Today is elections and there is a travel restriction so we are spending a quiet day at home. Last week we had cows break into the school garden at night. That is a big deal since greens are hard to come by in the dry season and the students put a lot of work into their plots. Proper nutrition and the lack thereof combined with measles and chickenpox is a big problem this time of the year. Our first responder students and Gremar have been very busy with many of the local people and children. What appears to be simple is a matter of life and death for these sick children. The solution to the cow problem is a proper fence so we spent a couple of afternoons repairing it.
Most of this plot is destroyed, something needed to be done.
This old fence could not keep out determined hungry cattle.
We salvaged the wire from the old fence and increased the garden size by one third.
The secret for a strong fence is the corners and a wench to pull the wire tight.
Strong corners and a straight line makes a good fence and good neighbors, in this case cow herders.
God is good all the time!
The students have a week break this coming week, but we still are holding the pastor’s and evangelist’s course this week. It will be a nice change to have a couple of days free to do whatever, maybe even sleep in a little. Thank you for praying for us and for the students, pray that the election will go well.
Breakfast and devotions on the veranda.
Breakfast together is the best time of the day and the coolest.
At no time are these domesticated guinea fowl fun to have around, they are noisy and persistent. If they roost in a tree near our bedroom there is no sleep that night; it’s a constant racket. Now days I guard the trees at dusk to prevent them from roosting there.
Every Thursday we have the Pastors, Evangelists and their wives for Timothy Leadership Training. Stewardship in the morning and Biblical Preaching in the afternoon. This morning the class is divided into four groups working on different problems related to tithing in the church.
Last week was the end of term exam week.
Hezron, one of the teachers, explaining the exam in his class.
Hezron’s wife Christi explaining her exam to the students wives.
Elections are still going on, next for Governor of the state. That will the last one at this time. We thank God that it has been quiet here at Warari and at Acre. It has not been as peaceful in the larger towns and cities, continue to pray for Nigeria, for the people of Niger State, and for the church here.
During this break we are going to try to shore up the foundation of Matt and Laura’s house as well as sloping the ground around the house to direct the water away from the house.
We are going to give the back wall and foundation some bigger feet.
Everyone is working hard at this hottest time of the year.
Everything is done by hand. I had the easy part, I built the forms.
The finished product. We hope this stops the cracking in the walls of the back end of the house.
The next day we had our first rain of the season; our building project done on time but not under budget.
More wind than rain but it really cooled things off.
Cooler but the wind really picked up the dust and that little bit of rain did not settle very much of it.
That night we had fires all around as people burned their fields to prepare for planting.
We enjoyed the view from the front veranda. It is hard to put our experiences into words, God is working in this difficult and rugged place, life is hard but it can be good as well. People have enough food and enough money for the most part but there is also illness, especially among the children. A lot of measles this year and with complications it often is a matter of life and death if treatment is not sought in time; sadly, that is often the case. There is much spiritual poverty all around us but God is at work. This week a family who moved close to Acre Bible School asked Gremar and I to come and pray for his family and his new house. Gremar had the opportunity to treat the new neighbor’s kids and Sunday he joined the students for worship. Jesus is building his church and it is a privilege to be a part of it. Praise Him!
Heavenhigh 