Christmas Day!

A pictorial of how December 25th went for our home...

Of course Christmas eve came first...neighbors/friends came over..a friend gave 2 Turkey's & cooked them for us, as our oven's kinda small....take a look at how that went..


introducing the "spirit's of Christmas present"..


It was also Chloe's 12th Birthday..


some of us enjoying the mini-concert put on by Hendrix & Christina...

Christmas day

up by 10 a.m. (a feat for someone who attempted playing "Secret Santa" till 4 in the morning) for the gift opening..anticipation playing half the excitement..












Last but certainly not least..from one of the kids..
I was actually surprised at how many quality gifts I got...I had gotten everyone in my home a gift, but didn't know I'd get the better gifts...it all comes back...yaaaay!


Jolene with her new tricycle, complete with sunroof...


other happy recipients...


Christmas dinner (in case you hadn't noticed..)


playing "stab-the-olive"....the shirt was my C'mas gift from Abner/Anisa & the tie was from Michelle... "I'd Like to be a Christmas Tree..."



Chocolate Mousse...by Anisa...


Our friend Robert also happens to have his Birthday on Christmas day, so after dinner we went out to his club to "hang"...had a good time & met new friends, bumped into some old friends...




Soho by nite

HAPPY CHRISTMAS..

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!!!

I wish you the very best in love, joy & peace, which is the real meaning of Christmas, as you celebrate Jesus' Birthday & the celebration of salvation that we have through Him...

I thought I'd give you a little Christmas thot via a Christmas story.

What better way to ring in the Christmas spirit...

Much love to all & Happy Christmas,

Brian


took this 1 of Jolene last night....


Dear Admiral McDonald...
Author unknown
Dear Admiral McDonald:
This letter is a year late. Nevertheless, it is important that you receive it. Eighteen people have asked me to be sure to write to you.
Last year at Christmas time, my wife, three boys and I were in France, on our way from Paris to Nice. For five wretched days everything had gone wrong. Our hotels were tourist traps, our rented car broke down, we were irritable and restless.
On Christmas Eve, when we checked into a hotel in Nice, there was no Christmas spirit in our hearts. It was cold and raining when we went out to eat. We found a drab little cafe, shoddily decorated for the holiday.
Only five tables in the restaurant were occupied. There were two German couples, two French families and an American sailor by himself. In the corner a piano player listlessly played. I was too stubborn, too tired, and too miserable to leave.
I looked around and noticed that the other customers were eating in stony silence. The only person who seemed happy was the American sailor. He was writing a letter, smiling to himself.
My wife ordered our meal in French. The waiter brought us the wrong thing. I scolded my wife, she began to cry, and the boys defended her. Then on my left, at the table of one French family, the father slapped one of his children for some minor fault; the boy cried. On our right, the German wife berated her husband.
All of us were suddenly interrupted by an unpleasant blast of cold air. Through the door came an old French flower woman. She wore a dripping, tattered overcoat, and shuffled in on wet, rundown shoes. Carrying her basket of roses she went from table to table. “Flowers?”
No one bought any, and wearily she sat at a table between the sailor and us.
To the waiter she said: “Bowl of soup. I haven’t sold a flower the whole afternoon.” To the piano player she said hoarsely: “Can you imagine, Joseph, ordering only a bowl of soup on Christmas Eve?”
Joseph pointed to his empty tipping plate. The young sailor finished his meal, and got up to leave. Putting on his coat, he walked over to the flower woman’s table.
“Happy Christmas,” he said smiling, and picking out two roses, he said, “How much are these?”
“Two francs, Monsieur.”
Pressing one of the flowers into the letter he had written, he handed the woman a 20-franc note.
“I’ll have to get some change, Monsieur,” she said.
“No ma’am,” said the sailor, kissing the ancient cheek. “This is my Christmas present to you.”
Straightening up, he came to our table, holding the other rose in front of him. “Sir,” he said to me, “may I present this to your beautiful daughter?”
In one quick motion he gave the rose to my wife, wished us a Merry Christmas and departed.
Everyone had stopped eating. Everyone had been watching the sailor. Everyone was sitting in thoughtful silence.
A few seconds later, Christmas exploded through the restaurant like a bomb. The old flower woman jumped up waving her 20-franc note. Hobbling out into the middle of the room she did a jig, shouting to the piano player: “Joseph, my Christmas present! You shall have a feast too!”
With sudden enthusiasm the piano player began to play “Good King Wenceslas,” beating the keys with magic hands, nodding his head to the rhythm. My wife waved her rose in time to the music. She was radiant, looking twenty years younger. The tears had left her eyes. She began to sing and our three sons joined in, bellowing loudly.
The Germans jumped on the chairs and began singing. The waiter embraced the flower woman. Waving their arms, they sang in French. The French man who had slapped the boy beat a rhythm with his fork against a bottle and the lad climbed on his lap. Then the owner of the restaurant started singing “The First Noel,” and we all joined in, half of us crying as we sang.
People crowded in from the street until many were standing. The walls shook, as hands and feet kept time to the rousing Yuletide carols. A few hours before eighteen people had been spending a miserable evening in a shoddy restaurant. It ended up being our happiest Christmas Eve ever.
This, Admiral McDonald, is what I’m writing you about. As top man in the Navy you should know about the very special gift that the U.S. Navy gave to my family, to me, and to the other people in that French restaurant. Because your young sailor had Christmas spirit in his soul, he released the love and joy that had been smothered within us. He gave us Christmas.
Thank you, sir, very much.
(Christmas in the Heart! Part 4 [#050])

