Nigeria Blog Day 9 and 10

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 and that we were now family and always welcome! 

Baby dedication at church

Me with the Lieutenant Governor's wife on stage at church.

The church members presented us with gifts of  drums and gourdes to make music!

By the way, we went to church at the invitation of the Lieutenant Governor’s wife and sat with her during the service.  She gave us a gift as well:  she had a tailor come to our chalet and take measurements for our own Nigerian attire! What blessings we have received time and time again.

Joe getting tailor fitted for his native Nigerian attire

After church we traveled around the city some and went to the Emir's Palace, the home of the Muslim tribal King of this area. He was not in when we arrived, but his guard asked if we would be able to return before we headed home! With our schedule, we are not sure whether a visit will work out. We finished the evening at home and actually ventured out to the local street corner.  We bought some authentic Nigerian grilled meat on a stick that was tasty and spicy! We were not sure exactly what they bought us, but later found out that one was cow kidney. It was actually quite tasty until they told me what it was!  Pray that my stomach handles the adventure. 

Emir's Palace

On Monday we started early and traveled well out of the city to a small village that was located in another school district. We wanted to spend time with the children, but only had time to meet with the principal and chairman before having to leave to get back to town. While we were traveling we got a call that the Governor wanted to meet us in his office. So we drove the two hours back to the city as quickly as we could. The drive was not exactly easy - the road we took was one of the main roads out of this city of 750,000, but it wasn’t far out of town before the road got really bad, was filled with huge pot holes, and was often only a dirt path. It was the bumpiest ride I have ever had, including Jeeps and tractor rides in fields! 

The road trip is hard to explain.  This picture doesn't give you a much better idea of the road condition, but at least gives you an idea of the local scenery

We arrived back in time to meet the Governor at his office and share with him what we have done for Double T, what we have observed while being here, and to cast a vision of how we feel we can partner in the future. This was an experience of a lifetime and their reception of us was over the top! God has definitely granted us favor in all aspects of this MLO and we look forward to praying through further missions and partnerships with Double T Baseball Academy. 

The Governor of Kwara State, Nigeria and some of his cabinet.

Meeting with the Governor of the Kwara State, Nigeria.  It was a very special meeting.

Thanks to each of you who support us and take the time to read what is happening. God is a good,  good God! 

Have a wonderful God filled day! 

David