John Welch - trip to Africa 2009

Rosemary Aburu

2009-06-23T14:07:00.000-07:00

Funeral at Iperu

2009-06-23T13:55:00.000-07:00

Calabar

2009-06-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

Benin City, Nigeria

2009-06-23T13:34:00.000-07:00

Back Home Again In Indiana!!

2009-02-16T08:54:00.001-08:00

John has arrived safely back home Saturday afternoon. Here he is in the Indianapolis Airport being greeted by family and friends. It was a good and profitable trip, and hopefully much good has been done in Africa. God has answered our prayers by bringing him back home safely.

Friday, February 13, 2009

2009-02-16T08:53:00.000-08:00

Nothing really profound to report. We awoke at 4 AM and drove from Jinja to Entebbe. Entebbe misses the equator by a few hundred feet. Entebbe is beautiful but it is mostly luxury hotels and one of the Ugandan presidents’ homes. The town itself is about 3 blocks long. We arrived at 8am and got Keith to his flight immediately. He got through with no problem.
Then the really boring stuff started. My flight does not leave till 10:30 tonight. I got through boarding and customs about 7:30 and will only have another 2 and a half hours to wait. It was waiting all day in a town with nothing to see that was the hard part. I have seen a lot of Lake Victoria. I enjoyed the conversations with Francis and Rosemary. I have watched more native fisherman than I would care to mention. By the way, they seem to spend about 25% of the time bailing out their boats. Rosemary says there are a lot of them killed. They row deep into the lake and when it storms there is little they can do except lie down and bail. She says a lot of them drink and take drugs to deal with the fear.
Francis Okech went to the Doctor last night, which I did not find out till today. He has been having serious pain in his leg the entire time we have been here. The doctor says that it is a serious infection. He spent part of the day going through various pharmacies for his drugs. That is not as easy as it seems in the US. There are no chains and country of origin seems to affect the performance of the drugs. German drugs are good. Indian drugs leave something to be desired. There are a lot of Indians here. They own most of the grocery stores and much of the business. Idi Amin threw them all out in the early 70’s and killed the ones who would not leave. They owned most of the manufacturing businesses then. They all closed. The economy tanked and when Amin was overthrown, they invited all the Indians still around to come back and restored their property. The big businesses have not recovered.
Francis and Rosemary stayed till I got my boarding passes. I hated to put them through this long wait. It had to be agonizing for them. I tried to get them to just leave me here this morning, but they refused. At least having rearranged both our tickets for the same day, they did not have to make two trips on separate days. I can imagine that they are happy to begin piecing their lives back to normal. It was good to be with them. This was really my first opportunity to be with them myself without Keith or someone else, so we could speak. I had some questions that I was sure that Keith already had asked and knew and I hated to make them repeat.
I will endure the wait and the flights. If the Lord wills I will see my family tomorrow afternoon after flying all night and losing 8 hours of time.
Love, John

Thursday, February 12, 2009

2009-02-14T18:57:00.001-08:00

Let’s start by talking about the finish of our classes. Keith spoke for about an hour and a half today and I did also. Three of the students spoke. Although a couple of them were obviously nervous, they were well organized and did very well. These three men were from Jinja and should be a considerable help here. William who spoke is already filling in for brother Okech when he cannot be there. I believe that we accomplished something. It was hard we both had to completely reinvent our teaching methods in order to get across the divide. It worked. These men seemed to have gained confidence. I believe they will be a big help to this church growing in Tororo. There are currently some plans for a new congregation in Jinja in Massessee. If this materializes over the next year thee will be an even greater need for speakers. Francis can spread himself only so thin.
I mentioned Siliver’s sick baby yesterday. We found out more about this. The 2 and a half month child had at least some of his baby teeth removed. This was performed by some of the old women in Massessee where Siliver and his wife are from. Apparently they have some superstition about this. They would have cut the child’s gums and removed some of the teeth. They would have had no means of stopping the bleeding. The family was given antibiotics and other help at the doctors. Such levels of superstition are hard to fathom until you go to Massessee.
As I mentioned earlier I am hoping that some churches who have spare communion sets will help the churches here. They also need the cheap plastic individual communion cups. With the incidence of HIV and the incidence of TB in the churches this seems important. Several of the members are also diagnosed with TB. Cholera is not too much a problem in these areas except in the crowded conditions in the large city of Kampala. We have seen nothing there other than our brief visit to the congregation there.
Ofwono Fred sproke to us again about his concern for his 14 year old son Richard. His school starts on February 16th and Fred has nothing to send him to secondary school. There is no public school. He needs somewhere in the neighborhood of $350 to send him to school. If someone can help, I will give you Fred’s address. Richard is not a servant IN Rosemary’s house. He is just a house guest who is occasionally helpful. I might add that Fred receives absolutely nothing for preaching in Tororo. He has training as a computer technician and copier repairman, but there is no work in those areas in Tororo or anywhere else in the country. He receives nothing for preaching and has gathered a congregation of from 100 to 200 people. He could use some help. He has no computer though that is the area of his training. Consider him.
I spent a few more minutes finding trinkets to bring home. I spent some time trying to pack all this and appear ready for our trip tomorrow morning. I will have to wait in the airport from morning, when Keith Sharp’s flight leaves, till late at night, when my flight leaves.
There are so many more things I should have told you, but frankly now I am consumed with the idea of home and cannot clear my mind sufficiently to remind you of the events of the day. I am looking forward to seeing many of you on the Lord’s Day.
Love, John

Review of the trip

2009-02-12T06:47:00.000-08:00

Nigeria
I felt that both legs of this trip were poorly planned. The situation in Nigeria was not well considered and I could have been used better to do more preaching. Some of this is because of the difficulty and remoteness of the areas.
In retrospect I suppose that it was good for me to begin in Ibadan, though of the cities of Nigeria they needed teaching the least of all. It did allow me to become familiar with the weather and many very good preachers in a friendly environment. I preached on topics they requested and that had absolutely nothing to do with the material I had come prepared to give. Yet, it was what they said they needed and wanted. These brethren and al these churches have a habit of a question and answer session after every lesson. These were profitable and interesting. I enjoyed the time, they said they appreciated my efforts but I suspect that several of the men there could have done the same teaching that I did. It was gratifying to be among them.
I believe that in Calabar we did our best effort. It could have been much better with more preplanning, but I believe in this environment of growing institutionalism among the churches that we opened a door of study and friendship there. It will need follow-up and currently I do not see anyone available to do it. If 6 months goes by without follow-up this door will close and the result of the teaching that we did will be lost. I did not spend enough time in Uyo to do more than social visiting with a very few brethren. In Benin we did a little teaching and helped to solidify the congregation there in the truth. Our influence was limited perhaps because of the fact that lines of division were already drawn in this area. I believe that we did limited good here.
Keith in his latter weeks seems to have been very successful. That is a story for him to tell. The little we did in Lagos, was a successful study and confrontation of ideas. This was a meeting thrown together in little time. I would think that future trips to the area should concentrate on Lagos for much of the fight will be there and perhaps search out other area of the country that have not been reached as yet.
Nigerian churches do not need American preachers to come there and preach on the first principles. At this stage this influence would almost be an insult. There are plenty of Christians here who can preach on these subjects as well as any American if not better. There are also capable men who can teach on institutionalism. They need some help in these areas. Americans can help draw a crowd and American funds can help with the expense of traveling around the country.
The Christians in this country are hospitable and friendly. They are sincere in difficult situation. The contrast between the difficulty of the country and the gentility of the Christians is hard to fathom.
Someone told me that the United Nations has referred to Nigeria as a “failed state.” I believe it. Traveling in this country is dangerous, unpleasant, unhealthy, hostile, and constantly tense. In my opinion, sooner or later some American preacher who travels to Nigeria will be hurt. It will be by disease, accident, robbers, or simply stressed ill health. Anyone who goes there should be aware of this.
Insist on more detailed planning. Teaching for two or three hours during the daytime and then sitting around watching TV is a waste of time and expense. There should be as much opportunity to teach morning and night as possible. There are not a lot of tourist sites in Nigeria and that is not why you came here in the first place. Settle the expenses involved in this trip at the outset. Handle your own money. A few Nigerian preachers can be trusted with your money as good money managers. Others are not so good. Be adaptable. Your preaching subjects and direction will change quickly. Good can be accomplished, but you want to plan as well as possible.

Uganda
This is completely different. The dangers here have to do with the health challenges. Your personal safety is reasonably secure.
These churches are in absolute infancy and their situation is very tenuous. Brother Okech is a major influence and more preachers need to be developed. That is just beginning and it will take considerable time. Organizing these churches and establishing them in independent and autonomous situations is just beginning. There are good signs.
The poverty here is profound. This is not a cash economy. It is expensive to live here in any fashion that an American would understand.
The tenuousness of the situation and the difference in the cultures makes planning difficult. You should speak plainly and with the difference in the cultures this is not always as easy as it sounds. One party may think he is speaking plainly and the other end of the conversation may not have the tools to understand what he is talking about. Cost control will be a challenge. In both countries you may need to send money ahead to make certain that the folks helping you have a working automobile. You will want that. If these costs cannot be controlled you will want to think before coming. These churches do not gather easily. It is hard to gather after dark. It is a walking or transport situation for many of them to gather. We have arranged a place for them to come and many of the men we are teaching are housed here and there and I have spoken to you about the challenge of keeping them fed. I would suggest that you come with Keith or someone who has been here ahead of you. That will make the planning much easier.
I must admit that I had reservations before coming here. It seemed that Francis received a large amount of support. I was tired when we finished in Lagos and irritated with myself that I had to come here and give up two more weeks and be away from home.
I am glad I came. I would not have understood what is happening here nearly as well as I understand now. Francis is supporting his sister who obviously works with him in this effort as a fellow helper and advisor. She is a good woman and a good Bible student. He is at charges for much of the expense of three very poor congregations. These churches have increased in size by double and in one case by tenfold. I mentioned at the first of this days blog, two emergencies that required small amounts of money. I believe Francis and Rosemary face this situation several times a week. Here is a sick, lethargic, two month old baby belonging to a church member who has absolutely no money and there are no state resources of help. What should they do? Harden their hearts and say, this is hard to explain to American churches so we have to save our money and cannot help you. Obviously not! What would you do?
I believe this situation is unique. I cannot think of another group of churches like this anywhere in the world at this time. Yes, he was receiving a lot of money. He was not living lavishly. He was not squandering the money. He was not saving it in a large pile. He and she were building three churches and helping poor people who can hardly understand the gospel. They made it understandable. Can you do that? They were doing it without a lot of help. There is still not much help and they have lost at least a third of their support abruptly.
Some asked me whether Francis deserves support. Yes.
Do I understand absolutely everything going on here? Probably not. Could Francis be a better manager? Probably so. Is Francis sometimes difficult to understand or does he occasionally express himself poorly? Oh yes. Our worlds are so very different. How could it be any other way? Do these people need to know more about the Bible? Should Francis be teaching them better? This is always so. It is certainly so where I preach.
So the answer is yes. He deserves and needs support. Something unique and wonderful is happening here. It is balanced on a knife edge. It could explode in growth faster than these people can keep up with. It could disappear in disaster and lack of support that will set the work back for many years. It is different from anything I have been acquainted with. I am not sure that the usual formulas for support and rules for money spent apply. I can only tell you that they use everything sent them to teach the gospel and to help needy Christians from their own pocket, and they do this in the most practical and profound way imaginable.
These people have created something out of nothing, with precious little outside advice and help. They seem to have sincere hearts and a genuine love of the truth. They are in the middle of a stressful and terrible situation. They are succeeding. With support and the development of more preachers the Lord’s work here could truly explode. At the same time without support and without a little thoughtful and careful direction it could implode and the opportunity could be lost.
God speed to all you brethren. Thank You. It has been an experience in a lifetime of experiences. I still do not know if I was the man for the job, but I tried to do my duty as I understood it best and I have carried away far more than I gave. I have tried to tell you the truth about what I saw and experienced. These are hard places. The people working here are gentle people who know how to work in hard places. They are better than me. May God give them strength and may brethren give them prayer and support.
Love John

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

2009-02-12T06:40:00.000-08:00

This is casava drying on the side of the road.

The class was decimated again. Some more the men had to go back to Tororo. They had family sickness and difficulty and needed to return. These were some of our best men, but they had been away for a long time.
One of our men was not here this morning. He was one of the men named Peter. He is a taxi driver here in town. That means he has a bicycle. I had mentioned that I was concerned that providing meals for the men would somehow predispose them to the truth. Peter however had been neglecting his business. He owed a 10,000 shilling debt. This is about $5. Apparently the man he owed was about to take his bike/livelihood for the debt. He said he had to work hard today to try to make up the lost money. I believe he was sacrificing for the classes. Rosemary helped with his expenses and he was able to join us.
I also mentioned Siliver the other day. He is attending our classes and works here as a servant. I had assumed that he lives in one of the tiny apartments out back. This is not so. He lives at the church building and apparently helps with maintaining that. I mentioned that the dirt floor of the building has to be treated to hold down some biting insects so the children can lie and sit on papyrus mats on the floor. Siliver is also married and his child was sick. The child is 2 months old. They were concerned about malaria. There is no medical care here without money. There were free clinics until several years ago the government privatized all of them. There are no social service organizations. There is no help for poor people who are sick. There is a state hospital across the street, but there are no beds and no medicine, even aspirin. Siliver needed 20,000 shillings to go to a doctor. That is $10. Keith provided this because he was faster than I was. The child was dehydrated. Rosemary says many children here die of this. He was lethargic when he was here. They provided some medication. I hope he will be better.
I had to make 4 trips to town to get off the blog today. The internet is not a terribly dependable thing here. That is about 6 miles of walking. My wife says I should keep it up, it would be good for me. Humph!
Keith did well with a study of the role of the Holy Spirit. I think that it was much needed and much appreciated. Two of my men delivered good lessons. I hope that they will begin to be used in their congregations. They are not preachers, but they are ready to make a short talk or deliver an invitation and would soon develop. These are mature men who seem to express themselves well in their native tongue.

The Lord's church in Uganda

2009-02-11T10:11:00.000-08:00

The church in Tororo, Uganda.
The building where the Tororo congregation meets.

This is our class that meets each day in Jinja.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

2009-02-11T09:12:00.000-08:00

I have learned a few things about the servants around here. I thought I would inform you so you did not think that these folk were living high and mighty. First servants here are so cheap it is a little silly not to have them since it is an act of charity to give them a place to live. Mary, who helps with the cooking and cleaning and does not seem to speak a word of English beyond hello was hired just for the period of time we are here to help deal with us. Mary, I have been told, is the perfect vision of Uganda womanhood as can be born out by the young men in the classes who seem to avail themselves of various opportunities to speak to her and smile at her. (She is a little fleshy by American standards of this sort of thing.)
Richard is about 14 and is Fred Ofwono’s son. Fred lives in Tororo. Fred does not have enough money to send this young man to secondary school. That would cost about $350 dollars. Consequently there is nothing for Richard to do. He apparently scored well in school and would like to go ahead. He has about 3 years to do so, but that area is as cash poor as here. He opens the gate when someone honks. He puts out the chairs and goes to the store for small chores as bidden. He seems to sneak quite a bit of time watching TV. I have no idea how much or whether he is paid. Siliver lives in the former servants apartments out back. The only thing I have seen him doing is to use a broom made of sticks to brush the yard each morning. It is spotless. I have no idea whether he is paid or is allowed to live in one of the apartments in exchange for this yard work. There are two or three other young men who live in these apartments. They are reasonably well dressed. I am told that they rent and that they work in banks here in town. I am also told that they are Christians.
Our classes went well again. Keith has finished the cases of conversion and is currently studying to teach about the work of the Holy Spirit tomorrow. My men are to start preaching tomorrow. They are having a little more trouble with this topical sort of sermon. It does not suit story telling as easily as last week’s textual sermons did. They seem to be working well. Having Bibles and some sort of reference materials is a must.
I have now done my part to help the Ugandan economy so that I will have some trinkets to throw in the door in front of the women in my life and the grandchildren. I left the street with all the trinket shops with smiling merchants waving at me and calling me by my first name and hoping I would come back next year. I do not think that it is a good sign that they were so happy.
We learned a little bit more about the naming system here. These men have their family name first and their individual name last. Thus, he is Ochieng David. Francis would really be Okech Francis, but I think perhaps he has westernized the name a bit. Many of the women do not seem to have a personal name especially in Massesse, At least no one seems to know them. They are simply called Mama_____________, and one of the children’s names is then inserted. Rosemary was saying that one of the women she helped in Massesse she simply has named Rejoice since whenever she sees her she says “rejoice in the Lord.”
We did find out good news this morning. We called the airline ourselves to see if we could change our tickets. It was done after we went to bed last night from Indianapolis. Apparently we will be able to board a late night flight headed home on Friday night. If we can make connections we should be home Saturday afternoon. I am informed that this is Valentine’s day. I am doubly glad I have trinkets. One can be confident of a welcome with some sort of gift. I will gain 8 hours and Keith says that I will collapse when I finally relax at home. I must admit that the one thing that I have noticed while here is that there is always a considerable exercise of discipline and therefore some stress at all times. The Jet lag may be a factor too.
I did not want brother Okech to have to make a double trip to the airport at Entebbe This is about an hour and a half ride from Kampala where he lives. This way I can go with Keith who is leaving Friday morning and just stay at the airport until my flight that evening. Entebbe is virtually on the equator as a point of information.
I will try to write more of a review of the trip in the next few days.
Needless to say I am looking forward to seeing you. I could not get on line to send the blog the past few days. I will try again tomorrow
Love,
John

Monday, February 9, 2009

2009-02-11T08:59:00.000-08:00

The source of the Nile River. There is a large Spring here, and at one time there were rapids where Lake Victoria empties into the Nile.

This mountain is Tororo Rock. The city is at the base of the mountain, and the church is on the backside.

Our classes resumed today. We had about 11 present. The men seem to be getting in gear with what we are doing. They are taking notes better and seem more in tune with the regime. Keith seems to have found a comfortable level and is simply telling the cases of conversion in Acts and the men are more alert and able to follow. We will continue classes through Thursday. The men are to deliver a sermon on a topical topic for me this week. Last week I was showing them examples of sermons drawn straight from the text. They understood that concept well. This may be a little harder for there is a smaller element of storytelling and requires more natural logic to follow the thought. So far it is going well.
We went to town today to try to send out our blog, but our internet café was closed. They should be back up tomorrow. I spent some time bargaining with the local merchants for various trinkets. I am not sure I can get all this junk in my luggage. One woman and I had to call a truce and may start again tomorrow.
We went back out to Massesse tonight to visit a couple of women that Rosemary wanted us to see. I took a lot of photos. I will get them on eventually. She set one woman up in the hotel business. It was a three room mud hut smaller than most backyard storage buildings in America. They were cooking a variety of food though. There was a room to eat (the restaurant) and a sleeping room. You will not believe this till I show you pictures. And you may not believe after you have seen them. We went to a mud home that she built for the older woman Mamma Zamba that I mentioned earlier. It was on a hillside and had cost her $75. The hillside is good because it is away from the village and because the rains drain off. We saw another house that she had built for a woman who had 8 children in a shelter with simple clear plastic walls. It held water inside and when it rained the children had to sleep standing. Francis said he will get me the picture. Her new home is a mud hut with a metal roof. It is dry and clean. Of course there is no electricity or light. It cost Rosemary $250.
We saw two women naked from the waist in a fight as we left and third woman was beating them with a stick. I did not take pictures. We could also see a line of women across the valley returning to the community from the city. They had been begging in the city and rummaging through the trash.
William Ochieng was able to be in class today. He preached at Jinja yesterday. He reminded Keith that he had met him during Keith’s previous visit here. He said that at that time his two year old daughter was sick with malaria. She died shortly after Keith left. We also learned that two of the men in our class have aids. I think Keith knows which ones, but I did not want to enquire.
It is the start of the week so that the city has a new crop of Europeans showing up on the streets.
I mentioned that my CPAP machine died last week. The end result is that I do not sleep as well as before. I was tired today and needed to take a short sleep. The men take a long lunch. So thankfully there was time to do just that before they returned. I am in good health and doing well. I am trying to not think of home so much as it grows closer. I keep asking the Lord to help me concentrate on the teaching for the next three days so that I can fulfill the reason for my being here.
I ought to take some time to give some reflection on the work in these two great countries. I am afraid that if I wait till I return home, I will be too busy catching up with my left behind life. I do not want to write before this week is over. Perhaps I will have some time on the plane flight home.
I am currently waiting to call home till late in the day Monday there to hear whether they were able to rearrange my plane ticket to come home beginning on Friday and arriving on Saturday. I am trying very hard not to get my hopes up. If it possible I will see you Sunday Morning, if the Lord wills.
Love,
John