Christmas Thots....

The simple irony is that during the time when there's so much to blog about, you can't, cause you're too busy doing all there is to do & you don't have time...



a black dude, Art & Rich at Dantata's yearly Christmas party...don't mind my huge grin, I'm just excited that I'm about to dig into the contents of the pictured plastic plate...I can taste the food again just looking at the pic...mmmmmmm
I've actually really enjoyed going on different people's blogs during this time...again, so much going on..(u have stupidity to thank for the fact that I still can't put the correct links with urls, but just have to resort to spelling out the whole web-site here...

Some random thoughts on Christmas (Introducing the Ghost of Christmas past):

--I wonder if that whole "magical", Christmas feel will be with me every Christmas...
My sister Petra, about 4 years ago or so, told me that Christmas (in the tradition part) was for kids...& that's why she didn't necessarily feel the whole "Christmas spirit" every year now that she's grown (her way of saying "Bah!--Humbug!"...lol..)...but yeah, granted, we have Jesus every day, so I can see her point...
But to me, it's still come every year...as soon as I see the tree go up & I hear the Carols playing, I'm in a different world. I know, I'm rather juvenille for a nearly 28 year old male...but hey...it's fun!--To me, it's an exciting thought that every year Jesus' birthday will be so special for me...

--I've officially concluded that at Christmas especially, giving gifts is funner than getting them...

Kids singing at our Sunday afternoon party for friends & Bible students last Sunday..

Some Christmas snippets I've gathered from near & far (far, mostly)...(you have stupidity to thank for the fact that I still can't correctly post urls here, but have to instead resort to spelling out the whole website for you...)

Nyx Martinez has started up a show troupe with her young siblings...I believe they perform for her LAYA project at the prison....I'm not sure...


Mary & Jolene @ the PW party the other week...

The Iceland team are up to all kinds of winter antics...

You can catch a great pic of my neice (my favorite baby in the universe so far) on Jamez' blog...

Family Care Uganda has been up to a lot with their C'mas show for listeners (250 attendees, I heard)...

The aip for Africa went off the other day (15th). Some of these teens are incredible witnesses...the subscriptions soared...here's the link to our teen blog here...it's still in the "birth" stages...don't expect a lot...

half-empty, or half-full? Trying to look on the bright side of the "low-side" of my Christmas Lager at the PW party earlier this month...

Disclaimer for the pics: No cutting, cropping, adjusting, or anything done on these for this post...during the "Yuletide rush" you get the "shrink & slap-it-on special"...enjoy!

Old Gentleman Gray

Said Old Gentleman Gray, "On Christmas Day,
If you want to be happy, give something away".




So he sent a fat turkey to shoemaker Price,
And the Shoemaker said, "What a big bird! How nice!
And since such a good dinner is now before me,
I'll send the roast I bought to poor Widow Lee."

