December 22, 2007

Today was a very long day. We had planned on getting up and going to 2 villages, but then Marie came over for Nilly to braid her hair. Which equaled to there being people at our house all day long. Which was difficult. In Zerma culture, you cannot ask someone to leave your house, you have to stay with yoru guests and you have to feed them. All this made a lot of frustrating and awkward moments, like... having to cancel all of our plans for the day, being so tired and not able to go into our rooms and rest, and trying to feed people that we dind't ahve enough food to feed. I seemed like a waste of a day, but god must have had a purpose for it. Kanesa brought up a good point when she said that sometimes God has to remind us that he doesn't need us. He doesn't need our plans or our strategies. He doesn't need us at all. It's very humbling to sit in a room of people, whom you can't understand their words, but to just sit there because it's where god has placed you.

Kanesa then told me yakuba's testimony, the pastor in Niamey. She said that he was Zarma and grew up in Libore, one of the villages that we went to! He was a Taliban (or maybe I'm pulling that word out of my brain) boy and was taught the Koran. He moved to America and lived there for 8 years. I automatically though, "Oh! He went to America, someone let him to Christ, and then he came back to Niger." But then out came of Brandy's mouth that while in America, God sent him dreams, he accepted Christ and then god told himto go back to Niger and back to his people and tell them about Jesus. I mean he is like a modern day Paul or Moses! And once again, slap in the face. "Jennifer... God doesn't need you!" He doesn't need anyone to carry out his plan for his creation . It is fully and completely His and fully and completely under his control.

Ouomu also cooked for us 2 times that day. It was our reward for patiently waiting on God all day, and given no answer that we could see, except for in our own eyes. Ouomu cooked us macaroni and sauce for lunch and leaves and rice for dinner. Both with hot pepper and oil and onions of course! When you eat here, everyone sits around one large plate. You can only use your right hand to eat. So, you have to ball some food up and then put it in your mouth. I am TERRIBLE, terrible at getting the food safely from the dish to my mouth. They make it look so easy. Both dishes were really good, but the macaroni one was my favorite. I also tried just the leaves mixed with peanut butter and oil - wasn't as much a fan of that. It was a long exhausting day, even though it just consisted of mostly sitting.