Greetings from a dry and dusty land.
I(Ali) have been reading Psalm 63 and meditating on it recently and one line from verse 1 strikes me as fairly apt to Nigeria right now;
"My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water."
We are in the depths of dry season and the Harmattan winds are generously bringing lots of dust! I also found it a good reminder that even if we are lacking something significant (like water) that the thing we really need is God! He is the one who can satisfy us and quench our thirst like nothing else can.
Tim spent 2 weeks in February on a trip to Niger State to visit five of the language communities there that we work with. For these meetings instead of trying to bring everyone together for a big meeting, he employed a new strategy, to go to each of the communities and meet with the language committees and stakeholders. It was great to hear the responses from each community about how they felt valued by this strategy and Tim felt much better about being able to keep on top of Covid safety protocols! Each of the communities had discussions about their language use and scripture translation goals so that we can start the conversations with the funding partner to renew the funding for another 3-year cycle.
I (Ali) am enjoying getting back into some of my work and making progress on some areas that had been put on hold for a time. I visited one of our partner Bible Translation organisations here recently and they very kindly gifted us with a set of Luke's gospels' in local languages that we were missing from our collection. It is so encouraging to have partners who are willing to work together and be a mutual support!
Dan is into his second semester of Grade 11 and seems to be making good progress.
With only one more year left after this at school he is starting to think about what he might study at University. So far, chemistry or chemical engineering seem to be in favour but we shall see!
We appreciate and value your prayers, if you can take a few minutes to pray for us now, please do! Praise Safe trip for Tim to Niger State and back Encouraging interactions with partners Prayer Ali is getting more headaches again, please pray for patience for her and for healing Tim to be able to find ways to rest and rejuvenate even though work is intense and busy.
