Birds of the Bible - Niami, Niger, West Africa (Lee Dusing)

Our missionaries in Niami, Niger (the Totmans and Marines), encounter different Birds of the Bible than our missionary in Brazil, that I wrote about last week.

These are some of the different birds mentioned in the Bible that they might see in Niger that we don't see here. Some do not have pictures, so this is not a complete list. All of these pictures are from the Niger, Africa list of birds from Wikipedia.

Avibase Checklist of Birds - Niger

Missionary Update - Tim and Pam Darling

Date: Monday, June 22, 2009, 9:18 AM
Dear Praying Friends,

On June 23rd, our little grandson Alec who is Joseph and Meg's 2 year and 5 month old son will face extensive surgery to correct some issues with his teeth. This surgery is scheduled for noon and it is VERY important that Meg keep him from eating all morning! I am sure that you can appreciate how difficult this task will be. Will you please pray for Joseph and Meg, for the surgeon and that this will be a total success to correct Alec's teeth. We will entrust Alec into God's good and capable hands.

Four and a half years ago, as Meg (Alec's mother) was waiting to turn left at an intersection, her car was hit from behind by a man in a pick-up. In his statement, he admitted that he had been distracted and then, "there she was", and he couldn't stop. Please pray about the upcoming trial, for Meg, her lawyer and that God might grant a favorable resolution for her.

Last Tuesday, my step dad, Joe, suffered a heart attack; he is weak, but recovering. Joe is my Mom's chief caregiver, but he, himself walking. We do not have all the information yet, will need help until he has adequately recuperated. My mom also has some serious issues which have made it so that she is severely limited with her about her condition from the doctor and are waiting to hear the extent of the problem. Please pray about the decisions that must be made concerning Mom and Joe's care for the future.

We are grateful to know that God takes interest in all the affairs of our lives and has something special in His mind concerning these requests. Thank you for your prayers.

Your co-laborers, Tim and Pam Darling

Darling's Missionary Page - CLICK HERE

Missionary Update - Gene Bryant

Missionary: Gene Bryant – retired in Ohio

1. Pray for Jay’s family as they are all Catholic. Pray they will come to know the Lord.
2. Pray for Clay S. He is a young man working at a parts store. He is willing to sit down and study with me. Pray he will be very receptive and will accept the Lord, along with his entire family.
3. Pray for Meir Goren and his family. He is an artist Gene knows who is living in Israel. He has been in touch be email and cell phone. They are hoping to get on Skype so they can see and talk to each other. He is ready for an in-depth witness. Pray that he and his family will trust their Messiah and truly know peace.

Bryant's Missionary Page - CLICK HERE

Birds of the Bible - Paraiba, Brazil (by Lee Dusing)

Because of Jared leaving for Brazil to become a missionary and we already have a missionary there (Reiners), I was wondering if they might see different Birds of the Bible than we see up here in North America. So, this is the result of that search. The first thing I found out is that "Brazil has one of the richest bird diversities in the world, with more than 1700 species of birds, about 57% of the bird species recorded for all of South America. That fact was enough to make me realize I might be busy for awhile doing this. With the help of "Avibase - the world bird database" I was able to narrow the list down to Paraiba, a State, in Brazil, which is the area of both our missionaries.

Technically all birds are mentioned in the Bible because the Lord created them on the fifth day of creation. The list here is only of the "named" kinds in the Bible.

The Slide Show below has most of the bird "kinds" of Paraiba, Brazil mentioned in the Bible. The (same) means that they are seen here in the U. S.

Over 90% of the Photos are from the World Bird Guide.

• Quails - Spot-winged Wood-Quail
• Cormorants - Neotropic Cormorant (here)
• Bitterns - Pinnated Bitterns
• Heron - Cocoi, Tricolored (here), Little Blue (here), Striated, Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night-Herons (here), Boat-billed Heron, Rufescent Tiger-Herons, and Zigzag Heron
• Storks - Wood Stork (here) and Jabiru
• Vultures - American Black and Turkey (here), Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture, Andean Condor, King Vulture
• Osprey - Osprey (here)
• Kites - Gray-headed, Swallow-tailed (here), Pearl, White-tailed (here), Snail (here), Slender-billed, Double-toothed, Plumbeous Kites
• Hawks - Tiny, Sharp-shinned, Bicolored , Crane, White-necked, Mantled, Rufous Crab-Hawk, Great Black-Hawk, Savanna, Harris's , Black-collared, Gray, Roadside, Short-tailed (here), White-tailed (here), Zone-tailed (here)
• Eagles - Black-chested Buzzard-Eagle, Crested, Harpy, Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle, Black Hawk-Eagle, Ornate Hawk-Eagle
• Falcons Family - Laughing, Barred Forest-Falcon, Lined Forest-Falcon, Collared Forest-Falcon, American Kestrel (here), Aplomado and Peregrine Falcon (here), Bat Falcon and Orange-breasted Falcon, Southern and Yellow-headed Caracara
• Lapwings - Pied and Southern Lapwing
• Doves - Eared, Scaled, White-tipped (here), and Grey-fronted Doves
• Ground-Doves - Common, Plain-breasted, Ruddy (here), Picui, Blue
• Quail-Doves - Violaceous and Ruddy (here)
• Pigeons - Rock (here), Picazuro, Pale-vented
• Cuckoos - Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Pearly-breasted Cuckoo, Mangrove Cuckoo, Dark-billed Cuckoo, Squirrel Cuckoo, Little Cuckoo, Guira Cuckoo, Striped Cuckoo,
• Owls - Barn Owl (here), Great Horned (here), Mottled, Crested, Spectacled, Burrowing (here), Buff-fronted, Striped Owls
• Screech Owls - Tropical
• Pygmy-Owls - Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl
• Nighthawks and Nightjars - Short-tailed Nighthawk, Least Nighthawk, Least Nighthawk, Lesser Nighthawk (here), Common Nighthawk (here), Nacunda Nighthawk, Common Pauraque, Ocellated Poorwill, Rufous Nightjar, Little Nightjar, Scissor-tailed Nightjar, Pygmy Nightjar
• Swifts - White-collared (here), Biscutate, Fork-tailed Palm-Swift and Lesser Swallow-tailed Swift
• Swallows - Brown-chested Martin, Gray-breasted Martin; White-winged, Blue-and-white, Southern Rough-winged, Collared Sand Martin/Bank Swallow (here), Barn (here) Swallows
• Sparrows - Pectoral, Saffron-billed, Grassland, Rufous-collared and House (here) Sparrows

