Jonathan D. Blundell

Well for the record, I’m back home in Texas.
It’s so weird to think that less than 48 hours ago I was in Jos, Nigeria.
We arrived in Dallas yesterday at 2:30 p.m. and while jet lag doesn’t seem to have kicked in to bad (yet) the world lag has.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by all the things I need to remember to do in the next couple days to get caught back up.
Today when I came to work I found out that only moments before a friend and co-worker was injured on our press here at the paper.
Pray for him. His hair was caught in the press and as I understand it, some of his hair and scalped were ripped off. Apparently the injuries were not life threatening but he was taken by air ambulance to a hospital in Dallas.
I remember thinking moments before I left home this morning that it was odd to hear ambulances and firetrucks again, little did I know they were rushing to our office.
So it’s back to the daily grind and trying to find meaning in it all.
It was funny that on the plane back I watched The Devil Wears Prada and Click. In both movies people are searching for meaning in the daily grind. Is success all that it’s cracked up to be?
I think Solomon tells us otherwise, “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

Remember your Creator
in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come
and the years approach when you will say,
“I find no pleasure in them”-
before the sun and the light
and the moon and the stars grow dark,
and the clouds return after the rain;
when the keepers of the house tremble,
and the strong men stoop,
when the grinders cease because they are few,
and those looking through the windows grow dim;
when the doors to the street are closed
and the sound of grinding fades;
when men rise up at the sound of birds,
but all their songs grow faint;
when men are afraid of heights
and of dangers in the streets;
when the almond tree blossoms
and the grasshopper drags himself along
and desire no longer is stirred.
Then man goes to his eternal home
and mourners go about the streets.
Remember him—before the silver cord is severed,
or the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
or the wheel broken at the well,
and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher.
“Everything is meaningless!”
Ecclesiastes 12:1-8

Now all has been heard;
here is the conclusion of the matter:
Fear God and keep his commandments,
for this is the whole duty of man.
For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing,
whether it is good or evil.
Ecclesiastes 12:13&14

Pray for peace and God’s will in Nigeria. Pray that Christians will continue to be bold and affect those around us.
And pray for our group. Pray that we will continue to be bold about our faith in Texas as we were in Nigeria.
God bless and thank you again for all your support.
Just an FYI: I plan to post pictures as soon as I can sit down and sort through them and I plan to keep my Nigeria blog active with information regarding our trip next year as well.

We’re on our last full day here in Jos, Nigeria.
We did a lot of shopping this morning (some more than others). The rest of us did a lot of window shopping as the shop keepers did there best to sell the Paturies (sp?) their wares.
We’re eating our last meal at the Click Net and we’ll have a time to say our good byes to the boys at TH and Gidan Bega this afternoon. The two boys I prayed with last week to receive Christ have been begging me for an EvangeCube that I showed them the Gospel message with.
I told them they had to promise me to show it to at least 10 people if I give it to them. So I’ll bring them to Luke and Isaiah today before we head back home.
Yesterday we did shopping in the morning and then went to a church at the Motorpark.
The Motorpark is basically a large field where people bring their cars and wait for riders to take trips across the country.
You can probably find a ride to any part of the country if you’re willing to wait for enough other riders to make it profitable for the car owner and driver.
The church at the Motorpark meets in a large building with wooden benches and dirt floors. Their numbers are few, but they’ve doubled in size since last year.
The church was a large size years ago before fighting broke out between the Muslims and Christians. The church dispersed after that but everyday a group of women would continue to meet in the afternoon and pray for God to work.
Now their numbers have at least trippled and they are excited and on fire for God.
The chief is blind himself and he welcomed us to the area but our Nigerian friends were worried for our safety after seeing some anti-American resentment by some.
Very few whites have visited the area and we were looking forward to seeing it – some of us for the first time.
Members of the group have been there before and some did medical mission work there while I was at Bad Boys last week.
So our stay there was very short, but in both Blind Town and the Motorpark we couldn’t keep enough tracts with us.
People see you handing out anything and they want a piece of it.
Pray that God will speak to their hearts and their eyes will be opened by a simple tract.
Pray that the church in the Motorpark will continue to flurish.
Pray that the Muslims in Blind Town will see that Allah can not heal them and give them peace like our God can.
Pray for the Muslim men that our team continues to meet and pray with.
Pray that they will no longer be blinded or live in fear of their Muslim friends. May they accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and be bold about their faith.
We fly back to America in less than 48 hours and I look forward to seeing many of you once we are back.
Pray for our safety as we travel.
God bless you all!

