Hey so as some of you may be aware, I have come down with somewhat of an infection. A couple days ago in the afternoon I started to experience some pain in my lower abdomen, and within a few hours the pain had increased tremendously so that I was in probably the worst pain i've been in, that combined with an extreme burning when I peeed. I was in a bad place! I lay on my stick bed with drenched in sweat from the 120 degree temperature, and flies swarming my body, and didn't think I could take anymore!!
I finally called my missionaries and told them what was up, and they were able to get their doctor to contact me so that I could tell him the symptoms. He was able to tell me that I had a bladder infection that was probably caused by bacteria from where I was living. ANnwayzzzz I am on some antibiotics right now and am in the captital staying with some missionaries and have been resting the past couple of days and should be ready to go back out to the village by tomorrow. Just wanted to let all who were in prayer know the update!! thanks for the prayers!!!
Love,
Cody
Friday, June 26, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
God is good
Well as many of you know I have been in the
First let me start off my answering some basic questions that you might have. My living situation is in a mud brick house with sand floors, and outside my house I have a “ tanda,” which is kind of like a shaded area, and that is where my stick bed is. Every night I sleep outside underneath my tanda, unless it rains in which case I will flee to the comfort of my sand floor. For meals I have the option of cooking, because I have a small portable gas stove, and much groceries, however I most of the time opt to pay a villager about 500 CFA, and just eat with them. It is usually just a big hassle to get out all of the supplies, plus by the time I’ve finished eating, I’m usually drenched in sweat. For drinking water I draw my water in big yellow buckets from the local well, and then send it through a filter that I was provided with. I take my bucket baths outside, in a covered area, which is also the same place everyone goes to pee, so the smell is usually not too pleasant.
In the mornings I usually wake up at about 6:00, go for a run, come back and then spend some time in prayer, and reading the Word. Spending time with the Lord in the morning is such a huge aspect so that I can be refreshed, and reminded of why I am here. It is in this time that God fills me with his love, joy, and peace, so that I will overflow into the lives of the Zerma people. Later I will either venture down to the local market to talk with men or I will go visiting some other huts in the village. The missionaries provided us with two ministry tools, one of which is a cassette player that has the entire gospel presentation on it, from creation to the resurrection, along with other cassettes of the different gospels, and the other is something called the proclaimer which has the entire New Testament recorded on it. When I go visiting I will always bring one of these with me and let the men listen to something that I pick out. After I play the tapes I always have a time for them to answer questions. Then concluding my time with them I take prayer requests, share a passage from scripture regarding there request, and pray with them. All of this is done in their language.
This takes up the earlier portion of my day, I then have lunch, a nap, and get prepared for the evening part of the day. In Zerma culture in almost any village there is a place called the fada, which is basically a shaded area where all of the men hang out and drink tea and talk. I make it a point to talk with these men every day from 4-6 sharing stories from the Gospel and sharing Christ’s love with them. When the sun goes down I also have another session for men to come and listen to the gospel on the radio.
God is definitely working in my village. Currently the village that I live in has roughly about 600 people, not counting the women and children, and from what I know there are only two men that claim to be Followers of Christ. One of which is a man named Abdulay, who usually accompanies me wherever I go throughout the day. The men in this village are bound to the chains of Islam, but I believe that the Holy Spirit is moving in this village and it is very exciting. For example a few nights ago my neighbor came over and asked me if we could listen to the radio together!! After listening to the Gospel, I asked him if he had any questions. As he rambled off his question, I had no clue what he was saying, but as he repeated it slower and slower and held out his hands in a cross like fashion, I got it! He was asking me why Jesus died on the cross for him! I was absolutely stunned, God had opened up a huge door for me to further explain the Gospel. I explained to him best I could with the language that I knew, that me and him had sin in our life. God had sent his son Jesus to die for our sins because He had no sin. I then played John 3:16-20 to him in his language so that he might better understand. He has not accepted Christ, but I believe that God is working in his life. He has been a Muslim for 30 years, and it is very difficult for a Muslim to convert for Christianity. It is a known fact that before a Muslim comes to Christianity they usually have to hear the gospel several times. So I will continue to love Isaaca which is his name, and play the tapes to him as much as he wants. I would appreciate it if you would pray for him as well. The head missionary came to visit me, and saw me visiting with some of the local men, she said that she had never seen the men so excited before. God is definitely at work in their hearts, and I am excited to be apart of this ministry. There are so many stories to share with you, but time will not allow.
