One week left...

Hello to everyone in America!
(I had sent an email to Lauren asking her a few questions and these were her replies)

Our 4th of July fiesta was great. Yes our pinata was an American flag.
I felt a little unpatriotic swatting at the American flag on our
Independence Day. We didn't really eat the candy. We left that for the
kids. It was all African candy anyways... so it probably wasn't too
great.

(I asked Lauren if it would be ok to have a small party with family when she got home or would it be too overwhelming)

Finally, I would love to have a party when I get home. I want to get
as much in as possible before I have to head back to Birmingham. Trust
me, any American party will be much less overwhelming than a slow day
in an African village. We feel weird if we get 5 min. alone without at
least 20 eyes staring at us. I am more worried about being lonely than
overwhelmed!

About this week...
It has been a great, busy, full week.
Monday we headed back to the village in the morning. There had been a
baby naming ceremony in Dare last weekend, and there were a
bunch of people in town still. When we walked into our door there was
a group of 9 women and 15 children that followed us in wanting to hear
the stories. They were all from different villages, just in town for
the party. We both were really excited. They listened well, and then
we thought they wanted us to go back to their villages with them to
share. At that point I wasn't feeling so well and didnt think I could
make it on the long walk so i decided to stay behind. They changed
their minds too and told us that we should just stay in Dare cause it
was hot and we would have to be in the sun if we walked (the Africans
expect us to sit on our butts in the shade all day). As the day went
on I really wasn't feeling well, so I laid down and then... I started
throwing up :(. I spent most of the day sick and finally around dinner
time Wesley decided to call Greg (we have a satellite phone out in the
village). He came and picked me up and brought me back to the missionaries house to rest.He dropped Wesley off in another village to spend the night
with Rachel and Rebecca (from the brook hills team).  I was able to
get some Gatoraid and sleep in a real bed that night. My fever went
away, I quit getting sick and in the morning I was able to keep some
food down. I think the germs and lack of sleep just caught up with me,
and I got a 24 hour bug. Most of the day Tuesday, I just rested, read
a cheesy Christian romance novel, and tried to rehydrate. By 4pm that
afternoon I was feeling wonderful. The whole Missionary family took me
back out to the village. We picked up Wesley on the way out too. I was
so thankful for the Missionaries and having a place to come to for resting
and relaxing, cause it is pretty miserable laying in the dirt in 110
degrees with flies swarming around you, throwing up, and trying to sip on hot
water. Honestly I really love the village, but Monday, not so much!
Tuesday evening I was feeling really good though and the rest of the
week was wonderful. Wednesday morning, we found out that someone in
the village had died. It was an old man that we didn't know, but here
funerals are a big deal. They last for at least a week and everyone
comes from out of town to greet the family, give money, and pray to
petition allah to allow the deceased person into heaven. So Dare has been
a hopping place this week. It is sad that the old man died not knowing
Jesus, but there was probably 150 women that we were able to play the
tapes for that were just in town for the funeral. I don't know how
many villages were represented in all the people that came throughout
the week, but it was a lot. God heard your prayers, cause we shared
those tapes non stop this week. Friday, which is usually a slow day
because everyone goes to market, we were bombarded with women coming
to greet us. We didn't leave our yard until almost 1:00. Then around 5
a car pulled up and it was Brittany (the journymen) dropping off Rachel
and Rebecca for a slumber party! I cooked Ranch chicken salad (we got
some mayonnaise packets from town)apple sauce, canned pineapple, and green
beans for dinner.We had a real feast! We stayed up till 10:30 playing Rummy
and eating packaged cookies. We had a lot of fun. It was a good way to end our
last full week in the village.
Today, we all got picked up and after lunch had a surprise waiting for
us. Greg hired a man to bring his camel for us to ride! We each got a
turn riding the camel. Mom, don't worry I got LOTs of pictures and
they are hilarious!
Tonight we had a delicious dinner of sloppy joes, baked beans,
cucumber salad, and fried okra and now everyone is in the living room
watching Indiana Jones. Every Saturday night Greg pulls out the
projector and we watch a movie. So Mom don't worry about me too
much... I still get lots of good food and we get to watch movies.
Tomorrow we will have our last church service, and then Monday we will
head back to the villages. We will have Monday and Tuesday all day,
and then Wednesday, they are coming around to pick all of us up to
pack and get ready to leave. On Thursday, we will leave to go to
M for a final vacation and debriefing. I think we will get to go
swimming in the pool(if there is water in it) and we're
staying in a hotel Thursday night. Friday the Brook Hills team will
make the bus trip to Niamey where we will have Saturday to rest, and then
we leave Sunday morning at 3 am! At least I think that is the plan. I
am looking forward to being home, but I have absolutely enjoyed my
experience here. It is going to be extremely hard to leave both my new
American and African friends. Several of our village friends told us
that they were gonna cry when we left and that it wasn't good that we
are leaving ( I think that's the Hausa way of saying we will be
missed)
I miss you all, and look forward to seeing you really really soon!