Sunday, February 8, 2009

2009-02-11T08:57:00.000-08:00

We went to Tororo today. We started in the dark and that is scary. These knuckleheads drive on the wrong side of the road (something they got from the British). By the way when you are crossing the road be sure to check both ways for traffic. You should first check the direction they would be coming from in America if they had sensibly adopted that system. Then you should check the other way that they will really be coming from. I have been saved by chance several times. They often drive in the middle of the road which I think they invented and did not get from anyone. It is dark as pitch. There are no road markings, and I am getting old, when there is an oncoming car I cannot see the road at all. If the other guy hogs the road we are going in the ditch.
The road was better than Nigeria which is not a recommendation. 80% of the road is good. There is no speed limit. There are hundreds of people walking and riding bicycles along both sides of the road. The 20% of the road that is bad is really bad: Endless potholes and some wash boarding. This portion takes as long to navigate as the good portion that is much longer. This was the good road that we detoured to avoid the bad road. It was better and safer than Nigeria by several magnitudes.
There are a couple of twists. There are no speed limits buuuuuuttttttttt. At odd points that make sense to someone there are speed bumps in the road. There are two types of speed bumps. There are some that are about 6 inches high and there are about 5 of these in quick succession. I suppose that they intend these to resemble rumble strips. I did mention that they are 6 inches high. These were actually installed by Ugandan dentists as filling checkers. If you have a tendency to travel with your mouth open you will regret it. Think of the thrill of hitting one of these in the dark while an oncoming car has blinded you. Naturally, you are driving about 70 miles per hour. Where there is one series of these there will be others thrown in with no sign or warning. They are just there. Filling checkers.
The other type of speed bump is about 2 feet high and sloped. I refer to these as the Evel Knievel speed bump. Hit this at 70 and you will definitely be air born. Again they occur in what appears random fashion without sign, road paint, or warning. Just a big black bump in the road.
Brother Okech drives a Toyota Hiace which is not imported to the US with good reason for the second seat was intended as a punishment for midgets. However, the car is used as a Taxi all over Africa and must resemble a tank with extensive body work. Brother Okech’s vehicle apparently was a bargain model that was sold without shock absorbers. Keith Sharp was sitting in the third seat back, the most comfortable. However as we came to these unique combinations of road slower downer any passenger in the third seat had a definite tendency to take flight. There were several “whooopiies” from the rear (at least that is what I think he said). I am sure he now has a free pass at every amusement park in America by reason of his experience. He is also 2 inches shorter and a licensed member of the rodeo cowboys association for bull riding.
Another unique feature of the road is that it is used for food production. These people eat Cassava as their primary carbohydrate. This is a root that can be ground to flour. It is primary staple and cash crop. The stuff has to be dried before being bagged. Apparently every resident in the country uses the pavement at the side of the road to dry his cassava. So at any given moment while dodging potholes, bicycles, taxis, road crossers, and Buses there are also farmers and their families either placing cassava to dry on the road or collecting in large bags for storage. Don’t take your eyes off the road.
The entire collage makes one tend to travel with muscles tensed, teeth clenched, gripping some firm point in the auto, sweating profusely, blinking road dust out of the eyes, and craning one’s neck when someone points out some roadside oddity which is whipping by at break neck speed. This does not even begin to figure in the pucker factor. Woe to the man who dozes off: it is either the dash or the ceiling at some point for him. Brother Okech was in a rush to get there this morning. I know that he still has springs on some of his wheels because of the lurching of the vehicle.
We left at 6AM and arrived in Tororo at 9AM. It is a small town, but orderly and typically African. We went to a local hotel where brother Okech said we would “rest” (that apparently is his code word for “eat”) before church services. Keith had an omelet. Sister Rosemary had Ham and a greasy taco called Chapati, and brother Okech, who can eat like the devil has offered him a last meal, cleaned up. I had one salty pancake and a Coke.
The congregation meets at the clubhouse of a golf club on the side of the mountain that Tororo is named after. Now don’t get excited. This golf club really bears a strong resemblance to a cow pasture. I don’t think there are really any greens unless that word is just figurative. The rest of the grass bears a strong resemblance to long (hasn’t been cut in a week or two) crabgrass. The clubhouse was built in the 40s for the colonial British. It was probably nice then. I think it is just a storage warehouse now. But it serves for the church and the setting is picturesque. Brother Okech pays the equivalent of $30 per week for the brethren to meet there.
There were about 80 there, including Fred Ofwono and three of the men from our class. Apparently there were other brethren who had gone to a different location through some misinformation. Both of us preached and worshipped. It was good to do so. We did this about 8 hours ahead of you folk in the eastern half of the US. The Lord was with all of us. Most of these brethren walk in. There were no other cars beside ours. Some would use a pickup. These are loaded as full as people can stand in the back and hold on to one another. In fact in Africa, everything that you should not do in a vehicle is done regularly here. Some probably arrange for local bicycle taxis. These are long walks of several miles to get to the meeting place. The singing was lovely though not as forceful as in Nigeria. I recorded a little bit and if I can enhance it will eventually put it on this blog. It was in their language.
We headed home after talking with Fred and his family. There is no meat in that area. Fred’s wife is a vet. She walks everywhere. There is a hoof and mouth quarantine on the area so meat is a tough commodity to come by. Fred came back with us and I think is already beginning to lust over the deceased pig that I mentioned in a previous blog.
I took lots of pictures on the way back. We took that trip slower so that I could take pictures. The landscape is entirely small subsistence farms for the entire distance. Brother Okech was lamenting (He and Rosemary came from the area around Tororo) that what had once been dense forest throughout that whole region had been entirely deforested and was now these subsistence farms. If it recently was densely forested the change in the landscape must have been profound. Most of the people live in small family or communal compounds. These are largely round huts made of mud or occasionally brick with thatch roofs. There are outbuildings for cooking and often new buildings are begun as young people come of age. They are usually clean and orderly and rather strangely speak of family and clan. A subsistence farm here can involve as little as half an acre of land. Not much from which to make your entire living. There are no jobs.
I might mention that Ugandans generally build with locally made brick, where the Nigerians generally built with locally made concrete block. I think that the distinction is in the soil types available in the two countries. Nigeria is mostly sandy and they can use the natural dirt with cement for block. The soil here has a red clay content/ This would make bad concrete blocks, but works fine for bricks. Many homes have small brick kilns and fire their own bricks. The soil is largely volcanic and very fertile.
I had an interesting conversation with Rosemary and sister Ofwono. They said that women in Uganda are abused. They are often beaten. They are subjected to situations with multiple marriages without any real escape or recourse. They are threatened with abandonment if they have too many children and this is often done. There is nothing really in place to protect women in their society from these things. I suspect that there are laws against such, but apparently enforcing them is either difficult or impossible. Travel between these countries for Africans is very easy, so the men can disappear. The woman said that the men would just leave their wife or wives and find a barren woman to live with. There is little or no advice to give. The gospel needs to be taught, that may be the only hope.
We have returned home having stopped in a hotel along the way for a 4pm meal. Ugandans eat meals late. This was lunch. Rosemary has had rice and beans at the house for us late at night for the last two days. The beans were welcome and tasty. I was missing vegetables. I once again am here to testify that Africans have never met a fried food that they did not like.
I have confirmed again the hope for plus size women in Africa. Brother Okech is a widower and pretty easy on the eyes it seems. He also has his own home and is apparently interesting enough to have convinced several hundred people to join him in serving the Lord. Brother Sharp was exercising the God given responsibility for gospel preachers to match make suggesting various women in Nigeria (see 2 Timothy 5:7; see also Titus 4:3). Some of these women were advertised as healthy women. I mentioned that if he would come to the US I knew some wealthy, well educated, skinny women. I was once again informed that Ugandans do not want skinny women. They have a tendency to associate skinniness with ill-health and AIDs. They want someone who can be a good mother and worker. You women should either immigrate or import these ideals to America.
Our classes resume tomorrow. I miss you
John

Pictures from Uganda

2009-02-07T07:51:00.001-08:00

This is the church in Kampala. The women were not there because they were taking the kids to school. This is rented from a hotel and the church meets in their parking lot behind the hotel.

This is the Jinja church. Most of the people have AIDs. They are getting medicine through Rosemary's help and assistance. Most of the come from Massesse. Lake Victoria is in the background. They walked 2 miles or rode in brother Okech's van to get there.

Rosemary Athieno

Francis Okech

This is Rosemary's house where we are staying.

Friday, February 6, 2009

2009-02-07T07:48:00.000-08:00

We had a good day. We lost the men from Tororo as we expected. That hurt but they needed to return to their gardens and families. I hope we get to see them again this Sunday when we go there. Tororo is about 3 hours east of here on the border with Kenya. There is supposed to be a good group of Christians there. We did pick up a new man, Ochieng George William. I met him at Massesse yesterday. I think he has been employed and unable to come before today. He is fluent in English and seems capable. He is going to speak at Jinja in place of brother Okech this Sunday. We had about 11 in class. Two men delivered their lesson, they seemed orderly and capable. I have been impressed with these men who spoke. They have interested their audience, stuck to their topic and exceeded every possible expectation I had.
Rosemary and Francis took us to the source of the Nile River. It is about ½ mile from Rosemary’s house. I took a lot of picture. John Speck discovered this spot in 1862 after several men had been hunting for many years for the source of the Nile. These of course are white men, the folk here had known it was here for some time. They just did not know where the water went when it left. There is a hydroelectric project on the river so that its level is higher than it would have been naturally and there is no rapid as there was before the dam. However, the power here is very reliable when compared to Nigeria. It was a pleasant day. I think Keith managed to get his ticket moved up. This will make it possible for him to worship on the Lord’s day and hopefully ease the transport burden on brother Okech. We have a day off tomorrow I have no idea what we are going to do. They were threatening to take me to the equator so that I could take a picture at a monument there. It is a three hour trip and I see no reason to put Brother Okech and his car through the expense of the trip. I told Keith that if I wanted I would just Photoshop my picture in over the picture he took on his last trip and no one would be the wiser.
You don’t see that everyday anymore. We were sitting in the living room talking and hearing a banging and hammering on the back porch for about an hour. Finally, curiosity got the better of us. Rosemary had apparently invested in a couple of pigs. She was having someone tend them. One of the pigs broke its leg. We had heard this earlier in the day. She was trying to get someone to buy the injured pig. She finally decided apparently to turn him into food. Sure enough on the back porch there was a fellow swinging a machete chopping up Porky. We hope to enjoy more of him in the near future. Things may be looking up.
My CPAP machine died about 4AM last night. Luckily I am in a separate portion of the house so they will not have to endure my snoring. I should be a little less rested, but I should be fine in the little time that we have left. I was sad, but it could be something serious. I think both of us are looking for home. Keith is a gung-ho kind of guy but I think that he too is beginning to feel restive for his home. We have resolved to teach classes through Thursday and prepare for our trip home.
I miss you all
John

Thursday, February 5, 2009

2009-02-06T10:59:00.000-08:00

Rosemary prepared beans and rice for us late last night. It was good. This was just about the first vegetables that I have had in some time. It was welcome. It rained hard overnight so we will move our class to the large porch on the house to avoid the mud in the yard. We are fully expecting a bumper crop of mosquitoes from all this rain. I learned news that it is only the female mosquito that carries malaria. I will start checking sex now before I swat them.
I thought you might like to have the email addresses for these two people

Roseaburu@yahoo.co.uk Rosemary Athieno

FrancisOkech@yahoo.com Francis Okech

I noticed a local newspaper here that reported the poorest areas in this country. This area around Jinja is the poorest area in the country. Their definition means that income in this area is less that $1 a day. That is about $30 a month. They make less than this. There is such a stunning contrast. The area is beautiful and clean. There are very fine hotels here and many fine homes and a number of western buildings for various aid organizations and religious groups. The overall appearance of the town with its western tourists is a strange opulence for a small African city. But, it is a wealth amidst incredible poverty. Perhaps a difference here between this country and others is that the trees here and the soil abound with fruit so that the people do not starve. In other areas of Africa where there is poverty there is nothing to eat. Perhaps these people are a bit better off than that. I imagine that it is little comfort. They have no cash.
In case it has escaped you I am trying to update my spellings of names and places as I learn the precise spelling. Phonetics will only go so far. Maybe you should just read the blog backwards if you want to get the names correct.
Our classes today were very good. The men are really relishing the sermon preparation type approach that I am using. It has really been hard for both Keith and myself to find a way to teach these classes hindered as we are by the need for translation, the lack of Bibles; The lack of night lighting for the students to study, and the fact that several of them do not speak English at all. The ones who do speak English struggle to read. Three of them delivered a short speech. Two of them were very good and really had their audience with them; the third covered the topic well. Keith was a bit discouraged tonight. He has really been steadily trying to adapt to this situation but with his topic studying through the book of Acts, it is hard given the situation I described above. It is so tempting to go into detail in Acts 1 through 3 but the men were not really able to keep up. At least it appeared that way to him. His material has been excellent. He adapted it today and just presented it in the style of sermon outlines. This did better. Since it is obvious that he will not be able to complete Acts in the time we have here. He is switching to discussions of the cases of conversion. He is going to Acts 8 tomorrow and I am confident that this will resound better with these new Christians. He can just tell the story. They will follow and profit.
We also have received some bad news. The rains have come early to Uganda. I have mentioned that normally this month is dry here. However for the last three days we have had rains. Last night’s rain was heavy and apparently broad across the country. This means that many of the men need to be planting their gardens. These are more than just a vegetable garden. This is both what they will live on and what they can sell or trade for the year so this is important for them. Remember these people do not have a lot of cash. They live off this produce. The men are afraid that it may dry up later and they will be hurting. One man has a wife who has just recently had a child and she cannot dig. I am afraid that we are going to lose some of our men tomorrow, especially the men from Tororo. These were some of our most promising prospects.
We did have an unusual conversation with Rosemary about this. When we were told that some might have to leave, Keith simply and sensibly said, “if they have to go they have to go.” Rosemary responded that he could not say that. She said that was an insult in Uganda. It would sound to them like you did not care or that they did not matter. She said that we should beg them to stay for just a few more days. Of course, we will both know that they have to leave, but they will feel that we will miss them and regret their going. This is not too unusual. I remember being in the South as a youngster and everyone at church would invite you to go home with them. They did not really mean it. It was just what you said to be polite. Polite people realized it and politely declined, but one side felt hospitable and the other side felt wanted.
Toward the end of class we received terrible news. A congregation in Florida that has been a longtime supporter of brother Okech felt obliged by what they said was their changing receipts in contributions to cut off brother Okech’s support. He has lost $1000.00 of support. That is quite a hole and was very abrupt on the part of these brethren, but I am sure that they were driven to this by necessity; otherwise it would have been a considerable unkindness not to let him down a little more gently. He has carried on manfully throughout the rest of the day. He has not shown sign of concern and done his duty well in teaching, but it is certainly on my mind and Keith’s, though both of us can do little or nothing to directly help. I do not ask for help for him, but you should be aware.
Immediately following class we went to the slum in Massesse for services. I took many pictures. There were many people seated in the open on plain wooden benches that the women brought from their homes carrying them on their heads. We were mobbed by children. They came running in swarms from all directions. When I got out of the car they grabbed my hand and arms in large numbers and held on. They felt the hair on my arms. I suspect that this fat hairy white man was something new. I spoke briefly for frankly I did not want to lose control. Keith spoke very well, ending with Revelation 21. God will wipe away all tears. The former things are passed away. Keith had trouble reading it. The image from my eyes and the assault on my ears from the reading of that passage was too much. Most of the young men from the class were there. They had contracted motorcycles as taxis and who knows what to get them there. There were perhaps 100 men women and children there. Francis and Rosemary rent the space in the village so that they can meet there for Bible class. Most of them have AIDs. Most of them are dying. They live in filth and squalor.
I said the other day that these people were resettled Masai. That is not correct (misinformation). These people are Karamajong from the northeastern corner of Uganda on the border of Sudan and Kenya. They wandered naked behind cattle in a migratory pattern. I was told that they ate blood drawn from their cows mixed with cow urine and excrement in a stew. They eat this for a breakfast porridge. They go dumpster diving here and specialize in chicken innards, heads, and feet. Keith took a picture yesterday of two vultures competing with them in one of the same dumpsters. They have been resettled without any training. They are mostly clothed now. The women have nothing to do except as prostitutes and the men are thieves. Rosemary has gotten most of them who come to the meetings tested along with their children for HIV. Most of them are infected. Rosemary said that one couple went together and found they were both infected. The wife blamed the husband for killing her and the husband blamed Rosemary for getting them tested. They have not spoken to her since. (shoot the messenger!)
In fact while brother Okech was speaking to this group he pointed to a large tree. He was speaking about the rich man and Lazarus and he said that in that spot a man had lain dying begging for water. No water was given him. He was found dead the next morning. It made a appropriate illustration about the beggar Lazarus.
Rosemary helps these people. One old woman she noticed was sick and she gave her the equivalent of $1 to seek help or food. I have a picture of the oldest woman there whose picture I had already seen and had met at services on Sunday. She was living in a shack that had fallen down and was full of mud. Rosemary built a house with a tin roof for her. It was just a pole building, but it was dry and much better than what she had. I don’t think that she spent more than $50. Another woman Rosemary loaned $10.00. To someone who makes less than $1 per day that is a fortune. She bought fish and dried them over a fire and sold them. I mentioned her in a previous blog. She was away making charcoal. Still another woman Rosemary loaned $5. This allowed her to buy about 5 to 10 pounds of raw peanuts. She fried them in palm oil and would then put them on a large platter on her head and sell them around town. This in turn would give her enough money to buy more peanuts and have a few dollars for herself as well. Someone from the states asked Rosemary what she could possibly accomplish with a $5 loan. It is very hard to understand the level of poverty and how much one dollar means when you are this poor.
There were a couple of interesting things about these folk from Karamajong. One man got dressed up with a shirt, tie, Jacket, socks and shoes but no pants. He looked very smart. He said that he did not want to be mistaken for a woman. I don’t think that was going to happen. They also have a superstition that if they are wearing clothes when they plant a garden that the plants will not grow. Consequently they dig naked. It would not be good time to visit when it is garden planting time.
These folk need communion sets. If you have an old one, consider sending it. They need Bibles. I am currently checking on Bibles in their language, Japadhoula. It has really been hard teaching these men when they cannot read the Bible. This needs to happen.
These folk have the habit of applauding when a lesson is finished. This is a national custom. They do not misbehave, but it is their custom. I do not see anything unscriptural or wrong with it. Does anyone have book, chapter, and verse so that I can tell them they are sinning? They have the habit of a threefold handshake. They shake normally then grab your thumb and shake and then shake again. Go with it. It is natural for them and might be considered offensive if you cut it short. I might add that Ebos in Nigeria and some of the other brethren do this same three fold handshake but they will at the end of it as your hands are separating snap your middle finger with theirs. This was a little shocking at first and I thought that the fellow who did it was just showing off. However, there were several who did it and I decided that this too is a natural thing. Go with it. I may not be dexterous enough to manage it myself.
Here at the end of the day, I have talked with Rosemary and Francis and, of course they are concerned about their financial situation. They were using this money which they considered dependable to provide a meeting house for the church in Jinja as well as renting meeting places in Tororo, Kampala, and Massesse where they meet. It is a worry.
I wish I could help more. I have learned through the years that I cannot solve everyone’s problems. Some things are in God’s hands. I can only tell you about it.
After the day’s roller coaster ride; after the stress and emotions of four weeks in Africa; after this final confrontation with poverty; frankly, I am left numb. How does God keep track of all of this? He says that not a sparrow will fall that he does not know it. There are many sparrows falling here. I want to retreat. I want to go to the safety and comfort of my home, but now I know. What are we to do? I will do again today what I did yesterday. I will teach men to long for the land where God will wipe away all tears; where there will be neither poverty, pain, crying, nor death; where the former things are passed away.
I long to see you. I think about all of you through the nights. I go through all your names and call your faces to my memory. I still keep track of events over there checking my watch for the time delay. I say to myself. They are taking the Lord ’s Supper now. They are having Bible Class now. Now, they are just waking up. We are ahead of events over there by 8 hours. Keith is moving his return flight to Friday so that he does not have to travel over Sunday. It cost him a modest amount. I tried to do the same to avoid an extra trip for Francis and to avoid a trip to Nairobi (Their airport is a tad disorganized-I am worried I will miss a connection). They wanted too much money for the change. Perhaps I will pay the ransom or they will reduce it. I long to see you
John

