Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....

S.A. is absolutely freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezing at this time of year...

Who can guess where I am & why?

Of late.....

Well, a couple new excitements of late...

The Labor Union went on strike for a week, in favor of getting the government to lower fuel prices, as well as to take back the rise in the V.A.T. that had been placed, bringing tax up an additional 5 PERCENT!!!--So they got their way...fuel's back to 75 Naira ($80 cents) per litre & the VAT isn't upped...they had a couple other demands as well...I can't quite remember what they were...
I heard that life in Lagos pretty much came to a standstill, but for us, it was ok, actually. The strike itself was a peaceful demonstration, but the fact that it's labor union means almost everything stops. Thankfully, a lot of workers supported the strike, but still kept working.
Our teachers still came to school & the Sheraton staff kept working, so I still got to go to the gym....:P(Hallelujah!)

In other news,
We had a special occasion with about 20 (out of 150) kids of our Secondary school, who were invited to the Japanese embassador's house for a Haiku competition (a type of Japanese poetry). He made it real special for them & showed them a nice documentary about life in Japan (which half of us missed, cause we came straight from our house, whereas Simon had gone ahead to pick up the teachers & kids & take them to the emabassador's house..he, thankfully, was on time), followed by a question & answer session, a prize giving for the competion's winners & a lunch together. Each student got some books about life in Japan as well. We all, teachers, missionaries & students alike, enjoyed the event.

We got to spend some good time talking with the embassador & his wife (who was cute...) afterwards. Turns out 4 out of 6 of us missionaries present had been in Japan at some point.--Perfect!!

One interesting thing was how the embassador compared life in Japan with life in Nigeria for the students, bringing out the similarities in both cultures almost every time he answered one of their questions, helping the students to relate to the Japanese people. A truly wise man (especially when you know what a feat that is....)!--bringing out the similarities, instead of focusing on the differences.

At top is a picture I took of most of us, with the embassador & his wife:
L-R: (Simon, Mary, Michelle, the embassador's wife, the Japanese embassdor, Richard & Arturo)

HAPPY B'DAY, BLOG...

I started my blog a year ago this month...cause to celebrate...
I'm surprised I've lasted this long...not that I haven't enjoyed it...just that I've been so busy. That's my only regret, really...the fact that I haven't been able to post as much as I would've liked...but that shows that I am busier "doing" then "talking"....so that's a good thing (there's a plus side to everything). This Blog B'day, is also responsible for the few changes you've seen to my blog...I wanted to change my profile pic 2, but...wow...major frustration. That one I've worked on for nearly a whole day & could never get it right. I can't quite seem to paste the right HTML on the picture. HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLPPPP!!! Any advice?

When I figure out this whole link thingie, I'll make a post comprised of past posts most noteworthy...there ya go!--That's what I'll call it too!

Meanwhile, wish me a happy birthday!

If any of you have a thought on which post you enjoyed the most, I'd like to know...or if there's anything specific you'd be interestd in seeing me post....hey, doesn't hurt to know.--Doesn't mean I'll post it, but it's good to know what people think.

BACK IN AFRICAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

It feels so good to be home. I got back about 3 days ago...

Thanks to everyone who prayed for me, arriving back here was not stress-free, but it was safe, Glory to God. I'm back in Africa...

Not only am I finished with months (literally) of traveling, but being back amongst the alive & vibrant people of Nigeria, as well as the freedom that I've always felt here, is a great feeling.
I already made two new friends, one on my flight from Spain to here & then another on the flight from Lagos to Abuja (which was a complete hassle, btw...)

This is my first June in Abuja & It's rainy season here...as we were landing in Abuja, I noticed that this normally dry, almost semi-arid region, has turned to some lush, grassland (??)...I realized that even my coming back from the States & Europe exactly at this time was the Lord's mercy on me, as it made the transition from the West to the tropics smooth & easy. Hallelujah!

