We hosted a last-minute party for New Year’s Eve – which is WAY out of character for us. (Usually we are in bed before midnight on December 31st!) It all happened so fast we didn’t have time to think about it carefully.
Our church called on the 29th.
Pastor Jeremie informed us that all the small groups were celebrating New Year’s together in their individual groups.
We, being brand new small group leaders for our neighborhood, were in charge of hosting a party.
Voila! A party must be planned.
We quickly called the only two people we knew for sure were in our small group, and asked them to help (rescue) us.
They knew right away what was needed: text/call everyone, plan a snack to share at midnight, and make a plan for worship, prayer and a message.
Here I am with Fanta, putting together the meat sandwiches which we were going to hand out at midnight. She did all the shopping and preparation and we simply paid for it. Her husband, Soumana, contacted everyone on the list. Andy planned for the “program”. I was just kinda stressed about having enough space in our little home!
People started arriving at 10:00 p.m. (Don’t worry – Andy and I drank some coffee around 8!) And I am happy to say that everything went quite well. We met so many new people and it gave us fresh excitement about leading the weekly small group.
The party died down around 1:00 a.m. and we crashed! Who knew that these Nigeriennes would bring out the party animals in us?
We pray that your New Year 2018 is off to a great start! God bless you!
Life in the desert 
Great job Nikki! Is everyone there conversing in French? Hope your New Year is off to a great start! Love Sharalyn