Mahula Course

Yesterday Gremar and I, and Matt and Laura did the first Pastoral Care class at Mahula. We had good discussions about pressure on the youth to stay away from Christianity if they expect to ever get married. Traditional Africans will not give their daughters to a Christian man. They talked about a certain man that left the church because of it but now his wife wants to become a Christian. (“Ikon Allah”) God reigns, as they say in Hausa.

Mahula women's course
The men's course at Mahula

Today all of us went to Momo (see Map) for the second chapter on Pastoral Care, seven of the eight came, six with their wives. Definitely worth the hour on the bush road and a half an hour on broken pavement. About a quarter of a mile from Acre I started to smell cooling fluid but the vehicle was not running hot, but just before we turned into Acre we staled and the vehicle was hot, we added what water we had and made it to Matt and Laura’s place. Upon looking over the vehicle it appears a rock flew up under the vehicle and was caught between the fan and radiator causing a deep gouge that was leaking profusely. We thank God we made it home in well over 100 degree heat and we pray that a radiator can be found. For now that vehicle is out of business. We still have the vehicle I am using so we are not without transportation.

Two of the eight men at the Momo course.

 

Gremar's course at Momo

 

Matt, Laura and David, The people we are working with

Tungun Basalla

Today, Sunday we visited one of the smaller churches in the area. This place does not have an evangelist or pastor living on site so a person from this village attending the Bible school is assigned there. If you take note of the map you will be able to find the places that we visit and their relationship to each other. The place we visited was Tungun Basalla which is on the main road. A couple of things about the map: The Church has become the Christian Reformed Church of Nigeria (CRCN). The only places where missionaries live currently are at the Bible School and periodically at Mahula. These two places are about three kilometers apart. The former mission housing at Idaci, Momo, Maretu, and Komfani are occupied by Nigerian CRCN staff. This is a young church and needs much prayer. Pray for the Evangelists and the Pastors, for the church leaders and the church members. There is much opposition to the gospel by those following traditional African worship. Pray for the people digging bore holes and installing hand pumps, often that activity cracks open the door for the gospel. Last but not least pray for the missionaries assigned here and to the different areas of the country; especially for the missionaries here; at Acre (The Bible School) and at Mahula. They contend with oppressive heat, (today 106 in the shade 130 in direct sun) very difficult travel conditions, years of language learning and isolation from other missionaries. The one good thing we now have in Nigeria is good cell phone service and accessibility to the internet which makes it much easier to communicate with each other here, with you and our loved ones at home.  I do think that the ease of communication with loved ones, while a blessing, slows down our interpersonal relationships with the people around us. Please pray for the work in Niger State!

“The Person Who Cares”.

Yesterday I had the second class with the students, lesson two “The Person Who Cares”. Of the many passages we looked at I liked the parable of the lost sheep Luke 15:1-7. Jesus spoke in parables so that only those with the Spirit would understand the spiritual meaning. In this case, Jesus tells this parable in reaction to the comments of the Pharisees. Because Jesus was speaking with tax collectors and sinners the Pharisees and the teachers of the law criticized him by saying: “this man (Jesus) welcomes sinners and eats with them”.

There are many people to care about
There are plenty of kids to teach

In the book I am reading “The year of living like Jesus”, the author takes note of the fact that Christians spend a lot of time trying to figure out who is in and who is out of the fold and thinks it very unlike Jesus. Often the person that is different; dress, looks, lifestyle, different than we, are out. That pretty well leaves out every young Christian girl in Mahula since they mostly go topless at home and at the well but cover up when they go out to market, church or school. That is way off the chart for proper behavior by western standards but perfectly acceptable here.

The point Jesus is making is that a good shepherd, a person who cares for his fellow human being will leave those who think they are so righteous and go look for the lost; while the Pharisees and teachers were only interested in condemning Jesus along with the tax collectors and other perceived sinners. The true shepherd, Jesus, the real church worker, the real church member, goes out to find those who are lost and when found and brought into the fold, rejoice greatly. Jesus tells us that the very angels in heaven rejoice more over the one lost and found than over the ninety nine not lost.

Jesus’ approach was so different from organized religion of his day, the religious leaders did not understand. Jesus’ approach is also much different from organized religion today because the ninety nine instead of the one lost are the center of attention in our churches. The person who really cares is more like Jesus than he or she is like the critical church member. Praise the Lord for the true shepherds of the people of God.

