Day Eight (Weeds and Wheelbarrows)

Today the team was cutting weeds out in front of the church so they could use the field as a parking lot. When we cut the weeds we were using hoes, scythe, and machetes. We ended up clearing close to an acre of weeds while we ended up acquiring blisters all over our hands. We had a guy named Jeffery who showed up and wanted to work so he went and got a wheelbarrow and helped Amanda and I fill the floors in the Sunday school huts. This is were Sam comes into the story again. After working on his day of we made it up to him by paying him for his labor and giving him the next day (today) off so he could rest. Any way, Sam shows up in his nice jeans and a white basketball jersey just to check on the stage that had been concreted. He needed to throw water on it so it would dry hard in time for the service that night. When he saw us weeding he rolled his jeans up to his knees, turned his shirt inside out to avoid stains, grabbed a scythe and a machete, and went to town. He ended up cutting down as many weeds as the whole team in less time with his dress clothes on! The guy is this absolute servant/workaholic that is always just a phone call away when we need him. That night Chad taught what looked to be the first topical study the Nigerians have ever heard. Honestly I don’t think they’d ever turned to that many references in one night. It turned out really good and the people were blessed by it. Quick update on the braiding attempt by Katherine and Amanda, IT LOOKED HORRIBLE! I looked like a combo of Medusa and the psycho waiter of bedtime stories. Any it lasted two hours, and I got lots of crazy looks from the girls and Okay. More later from the Abuja Blog Squad

Day seven (Rest and Rain)

Today was the churches day of rest but for our team of six it was a day of restlessness. So we called up Okay and headed of to the market. We ended up taking a very round about route that started with a trip to mechanic village. The village is basically a junkyard with scattered houses were the mechanics live. We went to Okays mechanics house to check on his car which has a broken crank shaft. When we got there they were on lunch break eating Gary and Soup (read day five) in the house which is made of scrap tin and surrounded by wrecked cars. After a quick talk with him we headed back to the market. We got to the highway and were standing there trying to hail a bus when a guy in a flatbed truck used for hauling livestock showed up and offered to give us a ride. We hopped in and had the ride of our lives in this huge cage down a highway in Abuja. Okay video taped us while we had a dance party and got the craziest looks from the people driving by. When we got to the market the driver gave u the news that the ride was absolutely free. When we got to the market we spent the first few minutes looking for soccer jerseys but had to take shelter from the rain quickly as it started pouring. When the rain let up we went to the fabric store to look for material for our Nigerian outfits. We then proceeded to get towels and light bulbs, after which we got a bus and headed home. The buses here are old Mitsubishi vans that are missing windows and the doors don’t close most of the time. There were some times when we hit the bumps that you could feel the frame on the bus bend to sickening angles. When we got back to the house Chad went to check on the stage project, this is where Sam comes in. Sam is the percussionist at the church and is Josh’s right hand man. He has a background in real estate so he has been helping us with all of our building projects. When Chad had called him up to get some masons to try and finish the stage while Prince was out on visitation, Sam had come down to help get things set in order. He decided to stay and supervise the work to make sure it got done right and ended up skipping his day off and started mixing and moving concrete so they could get it done on time. The stage project turned out perfect and just in time for Prince to get home and see it. Right now while I am blogging Amanda and Katherine are trying to do my hair in corn rows. More later from the Abuja Braid Squad.

Day six (Clean Up Crew for Christ)

Today we woke up and had our team devotions, afterwards Chad and Josh went out on business while the rest of the team cleaned up the compound that Josh lives in. This basically was weeding and picking up trash for about to hours. The way they pull weeds here is awesome. They get these crazy looking hoes and just hack the weeds of at ground level, and then we pick them up and pile them in a compost pile. We later went and worked on filling in the stage which was long and exhausting but we got the whole thing filled and packed in less than one day which was awesome. When we got back from that the Neighbors had all come and talked to Josh and thanked him for the work that we had done. One of he neighbors wanted to know “What kind of people are these?” they told Josh that they had had neighbors that were Christians and some even pastors that would gladly clean in front of their own house but never the whole compound. They were all blessed by the work that we did for them and we were blessed to hear that. More later from The Abuja Blog Squad

