Home Safe & Sound

Dear Les and Team,

It was so amazing having you here with us in Nigeria!!!!!!!!

You all did an incredible job and we are getting testimonies daily about how you impacted so many! Our staff and needy children were so amazed that you would sacrifice your holidays for them! They felt so loved by you!!!

We are so appreciative of you and your extended families for allowing you to come.

We are also so grateful to your supporters = You brought us more supplies than any of our 170 previous teams!!!

Let us know when you arrive. We heard about all the snow in Europe and hope that did not cause delays?

Also, wanted to let you know that things are very calm in town and I will go in tomorrow to see how I can help.

We love you all!

In Christ - Peter (Fretheim)
http://www.gonigeria.org/

Jos Bombings

from Euronews.net, Dec 26th:

New religious clashes broke out in central Nigeria Sunday, two days after bombings that killed 32 people in the city of Jos.

Authorities in Nigeria's volatile Middle Belt region are trying to contain tensions after clashes broke out between armed Christian and Muslim groups in Jos.

News agencies quoted witnesses as reporting that buildings were set on fire in Jos. Security forces were patrolling the area to contain the violence and disperse crowds.

On Friday, a series of explosions in Jos killed 32 people and wounded 74. Many of the victims were doing last-minute Christmas shopping.

Jos is the capital of Plateau State in Nigeria's volatile Middle Belt, a region where the mostly Muslim north meets the mainly Christian south.

Clashes between religious and ethnic groups have killed hundreds of people in and around Jos in recent years.

Plateau state governor Jonah David Jang said the attacks were aimed at sparking violence between Christians and Muslims that would interfere with preparations for April's presidential poll.

"We are going to comb every nook and corner of this city and ensure that these people are fished out and they are dealt with according to the laws of this nation," Jang said.

Nigeria's army chief said the explosions amounted to terrorism.

Pray for Peace in Jos

Received a phone call this afternoon from Les - the team left Jos this morning, all members are doing well. However, as they prepare to celebrate Christmas together (9+ Hours PST) in Abuja, they were informed that a bomb was detonated this afternoon back in Jos that killed at least five people and wounded 'dozens' according to Reuters News. He wanted to confirm that the team members were fine as well as any known in-country missionary contacts.

Please pray for the peace of Jos and its people, for the comfort of the families of the lost and for the injured to recover fully. Pray again for reconcilliation between the warring factions and protection of the innocents. That Satan would not be allowed to undo the work of our team by creating confusion and fear.

I was recently informed by some African missionaries on sabbatical that "Jos" is not an African name - the explanation for the name is an acronym for one of the first Christian missionary posts in the interior of Nigeria during the 1800s.  J.O.S. = Jesus Our Savior !

At this time of year especially, we are reminded why the baby in the manger was to be named Jesus for his mission into this world: "to save his people from their sins."  Alleluia!
And even from his birth, the Christ Child has many other wonderful names given from eternity that we worship and appeal to. . . "the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Prince of Peace."  At this time as our team leaves in their wake the blessing of serving and witnessing to the Love of Christ to the people of Jos, I ask us to again pray while appealing to the name of "Comforter" for his people in Jos.  If I may be so bold to borrow a phrase from Isaiah, "Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jos, and cry to her that her warfare is ended."

There will be many great stories of God using our team when they return next week. He is good - all the time. Thank you for your continued collaboration with this mission team through your prayers.
Merry Christmas!

Religon Pure & Undefiled

Below is Kyle's response to an encouraging note from his dad on recent events:

I really am at a lost for words right now. I can't even begin to tell you all that I have experienced on this trip. From our trip out to Dogon Nahawa, where over 300 Christians were killed, to spending time at the Gyero Orphanage, my time here has been absolutely amazing. We have been at Gyero Orphanage the last two days and will continue to be there till Friday. Sam and I have been digging trenches for 3 hours the last 2 days. We got our first blisters today. The Nigerians call me the wrestler haha because Sam and I work with our shirts off. They love it and all are very hard workers. The children at this orphanage are unbelievable. We celebrated Christmas today. They sang songs, danced with me in the hot sun, and received gifts. Today was the day that we handed out the light glasses, bunny ears, and wands. They were a hit! I took some great pictures to send to your friend! At the celebration, the children (ages 3-17) recited all of John chapter 1. Verses 1-51! It was one of the most remarkable things I have ever heard. These children are so full of life. Every day feels like one big day of prayer. Praying over these children and talking to the males about being men of God has been humbling. To be able to radiate His love to every person I have encountered has been such a blessing. Tell everyone to keep praying. These children need us. We have 3 more days with the Gyero children. Tomorrow we head out to the prison. We will playing them in soccer which is going to be very exciting. I love you very much Pop. I pray that you recognize the true meaning of Christmas in way you never have before. That is the birth of the King of Kings in a MANGER. Born to a VIRGIN! Thank you for everything you do. You're my best friend.

In His love,   Kyle
p.s. I love you more!
Tell Lisa I love her and miss her and tell the girls that they are going to die over some of these pictures. The babies, the babies, the babies. The pictures are definitely worth a thousand words. Love to all.

