7 February

Dear brothers and sisters,

I hope you all are doing well. I am enjoying my time in Niger very much, but I miss you a lot. I was able to talk with Linda and Stephanie on the phone this morning, and it was to hear their voice, but it does remind me of how much I miss home.

A lot has happened over the last 2 days. On Friday, we all taught in the discipleship/leadership school again. The students are very receptive. In fact, they all want to go to the villages with us to participate in the meetings there. And some of them even came back to a meeting at the city church last night, so they were hearing us teach from morning to nigh. They are hungry for the Word and God’s presence, and it is enjoyable to be with them.

In the late afternoon, we went to the village of Ayidawani. The church there is very vibrant. It was some of the liveliest worship I have ever been a part of. The pastor and the people are full of joy, and passionate for Christ. Ed taught on the Gospel and on forgiveness. The people were receptive, and although no one initially responded y saying they wanted to become believers, after the meeting, one woman came forward and said she wanted to become a Christian. Ed led her in prayer, while Rebecca translated, and the rest of us rejoiced and prayed. It was a great end to a wonderful meeting. I am inserting a picture of this below.



Please be praying for this young woman. Life can be very tough for a new convert here. Pray for protection for her, and that she would draw close to the church, and be effectively nurtured in her new faith. Also pray that many more Muslims would come to Christ during our remaining time here.

The ride home from Ayidawani was beautiful. I wish you could see the sunsets in the African bush. They are breathtaking. I have tried to capture this in the photo below. There are no filters – it was really even more vivid and beautiful than the camera can capture.




As soon as we got back to Maradi, we had to hurry over to a meeting at Ali Don Tsoho, with one of the city churches. After a great time of worship and prayer, I taught on the Spirit’s work in transforming us (there were no unbelievers at this meeting). Other than the power going off for a few minutes in the middle of my teaching, it went well. In fact, even the power outage was no problem. We were meeting outside under the stars, so I just incorporated the stars into my teaching as an example of how big and awesome our Creator really is, and yet how He welcomes us into His presence. It was a wonderful experience.

On Saturday, we had a meeting with the pastors. The worship at the beginning of the meeting was incredible. The Hausa people can really play the drums. Two bothers were playing the bongos, and the sound was thunderous. It shook your bones, and made you want to go to war against the kingdom of darkness. I do not know what many of the songs mean, but the worship is still so enjoyable and refreshing to my spirit. During the meeting I taught on the importance of character in a leader, as the theme for the year here is holiness. Durant followed with a teaching on getting a vision for the world, encouraging the pastors to look beyond their own church and village, and take the Gospel to the next village, people group, and nation. Ed taught on the need to forgive, as unforgiveness will cripple the church. The pastors were very receptive, and it was great to see so many of them that I met last time. The picture below shows all of the pastors, Rich and Ginger, Nelson (one of the ministry leaders here and our main translator), and the three of us here for the short term mission.




I will close for now. Thank you for your prayers and support. Even though you are not here physically, you are a critical part of this entire process, and you are blessing the people of Niger more than you can know. I am so grateful to be part of our church, and I look forward to seeing you all in a couple of weeks.



In Christ,



Bret