We had a great Spiritual conference; we needed to relax a little. We relaxed but we did not rest much because everyone was kept very busy with competition. Four teams, volley ball, soccer. relay race, tug of war, puzzles, Pictionary, plumbers golf, table tennis, tennis, Sudoku. Crossword puzzles, bird watching, and taking pictures including a team dance video. Everything was rated and our team came in a close second. O, you thought this was a spiritual conference? It was and a good one! Jul Medenblik the president elect of Calvin Seminary was our speaker this year. The sessions were titled: “Torn Between Two Worlds.” Those who work and live in Africa, particularly missionaries, are indeed torn between two very different worlds but so are we as Christians; caught between a broken world and the Kingdom of God in our hearts.  We had five sessions about the seven deadly sins of which we covered four; introduction, pride, envy, greed, and gluttony. Introduction: “Torn between Two Worlds” sin tears a hole in the fabric of God’s world but God plants the Gospel into the tear, Luke 8:1-15. The Beatitudes were brought in as a foil to deadly sins (opposites). Session two: “Pride and the poor in Spirit” as the opposite of pride (Matt.5:3). Are we full of self or full of Jesus? Am I full of me or full of others? Session three: “Envy and the Mourner” Are you morning for yourself or do you morn with others (Matt. 5:5). Envy leads to discord in our lives; unhappiness, conflicts, resentfulness, and robs us of the ability to rejoice with others. Session four:  “Greed and the Mercy giver” .The answer to greed is generosity; “Blessed are the merciful…” (Matt. 5:7). Christians are called to be a conduit of generosity for God’s blessings of wealth, His blessings of our talents, and of our time; our time in history and our personal time.  Session five: “Gluttony and the ‘Right’ Hunger”. Gluttony is addiction that can be countered only by hungering and thirsting for righteousness (Matt.5:6). Seeking to do what is right not so much for us but for others. My Dad used to say: “when it is going good for others it is going good for me!”   On Sunday we had a worship service together including communion. It was good to be together and to encourage each other. Praise God!

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John, Grace and three of their six children, Habila is doing fine (middle).

It was hard to leave again.

The next three days were spent on shopping; drugs for the medical work, books for some students, Hausa Bibles, and of course looking for groceries  that we cannot buy in Warari, like cheese, butter, pork chops and hot dogs.  Missionaries in Jos are very hospitable and we had more invitations for lunch  and supper than we had days to be there. Thank you Jos people! The trouble in Jos is quieted down, no more 6 PM to 6 AM curfew or restrictions but we still are careful, there are areas in the city where it is not wise to go. A little like Grand Rapids, or Los Angeles. We took a newly completed road home, much shorter and little traffic, saved us about an hour; nine instead of ten. We are chilling this weekend, we need to rest up for a busy week ahead.

This week we went to Ava’adi about 10 miles down the road and then about 10 miles off road.  Evangelist Samson and Hannatu are stationed there. They  participate in the continuing education course that Gremar and I are holding at Acre (the Bible School). We went there to help them raise money for the roof of the church building the first such building at this location. The “Launching” as it is called, was held under an humongous tree that gave us all the shade we needed. When I went back to the car for a bottle of water I saw that the spare I had put on a few days ago was very low. I did have a spare so that was no problem except that the next day while at the market the back tire went flat and I had to do it all over again, you saw the  video. Anyway it was a good day at Ava’adi except that we had to leave early since we wanted to go to Rigau to buy diesel fuel so that the students could have lights that night. The problem stared with the generator knocking after it ran for about an hour on Friday night, that was the same night we were going to run it until 2:30 AM because the students wanted to have a into the night prayer meeting. We prayed by the full moon and flash light. I could not determine problem it did not seem to be coming from the engine. We  ran it again the next night in order to determine the problem, this time it was obviously coming from the engine and it seemed to be pre-ignition. We took a good look at the fuel and it appeared to have been mixed with petrol or something. Clean fuel solved problem, praise the Lord! I was not looking forward to tearing the generator apart. No more black market fuel even if it saves us a two hour drive.

