Missionary Shoes

Here is a blog spot just for fun!!

Hope it makes you smile.

Can you choose which shoes belong to a "missionary"?

If you chose all of the above you are right!

Each shoe belongs to a "missionary", one who is a testimony

in his home, community & work.

SO

maybe we should re- word that question.

Can you choose which shoes belong to "THE" missionary?

If you chose the ones on the left you are correct.

Each Sunday, Phil, along with Lenny and Etienne, joke about "missionary shoes" and how everyone wants a pair.

Four years ago, Lenny (the man in the middle) bought Phil's old "missionary shoes" and they are now his "Sunday shoes". They joke that Etienne needs a pair for himself.

HA!! SMILE! HA!!

Glad that all these "missionaries" have shoes to wear.

CSEN Orphanage & The American Ambassador

On September 11th, the American Ambassador hosted a "United We Serve" Day of Remembrance here in Niger.

By special invitation CSEN was asked to come and bring a group of children to be given a gift from a local handicapped facility. It was to be a gift of chairs and shoes hand made by the "handicapped" people of this group.

Local TV & Radio were present to record this event. This helped not only remind people of the need to work together, but gave an opportunity for the orphanage to share its desire to raise orphaned children in a godly home.

Phil was able to attend the meeting along with Bernard and several of the children from CSEN.

We praise God that the Ambassador has been supportive of CSEN and was willing to choose them as a recipient of this gift.

If you would like to make contributions to the CSEN orphanage -

gifts can be given through Maxwell Ministries .

First Sunday in Niger

Our first Sunday back in Niger, we found our way, via Taxi, to the ACEN church of Niamey. They had been praying two years for our coming.

It was a special day to be sitting in the cool shade of the church




listening to the ladies and children sing.


We were introduced to the church (sorry no picture) & Phil was able to share,
in French,a brief testimony of our arrival to work with them
as well as his history with the founders of the church.

The boys enjoyed the children & playing drums after church.




Pray with us, that in time, we will build strong relations with the people of this church, that will lead to greater spiritual growth in all of us.

Pray that we will grow to love one another & serve
side by side.

Provison In Niger

God has provided since our arrival in Niger:

Guest House Accommodations

For our first month in Niger, we were able to stay at the Southern Baptist Guest house.

This was a great provision as we had room to spread out, generator power, air conditioning and Internet connection. It also had a great place for the boys to play.

A "New" Car

After 3 weeks of car shopping God provided a small Toyota "Picnic", for our family. Though it is over 12 years old, it is in relatively good shape. It can seat more than 4 and is small enough to maneuver the crowded streets. We are grateful for God's provision of our vehicle. Pray that it will stay in good running condition.

Reunion of Friends & Coworkers

We were grateful for the reunions we had with co-workers, Muslim friends and missionary friends. Many of them provided meals, rides, car shopping and house hunting trips for us.

A New House that will soon be "Home"

It was actually our African co-workers who found us a house. Before leaving for Niger they had looked for a house in the area of the church and orphanage. They had sent us pictures but we were not confident enough to say yes, without seeing the house in person.

When we arrived in country we were brought to the house and though it was VERY dirty

we saw potential. We wanted to pray more and look more.

Phil spoke with other "house hunters" and saw a few, but was always brought back to this same house. We sensed that it was God who was directing and we were able to negotiate a good price on the house from the land lord.

Pray that this house will be a home of peace. That once all the "fixing up" is done we can find rest and peace here. That we can open our home to share with many in need of rest or coming to serve.

Arrival of our Bags & Container

We were grateful for the way God provided the arrival of our bags. After a four day flight delay in Paris, our bags arrived 3 days after us in Niger. They had been "missing" for a week, but arrived in good shape, nothing broken or missing.

Our container also arrived, having been sent the week before we left the United States. It arrived in Gods perfect time, the day we took occupancy of the house.

These are just a few of the ways that God has provided.

Prayer, Patience, Planning, Packing & Providing

It has been some time since we have posted on this blog site. During this time there has been much prayer, patience and planning going on and then a lot of packing & providing

We had been in prayer for over a year about our return to Niger with Maxwell Ministries. We had been waiting patiently (most days) when the Lord spoke to us that we were not to wait for all of our support to come in before moving forward. We were to step out in faith. Start planning to go. God would provide, in His time.

So, we started planning our return to Niger. That meant, telling family, getting plane tickets, sharing our testimony of this "step of faith" with Sunday School classes, co-workers and friends. As we begun to share, God began to provide; we were given a large gift to help kick off our return, one of our churches in Evans agreed to pay our air lines tickets, new supporters stepped forward and co-workers prayed and showered our family with gifts for our time in Niger.

With a container already waiting to be packed, the packing was able to be done slowly, over a 3 month period. God seemed to expand the sides or shrink the contents so that almost all of our household items could be shipped ahead of us to Niger.

Along with all the ways God provided finances for us, he allowed Shannon and the boys to finish out the year at school. He also brought a buyer, rather than a renter, for our house in Georgia, the week we were to leave for Niger. Though we did not meet the buyers we later learned that they were a Christian family and began attending the same church we had in Evans.

God also provided a special time with Shannon's parents before we left the US. We are so thankful for our supportive family.

As we are now here in Niger, it is good to reflect on all the ways that God lead us here.
For even while we are here we are still practicing the "P" words; Prayer, Patience, Planning, (un)Packing and Providing.