Determination…

Yesterday I was reviewing with one of my students and he mentioned that some people are at a disadvantage.

I asked, “What do you mean?”

“Some of us,” he continued, “have trouble reading because we weren’t schooled.”

I didn’t understand so I asked him to explain and he shared his story…

“I didn’t even finish primary 4 (basically 4^th grade in the US). There was a war at the time so I entered the army.” After serving 7 or 8 years he came home to his village. Not long after that a female missionary came to town and under her witness he converted to Christianity. And soon thereafter God called him to pastoral ministry.

“How, Lord, I am not an educated man?” A determination arose from deep within to gain the education that he lacked. Nigeria has the equivalent of what we call in the US the GRE; it is a test when passed gives a person a certificate of passing secondary school (high school in the US). One difference is that he did not have access to any kind of preparation classes. So my student began talking with people asking them for help…

“How do you pronounce this? What does that mean? and so on.” Basically he educated himself through the content of secondary school.

“Seven years I took the test, seven times I failed. But each time I discovered something else I needed to learn. I still have the seven failure slips in my home. I knew God called me. I was determined, by God’s grace to learn. The eighth time I passed!”

And this summer I am teaching him in his final M.Div. class… an incredible story of determination and dedication.

I don’t know how long the Lord will allow him to labor on this side of eternity… I pray it is long and fruitful.

I also hope there are video recordings in heaven because I would love to watch the broad smile on our Lord’s face grow as Jesus welcomes my friend into heaven with the words, “Well done, WELL DONE, good and faithful servant. Enter into My happiness!”

A different start to the day…

I have developed a morning routine that gets me going each day. I don’t mean to bore you but it generally goes like this. I wake between 6 and 6:30 and quietly sneak out of bed and go out the main part of the house which is quiet and still. Everyone else sleeps a bit later.

I head to the stove and heat two tea kettles filled with water. While the kettles are heating I fill the water purifier so that we maintain a ready supply of clean drinking water. When the kettles sing and the water boils, I fill to ordinary thermoses with the boiling water, plus there is enough for a cup of tea for me. (These thermoses will keep the water quite hot throughout the day and even into the next morning if they are full!)

Often there remains some hot water in one of the thermoses which I use for making oatmeal. I measure out the oatmeal and water and just let it sit until I am ready.

With my steeped tea, I walk over to the couch or table, wherever there is more light and I sit and read my Bible. Often I get 30 or more minutes before people begin stirring or I need to shower for the day.

By 7:30 or so I head for a shower. Thankfully we have had NEPA every night but one so there is hot water for the shower. (Only NEPA, electricity, can run the water heaters… no NEPA no hot shower!). Then 8-ish I cook the oatmeal and enjoy breakfast with my family and others.

The Fretheim house is what Susan calls the “Community Tree,” it is a gathering place for the house help and others. It is not uncommon to have 2 or 3 Nigerians around the table for breakfast, and this is becoming more and more common as the help become comfortable with us. It is because of the “Community Tree” that I make 2 thermoses of hot water and 4-5 servings of oatmeal.

Lately, I have been thinking not so much about the “Community Tree” portion of my morning but rather the early time before others gather… My mornings here start at a much slower pace, I ease myself into the day… a little time while I boil the water to serve my family and just think, muse, often pray about little things coming later in the day or my family or just “be.” This leads to the tea and Bible reading, again just being with God.

The last week or so I read Job and Ecclesiastes… typically these are books that I endure as I read through the Bible, but last week they came alive to me in a new way. I have been wondering is my easing into the day allowed me to listen better? I am not sure about this, but it feels right.

Now don’t get the impression that my days continue at some ‘relaxed pace’… teaching is rigorous and then there is meeting with students and grading papers and prepping for the next day and lots of family and other stuff to do. My days are just as full as back in CT and with some of the inconveniences, even more full in some ways… But I am finding that there is a different rpm within my life… a pace that allows me to see God and connect with God more so that my life back home…

I am wondering if my easing into the day, rather than jumping out of bed at 6-6:30 and being at the gym within 30 minutes exercising my body has something to do with the God connections I am seeing?

