Update for 2011
First, I have to apologize for my lack of blogging the past month. Michael arrived in Niamey on December 17, 2010 and stayed until January 13, 2011. We had an awesome and amazing time together here and I was sad when he left. However, Michael & I both know that whatever God is asking us to do is so much better than what we could want for ourselves so we trust God completely and we have peace. During his time in Niger, Michael was able to minister with Kimberly and me at kids club. The children loved his singing and his guitar and have missed Michael and his guitar since he left Niger. We also did a lot of computer repair work and networking stuff at the school while he was here which has helped me out a lot. We were able to go and spend the night with the Stokes in a village. We had a translator to help speak to the people and I was blessed to have the opportunity to tell a Bible story to the children of the village. Michael was able to “try” some real village food and somehow he did not get sick while in Niger, PTL! God has truly blessed me with a wonderful and amazing husband and I am so blessed that he was able to come and spend time with me in Niger.
Second, some things have changed in my ministry. I now only work at the Christian school one day a week. By not working full time at the school, it has allowed time for me to go and minister more with the Zerma people and to go to help in the villages. Kimberly and I have four Zerma kids clubs a week now. At kids club, Kimberly teaches Bible stories to the Zerma children and we sing songs in Zarma and color pictures of the Bible story. It has been an amazing opportunity for me to work with the children and I love it. I have also gotten to help some children who are sick at one of our kid’s club locations. As a result of helping the sick children, Kimberly has been able to speak more to the mothers and women of the “community” and some of them said that they would start coming to hear the stories that we tell the children. I ask that you pray that God will continue opening doors to witness to the people of Niger. I also ask that you pray for one family, we will call them the “Smith’s”. The Smith’s have four girls and one son that were coming to one of our kids clubs but last week we found out that their Father (who is a Muslim) said that they could not come anymore. Please pray for the “Smith” family that God will reveal himself into their lives by something that was said during one of the Bible stories.
The past two weeks I have had the opportunity to go to different villages with two different Mission teams that came to Niger for a short time. The first team was a medical team so I was able to go out with two doctors and two nurses and work at a clinic in a village. Each day the team went to a different location so the amount of people at one location was incredible. We arrived at around 9am to one of these locations and the amount of people outside was almost overwhelming. We had to push our way through the crowd to get inside the building. On my way into the building, I had people grabbing my arms to show me their sick child or something that needed medical attention. It was hard to walk through so many sick people and not immediately help them but I knew that I could not help anyone if I did not go into the building and have some type of triage. The doctor had passed out 140 tickets the day before we went to the location and we began seeing all the people who had a ticket. Many people tried to come in without a ticket but we had to send them back outside. We had to have a person at the door to keep people from coming in and people were pressed to the door just waiting to try to get inside. It was definitely a different experience than the “American” nursing I have done. After lunch, some people brought one girl in who had passed out. We did not have a bed or IV pole so they placed her on a table, and the IV pole was just a stick of wood. Another nurse and I taped the wooden stick to the table and that was the IV pole. The other nurses and the doctor had tried to start an IV in the arms and hands but they kept “blowing” so I decided to try the patient’s foot. I said a prayer before sticking because starting an IV on a dehydrated person is hard enough. However, in the past I have had a hard time starting IV’s on African Americans because sometimes you have to feel the vein, you can’t see it. Anyways, just so you know God hears even the smallest prayer because Praise God the starting of the IV in the foot was successful! Another doctor got an IV in the her arm shortly afterwards so with 2 IVs going the girl was rehydrated and became more alert as time went by and by the time we left the clinic she was able to walk out. Isn’t God amazing? I saw many patients with wounds, worms, and malaria. I was so blessed to be able to work with this medical team and help the people of Niger.