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This little guy was doing his own thing.

Drummers at Ava’adi.

Dancers and drummers at the Ava’adi Launching.

It has been a busy week but a very good week. The students are working hard to improve their reading and comprehension. I am amazed at the work that is required from the students. They have classes every day from 8:00 t0 2:30 except for Friday to 1:05. They have families and the women go to school until 1:00. Most of them have part time jobs like hauling water or whatever they can find, some have a little business on the side like selling petrol, buying and selling pork, or buying and selling grain. And four, two men, and two women, are the first responders that Gremar trained last year and is continuing to train this year for the school Dispensary. There also is work hour at the school three days a week. Most of the men gathered wood the last couple of days after school for the staff. They get time off for the farming season so that they can feed their families. Four years of this means a high commitment on the part of the students and when they are done they qualify for working as evangelists. If they want to be pastors that means another two years in an English speaking Bible School and four years at Veenstra Seminary.

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Gremar’s Healthy Living class.

Case teaching his classes.

Teaching the first responders at the school and now also four other ladies from four different communities takes a good day a week.  We hope Gremar will be called less and less as everyone learns diagnoses and treatment.

The pastors/evangelists and their wives’ continuing education program using TLT material had great attendance (17 men and 11 wives) this week.  Stewardship in the morning and Biblical Preaching after lunch on Thursdays. We are glad to be able to do two courses this time because we do one lesson a week and the principles are applied during the next seven days and reported on in the next session. One of the Students (Luka) put the Pastoral Care course into practice in his village last year and with the help of the Holy Spirit 17 more people are attending the church. Praise the Lord!

This week we worked in groups.

Last week we went to Rigau to shop and to visit the immigration office. We did not see him but we did some shopping. When we got home we also found out that I got a flat tire. We are using Matt and Laura’s vehicle and Matt is prepared because we have two spares and a brand new tube in the pickup. That meant that I could wait till market day to get the tube changed. I never cease to be amazed at Nigerian ingenuity.

That was last week so on Monday I had my tire repaired, and Gremar bought rice, dried fish, tomatoes and peppers for the meal at the course we do with pastors, evangelists and their wives.

Meanwhile Gremar was buying supplies, she would like to take you along sometime.

I have started the Methods of Preaching class and the first thing we are discussing is God’s call to the preacher. We are looking at four passages one of which is Isaiah 6: 1-10. If only we had that vision and we could see God, feel the temple shaking, smell the smoke and hear: “whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”. I dare say that not anyone of us have seen or heard it and yet we must have heard it; my students heard a call or they would not be in this school. God’s call will become clearer as we go through the other three passages. 1Peter2:9-10 “but you are a chosen people”, belonging to our God. Why choose us? Why these students in my class? Why am I teaching here? Why? So “that you (we) may declare the praises of Him who called you (us)out of darkness into His wonderful light”. God’s call is about His mercy to us. Ephesians 4:10-12: God calls us to “one hope, one faith, one Lord, one baptism, one God the Father of us all”and then he equips us to serve Him. He gave apostles, and now gives us prophets, pastors, evangelists, teachers, and church leaders. We all are prophets, priests and kings. As in God’s call to Isaiah so God’s call to all of us has a purpose; “so that the body of Christ may be built up”,in “Unity, in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God”. In other words; “maturity, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of God”. That seems to us to be an unattainable goal but in Christ we attain it. Praise God! When God calls and He calls all of us in many different ways and to many different tasks. He calls so that we glorify him. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 gives us the basis for our call and task;God’s Word. “All scripture is God breathed”. We begin with ourselves because the Word is “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness” for all of us. “So that the man/woman of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” We hear the call of Jesus in our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit and by the power of his Word we are “thoroughly equipped for every good work”.