Travel Today

Today we have seven visitors from America, Mark Albertson, Bill Pesch, Carrol and Peggy Nikkel, Mario Veldhuizen, and Pete and Jan Lanser, people with World Partners who contribute to the bore holes that are being dug by their Christian workers in this area. They have dug 150 bore holes at the average depth of 100 ft. and have installed hand pumps. The village has to come up with a certain amount of money and they have to maintain the area where the pump is placed and keep the overflow running on the ground away from the pump. Once they have a committee and have raised the money the bore hole is begun and when it is finished and the pump is working the hope is that they will be open to the gospel and ideally an evangelist is assigned to three or more places where a bore hole is placed. Matt and I are the only approved drivers for the two four wheel drive mission vehicles so we are on the road today with this group but it was a so hot this afternoon (107 F. in the shade, 75 F. this morning at 7:00 AM) that the ladies sat out the afternoon.

These pumps are in use 14hr. a day 7 days a week

Matt offered to drive this afternoon, which gave me a break to do a little computer work. We hope it cools off like it did last night.

The middle of the dry season at Mahula, the bore holes are a blessing.

I hear that you are in the middle of winter and we can barely keep the water cold in the fridge! Tomorrow I teach at the Bible School. The students like the class but it was too short for them so now I have an hour and 1/2 instead of 45 min, Just as well, I was having a hard time to get it across in 45 min. The Hausa language is coming a little easier but I still have to work at it. We hope you all are doing well; we continue to pray for you and trust you are praying for us. We miss you, Case and Gremar.

Idaci

Our trip to Idaci went very well, we met the new Pastor Ben and many of the evangelists. We will do a Pastoral Care course for them here at Mahula because this is most central according to them. Idaci has a large Christian school and a Jr. Secondary School. Some of the kids at Mahula go to school at Idaci since the traditional leaders shut down the school that was started at Mahula. Who is going to herd and who is going to help farm was their concern.

The whole experience seemed normal

Sunday I preached my first sermon in Hausa, I believe I got the point across: At the end of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells a parable of two people building a house one on the rock and one on the sand. The rock is Jesus, if you listen to Him the 20 points of the Sermon on the Mount, and you do what Jesus says your house (your life, your soul, your whole existence in the Kingdom of God will stand. If you do not listen to what Jesus  tells you to do and how we must live; you’re building on shifting sand and your very life could be lost. The good news is that Jesus gives many opportunities for us to change our ways. As God would have it we also had a conversion this morning, one of the Church leaders sons who had expressed interest some months ago.  I wanted to pray with him and lay on hands which we did. All in all it was a great service.

Gremar and Mariamu after church

After church we were ready for a quiet afternoon but Matt texted Gremar if she would come to the school to check on Christy the teacher’s wife who was a week overdue, sure enough Gremar recommended she go to the hospital and Matt asked Gremar to go along so I went as well. Laura had a great supper waiting for us bless her heart. Another full day. Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow we go back to Kontagora to duplicate more TLT manuals.

Maretu

Nigeria is a place of raw beauty

Yesterday we went to visit John, the Chairman of the Rural Church Council (Classis), in order to consult on the Pastoral Care Course. Matt Lancer and Jolly, the new principle assigned to the Bible school went along. I remember coming this way years ago when we visited the missionaries working there at the time. The road is mostly a dry season road with numerous creeks and a large river to cross. Living here year around, I am sure, posed major transportation problems. There are now two pastors and six evangelists working in this area. We saw churches and schools where before there were none. We visited the children and teachers at the Maretu school, about fifty kids and to my surprise two Fulani boys (Cow herding tribe) in the 1st grade. On the way back we stopped at Momo and Kampani to visit the Pastors there. We saw five operating pumps on bore holes along the way dug through a mission program and CRWRC help it is still going on today through  World Partners. The mission housing is being put to good use. I will be starting the Pastoral Care course for the church leaders there next week.

Today(yesterday) I started teaching Pastoral Care in the Bible School. The inductive method is new to them but I think in the end they will enjoy it. Tomorrow (today)Gremar and Laura  begin to team teach their Prenatal and Home Delivery Course to the students wives. Tomorrow (t0day)Matt and I are going to Idaci to meet with the leaders on that side to set up the same Pastoral Care course for them.

