The day that Betty and I dreaded, dreaded fiercely, could not be held back. The earth rotates, day dawns, evening comes, night falls, another day. The dreaded day--dreaded by us as parents anyway--was August 10th, 2006. That was the day our daughter, Nancy, her husband, John, and our two grandchildren, Daniel and Suzanne, were departing yet once again for their outpost in the arid, dusty town of _______________ in the ________ part of the Republic of Niger. The John & Nancy DeValve missionary family is pictured above along with out Aunt Jeanette Hausser. The history books will record that this day, August 10th, was the day that airlines to and from Britain went on RED ALERT because a terrorist plot had been revealed and, fortunately, through the joint efforts of Great Britain, the United States, and Pakistan, had been foiled.

The DeValve Family along with their 27 pieces of excess luggage were on their way to JKF Airport in New York. The pastor of Grace Bible Church, Dunmore, Penna., Pastor Terry Ribble, had kindly offered to transport them to the airport using the church van. There had been some question right up to almost the eve of their departure about so many pieces of luggage, but finally confirmation from the airline was received that all pieces would be accepted and shipped via Paris right on to Niamey, Niger. All the pieces were falling into place. Well, almost.

Massive delays and missed flights and big lines at airports were the order of the day, that day. The security was tightened. Carry on luggage became a thing of the past. Actually, except for the Government of Israel, the governments of the world are still trying to keep one step ahead of terror perpetuated upon airlines and airline passengers. But rather than one step ahead, they are always one step behind--always in a reactionary mode, not an anticipatory pro-active mode whereby they anticipate the terrorists next tactic. Well, enough of that. As it turned out, due to waiting for passengers who'd come into JKF late, then a big storm moving into the JFK area, the DeValve Family and all passengers on board that Air France jumbo jet sat in the plane, on the runway, for six or more hours before departing for Paris. Result? They missed their connecting flight to Africa which is not a daily flight--maybe it is once a week, I don't know. So, they had some unexpected, but not unwelcomed time in Paris to get some much needed rest. They finally got out on Sunday afternoon, the 13th, on Air France to Casablanca with a layover there and then a connecting flight on Royal Air Moroc on into Niamey where they arrived on the 14th. Also, 25 out of their 27 pieces of luggage arrived (we presume the other two have by now turned up) and all were cleared through customs without a penny of duty being levied.

While we dread these goodbyes and departures (Nancy's missionary service dates back to 1982, so there have been many goodbyes--they get no easier!), yet we Praise God that they are taking the Gospel of light to those sitting in the shadow of death. God has honored their Christian witness and their humanitarian work during times of famine and He is in the process of raising up a people for his Name. So, our distress at saying goodbye is also mingled with joy.