--
*Lauren Taylor*
*Jeremiah 6:16 *

Hello from Africa!

At the half way point of Lauren's trip they took the teams to a town called Zinder to swim in a pool, eat in a restaurant and sleep in a bed (woo hoo!) this was Lauren's message after that weekend of R and R 

ZInder was great. We got there Friday afternoon and went straight to
the pool. We were the only ones there. It looked a lot like a high
school pool. There was also a tennis and basketball court. We wore
bathing suits and shorts and ran around and drank soda all afternoon.
It was marvelous! We then walked across the street and all 25 of us
(we had some extras with us) sat outside the restaurant since we
couldn't all fit inside. I ate chicken in "some kind of sauce" and
french fries. And we had "ice cream" which was really more like frozen
cool whip for dessert. It was good but everyone ate too much and paid for it later.
Saturday we went to the tourist souvenir shops which were the nicest
buildings in Zinder.  We ate lunch and then headed back to Matamey. We had
our weekly movie night saturday evening and then church on Sunday. We
have Hausa church on Greg and Laura's front porch on Sunday mornings.
Last week was high attendance. There were like 5 Hausa grown ups.
Unfortunately half of them were there because they thought they would
get medicine. And then on Sunday evenings we have English church.
We had a 2 hour and 45 minute sermon on marriage. 
This week was our first long week in the village. It still went by
pretty fast. It was a good week and one of the women that we have
befriended told Britney (one of the journeymen that had come to visit
our village) that she understood that Jesus was someone important and
that He was the reason that we were in the village playing the tapes.
Believe it or not that is a huge break through. Her name is Marriama
and of all the women she understands the tapes and retains the most
information. This week we were able to walk to a few of the
surrounding villages and share tapes with some new people. It was
exciting to see some new faces.
Lunch is ready. We are eating white rice with pumpkin sauce ( a spicy
red sauce that is a combination of tomato paste, onions and pumpkin
with some kind of brown meat in it) It is really good! 
(I had asked Lauren if she could "feel" all the people praying for her and this was her response)
oh and yes I can definitely feel peoples prayers mom! I will tell you
more about that when we can talk. I am trying to take a lot of pictures, but I have to be careful because the Africans get a little crazy when we pull out our
cameras. They all want their picture taken and they start getting
aggressive the more pictures you take. But dont worry, I am taking
lots of pictures when I can.

(We are on vacation at the beach and on Sunday, July 3rd, Charlie, Morgan, Brian and I were sitting on the balcony having a short devotion when Charlie's phone rang and it was LAUREN!! Calling from the missionaries phone in Africa (not sure how much that call cost but it was worth every dollar). Hearing her voice after 6 weeks of being gone with little communication was such a wonderful blessing. We all passed the phone around and tried to ask different "intelligent" questions but I was so excited to just hear her voice that I couldn't think clearly. Needless to say I thought of all kinds of things to ask once we had hung up. At one point in the conversation there was a lot of commotion in the background and Lauren said they were letting the African children back in the yard. The children love hanging out in the missionaries yard and would be there 24/7 if allowed. So every day for a few hours in the afternoon the guard runs them all out so the family can have some private time. They play just beyond the gate and wait to get back in as soon as possible. Morgan wanted to see if she had a "Hausa accent" :) after being there this long but she sounded the same. Morgan also asked her about animals she had seen and she said that on her way from Niamey the bus had to stop for a "giraffe crossing". Pretty much like our "deer crossings" but a giraffe would do a lot more damage to your vehicle and they are easier to see coming. They were getting ready for a Fourth of July celebration before they headed back to their villages. The following email was received on Fri. July 8th.