"This is a fine roast!" said the pleased Widow Lee.
"And the kindness that sent it--how precious to me.
I would like to make someone as happy as I.
I'll send Washwoman Biddy my big pumpkin pie."

"Oh my," Biddy said. "`Tis the queen of all pies!
Just to look at its yellow face gladdens my eyes.
Now it's my turn, I think, and a nice chocolate cake
For the motherless Finnegan children I'll bake."

Said the Finnegan children, Rose, Denny and Hugh,
"Thank you so much, ma'am. How kind of you!
It smells sweet of spice, and we'll carry a slice
To poor lame Jake who has nothing that's nice."

"I thank you and thank you," said little lame Jake,
"For sharing with me your magnificent cake!
And in my basket, I'll save all of the crumbs
And give them to each little sparrow that comes."

And the sparrows they twittered as if they would say,
"We heard the tale from Old Gentleman Gray!
He started it all, saying, `On Christmas Day,
If you want to be happy, give something away.' "


--Author unknown

....btw, have the 12 days of Christmas started?? (scratches head, puzzled...)

Christmas tools!

We got the stock of Christmas CD cards & Christmas kiddie books we'd been praying would arrive....about 500 items in all.--They all went out in 5 days, Hal!

Taking back the claim made earlier that I'd distribute 500 Christmas items on my own. (Do mags & Reflections count?) That ended up being the total number of items sent to us...I think they were short for some reason...my personal (with partners)total for distribution ended up being about 130...

Our friends have been thoroughly enjoying the Christmas CDs & are excited to have quality, meaningful gifts for friends, family etc. We've also signed a personal copy for each of our friends, sponsors, etc. & many have been touched by this simple, yet enjoyable gift.

Many a mag, book, prayer, witness etc. have gone out to thousands for the Christmas time in the last week...Thank the Lord we can help make Christmas special for so many ppl & that we can bring them closer to Jesus on His Birthday...

Merry Christmas!

In earnest...

Granted, events since November have pulled us "Christmasward"...but this week's activities really "thrust" us there fully...

Our Christmas products arrived--we just don't have them yet, as they're sitting in Lagos. (Pray, pls..tx!)

Mary & the kids decorated the tree.

The cultural day & Christmas party for the school went well.

We had a great time partying with our friends & sponsors at PW's (Irish construction company) annual Christmas party...

Enjoy a few snapshots...(now I know why all the Africans say "Snap me!" when they want their pics taken...actually I knew that about 10 yrs ago, but I just wanted to add that here...heh, heh!)


all of us with a friend at last night's party...


Angela, ...don't remember who the guy in the middle is.. , & Simon..

Different groups of kids performing at yesterday's cultural day...

3 scuffs!

I think...ther r probably even mor, ha!

I have to tell you this b4 it gets old...

na-wow for me-o! I am learning an incredibly lot incredibly fast about driving in Nigeria & the what-to-dos & the what-not-to-dos...--real fast!--but maybe not fast enough... read on & c wat I mean!

(not necessarily in chronological order)

scuff 1)

Now as it would be...the embarassing moments only happen when I'm with someone else in the car. The few times that I go out alone, the things a synch (probably cause I'm going somewhere close, or cuz I'm less nervous... go figure).

I was going with Art to do some banking & as we pull in to park, Art goes:

"Oh yes! The parking's real tight here--perfect for u 2 practice!"

"Oh, great!", I thought. I prayed, "Lord send Vigilance to help me not do anything ridiculous" (like get bumped into by a parked car...). So as I was extra-carefully driving into the bank, I had to go around the back to park, (which was basically down an alley way on the side of the little bank, with cars parked on the left & a little squeeze on the right). Made it fine. The available space was in front of the bank's gen.

In Nigeria the security guards most often help you park. So as I'm parking the guard's on my left, in front of me, & motions like "come, come"...& he just kept repeating the motion.

Just as I was wondering if his arm was on "stuck mode", or if the "CD" of his brain was on skip, I simultaneously said to Art, "I never know whether to listen to these guys..." as I tonked straight into the generator. (???!???)
Art had a good little chuckle. Thankfully, he didn't like, point & laugh at me, but I know he was wondering at that moment, if I should even be legally on the road (or parking, n-e-way), or was seriously doubting the clarity of my vision (or prescence thereof).

