Stranded in Macalondi -- Part 1

It's been a little while since we last updated the blog! So I'm going to try and sum up what's happened in the last couple days here and probably in a part 2 that will come soon!

Amy and I headed out to see a missionary couple in the town of Macalondi, which is about an hour south of Niamey and about 20 km from the border of Burkina Faso. We drove down with the team here from Washington -- from Lake City Church in Tacoma -- and with a lady here named Beth, who has lived most of her life here in Niger. Traveling here in Niger is interesting in way -- everything looks exactly the same -- dusty, dry, and full of spotty bushes and trees until a town breaks it up with crowds of people and donkey carts and motorcycles.

We made it to Macalondi without a hitch and met the Gary and Joy, who have lived in Niger since 1988. We really enjoyed their little house in the middle of the village, and had a good time talking with them both and hearing about their ministry and all the amazing things that God has been doing there in the town. It was really encouraging to listen to this couple who had so much wisdom in the Lord and faith in Him.

Gary took me and the other two guys from LCC out to see the Meat Market, while the girls went with Joy to scout out the boutiques. It was market day in Macalondi, and people come from all over to buy practical goods and fabric and food from the market. They have it every Monday, and it was crazy -- winding through the people, ducking under tarps and seeing the myriads of goods for sale. We finally made it to the meat market, and I will spare you the gory details of what we saw there... it was quite gruesome to say the least, and if you'd like to find out more about what happened, ask me when I get back to the States!

We then wound our way back through, and as we went, people kept stopping Gary and greeting him. He was almost like a mini-celebrity in the town -- it seemed like everybody knew who he was. One funny thing that happened in the market is that every time this people group greet each other, they go through a long list of things to ask about. They ask, "How are you? How is your family? How is your wife? How is your livestock? How was your sleep? How was...?" And on and on and on. And every time, we would have to say back to them, "Lafia" -- which means "Fine." So we would saw, "Lafia, lafia, lafia, lafia" over and over.

We saw a couple more things in the town and then we had to head home since the LCC team was meeting our driver Allen's wife for dinner. We piled back into the van and then headed back out on our way home. Jacques, a man from Macalondi, who was actually a leader in the church there, came with us since he needed a ride into Niamey.

We had gotten about twenty minutes out when all of a sudden, the van started smoking. Something bubbled inside the engine, and the whole van suddenly lost power. Allen steered it to the side of the road, and we landed right next to a tiny village. About thirty of the village boys came out and stood around the van watching us, as we stood there unsure of what to do.

And just like I tell the Bible Club kids, you'll have to come back tomorrow to find out what happens!

-- Shaun Stevenson, AfricaTeam2010