God is Good

There is constant treat over our heads Christians in Nigeria are subject to attack any time and any place. I am sure you have seen the news. Several churches have been car bombed.  Attacks random and unpredictable.  We pray for the Christians in Jos, indeed for all people in that city, where the latest bombings have taken place. One thing is sure our God reigns, his reign is just, predicable, righteous, and merciful. We look to Him for our protection and for guidance. The church has from her beginning been persecuted and in Nigeria persecution continues. We are caught in the middle. Yet, missionaries are Christian as well so certainly persecution will come our way.  It is a time to trust God, and it is time to continue our work as long as we are able, our God reigns! Praise be to God!

We have had our share of computer problems so we have not been able to get much published on the web page.  Thanks to Mat Lancer we now have an adequate computer. We are teaching three different TLT coarses this year.  For the first time Gremar is teaching the Warari  Bible School student’s  wives the same courses I am teaching the Men’s class.  We have two 45 minute periods for Work and Worship and one period for Preventing Violence in the Family. These three periods, daily chapel, and a half hour break take up most of our Wednesday. It has been a challenge to teach in Hausa and the extra challenge  for Gremar is that wives do not read or write as well as their husbands.  This is the last year of four years for this group and they all have come a long way. This week ten Bible School couples, some married in traditional religion ceremony had church marriages. It was a great experience; couples married for twenty years, renewed their vows, gave each other rings and dedicated themselves to Christian marriages. Wow! It was amazing!  Next year the school will have an English track and a Hausa track for the next four years. The importance of this school in terms of developing indigenous leader can’t be over stated.  The church is growing faster than evangelist can be trained with the result that most evangelists now working  cover several areas. We praise God for their work and for the work of the pastors sent by the Christian Reformed Church in Taraba State.

We are also doing continuing education using TLT material for pastors, evangelist and their wives. This year those elders leading churches are also included. Attendance varies depending on the availability of transportation but up to 27 men and 17 wives come to Mahula once a week. We are teaching preventing Violence in the Family and How to Teach the Christian Faith. This activity takes up most of our Thursdays. The response is very positive; they are encouraged and rededicated but no value can be placed on the fellowship and interaction over the length of this day. We are blessed and thankful for the results, we praise God.