Wednesday February 4, 2009

2009-02-06T10:57:00.000-08:00

Well we are struggling but we are still learning more. Our classes went well and in their sermon preparations a few showed ability and others showed a sense of working together and for a first effort it was much better than my own first effort so many years ago. Keith has made his study through Acts almost through the second chapter. He prepared an excellent workbook for the class, but it is simply beyond the class. They will have to work on it later. The difficulty with English. The fact that they have no good light in the places they are staying so that they cannot study after dark and the complexity of the questions is beyond their ability. Keith had adapted. Keith usually teaches with a question and answer style. This works wonderfully in Nigeria where the audiences love to speak out answers. These people simply do not. It was not working. Keith gave up on the process and adapted to more a straight lecture. They are following and the feedback we are getting from the men is good.
We have learned more about the church at Tororo (note the correct spelling). Fredrick (Fred) Ofwono is preaching up there and Francis goes there about every 3rd or 4th week. This congregation numbers about 400. We were both astounded. From Keith’s last trip this group consisted of a handful of perhaps 20 meeting in a bad brush arbor on a farm. Fred was working in the north of Uganda at the time of that visit and returned shortly after. He says that the Christians are scattered throughout several villages around the city. There are Bible studies throughout the week in each village. Once a week they all come together in a service in the city. Most of them have to walk. If the Lord wills we will go there on Sunday and perhaps be able to tell you more. We do know that Rosemary and her former husband worked a bit in this area while they were still Pentecostals. Fred was with them at that time. His contacts have apparently been able to reach and influence many of these people.
We learned a little about the contribution at these churches. The contribution here at Jinja amounts to approximately 3 dollars in coins. The bulk of this money pays a round man to water and brush the floor of the meeting house as a prevention against biting insects that would otherwise afflict the church. The same round figures are true at Kampala. Many of the people simply have no cash. Their contribution is in produce, Yams, Casava, chickens, eggs, etc. I suspect that the money from these contributions is mingled by Francis. We will talk with him about this practice as well as making decisions for the churches rather than letting them become accustomed to making their own decisions. I believe these things need correction, but they seem small faults at this stage, that are easily corrected and even perhaps understandable given the situation.
One of our talking points with Francis and Rosemary is about transparency. Someone in this position, expecting support from the US must be absolutely obvious in making everything known to people so far away and in a different culture that can barely understand. If there is a fault that Francis has it is in this area. He needs to talk more about the work. He needs to explain what is happening. In large measure the two of these people have worked together getting this off the ground. I believe that Rosemary has good instincts. In fact she would be a wonderful (I can’t emphasize that enough) Bible class teacher in the states. I would love to listen to her. Her speech is very slow and soft and carefully chosen. Her words show an amazing wisdom and comprehension of situation. She also shows a very profound knowledge of a subjective role as a woman in her relationship with Francis and us. I am impressed and I am a hard man to impress. If you write on questions concerning the work it would be truly wise to copy the message to both of these individuals. Your conversation will probably be with Francis, but Rosemary is a profound adviser.
I misrepresented something in a previous blog. I said that we were providing one meal a day for these men. That was not true. I did not know it was not true, but I want to correct it now. Apparently our funds are providing three meals a day for about 13 men. They are given rice and tea for breakfast. I mentioned the corn mush and beans they have for lunch. They also are fed cow entrails (tripe) and greens (maybe spinach) for supper. Each of these meals costs about 1 dollar. I was still concerned about buying men to listen to me preach. Rosemary said that this was not the case. These men had wanted to come. She said that this was the time for sowing in Uganda and for these men to leave their gardens to come here for this was very serious business indeed. She is concerned that she may not have enough money to finish the two weeks. Transparency in how the funds we have provided will be a subject for calm discussion tomorrow.
I have been thinking considerably about the differences between the beginning of this work in Uganda and what little I know about the beginning of the work in Nigeria. In Nigeria there were American brethren on the ground constantly for several years to guide the Christians, teaching them how to organize the churches and advise them in their affairs. Many of those converted were well education. They spoke English well. Some were from a middle class background or quickly were enabled to grow into it.
Here in Uganda none of those things exist. There are no American brethren on the ground to give daily and weekly advice. The man and woman figuring so greatly in this work had about 6 months study with brethren in South Africa and has been turned loose on this nation to do his best with capable advice from his sister. Those being converted are from the very poor, not at all middle class and not likely to rise above their station in life. They do not really speak English, although a few can read it and barely understand. The only preachers who have ever been on this ground has been Keith Sharp and a brother from Holland. I have heard there may have been one other private individual. Everything else is happening by Email. The prospect for confusion between here and the US is obvious. The prospects for misunderstanding are paramount. More men need to come here. There will need to be a greater transparency on the part of those here which we are working on. There will need to be planning for where to stay, where to teach, provision of transportation and expenses for local brethren who help. It will need to be arranged. This country could very well take off with explosive growth, but there is little capable direction. I said about Nigeria that young men should carefully consider before going there. It is dangerous to be there. Their youth is at a disadvantage with experienced men on the ground there. Young men could come here. It would be a considerable help. Your knowledge compared to what is here would be almost encyclopedic. MORE MEN NEED TO COME HERE!
I am hoping to go to Massesse tomorrow with Francis and Rosemary. She showed me some pictures this morning. One was of a sister who lives there who was starving. Rosemary loaned her the equivalent of $10 to start a business. She bought fish; fried them; and sold them. The business has been very successful and she is able to support herself. I asked whether I could meet her this week. She has gone to the country to make charcoal. They hire men to cut hardwood and pile it and then set it afire. They cover the burning logs with dirt until the fire is virtually smothered. The end result is raw charcoal. We would refine it and form it into briquettes. For these people this serves as their primary means of cooking fires. I will try to take pictures so that I can tell the story better.
We are trying to rearrange our airline tickets for less burden on Francis in transporting us to Entebbe which may bring us home about a day earlier. I do not know whether we will be successful. We may end our classes and come home early if we run out of funds. We allotted a set amount between us which seemed adequate. Oftentimes, those on the ground here think that US money is a limitless resource and so do not budget wisely. That lesson has to be learned. I am sure that it will be. This is part of the transparency that we will be talking about.
Overall I am encouraged tonight. The classes are going a little better than we have anticipated. We have identified a few men who may be able to conduct services and make short talks. This is very needful. Most of the men we have been encouraged about so far have come from the area around Torroro. If that church is doing anything close to what we have been told they need the help and right now.
I get too attached to things. I “lost” my flashlight that a friend gave me years ago and which I have kept for years. It is helpful when one is stumbling around strange places to avoid tripping and falling headlong. I think I mistakenly left it in the bathroom having used the flashlight to find it in the dark. It was shiny and useful. I stewed and stewed searching my room like the woman looking for her lost coin. I get too attached to things. I feel like Jonah after the Lord rebuked him as he bemoaned that gourd vine that dried up. He was so resentful over a vine but oblivious to the life and death situation in the city before him.
Tomorrow is another day. It is also a day closer to being back with you
Love, John

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

2009-02-04T06:02:00.000-08:00

It was another good day here. They say that it is unusual that they have been having thunderstorms at this time of the year. It is usually hotter and dry. Francis does say that they are more concerned during these rainy periods about cholera. That has a tendency to get your attention. And make you careful about eating from public stalls.
I was very tired today and did not sleep well last night. I was up late writing the blog. The teaching at the classes lasted from about 10:30am till 4PM. Keith managed to get through the first chapter of Acts. I managed to get the men an outline on Hebrews 10. I am trying to get them to work up an outline on the parable of the Sower. This teaching is very hard. Less than half of these men speak English. The lessons are translated into Luo which is the overall language with Japadolo (Jap) being a specific dialect within this. A few of the men are functionally illiterate. Some have Bibles in Luo. Keith and I have decided that in any future classes, we must be firm and insist that we will only teach men who speak and read English. We will have to train them and depend on their being able to teach the others in their native languages. We are going to work with this situation as it is for it would hurt the feelings of the men currently involved. They do seem to be taking some satisfaction in being trained. They are not well educated and this will be difficult. We have identified one man who is already doing some preaching. We will see what becomes of the others.
We did find a local fast (relative) food joint that has a bible book store, an internet café, and a gift shop. It is run by Harding University. They apparently operate a school and who knows what else here. We saw more white people of the streets here than I have seen at any time in Africa. This is obviously a tourist spot for Europeans and others. The restaurant actually had a cheeseburger advertised. The cheese was questionable. The tomato ketchup may well be colored water, but it was the first beef (I assume it was beef) I have had since I have been in Africa. It was also my first meal in 24 hours.
We have discussed the organization of these three churches. It appears to Keith and myself that they need to be split so that Brother Francis can stop working himself to death trying to cover all of them. We suggested that he separate the church in Jinja and create two churches. One in Jinja that will meet here at Rosemary’s house. And another that will meet in Massesse. This is the slum that I have mentioned before. Perhaps one of these young men can start preaching there with occasional visits from Francis. We also suggested that the church in Kampala be split in two. One group of several men who live in the same are and a congregation that would meet at Francis house. This would relieve Francis of the burden of housing these two churches and transporting many of the members. It is possible, but will need implementation from these folks. They say that they have been considering the very thing.
Let me add a word about this large group of people from Massesse. Most of these people have AIDs. These are the poorest of the poor and the lowest of the low. They simply love Rosemary. She has worked among them for some time. She said she noticed that they had continual diseases that would not heal. She insisted that the women and as many of the men that would go be tested. They all, including the children have AIDs. In the pictures that you see of the Jinja church you should understand that most of these people have AIDs, including the children. They do not maintain hygiene. They share razor blades. They share bedding and there is probably no help for it. Keith says that the sight of where they live will break my heart. Rosemary says she thought about the wisdom of shaking hands with them, but decided that she could not hold her hands behind her back when they offered their hands. She says that Christ has forgiven us much greater sins than this and she could not forget them. They treat her with great respect. I mentioned that some of these people actually kneel when they greeted me. What can I say to this? Peter said “stand up I myself also am a man.” This is probably a major reason that these two cannot stretch their funds. They give large amounts away to help these people. She has been tested several times and is clear herself.
By the way Rosemary has assumed her maiden name. She is Rosemary Athieno.
Someone emailed me earlier and asked me about watches. The folks in Nigeria wear watches, but here in Uganda, African time is observed. This means that they work by the sun and where the shadow is. If the day is cloudy, telling the time is difficult. This is the reason that when they say we will have services at 10 or class at 9:30 that the whole process is very approximate. Experience says that this may be the time that everyone starts beginning to think about coming. They will actually arrive about an hour later and not precisely. As near I can tell this is epidemic in Uganda. It can be a tad frustrating. I am told that if they have a watch they probably can’t read it.
Daniel Abiru, Rosemary’s former husband has been especially diabolical in frustrating the efforts here. The last time Keith was here he drew away a group of young men promising them pay from a Wesleyan Methodist Group. This group accused Francis and Rosemary before the courts saying that they had entertained a stranger and were keeping secrets. They also accused them of not paying some of them for translating. One of the suspicious elements of the church was the fact that they did not have instruments of music. This made it seem that Francis and Rosemary were somehow plotting Revolution. They had to go before the magistrates with several of their members and plead their case. The courts had forbidden them to meet. They were successful in getting the ban lifted. By the way, Rosemary’s former husband has AIDs. He is currently writing preachers he knows in the US accusing them. I don’t think anyone is listening.
I was happy to be able to communicate the blog today. I hope we can be back on schedule. I need to study for class tomorrow.
I am still counting the days when I come Home. Gloria told me that Jonathan, my grandchild was dreaming about me. That hurt. I miss all of them
Love
John

Monday, February 2, 2009

2009-02-03T08:08:00.001-08:00

I have a story to tell about the two principals here. But first I will tell you about today.
We came at a very inconvenient time for Francis and Rosemary. Their process of arranging for their children’s expenses while trying to care for us is stressing them considerably. They have to buy all the things that their children need including uniforms. They have to arrange transport for the children. Because of their children’s ages they go to schools in vastly different locations. Then, children being children, and transportation being what it is they have to provide the things that their children lost or forgot at long distance. The frustration level is high.
Let me tell you about our classes today. We had about 17 men show up. Most of these are very new Christians, so just getting them around the Bible can be hard. Some of them show a light of intelligence in their eyes, but their education level is very low. I suspect that a couple of them are illiterate. Brother Sharp is teaching them in a review of the book of Acts. He produced a very nice workbook for them that he gave them. It is slow going as the entire proceeding has to be translated. This makes for slow teaching. One of the men in the class has already been teaching a bit at Terorro where we are going next Sunday. He has come down here for the classes with his son and is living here with us.
I decided after long study and scrapping much of what I had prepared to teach a class in Homiletics. (I don’t use that word) We had no chalk board so we went to town while the men were eating lunch and found a white board and some note pads and pencils. They had nothing to write with and many had not brought their Bibles. This work needs to broaden out and these are the men available. It is slow going. Most of them do not have enough training to know what an outline is, so we are working on it. I told them that I expected them to come out of the two weeks with at least two sermons and they were going to have to preach to me. It will be translated into English for me. Brother Francis Okech desperately needs help. He needs some starting preachers who can just cover for him. Perhaps some of the churches need to split since their members are coming from great distance. If they can meet in smaller groups closer to home there would be less transportation costs. Brother Okech could concentrate on teaching and some of these men could cover for the times when he cannot be there.
Let me tell you a bit about these men. I spoke with one of them and asked where he had stayed prior to the class. He said that he was sleeping in the place that the church meets. This means that he was sleeping on a dirt floor in a pole barn with no sides during what was an enormous rainstorm last night. One of the difficulties of having this class is feeding these men. Keith and I agreed to pay for feeding them. Rosemary has arranged to purchase food for their lunch each day for the equivalent of 1 dollar per man. The meal is maise meal (maybe that is corn bread, but I do not know how it is cooked), and beans. I was concerned before I came about this arrangement. I did not want to make it appear that I was paying men to listen to me preach the gospel. I do not believe that this simple 1 dollar per person meal meets that criteria, but is simply an act of charity.
Let me remind you about Francis Okech and Rosemary Abiru.
This work was begun about 4 years ago when Daniel Abiru was visiting in Florida. Brother Abiru was a Pentecostal and highly placed in the denomination. He chanced to visit a congregation in Florida and then various brethren there spent 3 or 4 months converting and teaching him. He came back to Uganda a Christian and taught his wife. He eventually taught His brother-in-law Francis Okech. The Abirus have 4 children. At that time they had another. Brother Abiru was backing his car and accidentally killed his youngest son. As best can be told he lost his faith and perhaps his mind. He left his wife and family and is currently in Kenya. His brother-in-law who had a good position with a national bank gave up his job. He went to South Africa for some 6 months and studied with various brethren there. He came back and is currently the only faithful preacher in this nation. He has four children. His wife died about 3 or so years ago in child birth. She gave birth to twins, but died, perhaps due to the poor health care in the country.
Rosemary Abiru works as hard as any Christian I know. She teaches on Thursdays each week in the toughest slum in this area. Many of the women at the Jinja church are from this slm. She spends much of the money she has helping these people to the detriment of her own family. There are many little children begging on the streets and she tries to make contact with their mothers through them.
Rosemary’s story needs to be told and I will tell it as best I can. She mentioned one sister in the slum. I met her on Sunday. Her brother has the pictures and I hope I can get them from him. This woman with her 8 children lived in what looked like a plywood backyard shed in America. It appeared to be about 6 feet by 10 feet. When it rained, The children were obliged to sleep standing because of the water on the dirt floor. Rosemary took all the money she had in her possession and built a better home for the family. It is just a pole barn with a tin roof and sided, but it is better than what they had. It is larger and it is dry. These stories can be repeated over and over. I will try to give you as many as I can get in detail. I will try to get her to tell me more of them and will try to go with her on Thursday. The government here was irritated with the Masai tribe which was migratory tending cattle. They forced them to settle, but gave them no training for how to live. Consequently, the women became prostitutes and the men are gamblers and thieves. The HIV rate among these women is skyrocketing and unbelievable. I have no doubt that many of the women in the congregation are infected. This is the slum. This is where Rosemary works.
Let’s talk about money. It is the hardest and most confusing situation about this work. Brother Okech, while he reports faithfully on his financial situation, does not tell the story of his work well or accurately describe the situation. Some in America who support him wonder what is happening. Here is the story. These two live in separate homes in separate cities. Rosemary’s Home is rented and is an old government house which has been purchased by a government employee who lives and has another home in Entebbe. It looks like a great house and probably was at one time. Rosemary maintains the lawn and grounds immaculately. However once you step inside you will be aware that though the house is large and spacious and an American might do great things with it, Rosemary’s life is Spartan. The kitchen cabinets are 40 years old and there is little food in them. There is no stove or cooking instrument in the house at this time. Rosemary cooks over an open fire in the yard. While she cares for the hosue and keeps it immaculate and clean there is really nothing new in it. It is a shell that they live in. There are servants’ quarters in back of the house and there are those who live there. They tend the grounds and though I have not inquired, I suspect that this is an act of charity on her part allowing them to live there.
Rosemary’s only income is from Francis. He has agreed that he will split his income evenly with her. I believe that his is a kindness to his sister who is alone and without support. It is a kindness to a sister who helps him enormously in his work and as an advisor. Rosemary has good sense and they seem to work well together. The amount of money that they each live on is $900 per month.
Yes, I know if you have received his financial report that figure does not jibe with the report. I did not understand this either till I got here. Francis receives according to his last report somewhere near $40,000 per year. This is a very large sum in Africa. Yet, here is what he does with it. He is himself paying the rent on all three meeting places in this country. He rents the property in Jinja and meets the church’s expenses. Remember this group of 100 is incredibly poor. He pays the rent on the meeting area in Kampala and provides for its expenses. He has recently rented a meeting place in Teroro which I have not as yet seen. He also is generous to a fault in acts of charity to his brethren and his sister. He is supporting two households with a total of 8 children and two homes and driving at least 120 miles on each Sunday and often more. It looks like a big figure, but I do not know of any preaching brother overseas who is bearing this sort of burden. I plead with you to see that his situation may be unique.
I am not sure that he has always used good judgment in the arrangements concerning these churches and his personal life, but then I am not on the spot. I am not completely alone in this country without peer or advisor or comforter. He and they need help on many levels.
The simple fact is that alone and without any real help he has created one congregation with 100 attending. He has created another congregation with 50 attending and a third with a small number I do not know as yet. Who can default this effort. Should he have done more? Should he have made better arrangement? Perhaps, but you were not there helping. Should he have spent money more wisely? Is that not true of all of us. His automobile has no shocks and is the main transportation for at least the Jinja church and his entire extended family. I do not believe we should fault him. I need to figure out some sensible suggestions for how to help him.
Your support and encouragement of these two Christians is needed and welcome. They have done this alone, without a great entourage of support. They do not know how to paint a pretty picture for Americans so that they will understand this entirely different culture. There are few brethren who come here to report and tell the story and understand the situation. They are sometimes confused to distraction and occasionally penniless. Rosemary came to me in the darkness tonight crying. I had given her money to exchange into shillings for me which was my contribution to our support while here. Half of it I wanted to hold and the other was given to her care. She said that her children needed it desperately for school. She had dipped into this money having nowhere else to turn. I will not starve. I had brought more than I should need. I had planned to leave any excess with her/them. She needed it early. I suspect that these emergencies arise often. Should she manage her money better? Should she give less to the poor? Those things are really easy to say from America. They are harder to say here.
This household is hungry. We have noticed that any food that we purchase and leave in the refrigerator will disappear. We had some juices and cokes and cookies for emergency rations. These are all gone. The refrigerator is empty. We asked that they buy a case of bottled water tonight so we could keep water. We were running out at several times during the day yesterday. I had one meal yesterday at a restaurant. I brought a portion home and showed it to Rosemary late tonight. A fire was started in the backyard and this small portion of food was warmed and eaten. I came to Africa with much more body fat than Keith. He needs to eat more regularly or he is troubled. We will need to walk out for breakfast this morning. I think he kept a few biscuits (cookies) in his room which may suffice. Yesterday I found him some bananas in a cupboard. I suspect that they are gone by today. I don’t know where the food goes. It could be the children (they are gone to school now); it could be the servants or it could be some of those who are staying who knows where for the classes. It does not matter. I think they are hungry, who can begrudge them? Food was plentiful in Nigeria, but new to me and with the heat and stress I was not hungry. This is a different situation. There is little or no food in the home.
We have pled with Rosemary and Francis to finish whatever arrangements that they need to make for their children today and to ignore caring for us. We have also apologized for coming at this time. I told Francis that he will have to learn to say “no” I can’t do that. We should have at least postponed these classes for Monday and Tuesday so they could take care of these necessities. They are concerned as well as we that if we do not proceed with today’s classes that the young men will grow discouraged and begin to scatter. By tomorrow, I trust that they will have settled their children and the stress for them will have eased somewhat.
Keith and I are talking about some things that we think they need. We have talked with them about the need to be realistic about their support situation tonight. Brother Okech was concerned that he was informed that he would be losing some support from one congregation. We talked with them about the economic problems in America and that many congregations will be losing contribution and may have to cut back. We have talked to them about the dangers of constantly making emergency appeals to Americans for money. It does not go down well and one is occasionally reminded about the boy who cried “wolf.” We have told them that they simply must tell the story of what is happening here better. If Americans knew what they were doing and doing alone, I am confident that they would be moved to both prayer and more practical help. I do not believe that either one of them wants to appear to boast and considers such reports in this vein. We encouraged them to realize that by not keeping Americans who can only understand this from a distance in the dark about what is happening and then sending emergency appeals for help they were confusing people and that this would eventually be a discouragement to those who support them. I don’t think Francis was happy for some of this conversation was critical. It took a lot of talk, but I think we made some headway.
These are good people. They are being pulled from pillar to post trying to do an impossible job. They are doing it alone without any shoulder to cry on. They are stressed to the absolute limit for funds. I can assure you that these people are far removed from luxuriating your funds on themselves.
I will say more later, but it is late tonight. I need to close. I am hoping that I can get this backlog out tomorrow. My wife said people were complaining that I had not added to the blog. Here we face again the internet challenge. Francis has already had his email broken into by a scammer from an internet café that requested funds in his name. This was embarrassing to him. It also shut down his email for 2 weeks without his knowing. He was confused and others thought he was ignoring their messages. There may be a way tomorrow. Telephone calls from here to the US are strangely inexpensive on their cell phones, but I think that is relative as well. They purchase recharge cards here too, but they do not buy in large amounts so most of our conversation are not leisurely and relaxed. We have asked them to buy in larger quantities of time for us, but we will see what happens. Also our phone disappears to Kampala each evening with Francis as he leaves to care for his two young twins, Benjamin and Mary.
There is no hot water in this house. This makes for cold baths. This was tolerable in Nigeria. Most of their water is heated in large tanks raised above their homes, so that the water temperature is about 60 or 65. They pump water up into the tank at various times. The raised plastic tanks give them pressure water on demand without the need to turn on a pump. We have them in the US too. It is just that the city pays for them and they hold 10,000 gallons and they are not in everyone’s backyard. Here at Rosemary’s there is no visible tank. It may be somewhere in the attic of the house, but the result is that the water temperature is about 55 which is ground temperature. The weather here has been cool so that this combined with the water temperature makes for an uncomfortable shower. There is no way to heat water in this household without asking them to start a fire. That would take an hour and a half. Consequently, we are doing what my mother used to call a “bird bath.” Someone in my family also referred to it as a “three point landing.” It serves the purpose, but it is not very satisfying and it is still cold. This too shall pass. It is not intolerable, just another of those acts of discipline necessary for working here. After all, that is what everyone else in the house is doing. It is just not what we are accustomed to. Let me assure you that hot water on demand is a great luxury. I have not appreciated it enough.
It was good to hear my wife fuss at me again about sending this blog, I am looking forward to the day when she can do it in person. Strangely, there is something comforting about an old married couple going through that lifetime’s ritual of fussing at one another. I miss you all.
John

