The Little Things

In the last couple of weeks, here are a few things that have happened in with our family:

• I was included in a text from a friend alerting me she’d seen french-fried onions at a local grocery store, just in time for American Thanksgiving.
• A volunteer team staying at our guesthouse brought in packages for us from people who love us back in the States.
• We bought medicine for a pregnant woman who had a stomach infection.
• I listened to my language helper tell me a story of how he nearly had his motorcycle impounded on his way to our class.
• We worked in the kitchen at school serving up nachos and tacos and washing dishes from a movie night fundraiser for Lizzie’s class.
• A friend came by and asked us to pray for him as he was on his way to a meeting with a chief over an important property dispute.
• I spent a Saturday afternoon laundering lots of towels and bedding from a sleepover.
• My house helper shared photos from his phone of a decapitated giraffe just outside our city, taken by one of his friends who was on the bus that hit said giraffe.
• We had dinner at a friend’s house.
• We’ve traded carpool favors at least a half dozen times.
• I’ve been asked to bake a quiche for a Christmas event coming up soon.
• I sent out invitations for an American Thanksgiving party at our house.
• Ryan bought a work-related airline ticket from a travel agent friend we’ve made at our French speaking church.
• We surprised a friend with a birthday cake, a week after her birthday, since we missed it on the day it actually happened.
• I committed to pray for my regular check-out clerk at the grocery store, after she shared with me that she has been married for 5 years and has not yet conceived a child, though she desperately wants to.
• Ryan was approached by one of our mission workers, asking for a loan to buy a goat because his wife’s milk had dried up and he needed a milk source for their small baby.
• I was surprised when a store employee was shouting wildly at me, trying to get my attention, across a parking lot, in Hausa, because, even though I operate primarily in French now, she remembers that I “hear” some Hausa and really wanted to greet me properly.

Why am I telling you all of this?  Because to me, all of these things are teeny tiny indications of community!  We have desperately longed to find community here in our new city.  We've asked many of you to pray with us about our relationships here and slowly, but surely, we're seeing those prayers answered in lots of little ways.  So, thank you to those of you who have prayed.  We are thankful to so many of you who share this journey with us through the gift of prayer and encouragement.