Our month in Nigeria was my hardest month so far. But, at the same time, Nigeria is probably one of my favorite months. I fell in love with Nigeria. It was beautiful and challenging. It was frustrating and amazing. I learned a lot. We had a brand new team heading into the month. We had to learn about each other and how we function. We got to see each other in frustration from the start as the month was probably the hardest for all of us. I was taken out of my physical comfort zones big time. I saw things happening in the name of God that I completely disagreed with. I had to speak in front of crowds of people. I had to bring truth to what felt like complete darkness. I had to pray and intercede when I wanted to just throw my hands up and say it’s useless. I had to believe seeds were being planted when it felt like all I had to work with was dry hardened soil. We were the first World Race squad to go to West Africa. We hold on to the fact that we pioneered it.
First off, when I told anyone in Ghana that my next country was Nigeria, the only comments that greeted me
were negative. Everyone said, “Oh, they are so mean and aggressive there. They are not like us. Why would you want to go there? You have to be really careful there.” I have no idea what the news in the states has to say about Nigeria, but I doubt it’s too positive. Yet from the start, our team was greeted with nothing but warmth. Everyone we met in Nigeria welcomed us, smiled at us, and spoke to us. Even those on the streets would smile. I found Nigerians much friendlier than our previous country. Our contacts greeted us and from the start they took care of us. They paid for everything. Normally, in each country we have to pay for rooms and food, etc. But, they thought we were the missionaries and they should be taking care of us. We were amazed at their hospitality.
Our hometown was Okpo. The first thing we did was attend a crusade. Crusades would become regular for us during this month. They were normally three day events with speaking at night and sessions during the day. At our first crusade, and once our contact found out we have a few musically inclined people on our team, we were asked to play a song. For me, I began to experience a new form of worship, not a planned organized song. My team would just flow with the spirit and allow the music to be birthed from that place. We had a jimbay, a harmonica and a guitar player. One would start and then the next and it would flow. We were all new to this, but it was awesome. The next crusade we attended involved us packing up and traveling down the road to stay in another town. Traveling on the road led to some good memories, including a huge herd of cattle blocking the road. At this next crusade we were each asked to speak during one of the night sessions.
During this time, I was sick from what was later diagnosed as a reaction to some type of insect bite. I had a hook looking line covering my entire cheek, face was red and itchy, and an eye was swollen. I was extremely embarrassed. God used this time to highlight the area in me that believes you won’t be accepted all unpretty, messy and broken, he just used my physical features. I had people around me and I wanted to hide, but I found nothing but acceptance. This was a good lesson.
From the first crusade experience, I began to witness things my spirit just didn’t agree with. They would
spin people around and around and as the person was dizzy and just falling around, they called that the Holy Spirit. Also, when someone perhaps had demons in their lives, the way to rebuke the demons was by jerking the person around and shouting at them. Often shouting in tongues constantly was always a sign that someone was filled with the spirit. I remember one time where I knew it was not of God. He gave me a word that said it was of the flesh, they want to see power so much they try and work it up, like winding up a toy to make it go. During this time I began to have my spirit discern more clearly what was actually of Him and what was not. God was teaching me. At each crusade we attended this all went on regularly. We had to fight against frustration and tiredness. It seemed like we were sowing seed on dry hard ground. The grieving of the spirit could cause us to either just be numb or to fight. Most of the time we fought. Each night at the crusade there would be a call to be saved, to repent, to receive healing, or miracles. And each time the entire crowd would go up. The same people would be saved again and again or repent over and over again. We just had to pray. A huge lesson learned: fight, be on the offensive even when it seems NOTHING is happening. Because SOMETHING IS. LOOK WITH SPIRITUAL EYES.
