Japs in town!

I was unpleasantly surprised at how negligent I've been w/ this blog.

w/out mentioning the trouble blogger is giving me uploading pics (oops), Here r the promised pics of recent happenings:

Our 2 honored guests for the next 2 months are Makoto & Takeshi who are visiting from Chiba, Japan. The idea is to give them both the full African & missionary experiences...which so far have included:

Syphening spare petrol into our truck in Kano

Helping set-up for the graduation ceremony for the VVF girls at our VTC in Wudil, Kano State.

Dinner by a Japanese woman they met while at the market who invited them over (designated driver?--yours truly).



Do I blend in?

w/ friends at last Saturday's fellowship mtg.

for their exquisite market adventures click on this URL: http://twolostasians.wordpress.com/

Giving/News/Happy Father's Day!

The following story featured in our most recent newsletter, along with the write up about our university project which I posted on earlier...

I really it...so I assumed you would too. Art designs our newsletter, so this was selected by him:

The Precious Stone

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler who was hungry & the wise woman opened her bag to share her food. The hungry traveler saw the precious stone & asked the woman to give it to him. She did so without hesitation.
The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime.
But a few days later, he came back to return the stone to the wise woman. "I've been thinking," he said. "I know how valuable this stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious. Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me this stone."
Author unkown

Good one, eh? Here's what else I've been up to, apart from enjoying that story.

--The medical camp that was somewhat responsible for my abscence from this blog (along with university witnessing, Home duties, Bible classes, etc.) has been set back to the 13 of next month. So that gives some of the doctors that wanted to participate more time to get clearance from their respective hospitals. The Lord has already opened the door for about 3 of the docs volunteering from this side to attend, as their medical director has given them the ok for them to attend the project.

--We also had another family stay with us for about 3 weeks en route to their pioneer city of Enugu where we're having another base opened...cool! (that kept us busy)

--We have 2 Japanese young people staying with us for a couple of months, as of the 9th of June. They're still jetlaging, but we've mananged to take them around to several places including the local market last Friday, which they really enjoyed. They also cooked Japanese food for us tonight (dishes featured were okonomiyaki & sushi), which was a smash hit & which we downed with Heineken beer. I'll post pics soon. Promise.

--Dad:

I know you rarely go on this blog, but even though I sent you a card already, again I'm wishing you a Happy Father's day. I know that you'll continue to impart the wisdom, fun, and charm that you passed to me to others you'll come in contact with this year. I also know that the love & care you poured into me & my siblings as I was growing up will come back to you in more ways than you gave.

Thanks for being my Dad!

Highlights!

This week:

--Amechi started his 2nd weekly 12 Foundation Stones Bible Class. (oh, right! You didn't know he started his first...)

--University witnessing went well & we're all the closer to starting our seminar there in earnest.

--Last Sat of the month fellowship was today and was...well, special. Good in the end, though..we waited for about an hour with only one guest, who we happily & cordially entertained as we'd gone through all the trouble of baking, cleaning, preparing, planning, etc.
But then lo & behold, another 6 or 7 people show about around the same time (an hour late, all of them..) so in the end we did all we'd planned & it was a good, power-pact little time.

--Our attack day yesterday resulted in about 80 books out & lots of mags.

That's the update, I think!

More later (w/ pics)

Pray for the people of Sichuan Province, China!

For most of us, that's all we can do...but it's the most & the best we can do at this time. The people of China need our prayers!

The situation is beyond desperate. It seems so sad & hopeless, but I'm praying that God will (and partly through our prayers) be able to bring some good out of all this for His children there that were affected by this earthquake.

A week ago only & already the death toll is nearing 35,000, with more than 250,000 injured. That's a quarter of a million people. Previously I could only imagine what the people were going through, but through indvidual stories of people's lives affected, I'm starting to be able to feel an infintesimal fraction of what these people are feeling. Stories like the one I saw on a news clip on my computer today about a boy, who, being the only son to middle-aged farmers, lost both of his arms while climbing out of school during the quake. He cried (and I did too) while laying in the hospital telling the reporter how he begged the doctors to save at least one of his hands. His parents were having a hard time knowing whether or not it would have been better if he died.
But the father gave an encouraging word despite it all...he told his son:

"Rest! Recover first! Then we'll talk about the future! Don't forsake your hopes & dreams! Life goes on!"

