was nice, but since we all love to hang out on the beach, all we really need is a clean room with cold AC. Did I say cold AC? And the fact is, if we wanted any of those activities, we could come and do them. You have to pay for them whether you are staying there or not. We were pleased with our choice!

On to Cotonou. Casa del Papa was pretty hidden so we had to have a taxi driver lead us to it. We would have never found it on our own – driving through the narrow streets of Ouidah. Leaving however, we felt confident we knew what we were doing. How wrong we were. We may have been ok if there hadn’t have been ‘road construction’ at every turn. We knew the general direction we needed to go to get to the main road that leads to Cotonou, and we are very good at stopping to ask directions. It would have been helpful if we were actually able to speak to the people in their language. Again, Trae came to our rescue. He had been pretty valuable up to this point with important things like ordering food. Sure glad we brought him along. With Trae’s French and some sign language, we turned our vehicle around (this wasn’t easy on the narrow dirt path – not to mention the crowd of onlookers that had gathered). As suggested, we went left then right and were at yet another impasse. Either we got wrong directions, or we missed something in the the translation. Nonetheless, we were getting good at asking for help. Which we did, but we were told to turn around and go right, then left. Ummm, thanks, but that’s exactly where we just came from, and I’m sure the crowd we gathered at that location is just starting to disperse. Obviously, we made it out of the maze – I would have loved to seen an aerial view of the place – because it really did feel like a maze. Now the road that connects Benin Republic to Togo is a 2-lane ‘throughway’. Not really. Suffice it to say that it took us – on account of overloaded trucks that were nearly impossible to pass, potholes, and construction – 2 hours to travel about 35 miles.

Upon arrival in Cotonou our instructions were to call Pastor Joseph and he would meet us somewhere. That meant finding a phone center. We did that without too much trouble and he gave us directions as to the best place to meet. We arrived first so we called him again. He was still 30 minutes away. We were thirsty and hot. Trae stayed with the car while the remaining 4 of us walked down the traffice laden streets (yes, again, we were a sight) to find ourselves a coke. We had victory and walked back to the car and Trae took his turn at finding a coke. Soon Pastor Joseph showed up so Trae jumped in the car with him and we followed them to our hotel. We were very pleasantly surprised at our accomodations and were so blessed to find that again, we were going to have AC! Up to that point, we had no idea.

Let me explain how we came to be here. In October 2006, Neal was invited to speak at a Four Square nation wide conference in Benin. He met several pastors at the conference and was invited to come back. Pastor Joseph, a conference attendee, and his family are Nigerian’s and God called them to start a church in Benin. He invited Neal last year again, but he wasn’t able to make it. He was persistant, and this year it worked out for all of us to go. So except for Neal, our gathering on the busy streets of Cotonou was the first time we met him. What a joy it was to get to know Pastor Joseph, his wife Joy, and their 4 sweet and talented kids. And they were both of those things – sweet, and talented.

At our hotel, Pastor Joseph had booked 3 rooms for our family. That was huge for us, as we are usually crammed into one! It was close to 5pm and he informed us that the service started at 6. He was going home to get our food. More food? It had only been about 3 hours since our pizza, but somehow I knew that we were going to be presented with some Nigerian food that would demand an appetite. I was right. Rice and stew and pieces of fried chicken. We enjoyed, and decided we better hurry up and get ready for the service. I took a shower, but wondered why I bothered. I was already wet again before Pastor came back to the hotel to pick us up for service. Guess it’s the thought that counts?

We didn’t know what a treat we were in for. The music at this church (Kingdom Life Glory Mission) was incredible. All of us thoroughly enjoyed it. And we knew that this is exactly what we are needing/wanting in our churches in Niger. We know the power of music to draw people to the church and to Jesus, and we want to develop it in Niamey. It’s always good to get away to renew prespective, and get new ideas. Then the preacher got up (my gifted husband) and the house nearly came down. The majority of the church is made up of Nigerians so when Neal started speaking the Pidgen English he learned as a boy, the roof nearly came in. It was a great way to get their attention before he began to preach – about being an influence. By the time he was finished, there was not a dry spot on him. His clothes were literally wringing wet. The humidity here is just not something we’re used to. The service ended with invitations to bring more people the next night. We really had fun.

