Dear Friends and Family,
We are pleased to let you know that we are safely back in Niamey! We arrived at our house at about 3 A.M. Wednesday morning, and have been trying to regroup and find things since then. We are so thankful to the Lord for His thoughtfulness to us throughout the whole trip. It started in Orlando with a wonderful airport employee named Nelson. He was so patient with us and all our gear and decided he would trust Dave’s packing and not weigh a single piece of our luggage (For those of you who know about the 3 bathroom scales and their conflicting numbers, you can imagine that this was a huge relief!)! Then he extended us even more kindness by not charging us for our 11th bag! This was a savings of $200! After some hesitation, the ticket agent also checked our bags all the way to Niamey, instead of making us collect them and sit with them in the airport in Casablanca or haul them around the city with us.
From there, everything went smoothly and uneventfully. The kids were so much fun to be around (most of the time), and actually slept for the majority of the longest flight. Of course, there were tears of grief and tiredness from time to time, but these were quickly overshadowed by the excitement of new sights and sounds.
Our 14 hour layover in Casablanca was perfect. To us, it felt like a little oasis of calm in between two storms of chaos. Again, someone decided to be kind to us and gave us 2 adjoining hotel rooms instead of one room with 2 twin beds, which is what we were allotted. This allowed us all to sleep, shower and play without being crammed. The weather there was perfect, the people so warm and friendly (lots of kisses on the kids’ faces!), the food so delicious. I know I am gushing, but I am so thankful to God for His attention to detail!
The kids were very excited to finally be in Niger, although Trey was a bit frustrated that his skin was so “itchy” while we were entering through the police check point. I guess he will just have to get used to sweating all the time! The extra bag we didn’t pay for did NOT arrive with the rest of our bags, but Dave will go back to the airport on Saturday (at 3 A.M.!) to see if it comes in then. Please be in prayer for us about this. But, again, the customs agents let us walk through without opening a single bag, which I was nervous about because they opened every bag of the lady in front of me in line and harassed her about all her contents. It was very humiliating for her, and Dave was back in an office filling out a form for our missing bag, so I thought I was done for. But, God chose to bless us again, and we walked out without any trouble.
It was so great to see Chris and Diane Marine at the airport there to greet us and take us home. They have been so great to us, cleaning our house and making sure we had groceries in the fridge and feeding us dinner tonight. We are so thankful to have them as friends. It was also great to see our watchman, Amadou, when we arrived home. He had gotten out the kids’ yard toys and washed them up, so they were very excited. He is such a faithful, helpful man. We pray for his continued interest in the Gospel and his salvation as well.
So today we have spent the day unpacking, trying to find where things have been moved in our absence and drinking a lot of water. The kids have had so much fun finding their toys and clothes and books that were either left here or packed away for a while. Trey woke up this morning and had to go outside and play with his outdoor trucks first thing. He jabbered to Amadou for half an hour, who just nodded and grunted every once in a while. Ereina has been tentatively using her French here and there and alternates between telling stories about her FL friends and talking about how she can’t wait to see her Niger friends. Zoe has taken all of this in stride for the most part, and hasn’t shown any of the reserve I was thinking she would, but that may come later. It can be hard for kids to feel secure when the house is in turmoil and they can’t find anything, they’re hotter than they’ve ever been, the food is different and they’re having trouble recognizing people. Please pray for their little hearts as we go through this transition together, that they would rest in their relationships with us as their parents and, especially for Ereina, rest in the peace of God, which rules in her heart. Pray for us as parents that we would be extra sensitive and patient with them. Pray also that we will be encouragers to our friends and colleagues here, and that we will be able to prioritize the projects to be done in the house (and there are many) appropriately.
We love you all and are so thankful for your prayers during our voyage. Obviously, you all have the ear of God, because we had a fantastic trip. Thanks for all the ways you love us!
Love,
Anora (for the 5 of us)
Dave & Anora Totman
totmansinafrica.wordpress.com
Sahel Academy
BP 10065
Niamey NIGER
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