Saturday and Sunday, January 31 and February 1, 2009

2009-02-03T08:07:00.001-08:00

This was hard. We arose at 5 AM having been awakened at 4:30 AM by the guys in white robes. They made two or three parades through the neighborhoods with drums, and cymbals shouting something that sounded like the end is near. As we left the apartment I stepped over the sleeping form of one of the watchmen for the compound lying on a rug on the pavement inside the compound, Brother Ebong said that it was cooler there, though he had a cot inside the building. The other watchman, who was a Muslem, was concentrating on his morning prayers. I didn’t mention the Muslim call to prayer on the loudspeaker about 4:45AM. Outside the apartment complex some women had been walking up and down the street shouting that judgment was coming. She was not one of the white robed guys who were marching to their temple/church, apparently this was just her private mission to warn the folk on the street. What a morning.
Everyone else went to the airport early because of the cleaning day. Long lines; and Airlines who opened an hour and half late seemed to be the order of the day. We flew to Nairobi, and then another flight to Entebbe, Uganda. We arrived about Midnight. We were both very thirsty having not had enough liquid to drink. Finally clearing customs and locating our luggage we were very happy to see the face of Francis Okech and Rosemary Abiru waiting at the airport. Our flights had been changed and we had to depend on email to notify them that we were coming. We had not known whether Francis had seen the email.
We drove for about 3 hours from Entebbe, Uganda, through Kampala to Jinja, Uganda. Keith kept pointing out sites on the way. It was dark. I was in the back seat. I couldn’t see anything. I am confident they were glorious sites. Rosemary and Francis are brother and sister. We were both very tired and grew weary on the trip. Rosemary and Francis spoke in their native language. I think she was criticizing his driving, but that may have been a transfer from most of the women who have ever ridden with me.
We arrived at three AM We bought some bottles of water on the way for our thirst and bought some time for Francis phone so we could call home and let our families know we were safe. I was tired and collapsed.
On Sunday we worshipped with the congregation here in Jinja. They meet in an open pole barn they have rented. It is directly on the shore of Lake Victoria. Francis must have arisen early. He picked up most of the people. They are widely scattered here. Many are on the other side of the lake from Jinja. Their normal starting time is 10AM. We were two hours late. (Keith was fit to be tied, but suffering in silence.) They insisted that we eat breakfast before going. When we arrived there were about 100 there. They had been waiting for 2 hours. The group was mostly women and children. I assume there were about 10 to 15 men among them. Rosemary works primarily with the poor women of the city. I will tell you more about that later. Keith spoke. It was hard because there were two translators. There are two principal languages spoken in Uganda other than English. One of those languages is from the southeast Uganda, Jap or Japalog and the other from the south Central, Luganda. One translator Is hard to work with. Two takes some work. Some of the children grew hungry and I saw Rosemary hand some money to someone to go buy some food for them. The children sat on reed mats that were placed on the dirt floor. Others sat on plank benches.
We were able to worship. They had some Communion cups which were served on plates. The people were not dressed in nearly as ornate a fashion as Nigeria. I suspect there is considerable poverty among this group. Francis must have been tired and rattled, he forgot to take collection. It was good to be with them. Some of the women actually kneel when they shake your hand.
The climate here is very pleasant. Of course we are on the Equator but the altitude is higher than Nigeria and the air is cool. I suspect that the high temperatures are in the 80s This is a different situation completely than Nigeria. The communities that I have seen are orderly and clean. The streets are safe without the dangers of attack and robbery that are very real in Nigeria. There are few motorbikes here with a higher percentage of bicycles. This too may be a reflection of greater poverty. The country is beautiful with forest preserves and Lake Victoria. It has mountainous terrain and large sugar and tea plantations.
This country is fighting on their northeast border inside the neighboring country of Congo. That is far from here and other than seeing it reported on TV has little effect. We are living across the street from a large hospital, but I would not go there unless unconscious. The property looks terrible and I am told that medical care here is terrible. Uganda has one of, if not the highest rates of HIV in the world. They are apparently fighting it from the number of assistance sites and advertising. They apparently also have a problem with incestuous relationships. This is the first place I have seen signs talking about putting a stop to cross generational sexual relations.
We went to a supermarket (a convenience store in the US) and bought some biscuits (cookies with high fiber). Keith and I ate a few of these and some grape drink. This was lunch. We traveled again to Kampala for an afternoon service with the church there. This is a 2 hour trip. We went to Francis’ house to pick up his children and to see his home. It is a nice home. I will have pictures. Keith was much impressed. He had stayed here with Francis two years ago. Francis has an indoor toilet now and he especially wanted Keith to see it. Keith was justifiably impressed with the improvement. I would have been impressed too.
The church here was to meet at 4PM. We arrived at 6PM. I don’t know whether this is going to be a pattern or not, but the brethren had been patiently waiting for two hours. This group meets in a gravel parking lot behind a hotel in Kampala. The hotel provides chairs and umbrellas for shade. There were about 30 there. This was almost entirely men. I believe that there may have been two women present.
The women had all taken their children to school. I will now try to explain something that I little understand. If there is a public school system here it does not seem to be functional or favored. Most of these people pay for a private education. The choice is a daily transport to school and daily provision of food or a boarding school. The vast majority of the country who can afford this at all seems to send their children of age. (perhaps 3rd or 4th grade) to a private boarding school. In the US this is only something for the wealthy and is considered somehow a negligence on the part of wealthy parents. That is not so here. I am informed that it is cheaper to send children to a boarding school. Meals are provided and there is no transportation required. The boarding schools are better. Both Francis and Rosemary send their children to private boarding schools. When I learned about this in the US I was concerned since this seems to be an extravagance. This is not so here. Here it is ordinary and less expensive than other options. Both Francis and Rosemary are single parents. Rosemary has no means of transportation and Francis is seldom at home. His children would be neglected.
I told that long story to say that yesterday was the day that parents were taking their children, with luggage and mats for sleeping, to boarding school. This accounted for several things. One was the enormous traffics jams in Kampala as everyone was on the road headed to school. Another factor was the absence of women at the services of the church in Kampala. The wives were all transporting their children while the husbands were there working and ready to work the next day. A large number of men came as a group in a rented vehicle (saving cost) from another section of the city. Francis said they will probably form another congregation in that portion of the city. Kampala is a little over a million people and appears clean and orderly. The city appears much more friendly to western eyes that Lagos or Ibadan. Jinja is a tourist destination and most westerners would be very comfortable here.
I do not have funds as yet as there has not been an opportunity to convert money. The money here is the shilling. The exchange rate is something about 1900 shillings to the dollar.
We drove another two hours in the dark back home. We stopped and ate at a large hotel that had a buffet. Rosemary said that this was the first she had really eaten for three days. Most of the food was African based. They had a good soup. Chicken, rice (notice a theme) and some beans. I never saw beans in Nigeria. I don’t really know why. The beans were differently spiced than I was accustomed to, but a change of diet was welcome. It was good to watch Francis and Rosemary eat. The meals for the four of us was about 35 dollars. We arrived home in Jinja about 10 PM. Francis said that he was going back to Kampala to be with his children. I hated for him to have to make this late drive. He has hurt his back and was wincing all day. I understood that he needed to be with his children.
It is now Monday morning. There is no hot water in the house. Cold baths leave a bit to be desired. There is no stove in the house. Rosemary has been cooking on wood and charcoal fires in the yard. I will tell you more about the housing situation later today. There was no drinking water as we awoke this morning. While we were gone the children ate everything we bought yesterday: Juices, Cokes, Biscuits and water. It is hard to begrudge them. There is little else in the house. Keith is concerned for his breakfast saying that he is dizzy without food. I came better supplied with body fat then him. We will try to remedy all this before the end of the day. I am little concerned.
Our classes are to start at 11AM. Considering the status of our starts yesterday I am not confident. Keith conjectures that is may be the African way from depending on the sun to tell time for so many years. He also opines that their lack of promptness is one of the things that contributes to their poverty. I am glad that they eventually get there. There is more to tell. I will have to find a computer café some time to send this. Perhaps I can do it tomorrow. As I write this I had thought that Rosemary had walked to town to shop for Keith and myself, but one of the children has just told me that they need school supplies. It must have been my ego that put myself first. There is more to tell and I will be better able to tell it tomorrow when I know more.
I am happy that it is February. That is the month when I am to return home to you
John

Friday, January 30, 2009

2009-02-03T08:05:00.000-08:00

Now that was a class. Keith and I both spoke for a total of four hours at the Victoria Street Church in Lagos today. There were about 60 people there. There were 12 preacher from as far away as Ibadan (about 60 miles) two institutional brethren were there which is what made it interesting. One of them was the area paymaster for World Bible School which is the chief American institution handing out money here. This means that he makes about $1000.00. The next step down makes about $100 and the final step of support for preachers is about $50,00 All these preachers need to get their money from this paymaster which makes him something of the area bishop.
Keith reminded that the American head of this organization had approached David Kerume in Benin about the organizations desire to start a college there. He added that he wanted Kerume to be the head of it. Kerume said that this sounded good. The institutional head then said that they would like to use the church’s building in Benin for the college. Kerume then asked where was his Bible Authority for that. The reply was, “We do not need to worry about that.”
These brethren are fighting hard against institutionalism which is quickly turning the church here into just another denomination. There are good brethren. They could use support in this fight on a number of levels. They can convert the lost just fine and there are good men here to fight this fight. Encouragement would be a good thing. I hope to put some of their articles into Faith and Facts soon. They think well and they are fighting a fight that most Americans have forgotten. More on that when I can, I need to hurry this report a bit tonight.
There were endless attempts by these brethren to make the messengers who carried the churches money for the contribution to Judea into some sort of institution. That did not work. A messenger is still a messenger. One even argued that the universal church is made up of various churches. He cited Revelation 1: 11 as proof. & churches are still 7 churches. I cited 1 Corinthians 12 and the fact that both the universal church and the local church are composed of individual Christians as members. It was a good and pointed discussion and the brethren seemed much encouraged and seemed to feel that we had done good. One brother even pointed out that they were being urged to appoint an elder over all the churches of Lagos and to activate church Zones throughout the city combining several area churches into an organization. I pointed out that this would not be tolerated in America and that these American institutional brethren were suggesting things here that would not be tolerated in the US. The result was that their digression from the Bible was proceeding even faster than that in the US. Another brother suggested that there was nothing wrong with World Bible School in Africa since none of the churches here contributed to it. Their preachers merely receive funds from the institution. I poin ted out that this is tantamount to arguing that robbing banks in te US is fine as long as the money is distributed to Nigerian preachers. It seems that the key is giving out money to Nigerian preachers. Keith mentioned Robin Hood’s philosophy applied to the church.
Strangely the city has been cloudy most days we have been here. I suspect that it is a combination of several things. One is pollution (smog, another is natural cloudiness and the third is something called locally the “harmmaton”. This latter is a wind from the Sahara 1000 miles to the north that carries dust to this area. I am told that some days it is almost here and hard to see.
Our flights to Uganda have been confused and altered so that we are leaving very early tomorrow morning. (6:00 AM) Our flight out is not till 11 AM but there is a local problem. Every other Saturday is a “cleaning day” all over the city. Residents clean their homes and the streets in front of their homes and put trash out on the street which is picked up by city trucks. In order to accomplish this, everyone has to be off the streets from 7am to 10am. Otherwise the trucks could not move throughout the city. This means that Brother Ebong must get us to the airport before 7 AM and return home after 10AM. In some ways this change is better because it makes our worship in Kampala on the Lord’s Day easier. We are currently trying to reach brother Francis Okech who is out local contact in Uganda to let him know about the change in itinerary. I am sure that this will be accomplished.
I need to close this message. Keith has been worried because he has received word of some burst pipes at his apartment in upstate New York. His wife is trapped by the weather in New York City visiting her daughter. He talked with his wife this evening and was easier in mind about the situation so that he feels confident that he can remain the entire time in Uganda.
This all is bringing me within about 2 weeks of returning home. If the Lord wills, we will make this trip and all the others to get us back home. All the Nigerians wished us “traveling mercies,” which I find a lovely expression. I need to reflect more, but it is time to get this out and get ready for this new phase of our trip
John

Notes from Uganda

2009-02-02T10:51:00.000-08:00

Dear Brethren,
John flew into Entebbe airport early Sunday morning. John and Keith Sharp arrived in Kampala about 2:00 A.M.Sunday morning. They traveled to Jinja in those early morning hours. It was approximately a two hour drive from Kampala. John says the roads are in better condition and safer than in Nigeria.
Brother Okech lives in Kampala. He accompanied John and Keith to Jinja from Kampala. He preaches in Jinja on each Lord’s Day and then travels to Kampala for preaching in the afternoon. Brother Okech is the only one with a vehicle and needs to go home nightly to see to his family.
They all made that trip yesterday preaching in two locations.
They were very tired after their flight and a very busy Lord’s Day.
John says that communication via e-mail and phone will be limited. He will try to update the blog when he is able.
The class today had 19. The classes and preaching are being translated into two languages. The people understand some English but translation is necessary for the most part.
The plan is to visit Tororo at some point as well. Plans are being made for the remainder of the studies.
The area is less humid and very pretty. The city is cleaner than those cities he ventured to in Nigeria.
He asked about everyone here and is happy that all is well.
John says to tell everyone hello and he sends his love.
John/Gloria

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

2009-01-28T12:04:00.000-08:00

Another day of odd events here. We brought the teaching home in our morning class. One brother angrily accused Keith Sharp and Brother Ebong of causing confusion over these religious issues here. This irritated brother Ebong. I mentioned Elijah and Ahab and the incident when Ahab asked Elijah if he was the one who was troubling Israel. I asked whether Elijah was the problem or Ahab. He declined.
We spoke about the pattern for the church support of preachers. I mentioned that the Bible pattern was for the congregation to send funds directly to the preacher. I then asked where there was any authority for an intermediate organization between the church and the preacher. This same quarrelsome brother suggested that Matthew 28: 18-20 was his passage. “Go ye into all the world.” I wrote that in my blank box and suggested and made two observations. One I suggested that any use of a passage that proves too much proves nothing. I said that the fact that he was receiving money from various sources that were paying him to preach did not make the organizations scripturally correct. I pointed out that the church in the US had divided in the Nineteenth century over the Missionary Society which is still in existence. Could he receive funds from this group in the Christian church and it be correct. I then suggested that several denominational churches were sending funds to Africa. Could he receive funds from them and be justified because of his passage. I then summarized by saying that in fact that his passage was not justifying any pattern in the New Testament merely saying that we should go.
For my second point I mentioned that his passage really discussed no pattern, which is what I suspected he believed in the first place: that there was no pattern. I pointed out that I had found and revealed a pattern for this aspect of funding evangelism. The money went direct from the church to the preacher without an intermediate organization. Where was his pattern?
Amazing to me after much discussion, he admitted that we were correct. Brother Ebong spoke about the history of the World Bible School in Africa and the basis of their support in the US. This is the principal organization causing difficulty here. He was shocked to hear these things. He said he was convinced. Brother Ebong has his contact information and we hope that good will come.
One lady asked that now knowing these things what were they to do. I told her that it was sad but that Africa had been infected with a disease and that I could not make it disappear nor could she. I encouraged her to teach. I encouraged her to make sure that the congregation she worshipped with was scripturally correct. I then told her that sadly there would be a great change and that in 10 or 20 years she would not recognize many of the churches in Nigeria. They would change so drastically away from the simple churches doing what the New Testament taught them that she remembered. There would be only a few left, but that history showed that they with zeal and desire could re-grow, but the disease would sadly have changed many churches and separated many brethren. I could not stop it. I could merely warn about it. It is a sadness, but that is all she could do too. I then reminded them how the apostles felt to whom it was revealed that “after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock” John said “even now are there many antichrists.” Imagine the terror of seeing much of what they worked for perverted and destroyed. It has happened over and over.
I have felt that the brethren in this place had a certain edge that I did not detect elsewhere. I cannot put it into words well, but there was a particular abrasiveness on the part of some. I do not know whether there is some undercurrent among the brethren that is none of my business or whether this is part of their culture. It was not pronounced or insufferable it just seemed that it was there. I was also a little concerned over what appeared to be disrespect to brother David Kerume, the preacher at the church here and a gentleman of some 72 years. I may have mistaken my reading of this as strangers will often misunderstand. I hope it was not so.
There were about 50 present at this evening’s class wherein we summarized. The singing was wonderful and I was very emotional. This signaled the end of most of my work in Nigeria. The contrast of the squalor of the places and the beauty of the singing is almost always too much for me.
Benin City strangely has better power than any other place of I found. This does not mean perfect power, but their power lasts in various spurts about half a day rather than not at all or for an hour a day. There is no explanation that the citizens know for this.
We forewent dinner this evening. We are a little short of funds for this leg of the trip. It seems that some of our portion of funds were necessary to print a book for Keith Sharp and we have not be able to contact him to restore these funds, but we are well and this will soon be corrected, I am sure.
We had hoped that Keith and brother Ayundare would be joining us tonight so that we could get an early start for Lagos tomorrow, but they have been held up in Warri. They say they will be here by 8 tomorrow morning and that we can leave by 9. It is only 150 miles, but it the by all admissions the worst road in Nigeria. Also here in Benin especially, there have been bandits. I think that the government has suppressed them somewhat. They have the habit of studding a plank with nails and throwing this down in front of your car. You then do defensive driving or stop and pay ransom. Brother Ebong would like to get this trip over with so we are hoping that they get here soon. We also have a class to teach in Lagos tomorrow night. Then we have four classes in Lagos on Friday. In addition we have to repack for the trip to Uganda. Kenya Airlines has different luggage restrictions than other airlines. It seems a bit too busy, but this is what we came for.
I am concerned about Uganda. The teaching topics and teaching climate will be completely different there. I do not have any idea of the language or the level of the students. I am very much in the dark about what is expected. I will do my best.
Each step brings me closer home.
Love,
John

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

2009-01-27T12:49:00.000-08:00

Brother David Kerume, who is the regular preacher at Sapele Road. This type of pulpit is popular in Nigeria. Every church I have been with other than the two in Calabar has had one of these.

This is the Sapele Road church building, in Benin City.

I hardly know what to say about this day. It has been very confusing. We had our morning session. I have found that Nigerians announce a time of starting but apparently that is just the time to start thinking about leaving home. We are supposed to start at 9 each morning. In fact we start about 10 because that is the time that they begin getting there. We are supposed to stop at 12. However today we went till 1:30. We had about 30 for the morning. This afternoon we had about 35 people. We were supposed to start at 4. We actually started about 4:30. We were supposed to stop at 5. We actually stopped about 6:30. These folks love to ask questions.
The confusing part has been about the mix of people in attendance. We were trying to talk to preachers and leaders of the churches throughout the city. There has been very little attendance from other churches. There was apparently some confusion about when we were going to start although for weeks, I have been told the same things. Some of the local churches were notified by letter, but I do not know if they all were notified. As I have mentioned in previous notes, Nigerian churches love to read endless announcements and will read virtually any announcement that is sent to them, so it is important to make sure that they receive a formal letter. Others have suggested that Brother Ebong’s name has preceded him and that many of the preachers in the area are afraid of him and his influence against institutionalism. For whatever reason, and there is no real reason I have to know. Our attendance is down and this has irritated brother Ebong. Those attending are less astute in Bible things than in our previous classes or at least they seem to be. I think that this is because they are not generally preachers, but largely members of this congregation.
As a result of these last facts speaking in American English is even harder for them to pick up. This morning they were going to translate my classes in Pidgin English. This would not work. I can construct sermons and preach special sermons when I have notice that there will be need for translation, but these classes are much more detailed and translation would have hopelessly slowed them down. I spoke to Brother Ebong that translation of this class would just not work. I offered to let him proceed alone, but we finally decided to speak very slooowwwllllyyy. This was better than translation and they finally began to adjust.
We laid groundwork this morning and finally this afternoon began to speak on autonomy. It seemed to go well. We had previously had comments about how the churches would need to make adjustments to teach the gospel in this new century. I assume that the speaker was leading up to justifying various institutional schemes There was not much of that topic in the questions today though. One brother asked whether as a business man he could not hire someone else to do his evangelism for him since he was very busy. He seemed very disappointed when I answered “no.” I said that he could hire someone to be baptized for him; someone to take the supper for him; someone to sing for him. Since he apparently felt that those things were out of the question, I suggested that he would have to do his own teaching. I then went on to say that some felt that the preacher was hired to do their preaching for them. I mentioned that each man would have to teach his family, his co-workers, and his neighbors. This was part of our obligation to Christ. The preacher was hired to increase the church’s efforts in teaching, not to do something in place of us.
They also argued again for about an hour about whether widows can remarry non-Christians and whether anyone can marry a non-Christian. This went pretty close to the point of nullity.
My conclusion is that it appears that division of the churches in this area over institutionalism may either be taking place or have already taken place. There seems to be considerable undercurrent of ill ease, but I am not in a position to understand it. Perhaps, it is in fact none of my business. I wish we could have broken out of this congregation. Brother Ebong is busily conceiving plans for how to do that in the future. Meanwhile, we will have to deal with the situation.
I hope to include some pictures of the congregation here at Sapelle Road and its preacher David Kerume. This day was the mildest I have experienced here in Nigeria. I do not know the temperatures, but they were milder and the humidity was down. This was a comfort. I have not really had any contacts with any brethren here. Two sisters have been very attentive. They have just finished giving us fruit, including fresh pineapple. I intend to enjoy that. Brother Ebong says that they have been very helpful in years past as well.
Perhaps there will be people from the other churches tomorrow. We intend to hit the heart of these things carefully tomorrow. It would be nice to find some influence scattering throughout the area.
I get little news from the US. Most of the news here is European news and what little European CNN cares to tell about what is happening in the US. Keith and Sunday Ayundare are due to join us tomorrow night on their return from working at Warrie. Brother Ayundare will then continue to his home in Abadan and the three of us, now including Keith will travel back to Lagos on Thursday. They have arranged some brief classes in Lagos on Friday, but I know few of the details about this.
I wish I had more to report but frankly there has been very little interaction with the church members outside our classes other than that which I have mentioned. Most of these things contrive to make me miss home more.
Love, John

Monday, January 26, 2009

2009-01-26T11:45:00.000-08:00

This was one of 24 police roadblocks we encountered in this 6 hour trip.