Back to the hotel we went, where we were told that our food would be coming. More food?! It was 9:30 for goodness sake! But we somehow, with no difficulty at all, managed to eat the food when it arrived. It was wonderful. Pastor Joseph said goodnight and went home. Then the electricity went out. The generator came on. Then it went out. Once again, we were sweating in the dark. A few minutes later Pastor Joseph knocked on our door. He was so apologetic and feeling so bad. He didn’t know what was going on, but would find out. We kept reminding him that we lived in Africa, and that we understood! A bit later he returned to tell us that they had run out of gas for the generator. Were they planning on getting more? No… at least not until he showed up! Talk about influence! Not too much later we were back in generator business. No matter that they called our rooms and asked us to turn off the AC, that the generator could not run them. No problem. (Well, to be honest, it was a little problem but I’m trying to count my blessings with a fan). Praise God from whom all blessings flow the ‘real’ electricity came back on before we even got to sleep. So it was a good night sleep for us all. Another wonderful day!

Adventure in Benin – Day 4

Tuesday morning we woke up snuggled in a blanket.  It was crispy cold!  Now that’s what I call AC!  Our room was part of a 2-story building – on each floor there were 5 rooms facing the ocean, both floors having their own common balcony.  We were on the 2nd floor.  I got up and went outside to warm up.  There were chairs and small tables outside of each room on the balcony.  I brought homeade granola from home for breakfast.  My plan worked pretty well.  I had disposable cups and spoons and powdered milk (all we use is powdered milk).  Each person poured the of water he/she wanted that would eventually become milk for the granola.  This sounds easy but one has to consider that milk powder has mass, as does the granola.  Pouring too much water to start could have undesired consequences.  We got the process down pretty well and enjoyed granola out of a cup each morning.  I’ve never really been able to enjoy cereal with warm milk, but at the beach somehow it was doable.  I might add though, that the bottled water in our air conditioned rooms was close to chilled.  The previous morning, in our steamy rooms, it was downright warm. 

With breakfast out of the way, we hit the beach for some family devos, and then made our way to the waves.  What a day it was!  This beach wasn’t at all rocky, but very steep.  We were able to go out some when the tide was out.  Other than that, we stayed near the shore and played frisbee, football, and games like ‘let’s see who can stand best under the force of a crashing wave’.  There were too many wipeouts to count, so I’m not sure who won.  Tanika, Tobi and I took a walk down the beach.  There were fishing boats on either end of the hotel property.  African fishing boats.  Large dugout canoe type things that actually went out into the ocean.  We’d see them out there early in the morning.  They fish with nets.  Just like the disciples.  At this point they had already come in for the day.  We stopped along the way to pick up shells or to play ‘see how close you can get to the wave without it touching you’.  At one point, I’m not sure why we weren’t paying attention, we got hammered.  It all happened so fast I can’t really put it all back together.  I was standing in one spot, Tobi in front of me a few steps, and Tanika in front and to the left I think.  When this wave hit, it was like someone pulled both of my feet out from under me at the same time.  I dropped straight down while Tobi and Tanika were both slammed back into me.  We’re not sure who hit what, or what hit who, but Tanika had a big scrape/bruise behind her knee and I got pummled with something on the back of my neck.  It may have been Tobi’s head.  As we were trying to figure out what happened we started to get pulled back out because of the steepness and force of the water.  We grabbed onto each other and the sand and waited for the wave to wash back over us.  Tobi jumped up and started saying “I’m sorry Mom, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.  Are you ok?  I’m sorry.”  As if it was his fault.  We’re moaning and groaning as I’m telling him we’re fine.  I wasn’t sure at that point, considering the instant headache, but I wanted to reassure him.   We stood still for a couple of minutes to regroup, then I guess all was well, because Tobi wanted to race.  This attempt at running was a reality check as to how out of shape I am.  (In my defense I was running in thick sand on a very steep plane). 

We had been told about another hotel restaurant in the town we were nearby.  We decided to try that for lunch.  It was very enjoyable.  Right on the beach.  We thought we were pretty clever to bring a deck of cards (considering our lunch the day before), but when we sat down we realized it was way to windy to play.  No matter though, the food was ready in short order.  It was quite good.  Fish.  Then we split a fruit kabob for dessert.  Grilled fruit – quite tasty! 