Birds of the Bible that are missing in Paraiba, Brazil are the Cranes, Hoopoe, Partridge, Peacock, Pelicans, Ravens, Swan, Pelicans. At least from what I can find out so far.

Totman's Update 6-7-09

Dear Family & Friends,

This is a big weekend! Our home church is sending out its second full-time international missionary. Jared Malcolm’s sending service is on Sunday – what a great event!

We’re in a transition weekend too. Graduation was Thursday at Sahel Academy, so Friday saw many teachers and students packing up and saying goodbye. Today (Saturday), our family and several others went over to the home we will move into and moved out all the furnishings from the previous short-term missionaries. On Monday, we will hopefully begin painting and making some minor modifications to the house (installing ACs, water heaters and water filters, etc.). We will begin to gradually move in as rooms are painted and ready for us.

Here are some praises and prayers:

Praises:

1. Rains have come and continue to occasionally fall – this is a HUGE blessing because the country desperately needs rain for its crops – and – it cools the temps down amazingly. We are so thankful to have gotten some good rains this past week.

2. A good graduation and some good, albeit tearful, goodbyes.

3. An understanding landlord as we are terminating our lease and moving.

4. Great teammates and coworkers. EBM missionaries have welcomed us back with open arms and SIM missionaries are being very kind and gracious too. It doesn’t always work this way and so we are so very thankful for the community in which God has placed us.

5. We are finding clothes, tools and toys and such and are settling back into life pretty well here.

Prayers:

1. For our country – please pray for our leaders to have wisdom and for peace to reign here. There is some dissatisfaction on the part of some people right now, so please pray especially during this weekend and next week.

2. For our refrigerator and freezer. Our fridge has been lukewarm ever since we arrived. We’ve had it looked at 3x and cannot find what is wrong and why it won’t cool. Our chest freezer worked great for two weeks and we were limping along by using it. It quit working yesterday! So, praise the Lord that there is a rental fridge available and is helping us tremendously now. Please pray for wisdom for the repairman so that we can get our appliances up and running again. We know fridges and freezers are luxuries, but we sure do appreciate them (and the cold water they provide)!

3. For our family – especially our children – as we attempt to move during the next two weeks.

Thank you so much for your prayers on our behalf – we so appreciate you!

David and Anora Totman
Ereina, Trey and Zoe

Totman's Missionary Page

Birds of the Bible - Study Tips (by Lee Dusing)

When the Birds of the Bible were introduced in February, 2008, "Introduction to Birds of the Bible", the goal was to acquaint you with each bird that is mentioned in the Bible and for you to learn of God's great handiwork in their creation. These blogs have grown greatly since then. I would like to share some of the methods that I use to produce these articles and to study God's Word.

As you are reading along in your Bible, you may come across the mention of a particular bird (or any other topic) in a verse. You see a bird and are wondering whether it is mentioned in Scripture. Your curiosity is caught and you want to find out more. What do you do?

• As a "birdwatcher," you can pull our your handy bird handbooks like: Peterson Field Guide to Birds, Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds, The Sibley Guide to Birds, etc.
• As an "internet birdwatcher," you can "Google" that bird and get instant information (more than you can ever read) and learn many interesting things.
• As a "Bible birdwatcher," you can look in your concordance for references to that bird and if you have a Bible software program, such as "e-Sword" (free), you can search for the bird.
• Also as a "Bible birdwatcher," you may want to see why the bird is mentioned and what applications can be made by that passage of Scripture used. I like to use the Topical references, like Nave's Topical Bible and Torrey's New Topical Textbook. That is one reason that they are available here to help in the study of the "Birds of the Bible." The ones here are different in that I put a picture of the bird on its page.

