Nigeria Trip Daily Journal

I decided to enter portions of my handwritten journal from the Nigeria missions trip I just went on. Since we had no internet access there, it's a little late, but there are some great stories of God's faithfulness that I cannot leave unwritten!
Thursday, 10/12/06-10/13/06
We left the Detroit airport on a red eye. Things were going very smoothly. Our team had arrived early, checked in, and boarded on time. As we taxied out to the runway, the captain came over the speaker and said that a warning light had appeared on the computer and we needed to return to the gate. So as we slowly taxied back the long stretch, I took a look at my ticket. Our connection in Amsterdam allowed us 1hour and 45 minutes, but we were set back 50 minutes. We we arrived in Amsterdam we RAN to terminal "D" which was NOT next to terminal "E". We all made it on board. I am now sitting on a plane in Lagos, Nigeria. I just pray our luggage made it.


We arrived safely in our hotel. It was quite an experience! First of all, after landing and moving through immigration, I felt like I was in a sardine can when we went for our luggage. You could not move. It took a while for us to get all of our 9 bags, but once we had them, we made our way to the exit. A guard questioned my father about the contents of the bag and looked suspicious about the number of bags we had brought. I thought my dad was going to have to pay him off, but when he said, "we are coming to bless the widows of Nigeria", the man said, "ok, please pass through."
As we continued our walk outside it was such a vast difference from my previous experiences from other countries in Africa. Much dirtier, many more bodies and cars going in literally every direction, at each other, and beeping every 3 seconds. Once we hit the doors, our host pastor met us there with his team. I wasn't surprised by the constant propositions for money from beggars. We waited about 15 minutes for the cars to come pick us up and then drove on to the hotel. We are going to spend the night here in Lagos and fly out in the morning to Onitsha.
SATURDAY 10/14/06
Well the third leg of the trip was definately interesting! We woke up early and met Pastor Tony in the hotel lobby. We rode over to the national airport. This was much different from yesterday. It seemed like we were at a sea port...let me explain...this airport is used heavily for exporting goods so while we waited for Pastor Tony to purchase our tickets, I saw many large boxes and bags go through "security". After about 1 hour, we went into the waiting area. It was very crowded. After a few minutes a seat opened up between two Nigerian women. I sat down and began to read a book. A man selling jewelry came by and offered a look to the ladies. The older lady threw a packet on my lap and declared it to be fake. I simply nodded my head. She then asked me to watch her seat while she went to the restroom. When she returned we struck up a conversation. This Nigerian lady turned out to have her PhD from Howard University and had lived in Greenbelt, Maryland. What a small world! As I explained our ministry in Nigeria, she asked, "But what are you doing? That is not enough." It was like I was talking to a brick wall after that because she wouldn't really listen to what I had to say. I prayed and asked the Lord to soften her heart and see that we just wanted to share the love of Christ. I ended up talking with the lady for an hour longer than expected since our plane was delayed. When we walked out to board our plane we had to identify our luggage before they would put it on the plane. It was an easy 50 minute trip from Lagos to Enugu.
Once landing in Enugu we saw a Nigerian Air Force plane with red carpet rolled out. We learned that the President of Nigeria was leaving the area. When we picked up our luggage we waited at a belt but it surprised me to see a pickup truck driving in our bags. Quite humorous actually.
The next leg(what # is this?) was for us to drive about 1 hour to Onitsha. When we arrived, the Widow's conference had already begun. Some of the widows had been waiting since 7 am for the noon conference. We didn't arrive until 1:30pm due to our delayed flight.
On arriving at the church, I was overwhelmed at the greeting they gave Mama Linda and me. It seriously felt like walking down a red carpet with everyone touching you and wanting you to smile and touch them back.
The conference was wonderful. Mama Linda spoke, the Pastor's wife, Hepsibah sang and led worship, and we handed out gifts to every widow. When it was over, we went back to our hotel and took a nap. Talk about jet lag!!!!
I desperately needed to shower...the pollution and dust here is unbelievable. And the driving....there are no lines on the road-and most of the roads are dirt. People just drive anywhere on the road. If you want to pass, you simply honk your horn. The motorcycles definately make it fun because they weave in and out driving the right and wrong way. Anyway, when we arrived at the hotel, owned by Christians, I went to take a shower and there was no water. So I used the bottled water and watched as the water turned a brown color draining out of my hair.
SUNDAY 10/15
Church this morning was great! We left the hotel at 9am and sat in a 6 hour service. Yes, you read that right! 6 hours. It actually only felt like 2 or 3 hours. I love how the Africans don't worry about time...no one checks their watches, the service isn't moved by the clock on the back wall, but by the Spirit!
MONDAY 10/16
1. We went to the market place today. There were mainly men at this market place since it was tools, tires and machines that were sold there. We set up a sound system and people from the church choir sang, the team evangelized and many were saved! One thing I learned (that wasn't spiritual) is not to drink water before going out on the field....you guessed it, I had to go to the bathroom...I had to have 2 men from the church escort me about 1/4 of a mile through the marketplace to a "bathroom" which I had to pay for...I never felt so white and so stared at in my life. I think I got a little taste of the tables being turned.
2. After the marketplace evangelism, we drove about 30 minutes to the police headquarters of Anambra State, Nigeria. We saw the top 6 officers, an SSS director(like our CIA/FBI) and several other police men and women. The American police officer who was with us, Bob, made a presentation from the State of Michigan greeting them and congradulating them on a job well done. They were overwhelmed! Later in the week, we each received a plaque that greeted us and thanked us for our work here in Nigeria. How cool!
3. We then drove to another town about 1 1/2 hours away. I thought that our driver said it was 10-20 minutes away--I was in a car, the widows didn't roll down and I was in the back and the roads were terrible.....I got sick, really sick. We finally arrived at the little town and held the inagural conference for this chapter of the widows. There were approximately 70 there in a tiny room. Of course, I had to use the bathroom again so when the lady took me to the "bathroom" I thought I was prepared...but this time it was a banana tree! Ha! I met some children there and couldn't communicate in words, but actions and smiles meant the world to both of us. I love how God gave us multiple ways of communication!
4. We drove back in to Onitsha(I was in a car with windows that worked) and I had pineapple, papaya and banana for dinner then we rushed over to the church where the first evening of revival services were starting. My dad preached. It rocked!