We returned to our part of the beach and we were back at it.  Fighting those wonderful waves.  Neal and Trae developed an interesting game.  “See who can throw the football promptly so it will be caught at the exact time the ‘catchee’ gets pounded with a wave”.  A water version of tackle football, only the other team is the ocean.  The ‘winner’ was the one that got less banged up.  Males!  I spent my time taking pictures & video, reading, collecting shells, walking, and I even did my share of fighting the waves.  I was determined to get out past the breakers to enjoy some rolling waves.  I managed to get out there but the side tow was so strong that even though I was swimming west with all I had, I was still being pulled east.  So as not to end up at the place we had lunch, I decided to exit the water.  Easier said then done.  Getting back through the breakers was not easy.  I had been swimming out there with Trae and told him I needed to get in – I was so tired.  Another reality check as to my cardiovascular fitness – or lack thereof.  From there, we again relocated to the pool for several games of ‘Statue Marco Polo’.  The statue part was for Tobi’s sake.  He was a riot.  We enjoyed the pool right up until the time we had to get ready for dinner.

Dinner again was at 8:30 and we pre-ordered so not a whole lot of waiting would be required.  The previous night I ate baracuda in cream sauce.  It was wonderful.  So much so, that everyone wanted to order it for tonight.  I had an interesting version of beef stroganoff – it  was a yummy version!  Majority rule decided that we all still had enough umphhh left to be able to watch a DVD.  Since we had a king size bed in our room we were all able to pile on it to see the portable DVD player screen.  First, an episode of the Brady Bunch.  Tobi’s vote.  Then it was off to bed for Tobi.  No complaints from him.  He was ready to sleep.  And he had no qualms about being alone in the room next door to us.  What a guy.  We then watched an episode of Lost – 3rd season.   We all managed to stay awake to the end, but were then ready to saw logs.  There’s nothing like the kind of tired you feel when you’ve spent the day on a beautiful beach with people you love! 

Adventure in Benin – Days 2 & 3

Sun/Mon

Saturday night I was dreaming about the crisp AC I was going to enjoy on Sunday night.  Around 2am Neal thought maybe we should go find a hotel with AC, or at least sleep in the car with the AC running.   We made it through the sweaty night and couldn’t wait to get up and get to church.  At least there I expect to sweat!  We enjoyed a good Easter service.  We learned that Trae, who was staying with his friend Rufus, slept with an AC!!  Ummm, I guess I should be happy for him…

After a quick meal in a restaurant, (which there are tons of in Cotonou), we were ‘off to the beach’!  It’s only about a 55 mile trip, but takes close to 2 hours because of the traffic.  No worries.  We were headed to the beach for 2 1/2 days of, well, beach!  And crispy AC.  We easily located our destination, and finally got to see Trae’s French in action.  He can really get us by.  We were in 2 separate huts but we were within shouting distance of each other.  The 1st thing I did when going into the room was to turn on the AC.  Then I located my bathing suit.  Then I noticed that the AC didn’t seem particularly crispy.  I mentioned this to my optimist husband who simply said, “Put your hand up there.  It’s cold!”  Right you are.  It’s downright nippy!  The kids showed up beach clad and Trae informed us that their AC was not working.  Back to the check-in/bar/restaurant place we went.  “We’ll get right on it”, we’re told.”  We were quite thirsty and had no water.  Tap water isn’t an option.  We order some cokes.  They were $2.50 a bottle!  In the small village town where we were located, they were 40 cents/bottle!  Now I’m really annoyed.  Note to self.  Buy a case of bottled water in town.  Alrighty then.  Trae meets us on his way back from the beach to inform us that we can’t swim here.  Excuse me?  This is why we have just driven 1100 miles!  Where’s that boogy board?   Off to the beach we go to investigate.  There is a ‘life-guard’ there who tells us that the red flag is up and it’s too rough to swim.  What he didn’t know was how determined we were to enjoy some ocean with our beach!  It was very steep, and the waves crashed into an almost immediate drop-off, but we had a blast.  I think we gave our life-guard a near heart attack though.  Especially when Tobi would get slammed down by a wave, disappear for a second or two, and then emerge on the shore.  He finally relaxed a bit when he realized that we were not fools, but were pretty confident.  At one point however, we were playing frisbee and lost the white frisbee in the white surf.  We were all looking for it and he came rushing over to where we were.  I think he thought we were looking for Tobi.   We found the frisbee, and Tobi wasn’t lost.