This past week I went with another mission team to a village named “D”. “D” has no running water or electricity. I slept on a woven cot under a mosquito net each night and heard donkeys, guineas, sheep and goats throughout the night. Each morning the women of the village would LOUDLY call out good morning from the gate so that is your alarm clock ;) I went to bed most nights around 8pm and was awake each morning usually by 6’ish. Although I did not get up off my cot some mornings, till around 7AM. In this village, if you are respected then the women of the village will bring you water from the well so you do not have to go and get the water. The missionary who lives in the village is very respected (she is also a midwife) so women brought us water for our baths and cooking each day. However, I wanted to have the experience of getting my own water. My friend and I went to the well and after telling the women thank you for offering but I wanted to get my own water I began the experience of feeling like a “woman at the well”. I filled water for some of the women into one complete bucket, one-half of bucket and then filled my own bucket. However because you have to carry the water bucket back on your head, I only filled my own bucket half full. You have to carry it on your head because if you try to carry the bucket by the handle it will break. So I put the water bucket on my head and walked back the village. One lady offered to carry it on her head but because I’m a wuss I didn’t let her because I didn’t want them to know I only had a half filled bucket ;) I did manage to walk back to the village with only getting a few spills on my face. Other nursing things I was able to perform were malaria blood tests, pregnancy and urine tests and I gave lots of IM injections of Quinine, and Phenergan. We passed out many malaria treatments and many antibiotics. One nurse, the midwife, and I went to a couple of villages and took blood pressures of everybody over 20 in the villages. The midwife is trying to raise awareness about high blood pressure so the clinics will start checking blood pressures and stocking blood pressure medications. One day I took over 63 blood pressures in one village within an hour! My manual blood pressure cuff and stethoscope that I bought for nursing at LBW has definitely been used in Africa. The team and I stayed in “D” village for 3 nights and 4 days. I did manage to get my first ever sandal tan and my foot looks very weird right now! I am so happy that I was able to go out with these teams the past few weeks and be able to use my nursing skills and minister to the people of Niger. I am also happy to be able to be a part of the Zerma team. We have some amazing missionaries here working with the Zerma and I am proud to be a part of their team.
Please continue to pray for the Zerma team, and our ministries. Please also be in prayer for me. I will be leaving Niger in 48 days and have no clue what I will be doing when I leave. I am praying that God will reveal to me what I will do in HIS timing and not my own. I would love to come back to Niger as a full time missionary with my husband but we will see where God leads me and Michael in the future. Thanks for all your support and prayers! God Bless, Stacey
Second, some things have changed in my ministry. I now only work at the Christian school one day a week. By not working full time at the school, it has allowed time for me to go and minister more with the Zerma people and to go to help in the villages. Kimberly and I have four Zerma kids clubs a week now. At kids club, Kimberly teaches Bible stories to the Zerma children and we sing songs in Zarma and color pictures of the Bible story. It has been an amazing opportunity for me to work with the children and I love it. I have also gotten to help some children who are sick at one of our kid’s club locations. As a result of helping the sick children, Kimberly has been able to speak more to the mothers and women of the “community” and some of them said that they would start coming to hear the stories that we tell the children. I ask that you pray that God will continue opening doors to witness to the people of Niger. I also ask that you pray for one family, we will call them the “Smith’s”. The Smith’s have four girls and one son that were coming to one of our kids clubs but last week we found out that their Father (who is a Muslim) said that they could not come anymore. Please pray for the “Smith” family that God will reveal himself into their lives by something that was said during one of the Bible stories.