Talk about hope in the absolute thick of despair...my prayers are with him, his family & all the people of Chengdu & Sichuan Province...as I know yours will be too..

Activated Youth Outreach...

as the name of our new university outreach project goes...

We just started it a couple weeks back in light of the offensive...cool!



We've started going weekly & have already distributed more than 50 activated magazines & sold 20 books (last week alone, first week was to establish contact/get the program authorized by the university administration). This stand is to create awareness about the program & once we're a bit more established, we'll start seminars (on the Endtime & other topics) in an indoor venue there, as well as a 12 Foundation Stones Bible study.


Please help us by praying for:

a) the continued development of the project in (it's still in the beginning stages), and

b) also pray specifically that we can win souls & disciples through this to help spread the message/further the cause.

AMEN!!


That's all for now. Will keep you posted!

Mom's Day!

My Mom had just had her B'day!







Anyone who knows her will agree that she's really just the best (that's an accurate description in her case)...

Anj put a pretty good description of her on her
blog too (better than this one actually...what's up
w/ that?)..check it out on the first link in my 'links' section..

I've already congratulated Mom with cards, calls, prophecies, etc.

But you all who know her can drop her a little line here in the comments box & then i'll get her to look them up.

Let's surprise her, shall we?

Happy Birthday, Mom!



WLY!

For someone who deserves it..

The fact that this is EXTREMELY belated, makes it a surprise..at least I'm still in the right month..

Anj is a great person..multi-talented, organized, Aries ;), caring, good with people, strong spiritual connection with Jesus, an inspiration to be around, grounded in the Word, etc., etc. & of course (most importantly..ahem.), hot! ...& what's more she's a good friend...one of the highlights of my time in Iceland 2 years ago was meeting her...

Anj, have a great year! May this year just get better from here on out & may the Lord grant you wild things fit for an Endtime soldier during the offensive..

With love, prayers & wishes for all the fun stuff too,

Brian

My first Nigerian Wedding!

This is my hundreth post, btw..shall we celebrate? (I should have called this blog "celebration for a lifetime"..hey..next time..)

A friend of ours got married weekend before last...Richard was the best man, so a couple of us got to go down to Benin City (where his wife is from) and attend..it was the first time I'd attended a Traditional African wedding, so it was quite the experience...

Traditional wedding first on Friday evening..

They had all sorts of entertaining traditions like the 2 "sides" (families) presenting each other with gifts, the preacher blessing the cola nut & drinks that were passed out, women bringing out the wrong bride a couple times b4 the real one showed, etc. ...Amusing to say in the least..

Didn't get many good shots that day, as the whole thing was indoors & we were sitting, but here's one we managed with the groom. I donned one of my traditional "wears" for the occassion..


The Bride had actually waited for the groom and last guests (us included, who left the hotel with the groom) for about 4 hours...here she's managing a smile despite her tiredness..

Church wedding ensued the following morning...

W/ Bride's maids, etc. The bride is an air-hostess, so there were plenty of fine air hostesses in the house that day...

W/ Best Man (aka Richard), Maid of Honor, Groom's men & a few friends..

Rich & Angela looking "shap, shap", as the Nigerians say...

The only proof that i even attended the white wedding that day...i was behind the camera 4 the rest of the time..

2 questions!

They aren't the brightest of questions, so don't hold your breath or anything...but at least it won't take a genius to answer them...

1) How do I actually post pics along the sides of my blog page? I've seen so many do it, but haven't quite figured..

2) I still don't seem to be able to succesfully post a url from this blog..

I have a blog for the YP in W. Africa..and I've done the url thing from there, but somehow here I add them, yet it never shows on the page...it's ridiculous..

any advice?

The Shiny-Walled Box Thingie

This one I thought was cute...(absolutely NOTHING against the Amish, personally, btw...little disclaimer before we start..)


An Amish boy and his father were visiting a nearby mall. They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially by two shiny silver walls that moved apart and back together again by themselves. The lad asked, "What is this, father?" The father, having never seen an elevator, responded, "I have no idea what it is." While the boy and his father were watching wide-eyed, an old lady in a wheelchair rolled up to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened and the lady rolled between them into a small room. The walls closed and the boy and his father watched as small circles lit up above the walls. The walls opened up again and a beautiful twenty-four-year-old woman stepped out. The father looked at his son anxiously and said, "Go get your mother."