I won’t know for sure until I return home… the issue I am wrestling with is should I change my morning routine to allow for more easing before I step onto the cross trainer and exercise?

Thought anybody??? You comments are welcome…

More Driving in Nigeria…

I have seen more accidents this trip than ever before. In fact I had never seen an accident here. Well that has changed, I’ve seen a couple. Last week I watched as one chabba driver swerved onto the roadway right into another chabba. The swerver and his passenger were up-ended. Fortunately, I don’t think anyone was hurt. The other chabba was unaffected and kept on driving. What amazed me is that the swerving driver began crying out in Hausa, so I don’t know exactly what he was saying, but it was clear that he thought the other driver was at fault…???

And then Monday, a rainy morning as Danjumma was driving me to JETS all of a sudden there was a thud… so chabba driver didn’t see us braking for traffic in front and drove right into the back of our car. No damage to the car and as a passenger I heard much more than I felt so it was no big deal. Yet on the other hand it was a poignant reminder of what driving is really like here in Nigeria.

Dark and cold…

Today Wednesday, June 17^th, is the second dark and cold morning this week. I was not expecting this weather. When I wake in the morning it is dreary and dark, so much so that I need either a candle or a flashlight to read. And as the workers show up they are bundled up with hats and fleeces and jackets.

Now when I say cold, everything is relative, temperature wise maybe it is 60’s. I don’t have a thermometer so that is a guess. Now 60’s isn’t cold for me, but I can tell even after only 3 weeks that it is cool. And Monday, the rains brought a cold front, so much so that I woke in the middle of the night and found a blanket for the bed because it was cold to sleep.

Please don’t hear this as a complaint… these cool mornings are a lovely break from the high sun and temperatures. And the rain that comes with them is a welcome sight for the locals because they still need the rain. And there is something nostalgic reading by candle light… Life is good!

Simple things…

I remember growing up a Disney animated movie called the Jungle Book. Baloo, a big friendly bear, sings a song, “O the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities…”

I am constantly amazed at the “simple bare necessities” that are hard to come by here. When I arrived I checked out my room… it has a big whiteboard (which is ripped lengthwise down the middle but it works). I bring whiteboard markers because I have learned if I don’t bring them I won’t have them. Checking out my room I was one of the fortunate ones, I had a whiteboard eraser. Unfortunately day two when I came in to clean off the board to put up my information for the day, my eraser was gone! What was I gong to do?

I asked students and they had no idea where one would be. I went to the Administrative Block and asked the secretary in the Provosts and the Academic deans offices where I might find one… no idea? I was at a loss and I needed to clean the board. As I wandered the Administrative Block, I spied a trash can; forgive me but I gently rummaged at the top and there were two napkins. Glancing quickly down the hall I grabbed the napkins and marched triumphantly back to my room.

This small gift is not quite on par with God providing Abraham a ram instead of having him sacrifice Isaac, but to me it was still a gift of God. Thank you, Lord for providing.

Bathrooms…

Given my previous blog, there is little surprise that I would pay attention to bathrooms. (I hope these ‘bodily’ blogs aren’t too much for everyone.) Where we are living we enjoy the bless of fully functional bathrooms. In fact our home here in Nigeria has 3 full bathrooms! I mean this is the lap of luxury.

But bathrooms are never a given here. I have not visited any churches, for example, that have bathrooms. Hey that’s simply a fact of life here. Susan has learned that she goes to the bathroom before she leaves our home, no matter where we are going, because it is highly likely that where we are going will not have one.