The past two weeks I have had the opportunity to go to different villages with two different Mission teams that came to Niger for a short time. The first team was a medical team so I was able to go out with two doctors and two nurses and work at a clinic in a village. Each day the team went to a different location so the amount of people at one location was incredible. We arrived at around 9am to one of these locations and the amount of people outside was almost overwhelming. We had to push our way through the crowd to get inside the building. On my way into the building, I had people grabbing my arms to show me their sick child or something that needed medical attention. It was hard to walk through so many sick people and not immediately help them but I knew that I could not help anyone if I did not go into the building and have some type of triage. The doctor had passed out 140 tickets the day before we went to the location and we began seeing all the people who had a ticket. Many people tried to come in without a ticket but we had to send them back outside. We had to have a person at the door to keep people from coming in and people were pressed to the door just waiting to try to get inside. It was definitely a different experience than the “American” nursing I have done. After lunch, some people brought one girl in who had passed out. We did not have a bed or IV pole so they placed her on a table, and the IV pole was just a stick of wood. Another nurse and I taped the wooden stick to the table and that was the IV pole. The other nurses and the doctor had tried to start an IV in the arms and hands but they kept “blowing” so I decided to try the patient’s foot. I said a prayer before sticking because starting an IV on a dehydrated person is hard enough. However, in the past I have had a hard time starting IV’s on African Americans because sometimes you have to feel the vein, you can’t see it. Anyways, just so you know God hears even the smallest prayer because Praise God the starting of the IV in the foot was successful! Another doctor got an IV in the her arm shortly afterwards so with 2 IVs going the girl was rehydrated and became more alert as time went by and by the time we left the clinic she was able to walk out. Isn’t God amazing? I saw many patients with wounds, worms, and malaria. I was so blessed to be able to work with this medical team and help the people of Niger.
This past week I went with another mission team to a village named “D”. “D” has no running water or electricity. I slept on a woven cot under a mosquito net each night and heard donkeys, guineas, sheep and goats throughout the night. Each morning the women of the village would LOUDLY call out good morning from the gate so that is your alarm clock ;) I went to bed most nights around 8pm and was awake each morning usually by 6’ish. Although I did not get up off my cot some mornings, till around 7AM. In this village, if you are respected then the women of the village will bring you water from the well so you do not have to go and get the water. The missionary who lives in the village is very respected (she is also a midwife) so women brought us water for our baths and cooking each day. However, I wanted to have the experience of getting my own water. My friend and I went to the well and after telling the women thank you for offering but I wanted to get my own water I began the experience of feeling like a “woman at the well”. I filled water for some of the women into one complete bucket, one-half of bucket and then filled my own bucket. However because you have to carry the water bucket back on your head, I only filled my own bucket half full. You have to carry it on your head because if you try to carry the bucket by the handle it will break. So I put the water bucket on my head and walked back the village. One lady offered to carry it on her head but because I’m a wuss I didn’t let her because I didn’t want them to know I only had a half filled bucket ;) I did manage to walk back to the village with only getting a few spills on my face. Other nursing things I was able to perform were malaria blood tests, pregnancy and urine tests and I gave lots of IM injections of Quinine, and Phenergan. We passed out many malaria treatments and many antibiotics. One nurse, the midwife, and I went to a couple of villages and took blood pressures of everybody over 20 in the villages. The midwife is trying to raise awareness about high blood pressure so the clinics will start checking blood pressures and stocking blood pressure medications. One day I took over 63 blood pressures in one village within an hour! My manual blood pressure cuff and stethoscope that I bought for nursing at LBW has definitely been used in Africa. The team and I stayed in “D” village for 3 nights and 4 days. I did manage to get my first ever sandal tan and my foot looks very weird right now! I am so happy that I was able to go out with these teams the past few weeks and be able to use my nursing skills and minister to the people of Niger. I am also happy to be able to be a part of the Zerma team. We have some amazing missionaries here working with the Zerma and I am proud to be a part of their team.
Please continue to pray for the Zerma team, and our ministries. Please also be in prayer for me. I will be leaving Niger in 48 days and have no clue what I will be doing when I leave. I am praying that God will reveal to me what I will do in HIS timing and not my own. I would love to come back to Niger as a full time missionary with my husband but we will see where God leads me and Michael in the future. Thanks for all your support and prayers! God Bless, Stacey
I loved reading this..(I got chills many times though out it). I am so so proud of you Joder, and my heart weeps for joy at what the Lord is doing in your life and walk with Him. Hallelujah! May His Name be Praised and Glorified in the Zerma people.
ReplyDeleteGo with God, my sister. Love you so much! xoxo