I remembered one incident from yesterday that I wanted to relate. In their question and answer session for their Bible Class at Uyo Town Church one sister hotly protested about the issue of modesty saying that the Bible said that gray hair was supposed to be an honor for older men and she wanted to know why so many of her Christian brothers were dying their hair to cover this up. There was a pause, while everyone digested this.
The initial response was that perhaps they considered themselves prematurely gray and not deserving as yet of the respect that age would bring to a deserving older man. I personally thought that this was pretty quick thinking. Other men stepped in lambasting anyone who would not accept the honor of gray hair. Grecian Formula will have to find other sales fields than these brethren.
They also argued a bit or at least I have heard quite a bit of preaching about the wearing of the head covering. I was a little surprised. These people have a very strong tradition of wearing a head covering and I have not seen a single woman without such. But apparently there is some pressure coming from somewhere on this subject that makes brethren speak concerning the need to continue the tradition.
We had a relatively uneventful trip from Uyo to Benin City. We are staying in a hotel here as apparently Brother David Kerume is unable to care for us. He is the preacher here and has been such since 1967. The brethren are building a new building on the same site as the old. Brother Ebong says that it is a major improvement in their situation. They have been on this project for 6 years. Brother Ebong was quite impressed. They have plans to build quarters for the preacher on the second floor of the building. Brother Kerume says that he was trained by Paul Earnhart and that the congregation in Zion, Illinois, has supported him all that time. He was a polite gentleman is and a reasonably famous man as a gospel preacher here holding good influence in this area.
I have not been able to see much of the city but what I have seen shows a less cleanly city than the last two that we have been in. The city seems older and is in fact one of the older cities here dating back to the Kingdom of Benin. The people generally have adopted a western dress style in far greater measure than the other cities I have been in. This is not an improvement in terms of modesty and decorum, though the Christians are certainly such.
Our passage through Onitsha that was so stressful last time went better, but brother Ebong says that this side of the road is better. In fact I watched the traffic over there and it looked just as miserable as I remembered. Brother Ebong was remembering two such crossings in the area when gunfights broke out between robbers working the stalled cars. Easy Prey. He remember dodging bullets and gunning the car to get free. A really fun place. Today it was uneventful. We encountered 24 police roadblocks in this 6 hour trip. I have a picture that I took surreptitiously since Brother Ebong did not want to irritate them.
I spoke at their evening service which was at four o’clock this afternoon. This city as well as Uyo and perhaps other cities have banned motorbikes from the streets after 8PM. Apparently, some of the riders have a tendency to theft in the dark. They also have a bad habit of kidnapping riders and taking them to empty places and robbing them or worse. Consequently, there is not much transport after 8 and the brethren who ride these bikes need to get home before the deadline.
They started 30 minutes late and told me that I had to finish by five. I thought it was a good lesson. However in their question and answer session which went on for an hour, there were grumbles and various complaints. One brother said that I was hard to understand and they wanted a translator. These folk speak yet another language called Edo. I was a little hurt, but he did little more than echo the feeling that I had that I could barely understand a word he was saying and I think he was speaking English. I will try to talk SLOOOOOWWWWEEERRR.
Two brethren got in a tremendous argument about whether God listens to a sinner’s prayer. This went on for some time with bitter tones and loud voice and interruptions. Apparently at least one and perhaps both of these men are famous for this behavior. I felt that they were disrespectful to one another and brother Kerume. Brother Ebong knows them and their proclivities and says he will deal with it tomorrow. It should be interesting.
There is not much else happening. Brother Ebong is out right now trying to locate a recharge card for his phone. This is an every other day thing. Fortunately half of the people here are in a cottage industry selling the things.
All is well, hopefully we can do well tomorrow. However, if the force of argument tonight was a foretaste, this could be interesting and a new difficulty.
I just saw an email about bad weather at home. I knew this would come, but it is just as frustrating that I have left my family to deal with this without my help. I wish it could be some other way. I am thinking with you.
Love
John

church at Uyo Town - Sunday, January 25, 2009

2009-01-25T13:14:00.000-08:00

Here is the church in Uyo Town, where we were this morning. There were over 800 in attendance.

Sunday, January 25, 2009

2009-01-25T13:11:00.000-08:00

Here I am with Manny Ebong with the gifts presented to us on Friday (scroll down and read the blog from Friday, January 23)

This city of Uyo is pleasant and consists of about 1 million persons. The climate is better than Calabar. The community’s appearance is not quite as good but still pleasant and showing signs of an attempt to improve.
I spoke this morning at the Uyo Town Church where brother Ebong’s father preached. He started the church and many others. Brother Ebong showed me where his funeral was held. He said that there were 37,000 people who attended the funeral. I believe it.
The service this morning was jam packed with the room that you see and two covered alley essentially outside the building where the children were and latecomers had to sit. There were over 800 present. The seats had back on them but they were plain planks about 10” to 12” wide. The service lasted 3 and ½ hours. Of that time there were 2 hours devoted to teaching preaching and worship. The other hour and one half was announcements. They actually have something like a scoreboard in the back that gives a 10 minute warning telling you to summarize and then when time is up it says stop. I do not know what they do if you ignore the stop. You have 30 minutes for the sermon. There is no time limit on announcements. It was pleasant.
We had a brief lull and then went out into the country for a service with the last congregation that brother Ebong’s father planted. This congregation was Nkara Obio. This was about 40 people in a small town. I spoke briefly and left time for Brother Ebong since I thought they really wanted to hear him anyway. The local preacher closed with a question in that question session they often had asking whether he was derelict in his duty for leaving the church for a month. He is ill. He gave us a sheet of appreciation saying he appreciated our being there though the building and his home (a mud room next door was in disrepair). He said we were like the angel that Jacob wrestled with and he did not intend to release us till we had blessed him. I took that to mean he needed money and privately gave him 1000 Nora. This is not much. It only amounts to about 7 dollars. However, I am reliably informed that he probably only makes 300 naira per month. That is about 2 dollars. He has typhoid which he is apparently going to have treated and a hernia which he says that he cannot afford.
Brother Ebong is enjoying his childhood home and as the current patriarch of his family undertakes the care of his mother, sister, one brother, and a deceased brother’s children. I do not understand all, but I believe he inherited from his father and inherited the care for all of them with it. They are enjoying one another and he is busy with business affairs and old friends. I still feel like an extra wheel here.
Frankly, I am having difficulty eating. It is not that I cannot go for quite some time without eating. The heat still stifles my appetite and there is absolutely nothing here that is familiar. I am preaching, in stranger’s houses, and traveling so the last thing I want is illness that makes these difficult. Consequently eat very little. Today I had about a third cup of rice and milk and a small cup of ice cream which I ate only to be friendly and because it was such a luxury for the family. I refuse to eat special foods in front of these folks though Manny has offered. To me it seems very bad manners. Perhaps this will cure itself as we head for Benin City tomorrow. Most of you know I have not suffered from this affliction before.
Power is out here with repairs being made to the generator. I have followed my watch all day and know when you met this morning and exactly what you were doing. I was with you in spirit.
Love
John

"She beareth not the sword in vain"

2009-01-24T09:36:00.000-08:00

This is the nursery school I mentioned the other day. Look at the stick in one of the teacher's hand. They were amazingly well behaved for such a stretch in age up to 3rd grade. She uses a corner of the church's property. Not their work - she is looking for another location, the preacher reported. Very sweet kids. Very tough disciplinarians. I watched her switch the hands of two children one day. I think they did not cross her again that day.
John

(John mentioned that normally the teachers line the children up by classes. However, when they found out that John was wanting to take a picture, everyone wanted to be in the photograph.)

Saturday January 24, 2009

2009-01-24T09:10:00.000-08:00

Today has been a pleasant and relatively uneventful day. We drove safely from Calabar to Uyo in Akwaibom state. I have met brother Ebong’s mother and his brother and have rejoined his sister whom I had previously met in Calabar. She lives here and goes to University there. She has finished her undergraduate work and is waiting for a posting to their compulsory civil service. She will work in that for a year and then continue her education.
The trip was uneventful save for a 30 minutes wait in a gas station for fuel. By the way their fuel is priced roughly at the same level as ours in the US. I made pictures of the enormous pothole that tried to swallow us in the dark at 70 miles an hour and the cottage strip mall that has grown up around it. I also counted 11 police roadblocks in the 70 mile trip here.
The home here is a bit more primitive than the one in which we stayed in Calabar. This means the generator and TV is smaller and there is no refrigeration. The home is large and everyone lives here. Including brother Ebong’s brother and his family and children and a portion of the home is rented out.
The meal offered was fine. It was not chicken and rice. I was offered oatmeal. It is eaten here with powdered milk and all the sugar is cubed. Occasionally as a luxury you use condensed milk. Ordinarily you mix your own. There was fried plantain (large bananas-not too bad). You may also tell my youngest son that in this area of meals that might interfere with my digestion. I have become a great aficionado of bread and peanut butter. This was served with hearty bread and orange marmalade. It sufficed and was generous. The folk here puzzle quite a bit about what to feed me and frankly I have no real appetite. I am concerned about eating too much as I do not want to monopolize the toilet (not rest room). That would be a bad thing. My personal motto is better safe than sorry. It is not that I have not enjoyed enough meals. I suspect it is the heat and the personal discipline required of me here that derails my appetite.
This is the home of the truth in Nigeria. Brother Leslie Diestlekamp first came to this area and lived here. Brother Ebong’s father helped push his car out of a mud puddle and brother Diestlekamp gave him a tract. There are over 200 churches in this state.
I know that Brother Ebong wants to visit and discuss with his extended family here so that I am somewhat of an extra wheel. I am trying to stay out of the way. So far it is working. They are ignoring me and enjoying visiting with one another. It is as it should be. I even think that his sister is entertaining a gentleman visitor in the living room.
Preaching last night I began by asking my translator if what brother Ebong had told me was true. He asked what had I been told? I said Brother Ebong had said that their language, Efik, was the language that Adam and Eve had spoken in the Garden of Eden. He laughed as did the audience and then he said that it was true. Personally, I was amazed since I had always imagined that they were speaking English with and American accent.
I am well. The power Company has been on here for a couple of hours in 30 minute stretches. It is somewhat cooler here and not quite as humid. Brother Ebong says that we are not immediately by the sea and a little higher in elevation.
I am comfortable. I will worship here tomorrow and perhaps preach. Then Monday we will go on to Benin City. We will cross the Niger again at Onitsha which was such a disaster last time. Brother Ebong says that it is the same going and coming. I will try to get pictures. It is very hard to describe. We will begin speaking in Benin City Monday night. We were held up from going there today becasue of funerals being held there tomorrow.
I hope all is well.
John

Friday January 23, 2009

2009-01-24T09:09:00.000-08:00

I do not think that today could have ended better. I have written of my misgivings here, but today’s class ended very well. I will tell you about it
Last night Brother Ebong and I had a heart to heart conversation about my misgivings about the planning for the situation here. I mentioned that I felt that my time was being wasted in the afternoons and evenings and that we should be going to churches in the area and preaching. I was watching TV with the children and he was visiting old classmates and relatives. He admitted that he thought the planning was poor. He said that this city had been very difficult to gain any foothold. He said that they had tried in three previous years and failed completely to accomplish anything. In fact the places where they had been did not even really come to this series of studies. They did not invite us to preach though they knew we were here. Other churches had opposed our being here at all.
In that climate we did wonderfully. Today was an easy day of preaching. I spoke simply about the power of silence and brother Ebond spoke about the autonomy of the church. In the question and answer session one brother who has rather stubbornly opposed us suggested that he had a passage which would justify one church giving funds to another church for the purpose of evangelism. All eyes turned to him and he suggested Philippians 4:8: “whatsoever things are good, whatsoever things are lovely….think on these things.” Most of these brethren have been struggling with the principle especially as it relates to a local radio program. This program accepts funds from area churches and has a committee set up to oversee it. The nature of the committee is poorly defined whether contained in one local sponsoring church or with representatives from various local churches. I suspect the latter. This brother went on to say that the program was “good” to think about and therefore justified by this verse.
It was hard not to laugh. He was serious. Brother Ebong said that the passage says think about it not do it. I commented that “Chicken Republic” the local fast food joint was also good to think about but we did not want to put that in the church either. I then added more seriously that the passage he quoted was a passage addressed to individuals and not the church. I suggested that there were different standards for the two. I then suggested that his argument was wrong because it allowed more than he was himself willing to allow. I mentioned that instrumental music was good, lovely, of good report from many sources, yet he would not allow it in the church. An argument that proves too much proves nothing. I had challenged them the night before to come up with a verse and I put a vacant box on the blackboard in which they could write the passage that cited one church giving funds to another church for evangelism. I told them that it was till blank. I could see it written on their faces. They knew what we were saying was right. There were many other discussions.
Young men present left mumbling that they did not know why the old men were so stubborn that they knew what they were doing was wrong. In private conversation with Brother Ebong the local preacher hosting us admitted that he knew we were correct it was just that the church was already committed to this radio program and they would have to figure a way out of it. Even those who had opposed heartily early were looking sheepish and were friendly.
I closed by saying that I had to do what any gospel preacher ultimately had to do. I had to leave and might never see them again till eternity. I could only leave them with the word and their own conscience and that I believed there were men there who had a good conscience. I wished that I could stay and see them through.
Then they surprised both of us. I had seen them handling money after class each day. I had brought several cd’s from Faith and Facts that I told them they were welcome to copy. I had sssumed that they were collecting the small funds necessary to pay the brother who was copying the cd’s for them.
They brought gifts for both Brother Ebong and myself. They gave each of us a beautiful native garment and hat and a walking stick. (I collect walking sticks) They insisted that we change into them and then take pictures with them. There were group photographs and a host of individual photographs from several cameras. The photo session went on for an hour. Some of them had told Brother Ebong how grateful they were that we had come and how grateful that we had taught them this. They said that they had no idea these things might be wrong. It was a good time we closed with singing and prayer.
Brother Ebong and myself preached at the church which meets in the Cultural Center in Calabar tonight. We were also well received here. He has come to Calabar several times with American preachers. They asked whether he could possibly come back by himself. He was happy. We also heard of another small starting congregation where we might have some influence. It was aq good day and a good end to a week of worry.
I believe I did my best. I felt a change in the group when I spoke from brief notes about 5 passages on the organization and autonomy of the church. This was on Wednesday. Brother Ebongs sermon on David’s cart was also a turning point in their minds. Their faces were showing a new determination of the truth yesterday, but today it was fairly beaming. I do not know their next steps, but I am confident there will be steps. I would not claim that the door in Calabar is open wide, but it is cracked which is more than before and others can follow opening it wider.
I am still concerned that there is not someone on the ground here to continue this process of teaching and encouragement. I feel a little like Paul warning the Ephesians elders that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock. I do not know the answer except through prayer. Relocating would be hard for most Nigerian men. Perhaps one of the better grounded young men at that school in Ibadan can come here. I do not know the answer and it is not my part of the line of the army to supervise. That must be left to the Lord and other men.
Perhaps if you are reading this blog and are a young preacher you too would like to come here. Here is a word of caution. Brother Sharp refuses to bring young men because he says that they should be at home with their families. I do not want to suggest that he is not telling the truth, but I suspect that there are really other reasons. The men in these classes are often capable, mature, older gospel preachers in their own right. It may be fine for you to come here and to try to convert the lost though I do not believe they really need help with that. Consider teaching these older men in a class and what that will be like. Granted that you are capable, but how will it seem to them to have what appears to them to be a very young American teaching them, while capable older men sit by. It is inappropriate and would not be appreciated or respected. If you want to come, accompany an older man and be ready to listen a lot. There is certainly a healthy cynicism of Americans, especially Americans who are telling these men that they may be doing something wrong. It is out of place. There may be work for you to do and lessons you can teach, but instructing older men may not be one of them. I wish you could come. I have heard about these churches all my life and I am glad I came to see it. It is such a shame to see this work being destroyed by false doctrine as these churches recede into nothing more than a denomination among denominations. This seems a job for older men, not because they are more capable, but because they will be received in a better spirit as equals or respected by virtue of their age.
By the way, I asked about scraping the oranges and was told that it was done because of the acidic skin of the oranges. I also know that I have been warned repeatedly about being careful with fruit because you cannot be sure of the water that washed it. But some have written me about this from back home so I wanted to set the record straight.
Perhaps I am naïve in my assessments. In fact I am sure I am. I trust that the Lord will grant grace, power and permanence to our efforts.
Our hostess here has been suffering from malaria for the last couple of days. She could hide this easily from me because I do not know the symptoms, but brother Ebong told me that she had sought medicine, yesterday at the doctor. Brother Sharp had mentioned that probably everyone in Nigeria suffers from this in one form or another. I have several mosquito bites but have never seen the mosquitoes. I am told that they are very small here and I believe it. Yes, I am talking my medicine.
Tomorrow morning we will leave for Uyo and preach on Sunday there.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

2009-01-22T14:31:00.000-08:00

We worshipped last night with a congregation composed mostly of students that meets on the grounds of the University of Calabar. A lot of these students live in youth hostels near the campus and transportation to area churches is difficult. Therefore most of these universities have a church on their campuses. These groups are largely neglected apparently by the other churches in the area and therefore the teaching available is limited. Brother Ebong has told me that he makes it a point to try to visit these groups as often as he can. He mentioned five universities that he has worked with that are within about and hour or an hour and a half of Lagos. His sister normally worships with this group.
They were studying in a Lecture hall there on campus and in the book of Matthew. The class was well enough. I have some pictures of the situation; I don’t know whether I can get them to you before I get back. There was no power. The lecture hall had many missing windows, which were probably stolen. I had noticed that every window of the church buildings I have visited were etched with the name of the church. I think that was to prevent theft. These were missing and had been missing a long time. The desk had holes in it, some about a foot wide. The brethren had brought a small generator and a wooden contraption with a length of some 150 feet of wire attached and one incandescent light bulb. As night closed about us that was the only light in the building and the only light in the area. Brethren who were asked to read from the scriptures used cell phones to light their Bibles.
The singing was beautiful and from memory. They had no books. There were perhaps 30 there.
We had power last night for a record six hours. It made the sleeping easy and the fans kept the room peaceful. But the power went off about 6 AM and I heard the big generators at the hospital next door begin to wheeze as they started kicking on. One of the sons of this household roused about 45 minutes later and kicked on the generator here. It is something akin to sleeping in the middle of a truck parking lot, but it can be done. It is better than the alternative.
Preaching here for a first time American is requiring a lot of discipline. I had a little meltdown last night. I really have been missing my family and the combination of no or bad phone calls and no or bad email got to me. I felt marooned. Let me see if I can describe communications here a bit.
The cells phones these folk use are what we call in the US throwaway phones. Here they simply call them pay as you go phones. This of course means that they are cheap (I was searching for a better word but that one was faster) phones. This and the distance involved may explain why they occasionally complain about the fact that we have a poor connection or that I sound like R2D2. There are people everywhere selling phones, but especially the recharge cards. Virtually every corner has an umbrella where they are being sold and in the other areas of Nigeria (not so much here) there are people walking through the traffic selling them. They look like lottery cards and you can shove money through the window and get a recharge card (series of numbers that puts more time on your phone) while you stall traffic, which of course will simply move around you while everyone honks their horn. They cannot afford the better phones or the more expensive plans that most Americans use. They use the cards as a sort of budget. The really poor (students were mentioned) use flash on the phones. This means they will let your phone ring once and expect you to call them back. This is apparently the poor man’s collect call.
This all means that occasionally I cannot call because the good phone is not here. It is off with brother Ebong. Occasionally, I cannot call because the phone is not charged. Occasionally, I cannot call because the network itself is down. Occasionally I cannot call because the recharge card has run out. (this means we will have to go out tomorrow and get a new one, it is too late now). Americans have it so good. This can be frustrating when we are accustomed to talking to our families at a moment’s notice. I have not even mentioned accounting for the 6 hour time difference.
Now let me continue on to the computer internet situation. There are internet cafes over here, but even the Nigerians don’t trust them. They have a name for many of the folk that run these shops and inhabit them. These are the “yoyo boys.” I think that means pranksters. These people hang around the cafes looking over your shoulder with an amazing amount of curiosity about the various passwords you use. There is also quite a bit of suspicion about the operators of the computers in the cafes who are suspected of using a bit more careful methods of eavesdropping. Most of you are familiar with Nigerian scams on the internet. They are famous for them. I went to an internet café a couple of times last week, Connected to a restaurant. Having dined next to a table of about 10 men who were described to me as “yoyo boys,” I began to lose my affection for internet cafes. I also might mention that the best of their internet connections is sloooooowwwwwww. Remember you are paying by the minute so there is not a lot of incentive for fast.
This brings me to the device I am using. Brother Ebong has a wireless broadband connection connected to his computer. He says that his provider which we have argued about is Starcom. However he pronounces this business as if it was the city in Sweden, Stockholm. I was confused (He apparently does not know me well enough to giggle in front of me about the words that I am mispronouncing in his dialect.) Starcom apparently has two broadband modems. One is fast and expensive. (this is probably the one offered in the US and for the equivalent price. The other (which he has) is sloooowwwwwer and which he can afford. Very few private homes here have an internet connection so I am fortunate that he has this. Most private homes here and apartments for that matter are having to use generators for power, so an internet connection is a luxury. However, after spending one half hour last night trying to just get to my email so I could send a blog to you, I was a little bit of the ugly spoiled American. I am better now and a little more grateful for having some connection.
Many of the children here are studying about computers in school, but using them without power and without the internet will be a challenge. Most of the men in Ibadan who came to the classes there had internet addresses. Few of the men here in Calabar have such.
It was good to hear from my family and I can hear their voices fine even though I may sound like R2D2.
I seem to notice a lot of the little things. I did notice one of the children cleaning the two rooms in the house that are carpeted. He was using a whisk broom locally made, and a dust pan. He thoroughly went around the rooms and then swept up the dust in his pan. I don’t think that there are a lot of Hoover vacuums in Nigeria.
I wrote these things early in the morning waiting to go to our class, I will try to finish with a report of the day later and after class.
We had a terrific class. I spoke for 2 and one half hours, with a 10 minute break and they paid attention. I spoke about the power of silence and something of applying the hermeneutics of the Bible. Brother Ebong spoke about David’s New Cart. This was a very good and timely lesson and I think that they got the point. He speaks in a fashion they understand easily and can empathize with him.
There were about 30 present with several coming from Akwaibo (spelling?) state which is about 75 miles away. In the question and answer session there were still questions about the elder’s oil which some are using here for ceremonial purposes. I pointed out that I believed that in James it served a practical purpose. I used the example of the Good Samaritan as proof. I did not believe we were anointing a king, so I would assume that the elders rendered practical assistance with the oil and spiritual assistance with their prayer to the sick.
Then it got interesting. These men are finally seeing the directions we are heading. They mention the importance of churches cooperating and are especially concerned about a local radio program. Perhaps a single church or perhaps several churches has set up a committee to run this program and the churches of the area are contributing to it. There were a number of emotional and personal appeals for the need of this program. I reminded them of the lesson about David’s New Cart. I reminded them of the examples from earlier this week about the call for “Give us a King.” I then challenged them and repeatedly to show a New Testament example of this sort of arrangement that they had. They suggested the New Testament examples of giving to another church in need. I reminded them that we had discussed this the day before and that this was a case of benevolence. I wanted an example of such a committee arrangement in the area of evangelism. One brother harked back to the advice in Exodus given to Moses when he was overburdened judging the Israelites that he get help. I suggested that this was the Old Testament and that perhaps he could find a New Testament example. All these conversations were interrupted by emotional appeals for this program as well as a school supported by institutional American churches to teach preachers. They continually spoke of the potential for good.
I challenged them that they were not furnishing New Testament examples where one church gave to another church for the purpose of evangelism. I mentioned that there were good Bible students among them and they had been looking for this verse for 45 minutes and were not giving it. I reminded them of the struggle that they had to believe in the necessity of baptism in the first place, but that they had finally had to accept that this was what the Bible said. I then reminded them that they had argued with the fact that the Bible was silent about instrumental music until they were finally asked to provide the verse that justified it. They could not and reasoned that they would do without, even though it might be beautiful and all the churches around them had it. I then again challenged them to come up with just one verse that gave an example of one church giving to another church for evangelism I gave them till tomorrow t find the verse. If it could not be found they would have to accept the fact that the Bible was silent about this and that the New Testament example showed that one church sent money for evangelism to the preacher, not to an intermediate missionary society, sponsoring church or a committee.
I mentioned to Brother Ebong that it reminded me of those men who brought the woman taken in adultery to Jesus and he challenged them to let the man who was without sin cast the first stone at her. They all left from the eldest to the youngest. Slowly and one by one they lapsed into a pensive silence. We will see what they come up with tomorrow, but it seems obvious they know where this is heading and they are caught in the net of God’s Word. The class lasted 4 hours from 9 to 1. I think they would have still been asking questions had we stayed. It was time to let them think about the consequences of what they were saying and to look for that verse. A resignation that the verse could not be found was showing on their faces.
My sole concern is that there is no one here to follow up with good influence and kind teaching after we leave. This area is remote from the centers of faithful men in Ibadan and Lagos. I wish someone could give me a hopeful answer to this concern.
I thought I might opine a bit about equipment for this sort of trip. Those of you who know me in the states know that I love to use a computer and a projector with Powerpoint. I have brought a computer with me obviously. All my notes are on computer and it would be hard indeed to do without it. The power problem requires that you bring a spare battery. It will be required and the batteries you are using should have a long life. I bought a computer for this trip especially. It is a mini notebook. It is small and the battery lasts 4 hours. If it is stolen I will not have lost much. It is lightweight and suffices.
I strongly considered bringing a projector. That would have been a waste of time. The power constraints would have been ridiculously complicated. The preaching would not nearly have been as adaptable to the situation and there are not many flat white walls in Nigeria or darkness to use the projector. They are bulky, heavy and would have only been a frustration to everyone and have merely served as a useless novelty to the people. The preaching here is fast paced and changeable on need. This does not suit the carefully planned presentations that befit a projector. I did mention the power problems.
Some of you know that I have Sleep Apnea. I use a CPap machine to sleep at night. That is challenge enough. Some time back, in preparation for trips like this I purchased a second machine and am certainly glad that I did. I purchased a small highly portable machine, that can be alternately powered. It can use 110 volt power (adapters will be necessary in Nigeria, which vary from location to location) It can also use 12 volt power which means you can power the machine from your automobile if necessary. Most importantly the machine has a rechargeable battery. The battery at full charge will power the machine for two nights sleeping. This means that if the power fails at night or the generator shuts down it will seamlessly switch to the battery. I intend to mail this paragraph to the company who made my machine, but I can assure you that it has worked flawlessly and was a great comfort here in a difficult power situation. I have mentioned that the power here is so occasional and the generators are so occasional that not only would I have had difficulty sleeping but in two or three nights I would have been very weary and perhaps in bad health. If you consider coming here, or to a country like this, and need this sort of machine, consider my recommendation very carefully. The machine I use is an Aeiomed. You can get it on cpap.com with a prescription. It is small, lightweight and wonderful for challenged power situations and traveling. This is an unsolicited testimonial. It is written from extreme southern Nigeria. It will take me to Uganda in a week and I do not think I could have made this trip without it. I will send this paragraph or ask my secretary to send it to the company. Thanks a bunch!
I was supposed to preach at a congregation tonight, but they wanted us to come on Friday and that conflicted with a previous engagement. So again tonight I will be alone with the family here.
Man cannot live by fried chicken and rice alone. I have found that fast food here in Nigeria means chicken and rice. I have walked into fast food joint after joint and seen an expansive menu only to find that all they really have is chicken and rice. Chicken Republic is the premier fast food place here and their best item is chicken and rice. They also have meat pies which I tried, but you should stay close to a rest room (they do not call them that here and giggle at the thought. Here they are only toilets). I am also not sure what the meat is in their meat pie. It is not easily identifiable. We found another place called Fiesta Fries (you are noticing the fried food theme). They had picture of hamburgers and doughnuts. I asked for a hamburger?. Sorry we are out. I asked for a doughnut? Sorry we are out. I tried to make it simpler. What do you have? (You guessed the next response). Chicken and fries.
In fact the truly universal fast food is not McDonald’s it is Chinese. There is bound to be a Chinese restaurant in every city of size around the world. The food is generally the same so that you know approximately what you are getting. (Without Chinese food , who knows what the cat population would be). And the food is usually as good as Chinese is. At least it will be approximately the same as the Chinese food you eat at home.
We tried another place advertized as a Pizza Hut. I don’t think that the US franchise knows about them. We stopped. They were out of Pepperoni and know nothing in the entire country about sausage, much less Italian sausage. Again, it was easier to ask, “what do you have. “ That answer was hot dogs (an abomination on Pizza) and (you guessed it) chicken. I was not that desperate yet. They claimed they would have pepperoni soon so we came back. It was not a premier American pizza but it was close enough. It had dough, tomato sauce, cheese and little bitty pepperonis. It was good. Sometimes it is the small things that make you feel comfortable.
It was as good as a day can be away from you. I will be home in February.
I have written too much I hope you did not go to sleep.
Love John

