Last American meal for awhile. PDX Airport 6/29/09(Wendy's and Jamba Juice!)
ABUJA BOUND TEAM 2009
PDX Airport 6/29/09
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Day Four "Happy Fourth of July"
Today we got up at six to help with the project of cleaning up the church property. We had close to an acre to weed and surprisingly with the help of the church we got it all done before noon. We proceeded to mark of the dimensions of the basketball court and the stage. They are going to finish putting in the brick perimeter for the stage tonight and we will help fill it in over the next few days. Prince and Okay taught Chad how to burn garbage in Nigeria. It involves a pile of garbage and several gallons of gasoline, and you can probably guess the rest of it. Needless to say it was exciting to watch as Chad and Okay almost got singed by the huge flames. The wildlife on the church property is incredible rangeing from the grasshoppers of all sizes and colors, and the multiple types of lizards to the scorpions we found in the wood pile. Once the Nigerians found one scorpion they went through the wood looking for others and smashed them all. While we were hoeing up garbage we uncovered a lizards nest filled with eggs. we pulled a few out, took pictures and put them all back were they came from. When we got back from the church we were treated to an American fourth of July. Josh fried hamburgers, Beth made a macaroni casserole, and Jenny made home made apple pies. Afterwards Josh called us out for the big treat of the night. Nigerian Fireworks! note. these are totally illegal back home. These were roman candels on steroids! Five minutes after we lit them Okay showed up and wanted to know what we were doing. He said he could see and hear the fireworks from his house a few blocks away and figured he should walk over. A couple hours later when we were all in bed for the night, the police showed up and knocked on the door. We didn't answer and they left shortly. Thank you for all of your prayers and Happy Fourth of July!
The Abuja Blog Squad
The Abuja Blog Squad
Day three, "The Climb"
Today we decided to go with the girls from Beth's house up the mountain to the tall tree. This tree is right in the middle of a clearing and is so tall it can be seen from miles away. We started our walk at eight in the morning and I have no idea how long it took us to reach the top but it was several miles of up hill climbing. When we reached the top we were able to look out and see all of Jeqway and most of Abuja. It was well worth the time and effort spent to get up there. After a time of prayer and a short Bible study we hiked the last fifty or so feet to the top of the ridge so we could look over into a neighboring village. The people there are shepherds that don't speak English and have limited access to the gospel. One of the missionary couples here in Abuja is preparing to go there when they have the chance. Later that day it absolutely poured. We took the opportunity to use the warm water and wash our hair. It was all fun and games until Josh locked us out and we ended up washing our clothes to :). After we dried of we went to church for the youth night that Chad was teaching. While Chad was in the middle of his lesson we were again attacked by bugs, but this time it wasn't a swarm of fling critters it was a lone butterfly. This huge black butterfly took a liking to Cads hair and was absolutely relentless about landing on his head. This went on for five-ten minutes before the butterfly got tired of his hair and moved on.
Day Two "Okatas and Orphans"
Today we took our first Okata ride. An okata is a motor bike that will seat two people and is used as a cheap source of transportation. They sound and look way more dangerous than they actually are though. We took the Okatas across town to the local orphanage were we hung out with the kids for half the day. These kids were so cute. The ranged from infants to maybe eight year olds in the house that we visited. The girls sat and held the babies while us guys took turns singing the kids with our arms (exhausting!). While we were there on of the little boys managed to catch one of the crazy little frogs that they have here and use it to scare the rest of the little kids. These frogs have a fairly good sized body and these teeny tiny legs, so the don't hop they bounce. It took a while to calm the kids down and Beth confinscated the frog and released it back into the bushes. We are looking forward to seeing these kids again if we have the time these next two weeks.
Nigeria
Day One, "Of Travel and Tragedy"
We made it, after a day and a half of flying we landed in Nigeria. We made it through the pasport checks with few questions. We easily found sixteen of our bags and after a quick search we found the other two. When we got to customs the poor guy doing baggage checks was so overwhelmed by the amount of bags that we had and the line building up behind us that he checked one bag briefly and sent us on our way. When we got through customs Josh, Prince, Okay, and Beth were waiting to pick up. The ride to our "hide out", as prince called it was like a live version of the cruising usa video game. If they had had sidewalks here in Jeqway we would have been driving on them. The house is awesome. It has tile floors, two bathrooms with toilets, a kitchen, and two bedrooms. We spent all day Wednesday recovering from the jet lag and then went to the mid week service at the church. While we were there Prince anounced that Terisa, the worship leader at the Cakvary in One Man Village, had died the weekend before. She was the worship leader here in Abuja when the team was here last year and lead worship for the Galatians conference that the team did. The church here in Jeqway took it really hard and it is going to devestate the church in One Man Village when Pastor Godfrey tells them tommorow. Please remember her family and the believers here in your prayers. The wildest part was that we were attacked by thousands of bugs during church that night. They were these huge winged things that we found out later from an elderly Nigerian are "edible and very good for you".