Hello all! I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July celebration. We enjoyed our American fiesta. We had a pinata and a water balloon fight. We ate delicious fajitas, quesadillas, hummus, and funfetti cupcakes. It was fun, but not quite the same as our traditional barbecue. We had a good week in the village this week. Each week seems to go by faster. Today, we came in early to help with the medical clinic Laura has at her house every Friday. It is always pretty crazy. They open the doors at 9, but people from villages all around Matamey walk here before sunrise to get in "line". There are probably over 300 people that come through the doors every Friday. It sounds like an emotional scene, but so many of the Africans are extremely pushy and greedy so it makes it hard to accomplish your mission.  Many of them just tell you that everything hurts so they can get a bunch of medicine to take back to their village and sell. It is not unusual for Laura to have to break up fights. She is an amazing woman to put all of this on. It is difficult to organize anything around here, but she keeps everyone in line. The people that want medicine have to get here early to get in line. They give their name to Alfa the guard who lets ten people in at a time. They hear a bible story in Hausa and then someone prays for them and they get to go to the porch where they sit and tell Laura everything that is wrong. Usually they just get vitamins, maybe some tylenol and they're sent on their way. It is amazing how if one person says something hurts and they get medicine for it, all of them magically have the same problem. There are some cases of people who really need medical attention and are honestly seeking help for them or their baby. I dont mean to sound cynical in all of this, but just letting you see that missions, especially medical clinics aren't always so glamorous or feel good. 
I can not believe there are only 2 weeks left. It feels like I have been here forever, but the time goes by so fast. I have been looking forward to coming home and seeing everyone and enjoying the American way of  life. 

c,./.nbgvccc;zaX          xzX  zx
That was a message from Maggi the two year old. I am in charge of  babysitting on Fridays.

I have loved every moment of being here in Africa. It is a really hard place to live and I greatly respect Laura and Greg for their persistence. I can not wait to come home and share stories and pictures and hear all about y'alls summers.

Please continue to pray that the gospel will be clear through us and that nothing will hinder the spread of God's love as we serve the Hausa people. Also please pray that in these final days we will be able to take advantage of every opportunity we have left to share the gospel.

Email update from Lauren 6/18/2011

(Lauren sent this email to her family and asked that we post it to her blog to let all of her prayer warriors know how their team is doing and to know where the greatest prayer needs are.  She said that there are 16 team members trying to use one "dial-up" computer on the weekends and they have to pay for internet access.  Needless to say 1 email is all she will probably get out each weekend so she asked that we share with her friends and family. Thank you for your prayers for Lauren and her team members.)

I hope that y'all are having a great weekend! I have a nice long

weekend this week! Yesterday, Wesley (Lauren's hut mate) and I came in from the village

early to help with the health clinic Laura and Greg (the missionaries) host every Friday.

We also got to go to the market that they have here in Matamey every Friday.

To catch you up, we finally made it to Matamey 2 weeks ago on Sunday

night. We spent a day in Niamey doing orientation with Greg. We stayed

at one of the IMB's guesthouses. That was the last time I felt AC (and

when I say AC I mean a small window unit that worked at night when the

rest of the town was asleep. I was very surprised how underdeveloped

even Niamey was. It is the biggest city in Niger, and it looked like a

war torn, ghost town. I was a little scared when we first got there.

Not that I felt unsafe, it was just very shocking. After a day of

orientation, Wesley, Patrick, and I got on a bus full of Nigerians and

rode the 13 hours to Takieta where Greg picked us up and drove us the

rest of the way to his house. The ride actually went by pretty

quickly. There was even one man that spoke a bit of English, so we

didn't feel totally out of place. It is quite humbling how many people

here in this 3rd world country know 3-4 languages! They all speak

Hausa, French, some English and often another African language.

When we finally got to the house, we were greeted by the rest of the

Brook Hills team that had rode in the car with Greg, and  the other

volunteers. There are 9 other people here volunteering. They are all

college students from NC,  TX and 1 from Mississippi. I

am still the youngest person, but until last night most of the people

thought Wesley and I were the same age: 26.