It is at times like these I am glad that I am male, once I get past the modesty issue, I can adjust to going outside some where. For the first time every I had to do that here where I teach. It was chapel hour so that my usual bathroom, in the library, was unavailable. They close the library during chapel. After finding the library closed, I scoured the Administration Building for a functioning bathroom. I found one, but the stalls were locked (??), I don’t know why but I wasn’t about to find out why either… so I resorted to the out-of-doors. I wandered behind the chapel in an area that was fairly secluded and …

I confess I felt uncomfortable doing that, but nature was calling and I had little choice. Culturally it is not a problem. I cannot tell you how many times I have been driving or walking the streets when I see a man facing a wall doing his business. I am still uncomfortable with it, but…

Susan has friends who were missionaries in a more rural area of Nigeria, who when they come home on furlough had a few rules they needed to impose upon their children. One of the rules: you cannot go outside the church building and go to the bathroom against the wall! In the US churches have bathrooms!

Well I continue to be uncomfortable with this relieve yourself where ever you are mentality, but when there are no bathrooms it is a fact of life. Like I said, I am glad I am a male!

One more bathroom detail, bring toilet paper! Even when I have found a bathroom I have never seen toilet paper. In fact outside of our or other missionaries homes and maybe a hotel, I have never seen TP in a bathroom. As I think about it I have never seen a TP holder either! Now I have no idea what people do (and I am not going to ask)! I have simply learned have some TP with you, wherever you go!

Have a great day and next time you walk into your bathroom take a moment to appreciate what you have. Many maybe even most in the world do not have one.

The Revenge Hits…

One of the factors that you get used to as we have traveling to Nigeria yearly is the eventually coming of the REVENGE… Right now three of the four of us on this trip have unsettled stomachs (a polite way of expressing our problems) and frequent trips to the bathroom. Actually I was surprised that we have been here two full weeks before it hit. On previous trips it came at the latter end of week one.

One member of our group had it for a few days so she reached for the Cipro. I anticipate her feeling better later today. The other two of us are attempting to determine if it will go away on its own or if we too need Cipro. The next day or two will determine that.

I have learned that on trips like this, bringing a prescription of Cipro for each person is very wise. This is my third year coming to Nigerian and I have yet to bring any Cipro home, at some point during the trip, no matter how careful we are we seem to get some ‘bug,’ and a good antibiotic is needed to combat the problem (not merely control the symptoms).

I am so thankful for the medications we have available to us… may the REVENGE pass quickly…

Ahhh… the joy of a shower

The other day NEPA (electricity) was shining brightly in all the homes around ours, but not in ours. Something was broken in our NEPA connection. On the one hand this is really no big deal, we are used to it. And we have our backups, we have a small and large generator. The generators work well, but one thing generators cannot do is run anything with a heating element. And this means when we are living off the generators we have no hot water. So the other day with no NEPA, we had not hot water. Oh I was able to wash up with a ‘sink-shower’ but it is not the same as standing under a stream of flowing warm water… ahhh.

Well Mark (our fix-it guy) came the next day and fixed our NEPA connection and sometime during the day as we worked NEPA came on for a little while, and as NEPA flowed the water in our water tanks heated. When I came home, I learned that NEPA had been on and my first thought… you guessed it, a SHOWER. And that is just what I did. Before dinner, before visiting and catching up with everyone about their day, I took a delightful hot shower… suds-ing my dirty, sweat-covered body. Ahhh it felt great, a simple pleasure after a long day.

Back home I rarely, if ever, react joyfully to a shower. But on this trip, little things that I take for granted back home often come to me as a gift, a blessing, a joy. Ahhh the joy of a shower.

Natural alarms…

Well one of the things we have all had to get used to is all of the ‘natural’ alarms, by this I particularly mean CHICKENS and ROOSTERS! If I am stirring I might hear the Muslim call to prayer around 5 am, but assuming I sleep through that about 6 am the ROOSTERS start. I feel like I am living in “green acres.” And because we leave our windows open to let any breeze that might be blowing in it sounds like the ROOSTERS are right next to the bed! And shortly after the roosters the noises of life begins. Our neighbors right over the compound wall are u with the roosters and pots and pans begin clanging and voices begin talking… I give up it is time to get up!