It’s Sunday night here and getting near kick off time for those of you in Cowboy land.
We only have three more full days here.
Tomorrow some of us will go to Guerro to say final goodbyes while others will do some shopping and tourism in Jos.
We’ll go to Blind Town tomorrow afternoon and see the blind and lepers that live there.
We were told today that lepracy is no longer contagious after a week or so of getting the disease.
It’s also currable and the only way to spread it is to sneeze in someone’s face directly.
It’s amazing to think that it’s so rare to get and is curable yet an entire village of lepers live here in Jos.
Tuesday we’ll do more shopping and sight seeing and say our last goodbyes to the boys at TH and Gidan Bega.
That will be tough. In just the few times we’ve seen them I’ve become close to several of them.
Pray that God will continue to teach and strengthen the boys.
There are many needs but praise God many are being met as well.
Enjoy the Cowboys v Philadelphia game today.
Pray for safety and boldness as we finish our final days here in Jos. Pray for safety as we fly home later this week as well.
God bless.

We returned from the bush this afternoon around 3 p.m.
Well, three of us did.
The other three returned an hour and a half earlier.
Six of us left yesterday morning to head to the bush, while the rest stayed behind and rested and then did a special fair day for missionary families today in another surrounding community.
We left for the bush around 9 a.m. Friday morning and it was a ride.
The recent raining season and added rain in the last day or so added for some sure fire fun in the mud as we had to Toyota vans/buses following an Isuzu Trooper.
Each vehicle was stuck at least once in the mud as we plowed on to Golo in Gombe state.
I made the mistake of helping get the Isuzu Trooper unstuck only to turn around and start to walk off and then get covered from head to toe with mud as the Trooper sprayed mud everywhere on my back.
Luckily I had a spare shirt with me, but too bad I changed right after that, because less than an hour later, my second shirt was sprayed with mud.
We arrived at Golo and visited a church plant where less than a year ago there was no church and now 60-70 people meet there every week.
We dropped off a group of boys from TH who were there to do outreach while the rest of us continued on to Bilery in Bauchi State.
On the way out of the Golo area, our van was stuck again in the mud and someone (won’t mention names) had the idea to push the van out with the 4 wheel drive Trooper.
Not a bad idea if the 4 wheel drive had worked right. Instead we ended up with both vehicles stuck less than 10 feet from each other.
It was amazing to think that we were in the middle of nowhere and suddenly 10 to 15 natives came from somewhere and helped us push the vehicles to dryer land.
We litterally picked the van up and placed straw and wood under one of the tires to get traction.
Finally we were on our way again to Bilery.
The first vehicle, with three of our team members sped on, but our van had other ideas.
Halfway there we were forced to stop and change the fuel filter.
Less than a mile down the road that wasn’t working and we changed it again.
Finally a short treck later, we stopped again and put the original fuel filter on and were able to get on down the road.
We arrived to Bilery shortly after dark and enjoyed dinner with the natives and another team of guys from TH.
The van bringing the equipment to show the Jesus Film broke down somwhere along the way and we were unable to show the movie, but it gave us time to fellowship and play with the children in the village.
They were all easily entertained, as many Nigerian children are, with our hoots hollars and “snaps” or cameras.
I made “the mistake” of hooting at them at one point and they were my captive audience for the next hour.
We finally headed to bed in a local house and some of us crashed in the van.
We awoke at 6 a.m. so we could hit the road by 7 a.m.
One thing about Nigeria is there is no real concept of time.
An hour can mean three hours and 7 a.m. can mean 8 a.m. as it did this morning.
We finally left our sleeping place and stopped by another church/school plant where Nigerian doctors were giving medical help to the natives and boys from TH were doing counseling.
It was great to see ministry in a very practical way.
We finally headed on our way and after replacing a flat tire, we were on the road again.
As on the trip to Bilery, the Trooper plowed on ahead as we had to stop again for fuel filter problems.
Finally our driver decided to bypass the fuel filter and rigged an empty pen in place of the fuel filter.
That got us to about 6 km outside Jos, where a large hill finished us off.
We were stuck and no vehicles were available to pick us up.
While we waited for a mechanic, our driver litterly sucked the fuel and filth out of the carborator and got us running again.
We arrived back at our hostel a short time later.
Since then it’s been a restful evening.
Church is early tomorrow and starts at 8 a.m. I’m scheduled to give my testimony before Rob speaks.
Pray that God will give me the words the people of Nigeria need to hear.
Pray that God will speak through Rob, Willey and I as we share God’s love and word.
Thank Him for His healing power and grace and mercy.
Pray for continued boldness with the people of Nigeria as we wrap up our final days here.
We fly out of Abuja on Wednesday night and will arrive in Dallas on Thursday afternoon. Pray for safety and that God will build a wall of fire around us to keep us from harm.
God bless you all. May His word continue to go forth to all the nations.
Love you all and can’t wait to see you all in person.
Thanks for your emails and encouragements!