But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you; (Job 12:7 NKJV)

This verse has been quoted many times in these blogs and we have tried to apply it to the lessons to be learned. Also, there are many other verses that give encouragement to study God's Word.

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. (Acts 17:11 KJV)
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15 KJV)

As you study about the birds (or whatever in the Bible), I trust you will:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (Colossians 3:16 KJV)

* (Emerald Dove by Birdway)

Missionary Update - Pete and Mary Lou Jenks

Pete and Mary Lou Jenks – Nebraska
Board- BCP

• They are excited to see the growth in the church, but even more excited to see growth in individuals in the church. Many have been consistent in attendance and stepped up to the plate when things needed to be done.
• Pray for VBS which is July 6th -10th. They have a teen group from Indianola coming again to help them. Do to the GARBC Conference being June 22nd - 26th, it will not be able to be right after the Bennington Daze on June 20th. They are still going to have a float in the parade and a booth in the part to spark interest, but it will be more difficult to advertise since it is not the next week.
• Continue to pray for the two churches in transition. The church in Enid, Oklahoma has an interim pastor after a successful four month stay by one of their Apollo missionaries. The church in Pueblo West, Colorado is awaiting the arrival this summer of a new missionary to bring this church to graduation.
• Capped off their first year of Ladies Bible Studies with a successful luncheon. There were 18 present and over half were guests, several of whom were unsaved.
• They will continue to do traveling this summer. They will be at the above mentioned GARBC Conference and this other activities:
July 14th - 17th BCP Family Camp in Ankeny, IA
July 20th - 23rd Jenks Family Reunion in NE
Aug. 13th - 18th New York for HS class reunions & report to supporters
Sept. 8th Omaha Metro Pastor’s Meeting


See their missionary page - CLICK HERE

From the Brazil Team

Hello FBC,

We have arrived safely in Jaoa Pesoa. Work has begun on Jared's house. We cleared the jungle in front of his house for a circle drive and located the spot for the fountain :)!! We cleared all of the junk out of the house and began leveling the dirt floor. Others removed parts of the roof in need of repair. We dug footers for the porch and mixed concrete on the ground for the brick mortar. Pastor Pete, our chief electrician along with Gary Phillips began running conduit in the walls. Let's just say that all prior construction knowledge does not apply - at all. We knocked some holes in the walls and installed two windows.

So far we have encountered one snake, several tarantulas, a crab in the swimming pool, and two monkeys!!

Lauren & Jim Phillips have arrived after some visa problems in Orlando. We are praising the Lord that they were able to get the issue resolved quickly.

Please pray for us as we will be ministering in 4 different churches during our stay.

We Love You All!!!

The Brazil Team

See: Jared Malcolm's Missionary Page

Birds of the Bible - For His Pleasure II (by Lee Dusing)

Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! (Romans 11:33 NKJV)

Last week the "Birds of the Bible - For His Pleasure" that I wrote was about the Lord's Handiwork with the colors and markings of the Birds. This time, how the Lord designed their bill or beak will be considered.

It is truly amazing to observe the birds around us. They come in all kinds of sizes, shapes and colors. Have you really noticed their bills or beaks. God has designed them with various shaped bills, different length, and uses for them. Depending on what niche they fill, they have just the perfect bill for that food that they need to partake of. Some times the food that they consume is not available and they either adapt to what is available, they move on to find that food, or they become endangered or extinct. Let's look at some of the variety of bills and the birds attached to them.

Toucan - "The colorful, giant bill, which in some large species measure more than half the length of the body, is the hallmark of toucans. Despite its size it is very light, being composed of bone struts with little solid material between them. The bill has forward-facing serrations resembling teeth," which is used for eating fruit. "It does aid in their feeding behavior (as they sit in one spot and reach for all fruit in range, thereby reducing energy expenditure)...Also, the beak allows the bird to reach deep into treeholes to access food unavailable to other birds, and also to depredate suspended nests built by smaller birds."

Hummingbirds - Their thin long bills are used for collecting nectar and to protect their split tongues.

Egrets and Herons - They have long pointed bills that can be used to spear the fish they catch. They also catch them by a quick closing of the beak.

Woodpeckers - Their beaks are use to peck and tear off the bark of trees to catch bugs hidden there.

Pelican - They have a big beak with a pouch that they can hold the fish they catch.

Gnatcatcher - A very fine and small beak helps them catch gnat and other tiny insects.
Sparrows and similiar - They have a cone shape bill that allows them to crack open seeds.

Parrots - Have even a bigger cone like beak that can open larger seeds and nuts.

Spoonbills - Have what looks like a spoon for a bill. They use it to swing back and forth in the water and have a very sensitive touch that will snap the paddles together when something gets in between them. Video

The list goes on and on and you will find in each case, that the bill and the bird match-up shows the infinite wisdom of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of them all.

As Christians, we also each have some niche that the Lord wants us to fill. He has given us the talents, abilities, gifts, etc. to do that task or ministry. Our problem sometimes is the will to do His Will with what He has provided for us. Again, let us learn from watching the birds and how they use what was designed for them.

See also: Beak from Wikipedia

Missionary Letter - Totmans Safe Arrival in Niger

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