So far my alarm was only needed one night… our first since then God’s natural alarms have been all I needed.

The one thing none of us have figured out is this, “Why if we go to bed around say 9 or 10 are we so tired when we get up around 6:30 or 7:30-8:00 for those who are able to roll over and return to sleep?

Missionaries are normal people…

We have enjoyed a number of evenings eating meals with short-term and long-term missionaries in Jos. the number one thing I have learned is that missionaries are normal people! If you were to meet them on the streets of your town you could not distinguish them from anyone else in your town. They are normal people…

Some are single, some newly-wed, some married with children. Their kids are regular kids, good some moments and needing correction the next. The adults have struggles just like I do and just like you do… they are normal is everyway that I can see.

I used to think that missionaries were spiritual giants… that they walked a little above the earth. That somehow the things I struggle with as I try to live faithfully to Jesus they didn’t struggle with because they are super-spiritual… NO SO.

Missionaries are every bit as human and regular people as I am and you are. I have met some who are generally positive people and some who appear generally negative people… hmmm just like home. I have met some who prefer western style of worship and others who like African style (sounds a lot like traditional hymn vs. contemporary back home). Some who are lax parent and others who are strict… My examples could go on and on…

This ahhha (which I should have know but somehow choose to avoid) is giving me a new appreciation for them and how I can be praying for them.

The one difference that I do note is that the missionaries I have met have said, “Okay Jesus, I will live oversees and serve you here in Nigeria.”

Where is the rain…

It has only rained once since we arrived here in Jos. The weather seems much hotter and less rainy than past trips. Everyone feels it. The other day riding with Amos he spoke about his cousins who will be coming to him in Jos from the country. The reason… all the crops they planted this spring have died for lack of rain and they apparently have no where else to turn.

Rain where have you gone? Rain when will you come. The earth is hard and parched. And the rains are important not only for crops, but also to raise the level of the water table so that there is water to last the dry season.

Join me in praying for rain!

PS I didn’t get this posted until Wednesday and yesterday about 3:30 the skies darkened and a downpour erupted. Yes it made it hard to teach, Yes it delayed my ride home by 2 hours, Yes it made traffic a nightmare… but ahhh it was rain, much needed and welcomed rain. Please pray for more rain, regular doses of life-giving rain.

Simpler life but not so easy…

The other night we had dinner with a long-term missionary family and some friends. One couple were new missionaries who arrived less than 2 weeks ago. Prior to that they have visited Jos for only 10 days 3 years ago. It was interesting listening to this aspiring missionary talk about life on the field. His aspirations were for a slower pace of life tat would allow time (he even hinted at much time) to read widely and deeply about the Christian faith.

I don’t at all doubt his intentions, but I wonder if he has an honest assessment of life here in Jos. I found myself thinking but you have a wife, two young children and it takes LOTS of time to get things done. Simple things that are no bother or a snap in the US are not easily fixed here.

It is almost as if God took my thoughts and then accented them in our life here. We have use of the Fretheim house which is a wonderful multi-bedroom well outfitted home with 2 generators, a 12-volt system and NEPA (Nigerian electricity when it is working). We have use of the Fretheim house and ministry staff so we have a cook, cleaning person, drivers and fix-it men when needed (notice I said when not if). So on many levels life is much simpler here. We don’t have to concern our selves with the stuff of life (cooking, cleaning, laundry… if something breaks we tell Amos). And since it is not my home I do not have a ‘to do’ so when I am not busy teaching or preparing I can relax and visit with my family. It is very nice in this way.

But things are never quite what they seem. Saturday for example, everyone in the compound had NEPA, except us. I tried everything but to no avail. So we ran the gen for a little while to make sure the refrigerator was cool and basically lived without electricity. There is something ‘fun’ about living like that for a short while. But no NEPA means no hot water, because even the generator cannot run the water heaters!