After the story that follows, you'll know I'm back in Nigeria for SURE: After landing in Lagos at 10 p.m. & haggling with the taxi driver that took me on the hunt for the hotel where I spent the night, I got back to the airport Friday morning at 9 a.m....after buying my ticket for the 11:15 flight to Abuja on Virgin Nigeria airways. I spoke to the supervisor of that flight, and showed him a brochure of our missionary work & he agreed to waive the fee for my 25 (?) kilos of overweight luggage (since it was a domestic flight, the weight allowance was only 20 kilos)...He also shared his heart with me about the need for safety & protection in his job & asked me to pray for him, which I promised I would do on the plane (which I did). We exchanged information & I was off...
I happily went through the security check-in, where the woman behind me was asked to wait her turn at the red line...."What red line??" I thought to myself...well, never mind...
After waiting till 11:15 (the time we were meant to fly) I called on the Power of the Keys that the Lord would have them be ready as I told Him I was really ready to go (remember the story of 'Stop The Train'??)...about 30 seconds later they announced that they were ready to board...

"Yes!!"

Soon I was in my nice window seat & shortly after, ensued the said conversation between myself & my new friend from Zenith Bank, who was very impressed with our work & asked me lots of questions about living by faith & why I would want to leave America to be a missionary.
About half an hour later (remember, we already boarded a half hour late), we were told that the pilot forgot some document & went back to get it....within about 20 minutes of this announcement, the poor air hostesses were getting bombarded with all kinds of questions & being asked for every which form of compensation apart from sexual favors (as far as I understood, anyway).--Poor girls!...My friend & I were pretty much the patient ones out of the lot, which resulted in us getting some water...(?)

To make a long story short, at about 1 o clock (again--on the 11:15 flight) they had us change planes & they combined us with the 1:15 flight & we ended up flying out at 2:00 p.m. WOW!!

What can I say...I'm back in Nigeria....

Prayer request!

This is the biggest benefit of this blog....instant prayer chain...

Would you all mind praying for me tomorrow...I'm going to be flying back to Nigeria (at long last)... I expect a good flight and trip, generally, but it's always good to ask for prayer.

Here's the rest of a prayer request I sent one of my friends in Kenya today via e-mail:

"Also, tomorrow my flight gets into Lagos about an hour after the last domestic flight leaves from Lagos to the city where I leave. This means that I'll have to stay at a hotel one night & take taxis there & to the domestic airport the next morning.... please pray that everything goes smoothly & that I get to the hotel ok (as Lagos isn't exactly the worlds safest city) & that my trip & flight up to Abuja the next morning will be smooth ? Thanks soooooo much! I'd really appreciate that! I'm putting up a request on my blog as well."

What Would You Choose? Atlanta, GA

If you could choose between having perfect health your entire life, but it came with extreme poverty, or, wealth beyond your wildest wooly ones that was accompanied by at least one major illness, which would you choose?......Why?

Recent happenings.... Washington, D.C.

Wow! I have been SO negligent on this thing....

Trust me, many times throughout the day I thought of quotes, jokes, poems, stories, photos, thoughts, verses, questions--the like--that I would have wanted to have posted over the last little while....

I think I've defaulted to pictures...I should have called this thing 'picture pose for a lifetime'. But the good news is that I haven't posted because I've been up to stuff.... (and because I wasn't online). But hey--Abscence makes the heart grow fonder right??? Y'all fond yet???

Ok, so what I have been up to is (pics follow--we're going chronologically now):

My cousin GRADUATED FROM UNIVERSITY ON SATURDAY!!!! This is why I'm in D.C. right now (why I'm not at Wordstock is a whole 'nother loooooooooong story--next time!)

Some of my family & my cousin's "other side" at his graduation

In front of the Washington Monument....just for the sake of showing a touristy pic, is why this pic is up here. My little cousin took this pic....oops...half the monuemnt's cut off the picture. I'm pictured with my Aunt.

Oprah Winfrey, who was the main commencement speaker at Julius graduation.

My cousin is an excellent dancer (not the one who graudated--although he tries too) .Alexandra (pictured on the far right, second from the front) at the end of one their group's numbers at a Regional competition in Athens, Georgia, a couple weeks back. Their school won quite a few prizes.

