Golde-Oldies Run the Relay once again!

Two years ago at the track and field day, Milton and I ran in the staff and parent relay with another couple, Ken and Kathy Golde. We were the Golde-oldies! We came in dead last. We each ran 100 meters I think. It was crazy! I did it on a spur of the moment being the spontaneous one in my family! My husband thought I was crazy. I hated running and when I found out how far I had to run, I wondered what I had gotten myself into!

This year I planned ahead. Ken was here so we decided to run the relay again! Kathy wasn't here so I set out to find someone to run in her place. One of the aides at Sahel was willing and Jason Hazel from Maradi ran as well. We two ladies each ran 50 meters, Jason 100, Ken 200 and Milton 400. It was a piece of cake! We beat the other staff team and the Sahel secondary team! Now at least two others on the second staff team are gearing up for next year's relay hoping to beat us! All that slow running improved my speed. Our team time was 2min. 20 seconds for 800 meters.

Track and Field Day

Each year Sahel Academy has a track and field day. For several years we have been using the national stadium and from kindergarten to the seniors everyone enjoys this day! From the time the softball tournament (NUTS) ends everyone gears up for this day.

Both kids participated and we hope you enjoy some of the videos from the day.


Alicia and her best friend ran the 100 and Iman beat her by .02 seconds. In the 200 meters Alicia came in first in her age group! She says she likes the 200 but doesn't think she could do the 400!

At the end of the day we returned to Sahel and enjoyed some water sports!

Home Improvements

When we returned to Niger we knew we would have to make some repairs. We knew that it was unrealistic to think that the mission would finish all the repairs that we had requested be done on our house. But a good start was made.

It has been frustrating trying to get the rest of the work done. Most recently we had problems with our septic tank and for two weeks we had a team working to get a new septic tank up and running. We were asked to move out of our house for two days (that extended into 5 days!) We decided with some creativity we could stay. We saved a lot of money by staying in our house. No water could go down any of the drains. Washing machine drained onto the sand (it is already on our back terrace so that was easy enough to do.) Dish water was dumped out the back door as well. We put a large basin in the shower to stand in to take our showers! We managed in other ways as well. I won't go into any details but we were able to manage!
At the same time as the septic tank work was going on we were also trying to get a closet built in our guest room! It was quite the nightmare just trying to manage the keys and the dog etc. It's still not over but the major work is finished. We still don't know when they will paint since no one showed up today!

One funny incident that only happens in Niger. I wanted the closet to be bigger than what they usually make. No one told me that they usually make the closet the same size as a sheet of plywood so that it can easily be divided in half for the doors. Now I have no idea what they are doing for the doors. But they will have to be creative since it will take more than a sheet of plywood! But as I told them "they are the experts and it is up to them to figure it out!

I do not think this will be completed before I leave on Nov. 21.

Tribute to my brother in law

Last week I got the news that my brother-in-law had died. This was my only brother-in-law. He and I had a unique relationship. We celebrated our birthdays together--September 2. We started celebrating our birthdays when I was one. He was dating my sister. We celebrated together each year until I was grown and if we were together around our birthdays we celebrated together. It had been several years since we had celebrated together for several reasons--mainly we didn't see each other very often and would not have been able to be together even if we had been in the same town at the same time! There is a lot about him that I did not know--like that he was baptized on my first birthday!

I found this about him on the internet and wanted to share a bit of his life.


Bob Quinton Campbell was born on September 2, 1933 in Joplin, Missouri. He went home to be with the Lord on October 15, 2009 in Sprinfield, Missouri at the age of 76.

He graduated from Stilwell High School in 1952 and attended Northeastern State University for three and a half years. He served in the U.S. Army for two years spending 16 months in Korea in the DMZ and six years in the Army Reserve, achieving the rank of Master Sergeant.

He married Maxine Shafer on May 9, 1957. To this union was born Bobby Gene, Debra Dianne, Tommy Dewayne and Lora Lynn. He accepted God as his Saviour on August 26, 1956. He was baptized September 2, 1956. He was a lifelong member of Christie Free Will Baptist Church. He was ordained as a deacon on April 16, 1967. Bob was a trustee of the original Grand River Association of Free Will Baptist churches. His standing testimony was that his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and community friends would accept God as their Saviour and attend church. He always wanted a Christian home and family.

Bob was preceded in death by his mother-in- law, Eunice Shafer; his parents, George & Viola Campbell; Stepmother, Sylvia Campbell; brothers, Jerry Campbell and Hughie Campbell; uncles, Hurshel Campbell and Jarome Campbell.

He is survived by Maxine Campbell, loving wife of 52 years of the home; Children: Bobby and Jacki Campbell, Dianne and Keith Davis, Tommy and Lynn Campbell and Lora Sallee. Grandchildren: Zachery and Rachael Campbell; Michelle and Jason Davis; Jessica and Brandon Tennison; Misty and Jeremiah Davis; Brian and Erin Davis; Kyle and Ashley Davis; Quinton Campbell; Cassie Campbell and Thomas Parker; Kayla Campbell; Jillian Campbell; Reanna Campbell; Anna and Adrian Serene; Katie Foley; Shawn Nyberg; Ashley Sallee. Great Grandchildren: Jordan Campbell; Ethan Campbell; Kimberleigh Warner; Emily Davis; Sarah Tennison; Adrianna Tennison; Haylee Tennison; Odell Parker; Madelyn Serene. Sister: Jeannie and Norman Davis; brothers: Clifford Campbell, Eddie Campbell, Morris Ray Campbell and Lonnie Campbell. Also leaving behind his Christian brothers and sisters and numerous friends.