God is continuing to grow me through my time here. I remember about my second day in Kollo, I was cooking dinner by myself in the dark and was very lonely. Everyone else has a partner, however I do not. I was in a village by myself with people that I couldn’t communicate that well with. I was frustrated and upset, and tears began to fall from my face, which is very rare because I never cry. It was in that moment that I felt weak and alone, so I began to pray, I admitted to God that I was hopeless without Him, and I asked Him to give me his strength to sustain me, and to pick me up and carry me through each day. It was that night I realized that God truly is my rock, I confessed to God my loneliness, and asked God for someone…..anyone to come be with me because I felt all alone that night. Not 10 minutes after I prayed that prayer God sent a teenage boy named O’ben who was the local pastor’s son to come stay the night with me. It was definitely a huge answer to prayer! And since that day I am learning that God is more than enough to sustain me, and that he is truly all I need, because where I live, He is all I have.
I thought that I would share with you a sentence or two so you can see what the language is like:
Zerma:
Hay ma Amerique boro no, ay ma Isaaca hay a ga ca
English
: I’m an American man. My name is Isaaca( which by the way is my African name) I have come to
**That is brief example of some of the things that me and the Zerma man talk about.
I can feel everyone’s prayers who are praying for me!!
Please continue to pray for me as I spread the love of Jesus to the Zerma people.
Love,
Cody
Monday, June 8, 2009
Final day of orientation
Hey everyone!!
First of all thank you so much for all of the prayers and emails that I have been getting!! I don't quite know if i will have time to email everyone back because our computer time is limited, so I will try and give everyone an update on here.
This week has been wonderful! Today is our last day before I am dropped out into the village of Kollo. This week has been a lot of orientation. I have spent over 20 hrs. in a Zerma language class, and am picking up on the language very well, by the grace of God. The missionaries here have been able to lead us in many sessions about the culture and other important aspects of life in Africa. One day we got the opportunity to go out into a neighborhood in the capital city of Niamey, and do some prayer walking. I spoke Zarma to a young man who was a Muslim, and got the opportunity to pray with him! As i put my hand on him, I prayed that God would give him good health, and that He would make his presence known to this man. While I was praying, the other team members that were with me said that the young mans eyes were filled with love and shock. I don't think that he had ever seen anyone do something like that for him before. It was really a neat experience. We also got the opportunity to have a Muslim who converted to Christianity through a vision, come and talk to us. He said that one night he was layinig in bed, and Jesus appeared to him, he said that he felt so much love and compassion in the room, and that Jesus reached out and handed him some bread to eat. Since then this man has moved back to the states and is a Pastor in Niger. The man spoke about how God is breaking the chains of Islam in this country. People who have been Muslims all their life are giving their life to Christ because Islam no longer satisfies them. They are recognizing that only Jesus can bring true fulfillment in life. Pray that God continues to use visions to make himself known to these people. The Zerma people are in so much bondage, The missionary here told us that, they are Muslim by night and animist by night. They have a huge belief in the spirit world here.
For example, when a baby is born they will never call it pretty or beautiful, however they call it ugly, because they don't want the spirits to come and take their child away. Some are even scared to go to sleep in the dark because, they fear the evil spirits. Satan has chained them down, but the Holy Spirit is moving through the villages of Niger. God has definitely been working in my life as well. There are so many things that distract me from what is going on, so many things that I think I need to be comfortable in life. However, I think the point Heis trying to make to me that He is enough. That Christ alone is what should sustain me, and if we have that then everything else falls to the wasteside. We were reading in Acts 2, when Peter was speaking to people begging and pleading with them to repent and follow Christ. It made me realize how focused on Christ Peter must have been if he was begging and pleading. His primary focus was to put all of his focus on Christ, and through that show the love of Christ. I am excited for tomorrow and the new adventure that awaits me. I will be back in the capital city on June 17- 19, and will update everyone on what is going on here.
Thank you for all your prayers, I can really feel them over here!!