Eagle Report from Sunday

 Subject: Nigeria, Day 2


Hi Dear Friends and Family,
We are all having an amazing and joyous time in Nigeria. I can’t even begin to say how full our days are will so many different moments and places and people. First of all, to the families, all the kids (young adults) are great and God is so evident in each of them. Everyone is healthy (Sam is just getting there) and full of joy and the Holy Spirit. Peter says he has never had a team work as hard, do as much and bring as much. We have been non-stop.....almost immediately after our 31 hour trip to Abuja!

Today we started our day in a small church. It was as pure and sacred a church service as I can imagine. The worship was just so glorious…powerful, humble, sincere!!!  Les gave a great word of encourament from our team to the believers there.

We went from there back to a place we had already been, the street boys transition house. We showed the boys some USC football video…they loved it…but had never even heard of American football. Then the team played some soccer with them..and we ended our time with Kyle and Matt talking with the boys about being young men of faith. That was a special time and God used Matt and Kyle to encourage those dear young men, all of whom were street kids, and many of whom have been horribly abused.

We went from there to a ministry for widows. These are such beautiful women…so precious. When a woman is widowed in Nigeria the husband’s family takes EVERYTHING!!!  Even the children. They suffer greatly. The ministry we are with has started a sowing business with them. We had a wonderful time with them. They sang for us, I did a devotion for them…and then they did the Christmas Nativity play!!!!  It was awesome. We brought them gifts…most of them had NEVER received a gift.

We ended our day at a place so hard to describe…so beautiful and terrible and tragic…that I hesitate to even write about it in this brief update. We are still trying to process it. We went out to a village called Dogon Nahawa (spelling). There was a terrible massacre of  the gentle, humble people who lived in that village in March. Hundreds of people were killed in an ambush by 1000 anti Christian terrorists. The drive out there was beautiful and when we arrived our van was surrounded by more than a hundred children. Whe we got out they grabbed our hands, legs,  arms…fingers..whatever they could latch onto. We then walked with them about a half mile out to the site of the mass grave where their family members now lay. Once we got there, a man who was shot in the massacre told us the whole story of what occurred. All the while we are listening the kids are all over us, clamoring for our love and showing the gentleness and courage that is the dear people here. When the story was finished…well…what do you do or say at that time. We groped and stammered to be honest. Then we decided to sing a song for them…We sang, ’Jesus loves me this I know…out there, at the point where so much evil and hatred occurred. The children sang with us…they then sang us a beautiful Nigerian song about God’s love. We finished with prayer…and children all over us…walked back to the village. We brought candy (a friend of the Barkley’s had their kids make 200 small bags…perfect) and handed it out in complete chaos. The little girl I was walking with the whole time was named Rebecca. She has a horrible scar across her cheek, ear and neck. She shared with me that she was cut in the massacre…but her pretty little smile never left her face.  What courage. We left the village then…all the kids waving and running after our van, waving their candy.

Les and I are very aware that we need to process this situation with the team. We are not here to “accumulate” experiences…but to love and serve and to hopefully be changed forever. When I woke up this morning…I prayed “this is the day that the Lord has made…I will rejoice and be glad in it.”  At church we sang that song (the first song) with the rhythmic African drums and the hopeful, lyrical voices of those people. Tonight we are so thankful for just that…we had such a day…of seeing hope and laughter and love…in the worst devastation. We will rejoice and be glad in the Lord.

Thank you all for praying. We feel it. Our team is so loving and fun and unified, hardworking…all the members BOLDLY sharing Jesus.

“Kyle” non-stop energy, complete servant, total joy, team scribe!!! Three king in play, Evangelist.
Brittany: Astonishing the Nigerian boys with her soccer, likes the Nigerian Food, looks really cute in her Headscarf---brings joy everywhere (not holding hands with Matt---forbidden in Nigerian Culture---LOL)
Taylor: Never feels like we have enough time anywhere…never wants to leave anywhere we are!!!  Spreads love everywhere---grabs the tiniest kids---sleeps in tiny bed with Lainy, not sure about the food
Lainy: wants to pray everywhere, was sad Sam was sick; wore a matching outfit with Taylor today---loves Africa with all her heart
Matt: Breaking out the guitar…FINALLY started cooking (LOL the cooks didn’t come today to make our breakfast) Ate salmon on the plane---the kids love to touch him. Showing so much love and courage
Sam: A form of pale you can’t imagine. Has hung in there like a real trooper without complaining-or skipping on thing, sleeps in the loud van a lot---can’t wait to dig the well
(tomorrow - Monday)

Missions Update

Appreciate you checking for update status on the team. . . the families will forward on any information as soon as they receive it to the blog. We were told beforehand that the electrical grid in Jos is not consistent and power to the entire city may only be supplied for a few hours per day. . . (remember it is summer season in Africa - so hot and dustry)  I asked the ED of Go Nigeria when/if  we could expect some updates - here is his response:

