Up To This Point...

So the writing every week on this blog thing has not been successful, as you can tell.  I think my problem is that I feel like I must pass on some great nugget of wisdom every time I write and most days I don't have any such thing ready at my fingertips.  I am going to give up that notion starting right now.  Please forgive me if this blog does not change your life.

It has been a non-stop adventure ever since I last wrote. Here is a brief rundown of the events up to this point (please read as the one, long run on sentence it is, since that is how it has felt):

said another round of goodbyes to our new friends in Niamey, welcomed the 3 other members of our team to niger, packed our stuff, 12 people, and 2 cats into 3 vehicles and made the 800 mile trek across the sub-sahara desert, arrived in Maine-Soroa after two very long days, settled in and within a week were experiencing a coup d’etat of the president who supported the hospital and school where we were beginning work, went to nigeria to visit the emir, were officially welcomed to Maine, said goodbye to the kirkers, really started work, soon uncovered lots of problems which will only be solved through time and patience, experienced crazy dust storms, entered the hot season, welcomed my mother for a month long visit, bought 125 cc motos and are learning to ride in the sand, and amongst all these events trying to comprehend 5 different languages, be culturally and spiritually sensitive as well as taking every day as it comes and honoring it for what it brings.  

The true measure of a man is not how he behaves in moments of comfort and convenience but how he stands at times of controversy and challenges. - martin luther king