Please continue lifting me up to our Heavenly Faher
Love,
Cody
First of all thank you so much for all of the prayers and emails that I have been getting!! I don't quite know if i will have time to email everyone back because our computer time is limited, so I will try and give everyone an update on here.
This week has been wonderful! Today is our last day before I am dropped out into the village of Kollo. This week has been a lot of orientation. I have spent over 20 hrs. in a Zerma language class, and am picking up on the language very well, by the grace of God. The missionaries here have been able to lead us in many sessions about the culture and other important aspects of life in Africa. One day we got the opportunity to go out into a neighborhood in the capital city of Niamey, and do some prayer walking. I spoke Zarma to a young man who was a Muslim, and got the opportunity to pray with him! As i put my hand on him, I prayed that God would give him good health, and that He would make his presence known to this man. While I was praying, the other team members that were with me said that the young mans eyes were filled with love and shock. I don't think that he had ever seen anyone do something like that for him before. It was really a neat experience. We also got the opportunity to have a Muslim who converted to Christianity through a vision, come and talk to us. He said that one night he was layinig in bed, and Jesus appeared to him, he said that he felt so much love and compassion in the room, and that Jesus reached out and handed him some bread to eat. Since then this man has moved back to the states and is a Pastor in Niger. The man spoke about how God is breaking the chains of Islam in this country. People who have been Muslims all their life are giving their life to Christ because Islam no longer satisfies them. They are recognizing that only Jesus can bring true fulfillment in life. Pray that God continues to use visions to make himself known to these people. The Zerma people are in so much bondage, The missionary here told us that, they are Muslim by night and animist by night. They have a huge belief in the spirit world here.
For example, when a baby is born they will never call it pretty or beautiful, however they call it ugly, because they don't want the spirits to come and take their child away. Some are even scared to go to sleep in the dark because, they fear the evil spirits. Satan has chained them down, but the Holy Spirit is moving through the villages of Niger. God has definitely been working in my life as well. There are so many things that distract me from what is going on, so many things that I think I need to be comfortable in life. However, I think the point Heis trying to make to me that He is enough. That Christ alone is what should sustain me, and if we have that then everything else falls to the wasteside. We were reading in Acts 2, when Peter was speaking to people begging and pleading with them to repent and follow Christ. It made me realize how focused on Christ Peter must have been if he was begging and pleading. His primary focus was to put all of his focus on Christ, and through that show the love of Christ. I am excited for tomorrow and the new adventure that awaits me. I will be back in the capital city on June 17- 19, and will update everyone on what is going on here.
Thank you for all your prayers, I can really feel them over here!!
Please continue lifting me up to our Heavenly Faher
Love,
Cody
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
The first day...........
Hey everyone!!
Its me Cody hope that you still remember me!! Today was my first full day in Africa!! For those of you who don't know I am not living in the bush just yet. I am currently living in the IMB guesthouse which is very nice, but still very different than a house in America. I am here in the capital city until next Tuesday, from which I will then go into "the bush" as they call it, and start my ministry. This week is orientation, a lot of information and language study to prepare us for the upcoming weeks.