Wednesday January 21, 2009

2009-01-21T14:19:00.000-08:00

This is the church at Uno Ukon in Calabar.

Now that was more like it. We had about 16 in our class this morning. Brother Ebong began with a lesson about evangelism. While he was speaking I decided that I was tired of pussyfooting around the subject and decided that I would scrap what I was going to talk about and concentrate one what I really wanted to say. I suggest 5 passages on the Pattern. I started with Acts 14:23; Acts 20:28, 1 Peter 5:1-3 and talked about autonomy and the rule of elders. I then switched to Acts 11 and talked about the pattern for benevolence. I then switched to Philippians 4 and talked about the pattern for benevolence. That started things going.
One brother there argued that in Africa they had to collect money from several churches to put on an area-wide radio program. I suggested that was nothing unique and reminded them of a previous sermon of “Give us a King.” We all at one time or another want to do more than one congregation is capable of doing. Africa is not unique, I had used the example of the missionary society in the US in a diagram and simply wrote in the radio committee in its place. It was very obvious and I saw several pensive faces.
The same brother then spoke about his congregation having begun a congregation in a remote area. He said the members were very ignorant. He then said they paid a preacher to go there. Then they found that the preacher was teaching falsely. He seemed irritated that I was teaching that his elders had no oversight of the second church. I said they could oversee the preacher but not the church. I also said that if they were dissatisfied they could stop paying the preacher, but if he decided to stay and the church there supported him then there was little they could do other than teaching and speaking to the members there about the truth. I am not sure he was satisfied. However, everyone else was seeing the points that I was raising very clearly.
They then launched into a discussion of marriage. It seems that here there are three ceremonies often: A Traditional ceremony in one’s home village that involves a dowry;. A civil ceremony, and a church ceremony. This was an involved question and I let them argue. Most of you know that I am not opposed to marriage in the church building. However, in this instance they wanted to know when there was really a marriage, since occasionally either bride or bridegroom grew frustrated that having been married twice somehow there was the thinking that they were not still really married. I let them argue that to a standstill. It did seem that some were making marriage in the church somehow a church ordinance, with which I disagree.
There is no power. One of the generators apparently broke last night. The other generator ran out of diesel about midnight. They keep the windows closed at night because they are not screened and the mosquitoes here are serious. Someone told me the other day that he suspected that virtually everyone in Nigeria has malaria in one form or another. Hot and sweltering as it is, the threat of malaria helps one keep the windows closed at night. (Yes, dear, I am taking my medicine). The mosquitoes here, by the way are very small. I have not seen or heard one though I think I have a few small bites. Many of these folks do not have medicine for malaria or if they have it they do not have the better medicines.
Brother Ebong is out and about again shifting money here and there, at least that is what he said he was going to do when he left. There is no plan for me to preach again tonight, but I believe we are going to try to go to a congregation that meets at a local university campus.
It is so hot here that I do not feel like eating much. I would give my eye teeth for something cold, but that takes power. Ice is an unknown quantity and when they have it you have to be afraid about where the water came from that created it. Most of their foods are fried. I have tried fried plantain which is similar to fried potatoes. They have fried eggs with onions and tomatoes a lot for breakfast. I tried another fast food joint today patterned after American fast food. All they had was fried chicken, fried rice, but the coleslaw was good and the cokes were cold. I am probably spoiled, but the heart disease rate in the country must be high.
I spoke with brother Ebong about my concerns for the future of what we are doing here. I mentioned to him that these folks are quickly slipping away from the truth to organizing these churches as they please and not as the Bible teaches. There is no local man with strength. There does seem to be a tendency on the part of some of the brethren in the class for the truth, but when we are gone there will be no strength left in this area that we have discovered and much of the little teaching we are doing will be lost. The strong faithful preachers in Nigeria need to spread out. Their enemy is not just institutionalism but their own failure to spread out to better spread the influence of strong men and good teaching throughout the country. Brother Ebong says that the situation in Benin City is better because of the influence of Brother Kerume with whom we will be teaching. However, he is older and that influence may be lost as it has been lost in this area.
Sister Bassey has just brought me some oranges to eat. They hold a little coolness from the evening and are very good. They have the habit of shaving the surface skin off oranges. I do not know why, but I suspect that it is out of fear that the oranges were washed in polluted water.
I miss you. Even cold weather is beginning to look good.
I will think about you as you meet tonight
John

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

2009-01-21T14:15:00.000-08:00

This picture is from last week's class in Ibadan. It should be easy to find me.

There were about 20 present for class today. I spoke on the end of miraculous gifts, which is somewhat troubling to some of the churches. I also spoke on the role of elders which has become a problem. In some areas apparently there are tribunals of elders acting for the entire area or a group of churches. In some churches they have only one elder. Still others have erected elders to too great a position. Others think they are personally appointed by the Holy Spirit. They seemed to appreciate the discussion.
They did become a little restive when we began to speak about the church taking meals in the building and as a church. They worked pretty hard on 1 Corinthians 11, but there was no terrible bloodshed. Another brother kept trying to say that there were different rules for developed and developing countries. I said that the qualifications for elders were the same in both countries. In worship there was singing, prayer, preaching, the Lord’s Supper and Contribution. I asked what is different in the Bible. Yes, there might be cultural differences as to how many songs are sung or when to pray or how long to preach, but the New Testament is the same in both countries. He was never specific.
I also told him that I did not want to be heard because I was white or because I was from America, but because I had some ability with the word. I told him that I protested when thinking about the trip that there were brethren here who were as good Bible students as myself if not better, but that some felt that I could help.
Brother Ebong disappeared about an hour into the morning’s session saying that he had some important administrative work to do regarding a brother in Benin City. It is now one and the class over for an hour and I thought I would write this portion of this note while I wait. I am beginning to think that he is what my mom called a “run up and down the road” kind of guy. I am sure he will be here soon. We have now spent the entire afternoon going to banks and the filling station. Brother Ebong refuses to carry more than a days supply of money so that means he has to continually find banks and ATM machines. Today’s money is in dollars so he will have to spend an hour looking for someone to exchange the money. We then spent an hour in a gas station trying to get gas. So far he has only been buying a few liters at a time looking for a cheap place. I have encouraged (growled a little actually) to quit being penny wise and pound foolish and carry a larger supply of money in Nigerian currency and fill the car up so we do not waste so much time looking for gas. Should have come home but I was curious to see where he disappeared to each day while I waited at the house. Now I know. He is a run up and down the road sort of guy and I will stay home tomorrow.
The church here is allowing a sister to use a portion of the church grounds for a nursery school. I will try to take pictures of the children tomorrow. The preacher assured me that the church was not running the school and that she was looking for a more appropriate place.
I was talking about the palms with one of the brethren and he came back a few minutes later with two coconuts. I will have to have someone show me what to do with them so that I can tell him thank you appropriately.
Brother Ebong also spent a good portion of the day looking for a place to pay for and thus recharge the wireless modem for his computer. We are both very leery of the computer cafes here in the country. They are notorious. The ATM machines are a little difficult too. We finally located the appropriate place but they were closed for the day. I expect that he will go back tomorrow and arrange that.
I have good news for all the plus size women in America. You should immediately immigrate to Nigeria. The children here in the household have been watching Nigerian TV and I have come to the conclusion that the attractive women here are all a little (a lot actually) on the chunky side. It takes a bit of getting used to, to find that the Julia Roberts of Nigeria weighs over 200 pounds but I was told that they consider weight to be a sign of luxury and wealth. Oh well, I just wanted everyone to know, since I am on the chunky side too (the wealthy and handsome men are also a little portly) that there is hope that we may be coming in style.
Frankly, I am felling a bit underutilized. I would like to be preaching somewhere in the evening. I have appointments for Thursday and Friday night, but tonight I will be sitting on the couch. It was a long way to come to sit on the couch. I suspect one of two things. I suspect that there was poor planning for this leg of the trip. I also suspect that these men do not know these churches well in this area. They do not seem to know the preachers well at all. Much work will have to be done to make improvements in the knowledge of the brethren in this area. They seem to be sliding slowly into institutionalism with little real contact with other sound brethren throughout the country. Someone capable will need to move to this area to have influence. This week long study in the morning will have little effect and much of it will be forgotten when we are gone. For tonight there will probably be more Nigerian TV and waiting for the time when I can telephone my family. It was a long way to come to go to banks, gasd stations and watch TV.
Hopefully we are doing some good in the mornings. I will try tomorrow to get the classes more particularly on track for the issues concerning institutionalism. I also want brother Ebong to speak. He did not speak at all this morning and in fact was hardly there. They seem to have great respect for his father. He should make use of that respect.
The people here are genuinely excited about the inauguration of Obama which I saw on television at what must have been about 8 am in Washington. As a whole they do not like the war in Iraq. They seem to share pride in the election of a black man. I suppose it is misplaced since they have had black men as presidents and senators over here for some time and seem to regard them as corrupt and venial. Obviously though the racial connection means a lot to them and they are sure that he will accomplish great things. I am happy for them and this victory for their people. As for their other aspirations we will just have to wait and see and be prayerful.
I am well. In case you are keeping track the power is not on. The family has not turned on the generator yet for the fans. These walled compounds mean that the children are seriously restricted in their homes. It is obvious that they are longing to get out and spread some wings. I have no idea what they would do in case of a fire since every door and window is padlocked and the front gate is padlocked. They feel safe this way but I am not sure. The generator ran all night and the fan kept it much more comfortable.
Apparently the children and I are going to attack the coconuts, so I must sign off.
I miss you and think of all of you throughout the day. Jennie tells me that many of you are following the blog. I think of each of your faces and voices. I look forward to seeing you again. About 25 days left.
Love, John

Monday January 19, 2009

2009-01-21T14:13:00.000-08:00

It is HOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!
I thought I had known hot but I was wrong. This is hot. I am even more confirmed that I do not want to go to hell, because I am fairly certain that this is close to the waiting room for it. I do not know what the temperature was last night but I suspect that is was close to 100 and if it is possible (I don’t think that it is ) it was close to 120 degrees of humidity. I could sleep, but I kept waking thinking that I was melting only to discover that I was melting. Even Brother Ebong who sings the praises of this area as his home college and territory or at least next door to it could not sleep last night. They turned the generator off last night about midnight mumbling something about the fact that the engine was too hot. That meant no fan and no open door because of the mosquitoes . There was no breeze. Did I mention it was hot. The generator is running now so it is still hot but there is a breeze. There is no power in Calabar again today.
Our class this morning had about 14 people in it. Brother Ebong was irritated that there were not more, but perhaps they will come. We had a good class, introducing the beginnings of our future study about institutionalism. I felt it went well and better than I feared. They love question and answer sessions. We are supposed to talk about the cessation of miraculous gifts. Someone locally thinks he is inspired. They are also considerably irritated about the congregation that I mentioned yesterday who have decided that they can only offer the communion in the evening. In order to insure that they keep it locked in a car during their morning service and will not unlock it. It was a good discussion and they seemed appreciative of our being there. There seemed to be a feeling that this area of the country is ignored a bit in this sort of study because they are so far from the large cities in Lagos and Ibadan.
I did find out that there were 480 in the services yesterday morning. Ushers are pretty serious here. They patrolled the crowd and made sure that everyone was behaving and paying attention. The children sat in a group and everyone was well behaved. There were a lot of ushers. They also had several recording secretaries seating the front that took attendance and opened mail and answered written questions.
I have spoken with a couple of young people here who are just finishing college. There is a quiet desperation about them. Before any student with a bachelor’s degree can move forward to a master’s degree or to work in the government, which is about the only work there is, he must do one year’s public service for the government. The assignment can be anywhere in the country. There are so many applying that it can easily be a year before the assignment can be given. This public service job will pay about $75 dollars a month. This will perhaps pay for a bed but not food or transportation. In the waiting period the only job available is as a trader. They will buy some product and try to sell it in these shops or shanties on the street. This is all that is available. This is true all over Nigeria. It is obvious that there is a desperation and despondency in the faces and lives of these young people. After they can finally finish their public service they hope to go back to school and complete a master’s degree. Then they might find some sort of job, but I have talked to some of these people with even these advanced degrees and the only jobs open are very menial, and that cannot pay for the education or support themselves or a family. Adult and godly men have begun to speak about revolution as the only hope for improvement in the state. They are not planning a revolution just fearful that it will happen or is required. It is so obvious that with their failed power grid no manufacturing can exist or compete if required to not only produce a competitive product but generate the power for it too. This does not even begin to include the bribes and corruption required in this society. One agency has already begun to refer to this society that is one of the largest petroleum producers in the world and has enormous natural resources and an intelligent populace as a “failed state.” I would strongly suggest to anyone contemplating a trip to Africa in the future that they take this situation which can only worsen under advisement. These are docile people. There are many Christians here. I have found them patriotic for their country, but in despair for the future. America should take warning. This sort of thing is not impossible.
I have not mentioned that I saw brother Sharp over the weekend. He had what he said was gout. His foot was badly swollen. It happened that I had some medicine for gout. He has taken it and the pain we hear via telephone is gone, but the swelling continues. He is afraid to take the medicine as directed for fear that it will interfere with other medication for his heart. He is able to walk and says he is doing well.
I am sorry that I have not told you where I am staying. I am staying with a family named Bassey. They have a large home within a walled compound. There is a mall attached room with a restroom in which they are allowing me to stay. The father works for the government here as an auditor and travels extensively. He is not here. The mother is here with a daughter who just graduated from college. A son who is in college. I believe there is another son who is somewhat older and two twin sons that are about 14 years old. Brother Ebong is staying here too. Brother Ebong has friends here so spends quite a bit of time away from here and on the telephone. I am alone so far with the twin sons who are congenial and watch a lot of TV. The family is friendly, but I suspect that they worship with what we would call an institutional church. Lines of fellowship have not been drawn but this is happening. Each of these congregations has elements that seem curious to me, but these things will take a few years to sort out I suppose. Apparently has served in this capacity before and are personal friends of brother Ebong and brother Sharp.
The walled compounds are for privacy and security. I have some pictures but will not be able to send them till later. However, since the walls only leave room for parking a car they also prevent any breeze from entering the property. The house holds the heat from the day and it is a pressure cooker. Much of their cooking is by frying. In fact I don’t believe that I have seen an oven and without power I do not know how they would use one.
Bathing has also been an adventure. There are large plastic containers in all their bathrooms. The shower, if it works, is cold water. The lady of the house heats water in a pot and brings to the bathroom. You mix the hot water in the large plastic tub and use a smaller plastic bowl to dump it on your head. It works, but takes a little practice. The cold shower here is not that bad. Did I mention that it is hot?
I now have appointments to preach in the evening on Thursday and Friday at a local church but nothing for tonight save to prepare for tomorrow’s work. I could not talk to my family last night because I did not have a phone. I am hoping to manage it tonight. I think Brother Ebong is concerned about his family and his bills. He has lost some support and apparently faces a momentary crisis not well explained to me. This seems to have left him a bit preoccupied with calls back home from which he is separated for the next two weeks. The plan is apparently to leave here on Saturday for a neighboring state and preach there over the weekend and for him to visit some of his family in Oyo. Please try to find it on the maps and add it to the collection of maps on the website. We will then proceed to Benin City for Monday through Thursday and they are trying to add some lectures in Lagos on Friday before we are due to leave for Uganda.
This of course brings me to home. I can handle the heat but it is hot. I miss all of you and am hoping I can get some more pictures on today. If so perhaps I can begin to catch up with that.
Love John
P.S I was just informed that the power company has the power on so they have turned the generator off. This is the first since I have been here. I will let you know how long it lasts.
Jw
PSS the power lasted 2 hours. We are back on generator.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

