Our month in Nigeria ended with refreshment. We went from a tiny village where my perspective got rocked as far as living conditions to the capital of Abuja where we spent our last few days being treated like kings and queens. It felt like God just smiled upon us and said here you go…allow me to refresh you after this month. Upon arrival we were greeted by an awesome man of God, Joshua. Immediately we felt so welcomed by him. It truly felt as if this man just took us in and treated us as if we were his own family. He brought us into his house and there before us on the table was a display of COLD water, all kinds of juices to choose from and plenty of food. At the end of the meal, he brought out ice cream goblets! And we knew what was to come: icecream. Went from a village where we could hardly locate anything sweet to being served icecream in a goblet. God was smiling. It felt like our weary missionary feet were being washed and refreshed for our next journey.I had been sick (AGAIN, got to love third world travel) with food poisoning or something from the night
before we left for Abuja. I was still feeling pretty sick when we drove to the capital and upon arrival at Joshua’s house. Seeing the display of food and not really being able to eat it was so hard!! They found out I was sick and immediately Joshua arranged to have me taken to the hospital to be treated. I was taken to a nearby hospital by his assistant, Steve (pic: Steve, his wife and kids). He was an awesome man of God, operating out of honor as well. He made sure I was seen and taken care of. They ended up paying for almost the entire hospital visit plus meds without hesitation. Steve also welcomed us into his home and blessed us.
Joshua (on left) is a CEO and a pastor. From just driving into his neighborhood and then approaching his 
house, you knew he had money. Yet, he was one of the most humble men I had met in Africa. He has a wife and two small children. In his house, you could just feel the love flowing amongst his family. Though we didn’t stay at his house, for the few days we were in Abuja, he continued to welcome us into his home, bless us with food and allow us to make ourselves comfortable, sitting in air conditioning, using his internet. As we were using the internet one day, a plate was served to us. The plate contained a display of candy bars. BUTTERFINGERS! (sidenote: Since being on the race, I’ve discovered that’s my favorite candy bar. Being on the race and being without causes one to discover all kinds of favorites.) Over and over again, he blessed us. During our month we witnessed a lot of hardness and aggressiveness. But, being around these men and women truly opened our eyes to hope and refreshed our souls.
being in services where it felt like we were continually trying to break through hard soil and where the Spirit was quenched, we had two encounters where you could sense the Spirit alive and well, freely operating. We went to a tribal village where the Lei Lei tribe lived. We visited and shared with them God’s love and what we felt led to speak. At the end, as they encircled us, we faced outward towards them in our own circle and began praying over them and their land. You could just sense that if they asked for anything, God 
would bless them. You could tell He just wants to show Himself to them and pour out His favor upon them because they have turned to look upon Him with their hearts. They were so open to just know anything. It was a huge change from the rest of our month. As we left, we walked past their crop fields. I sensed abundance coming. I prayed down provision and knew God would give it to them to the point that they would have more than enough and would be able to bless other villages.
On one of our last days in the capital, Joshua invited us to meet his father and mother. Once again we
were driven to a very nice neighborhood. Once again we were greeted with honor. Joshua’s father, Jerry (pic: center with wife, Joshua and his wife on right) welcomed us in just like family as well. You could see why Joshua had so much love and humbleness. It flowed from his parents. It flowed amongst the entire family. It wasn’t just in word, but in actions. It was genuine. Even the way Jerry treated his wife: with honor. We had witnessed some mistreatment on behalf of men with their wives or with women in general. This caused us to realize there is hope, particularly amongst influential people. We all sat down together and Jerry and his wife told us some of their history. We found out Jerry has run for president of Nigeria and plans to run again. We also found out his wife chooses to wear less expensive clothes so she can give money away to widows. They have money, yet they choose to give it away. Then he asked us each to give our histories and future goals. We sort of looked at each other, like, how did we get here; just talking to a man that has run for president and wants to run again! To know there are influential people like him in Nigeria and a possible future president like him IS HUGE.
They invited us back that evening for dinner. When we came back and went into the dining room, there was a feast fit for kings on the table. And I was able to eat it. Part of our prayer for dinner was to have a joy-filled night. And we did, laughing a lot. There was also a man from South Africa who joined us for dinner. Looking around the table at the different cultures and skin colors represented was awesome. It felt like a taste of what heaven will be like. Joshua led us in a toast, then Jerry. We were then asked to lead toasts, each of us saying something that was on our heart. As we toasted one by one, we were overwhelmed with God’s blessings. Our month had ended in such an awesome way.
We asked Jerry to pray over us as we left. We then sang a song together and it was beautiful. The month had taken us to such extremes. LACK TO ABUNDANCE, weariness to refreshment is the best way to describe it. I’ll never forget Joshua and his family. Thank you for blessing us.