"Very interesting park job", he said kinda quietly!

I made up some excuse & quickly blamed the security guard, while promising in my mind(& I think out loud) never to listen to those guys for real again....

..Just as well...check out this next bit...


scuff 2)


The same day, about 4 hours later, I was pulling out of another park spot at a mall in Central area...(this story's mainly a lesson in Nigerian English, actually)..

The security guard was doing the motioning thing again....(go figure)
I reminded Art of my "generator-confirmed" decision not to listen to these guys in earnest, as I'm sloooooooooooowly backing up.

I really didn't have the greatest of views, but I knew that I was getting really close..

Next, the guy starts clamly repeating "you're ok"... "you're ok"... "you're ok".. like this...

Now what do any of you think this means? Exactly as I thought! I kept going, as I was "ok".

Next thing he shouts "YOU'RE OK!" & he slaps on the car real hard! Art joins the security guard in the now key-phrase "you're ok", as I now realize that "you're ok", means, "you've gone far enough"--AS IN, STOP!

wow...who would have guessed... I mean, I know I'm dense, but...

so that lesson's down pat.. & the actual miracle in this, is that if I had not earlier that very day, tonked into that gen because of that guard at the bank, I would have carelessly trusted my understanding of "you're ok" at the mall & either smashed a light on, or scratched the little, but new, yellow, Peugeot 406 parked behind me. (little chick car...who knows, might have got me introduced to a lovely Nigerian lady...)

Ha! God got me out of that one in a funny way.....And Art had more to laugh at!

"I'm ok!" (btw)

third scuff later...

C'mas wish-list!

(took this 1 at a Catholic Church my aunt took me to in Conyers, Georgia. April, 07)


In this case, they're not only wishes.

Here is what I am going to (by faith and God's grace) accomplish this Christmas
(now for us, our team's Christmas season officially started in the middle of November, so let's hope I've already done some of these things):

--Do my part to lead at least 30 ppl to Jesus this Christmas (my cut of 100 souls for home goal)

--Get out 750 Christmas books & CD/VCD cards before the 20th of December. (this was an unspoken (yet somehow said) pact between Richard & myself who vowed to get out the entirety of our home's proposed 1500 Christmas products between the 2 of us this season--of course, the reality is that everyone will help & my total of actual products out, will more likely be around 500)

--Subscribe about 10 ppl to the activated magazine (roughly my portion of our homes 50 subscriptions goal for the Christmas season, divided by the about 5 main outreachers).

--Organize a Christmas fellowship for our small group of 12 FS students.

--Conduct an aip wrap-up/visitation for the young people homes neighbouring Nigeria (which should involve between 7 & 10 days in Ghana & Togo).

--Somehow find Christmas gifts for the ppl in my home (scratches head wonderingly).

--Succesfully find sponsors 2 stock the gift bags I'm helping prepare for our fun day with toys, snacks &/or clothing items, school supplies, drinks, etc.

Said fun day's venue also needs canopy & chairs, sound system & DJ, entertainers if we can manage & of course, drinks for all...
The event is the Saturday after this on, on the 8th of December. Pls. pray that it will go smooth as it could, sponsors & friends attending, plenty of gifts for the kids & the best Christmas witness we could give them.


TTL, half of these goals have already been met, including a good portion of the needs for the fun day already allocated/promised. I'm so excited about this program for what reason I can't quite figure. The Christmas party I helped the team in Lagos conduct was about the funnest thing I did last Christmas (& I holidayed at a 4 star hotel, all meals included for a week).
The immediate reward of seeing the joy & fun that comes out of these kids when we take time to make their Christmas special--basically give them a good C'mas, is unprecedented...some people bungee for rushes, I like to do fun-days & special events for village children, orphans, etc.--Bible studies & helping build vocational training centers for hospitals come in at a close second ;)

I'll post pics...stay tuned...




(at our Primary school during an event Citigroup sponsored the Saturday b4 last--not to be confused with next Saturday's event for our Secondary school)

Giving Thanks!

It's that day again...

Great! Personally, Thanksgiving is the most worthwhile American holiday...every country should have Thanksgiving, really...

For me, every day is meant to be Thanksgiving, GHM (guess...)!