After that we need to do some plumbing since the tank needs a shut off valve. We found that out the hard way, a full tank of water and the metal flex line under the sink sprung a major leak that I could not get it stopped not even with a half a roll of precious black tape and Gremar continuously mopping. I finally drove over to Matt’s for a pipe wrench in order to disconnect the feeder pipe. Time flies when you are having fun!

People have both cattle and camels

Ma Hula

Thank God this station was pumping petrol

Three days ago, Saturday, we arrived at Ma Hula (one with the hat}a small village of the main road. There is a mission house here large enough for a family. Because of the problems in Jos no one was able to come up and prepare the house for occupation. No one has lived here full time for over a year but visitors and volunteers have been here on a regular basis. As you can see from the picture we had to haul up a fridge and a couple of bottles propane for the fridge and the stove.
We left at 7:30 AM. and arrived about 6:00 PM. Included are some pictures of the scenery along the way. Most of the road was good, but the last 60 kl. was broken up pavement we thank God we arrived safely. We hooked up the fridge, Gremar made some soup and we crashed but first I replaced the old truck batteries running the lights with new ones so that we could have lights and run our 12volt fan that night since it was around 83 degrees F.

Our new abode at sunset, the day we arrived

We only Ran it for a little while because it cooled of during the night to the point I got up to find some blankets. It was right at 70 deg. F. this morning with a stiff breeze. A lot of harmattan (dust blown in from the Sahara Desert) has blown in so that the temperatures stays below 100 deg. F. right about 92 today at midday.

Church at the Bible School was great, just like we remember it and it lasted only two hours and started thirty minutes late We felt like we were back in Newaygo.

Monday we did a lot of cleaning and organizing, it was a good day.

Things are now a little organized and put away

Today Tuesday, was spent in Kantagoro duplicating the TLT manual for the students. The first class starts on Thursday and I am looking forward to it. Gremar and Laura will take over the health class to the wives on Friday because the present teacher is a week past her delivery date. God is good everything is working out. Tomorrow I hope to see the classis chairman about a continuing education class for P aastors and evangelists in this area. 

The trip from Jos
Tankers waiting to load on our trip from Jos

We Thank God

We had good flights all the way; GR-Detroit-Amsterdam-Abuja. On all the flights we sat on the window side, two seats together so we were not stuck in between other passengers. Abuja airport was a breeze. No hassle over anything nor was any luggage opened. The Baptist guesthouse was spartan, hot and it turned out full of mosquitoes. We both started to itch and Gremar said I think we have mosquitoes, I didn’t think so because we did not feel anything, the power was off so I found my flash light and sure enough, bug spay on the dresser, a sure indication we would need it. We arrived in Jos yesterday, a lot of burned out houses close to Jos. Sad. We are still under a 6 PM to 6 AM curfew. We are at a walled in compound, a wall 10 ft. toped with razor wire and guards at the gate. Six families live here and we are in the guest house, the generator has been on every evening until 11:00 pm. A second generator is run for the rest of the night to keep the security lights on.

Today we went shopping. We had to park a ways from the shop because the street was blocked by cars and trucks some unloading. After we bought some groceries and for other missionaries we hired a push cart to haul it to the pick up but he could not get through the congestion, so we paid two men to head load the stuff to the pick up which worked well- when in Rome do as the Romans do.

While we are here I have started to read two very different books, one is “The Year of Living Like Jesus -My journey of discovering What Jesus Would Really do” The second book is not a book but a unique kind of Bible: “The Story”- Read the Bible as One Seamless Story from Beginning to End. No verses, or divisions and only 31 chapters. The first book is by Ed Dobson the former Pastor of Calvary Church on the East Beltline and the freeway in GR. He is suffering from ALS disease. How does one pray for healing from a debilitating and incurable fatal disease, he asks? Do we need a huge amount of faith for that prayer or there will be no healing? Or do we pray for healing with the condition that it is according to Gods will? He has chosen to pray the prayer of Bartimaeus: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me” P. 74/75. (Mark 10:47-48) This prayer implies healing; he was blind. It is also the pray of the tax collector: “God, have mercy on me, a sinner” (Luke 18:9-13). This prayer is requesting spiritual healing. Both prayers are appropriate for all of us; we often need physical healing and always spiritual healing. Both prayers stand in extreme contrast to the prayer of the Pharisee, who thanks God for what he is not and points out to God all the good things he does. The first chapter of The Story is: “The beginning of life as we know it.” It moves from perfection and harmony to disharmony and brokenness; the reality of sin shapes life as we know it today. The two books merge on that point; the brokenness of illness and the reality of sin. There is an answer to it all: Lord Jesus, have mercy on me, a sinner, mercy that is based on the Mother Promise: “And I will put enmity between you (Satan) and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel.” (Gen.3: 15) Praise God!

