HiS PRINT Ministries Updates

I start this blog out by saying ??, because I realize as I was starting to write, that this is actually Day 13 and that I have been miscounting the entire trip! Oh well, I can tell you for sure that today is travel day and that we are so thankful! 
As you can see from those opening statements I started writing this on our return trip back home and now that we have landed safely back on Texas Soil and rejoined our brides and family, I want to say thank you for praying for us and our families while we were away. I can tell you that from those prayers, God placed a dome of protection over and around us and His blanket of love and warmth rested on us! Never once did I feel threatened and although commotion would often happen around us, it was never directed at us! It was as if they couldn’t approach us unless we approached them or made acknowledgement that it was okay!

Twenty four hours is not long enough to process all that went on during this MLO and to be perfectly honest with you, I&…

Well, we made it safely from Ilorin to Abuja after a 50 minute flight. We made our way around to several places in Abuja today including sitting in on the Senate. But more about that later...

We are preparing to board the plane to Frankfurt and would ask for your prayers. We have been up since 6 a.m. Nigeria time and it’s currently 11:00 p.m. We will fly all night to Frankfurt, have a 4 1/2 hour layover, and then a nearly-12 hour flight home to Houston. We are beat and extremely hungry. We are praying to finish strong and would covert your prayers for the same! 

God bless each of you. Wow, have we had an MLO! It's been remarkable and helped each of us to be thankful for what we have and the friends who care about us! 
Have a wonderful God filled day!  HE DID IT! 

David

Today was not unlike the other days we have been here in the sense that we thought we were going to be leaving at a certain time, that time came and went and we were still sitting in our chalet waiting to go watch the final games and take part in the closing ceremonies. Because they wanted us to make a grand entrance, it did not allow for us to go early and watch the games in their entirety. So at the appointed time during the last game, decked out in our Nigerian authentic outfits, we headed to the ballpark.

The fans cheered for us as we got out of the car and went under the tents to take our seats with the government officials who were also in attendance. The final game was a very good and close game with the Double T 16U baseball club winning the championship and taking first place in the tournament. 

The festivities during the closing were very nice.  We were asked to participate by handing out awards to the government officials and by congratulating the teams who participated. I…

These past few days have been a blur!  I wish I had taken the time to jot my notes while it was happening or soon after.  But with little sleep for the past 4 days, when we get back to our chalet at night I am too tired and can’t bring myself to make time for notes! Needless to say, a lot of great things have happened these past 48 hours and to be honest I can’t remember them all. I’ll try and catch the highlights and then let the pictures fill in some color. 
Sunday morning we attended Calvary Baptist Church and had a wonderful 3 hour worship and praise service. They asked me to come to the platform and share a few words, and were extremely excited to hear that I would bring their message of love and thanksgiving back to Texas. Then they pulled a fast one on us and gave us gifts of native drums, and even asked me to play in front of the congregation. What a blessing and treat to worship with them! The Pastor told us that we made history as the first Americans to visit their church a…

Let me start out with taking just a little space here to yell out a huge Happy Anniversary to my beautiful and precious bride! It was 28 years ago today that I was blessed beyond measure as we grasped hands, joined them in marriage and began this beautiful journey together. I can honestly and without hesitation say that I love my Baby Doll deeper today than I did then, because it’s every day since then that I realize the blessing God granted me that day, November 3, 1990! She has always sacrificed above and beyond; MLO’s for the past 12 years have taken me across the pond to celebrate my birthday in Croatia and that often is not with my family. A couple of times she has been with me during those, but not together in our own home. Not to mention that this is not the first time we have been an ocean apart during our anniversary. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that I have been overseas during her birthday a time or two as well. So you can see, she has sacrificed more than her sha…

These past two days have been a blur and at the end of both we have been exhausted. This has been a very blessed mission from the start, but in many, many ways a very difficult one as well. Reading God’s word and listening to Jesus, we know that the road we are to travel will often be met with struggles and obstacles, and when approaching different cultures we are often left questioning and wondering. We find ourselves sitting and waiting for the day's schedule to start, not really knowing where we will be going nor what our role will be.  Once we get started, the pace is suddenly quick with frequent unexpected moves. I'm not really sure how to explain it, other than to say that the culture and people here are much different than who we are and where we have been.  It is not a bad thing, it’s just a difficult adjustment. 
Every day we are challenged with Being and Remaining the little letter “i’s”,  challenged by not knowing the schedule yet being expected to be ready at a mo…

When we thought it couldn’t possibly get any better, today happens! As I mentioned above, there are not enough adjectives to describe what went on today with the overwhelming greeting and opportunity to participate in the Opening Ceremonies of the baseball/softball tournament. We discovered in full color today the magnitude of our visit and what it means to this country.
When we went to the field this morning for opening ceremonies we thought we were going to a part of a small kick-off with the teams, coaches and a few people from the town. What we found when we drove down the road to the field and turned the corner was several large tents, not only the teams participating but many students to watch the festivities, all the government officials we had met the day before and more people than I had time to count! 
As we pulled to a stop they opened the door to our cars, music playing and the announcer telling the people that their distinguished guests from America had arrived. Walking …