After a wonderful time, we made our way back to our rooms, with great hope that they would be cool.  I decided at this point that I didn’t even need crispy cool.  I opened the door.  In this climate when one has to wonder if it’s cooler inside than outside, the AC is not working.  Same with the kid’s room.  Time for another visit to the check-in ‘desk’.  ‘We’re working on it’, we’re told.  I think they must not realize that we live in Africa and we don’t believe them.  But we will not stop asking!  We got ready for dinner and enjoyed a nice meal at the outdoor restaurant.  Back to our room we go, holding on to a shred of hope that something was done.  Nope.  The AC in our room kind of worked.  I decided that if I slept perfectly still and had a fan blowing directly on me, that it would be a comfortable night.  The kids?  They would manage.  They’re kids!  I think somewhere in the course of discussion I may have reminded Trae that he in fact did enjoy an AC the previous night…

Lights out.  No, I don’t mean lights out because it’s bedtime.  I mean the power went out.  Completely.  No worries.  This happens all the time. Surely a place like this has a generator.  Yep.  It started up and we were back in business – at least with fans.  At this point, I’m pretty happy if we can just keep that fan running.  I’m pretty determined, but at this point I couldn’t think of a single thing that could solve the problem.  Five minutes pass as I struggle to stop wiping sweat and get to sleep.  Then everything is silent.  Not a peep.  Now we are in the dark.  I mean we have no idea how long the generator might be out, and for that matter, why is it out?  It’s the back-up plan.  Is there plan C?  Guess not.  We ‘slept’ all night in silence.  Not a palm frond waved.  Though I was all about sleeping in, I couldn’t wait to get up.  When it was finally light enough to do so,  Neal asked the people next door if they know what’s going on.  They say they’ve been there several times and this has never happened.  They did find out though, that the generator broke.  And they had no idea when the real power might returned.  To say at this point that I was frustrated would be an understatement.   At some point in here, Trae very carefully says something like, ‘C’mon Mom, you need to lighten up’.  It was a reality check, and he was right.  We headed for the beach.  What else could we do?  After a few hours, we decided to give the pool a try.  It was very nice, and amazingly clean.  We enjoyed that, and were trying to decide what to do.  One of the employees noticed our frustration (we were trying hard not to ruin our testimony, considering we had ‘Abundant Life Church’ written on our vehicle), and quietly told us that there was another beach hotel about 1/2 kilometer down the road.   God bless her!   I had no idea, as I had checked the internet and thought I knew about the places that were available.  I knew about the really expensive one about 30 minutes away and had spent some of the night trying to figure out how we might be able to manage that one – even for one night.  This nearby one never popped up on our search.  Off we were to check out Hotel Bel Azur.  We went to check it out.  There was a big beach party going on, but we were told they would all be leaving that evening.  It was because of the Easter Holiday.  We asked if they had rooms.  “Yes.”  Do they have AC?  “Yes”.  Very cold AC?  “Yes”.  Is your generator working? “Yes”.  Is it strong enough to run the AC’s?  “Yes”.  Can we see for ourselves?  “Yes”.  They were right.  The generator was running the and AC was crispy cold in minutes.   These rooms were on a 2nd floor with a balcony from which you could clearly see and hear the ocean.  It was heavenly.  I’ve not been to heaven yet, but at this point I was thinking that this was pretty close!  And the rooms at Bel Azur were cheaper than the rooms we had at Awale Plage – the ‘we’ll get right on it’ hotel.    We tried not to sound too excited as we had bargained for the cheaper prices.   We calmly (on the outside) told them we’d take the 2 rooms and we quickly rushed back and packed up our things, quietly thanking the Awale Plage employee for the tip, and checked out.  They tried to talk us into staying and said they would move us to better huts.  But with no electricity to speak of, not an option!  In their defense, they discounted our room rates so our bill was less than what we planned for.  Back down the road we unloaded our load  for the 3rd time in 2 days.  We were getting settled into our new rooms and Trae comes next door to tell us that their AC isn’t working.  You’ve GOT to be kidding me.  I don’t blame the devil for everything, but I’m pretty sure that this is his doing!  We marched back down the stairs and politely informed the desk person who immediately came up and moved us to another room.  That room was much larger and had a king size bed.  I told the kids to hold the phone.  Neal and I would be transferring to the King size room, and they would move into our room.   While the move was taking place someone checked out the faulty AC.  Someone (no names given to protect the guilty) just forgot to turn on some switch.  It was working after all.  But no problem.  They were more than happy to let us keep the bigger room – for the same price!  We immediately asked for an extra mattress for the kids room, as we know here in Africa, these things can take time and hoped it would show up by bedtime.  They delivered the mattress before we hit the beach.  Also, perhaps exclusive to West Africa, hotels usually only offer 1 bath towel per room.  I use the term ‘bath’ loosely.  It would be a bath towel on Tobi’s body.  We have stayed in nice hotels in West Africa, and some not so nice hotels.  They all have one thing in common.  One ‘bath’ towel per room.  Our new paradise hotel also offered one towel, but it was actually full size.  I decided to push the envelope and said we’d need a towel for each person – so we’d need 5 in all.  In short order they provided not 5, but 6 Neal sized towels!  This truly was paradise!  AC and a towel for each person! 