Do you love me more than these?

01/31/10 NCCN 11:00, Matt. 10: 37-42

God speaks to us: Do you love me more than these?

Intro: Jesus words are in the context of sending out his 12 disciples but here in Matt 10 he is sending them to the Israelites. He tells them to be on guard because there will be suffering and discord. He says to them; don’t think I have come for peace because I will turn families against each other. So Jesus’ discourse about family is in the context of believers and unbelievers in the same family. Jesus asks Peter this question when he was reinstated after denying Jesus and this morning Jesus asks us that question as well: Do you love me more than these? More than what? For Peter; his occupation, his fellow disciples, his family? Put in there whatever it is you love most. What do you love most? Jesus says do you love me more than that? That is what this is all about, but we should not think that loving Jesus is at the expense of family. I mean immediate family and only those who believe. Non-believers whether family or not, will always oppose us as believers.

I. Not worthy of Jesus, v. 37

A. Father and mother.

So Jesus says to us: if you love your father and mother more than me you are not worthy of me. You are not worthy of following me. It does not mean that you do not love your parents but you do not allow them to stop your service to God. Example: Gremar’s mother wanted her to be around and if you could look in her heart she would try to stop here from going to Africa. She did not because she was a believer but if she was not a believer she would try to stop her.

B. Sons and daughters.

1. But Jesus becomes more intimate than parents, he includes children. If you love them more than me, Jesus says you are not worthy. Personally, I don’t think God expects service at the expense of our children and spouses.

2. What he expects is that we serve as families. Our families thought we were crazy taken Steve to Nigeria at six months of age. We may even have siblings who think we waste our time at church and are irresponsible giving to the church. We can’t listen to that kind of talk. We must do our service as families. As missionaries and as a pastor we have always done ministry as a family, our kids knew why we did what we did they helped us do it.

Jesus also says…..

II. Take up your cross and follow me. v. 38

A. What does that mean really?

Crosses stand for suffering. This weeks study at family night showed us 5 different kinds of crosses but all of them entail horrible suffering. Jesus is saying; don’t quit following me when it becomes hard, when it starts to hurt us, or starts to cost us. Be willing to suffer if necessary.

B. Take up your cross

So whatever situation confronts, you do not have an option but to do what you are capable of doing. Not more but not less than you are able.

C. Follow me!

But it is not only worship and doing things to help others, it is following Jesus. That means we do what He did, we give of ourselves as Jesus gave of Himself. Pick up your cross and follow me. Do what I would do and do not count the cost Jesus says.

III. Finding and losing your life. v 39

A. He who finds his life

If you are always thinking about yourself, always thinking on what you want or on what you think is right and on what is best for you, then you have found your life and you are holding onto it. If you do that, Jesus says: you lose it. You have already lost it.

B. He who loses his life.

But Jesus says if you give up your life, it may mean giving up your ambitions or your dreams and replace it with what God wants you to do for Him. That is how you gain your life. You let go of it so that you get to keep it. Jesus is talking about spiritual death and spiritual life. Faithful service always means believing in Jesus. To follow Jesus means to let go of yourself completely.

IV. Receiving Jesus and the Father. V. 40-41

A. Receiving a prophet and a righteous man.

If you receive Jesus, believe on Him then you receive God the Father. If you receive a prophet, a church worker, a pastor, fellow church members you will receive a reward. What Jesus is talking about is not salvation but rewards for serving him after we believe.

CONCLUSION: It is not talk but action. Don’t tell me how much you believe in Jesus, don’t tell me how much you love him. Show me! Show everyone! Give that cup of water that Jesus talks about. Serve Jesus as families, get the whole family involved. You will not lose your reward. Amen!

We love you Pastor Case and Gremar