so let me tell you about it, first of all just wanted to let you know that it is really hard adjusting to the life here, I probably miss all of my family and friends just as much as you miss me! it is really hard to not think about you, and today was left feeling really homesick, however the missionaries said that everything that I am feeling is really natural, and they went through the same process. Today in the morning i went for probably around a 4 mile run through the streets of niamey. The city is poverty ridden and ranks somewhere in the top 5 of the poorest cities in the world. It is not unnatural to find naked children peeing in the streets, and running around aimlessly, so that came as a bit of a shock to me. Today was information overload as the missionaries gave us tons of information of which I am still trying to remember, the TOP 3 rules that we MUST REMEMBER is to never get in the river, don't let them braid your hair (for girls) and pray with you partner everyday. They told us that one of their last girls decided to get in the river anyway, because it is so hott!! however she paid dearly meaning she ended up peeing blood for a couple weeks, the river is disease ridden and will seriously mess you up. We also learned today that our goal while in the bush is to visit at least 4 compounds per day and ask for prayer requests, and then share with them a story from the Bible. They have the Bible translated in Zerma, and they have audio cassettes in their language which is very helpful. I will be required to make a run to the local market each week and buy the food that I wish to prepare for the week. So learning the language and all of the currency is very important. The heat here is unbearable reaching 107 today, I am constantly sweating............no seriously I don't think you understand..........constantly, lol. and still trying to adjust to the temperature, but drank 5 nalgenes today!! yay me!!! I also got to go to the market today with 2 natives who did not speak the language and where there were no missionaries with me, and lets just say it was quite an experience!! Poverty filled the streets, with meat that had flies swarming on it, kids playing in trash, and filthy water, however our job was to observe and to come back and report to the missionaries what we saw, and share during debriefing time. Please pray that Satan is bound from my mind as I am constantly having to battle him off. I sometimes doubt whether I am supposed to be here or not and am hoping that God fills me with his joy and love and a desire to love these people, and that I would stop focusing on me and my struggles and focus on others. Life here is so hard for me but I think I will adjust. P.s.i found out i will have to poop in a bucket next week!! AAAAHHHH that will be an experience... I think i'm going to go to bed for now and will try and write again whenever I can!!
oh and if you ever want to say anything to your friends in zerma start with this......... Matte Gahum.....which means how is your health, and the response is Sami which means fine.....
I'm off to shower then to bed, I love yall!!!!!!!
pray hard for me!!!!!
Love, Cody
Its me Cody hope that you still remember me!! Today was my first full day in Africa!! For those of you who don't know I am not living in the bush just yet. I am currently living in the IMB guesthouse which is very nice, but still very different than a house in America. I am here in the capital city until next Tuesday, from which I will then go into "the bush" as they call it, and start my ministry. This week is orientation, a lot of information and language study to prepare us for the upcoming weeks.
so let me tell you about it, first of all just wanted to let you know that it is really hard adjusting to the life here, I probably miss all of my family and friends just as much as you miss me! it is really hard to not think about you, and today was left feeling really homesick, however the missionaries said that everything that I am feeling is really natural, and they went through the same process. Today in the morning i went for probably around a 4 mile run through the streets of niamey. The city is poverty ridden and ranks somewhere in the top 5 of the poorest cities in the world. It is not unnatural to find naked children peeing in the streets, and running around aimlessly, so that came as a bit of a shock to me. Today was information overload as the missionaries gave us tons of information of which I am still trying to remember, the TOP 3 rules that we MUST REMEMBER is to never get in the river, don't let them braid your hair (for girls) and pray with you partner everyday. They told us that one of their last girls decided to get in the river anyway, because it is so hott!! however she paid dearly meaning she ended up peeing blood for a couple weeks, the river is disease ridden and will seriously mess you up. We also learned today that our goal while in the bush is to visit at least 4 compounds per day and ask for prayer requests, and then share with them a story from the Bible. They have the Bible translated in Zerma, and they have audio cassettes in their language which is very helpful. I will be required to make a run to the local market each week and buy the food that I wish to prepare for the week. So learning the language and all of the currency is very important. The heat here is unbearable reaching 107 today, I am constantly sweating............no seriously I don't think you understand..........constantly, lol. and still trying to adjust to the temperature, but drank 5 nalgenes today!! yay me!!! I also got to go to the market today with 2 natives who did not speak the language and where there were no missionaries with me, and lets just say it was quite an experience!! Poverty filled the streets, with meat that had flies swarming on it, kids playing in trash, and filthy water, however our job was to observe and to come back and report to the missionaries what we saw, and share during debriefing time. Please pray that Satan is bound from my mind as I am constantly having to battle him off. I sometimes doubt whether I am supposed to be here or not and am hoping that God fills me with his joy and love and a desire to love these people, and that I would stop focusing on me and my struggles and focus on others. Life here is so hard for me but I think I will adjust. P.s.i found out i will have to poop in a bucket next week!! AAAAHHHH that will be an experience... I think i'm going to go to bed for now and will try and write again whenever I can!!
oh and if you ever want to say anything to your friends in zerma start with this......... Matte Gahum.....which means how is your health, and the response is Sami which means fine.....
I'm off to shower then to bed, I love yall!!!!!!!
pray hard for me!!!!!
Love, Cody
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