We were settled in and our hope was to drive into the small village town and find some cheap food for lunch.  We found what looked suitable.  Suitable for cheap, I mean.  There were a few tables and chairs scattered around, partly inside a shelter, and partly outside.  They even had menu’s.  We sat down and realized we were downwind from a trash heap.  But if you could ignore that, and look the other way, there was an incredible ocean view.  At this point we are all starving.  We decide what we each wanted and the very unenthusiastic ‘waitress’ comes to take our order.  Every single thing we asked for on their limited menu was not available.  I’m not exaggerating.  And we didn’t ask for much.  We decided to go at it differently.  We handed back the menu and asked what they did have.  What we managed to understand was fish, chicken, and spagetti.  None of us are picky eaters and we ordered and waited to see what would happen.  We flipped bottle caps and played bottle cap football for what could have possibly been the length of a real football game.  The food finally came.  It wasn’t really what we ordered, but we were so hungry it didn’t matter.  And it really was tasty.  Just not enough (they missed part of the order)  At least the cokes were cheap!  On our way back to the beach we stopped in a little shop and bought a few snacks for the beach to tide us over until dinner (which wouldn’t be served until 8:30 that night.  They eat late in French countries.)  Spent the rest of daylight on the beach and then relocated to the lighted pool.  Had a wonderful dinner at the restaurant, and though we planned to play a game or watch a DVD, everyone was too exhausted (a wonderful exhaustion) to consider that.  Off to bed we went, into our frigid rooms!  We even had to ask for extra blankets! 

As I write this, I realize I sound like a pampered, high maintainance female, rather than a missionary living in the hottest, poorest nation in the world.  However, I also realize that although I know I can rough it with the best of them, when I set my expectations to a certain level, I expect them to be met.  Especially when I’m on vacation!  And I will persevere until they are!  I can do that because I know God is good and wants good things for me.  I have also learned that no matter where I am, there’s no place like home!

Adventure in Benin – Day 1

March 22nd 

We packed the car on Friday night.  Due to the fact that we were getting up at 4:30am on Saturday and there was a good chance that something could get left behind at that hour.  Maybe even a kid. 

 We travel with our food and water, as there are no Kwik Trip’s or Taco Bell’s along the way.  That was also prepared on Friday night.  So Saturday morning was quite smooth.  Everyone grabbed what he/she was supposed to, and we were out the door.  The journey had begun. 