But yes, today is a perfect day to be thankful & I'm thankful for:

The Christmas season that's just starting (it started about a week ago for us in earnest...) & for all that we want to do with that.

My computer, so that I can post this post.

The chickens I stuffed & served for my home tonight, as well as the gravy, rice, veggies & salad & of course the stuffing (that I stuffed up the chicken's ____!--which I mentioned..).

The city of Abuja which is a bright, throbbing, tropical, lively capital, with so much potential & even more kind & hearty souls in need of the Word.

The team I stay with now: Angela, Arturo, Abner, Anisa, Ayla, Chloe, Mary, Michelle, Rianna, Rod, Richard & Simon.

My family back home (that would be in UK, US, Iceland & Belgium to be more precise).

The Nigerian people. Because of all that I learn daily from their ingenuity & fervor & because of all that I'm able to impart to them in return that they appreciate & thank me for continuously.

That I'm able-bodied, young, in my peak (go figure)& healthy. I take so much for granted that I'm able to do, but it's time to really be thankful for that which benefits us daily & greatly, but that we never had to go without, so never fully appreciate.

I could go on & on, but I'll not drone too long (although one can never Give Thanks too much).

Interestingly enough, it was a year ago this month that I posted the Positive Praise Post, which was later turned to a Reflection, which later (this month) was posted in the activated mag of the month...na-wow for me-o!!! I'm seeing a pattern here...maybe if I write another Reflection out of this one it'll come out in November 2008's activated mag.

Give Thanks, people! Peace!

P.S. I'm thankful for this blog, because through it I keep in touch with my fam & friends & I have honestly made several good friends, whom I have learned so much from & that I wouldn't have known otherwise, because of this blog.

Re: debate below!

So what's my take on all this killing business? If you read Curly Cel's comment on the last post you'll know exactly what I think...

I know that there are times when one has to defend themselves or loved ones from an attack by some evil person...this, I think, is a different story...

But revenge, I feel, is what Jesus is so against.

I'm reminded of when Jesus said:

Mat. 26:52 (Jesus talking to Peter said) "Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword."

Jesus also said we should love our enemies...

Mat. 5:43 & 44 You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor & hate your enemy.' 44 "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you & persecute you.

Forgiveness is so much more powerful than revenge & has healing power, I feel...

Here are a few things Jesus said about forgiveness:

Mat.6:14 & 15 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Mat. 18: 21 Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?"
22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven."

I stand with Jesus....

Granted, if one of my loved ones was viciously, or maliciously killed by someone, I know it would take a huge, unearthly measure of grace for me to stop myself from harming them back...but that's where I trust having Jesus in me will be my salvation in a situation like that...I have faith that His Grace & Spirit of Love will take over at that time & that I'll be able to rise above (God, help me, please....)

Debate...

k, so it's tomorrow....

the issue: Simply put= is it right for Christian's to kill? If so, when? What was Christ's main take on violence, killing etc.

Ok, I'll get into a little more detail...the main issue in our debate which followed the viewing of this movie was revenge killings, specifically...as in, someone kills one of my loved ones (be it by a mugging or robbery, rape killing, or some killing with some kind of motive, don't ask me what...). Would it be right for me to try & get revenge, killing the killer...?

I'm sorry for sounding stupid & this may seem like the very basics of right & wrong (to me it actually does...) but there are many Christians with views on this that would surprise you...

What do you ppl. say...?

1x I have a few comments, I'm gonna post my general take on this, scriptures to back my view, etc....I just wannna see what folks have to say first...

Debate coming....

How many of you viewers have seen The Brave One (Jodie Foster, Terrence Howard)?

hmmmmmmmmmmm.....

many a heated discussion sprang among us on the topic of 'killing' after viewing that one...

I propose a debate..tomorrow..stay tuned..

another one..

That help came quick...

someone's on the ball...tx Anj!

Now I need to know: how to put up blog map thingies....& any info on posting You Tube clips will help...

I need to spruce up this blog a bit...I've noticed that my viewings (at least judging by the amount of comments left compared to b4) are going down slightly...

Gotta keep those readers/viewers happy...(within reason, of course..)

2 questions...or more aptly put: HEEEEELLLPP!!

After a year of blogging, I have yet to possess the knowledge to enable me to do 2 things...