It’s been an amazing few days and it’s been very rushed with little time to stop and think about it all.
I can’t even remember the last post I posted… let me check… Ok. wow Tuesday. I hope I have time to write about everything.
Wednesday was a great day in heaven.
We visited Gidan Bega, where the street children first get involved in City Ministries. They go there first to see to learn about Jesus and His salvation He gives to all. They also spend time there to learn some discipline and training before they move on to the other boys homes at Transition House and Guerro.
While we were there Wednesday morning I felt led to ask one of the boys if he knew for certain he was going to heaven. He said he wasn’t.
Using the Evangecube, I was privaledged to pray with Isaiah and Luke to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
After visiting Gidan Bega, we went to the “Click Net” for lunch and then visited the marketplace.
Oh the market place was something. Little shops and stands crammed in alleyways and streets for as far as the eye could see.
Fabric stores, shoes, electronics and more lined the walkways.
We even made it deep enough into the market place to see some of the meat market.
That was an experience. Fish, beef, chicken, goat and more just sitting out in the open air collecting flies as butchers chopped meat for customers. The digestive systems of the native people here is unreal when you look at the at the food they eat and the conditions in which they are prepared in.
I met two Muslim men in the market and stopped to ask them about Jesus. As most Muslim men will tell you, they believe Jesus was a good man and a prophet. They believe they are going to heaven, but only by their good works.
Oh how their eyes are blind.
I explained the Gospel and how God could not be a just God if He judged us only by our works.
They told me they believed me, but they couldn’t believe me.
There is such fear in the hearts of the Muslims. So much peer pressure and denial of who Christ really is.
A Muslim man on the street told me he wouldn’t accept my tract unless I paid him 10,000 naira. Other people are so hungry for the truth they will grab any tract or Bible you give them.
Many people we have met lead us to believe they are closet Christians. They pray and accept Jesus as their Savior, but the fear of their friends and the Muslim men leads them to say and do otherwise in the public.
Pray for the men and boys of Nigeria. Pray that they will accept Jesus as their Savior and not just a prophet. Pray that they will be bold and share their faith even when they face death from those around them.
At Gidan Bega there are several other ministries including one for widos women, which teaches them a trade of sewing so they can care for themselves and their children. Many of them will be killed if they return to their villages after they accept Jesus as their Savior.
After the market place we visited Bad Boys where it was as everyone described it as but you still have to see it to believe it.
People were selling and eating dog meat, people were drinking an alcoholic beverage they called “hootch” out of large jugs and common pots that were brewed over fires. The drink looked a lot like soapy water with flies gathering around it.
They share their cups and bowls that they drink the drink from.
We went into the “bars” and shared the Gospel. I went with a native boy named Enoch who translated for me.
Four men along the street accepted Jesus as their Savior.
Then we entered a bar and I preached a short message before praying for those there. The entire bar sat and listened as I explained that Jesus was the Way the Truth and the Life and no one comes to the Father but by Him.
Many in the bar told me they knew Jesus and accepted His salvation, but wanted to live their own lives.
They asked me to pray for them and then one woman asked if they should put down their beer and cigarettes before I prayed.
I laughed and said if you feel convicted to do so, do so, but I am no one to judge and God continues to love you as you are.
The Holy Spirit will convict their hearts.
In another bar a man told me he knew he was doing wrong, but wanted counseling and didn’t trust going to his pastor because he was afraid of bing judged and used as a sermon illustration.
Later I was surrounded by men who begged me for Bibles. There is a hunger for Bibles here. Some will likely sell them for food, but God willing, more will hold and treasure the Bibles as God’s Word.
Today Rob and I met with Peter and discussed our desire to bring the CWF to Nigeria. He believes he can get the majority of our ring built here in Nigeria and we can bring things like the canvas and ropes.
We believe we can hold a show at the Jos stadium (which we toured later and holds nearly 20,000), the Jos Prison, a church and Hillcrest School (a private school for missionary kids).
There may be other venues that present itself between now and then as well.
Lord willing we will bring our show to Nigeria next September.
Rob and I feel March may be too fast of a turn around to get logistics handled and the ring built.
After touring the stadium Rob and I joined several others at the prison where we handed out Bibles to those who accepted Jesus during our Monday meeting. I was afraid a fight or riot might break out when more gathered than had given their names on Monday.
We passed out between 80 and 100 Bibles and there were easily 40 or 50 more men gathered that wanted a Bible and claimed their name was on the list.
Pray that God will deliver Bibles to His people. Pray that people around the world will see the need and donate funds and Bibles to the people of Nigeria.
After lunch we took the senior boys from TH swimming and had a blast. Not something they get to do very often.
Well, time is running out. Time to head out.
Pray for health. Many people on the team have gotten sick today, including myself.
We are supposed to go to the bush tomorrow but if half our team is sick that may change everything.
I feel like God is either using the illness to keep us here for a greater work or Satan is using it to keep us from doing God’s work in the bush.
EIther way, the Lord will remain victorious.
What Satan plans for evil God will use of His glory!
Praise God. Thank you all for your prayers and support.
Pray for Nigeria and pray for the salvation of Africa.