2009-01-18T14:04:00.002-08:00

We went to worship at Umo Ukon this morning. This is the congregation that will host our series of lectures this week. I am not sure how familiar brother Ebong is with the congregation or the preacher there. The planning seems a bit hazy but we will see.
The morning service lasted an hour and a half. There were only plain wood benches with no back. There appeared to be about 300 to 400 present. They are in the process of building their building and it is not completed. It has been in process for about 10 years.
There were two preachers and then a couple of what appeared to be reviewers or supplementers. They were speaking on the importance of morning prayers. Churches in this area have a practice called morning prayers. They gather about 5 am each day for a period of prayer. Some were not coming to this and they were speaking about it at length. They people speak English and the service is translated into yet another language called Efik. Their second preacher had a bad stutter. I did not understand a word that he said whether English or some other tongue and the Efik was beyond me.
For those at High School Road there was an experience yo9u should be familiar with. These church only have hymnbooks donated from the US. They do not have enough of anyone hymnbook to go around. Therefore all the churches announce at least three song numbers depending on which book you have. This congregation also had a hymnbook in Efik, and announced numbers in that, so that some of the members were singing in English and some in Efik. You at High School Road thought we were unique I am sure.
These folk took up collection on large circular pizza pans. At least that is what they looked like to me. They also served wine for the Lord’s Supper. I would have said that they were unable to get the sparkling Grape Juice that I mentioned in a previous post, but the preacher invited us over to his home for a moment of hospitality. His wife was ill so we only had a moment. He served sparking grape juice. At least it was sparkling something. It was blue and I noticed that the bottle said non=alcoholic so no remarks from you jokesters back home.
The city is clean and attractive. I do not know how or why. I have asked and Brother Ebong cannot tell me other than to express pride in his own people. The city does not seem to be afflicted with the trash and terrible squalor of every other city I have observed in Nigeria. The traffic is relatively orderly. We found a Chicken Republic and I had chicken, Fries and Slaw and two cokes. (small bottles) that were really cold not just air conditioned. There is no power today, by the way.
Brother Ebang makes a joke about the name of the national power company. Their name is NEPA plc. The plc is similar to our term incorporation. He says that it stand for Never Expect Power At All, Please Light Candles. I think he may be right.
I also spotted a small Pizza Hut here. This sounds like home, but the last pizza I had in Lagos used bologna for the sausage. Oh well, they tried.
I don’t think anyone has any idea what to expect tomorrow. I am concerned, but we will see. I hope that we can do some good. We are going to worship in a few minutes at another congregation. Brother Ebong has a sister in the University here, so that we are going to go where she worships. Brother Ebong’s father was a famous man here. E.J. Ebong founded churches all over this area and was much beloved. Manny’s name is E.J. Ebong, Jr.
I am concerned that I lost a special pen that David handed me before I left. I had been keeping it in my coat pocket. I can only hope that I placed it somewhere in my stuff for safe keeping. It was a lovely pen he handed me just before I left asking me to give it to someone here. I liked it and selfishly was keeping it for myself remembering him as I felt it. I regret that I cannot find it now.
In their singing often they will pass out additional microphones through the audience to selected individuals for them to sing parts. This seems to help the people sing the various parts. It makes for a distinctive sound. This group was not as good as the last, but I heard the angels sing at one point again and wept. I wish my father could have been here to hear them, though he would never have come. Immediately, I thought how he hears a better choir now. He truly hears the angels sing. Perhaps the Lord let me hear just a bit of this, to remind me. I still miss him so and have too much time to think about him here. There has never been time at home. There was always too much to be done.
I miss you and always check my watch to see what you are doing at that time. As I write this you are just finishing the morning service over there. I look forward to being with you again
Love
John

P.S. We just returned from evening service. We worshipped with the church that meets at the cultural center here in the city. This is a large attractive park like area and they rent a small outbuilding. They said they have about 200 in the morning, but here they only had about a dozen. They were friendly and several said they were coming to our classes. The church had divided over the question of evening communion. Apparently some believed that it could only be served in the evening and believed that rather paintedly. However the church seems good and has purchased property they want to develop in what they described as the center of the city.
It is hot here. I am about 300 miles further south than Ibadan and it is very hot. No power still although they said that the power came on briefly so that they turned their generator off. Still air is about as hot and humid as it gets. You cannot open the windows here for a breeze because of the mosquitoes. That makes it hot in the house without the fans. This area is tropical rain forest. The area around Ibadan is savannah. I miss you we will see what happens tomorrow. I have secretly begun counting off the weeks. It is too early to do this, but I cannot help it.
John

Saturday, January 17, 2009

2009-01-18T14:04:00.001-08:00

I survived. Yesterday was the most difficult and frightening trip I have made. To say that I am irritated at those who poorly planned and carelessly executed this leg of the trip is not to say enough.
We left Ibadan for Ile-Ife at about 8 AM. We arrived in Calabar at 10:15 PM. The roads are atrocious. Calling them roads is a stretch. There were enormous potholes. Calling them potholes is difficult so that the car was constantly swaying to miss them. In sections the entire road was washed away and we were really just crossing ditches some of them filled with water. It is difficult to describe the condition of the roads. I have been on dirt roads in the US that were far better maintained. In this there was the usual wrestling match with other cars, overloaded trucks and thousands of motorcycles.
We crossed the Niger at the site of two cities on either side of the river where the last battle of the Biafran war took place. On the east side we entered another tribe/state/language. These people speak Ebo. The crowding at one point was so severe that I do not believe that we would have made it through the crush of people, trucks, motorcycles, buses, merchants, traders, beggars, and police were it not for two men who ran ahead clearing a path so that we could get through. One of them had no arms and the pay offered then for their service after getting to a still crowded but passable place was well worth it. These two cities were aksaba and onitshue. I am working from memory and in the dark, so I may correct spelling later. Yes, there is no power here nor was there any in any of the cities of millions of people that we passed through.
We went through what must have been 50 police checkpoints. At al of the the police were heavily armed and intimidating. It was hard to detect what they were looking for. Brother Ebopng has a new car and I suspect they kept pulling us over out of resentment at the new car. However occasionally he spoke the same language and the particular policeman that pulled us over . He Speaks Ebibio. Often though I think that they did not want to insist on a bribe, for that is what most of them wanted, from a white man. I did not see another white face in all the miles. As it was we had to pay abou 4 or 5 bribes or we would have been delayed even more and considerably more frustrated.
Brother Ebong was frightened to stay in Ebo territory. He considers them antagonistic to his particular home state and did not trust them. He was noticeably happier when we left that state for this state where Calabar is.
The one thing I was warned repeatedly about by all the brethren here is not to be out in the “bush” after dark. It gets dark here about 7PM. There was no light. There was some rain. It was impossible to see the road if there was an oncoming car. We hit one of those ditches about 9 pm for the above reason. It was about 2 to three feet deep and about 15 feet wide. Brother Ebong has a Honda CRV. I was amazed he did not break an axle. There were not hotels visibly and who could you trust if there were. There was no help if you have trouble and there are bandits. We found other cars to travel with. Most of the trip was spent driving 80 in the mile and half mile good stretches weaving among the pot holes and then slowing to crawl through the areas where the road was wasked out. In several areas there was just a mud hole where the road should have been.
The filth and crowding on the roads is amazing. It was a surprise to drive into Calabar last night and see a clean, orderly and apparently lovely town. I have seen nothing like it in Nigeria so far. I will speak more about it after I see it in the daylight.
We are staying with a local preacher and the home seems commodious. It is hot. I will not knowingly make such a trip again and as I mentioned I resent having been put in this position by those who planned it and executed it.
From the night before for 24 hours I had a banana and a small orange soda. There are not many places or things to eat in Nigeria.
Iam safe. Brother Ebong asked one of his relatives by telephone last night to pray for “travel blessings,” and surely we have received them. I leave for morning worship in about an hour.
My heart is with you. I miss all of you. I think it is important for me to be able to do this and to show my children that an old man can still have courage.
John

January 17 Saturday Morning Addendum

2009-01-18T14:03:00.000-08:00

I passed a good night and since I promised to tell the truth in this thing. I thought I would advance a few thoughts. I was told that the purpose of this trip to Nigeria was to fight institutionalism. Since I know nothing of the nation and the church involved, I had no planning in the trip. I have preached now for a week in Ibadan where there are some 30 churches and no problem over institutionalism. I preached on other topics. I am going south now to two other cities and have no idea what I will find.
I am curious why we are not preaching in Lagos a city of 16 million. I am told that there are 200 churches there and that there is considerable division over institutionalism and opportunity to teach. I have one of two thoughts about why we are not there, but I do not know for certain. If I find out I will pass this on.
Something in me keeps saying that it is my duty to preach and I must not meddle in other men’s affairs. It is often to easy to be free with advice. That advice would be coming from a stranger who does not know the situation and might be a poor advisor. :isten more and talk less seems to be the Lord’s advice.
I was ill last night. But I think I am better now. I suspect that the soup I had for dinner was poorly prepared and that it was just really a can of condensed milk. Poorly prepared food is an affliction I have had in the US. As I said, I think I am better now.
I had just a moment to write this note as I was waiting for brother Ayundare to pick me up to go to Ife. My telephone call to the family was cut short because the Sim card in the telephone ran out. The lack of communications with home is a real frustration. I had hoped that we could email more, but……This is Africa.
Love to all

Friday, January 16, 2009

2009-01-18T14:02:00.000-08:00

Now that was a funeral! We went about an hour south today to Iperu to the funeral of a preacher tha brother Ayandere had known. He was to preach at the funeral.
Brother Ayandere said that he was the last remaining premillenial preacher among the churches of Christ. The two men obviously had respect for one another. He was apparently a very wealthy man who had succeeded in investments and was the head of local businesses.
There were about 1000 in attendance. The Funeral was in an open field under at least 7 enormous tents. There was a choir, There were two bands. There was lots of food. I will have to admit that this was the first funeral I had been to that I was besieged by beggers before I could get out of the car. And on trying to return to the car. This was a smaller town and apparently a white man made a big splash. There were a lot of pictures of me and movies. I was even required to speak at the funeral. They were all to a man and woman dressed better than me.
The funeral lasted 2 hours. I believe they were going to leave the crowd eating while they went away for more services at the burial site. Brother Ayandere spoke well and spoke even of some of their disagreements religiously.
On reviewing the whole thing he expressed outrage that that members of the church had gone so far as to have instrumental music and a choir. He said that to him it was obvious that some of the other preachers were also concerned as they kept mentioning in their prayers that it was important to adhere to the Bible. Brother Ayndere said (hoped) that this was some new thing and felt that even the family was surprised.
The family wore garments of a distinctive color so that they were all recognizable. A large number of people in the crowd also wore garments of a distinctive pattern. Someone explained to me that this was a n official funeral garment. Mine is a black suit, but we all have different traditions. We were allowed to park in a convenient place next door only to discover that this was so they could block us in and charge us for letting us out. Brother Ayandere regular response to this sort of thing after growling a bit is, This is Africa.”
I was moved by some of the singing. My father’s death is still fresh to me.
We were not able to return to the city until 3 pm and there were no conveniently located McDonald;s so I was feeling a little puckish by then. We ate at Chicken Republic., This is the closest thing to a chain food restaurant I have seen here. It was air conditioned (good generators-no power here for another day) and the chicken was good. I would say that you can’t ruin chicken, but I have discovered sadly that this is not so. I told Brother Ayandere at one of our former outings that my chicken must have been killed running for there was not much meat on him.
He did tell me when I returned to my cot, that I should hurry up and rest because, by the way, he would pick me up in an hour to go preach. Humph. This is Africa.
I survived. I managed something to preach We went to the church at Bodiga. Dele Akinbonale preaches there. He attened many of my lectures. He is a good older preacher laboring without enough support.
The church was the smallest we visited. There were about 50 there and they seem to have about 75 on Sunday. The house just next door to the building was made of mud. That was a first for me, but it seemed to be serving the family well.
Our plan tomorrow is to travel to Ile-Ife and then to split up again. Manny Ebong and I will head to Benin City and Keith and brother Ayandere will head to Warri I am not looking forward to the trip. It seems I just get semi-comfortable and then must move.
We also stopped to see the church at Choloko (I keep trying to say Chockula, but that is something else). Brother Ayandere has preached there for some time He says they moved from a small building and built this one a in the 90’s. He says they did not want to build or move again so that they have started 5 other churches.
Just a note to explain one of the pictures that I will send eventually. When they take collection they do not pass the plate. They pass the bad. It is a long bag held aqt the top with a wooden frame. It works.
I have pictures of all these churches and many of the brethren. I was not able to get to the internet today and do not know when I can get there again. I also have many pictures of this wedding and even a movie. I doubt if I can post anything about that till I arrive home.
I love you all and miss you
John

Thursday January 15. 2009

2009-01-18T14:01:00.000-08:00

I am writing this on the morning of the next day as I wait for Brother Ayundare to come get me on his way to preach a funeral so I probably do not have much time
I taught again for the morning at Challenge Road and we had the same good group somewhere about 50. I spoke yesterday on Premillenialism. I do not think that I used any of the material I thought I would be presenting, but dealt with requested topics in all the lectures. This has kept me working nights to get ready for them. I suspect thaqt they tolerate the lectures so that they can get to the question and answer sessions. These sessions go on for a while. I must admit that it is somewhat flattering to think that someone might imagine that you have an answer to a question. But I can sense that often their questions deal with old arguments and they just want to see which side I am on.
After all there was a giant picture taking session. They all wanted to take a picture with me. I felt like a celebrity or politician. There were also pictures of their class of students. They ask me to sit with them for the picture. In case you cannot figure out which one I am, look for the chunky pale fellow in the middle.
Yesterday was a holiday here. It was the anniversary of the end of their civil war. This means traffic was even worse with dignitaries being escorted through the streets to the sounds of horns and sirens and a lot more troops/police on the streets.
I finally figured out what all the motorbikes are doing here. They are taxis. There are a lot of them weaving in and out of traffic with women, babies traveling on them by two and three and even four on a bike. Apparently the lack of power has thrown so many out of work that everyone has to find a way to make a living. Many of these bike riders are former technicians who plans and factories have closed since there is no power. By the way there was no power again last night in a city of 8 million people. Brother Ayundare says that 80 billion dollars were designated a few years ago to fix their electrical system, but that it was all pocketed in cases of corruption. I saw a telephone pole broken with the wires still attached. He said that it had been lying that way for months. There was no one to pay a bribe to come fix it so no one came to fix it. What a system!
Anyway apparently there is a hierarchy of taxis. These motorbikes are at the bottom and the cheapest. Above them are little three wheeled motor cycles that have a back seat. Above them are beat up mini buses crammed completely with people sitting two and three in one another’s laps.
I spoke last night at the Ajeigbe church. We arrived a hour early for this service. There was some miscommunication. There were aabout 75 present. They were apologetic about the time problem. However, I began by saying that since we had been an hour late at the congregation last night, I figured that being an hour early tonight just evened things out. The service lasted for an hour and a half. My sermon occupied about 30 minutes. Then there was a question and answer session. I think they would have asked questions till midnight, but someone made them stop and we came home and finished dinner about 9:45. I was weary. I have a day off preaching today. I am going to that funeral and it is about time for Brother Aynudare to be here, so I should sign off.
I Love you all and miss you. I am beginning to question my sanity for agreeing to go on to Uganda. Home is seeming nice even though my wife said that the temperature there was 1 degree last night when I called. But go to Uganda I will, but I miss you all.
John

Wednesday January 14, 2009

2009-01-18T14:00:00.000-08:00

Today has been a day of good things and frustration. In case you are interested the power is still out. There is a dense evening smog hanging over the city from all the automobiles and generators that are running. I was at an office building and saw an enormous line of generators each running a floor of the 20 story building or perhaps just individual offices.
My frustration was in not being able to talk with the family and struggling with the internet too. The internet café is slooooow, however brother Ayundare says that it is the fast one in town. I really wanted to upload the singing I have managed to record but the files are just too big. I think I managed last nights blog, but it was an hour of frustration. Their main server failed once and the power to the monitors failed a second time in an hour and this is the good spot. I will quit complaining for it is precious little to complain about. I will concentrate on getting the blog and a few pictures uploaded as I can and the music may have to wait till I can find a fast way to upload, probably at home.
I taught classes this morning for about 50 or 60 people. They asked me to teach about how to tell when an example is binding. The class lasted for 3 and ½ hours. That is a lot of talking in the heat. (Brother Ayundare is threatening about Calabar where I will be two weeks from now. It is closer to the equator and he says it is too hot there for him.) It was a good class and we closed out with considerable argument about the war/capital punishment question. I am not sure how we got there but everyone seemed to enjoy having their say. We ended heartily.
I spoke this evening at the challenge road congregation. Brother Ayundare’s automobile, which he is going to use next week in transporting Keith needed repair and the repairs lasted longer than he expected so he was very late. In fact he sent his son and we traded drivers on the way to church. It also seems that there had been some confusion over just when the church met. In short we were an hour late. They were all still there singing. I explained that the nice thing about having Brother Ayundare drive was that I could blame everything on them. I spoke for 30 minutes. They did not want to stay any longer than that. This sermon also was translated in Yoruba. They all say I talk to fast and have a funny accent. “Imagine that”, I tell them, “I was just thinking the same thing about you”. I decided to quit reading the scripture in English. They all understand Yoruba And I was the only one that I was really reading for. The double reading was just slowing me down. It seemed to work better.
I thought that I would mention a couple of other things. I had heard several years ago that our ordinary grape juice was not imported here. So far the congregations here in the cities use, sparkling grape juice which looks like a wine bottle it is grape juice with CO2 added for bubbles. It had an odd taste but it worked. I was told that even further in the interior they cannot get this product and many of the churches use wine.
In their singing the song leader rather than giving the pitch will go and sing by himself about one line of the song in a restrained voice so that everyone is on the same page. Then they all back up and start the song together. It works well. It does not seem like a bad idea and they are terrific natural singers
I talked with Brother Ayundare today. I had noticed that he walked with a limp and I did not want to intrude by asking him about it. For some reason it came up in conversation and he told me about it during lunch. Robbers broke into his house about 7 years ago and stole money from him. They thought they were breaking to the home of a police official. They wanted his gun and when they found out that he was a preacher they apparently shot him in the leg out of irritation.
He made it to the hospital in about 10 minutes with his brother driving and saved his life, but he had a staph infection and the leg would not heal. He finally came to the States for about 3 months of treatment here and recovered, thus the limp. All 7 men who broke into his house were caught that night. Three months later they were sentenced to be executed. The day before they were to be executed they were each brought to his home to identify them. He said there are none of them alive now. “The way of the transgressor is hard.”
I will be teaching tomorrow on Premillenialism in the class. None of the things I had planned to preach have I preached. They have asked for other things and I have tried to oblige. Then again I will preach at another congregation tomorrow evening. I cannot remember which one. Friday, Brother Ayundare said he was to preach a funeral about an hour away and asked if I wanted to go. I will go with him. Saturday morning early we will go to Ile-Ife and change partners and we will head to Benin City a very long drive. Keith will go to Warri. We are not going Friday night because it would crowd the folk that are keeping Keith too much.
I am waiting to 10 PM my time to call my family tonight so let me tell you a couple of things I have considered.
In the United States one of our unofficial rules in churches is that the preacher ought to receive in pay something approaching an average of the rest of the church. Its not official, but its there. In the US it generally works.
However, if we try to apply this rule to Africa or other developing nations it does not work. The poverty level here changes the possibilities. To average the income of the congregations would have the preacher living at the same poverty level. Yet, he needs a car in a city of 8 million. He needs some level of education and some resources for study. These things already put his income toward the top of the congregation where he is. In all likelihood he will not be able to live in the very primitive housing that some of the poor in the church live.
For these reasons, African churches as a whole and perhaps other groups in developing countries (I assume that this country is developing though the citizens deny it and my own eyes do not believe it. It seems to be going back to the stone age. And the folk here tell me I am seeing the good part.)They are simply not able to support their preachers. I have encouraged the young students I am encountering to get a job in addition to preaching. Yes, they have fairly large congregation, but they are very poor congregations. It would be well for US congregations who have seemingly and largely abandoned Nigeria for more baptism somewhere else to remember other things than baptisms. Baptisms ought not be the goal in these situations. Healthy churches are the goal. Nigeria is fighting for its life against Institutionalism. We do not need to throw money unadvisedly at this situation or any other. Yet, we do need to support capable men who can carry on this fight and save as many of these churches as possible. This would be a wise use of the Lord’s money. We however have the habit of abandoning works when the baptisms slow down or the churches grow large. This is not the time to abandon this is the time to become wiser in helping and be certain to support capable men who can protect the churches against eh encroachments of digression.
I need to get a couple of other things done. I hope that you are reading these things. I always feel like there is so much that I have forgotten during the day when I get here late at night.
I miss all of you.
John

Saturday, January 17, 2009

2009-01-17T16:51:00.000-08:00

Today I arrived in Calabar. The trip was extremely difficult. We (Manny Ebong and myself) left at 8:00 A.M. and arrived in Calabar at 10:30 P.M. The trip was approximately 300 miles. The roads were horrible with 3 foot potholes approximately every one-half mile. Let me repeat the roads were horrible.
With Manny's skilful driving...that is going about 80 miles/hour and then hitting the brakes to avoid the numerous pitfalls, we have arrived safely although we are very tired.
There were also approximately 50 stops by armed police over the course of the trip.
The last leg of the trip was in darkness except for the headlights on the car.
I have made Gloria aware of the trip and thus the update.
Hopefully, this week I will have time and opportunity to post some of the events of the past week. I have written each day but have not had the means to pass it along to you. I would love to get some pictures to you but am not sure of that.
My phone calls have been very limited. I am told that all is well with everyone there and am thankful for that.
Thank you for your concern and prayers.
More later.
John/G.W.

Tuesday, January 13,

2009-01-14T06:04:00.000-08:00

I am really tired tonight. I am hoping that Brother Sunday Ayundare brings me a telephone to call home. I did not completely understand him as he left tonight. He may not bring it until tomorrow.
They are suggesting all new topics for me each day that they are intentested in so I am having to study hard each evening to get ready for them. I spoke for three hours this morning on the work and support of a gospel preacher. There was a larger number at the class. I suppose that there may have been fifty preachers there. They come from all over the city and the countryside. They seemed to appreciate what we said.
They are feeding me too well. The meals take a lot of time. And with the heat I am not as hungry as at home where I am trying to keep up strength to maintain myself against our winters (at least that is my excuse).
After lunch brother Ayundare took me to an internet café, where I could finally get online. I hope that some of the things I sent actually made it back to you. The computers were very slow. I tried to send some of the singing, but I think that failed each time. Perhaps the blog got there and a few pictures.
The power is still out in the city. Brother Ayundare said that it had come on last night for about 2 hours. The amazing thing is that there does not appear to be outrage. The press in America would be ravaging any authority that let this continue without explanation. Even the internet chat room I was in and which was on generator failed while I was there. That made it doubly frustrating. After 3 hours preaching and an hour scowling at a slow moving computer, I knew I need to rest. I rested for 30 minutes and my ride arrived.
I spoke this evening at the Kobe congregation. The sermon was translated and short as I cut out about 10 minutes of the sermon because translating was going to be too difficult. They seemed to appreciate it. The church is about 120 strong and there may have been seventy there as most do not arrive till about 15 minutes after start. This may have been the poorest congregation I have been with though I must admit that I am no judge of these things here, but the neighborhood seemed very poor. The people though were dressed in that beautiful colorful style that constitutes a distinctive native appearance and is most colorful and renders them in the most favorable light possible.
All these brethren use considerable loudspeakers. Tonight’s though made it harder for me to hear and were a little grating. Perhaps they were not tuned well or perhaps I was tired. They were so gracious.
One mother came up to me carrying a little child. I put my hand out to say hello and pat him on the arm. He screamed like the devil itself was after him and would hardly be consoled. I may have been the first white man he had seen. As we drive about town, I do see several pointing that I am noticeable as a white man. They are not unkind, but simply find it remarkable. I remember the same silly fascination as a child when I first met a black man. Some people never get over it.
I continue to be amazed at the kindness and congeniality of the congregations. Living in obvious difficulty and poverty, they maintain life and their composure with grace and kindness. Rather than my helping them with teaching they have helped me with an example of godliness.
There was more I wanted to say but I am weary and I do not believe he is bringing that phone. The poor contact with my family is a frustration. I love and miss you all. Gloria sent me an email while I was on line saying all was well. All is well here too tonight.
John

Monday, January 12, 2009

2009-01-13T07:38:00.000-08:00

This is Manny Ebong, with his wife Blessing and son Joel.