1)add a correct URL link to a post

2)Shrink the pic behind my title

Can anyone help me??...

This is my 70th post, btw....:P just thought I'd let you all know ;)

Enjoy your day!

P.S. MANY thanks to Anj & David in Iceland, who have already given me books worth of advice for this thing....you enjoy this blog (I hope, anyway) mainly cuz of them..tx guys! You're in my prayers!

1st Nigerian anniversary...

The 6th of October was my first living-in-Nigeria anniversary...that went quick...

I thought I'd celebrate with...can you guess??...yup..pics..

Today we particapted in a Charity Walk by Unicef which was hosted by the Sheraton Hotel titled Check Out For Children...apparantly it's an iternational Charity Walk held annually in a bunch of places over the last 11 years in partnership between Unicef & Starwood Hotels...
click on the link at end of post for more info...

10 students, with a teacher & some of our organization's volunteers were invited to attend...what that meant for us was participating in a 7 kilometer walk, and then back to the Hotel for speeches, acknowledgements, refreshments, entertaiment, etc. There was also a raffle, which we didn't buy tickets to, but some people even won free trips to Europe with KLM...



with some of the 8 students & one of the teachers during the Check out for Children walk...




Anisa, fully supporting the Charity action...


Michelle, myself, teacher & students, Anisa...


With the three mascots...

awar...

That's for abscence with a reason....

I'll be off this blog for the next week or so, as I'm working on setting up a new blog for the young people in my area....

I shall return....

Jos Bible Camp!

Just returned the day b4 yesterday from Plateau State, about 3 states up north-east of Abuja, where we held a 4-day Bible seminar for a small Discipleship group in a city called Jos. Pictured above is the quaint little hotel that we held the seminar at...

Now I can see why missionaries always traveled to Jos over the years as the temperature, climate & scenery are ideal (even when in the States earlier this year, while we were holding a missionary living class for Sunday School group of Third Graders at a Baptist Church, the pastor told me about his visit to "Josh" in the 70s & how he liked it so much....I corrected him once or twice saying that the name of the place was in fact 'Jos', but after about the 4th or 5th enthusiastic repeat offense of the word "Josh", I gave up...)...around this time of year (nearing the end of rainy season) the outskirts of town are just covered with greenery & flowers.

But, yeah, there's just something about teaching God's word to a group of hungry souls for nearly a week straight. I swear it's the ultimate therapy (& I don't swear).
My next swear is that the 12 Foundation Stones Course is about the most
inspiring Bible Guide ever put together. It brings the Bible alive unlike
NOTHING I have ever read before. With it's insertion of true-life stories, lively skits, discussions & practical steps for direct application, this course not only enables, but leaves the student with an ornate desire to get out & do everything for God & fellow man that they can...That thing is so anointed & I believe that
that was the cause of half the fun I had over the last 5 days.

Besides the 6 classes taught, we also enjoyed inspirations, Loving Jesus night, volleyball & a movie together (Pay it Forward, which went right along with your witnessing/change the world class...Awesome!)

Enjoy the following pictorial (all pics by me, unless I'm in them...go figure..):


Simon teaching the Eternal Salvation class...


Enjoying a meal of Semovita (maize starch) Egusi soup & Beef Stew...it was actually really good...


All of us, minus Paul (our Active Member who had to travel the day b4)on the last day


The cute girls who attended our seminar: Biara, Grace & Pamela


Jos' flowery hills...


I have no idea what type flower this is, but they were everywhere & they were pretty.

The Miracle Motor!

Quite literally, actually...

Referring to the car story you've all been waiting for...(correct me if I'm wrong (someone I live with, that is...)). To my knowledge, the story goes something like this:

We have a long-time friend who helps regularly with large donations towards our projects & also every now & then with specific requests. He's also the one that just gave us the use of his house in Jos when we held our Bible camp last week (but that's another story...).

One day about 2 weeks ago, he called us up out of the blue & said: "I have a van that I would like to give you. Come to my office & pick up the keys". So off went Angela, Michelle & Abner to pick it up & about 45 minutes later they came back with this automatic '98 Honda minivan (sort of, more like station wagon), that's actually in pretty good running condition. It's not brand new, but no one's complaining at all as it was FREE! Hallelujah!

