If penguins are cool ... how come I'm so hot?

Update May 7 2008

Hello to Everyone,

Thank you for praying Hello to Everyone,

Thank you for praying for the trip we took to Galmi.   Things went pretty well, and the travel was safe for Jean and I.   On the way out to Galmi we took SIMAIR.   This was Jean's first time in an airplane, and one of his reactions was that pilots do not have an easy job!   The picture this time is Jean in the right side of the cockpit just before take off.   The flight to Galmi from Niamey takes about 1hr and 30 minutes and costs about 10 times as much as the bus, but the bus comes with a variety of drawbacks that we can talk about later.

We were able to cover most of our objectives, plus a few others we found after arriving in Galmi.   On the downside, there are a couple of things I am still working on as time permits in Niamey.   We could use prayer for two things in particular.   One is an Access databasethe pharmacy at the hospital uses and second is to codify and get screen shots of the restore procedure for the server at Galmi.  

The database issue I could use prayer that the Lord gives me wisdom on how to repair it.   There are some parts of the database that do not seem to be getting data from the proper tables.   The prayer for the restore procedure would be that we can recreate the SME server environment using virtual machinesin the office in Niamey to be able to test that the data and user information are being restored properly using the procedure we have mapped out.

Jean learned quite a bit while we were there, and together we asked questions about the problems we saw and how best to fix them.   Such practices will help him to think critically about issues as we face them this next year.   It was also interesting to see Jean in a place where he knew many of the people.   He grew up east of Galmi in Maradi,   but many of his family members live in Galmi, as does his fiancée.   So when we were not working, we were greeting many people!   On Sunday we were also able to go to the Hausa church in Galmi.

The bus rideback was 7 hot, non-air-conditioned, mouth drying, grueling hours.   We joked that the bus ride had at least one similarity to the SIMAIR flight.   We found ourselves in the air much of the time as we hurtled through bumps and holes in the road alternating from road construction, to road deterioration!   I for one, was very happy to see the final bus terminal in Niamey, and finally home.   Thank you for your prayers for this trip.  

The next trip we have out of Niamey, will likely not be for at least a month, but we continue to tackle computer issues in Niamey, at the office, at the Esprit bible school, and the FEU ministry to university students.   As an example, Monday the 28th of April we arrived at the office and were greeted to a toasted server.   Power surgesover the weekend had fried one but spared another (Yes, they are on UPS's, so you can imagine the level of the power surges).   The last time we had a major server loss in 2005, I spent 3 days rebuilding the system.   Because of redundancy, and a good backup cycle, we were able to be up and fully running in 3 hours.   God is good!

Items for prayer:
1- Praise that the A/C issue has been resolved and it is finally working in our living room.   There are a few other electrical issues to be worked out in the house, but we are so thankful that the Lord has been working things out.
2 - The car still remains in limbo.   The paper work for it and some other things going through exoneration have been lost, and we are restarting the process.   Hopefully we will see a speedier resolution this next time around.
3 - As we do get the car licensed, we might be looking to resell it as soon as we can.   The support levels we are receiving thus far are not where we need them to be, so we will be tightening our belts.   Pray that those who thought they would be able to partner with us at past levels will be able to do so, and that others may be led to partner with the ministry the Lord has given to us here.
4 - Chris had a softball hit him in the eye.   He did have his glasses on, and they took the brunt of the blow.   Those of you who know the past experience we had with Chris and a blow to the head he received in 2006, know this could have not been good news to us!   He appears to be ok, with no blurriness of eyesight, or headaches, which is another praise!
5 - The kids (and Wanda) have 3 and a half weeks of school yet.   But it is also moving into one of the hottest parts of the year.   Pray that they finish strong.
6 - Continue to pray for my work with Jean, that I am able to teach him, disciple him, and that we have a good working and personal relationship.
7 - Pray that the Lord guards our attitudes when things do not go well, or we thinkthey are not going well.   Help us to see our ways are not always His ways.   Mold us to His ways.