Reverse Culture Shock

I have been on over 20 foreign mission trips, but none have affected me on the return trip like the one I just got back from. I traveled to Onitsha, Anambra State, Nigeria in Africa this past October with my parents and two other men from Michigan. I was only there one week, but I cannot get the pictures out of my head. That's not a bad thing...it's just tiring because it's so consuming.
I'm sitting at Panera Bread right now watching others eat their meal with the electricity on and wonder what the reaction would be if we lost power. Would we immediately pray or praise God for His power because that is all we need? Or would we freak out? In Nigeria we lost power at least 30 times while we were there. It wasn't always for a long period of time, but it would go off and on every few minutes and it could have become very annoying. But instead I chose to praise God. To thank Him for flashlights and batteries. And when the batteries died, praise Him for the moon that He made.
Another picture that runs over and over in my mind is sitting in church on Sunday morning....which rolled into Sunday afternoon. We had a 6 hour church service! Now, most reactions would be 'what! that's sooo long' or 'there is no way I'd go to a 6 hour church service'. But I never looked at my watch or thought about the time. God was present and no one was rude enough to leave. Schedules and football games did not preempt time with our Maker. Then why do I sometimes continually check my watch when I'm sitting in church in the States? Why do you?
Since I have returned from Nigeria, my challenge to myself is to see God how I saw Him there. He is no different. He never changes. His love is unfailing. I didn't waste time on petty things. We don't have that luxury...that's not why God created us. We have work to do. I have work to do. Here and in each country God calls me to. Take off the rose colored glasses, put away your palm pilots and let God be your eyes and your pilot.