Sunday we took quick showers still moderately warm… but no NEPA. A friend stopped by and we discovered, YIKES the ground wire from the pole had snapped! Little wonder either there must have been half-a-dozen splices and repairs in the wire from the pole and the house. Ok no NEPA till Monday when Mark (our fix-it man) comes.

Monday Mark was able to temporarily fix the NEPA, until the power company comes to do the real job (when??? only the Lord knows). A good thing is was fixed our house provides the power for the water pumps on the compound, no pumps no refilling the water storage tanks! Later on Monday since NEPA was off and I needed to print some things for class, I put on the gen just to complete my printing, which I was able to complete. We were going to read as a family for a while when OUT went the lights…. Hmmm? The gen must have run out of fuel, but when I went out to check on it is was running like clockwork. Now we have a bigger problem. I flipped every switch I knew about but no electricity, so I “offed” the generator and will tell the workers in the AM. Like I said, things are never quite as they seem here in Nigeria.

Even with double back up we had no lights or power. Life on the field, life as a missionary in Jos.

PS NEPA did come on Monday night for a couple of hours so we had nice warm showers in the morning… Life is good, God is BEST!

PSS publishing this post took 3 attempts... who knows why? But I did finally figure it out,(I think). As I said, Life is good, God is BEST!

The Community of Faith…

Sitting at the airport waiting for the first flight of our trip I am amazed how the community of faith touches me. At 5 am a driver showed up to take us to the airport. A Christian brother, he loaded all our 11 bags and was delightful along the way Then at the airport the skycap unloaded our 11 bags and carryons, after schlepping them to the agent and weighing everything for us he headed off with a smile and pleasant thank you. As I worked with the ticketing agent, the skycap stopped and asked Susan, “Are you going on a mission trip?”

“Yes” she replied.

“Well, I’ll be praying for you,” came his instant supply. And she had the strong impression that he truly meant it! Yes, unknown brother shows reveals himself.

I am always amazed and encouraged by these little dots of faith that pop up along a journey like ours. I wonder when we will meet our next unexpected touch by God’s grace. I’ll keep my eyes open…

(My hunch is that God is sending touches of grace to us daily all the time, and not only on trips like this…)

Feeling like a pack-mule…

Well we are feverishly getting ready for our 2009 African Adventure; organizing, packing, paying bills, doing house and yard stuff. Life is a whirlwind. One of the interesting aspects about our trip to Nigeria is feeling like a pack-mule! It is so expensive and often unreliable to ship things to Jos that we have been contacted by 4-people (and counting) to schlep stuff across the Atlantic for them. Because I know most of these people, I am glad to do it but I still get to lug 12-50lbs bags and boxes to the ticket agent.

Missionary friends need basic supplies, loved ones want to ship gifts to family or friends in Nigeria, one friend needs some kind of inverter for their solar power system.

All of this makes me realize how good I have it living here in the US. If I need something like ketchup, peanut butter or shampoo, my biggest issue is which big-box store to buy it from. And if I really do need to need to send something to someone I go to the Post Office or UPS and ship it… no worries that it will arrive intact and on time.

Well I gotta get back to packing…

Africa here we come again…

Well it is official, our visas are in hand, and we are setting off in a couple of weeks for Nigeria again this summer. We covet your prayers. I keep writing we… this year we includes my wife Susan, my son Daniel, his girlfriend Alice and myself.

At this point we are inundated with all the “stuff” involved with a 4-week trip to Africa; vaccinations, malaria medications, confirming arrangements for housing & travel from airports, and sooooo much more. Susan is developing contacts with the Care Center Staff, so she can plan how to best help and serve them and the orphans in the care-centers. And as opportunities crystallize she then needs to gather all the necessary supplies. I am busily preparing my homiletics lectures, putting together syllabi and assembling references and materials I will need in teaching. When teaching in Nigeria, it is critical to bring all the supplies you will need because they may not be available in country. The real problem is trying to fit this in and around full-time “day” jobs!

We truly appreciate all your prayers and support…

I hope this blog will help you travel with us on our 2009 African Adventure!