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

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

Anticipation of the Unknown..........

Hey everyone!!! For those of you who don't know I leave tomorrow June 1 and will be gone until August 2, so if you need to contact me for any reason feel free to email me at vondermehdenc@mail.dbu.edu or just leave me a message on facebook and i'll try to respond to you within a couple of weeks.



Well this week has been a week filled with so many different types of emotions: fear, anticipation, excitement, eagerness, all bottled up inside of me. I haven't really ever gone outside of the country before, and I guess you could say i've lived a pretty comfortable life, and am very blessed. But starting tomorrow I venture on a journey that will be far from comfortable and i'm sure at times very trying. Today I got the chance to enjoy spending times with some of my family and friends from church. We laid out by the pool, ran, barbecued, and did other fun things, and I was really happy for my last day in the U.S., to be spent with people that I love. However, as I sat next to the pool watching my buddies jump in, and seeing who could hold their breath the longest, I couldn't help but ponder what my life is going to look like these next couple months. I mean honestly i've never done something like this before!!! When I first signed up for this mission I was excited, and eager to tell everyone where and what I'd be doing, but as the date gets closer and closer.........TOMORROW!! The reality of what I'm going to be doing has begun to set in. The fact that I'll be by myself, away from all of my friends, away from all my family, no electricity, surrounded with natives who have no clue who i am, eating their native food, 120 degree temperature, and who knows what else..............................to be honest leaves me a little scared. But the one thing I do know is that Satan is like a roaring lion roaming around seeking whom he may devour, and hating the fact that I'm going to a country to deliver a message of hope and love, a message that will change their lives. I love 2 Cor 4:16, " There fore do not lose heart, though outwardly we are wasting away inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory which far outways them all, so we fix our eyes not on what is seen but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary and what is unseen is eternal." I'm sure there are lots of things that I can worry about and things that I can fear, but what I need to know is that my purpose is achieving for myself an eternal glory which far out weighs everything! The people of Niger are hurting, in poverty, and in need of the saving grace of Jesus! I am excited about that! that no matter what happens I get the chance to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them! In romans 15:13 it states, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. That is my prayer for this summer, that God fills me up so much each day that His love overflows into these peoples lives, changing them from the inside out!

This week mainly has been a week of preparation, learning to lean on God, i've always in the back of my mind thought that memory verses were kind of silly, but I have begun to realize the importance of them in my life, and what it actually means to hide God's word in your heart, and how throughout these next couple months the spiritual warfare will be intense I'm sure we all know the kids stories about the armor of God, but do we fully understand the importance of it, I mean do we really grasp it! I know I haven't, My hope is that throughout this summer when I am attacked, I can pull out the scripture that is in my heart and say LOOK!! this is what the word of the Living God has to say!! I hope and pray that God will give me the ability to fight satan's attacks this summer, and that is definitely something you can be praying for me about!!

Until next time I love all of yall!!! Please keep me in your prayers!!!!

Cody

HOW YOU CAN PRAY FOR ME

“If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
John 15:5b, NIV

I believe that prayer is such a vital part of what I am going to be doing this summer. As we look to Jesus for our example, prayer was such a huge part of his ministry. Scripture tells us that early in the morning he would get away so that he could pray. I believe that Jesus prayed as no one else has prayed before. There is such power in prayer, James 5: 18 says that Elijah prayed again and the heavens gave rain! However, in order for prayer to be done right it must be done with all our heart and all of our soul, and when this happens amazing things take place. I am going to enclose a list of things that you can pray for on a daily basis. Thankyou!

• Pray that God will glorify Himself through
• my ministry.
• Pray for opportunities to share my faith.
• Pray for God to prepare the hearts of the
• people I will encounter.
• Pray for cultural sensitivity and
• understanding.
• Pray for team unity.
• Pray for my relationship with my
• supervisor.
• Pray for my relationships with
• nationals.
• Pray for safety in travel and health on
• the field.
• Pray for humility and a flexible spirit.
• Pray for protection from loneliness and
• depression.
• Pray for peace of mind for my family in
• the United States.
• Pray that God will use my mission
• experience to create a passion in me for
• missions.
• Pray that God will glorify Himself through His work
• among this people group.
• Pray for unity among believers in the country.
• Pray for the witness of believers in the country—for
• boldness and encouragement.
• Pray for churches in the country to reach out to
• meet the needs of the people around them.
• Pray that God would protect Christians in the
• country as they share Christ.
• Pray for the Lord to send laborers into the harvest
• fields.
• Pray that lost people will become open to hearing
• about Jesus and will accept Him as their Lord.
• Pray for those in positions of leadership within the
• country—for their salvation and witness.

Description of Summer

After a week of intense orientation and a crash lang. course, me and a partner will live in the bush in a mud brick house, eating with a national family, and using a squatty potty. I will penetrate a village with the Gospel through prayer walking and Bible storying, as well as creating a map of my area. I will learn to be jiggly like Jello and walk in the Spirit as never before.Niger is part of the Sahel region on the edge of the Sahara. The majority of the Zerma people live in the southwest region in small houses of mud block construction. French is the official language, but you can almost always find someone who speaks Zerma. Islam is by far the major religion, although there is much mixing with African traditional religion. The rainy season lasts from June to September. April and May are the hottest months with highs sometimes reaching 120 degrees.A simple mud house with bare necessities will be provided. Sleeping will be outside on a mattress with an excellent view of the stars. Mosquito nets will be provided, and you can expect it to be noisy since there are many animals, people, and drums. There is sometimtes electricity but no AC. There is no running water, so I have to plan on a bucket bath and squatty potty in an outdoor community shower area. Meals will be cooked and eaten with a national family and a water filter provided.The customs of the Zerma people are tied closely to their Islamic beliefs. Greetings are integral in my day-to-day interactions and any coversation must be started with asking about family, work, and home, or I will be considered rude. Relationships are a key part of Zerma culture, and life is centered around the family. Shopping is primarily done at the local outdoor market but some small grocery stores are available in the capital city.Terrain and climate is similar to Arizona. In general it is hot and dry. Dusty conditions can be severe in the summer months. April and May are the hottest months with daytime temperatures often reaching 135F or more. Niamey gets an average of 22 inches of rainfall between May and Sept., normally in short downpours with dust and wind. You will be doing lots of walking and other physical work, so being in good shape is important. I hope that this gives you some insights about what my daily life will look like once i get there. I am excited and can't wait to share more about all of my daily activities!!!!

Thanks to my home church!!!!

I have been a member of FBC Harrison nearly my entire life; it has been the place where I have grown and developed spiritually. I am extremely excited about this summer, that I get the chance to be the hands and feet of Jesus. The Lord has chosen me to bare the good news of Jesus Christ to a people group crying out to be loved, what an honor! I honestly did not think that I would have enough money to go to Africa this summer, and earlier this year started to lose hope. However what I did not realize is that God is so much bigger than I can ever imagine, and that if He has a plan for my life he will see it through. I just wanted to personally thank all who gave to support the mission work I will be doing in Niger, Africa this summer. More than enough money was raised for me in a very short amount of time, and these generous acts speak so highly of the type of church First Baptist is. Your financial support goes so much deeper than the price of a plane ticket or housing, but it goes to deliver the love of Jesus, which in my opinion is priceless. I can not wait to see how your generosity will change the lives of people forever and place within them the hope that both you and I have! I look forward to visiting with everyone in the Church before I leave the Unites States. Thank you and God Bless!!