Back in Nigeria

Greetings Brothers & Sisters,

 

Our trip to Nigeria was long and tiring with no troubles and all of our luggage arrived with us. We reached our home at about 1pm on Thurs. (8am your time) and have already readjusted to time difference. We spent the day Friday exchanging money, buying groceries and trying to get everything around the house back in line with us being home. Today we tried to finish up getting things squared away including getting the internet going so we could send out a prayer update.

 

Friday also included a brief meeting with the planning committee for the 3^rd annual youth/children camp in our area. We will spend several hours on Monday finalizing the details for the camp. Camp counselor training will hold on the 6-8^th and camp will take place from the 10^th through the 15^th.   We will also need to spend several hours this next week with bringing staff, interns & volunteers up to date with the exciting changes with the Word of Life Club materials. This month also includes hundreds of man hours with all able and available hands involved with contextualization of the Bible Club lessons. Before the end of this month we will need to pray and tentatively   lay out our plans for the coming dry season months of evangelism.

 

Meredith returns to Hillcrest School on Monday to prepare for the first day of school on Thursday. Please pray that God will supply the one elementary teacher they are still needing; the principal and special needs teacher will be filling in and it will mean a lot of extra work for everyone. Still Meredith remains excited about the coming school year and praying for her students!      

 

God Bless you and encourage you as you do us.

Bob & Meredith DeVoe

Nigerian update

Hello to all of you who have been praying,

 

I had spoken in our last prayer update that we did not have the needed green cards to get back into Nigeria. Rejoice with us that we have received them and our flight on the 28^th is a go. We leave Syracuse NY at 10:30 am and land in Abuja Nigeria on the 29^th at 4:30 pm will drive up to Jos on the 30^th. So pray for safe travels and for our luggage to arrive with us. In Nigeria they do not deliver your delayed luggage you have to go back to the airport to get it once it comes. Do continue to pray, as our Green Cards expire in Oct and the quota they are issued under was not renewed so we are not out of  the woods yet and do need  prayer for the paper work that allows us to live and serve in Nigeria.  There has also been some Boko Haram trouble in Jos this past few weeks so continue to pray that the President’s campaign to bring the insecurity to its end will succeed.  We truly do regret that in our short stay here in the States we were not able to see everyone, but know we will make every effort to see you in 2017 when we will be here for 6 months.

 

God Bless you for your prayers and  support.

The DeVoes

May Prayer letter

Good morning Brothers & Sisters in Christ,

 

I refused to leave the office yesterday until I had composed the attached prayer letter. Which I hope encourages you as well as motivates you still more to pray. In addition to praying for our safety and fruitful ministry this weekend,  please also pray for the fuel shortage we are experiencing. It has driven up the price and created long lines as well as caused our electricity supply to fall to less than an hour a day. Pray also for Meredith who remains at home this weekend as I am out with evangelism & again next week as I am doing a 4 day training in Kaduna.

 

May or Lord bless you as you bless us

Bob & Meredith DeVoe  

Nigerian Prayer Update

Dear Prayer Partners,

We came back from Lu-Tinghen yesterday and I had to share with you how your prayers continue to be answered. Although the problem with alcohol addiction is still present, there have been significant changes. Pastor Isaac Luka (below in the red trousers) said “because of your time with us we are growing”. Pastor Luka’s Church had an average attendance of 25-30 individuals on a Sunday. However, in the weeks following our first visit, the church grew to an average of 50-60 and right after Christmas they decided that the building could no longer contain them and needed to be enlarged. The Church was able on their own to provide all the needed labor and funds for the addition and expect it to be finished before the end of Feb. The Pastor also has started a prayer house in a settlement a few miles away and is also doing services there. It is easier for him to go to them on a motorcycle instead of dozens of them trying to walk to the Church for services. Pray for strength and wisdom for Pastor Luka; between Family, farming & follow-up of those that made decisions for Christ along with making the many converts into real disciples; he is a very busy man.  

During our first visit in Lu-Tinghen I spent a good amount of time near those selling the local alcohol; talking to individuals about Jesus Christ and trying to really understand this community. Kwatman Mathias and several other elders of the village along with the Chief felt most of their problems stemmed from a lack of education. They showed me a school building that was never completed. Before we left that weekend I was able to bring the religious leaders, the village elders and the Chief together and challenge them that they had everything needed to repair and complete the school building. Along with those in the community that had an education who should now teach the next generation.  I promised that we would help with one bundle of zink roofing ($62) as an encouragement (they will need 10-12) and would be back to see their progress. The community has taxed themselves for funds needed to cover cement and roofing materials for the school. As you can see in the photo below many had come out to clean up the site, bring sand for building and begin forming the bricks needed to repair and complete the building. Pray for the completion of this school and for Godly teachers that can teach reading so everyone in the community can read the Word of God.        

We have been out on Evangelism for the last 2 weekends and are also headed out today for a village in Southern Kaduna, Kuyiripizi. It is a small village and the community is really scattered. In addition to our regular activities for the weekend we will be walking some distance on Saturday going from house to house in an effort to reach the lost and challenge those that profess Christ of their need to grow. Pray for safety as we travel, equipment to not disappoint us and for many to know and grow in their faith in Jesus Christ. The photo below is in Kuyiripizi when we were there on Tues. for the survey trip

The last 2 weekends had incredible results in communities that are predominantly followers of African traditional religions. Over 500 hearing the Gospel and 49 making decisions for Christ in Limun (photo below) and over 1,000 attending our programs in Zamgwa with 613 making decisions for Christ. Pray for follow-up and growth for the many that have indicated they have taken Christ as their Savior.

There is so much more to tell but space and time do not permit. I could write pages about the Bible Clubs and the discipleship taking place with the children, students and our volunteers’. With the elections coming please continue to pray that things would remain peaceful and that they would be conducted in a free and fair environment. Also pray that Boko Harem’s reign of terror would come to an end.

May Our Good Lord encourage you by all that He is doing.

Bob & Meredith and the many that help with His work