My baby turned 1,000 today.

The time goes so fast. Seems like it was just yesterday we brought her home
and filled her with oil. We, Bridget and I, celebrated the occasion by
taking a trip "inside inside" the bush, 15k to be exact. We stopped in on a
few different camps, including Jibree's new place 7k in from the road where
we delivered some medication that they needed. It was fun to see his wife
Hajara, youngest daughter Halima and kids again. We played down by the
river bed where they dig for water to bath, drink and wash clothes. We don't
see these kids as often now that live an hour's walk to and from school. We
are happy that at least they are making the trek for exam week. We also
stopped in to visit a couple other students' camp and dropped off some of
the boys hand-me-downs.
The road itself started in Emi-woro village and went "straight" out into the
bush. The terrain goes from cleared farm land to brush with small trees,
where most the fire wood is cut for cooking. As we continued the trees got
bigger the camps thinned out and the bush got thicker. I was kind of
wondering who made and maintained the road. It became clear that these were
logging roads. Now I know how the trucks around here get as beat up as they
do. At the end of the road was a small clearing with what could best be
described as a tent platform with plastic tarps set up and a mosquito net
hanging inside. There was another motorcycle parked in front and the
cooking fire still burning but no one around.
It was a great break and I'd like to thank our supporters for helping to
purchase this fine machine. It has been put to good use running errands to
the village, bank, picking up the nurse for after hour clinic calls and
carrying sick kids home from school when they shouldn't have come in the
first place.

We’ll be home for Christmas J

up to something

The boys' old shirts live on...

Harvest Festival

Last week I finished listening to Pastor Josh’s Hole in the Gospel series.  It’s so great that you are supporting the poor through this ministry (not that there is anything wrong with Burundi).  It is hard to explain the reality of the poverty here, and I ask that you would really pray for our local Free Methodist congregation to do something like WFMC is doing around the world, just do it here in the neighborhood.  It seems when everyone’s life is overwhelmed by need, they can’t focus on all they have to share, which I think amounts to some spiritual blindness God wants to overcome in the name of Jesus. 

 

This weekend is our Harvest Festival.  I’ve asked a lot of people from other churches about it, and generally all over Nigeria, everyone makes a big money gift to the church and there are many declarations of thanksgiving.  For the weeks leading up to Harvest Festival, everyone distributes envelopes to their friends asking for money gifts to bring (it also serves as an invitation, but giving cash is really the goal).  In some places they do these at two harvest times a year.  People bring something like first fruits, too, an offering from their farms, or some clothing they don’t use.  Generally, it is shared around the neighborhoods, or the money stays in the church purse and the goods are shared among the members.  And there is food.  Pray for our church to go out into the community.  There is no talk like that here.  Everything will go to our pastors and our needy members and our church purse, which doesn’t serve the community or engage in the mission to the Fulani.  Pray for a spirit of generosity here that goes out into the world in an intentional way like WFMC encourages us to do. 

 

The wonderful thing is we have 6 or so different tribes represented in our adult population of less than 20 regular attendees.  Most people speak at least two languages and can manage simple conversation in another two.  Everyone knows somebody who is really hurting and identifies themselves as poor – which does have a real spiritual impact.  This church is positioned to make a great impact!

 

By the way, you can download Pastor Joshua’s sermons to your itunes at wenfmc.org

A great thing happened today.

The Briggs, and Devin’s BC, sent us a care package.  The loot was great!  Turned the evening from “oh no, we ran out of cooking gas with the first crust in the oven and the pizza fixin’s all sliced on the counter!” to “not just cereal and powdered milk for dinner but FRUIT AND NUT MEDLEY to go with!!!”

 

But the better thing is the Good Life magazine issue from September!  There’s our kids in Emi-woro with Donna Payne!  There’s Rick Stitcher, who wrote us encouraging emails at critical times! There’s Dave Kolde, our friend, coach, life group member, and, of course, doctor!  I know exactly where that house is – I recognize those rocks!  There’s Earl Tilly!  There’s Mr. Rod! I stayed at that Camas Meadow cabin – I’ll bet it’s coated in snow with a fire raging!  From there it went to, the obvious attention grabber – Papa Murphy’s advertisement. 

 

Ah, home.  Thanks for the piece of it!  Wow – fifty bucks shipping.  Ouch.  For us it was worth every penny J

Pastor Ayo sent the kids a gift of lots of fruit!

For many it was their first taste of watermelon. They loved it, of course!