We did 2 more days of orientation and on Wednesday, they sent us out

to our villages. Wesley, Patrick, Justin (the kid from Mississippi) and I are in Dare. We are the furthest out. About a 20-30 min drive. (p.s. they drive us to our villages, we don’t have to walk, drag our stuff through the dirt, or pull it on an ox cart like you thought) Some of the other guys are close enough to walk back and forth from Matamey and

their villages so they come back for Market on Friday mornings.

Matamey is considered the city... but there is only 1 paved road and

it last about 1 mile. Greg and Laura live in the nicest house here and it is paradise compared to the village life. All houses are gated, and they all have guards. I don’t think it

is a security thing as much as privacy. From dusk till dark, kids are

in the "yard" playing. There are people coming by all day long asking

for food and medicine. Here it is the norm, and it is crazy how quickly you get used to the different culture. I have yet to experience much “culture shock.” 

It is also surprising how bearable the heat is. It does get hot with an average temperature between 100-110 degrees, especially from 1-4 pm, but in the mornings and at night it is really pleasant. There is usually a breeze, and the air is so dry, that it doesn't feel nearly as hot as it is. It has rained, or at least sprinkled almost every night too which always makes it cool off.

I have really enjoyed living in the village too. We have wonderful

neighbors that have been a huge blessing. Their names are Marrium and

Horunah. He is the headmaster of the school in our village. He speaks

a good bit of English which has been extremely helpful. His wife is so

sweet. She has taken us out to work with her, taught us to cook

different Hausa meals (they all are gross, but its fun to learn), and

she has made us good food several times. Their kids are awesome too.

They sweep our yard (apparently it is expected that you sweep your dirt

yard every day), shoo kids away when we are resting, they are patient

with our poor language skills, and they are always willing to help.

In African culture greeting is really important. We spend a majority

of our day going around asking:

Sanu (hello). Ina kwana (how did you sleep)? Ina ga gia (How is your

tiredness)? Ya ya ike (how is your work)? Ya ya iyalie (how is your

family)?... It takes a while., Then we usually play the tapes and show

them the pictures, and then daka (which is pounding grain, or corn, or

spices with a giant mortar and pestle) Wesley always gets laughed at,

but I have gotten pretty good at it.

Our focus is supposed to be mainly on the women. In this culture it is

not really appropriate for men and women to hang out, so we spend all

day with the women. They are very uneducated, and the only education

they know is rote memorization. The common misconception is that we

are playing these tapes for them to memorize like the Koran so that

they can get points with God. They don’t understand that it is a

convicting message of truth that will change their lives. There is no

concept of logical thinking here either, especially among the women,

so we have a lot of work and prayer! Greg and Laura have been very

encouraging, but it will be only by God's power to see any fruit from

our work this summer. I haven't been discouraged yet because I know

I'm being obedient to God, but I think some of the teams are a little

disappointed with the lack of response.

There are people who are interested though, and hospitality is so

important that they all listen (or pretend to listen) attentively.

A few random things:

We saw a lunar eclipse Wednesday night.

Pretty much everyone caught a 24 hr bug this week. I actually have yet to be sick in any way! I feel better then normal actually. No headaches, stomach aches, or allergies! 

I doubt I will be losing any weight this summer! We eat

really well on the weekends!

Next weekend we are going to Zinder for a half way break. We are going swimming, souvenir shopping, and spending the night in an air conditioned house! Can you believe its almost half way over!

Keep praying for God’s message to be accepted in the hearts of the Hausa people.

