Volunteers make ministry come alive! Could you be the next one?

Hosting volunteers is always a blessing! This week we have a group of guys from First Baptist Church, Arlington who are here exploring the areas outside Niamey, mapping Fulani villages, and distributing customized, solar radios pre-tuned to the radio station we are supporting. Radio Espoir is a new radio station that airs Fulfulde programming recorded by local church leaders and pastors. It is such a cool ministry.

Volunteers like these make our ministry come alive. It is so neat to share God's calling on our lives and passion for the beautiful Fulani. Have you ever thought that God could use you in some facet to minister along side us to reach the Fulani? What has He gifted you with that you would like to share with His people? Could you commit to pray for ways that volunteers like you and those here could minister to the Fulani?

These volunteers have a website that describes their mission here and includes a daily update of their activities among the fulani villages.

Check it out!!

home.comcast.net/~niger2005/home.html

News from Konni

Altine, Aisha, Ketcho and Me
Originally uploaded by dkoepke.

I'm back. This time I was able to spend two an a half weeks in Konni, including various nights in my villages. It was a very good time of building relationships.

I am learning so much about the Fulani. Each day as I learn new words and see the culture I praise God for these beautiful people.

My guard and his family have been the closest friends to me so far. Aisha, his wife, is pregnant with their third child and left my house in Konni to spend a few months in her father's village. She will give birth to the baby out there and return when the baby is old enough to be carried on the back.

This is a photo that we took just before she left. Altine, Ketcho, me and Aisha.

Please pray that both she and the baby would be in good health, for a safe delivery and that they would come back safely.

Aissa pounding millet

Aissa pounding millet
Originally uploaded by dkoepke.

Aissa is 13, but with her older sister married she has lots of

responsibility around the house. She goes to the well for water, she

pounds for her mother, she goes to the market to buy meat and spices.

She is in school still, but does not know how long she will be able

to attend before her parents find a husband for her. She could be

engaged next year.