During one of the crusade nights the speaker said when God looks at you, all He sees is your sin. Immediately my heart hurt. Here is someone who in the name of God is an evangelist leading a crowd of people with his teachings. My spirit was grieved and I could feel God’s heart in the matter. My turn to speak was the following night. I actually got sick later that night with some sort of food poisoning. The next day I stayed home during the day. Most of my teammates went to the day sessions. They came back tired and grieved. The same things that go on during the night sessions were occurring during the day and their spirits were exhausted. Again, we prayed as a team. I was still feeling sick, but felt God had something for me to say, so I needed to go that night. He wanted me to talk on his forgiveness and love. As I got up on stage and began talking I no longer felt sick, but felt propelled to speak the truth. I read the story of the prodigal son and told them that the Father in this story represents God. As I read it I could feel God saying, YES. TELL THEM THE TRUTH. I LOVE THEM. PLEASE TELL THEM MY HEART. I told them when God looks at you, he doesn’t just see all your sin, He sees you, separately, and He sees who you will become. He’s not there just waiting to condemn them as the speaker said, but He’s waiting like the lost son’s father, with open arms and forgiveness in His heart. And even better He doesn’t make you start back as a slave, but he puts the BEST ROBE, not just any robe, BUT THE BEST ONE on you and a RING. Oh, it was so good to say all that to them! To speak truth, to express the Father’s heart. We remembered that at these crusades we were each given opportunities to shed light into darkness or to sow seed into just one person’s life.
As we left this crusade to head back to Okpo, another great memory developed. The driver’s window was down and I was in the front row of the van. All of a sudden we saw something fly through the window and then heard a thud in the car. The driver turned on the van light. We then looked down on the floor. What we saw was a bat on its back just looking up paralyzed like how do I flip over to fly out. Of course, we scream. And then the person in the passenger seat tries to grab my foot and says smash its face in. I said no! So he takes a water bottle and just smashes the bat’s face! It was quite crazy. Another road memory…
We also went to a school. The leaders gathered the children ages 6-15 or so around us for a question and
answer period. This was amazing. We told them that whatever they wanted to ask, to go for it. They asked questions about America that we were able to shed light on. They also asked questions about us as Christians, saying to one of my teammates, men are not supposed to have facial hair if they are a Christian. So why do you? And to one of my other teammates, women are not supposed to wear trousers, so why do you? We were able to answer them and explain cultural differences as well as Jesus dying to free us from those laws. Answering their questions was awesome, shedding light once again.
This month we learned to just go with the flow. Normally we are given a weekly schedule at our ministry sites, but here we were not given any kind of schedule. We were typically told a day in advance of what was to come the next day, but often we were told at the last minute that we would be leaving to go speak somewhere. One of those times was a morning when we were greeted with your breakfast is ready and then we leave to go to a youth event and each of you will speak. The month in Nigeria I learned that I didn’t have to have all this time to prepare something. I realized God could give me a topic right beforehand and I could speak on it. At the end of our time, we were able to speak one on one with people. Different people came up to us and expressed what they needed help with. When I came back together with my team we all had a similar theme occurring. Those that came up to us had names that carried prophetic meaning. The very things they were asking for help with were the very things their names meant or represented. Often our calling is the thing we struggle with the most. We were able to pray with them, unlock and unleash things in their spirits, bind them to their destinies and to their callings. It was great!
The amount of hospitality we were shown blew me away. When we went to other homes to eat, they would
often have chips (French fries) for us. They would always say we wanted you to have a taste from home. One of our last nights in Okpo was spent eating dinner with Nigerians our age. There was a group staying in the same community as us who were serving there for one year. We had a dinner together. They cooked for us, prepared a beautiful table and honored us with their serving. Again, it was a time where questions were asked of us about America. Once again we could shed light on our country and build bridges between our culture and theirs. That is what I love, to see two different cultures come together, learn about one another, break bread and fellowship. It is a beautiful thing and a reflection of what heaven will be like.
I loved my month in Nigeria even with the hard lessons. Challenges often result in the greatest rewards. I gained a lot of perspective during this month. Thank you Nigeria!