Day five “Sunday School and Swallow Food”

Today was the first round of teaching done by the team, in the older class (1st-4th grade) Were Parker teaching and Scott keeping order, and in the younger class (pre-k) were Whitney teaching and Katherine holding down the fort. Both classes went well with Whitney teaching on Elijah and me teaching out of Matt 5. The biggest problem with teaching Matthew five is that there are some pretty deep topics, such as, Divorce, oaths, Loving your Enemies, and Lust. We had a pretty good talk about lust though. Chad had walked in and was listening when he asked the class if they knew what lust meant. They of course said yes and went on to tell us that before you are saved you are “lust” and that once you are saved you are not “lust” anymore. Scott explained it to them how lust is wanting something that isn’t yours his example was the candy he had in his hand. He then asked one of the kids to give us an example of lust. Up jumps Godswill who had been sitting in the back wearing his Barcelona jersey with Ronaldinho’s name on the back. He told us the following story. “So lust is like when you grow up and get a wife and your wife can’t cook good for you, so you start lusting after your neighbor’s wife because she can cook really good.” When he was done Chad asked if this was a sin, his straight faced reply, “NOT IF YOUR WIFE CAN’T COOK!” Scott and I just about fell out of our chairs laughing while Cad stepped in and set things straight with the class. After church we went to Thrills which in Nigeria is pronounced “trills”. Here Me, Scott, and Whitney had to try the national food known as “Gary and Soup” (aka Swallow Food). Gary is basically corn meal and water rolled into a ball while the soup is a spicy yet very slimy concoction with a hunk of meat inside it. You eat it by tearing of a piece of Gary, dipping it into the soup, and swallowing it whole. THERE IS NO CHEWING INVOLVED! They made up for the lack of chewing with the meat though because the beef is extra chewy here. Scott loved it, Whitney liked it, I didn’t really care for the Gary but the soup and meat were really good. Afterwards we went to the basket ball court in Karu Site, the neighboring town that is a ten minute Okata ride away. It is also the only basketball court in the area. Here me, Chad, and Katherine participated in three on three basketball while the rest of the team played football (soccer) with the kids. While we were there we got to see the bush that Kaela fell into during the football game last year. More later from the Abuja Blog Squad

Tiny update on Abuja Bound

Parker phoned today to give us an update. The call was a bad connection which resulted in it being cut short. (about 3 min. enough time for a "Hi" and...)
He did say the team (Abuja Mod Squad) is all alive and well. They have had some setbacks on the construction of the basketball court but was unable to give us the details. Whitney is doing well on a different Malaria preventative medication. As some of you know, she had an allergic reaction to her first medication which caused breathing difficulties. Chad had her phone home and consult with her travel doctor in the states. He put her on a different medication that the team had with them and so far so good. Thanks for your prayers.
For all you bloggers out there (this includes you to Pastor Larry)(in the great country of Brazil) Parker, in his own defense said that they loaded a large blog update for the team and it was rejected last night...that is why he called today!! (next year we send them out with a Global Phone or a Satellite Phone :)' )
He was telling me about some other short term missionaries who were in Abuja ( besides our group) just as the phone went dead. I caught about 4 or 5 names. It sounds like God is moving in that area.

Abuja Bound update

Parker sent a short e-mail:
He said everybody is doing well (out side of a small cold running around the team)and they are working hard. He said the Internet is sketchy down there (and I quote) "we can only get on blogger on good days, and if a good day doesn't fall on the same day as a day off from working here, we aren't able to get anything loaded up." He said tomorrow they will start work on the basketball court and said he would try to get a blog up date as soon as possible!

Abuja Mod Squad

The Abuja team on the way to the mountain top

Here is the first picture of the Abuja team that we have received. This must be day two or three when they climbed to the top of the mountain. They are all looking good and in good spirits! All of the team called home on the 4th of July to talk to their parents and families...it was good to hear their voices and get a quick update on their trip!!