Later Angela found out that our team in Port-Harcourt had just prayed that morning in devotions that the Lord would supply another car for us so that we'll be able to drive up to Yankari (National Park) together at the end of the year (we had 3 vehicles, but only one is large enough to hold a group of us plus luggage. We're trying to sell our Jeep Cherokee as it's older & has issues (another prayer request...) & the 3rd one is a very small, 25 year old Peugoet that's...special.).
So the Lord answered that prayer the same day. Now between our truck & the minivan, we'll all be able to travel up together....awesome.



Isaiah 65:24= And it shall come to pass that before they call I will answer; and while they are yet speaking I will hear.

Nigerian Driving!

I got my Nigerian license the other day, so now I'm legally on the road...

The "dive-in" method proved effective as I combined my first attempts at Nigerian driving with getting to know Abuja city (road's wise) in earnest & find my way around.

I had been taking taxis when going out with Michelle, or would tune out completely when with another legally-road-worthy driver in times past, so I got it "cold turkey" about a week ago when I took the car & went out with Anisa (who is brand new to Abuja). Half our time was spent asking for directions, but since that day, I've been driving everywhere & am finally getting a little grip (mentally) on the roads here.

Even though I've been part of the work in Abuja for about 9 months, I spent more than 3 months of this year abroad, (2 in the U.S. & 1 in S.Africa) & hadn't really done much driving here between, so my sense of road knowledge (which is already generally useless) was...well, pretty much non-existant....I'm glad that's changed now.



Pictured is the car I presently drive.

I'm gonna tell you a REALLY GOOD car story tomorrow...don't let me forget!

(if you guess what it is b4 I post it, you get a prize...)

An Answered Prayer and a Prayer Request...

Way-cool! The Lord answered that one really fast...

We have a Bible camp/Discipleship training course coming up for a group of friends in Jos on the 20th of September. When looking at the expenses for our trip & hotel costs for the whole group, it came to about double of what we'd already raised in sponsorship for the thing...

So we had prayed that the Lord would touch a bigtime sponsor's heart who has a house in Jos, so he'd let us use it. We prayed for it all together one morning as a team.
The same day, when Michelle & Angela were out, she called the guy & he said yes right away. With having a house there, we can not only cover the whole cost of the camp with the amount of funds we have, but we can even start the camp a day early, fitting in an extra 3 classes...awesome...we'll be teaching the 12 Foundation Stones classes..

So the prayer request now is:

That the Lord will make a way for each of the attendees to be able to be free during the days that we're there.

That He'll supply any other needs for costs we still haven't covered.

That it will be the most powerful discipleship course these students have ever taken & that they'll get ahold of the Lord during this time & really find out what His plan for each of them is.

That He'll anoint each of us who are hosting it to be good teachers & powerful witnesses...

Thanks so much!

For Lola....

I didn't miss her B'day, but I did miss posting about it...

..her B'day was actually in the beginning of August, but since I'd been away so long, the first posts I managed to put up were of the FDTP...

..but the good thing about this is that she's not expecting it....Please surprise her by wishing her a happy New Year & telling her something you'd want her to have this new year. (especially all those of you who know her)

Enjoy the following pics of "big sis"....


Taken quite recently in the North of Iceland, shortly before her B'day...I actually nabbed this one off of Anj's (far left) blog (whackywhazzo@blogspot.com). See my sister second from right. She's a faithful missionary in the way North of the globe...Iceland! She's been diligently ministering the Lord's Word the the people there for the last 2 years now & going strong...I really admire & look up to her. Go, Lola!

Interestingly enough, I was thinking how when I was down in S.Africa, month before last, with her at the top of the globe that was probably the furthest any of us had ever been from each other geographically. (besides when I was in Japan & some of my family were in Belgium...then again..)



Showing one of her silly sides....



...and another one...






The funny thing about Lisa, is that she'll look almost completely different in every picture...many a phase this woman has gone through...she should right a book, actually! Hey, Lisa, why don't you do that?? You could call it...."The many sides of Lisa Velzeboer"...or "101 Ways to be Yourself"...go with that last one, actually...

Anyways, I'm praying this year will bring New challenges your way, since you like adventure so much & that God will guide you in everything you do & keep you healthy, happy & safe...

ILY!