If you asked me to describe in a word, our experience here
in Nigeria I would tell you that it would be impossible. If you asked me to
describe it in 10,000 words, I might be able to convey the general idea…
It has been quite the experience
thus far. Our contacts have blessed us tremendously by paying for everything.
They make sure we have small comforts from home like Coke, or Skippy Peanut
Butter. We are living in a flat across from theirs. The guys all get to share
one room and the four girls are split between two rooms. We are not allowed outside for our own safety
and even when we do go out to evangelize we have to have security with us. It
is quite entertaining to us… We spend our free time battling the heat, mice and
roaches, playing card games, watching movies if we have power, or just laying
in a bed talking. To be honest, the lack of internet and power has been good
since the team I am now a part of is completely new. We have been able to spend
our time truly getting to know one another, especially since we can’t go
anywhere. At times I think to myself, “I wonder if this is how Anne Frank felt
while living in the Annex”. If so then I
gather that they all knew each other very very well. On the plus side we do get
to go to the church which is not far from here.
At church we are able to help with
evangelism and on Fridays passing out food to the widows and orphans. The rest
of the time we are at church we are there to participate. It has been quite the
experience. One day a woman told my teammate, “Oh, you are learning to shake
your butt unto the Lord!”. It’s true; we have been learning how to break it
down during worship which is the first hour of the services. Also the door to door evangelism is newer to
most of us. The other day my team leader, Melina, and I were able to pray for a
woman whose name was Mercy. She was very prego and said, “I need help”. We
placed our hands on her and upon her belly and began to pray. It was so crazy,
because the baby very soon began to kick and move about. As it did, I heard the
names “Prosper” and “Justice”. I began to pray those names out loud over the
baby … I honestly don’t know how to describe it but something shifted… it was
amazing… Mercy left with a Light in her eyes that had not been there before… It
was something I had seen once before in the eyes of patients in V//iet/nam…
Hope. At the next “God’s Wives” service we saw her there. She was still prego,
but looked happier and more refreshed than the day we first met her.
It is crazy to think that in a
matter of days we will leave Africa and head to Eastern Europe. It seems like
we have not been here that long. My heart skips a beat at the thought that in
Three months, the race will be over…
Wow… I really truly wish I could convey to you everything that has been
going on… these words and blogs seem to do it little justice. The only thing I
can suggest is to go on the Race yourself… It’s funny… my friend Gretchen, who
went on the January 2008 Race and then led June 09, had told me before I left that
as many stories as she could tell I would not really understand until I went.
She also said that blogging would be hard, not because of lack of time or
internet, but because of lack of knowing how to write it all down… She was
right. But I pray that through these blogs and such, you are able to catch a
glimpse of the wonderful world we live in, and the Beautifully Awesome God we
serve….