It is evening . I am in Ibadan. The brethren have put me into a small hotel for the week.
The city is blacked out with no power for two days. This is not unusual. I am told that they are often without power for as much as 5 days and that the situation is getting worse. This is a city of 8 million people. The congestion and poverty is appalling. It is harder here to drive through the streets for the street peddlers who often block the roads and the beggars who come up to the cars. The poverty is amazing. I am told that the electric power decline and the lack of service on the roads is only getting worse. I am also told that the decay in the infrastructure is a direct result of graft and corruption at every level of the government. It is amazing that these very beautiful people do not rebel. In the midst of this squalor, corruption. Graft and poverty there is an amazing civility.
I spoke for three hours this morning at the Challenge Road church where Ezekial Akinyemi preaches. The church is training about 12 young men as preachers. Several preaching brethren around the city help with classes for these men. Brother Akinyemi is a dignified man about 70 years old held in the greatest respect around here. I spoke on the history of the church in the United States and mentioned that it paralleled almost exactly the history of the church in Nigeria, with Nigeria being only 30 to 40 years behind the United States in its current development and division of brethren over institutional issue. Of course the Nigerian Brethren are fighting a more virulent form of institutionalism which argues that there is no pattern at all in these areas of the churches work, where our fight was with brethren who argued that there was some Biblical pattern or support for there notions. These brethren are also operating a full-blown missionary society, whereas most conservative brethren among the institutional camp in the US would oppose this. I might also add that morally there is great difficulty with these American brethren because they are teaching African preachers to turn a blind eye on polygamy in a “Don’t ask, Don’t tell“ policy. Apparetnly the idea is just keep the five wives you have now and don’t get any new ones. It may sound funny in America, but it is not funny over here with large congreagations of as many as 1000 souls made up largely of polygamists. I might also add that in the Nigerian situation there will apparently be no debates on the subject as those taking the position avoid contact and refuse direct discussion.
In the evening I spoke at the Eleyelle congregation in Ibadan. There were about 70 present. They have almost 160 on Sunday. It was my first experience at having my teaching translated into Yoruba. This is the language of most of these folk in the west of Nigeria and is the name of their ethnic group or tribe. They were kind and seemed to receive the lesson well.
I am very impressed with brother Sunday Ayundare. He is a profound Bible student and a great source of Godly strength for this area and nation. I wish you could meet him. I will tell you more about him later. It is late at night here and I must wrap this up soon and get some sleep. I arise early tomorrow for another series of classes, but I have already done the study for them.
Brother Manny Ebong and Keith Sharp have traveled about an hour further east to Ife. They are staying with George Ebong (No relation) Brother George Ebong has been riding the fence for a bit on the subject of institutionalism receiving support from the World Bible School group. Keith is happy that he is returning to the truth. Keith, whom I spoke to briefly this evening by telephone, says that he had about 20 for his classes there which disappointed him. He had many more in past years. He took the shift as a sign that the speed of division between brethren was increasing.
I am fine personally. The brethren have put me into an inexpensive (I trust) hotel, because of their concerns about the electrical problem. The hotel has a generator. It broke today, but was fixed this evening and running well. They also have running water, not hot, just running. I am not suffering, just amazed . I wish my son Joshua could be here. He needs to meet these people and see this part of life.
I am very tired. I must stop, but there is more I want to say. Perhaps it would be better for me to wait and let those thoughts ferment a bit.
john

Sunday, January 11, 2009

2009-01-12T15:39:00.000-08:00

The first two pictures show the church in Lagos

This is the first that I have been able to write. There is so much that I want to say. Much of it is culture shock from being here but much of it is good. Let me begin by saying that for me personally already the trip was a very good thing. Whether we can accomplish anything is still to be determined. I still feel woefully unqualified for this and I must study tonight in order to prepare for tomorrows classes and efforts.
I arrived safely Friday night about 9 PM. This was only about an hour behind schedule. My baggage was fine and the trip was fine, although long. I was sick when I got on the plane, with a 102 degree fever and “dysentery” which I did not get in Africa. I am fine now. Brother Manny Ebong, the son of a renowned preacher here, met me at the airport, along with his wife, Blessing. Brother Ebong preachers at the Victoria Street church here and along with them was a brother, Pieter Obentey. I am really having trouble with names. He preaches at another church in Lagos and publishs a small Quarterly magazine. I may publish some of his/their writings. It is good. They are in a fight with institutionalism up to their necks.
Keith Sharp was supposed to be about an hour behind me on another flight, but had missed connections. We did not know this and so waited till midnight outside the airport in Lagos for news. We gave up. The streets and roads of Nigeria are very dangerous after dark. In the cities there are robbers and on the roads between cities there are armed gangs of bandits that operate after dark. We met a roadblock of drunken policemen - AK 47s seem to be the weapon of choice. Owning weapons privately is illegal here, so only the police and criminals have them. We got by the roadblock, but it was a little nerving.
The cities are a shambles by my standards. It is almost beyond description. No American should dare to talk about infrastructure until they have seen Lagos and Ibadan. Lagos is really a collection of cities of about 16 million people and Ibadan is about 60 miles north with about 8 million citizens. This living is in absolute chaos. The main roads are in terrible repair with shanties selling alongside superhighways. Truckstops and miles long areas that take up half the highway from truckers parking on them. This next statement - I mean absolutely in anyway you care to take it - There are no driving laws. No speed limit. No sense of yield No certain notion of lanes and no real sense of yield. Motorcycles are everywhere and pedestrian traffic, Heavy pedestrian, traffic mingles with the cars and cycles. If you can drive here without killing someone you can drive anywhere in the world. I cannot.
The electric service is only on for a few hours a day and goes out throughout the city for no apparent reason. As I write this now in Ibadan I looked across the entire city and it was dark. Everyone who can afford them, has both a large and a small generator. The streets are narrow with open sanitary sewers on both sides of the road and are lined with shanty shops selling everything you can imagine. There are thousands of broken down yellow vehicles, that resemble VW buses, and little Tricycle vehicles painted yellow that are taxis and buses. They are dangerous, rapacious, and did I mention dangerous.
I stayed with brother Ebong and his family in their apartment. Their apartment building, along with every apartment building in the city, has a gated wall around it. Not only that, a larger area that Brother Ebong did not describe well has a wall around that section of the city and it is closed with iron gates and porters. Brother Ebong says this has improved life a bit for him. Previous to this outer wall roving bands of gunman would surround a block with AK47s and begin banging on the doors demanding money or they would break into the houses. There was no police protection so payment was made.
I have not been able to get on the internet primarily because there is no electricity. I have to save the batteries in my computer and I do not want to use the expensive means brother Ebong used to communicate via email. I think I sent one brief note to the family.
I have moved to Ibadan. Brother Sunday Ayundare is my contact here. I will be teaching classes tomorrow at the Challenge Road congregation here in town where brother Ezekiel Akinyemi preaches (these spellings are probably not correct., I will Try to do better. They have put me into a hotel for the week here, lest I break down they said, and because there is no electricity. I am not having trouble with the heat, I am not breaking down, but this morning’s worship was very emotional for me. These two are great men over here whom I have heard of for many years.
But I have digressed and need to go back. We made several trips to the airport. Keith had missed his connection in London. We waited for the morning British airways flight in vain on Saturday. My wife forgot to pack my more formal shirts, so we went to an area of town where such things are sold. My size in Africa is not always available. Keith finally arrived on the Kenyan Airways flight. He was routed through Nairobi, Kenya and then on to Logos. This is 2000 miles out of the way. His luggage did not make it. This forced the cancellation of our trip to Ibadan on Saturday.
Brother Ebong lives in a flat in Lagos with his 3 children. He also had his sister Elsie who recently had surgery for a large Cyst and is still recovering. Blessings, sister Mfan (pronounced fawn with just a slight hint of the m) is also there. They have also taken under their wing and are helping with the education of another young woman who is about 20. It was crowded. They of course made me comfortable and generously, but it had to be a major upheaval for them. The temperature was in the 90s with a 95% humidity rate. There was no steady electricity and no running water till the last day. The women carried buckets of water up two hard flights of stairs without complaint, though they were glad when the tap came back on and I suspect were glad when we finally left and they could get back to normal.
They live together happily and harmoniously. Indeed of the people I have seen they are all remarkably civil in personal conversation with great politeness. There is a beauty in their speech and demeanor that is absolutely charming with noting that the sarcastic hardness that pervades so much of America. How they live in the situations they survive is impossible for me to imagine, but they do live and with amazing harmony n the middle of bedlam and failure by government to provide basic services for the people. For all the amazing cacophony (they honk their horns a lot while driving. I can hear them on the highway now) they are happy, pleasant, devout as a people, and extraordinarily civil.
I am greatly impressed by brother Ebong. He has begun a new congregation a Victoria Street. He cares passionately about that church and the churches throughout his country. I would love to have him come to American and preach. He would live so much better there, but what a hole He would leave in Lagos and Nigeria itself. He is not well supported. He is barely getting by and there are many other men who are struggling even worse. I will perhaps return to this later, but here is what I see tonight. There are large churches in Nigeria, and according to American standards they should be self-supporting. But these are not American standards. Americans have moved on from the fad of Nigeria to other places where they can get a big bang for their bucks, India, Russia, and the Philippines. Some of this is disgraceful.
Here there are good men fighting the institutional fight we fought years ago and starving while the liberals pump the place full of money. These men are not pleading for money, they will fight alone, but is it becoming that we allow this to happen. Their economy is collapsing. They were formerly an agrarian economy so that it might seem simple for their preachers to have been supported with a few hundred dollars and be happy to get it. (I heard some brethren talking about sending money in those days to Nigeria like it was a good investment. We could baptize a bunch for cheap.) Now it is a different economy and a different fight. These people live in cities now and their expense level is as high or higher than Americans. We still want them for cheap, but they cannot survive this way. There are some other things I want to say, but I want to move on for now.
I met brother Akinyemi who is about 70 years old. He and they all have such a beautiful gift of expression. I listen a lot better than I talk. Keith had been unable to retrieve his baggage till during church services this morning. Consequently they had missed gathering with the church. We hurried over before dark to worship with one of two churches they mentioned. One of them had already finished and the one where brother Akinyemi preaches, Challenge Road, was not meeting that night but were meeting “house to house.” (I don’t know exactly what that meant). Brother Akinyemi went on to say that in fact when we had honked at the gate he “was devout”. I assumed that meant he was praying.
When we asked him to speak of a great confrontation that he had many years ago. He smiled gently and said “the words will be sweet in our mouth.” What a wonderful expression.
I went to the Victoria Street church this morning. Keith spoke at the Bible Class and I spoke during the worship service. I will have to describe this. I think I have a few pictures which I will get on if I can. This street was the worst I had been on. They were working on the open sewer and had simply dumped the dirt into the street. It was one lane going both directions. Lined with cars and shanty shops. I think I discovered a pancaked rat just outside the building. It was a portion of the first floor of one of these apartment building. It was about the size of my living room. They put up a tent outside for the children who met for Bible class during the service. There were 230 people there sitting on plain board benches with no back in 95 degree heat and I have no idea where the bathroom was, though I assume there was one.
Yet, they were dressed elegantly. They were beautiful, modestly dressed, both men and women showing absolute respect for the service. And then they sang…….
I have heard the angels sing. Perhaps I once whimsically thought that it might get a little tiresome listening to that heavenly choir throughout eternity. No more. It was absolutely worth the miserable trip and all the expense to be in the middle of them and to have heard that. I had heard that their singing throughout Nigeria was special, but this was amazing. I cried and honestly believed that God had brought me here for this moment to hear this.
I spoke and a few of them were kind to say that I had done well, but it no longer mattered. Most of the functional part of the service, sermon, announcements, prayer, Lord’s Supper, etc were over about 11:35 but they sang till 12 Noon.
It was such an amazing contrast to walk from that absolute filth and squalor into that humble room amid these gorgeously appareled Christians and to have heard them sing. I hope someday to walk from the squalor of this life into heaven and hear the angels sing.
It was worth the trip. I wish you could hear it. I recorded a few partial clips of songs on my computer, but it will not at all do it justice. I miss you all and I have to find something to talk about tomorrow. I still I am not sure I am qualified for this. I hope I do not embarrass myself, but I am glad I came. Brother Ayundare put me up for the week in a hotel in Ibadan. It has a generator which means that there is electrical power. It has running water. A shower will be nice for all involved. However, I am cut off from my family and you all with no phone and internet. I hope I can send this and some pictures and the sound clips tomorrow.
John

Saturday - Lagos, Nigeria

2009-01-10T15:10:00.000-08:00

John called Saturday afternoon and spoke with Gloria. He said that All is well. The people he is with are very nice and enjoyable. Gloria spoke with Blessing…the wife of Manny Ebong (Manny is one of the Nigerian preachers who will be traveling with John). She says she is going to enjoy John as well as everyone else!
John was taken to a real nice Chinese Restaurant by a friend of Manny’s.
Keith Sharp's flight was delayed, and he finally arrived today. However, his luggage has not shown up yet, so they are going to stay in Lagos for worship tomorrow. They have been assured that Keith’s luggage will arrive (from England) by then. They had hoped it would arrive today.
John said that however many million people are living there, they are all on the streets and in the shops. It is very different there and very hot. Not a climate that all can take!
John's white shirts that he had hoped to take on the trip didn't get packed. So, Manny and his wife bartered with a shop owner for some nice white shirts that fit him.
Lord willing, the plan is to travel to Ibadan, Nigeria to begin preaching at the Challenge Road church beginning Monday.
John is continuing to be in our prayers for a safe journey.

The Eagle Has Landed!

2009-01-09T13:21:00.000-08:00

John has arrived safely in Lagos, Nigeria. Phone conversation was brief - but he did say the weather was "warm". Hopefully he will post on this blog soon.

On the way!

2009-01-08T13:17:00.000-08:00

All packed and ready to go. John has left for the airport to start his trip to Africa. Unfortunately, a touch of the flu bug has required some last minute packing of Pepto-Bismol and Imodium. We'll report on his journey as we hear from him.

January 6,2009-Purposes For Trip

2009-01-06T07:15:00.000-08:00

I wrote this recently to try to explain to myself and a few others who were intersted why I am going on this trip to Africa. It will soon appear in Faith and Facts Quarterly

By the time you read this I will already be in Africa preaching there for six weeks. Brother Keith Sharp said that those who were planning on going with him had been unable to go and he would appreciate my going with him. I agreed to go. Our plan is to go to Nigeria and Uganda. There are many churches in Nigeria and much work has been done there. Keith tells me that the churches there are greatly troubled by the influences of institutionalism especially as represented by The World Bible School, its representatives, influence and money. He also says that while there are very capable men there to oppose this doctrine that the preachers there (we will be speaking mostly in classes for preachers)still have considerable respect for Americans (especially white Americans). While regretting this prejudice, I will do my best to teach the truth and to aid the influence of men there who are standing for the truth.In Uganda there is a different situation. There is only one church that I know there and the influence of faithful brethren is very small. We will be teaching preachers there too, but it is much more a building and support situation for largely one principle preacher.
The High School Road church is partially supporting me in this effort and I will be doing my best to provide for extra expenses out of my savings. These trips are very expensive.
Many at the High School Road church and elsewhere have expressed considerable concern about my safety and wisdom for undertaking this trip. I am beginning to feel a bit like Paul headed for Jerusalem.
As I try to explain myself I expect that I will ramble and offer my apology in advance. My thinking here is not in clear outline form.
Interpreting Providence is very hard. I have always functioned on the basis of assuming that the Lord would present opportunities for me to preach and work. I have always felt that it was my obligation to undertake those opportunities presented as I had strength and ability, for to do otherwise might be turning away from an opportunity the Lord had presented. Now this is not a perfect system. I still remember my father laughingly talking about the denominational preach who had been a farmer and saw the initials GPC in the clouds. He thought that it was God telling him to Go Preach Christ. He was perhaps the worst preacher imaginable. His family was starving. One day he was speaking to one of the remaining member of his church, and told the story of his Call. The members reply was “You idiot, He was not saying Go Preach Christ. He was saying Go Plant Corn” Dad loved that one. I might be wrong.
However for now it seems a duty. It is winter, the congregation where I preach has heard me speak for many years. I serve as an elder there and keenly feel that obligation,but there are two other men there who serve as elders, whom I consider extremely capable. My personal business is hibernating. My family is raised and married. My grandchildren are healthy and growing. I have my own health for the moment. My mother and my aunt (for whom I am responsible) and my wife are healthy and will probably get through this time safely without me. Duty seems to compel me. If I did not go and passed the winter here in my usual pursuits, comfortable and at ease, how could I face brother Keith who suffered a heart attack after his last trip? How could I look my children and grandchildren in the face and speak of courage as a Christian? Could I fail simply because I would rather enjoy the comfort of home and hearth and a loving congregation? How could I look at myself in the mirror knowing that perhaps the Lord had worked for me, and I declined? As I spent time enjoying myself through the winter, how could I speak to my Lord, saying “here am I send me” when it seems he tried and I said no? I remember Mordecai dealing with this issue of providence in speaking to Esther. I recommend it to every Christian and every preacher. “For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall there enlargement and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place; but thou and thy father's house shall be destroyed: and who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)
I say those things, as a man who does not travel well anymore. I do not feel well prepared or well suited for this trip. Brother Keith, whose material I have seen and whose sermons I have heard is imminently well suited for this. His clarity of mind, firmness of purpose, and congenial and cosmopolitan attitude seem wonderful. Where he excels I seem the opposite. I do not preach series sermons well and have never found the need to preach steadily on these subjects. I believe I can, but am sure others could do better. Where Keith is welcoming and accepting, I am unsure of the wisdom of this entire arrangement. The men there are eminently suited for their work. I suspect that some of them see American preachers as a contact into American churches as possibilities for support and I have serious doubts about the wisdom of the entire situation. If that contact motive be a point in view I am the wrong man. I have never cultivated this relationship with churches and certainly not with wealthy Christians. I am going there to preach on the autonomy of the local church, which includes to some small degree a sense of self-sufficiency. In addition, Brother Keith is skinny, healthy and a runner. I may well be the chunkiest (I prefer that to alternatives, actually I prefer “massive”) white man in Nigeria.
While I am on a roll here let me say a few words about the expense involved in these trips. WOW!!! The air flights are a major expense. I have seen many brethren hurrying into these places around the world for 2 week stays. Obviously they are spending someone else’s money. If they were spending their own they would stay long enough to make the trip worthwhile. I know it is convenient to get back to the family, but again it is obvious they are not spending their own money and there are churches around them with money to spare. It is hard to imagine how much longer American Churches can afford these very expensive trips over seas in a recessed (I would hate to frighten any one with that other word) economy. At some point brethren will begin more carefully parsing out the reality of good accomplished to tens of thousands spent on these junkets. At some point in our conversation I mentioned to Brother Keith that it was a serious concern to me to think of how badly the congregation where I preach may need this money in a year or two. I am not a prophet, but I think anyone could see a crisis in the economy becoming more serious throughout the summer. The gospel needs to be preached, but throughout the world where there are capable native preachers in a flourishing church situation, we will have to carefully consider the wisdom of monies spent. In other words, this time of free and easy, inexpensive travel throughout the world may be ending. This may be my last opportunity in terms of my own age and the expense involved. I pray that the utility of the trip will be worth this effort.
Yet, I have heard about this work all my life. As a young man just beginning to preach I heard about Leslie Diestlekamp and Sewell Hall and others who had gone to this strange country in Africa. I talked with brother Diestlekamp and listened in amazement to his stories about preaching there. I could relate them here, but if you lived through the same period, you probably heard them too. He spoke of preaching on the streets in the evenings and the gathering crowd. He spoke of never offering an invitation but often finding that someone would speak with him wanting to be baptized. I remember especially one letter from him as I considered working in an African nation and asked for his advice. I decided not to go at that time, but I cried over his letter. I believe that I still have it.
These churches grew and prospered. There are now hundreds of churches and preachers. Many of these churches are large and prosperous. They have survived a bitter civil war that kept Americans out of the country for almost 14 years. They fought ungodly men in the church who created a national Church of Christ to control the influence of truth and keep faithful Americans out. The opportunity to see this work that was planted and grew to such success during my lifetime is certainly something that I cannot pass up.
I am not a particularly good traveler. I have come home seriously sick from two of my latest efforts. There was a time as a young man when ambition still pushed in me, that I relished the chance to travel and preach in meetings. Now my home congregation, filled with love, purpose and friends seems awfully tempting. I Remember Thoreau’s words, “I have traveled much in Concord.” I can do just fine with home too.
I spoke with my wife the other day and told her that I was made ashamed a bit by the Lord. Think what he gave up to come to this backwater world. Could I not face risk as he faced risk? Where he was supremely qualified for his task, I am unsure and feel unqualified, but since I feel that duty is enjoined could I fail Him? If there are others who would do better, sadly they are not willing or able to go, perhaps he can use me. He could use Moses who said he was not too good at it either. He could use fisherman and his bitterest enemy as apostles. Maybe he can find a use for me, which I personally cannot conceive.
I will try to be as honest as I can when I return home in telling you the story of this wonderful group of churches and this corner of the Lord’s kingdom.
When I can reach the internet over there, I will try to update with pictures, maps and a travelogue of sorts on Facebook on the internet. I do not know how often that will be.

2009-01-06T06:58:00.000-08:00