The Hausa people say, "Kudi shege ne" or "Money is an accursed thing!" For Jim, money has been the cause of THREE sleepless nights since we arrived. His official job description while in Niger is that of "Acting Cashier" while another missionary takes their annual holiday. This means that he's in charge of the safe containing up to $45,000 in CFA francs, U.S. dollars, and Euros. At least once a week, everything has to be counted to make sure that all the numbers add up properly. It's a job that he learned to do about 10 years ago -- quite a long time for most of us to remember anything, let alone lots of details. And so it is that three nights have been spent "wrestling" with accursed money and numbers, and trying to remember how to make the two add up equally.
Once upon a time, there was a full-time missionary Treasurer here. Ten years ago when Jim helped in Treasury, it was because there was more work than one person should do. Now, three missionaries are valiantly trying to fill in and help out part-time. And they are slowly falling behind -- currently about SEVEN months. It's enough to make some missionaries swear, perhaps with reason. But what to do? Keeping track of the money and the books is vitally important to the missionary mission. Does God want us to do something differently? WE SURE DO NEED HELP!
This is not difficult work, but it is something that someone HAS to do. Could that someone be you, or a group of "yous" on a short-term mission? Do you know someone who might come "count beans" for a while? If not, would you like to help support someone(s) who can? Pray for us -- we really do need help.
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