Finishing Well

The month of May has ushered in the rainy season and brought with it much activity for us as a family and in the ministries of Word of Life Nigeria. As a family we have been very busy making many plans for our upcoming furlough to visit friends and relatives, along with juggling the many activities that coincide with the end of a school year for a teacher and students. Even with being far from the United States Ryan enjoyed a very traditional High School Graduation with all the festivities that one might expect. He has also enjoyed getting his Nigerian drivers license, and some of the privileges that go along with yet another step towards maturity and independence.

The First picture shows Ryan and his classmates with Ryan standing while they gave a synopsis of his 2 years at Hillcrest.

The Born Again to a living Hope Drama Ministry presented in Jos at the Police Barracks and at the Air Force Base as well as traveling to the area of Kafenchan to give another 11 performances. These 13 powerful presentations ministered to 5704 individuals with 755 trusting in Jesus Christ. We may never fully know the impact of this ministry this side of eternity, but the Lord gave us a glimpse this month. After the Performance at the Police Barracks I began working with the Chapel leaders to start Word of Life Bible Clubs and the Pastor told me how the week after we were there 4 more people came forward telling how God used the drama to impact their lives and convict them of their need to trust Jesus Christ as their Savior.

The second picture shows the Police Barracks Chapel with those that came forward to trust Christ the day of the performance.

We also have been incredibly busy with the Bible Clubs this month visiting the far north city of Sokoto at the beginning of the month. We trained many leaders and began Word of Life Bible Clubs in this predominantly Muslim City where Church growth is limited by the fact that no one will sell land to Christians for a Church; and even if you did somehow manage to get some land you would never be granted permission to build a Church. This past weekend we were in Mina for a leadership Conference weekend and had a great time with Bible Club and Church leaders spending time on the subjects: The Key elements of a Student and Olympian Bible club, Commitment, How to get more out of your Quiet Time, and How to most effectively use the ClubDiscipleship time.

The last picture is of Sam Dodo our Southwest Area Missionary doing some of the teaching.

With a very busy month of May behind us I am asking that you would all pray for what is shaping up to be an even busier month of June. I have been diligently working on our furlough schedule and am thankful for the Pastors and many missions committees that have had a part of this process and hope to finish it up in the next few weeks. The 1st will be our staff meeting followed by visiting a retired Nigerian Missionary that will be a part of the Missions Conf. that I am coordinating for our Local Church from the 8th to the 14th. The 2nd thru the 4th I will be in Abuja doing the set up trip for the Born Again Drama ministry that will hold the 3rd week of June which I will be leading. The 5th & 6th we will be giving Bible Club orientation at the police Barracks in Jos. The 9th we will travel as a family to Abuja and ship Ryan to America. The 11th thru the 14th the Club guys and myself will travel to Igbe and provide Bible Club orientation to begin Clubs in over 20 of the Local Churches there. The 21st I will be speaking at our Church and the 23rd will be in Abuja again dropping off our Short Term helper Heather Johnson and picking up the Verkaiks. The 26th and 27th we will hold another Leadership Conference in Kaduna. Then, Lord willing I will be ordained at our Local Church, along with Peter Verkaik, on the 28th. The 30th Meredith, Sarah and myself will head for the States and begin yet another season of life and Ministry.

Again, please pray that this last month in Nigeria we will all finish this first term well.

God Bless and look forward to seeing you all soon.

Bob and Family

Imagine... and pray

Imagine if in your town, ...the roads washed out, the schools closed, and the water was shut off.

The power only came on for an hour or two every day or two. As a result, you lose your job or go out of business.

Food prices rose 25% per year.

Gas stations frequently ran out of gas. When they opened, an hour's wait on queue was common.

The police refused to respond when you called when someone was breaking in to your home. Most of them did not know how to drive, and they had no ammunition for their AK-47s.

The hospital closed. The best medical care was a facility like what we called in America, a "Doc-in-the-Box".

Road officials sometimes pulled you over and tried to extort a bribe or even arrest you for no reason.

As many as 50% of high school students were infected with HIV.

Imagine, and then pray for Nigeria, where this is reality.

For us, these things are a hardship. But if things get too bad, we have someplace to go. Nigerians don't. They have to try to live under these conditions and create a hopeful future for their children.

Pray for Nigeria!!

Sunday's Story

Let me tell you about our neighbors. To make a long story short, there are 5 or 6 children and a rotating group of adults- a grandmother and daughter-in-law, mostly- living in a 8' by 10' concrete block shack next door (the adults go off looking for day work and sometimes don't come back). Well, the grandma came over the other day with a boy who had cut his head on glass, asking how we should treat it. I got some hot water and antibiotic cream and started cleaning it up- he had a thumbprint sized piece of paper stuck on the cut-- and when i had soaked that off, there was a one inch gaping gash on his temple, deep. So one of our staff (who speaks Hausa) and I took him to a clinic in Maiadiko and he had four stitches. This kid is not related to the others living in the shack, his father went to his village to visit ("going to the village" is a common thing, they come to Jos to find work but often visit their rural village), his mother is dead, and his stepmother locked up the house and went off supposedly to sell meat in the next town (about a fifteen minute walk) and never came back, so for 4 days this kid was left on his own and the already overcrowded family took him in. The kid has no clothes except what he was wearing (which is now covered with blood) and his school uniform, and he IS going to school which is good. But he hadn't eaten since the day before, none of them had. So we ended up sending over food. (The grandfather was off drinking his salary.)

Unfortunately this boy and his story are totally common, orphanages are chock-full of kids like him that no one cares about. You have to live here daily with the knowledge that you can't meet all the needs you see even for one day. The boy needed a lot more than medical attention and a hot meal. There is a shame and fear that comes with poverty and neglect, and the kid would not really meet anyone's eyes. But at the clinic, after the doctor had jabbed the wound about ten times with a novocaine needle and the swelling had burst in bright red blood all down the kid's face and clothes, right to the floor, I grabbed some cotton to clean his face up because it was a mess of tears and blood and sweat and mucus. While I was wiping his face, for a second his eyes met mine. That was my reward, and I can't explain it, but I feel like I got more from the transaction than he did.

Thankfulness

My sister Susan married Mark Breckenridge on April 5 of this year and I was privileged to be able to attend the wedding. Having lived in a third world country for almost two years gave me a fresh perspective on American living. How great to go to Wal-Mart and find so much in one place! To have electricity 24/7!! And good roads with traffic lights!! To know that the police are my friends!! And that church will start on time and not go over three hours!!!

Of course, the homes and cars and lawns and lakes and stuff were beautiful. Someone asked me, "Do you find yourself wishing we didn't have so much?"

I thought about that and my answer is truthfully, no, I don't wish that at all; but I do wish that people would be more thankful and fully appreciate how blessed they are and how much God has given them.

I know about myself that in times of suffering I draw very close to God and depend on Him for every moment's grace; but when things are good I tend to go on auto-pilot spiritually. This tendency has really bothered me in the last year and with prayer, I found out how not to let that happen: by being thankful.

Africans are thankful. They have so much less than Americans. Yet you will never hear them complain about their job, instead the proper response to "How is work" is "Thank God." Thank God I have work, thank God I have the strength to work. A Sunday rarely goes by that Reverend Iwuji fails to thank God that "He has brought us alive to see this day, because many who began this year are no longer with us." You will not hear them complain about their house or clothes or car, instead if they have a car they are very grateful (and would be ashamed to complain, considering how many are walking or depending on motorcycle taxis), if they have clothes and a home they are thankful.

I wish Americans realized how much they have and gave thanks for it. "Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, And fills the hungry soul with goodness. " Ps 107:8,9