We made it, after a day and a half of flying we landed in Nigeria. We made it through the pasport checks with few questions. We easily found sixteen of our bags and after a quick search we found the other two. When we got to customs the poor guy doing baggage checks was so overwhelmed by the amount of bags that we had and the line building up behind us that he checked one bag briefly and sent us on our way. When we got through customs Josh, Prince, Okay, and Beth were waiting to pick up. The ride to our "hide out", as prince called it was like a live version of the cruising usa video game. If they had had sidewalks here in Jeqway we would have been driving on them. The house is awesome. It has tile floors, two bathrooms with toilets, a kitchen, and two bedrooms. We spent all day Wednesday recovering from the jet lag and then went to the mid week service at the church. While we were there Prince anounced that Terisa, the worship leader at the Cakvary in One Man Village, had died the weekend before. She was the worship leader here in Abuja when the team was here last year and lead worship for the Galatians conference that the team did. The church here in Jeqway took it really hard and it is going to devestate the church in One Man Village when Pastor Godfrey tells them tommorow. Please remember her family and the believers here in your prayers. The wildest part was that we were attacked by thousands of bugs during church that night. They were these huge winged things that we found out later from an elderly Nigerian are "edible and very good for you".
Friday, July 3, 2009
Update on Team Abuja:
When they arrived at PDX to fly out to Nigeria, the ticket counter said they had to many suitcases. Chad had arranged with the airlines that each team member could take in one extra (large) suit case per person (all supplies for Josh and our team eg. waterpurifier system etc.) Now the counter person wanted the Team to pay $250.00 per bag extra. (x 6...you do the math) Chad showed him the letter he had received giving them permission (humanitarian reason) to have the extra bags...the ticket man said it's not on the computer so it's not official. After attempts to soften his humanitarian side failed, we suggested he call the head office, which he did...long story short the person on the other end of the phone said they were good to go! In fact they were booking the luggage all the way to Abuja (which means no customs in Germany) GOD IS GOOD!!
We got everybody something to eat (they called it the last American meal for awhile) before they left. We prayed with them one last time and saw them off. They looked like a team designed by God to do great things! We were so proud of them! (of course two of them are mine) They seemed bonded, focused and ready to serve. I will Include a "send off picture" with my next entry. One of the team is having stomach problems so pray for the Team that God would strengthen, uplift and protect them to do the work He has called them to.
When they arrived at PDX to fly out to Nigeria, the ticket counter said they had to many suitcases. Chad had arranged with the airlines that each team member could take in one extra (large) suit case per person (all supplies for Josh and our team eg. waterpurifier system etc.) Now the counter person wanted the Team to pay $250.00 per bag extra. (x 6...you do the math) Chad showed him the letter he had received giving them permission (humanitarian reason) to have the extra bags...the ticket man said it's not on the computer so it's not official. After attempts to soften his humanitarian side failed, we suggested he call the head office, which he did...long story short the person on the other end of the phone said they were good to go! In fact they were booking the luggage all the way to Abuja (which means no customs in Germany) GOD IS GOOD!!
We got everybody something to eat (they called it the last American meal for awhile) before they left. We prayed with them one last time and saw them off. They looked like a team designed by God to do great things! We were so proud of them! (of course two of them are mine) They seemed bonded, focused and ready to serve. I will Include a "send off picture" with my next entry. One of the team is having stomach problems so pray for the Team that God would strengthen, uplift and protect them to do the work He has called them to.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Update from Abuja
Here's an email we got from Josh Baley, missionary at CC Abuja regarding the team!
"Well Praise God the team made it safe and sound with absolute no problems getting thru customs, all of the luggage arrived and the members, not different body parts but the team of 6 =)
They are doing well but we are having a problem getting the info up ontheir blog so please be patient as we work on the problem..
Take care and please continue to pray for them and me, one of the team members is having stomach issues.
Take care and may the Lord continue to richly bless you!!"
_____________________________________________
We'll keep you updated as we hear more from the Team!
"Well Praise God the team made it safe and sound with absolute no problems getting thru customs, all of the luggage arrived and the members, not different body parts but the team of 6 =)
They are doing well but we are having a problem getting the info up ontheir blog so please be patient as we work on the problem..
Take care and please continue to pray for them and me, one of the team members is having stomach issues.
Take care and may the Lord continue to richly bless you!!"
_____________________________________________
We'll keep you updated as we hear more from the Team!
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