-- 

*Lauren*

*Jeremiah 6:16 *

Pray that we will be confident in God's word

For those of you who are following along with my weekly prayer sheet, you have been praying with me for our confidence in God's word. This morning as we waited anxiously for plane tickets to Africa we were able to share the Word with one another. We had such an encouraging time in God's word and he revealed himself to us in many ways.
Today I want to share Psalm 119 with you. Pray that the word of the Lord would gaurs us from all unrighteousness (v 11) and that we would be sustained by God's word (v 57) that God's word would guide and direct us (v 105) and that we would be filled with zeal for god righteousness and truth (v 142)

Second post

Dear brothers and sisters,
It has been an adventure to say the least. The Brook Hills West Africa team has yet to make it to Africa :-(
Our flight out of Miami to Paris was delayed which caused us to miss our flight out of Paris... Which meant that we had to spend 2 nights in Paris, France! We were able to see all of the sights and get a lot of rest. Not to mention enjoying some delicious food and beautiful weather before we head out to the desert. This morning we all packed up excited and ready to get to our destination...
Well the Lord had other plans. Through some miscommunication we never were ticketed for our second flight to Africa. Which meant that we again were stuck in Paris.
All of this could sound like torture, but honestly the Lord has carried us through, provided everything we have needed and brought our team so much closer.
We have truly seen that the Lord is good. He is our very present help in time of trouble. Or as some of us have said "the Lord is so hood. He is our effervescent help in time of delirium...
Praise God for his sovreignty and his provision. Know that the Lord is good and even when we experience trials our hope is in Christ alone. God bless and hopefully the next update will be from Niamey when we arrive on Saturday.
Love you all

First Post

I want to begin by thanking everyone who has shown support and encouragement as I have prepared for this summer. I can not express how much your prayers and enthusiasm has ment to me.
I thought that I would share a little of the journey I have taken to make it to West Africa for my first update.
About 4 years ago God made it clear that he was calling me to go to West Africa before I turned 20. Abigail Bone was present when I heard God's call and can testify to how clearly I heard this call. I had never been interested in Africa. I had never really considered foreign missions and certainly didn't have Africa on my radar. In one night my attitude changed. I began to look into mission organizations that took teenagers to Africa. After a little research I found that this wasn't going to be easy. I still hadn't talk to my parents about the idea either. I began to get a little frustrated when nothing came to fruition and I let the dream fizzle out.
Several years passed and in the fall of 2010 I found myself living in Birmingham, Al attending Samford University. One of my top priorities when I moved to Birmingham was to find a church that was glorifying God. I was looking for a faith family that I could accompany in expanding God's kingdom. Everyone told me that I just HAD to visit the Church at Brook Hills and, although I was a little skeptical of the "mega church," I went. Needless to say the preaching of God's truth is contagious. I have been attending every Sunday since that first visit. At the end of my first semester the church released the upcoming global mission opportunities. I was immediately interested in the mid term (2 months- 2 years) opportunity in East Africa. I figured that it was the same continent, close enough! I began to look into the trip a little more. I got some information to bring home to my parents. I knew that they were going to be less than thrilled that after spending my first year 11 hours from home I wanted to spend my summer across the atlantic ocean. There first reaction was "absoutly not."
I had expected that. So I went back to school and decided to pray about it. I knew that if this was the opportunity God had called me to He would make it work. I found out that the trip had been moved to West Africa. I consider that the first confirmation that God's hand was guiding me to this opportunity. I continued to pray for my parents asking God to burden their hearts for the spread of the gospel so they would let ME go. Little did I know God had different plans. I received an email from my mom a few weeks later that said that God had been working on her heart and that her heart had been burdened for the spread of the gospel in our community and... The rest of the world! She was preparing to answer God's call to a foreign mission trip.
Not only did they allow me to continue to pursue the West Africa opportunity, they are preparing for their own mission trip to Honduras this coming winter! God answered my prayers beyond what I could have asked for.
Even though I had permission to go, I didn't have the funds to get there. As always, God provided exactly what I needed to answer his call. Between scholarships from school, church, family donations, and an unexpected baby sitting job every cent was provided.
God even blessed me with the opportunity to meet with several missionaries that served in the same area that I will be serving with the same people group I will be living with!
All through the process of getting to West Africa God has directed my steps. When I got discouraged it never failed that he would send some confirmation my way. When plans seemed to fall apart God provided our team exactly what we needed. When I least expected it God called me to follow him and he has sustained me thus far. Only by the grace of God I have been invited to advance his Good News and I am constantly reminded that it has nothing to do with me! I don't deserve to be a part of God's plan but he has extended his grace to me and I have the honor of proclaiming the hope I have in Christ to a people who have never heard.

I appreciate your prayers so much and I can not wait to see how God will move among the Hausa people this summer!