We have had a busy last ten days. After the “Women's Day” service at church on the 6th we drove down to Parakou. This gave us all day Monday in Parakou before our conference meetings started in the evening, which meant we started the conference fresher than we might have. It had the added, and un-planned, benefit that Simon hung out with the kids' worker as she was setting up her stuff, and came round to the idea of going to the kids' activities!
Conference was good. The teaching on Romans 12 challenged me, in ways that confirmed things God has been teaching me lately about total trust in Him and acceptance of my limits and His infiniteness. Time spent with others was a blessing, and easier now that the boys are a bit older. Simon had a few wobbles but generally got on well at the kids' club, and on the last day of the conference even took his lunch off to eat with the other boys! Benjy decided to stick to me more than usual, but that may be a reaction to our new routine at home involving me leaving him for the mornings – he decided that even if being in our meetings meant being still and quiet, it was worth it to have some “Mummy Time”, and since he was so good I was still able to concentrate.
I do love our church here in the village, but it was a refreshing change to be able to worship in English and French! We were privileged to have a speaker and worship leaders come down from SIM Niger to serve us for the week, and our family also enjoyed getting to know them better over breakfasts in the Guesthouse (the other families were staying elsewhere).
One highlight of this conference for me was a Ladies Afternoon Tea I helped out with. A church in the States had very kindly sent over bookmarks and cards of encouragement, and also presents for us all! We played a game called Chinese Christmas which does involve some rather un-biblical behaviour (it can involve “stealing” someone else's presents – though our conference speaker had encouraged us to “appreciate” other people's gifts … probably not what he was thinking of!). It was fun though, as was the game which ended up with “stacks” of ladies sitting on each other's laps – very close fellowship at this Spiritual Life Conference!! And of course we enjoyed our tea and sweet treats too!
After Conference we didn't have much time to be sad that it was over, as we headed down to Cotonou to pick up a friend, Judith, who is staying for a couple of weeks. We also wanted to collect our residency cards. I managed to, but Marc's wasn't yet ready. At least this means the whole family won't have to travel down again for this reason, he'll go down on his own.
The dry harmattan wind is now blowing from the North here at home, and we haven't seen rain for weeks, so it was a surprise when we approached Cotonou to see this:
By the time we got into the city the rain was pouring down. It had taken people by surprise, and we saw lots of “abandoned” motorbikes by the side of the road, with their riders sheltering under buildings.
The roads are getting better in some places, where work is being done, and deteriorating in others. The long journey back from Cotonou to Parakou seemed endless … and then on our journey from Parakou to the village, the next day, our exhaust pipe dropped off! We were on a temporary road avoiding roadworks, ploughing through very fine sand. We heard a loud bang, the car shook, and Marc hurriedly stopped it. At first I thought maybe we'd lost our back wheels or something, the impact seemed so great … it was a relief when we realised that we could still drive the rest of the way home (albeit very noisily!!). The exhaust pipe was bent in two, so Marc shifted it to the edge of the road and left it there. A mechanic in Kandi is going to convert another exhaust pipe to fit our car, so we should soon be back on the roads a little more quietly!
Conference was good. The teaching on Romans 12 challenged me, in ways that confirmed things God has been teaching me lately about total trust in Him and acceptance of my limits and His infiniteness. Time spent with others was a blessing, and easier now that the boys are a bit older. Simon had a few wobbles but generally got on well at the kids' club, and on the last day of the conference even took his lunch off to eat with the other boys! Benjy decided to stick to me more than usual, but that may be a reaction to our new routine at home involving me leaving him for the mornings – he decided that even if being in our meetings meant being still and quiet, it was worth it to have some “Mummy Time”, and since he was so good I was still able to concentrate.
I do love our church here in the village, but it was a refreshing change to be able to worship in English and French! We were privileged to have a speaker and worship leaders come down from SIM Niger to serve us for the week, and our family also enjoyed getting to know them better over breakfasts in the Guesthouse (the other families were staying elsewhere).
One highlight of this conference for me was a Ladies Afternoon Tea I helped out with. A church in the States had very kindly sent over bookmarks and cards of encouragement, and also presents for us all! We played a game called Chinese Christmas which does involve some rather un-biblical behaviour (it can involve “stealing” someone else's presents – though our conference speaker had encouraged us to “appreciate” other people's gifts … probably not what he was thinking of!). It was fun though, as was the game which ended up with “stacks” of ladies sitting on each other's laps – very close fellowship at this Spiritual Life Conference!! And of course we enjoyed our tea and sweet treats too!
After Conference we didn't have much time to be sad that it was over, as we headed down to Cotonou to pick up a friend, Judith, who is staying for a couple of weeks. We also wanted to collect our residency cards. I managed to, but Marc's wasn't yet ready. At least this means the whole family won't have to travel down again for this reason, he'll go down on his own.
The dry harmattan wind is now blowing from the North here at home, and we haven't seen rain for weeks, so it was a surprise when we approached Cotonou to see this:
By the time we got into the city the rain was pouring down. It had taken people by surprise, and we saw lots of “abandoned” motorbikes by the side of the road, with their riders sheltering under buildings.
The roads are getting better in some places, where work is being done, and deteriorating in others. The long journey back from Cotonou to Parakou seemed endless … and then on our journey from Parakou to the village, the next day, our exhaust pipe dropped off! We were on a temporary road avoiding roadworks, ploughing through very fine sand. We heard a loud bang, the car shook, and Marc hurriedly stopped it. At first I thought maybe we'd lost our back wheels or something, the impact seemed so great … it was a relief when we realised that we could still drive the rest of the way home (albeit very noisily!!). The exhaust pipe was bent in two, so Marc shifted it to the edge of the road and left it there. A mechanic in Kandi is going to convert another exhaust pipe to fit our car, so we should soon be back on the roads a little more quietly!
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