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!