Mike,
I'm sure they are working on that--it's just with their schedule and internet/download speeds, and they may all be using one or two laptops (?), and lack of electricity, etc., it may be too much for now.  Sometimes just loading one pic can freeze the entire system, depending upon what they are using.  Just FYI--thanks. -rw
Rick Whittlesey Executive Director, Go Nigeria
1717 Arrow Lane, Garland, TX  75042

Please continue to pray for the team and its members:  their physical health and emotional endurance in the face of so many demands. Team unity.  Mental steadfastness to remain focused on their purpose and to have daily encouragements in seeing changed lives through serving and giving in Jesus' name. Thank you all your considerations and your prayerful support.  Peace, ML

The Eagles Have Landed

Family and Friends,

We made it safe! The trip took a total of 31 hours. We ended up being slightly delayed in Frankfurt which caused us to not to land in Abuja at the determined time. We flew further south to another airport and stayed on the same plane for an hour, than flew back to Abuja. What an eventful trip it was! We ended up losing only 1 out of 21 duffel bags of donations but we are confident that it will show up in the next few days.

Africa is all we had expected it to be. Our experience thus far has been so amazing and so filled with the Spirit. The people of Nigeria are so grateful and excited for us to be here. We began our day, Saturday the 18^th, in Abuja. After breakfast  in Abuja we departed for the long ride by car to Jos which took a little under 4 hours. The drive to Jos was a sight to see. We saw Nigerian Africa to the fullest. From the plateaus to military personel armed in AK-47 machine guns along the checkpoints to the craziest streets in the world, we saw it all. The streets were covered in cars with markets lining both sides. Driving on these streets was crazy! There are no driving laws and cars honk every 2 seconds. You can’t even picture how many people we saw on the streets. We saw women balancing big bundles of bananas and wood on their heads like you see in pictures. Wait till you see pictures. When we arrived in Jos, we first went to the Peter Fretheim home, the Go Nigeria missionaries, for lunch. What an amazing family they have! We enjoyed a great lunch with their family than headed to a Baptist hostel. The hostel houses 30 people but we are the only ones staying here as of right now. We got settled in at the hostel then off to the Transition House CARE Center we went. This was a center for boys between the ages of 16-23. We had an amazing time handing out gifts and hearing the boys sing different worship songs. They were so grateful for their gifts and after we handed them out, Mr. Fretheim said that for a lot of them, it was the first gift they had ever received in their lives. Pretty humbling to realize how blessed we are.

After the Transition House, we headed to another group ministry that dealt with disabled men. A man named Ayuba is the leader of the ministry, suffered from polio when he was younger and he was in a wheelchair. This ministry makes wheelchairs and sends them out to disabled men and women in the country. It was a very humbling experience and these men were all so grateful as well. Matt lead worship and sang a few Christmas carols too! Mrs. Barkley spoke about the power we have within us and why we glorify God in the midst of all our suffering and pain. Very powerful stuff! We ended tonight with a trip to the Nigerian Missionary Kids home. This was a blast! As soon as we got there, we were approached by everyone. They were the nicest, most Spirit-filled people in the world. These kids were all so mature in their faith and really made me realize the power of the Body of Christ. Here 8 Americans were, praising and worshipping in song with 50 young Nigerian boys and girls. It was amazing. Mrs. Barkley directed the Nativity play with 12 of the missionary kids and everyone loved it. We all enjoyed a rice dish after the play and ended with handing each boy and girl a couple gifts. It was a powerful night!

As I end this email, I just want to let you know that we are doing great. The Spirit is moving in the 8 of us and I truly feel in my heart that He is in the midst of some groundbreaking things. Continue to lift our team in prayer. We were all called to this trip for a reason and that is to make a difference in the lives of people. Sharing His love and compassion is not only changing the Nigerians lives, but the 8 of ours just as much. We have so much to be thankful for. I look forward to what God has planned for us these next 8 days. Hope you’re not losing too much sleep over us - please don't, we are in the palm of His Hand.

In His Love,

Kyle

P.S. I have a request from Taylor and Brit.

Taylor told me to tell her family that she loves you all very much and that she misses you. She also said not to worry about her momma!

Brit sends her love home to her family. She said to keep praying for us and that she's doing great!

On Eagles Wings

Eight team members gather at LAX at 7:00am tomorrow morning with over 1500 pounds of crafts, small toys, hygiene kits, soccer balls and hundreds of Evange-cubes (the Gospel in picture form laid out like a rubic cube). We thank everyone for their prayers - that we show up in Nigeria anticipating the divine appointments we will have with the widows and orphans. . . pray we serve and minister with a humble and cheerful spirit - that lives will be changed for eternity.


Oh yeah. . . the boys are building a water well for the orphan. Pray the clean drinking water right near the orphanage will be a first step to bringing a more healthy life for these dear children. What an impact this will have on that community.


We fly from LAX to Houston to Frankfurt to Abuja. . .about 22 total flight hours. Then, a three hour drive through armed checkpoints on a winding mountain road to Jos (elevation 4000 feet) We anticipate arriving to the mission home late Friday night. Hope to get you caught up on Saturday.


The Lord be with us all.
BL