Visitation will be held on Tuesday, October 20

The Two-headed monster

When I returned to my job as LPM at SIL I knew there would be some adjustments. I would no longer be doing everything in the dept. That is a good thing!

I knew I would be working together with Anne-Lise and that that would require a lot of grace on our part.

We have had long talks and have enjoyed interacting about the work. She is passionate about literacy and I about Bible translation! We make a great team!

We are very diverse. She is from Norway and I from the States. She has been out here a long time--probably longer than me.
She is courageous--living out East! She has headed up a large literacy project and is a very capable lady.

I really enjoy working with her. We call ourselves the Two-headed monster because we share the work--her doing planning and I supervising the project leaders for our translation teams. We have worked out how we can best work together and share an office with the literacy books!

She is at home working on literacy projects and I love interacting with our teams. I enjoy the contact with potential partners and she and I plan to visit some of those in the future to try to initiate more work for us! We have materials in local languages and are wanting to develop more. We want others to use them, and the people of Niger to read them!

Fun in OK with the Motley Crew called family

My brother John and I have a special relationship. How did we ever get to be so close? I am sure there are members of my family who would like to know that answer. We have always been close. Even as a small child I was close to him. He has always accepted me--even if he didn't accept my behavior or life style he never gave up on me.

We also have an understanding in that our relationship is important enough that we overlook the small stuff. When he gets opinionated on certain things, I let it go.
When I don't call or write he lets it go! And I am sure that he overlooks a lot more that I don't know about!

My kids love Uncle John. Even though they are growing up they still love to wade and play in the creek, play with his dogs and go fishing with him.

While in OK recently we got to spend a few days with him. He lives in the boonies! He has a spring fed creek that runs in front of his house. He still shoes horses and mules for a living even though he should be retired and he loves to visit old people and share Christ with anyone who will sit still long enough to listen.

Obviously we all love him because we gather at his house. We might make an appearance with the rest of the family but we end up at his house! The cousins love to sit and talk and catch up--it has recently been funerals that bring us together. They feel at home with him and you can see he has an easy relationship with them.

After my brother's funeral we gathered at John's house. One niece said, "I have to show my husband the creek! We have to go swimming." We did!

As we got together, I thought "This is family. It doesn't get much better than this." We had just buried my oldest brother but we were laughing and having fun. He would have liked that. We had a blast together! We had done the same thing after my younger brother, Jack's funeral and after my Mom's funeral three years ago.

As I looked around I noticed that most of us gathered there don't see each other very often and for the most part we have all struggled. Most of us with the exception of one or two have had problems with either drugs or alcohol. Three of us know Jesus intimately and are growing in our relationship with him. We still struggle but our lives are being transformed! As we gathered together you could see that we were real with each other. We love each other--maybe it's because we understand where the others are coming from!

God's Sovereignty

I often think of what my life would be like without acknowledging the presence of God and his working in my life. I just don't get it when people say "Oh that was a coincidence." or "If that makes you happy to believe there is a personal God who cares for you o.k. but I don't." I think even more importantly is the fact that not only do I have a personal God working in my life, my life has been transformed by Him.

The past couple of weeks have not been easy ones for us.

When we arrived in OK we learned that my oldest brother was in the hospital in Tulsa. Milton and I decided to go the next day to visit him. We spent about 4 hours with him and he talked with us. We saw that it was going to be a long haul to recovery but the doctor was hopeful.

My brother has been on dialysis for several years, was obese, diabetic and had a heart condition. He had lost a lot of weight, was doing well with his diabetes, but had recently gotten a pressure sore on his heal that became gangrene! He had been in and out of hospitals many times! He realized he was in God's hands but was ready to fight for his life.

On Sat. we got the message that he had been taken to ICU after throwing up for most of the day. It seemed there was more wrong than we thought. We decided to leave Sun. a.m. and head for the hospital.

My brother had deteriorated quite a lot. Not only was he on a ventilator but he was suffering quite a bit. We were able to be a comfort to the boys and my sister-in-law. At about 11:00 p.m. we got a call that he had gone into cardiac arrest. They had revived him but there was not much hope for his recovery.

Mon. a.m. Milton and I once again made our way to the hospital (we were staying with cousins who lived only 15 min. from the hospital so the kids didn't have to come with us.)

As I stood in front of my brother's hospital bed, I could see how he had suffered. Slowly his body had broken down and there was no hope of recovery. Milton and I read some Psalms to him and we prayed for him. My brother was a follower of Jesus Christ and his life had been transformed about 3 years ago. He went from a bitter, angry man to one who was filled with hope, and joy. My dad's prayers for him were answered! I had had the joy of being in church with him last summer! That was a precious memory!

As we said our goodbyes, I was filled with a peace. I knew that not only was my brother's suffering over, he was on his way home! At 10:13 a.m (or there abouts) my brother Bill was home! As the chaplain entered the room, she said, "Go in peace, faithful Christian. Go in peace."

The fact that we were in OK at the time, that we were able to stay with cousins in Tulsa, and did not have to return from around the world shows me that I do have a personal God who is intimately acquainted with me and my needs and desires that I see his working in my life for exactly what it is--God at work in me!