new way of sleeping

A few weeks ago, Isabelle learned to sit up on her own. This has made her "waking up" time quite interesting. I guess it has made her "sleep" time interesting as well. I walked into the room at the guesthouse in Niamey the other day to find this ...

meltdown

Someone once asked us if Isabelle ever got upset because we only seem to post pictures of Happy Isabelle. Well here you go, for all to see, Isabelle at her finest ...

the rest of the story

And now for the rest of the story ...

When we posted last, 8 people had accepted Christ & 5 of those were baptized. Those that were baptized were Ibrahim, Nassir, Ibrahim, Dura & Hilema. Let me introduce them to you ...

Ibrahim - father of 3, one wife, early 30s. Guard to Brazilians (Oct 06 - Jan 08) & to Hands On girls (Jan 08 - May 08). Was witnessed to many, many times during those 18 months. Accepted Christ January 09. Dead & now alive, blind & now sees, Ibrahim is your brother in Christ.

Nassir - 16/17 years old. Friend of Ela's. Witnessed to many times by Ela. Heard the Word many times as Mark & Ela read together. Approached Mark & stated he was ready to follow Jesus, February 09. Dead & now alive, blind & now sees, Nassir is your brother in Christ.

Ibrahim - 13/14 years old. Brother to Issifou & Bandio. Friend of Yacouba & Hama. Has heard the Gospel numerous times from us, Brazilians, Hands On-ers, & short term volunteers. Has shown interest for many months & in February, finally took that final step of accepting Christ as his Savior. Dead & now alive, blind & now sees, Ibrahim is your brother in Christ.

Dura - 13/14 years old. Brother to Raschida & Buschira. Friend of Yacouba, Hama & Ibrahim. Heard Gospel on & off for several months. As one of the eldest boys in his family he has many work responsibilities & has not been able to attend many of the VBS's & other children's activities as others have. Approached Mark on his own in February & said that he was ready to follow Jesus. Dead & now alive, blind & now sees, Dura is your brother in Christ.

Hilema - 12 years old. Daughter to Hamsatou, sister of Yacouba. While talking about Jesus one afternoon, I asked Hilema if she was ready to follow Him. She replied, "I already am!" I asked, "Since when?" And she stated, "Since that church group came last December & asked 'Who wants to follow Jesus?' I stood & prayed to receive Christ with Cephas." Dead & now alive, blind & now sees, Hilema is your sister in Christ.


As we took these 5 to the river to be baptized, we also took Ela & Hama with us. Mark had told Ela earlier that he would baptize the older Ibrahim & then Ibrahim could baptize someone else. Ela stepped in the waters with Ibrahim, asked him some very pointed questions about his conversion & his faith & then baptized him. Ela then walked out of the waters as the younger Ibrahim came into the river. The older Ibrahim did exactly what he had just been shown to do - asked questions & then baptized him. He then did the same thing with the next 3 believers. It was a joyous, momentous, historical, awe-inspiring day as it was the first time ever an Ayorou-native believer baptized his fellow brother in Christ!

Rejoice with us!! And the story hasn't ended yet!! We've had 3 MORE accept Christ in the last 2 weeks with 2 already following through in baptism. And would you believe who witnessed to & led those 2 to the Lord? Ela! He is on fire! "His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot." - Jeremiah 20:9. This is so true for Ela, so true!

Believe. God is POWERFUL. God HEARS & He ANSWERS. God's. desire is that ALL peoples bow before HIM. And because of your prayers & because we serve such an amazing God, we will stand around His throne with Songhai men & women!

Ela baptizing Ibrahim.


Ibrahim baptizing Ibrahim.


Ibrahim baptizing Dura.


Ibrahim baptizing Nassir.


Ibrahim baptizing Hilema.

giraffes

Isabelle is not even 10 months old yet & this is her 3rd time to see giraffes in the wild. Third! But this was actually the first time she was awake to see them (the first being less than a month
old & the second being she was just 2 months old ... both times when she used to sleep a lot!).
She is getting such a personality now & it is so much fun to do things like this with her.

"Izzy, do you see any giraffes yet?"

"There's one!"

the princess & her throne

The other week Mark bought Isabelle a plastic chair while he was out & about. She loves it! She especially loves to have her snacks in the chair. We even took it outside & chilled while Daddy worked in the garden. Oh, yes, the princess is on her throne!

I'm telling y'all, Izzy loves liquid yogurt. Wipe that chin, child!

trip to the zoo

We took Isabelle to the zoo! Okay, I guess I should say "zoo." Niger has a National Museum in Niamey with a few animals. It's pretty sad conditions with the tee tiny cages & obvious poor nutrition for the animals. Isabelle, however, didn't seem to notice & enjoyed her time immensely.

Izzy taking a look at the hippopotamus ... from a very safe distance, of course.

Checking out the baboon. Poor little fella, all locked up in that itty bitty cage!

The lion cage! There are actually 3 lions that live together in this little cage.

driving miss izzy

It seems as if The Belle has always loved to stand. Her new favorite place to stand? Behind the steering wheel!