The next few are of a Missionary Living class we gave to a kids group at a church in Birmingham, AL.

Not only the kids did the "Shake, Shake, Shake"....the little lady in the front was especially good. She thouroughly enjoyed herself.

group shot

Autumn on her 7th Birthday....I painted all the kids faces. She said "You painted me the prettiest, right?" I told her "Of course I did....it's YOUR Birthday".

With my sister Phebe, & my second cousin, Caren, at my great Aunt's funeral....it was actually a pretty inspiring funeral.... her family (including her granddaugther on the right) dressed in white instead of black to celebrate her homegoing to Heaven....ain't that cool?

The Lord gives & the Lord takes away...... B'ham, AL

The bad news is that it's not working out for me to go to Wordstock, as I don't really have the funds & the timing is not quite right, as I need to be working on my visa for Nigeria & preparing for some JT projects in Africa when I get back....(praises through his tears...and y'all didn't even know that I was going in the first place, did you?)

And the good news is (drumroll please......(is 'drumroll' one word or two??):

THE LORD SUPPLIED A NEW COMPUTER FOR ME TODAY!!!!!! I had orginally wanted to sell my old computer before coming here to the States & expected to invest about $1000 into a new computer...however, I wasn't able to sell my old computer, so just left it by faith.--I decided that I'd buy one here & then sell my old one when I get back (since it'll still be sitting there??...I was particularly smart on the day I figured that out....).

Then, funds were looking quite tight recently, as I prepared & raised funds for a new computer, travel costs while here, a ticket back to Nigeria, as well as my new visa....wow!!!

So today when I went out to buy a computer, I asked the Lord that through the power of the Keys, I would find one for $500 or $600....I said it in faith, but just quickly as we were driving off & didn't think more of it...Then after looking in a few places, at a Best Buy I found a Toshiba Satellite that was on clearance, (as they want a new stock) with 1gig SD Ram, Windows Vista, dual core processor, 160 GIG HARDDRIVE, DVD burner for just $750.....WOW!! But the part where it got real good was that with it I got a $150 gift card, which I was able to sell to Richard....so all in all the thing cost $550 (plus tax), but was in the range that I prayed for. TYJ!

He's aweseome, in't He?

Pray for the ppl of Nigeria... B'ham, AL

Nigeria is having their presidential elections tomorrow...the whole process has been going for a while now, but the actual voting of the president is tomorrow...it's already been quite the heated ordeal so far....they voted for their state governers on the 9th & 2moro is the real deal...

Please pray that the Lord will especially keep all His children safe & free from violence (as well as being the cause of any) & that the process will be peaceful by some miracle...tx!

Please also pray that the Lord will keep The Family International there & all the rest of his missionaries, representatives, etc. & anyone doing His work in the Hollow of His hand & under a special league of protective angels....(now you know why I high-tailed out of there--actually, my visa ran out just at the beginning of April & I'm here renewing it (go figure), but the Lord must have timed it this way for a reason... :))

Pls see the first post in the comments section for the BBCs report on this yesterday...

Botanical Beauties..... B'ham, AL

Had a beautiful time at the Botanical Gardens last week....it was a perfect day in the almost literal sense of the word (besides the sweater I wore, but I can think of worse weather...) My wonderful hosts here in Alabama took me there....the kids in the pics are all brothers & sisters (there's actually more of them, but some weren't well & had to stay home with their mom)

I took all the pics unless another name follows the pic (in parenthesised italics)...praise the Lord with me for His glorious creation as you enjoy a small portion of what I did through the pics that follow....

(Amber) Angel, Allan & Autumn

(Amber)

Took most pics I took that day in the greenhouse "cactus room"....I hadn't imagined that cacti were actually as beautiful as any other plant....see what I mean...

2 beautiful sisters....that's her camera, not mine....confusing?

(Amber)

(Andrew) Have you loved your cactus today?....

Like father, like daughter.....2 excellent photographers.....while Angel plays with dirt...

(Andrew)

Also taken in the "Cactus House"....

(Amber)