Since we were leaving so early, we had almost 2 hours of driving in the dark.  Not fun.  But we did see the sunrise.  That was fun.  It’s about a 3 hour drive to the border between Niger & Benin Republic.  It was about 8am when we arrive there.  We sat on very old benches to fill out our paperwork BYOP-(bring your own pen). Not a computer was in sight.  Each one of us was required to fill out a form with various birth, address, and other unecessary information.  The form was in French so for the parts we couldn’t figure out we had to ask the ‘officials’ in Hausa what it said in French so we could write it in English.  The thing that always strikes me at places like this is not just the primitiveness(it is a national border), but the inconsistencies of how things are done.  The forms we filled out were inconsistent.  When we pointed this out, they had us refill them out.  Our names (at least some of our names) got written in a big ledger where they use a ruler to draw straight lines to divide the names.  I couldn’t quite figure out if they got all our names there or not.  They were giving us a really a hard time with the forms – one official telling us one thing, a different official telling us something completely different.  Neal was starting to get frustrated.  We all were.  Especially when busses full of people pulled up, and came and went while we are still sitting there with our forms – papers that have probably since been used to start cooking fires.  Finally Neal says (in Hausa) “are you treating us like this because we are Americans or because we are Christians?  You’re wasting our time!”  The man started saying ‘No, no, no’.  Then he immediately began to stamp our passports.  They do not like to be accused of favoritism.  Neal said “I’m sorry for getting hot.  We have a long trip.”  The man told us no problem and by the time were on our way, we were laughing together.  We crossed the bridge into Benin and had to fill out similar forms.  But these were written in both English and French.  And these officials even helped us fill out our forms.  That went much quicker.  In all, we spent just over an hour at the borders. 

 We were on our way South.  The road at this point starts out very bad.  Filled with potholes.  Unavoidable potholes.  This and the fact that it is a  1-lane road posing as a 2-lane road and is the main truck route from the port in Cotonou, Benin to Niger, and you may be able to picture it.  Though all the overloaded trucks were a nusciance, we enjoyed the changing scenery from desert to tropics.  And the road did improve.  And then it got bad, then better again.  One thing we were really excited about was the price of fuel.  Right now in Niger, we are paying about $6.64/gallon of diesel fuel.  In Benin, Fuel was only $4.30/gallon!  Now that is a great example of perspective – when one can be excited about fuel costing $4.30/gallon!

The trip was uneventful – as uneventful as can be when traveling on roads as described above.  I might add though, that even though our children are able to sleep on these trips, the average visitor would be white-knuckled right out of the starting gate. 

We arrived in Cotonou some 14 hours after departure.  Our kids are great long distance travelers.  It’s something they’ve grown accustomed to.  Believe it or not, we only stopped to ‘use the bush’ twice in those 14 hours. (Again, no Kwik Trips nearby)   I think we have unknowingly learned to synchronize our bladders for road trips. 

 Traveling with us also, was Rufus.  Rufus is from Benin and he and Trae are good friends.  In fact they were roommates last year when Trae was in boarding school.  Our traveling to Benin was a great opportunity for Rufus to be able to visit his family, and for Trae (and all of us) to meet them.  It made the car more crowded, but we managed. 

The traffic in Cotonou was incredible.  It makes Niamey look like a village.  We dropped Trae and Rufus off at his house, planning to meet the next morning at church.  The rest of us made our way to the SIM Guest House.  SIM is a huge worldwide mission organization.  We were originally ‘signed up’ for the room that had an AC.  We were told 2 days before departure that that room was no longer available for us but that the fans should be sufficient.  Oh how wrong they were.  We are coming from the desert.  Yes, it’s hot (116 when we left) but we are living in probably single digit humidity.  Benin is in the tropics and is just starting it’s rainy season.  At first, it almost felt like we couldn’t breathe.  The air was so thick and heavy.  Temps stayed around 90 – 95, but with the high humidity, I thought we might melt.  The fan didn’t cut it.  We all took showers and slowly (so as not to build up a sweat) got into bed.  We were exhausted after the trip, but sleep wasn’t easy.  We just kept sweating.  Fortunately there were enough beds for us each to have our own.  I think around midnight the electricity went out.  At this point, we would just be thankful for a fan – who needs AC?  (There’s that pesky perspective again!)  But Alas!  I hear a generator starting up.  Alas my foot!  It was from the compound next to us.  Our curtains were open and windows were up – to maximize the use of the non-existent breeze.  The generator was so close it could have been a running lawnmower stationed right outside the window – fumes wafting into our room.  And for some reason, even though it’s the middle of the night, that generator was running all the lights in that house next to us – and they were shining into our room!  I got up and passed out wet wash-cloths to everyone, more of a token, really.  They didn’t do much to cool us.  The lights came back on after about 90 minutes.  I finally gave up trying to sleep and went into the common room to read – something to keep my mind off my sweaty body.  And I began dreaming about the place we would be in the very next night.  A nice beach chalet with crisp cold AC – wonderful after a day at the beach.  That got me through the night. 

This ends Day 1 of our adventure in Benin.