Monday afternoon

It’s 2:22 p.m. on Monday afternoon. We just finished lunch at the "Click Net" and we’ll be leaving soon to TH again to have a birthday party for all the boys. Since most of them have grown up on the street, most of them have no idea when their birthday is. So we’re holding a birthday party for them all.
We visited the prison this morning and joined in a church service.
Let me tell you, they had church.
Drums, music, dancing and testimonies.
Many people in the prison are there for multiple years with no chance for parole, but they are much more behaved then prisoners I’ve met in America.
I would estimate that 50-60 people came forward to accept Christ after Jerry Minx preached.
Those who were already believers appeared strong in their faith and all enjoyed discussing it with us after the service.
We attended two church services yesterday.
Both at the Plateau Church, a church Lakepoint Church in Rockwall is partnering with.
I was looking forward to an exciting service with music and dancing like we had seen at the orphanages, but it was very traditional with an organ, hymns and very non-charasmatic.
But God still works and six or seven people came to know Christ yesterday.
Well, we’re about to head out again.
Thank you all for your emails and prayers.
Pray that I can shake this annoying "annual cough of death" that I think I’ve taken on.
My girlfriend Laurie is also dealing with a sinus infection back in Texas. Please pray for her healing as well.
Thanks for everything.
Praise God! Hallelujah!

Phone service

Also, many have asked about the phone service here.
It’s not going as I had planned.
Most places don’t have land lines and cell phones tend to be the common way to use phones.
You can buy cell phone cards on almost any street corner, but the cards only work with Nigerian cell phone networks and their SIM cards don’t like my phone.
So I’m trusting Cingular won’t charge me out the wazoo for the several calls I have been able to make.
So the blog and e-mail will probably remain my only real source of communciation with everyone.
Sorry if you were expecting a return phone call.

Saturday in Nigeria

It’s Saturday afternoon in Jos, Nigeria. It’s around 2:52 Nigeria time and we’re eating lunch at the "ClickNet" which offers some great Lebanese food. It’s funny that since we’ve arrived on Wednesday we’ve had Lebanese and Mexican food. So far the food has been pretty good. We’ve only eaten at the missionaries home or our Baptist hostel, which has offered typical American cassarole, eggs, etc.
I hear the hostel is much better than the places the team has stayed in the past.
It’s been loads of fun so far.
Today we visited the EMS school for children of native missionaries.
It’s basically a boarding school for children whose parents are serving as missionaries in the bush and have no access to schools for their children.
We played soccer (er uh sorry – football) with the boys for an hour and you could tell who the "patooa" (sp?) were. They were running circles around the Americans.
The children here are so loving and accepting and love any attention.
They sing with all their heart. I have some great video clips of them singing that I hope to upload as soon as we’re back to the states.
I think all the Internet cafe’s here are only on dial-up, so uploading pictures or video is pretty much out of the question, especially with the limited time we have at each stop.
Yesterday we visited the children at Gyero, another orphanage for children who lived on the street.
It was further away from the city and the country side was beautiful. I wish we could have spent a day rock climbing, hiking and just exploring God’s handiwork.
The children again were so wonderful.
Sampson, a young boy living in the compound, said shortly after we arrived that he wanted to be my friend. Later he said he wanted me to be his best friend.
We’ll be headed back to TH this afternoon when we leave here and we’ll enjoy a few hours with the children their again.
Speaking of Gyerro and TH, it’s amazing how much of the American culture these children know, living 1000 miles away.
Mention wrestling to anyone and they all want to know about Triple H, Undertaker and others.
Rob was even nicknamed the Undertaker by some and Roger was nicknamed Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Also, most interesting food seen on the trip thus far – fried fish. We’re not talking Captain D’s or Long John Silvers. We’re talking a whole fish, with it’s tail stuck in its mouth and fried up. Not boned, scaled or anything. They sell it on the street, three fish for 300 nara. Apparently the people like it. Willey bought a dish of it for one of the many children we’ve seen crippled with Polio on the streets. They just scoot themselves along begging for food and money.
 
Miracles:
– We continue to have traveling mercies between the hostel, missionary homes and orphanages. We’re amazed at how drivers in the city just duck in and out of traffic and continue on their way.
– Health. We’ve only had two people feel any real sickness on the trip. Leslie had to stay home this morning with a bit of an upset stomach, but after medicine and a nap she was able to join us back at the "ClickNet." But through her getting sick, several of us stayed behind in the city while she was taken back to the hostel and Jerry and Bob were able to lead several people on the street to Christ. It’s amazing that God can use a stomach bug to bring people into the Kingdom.
 
Thank you all for your e-mails and comments. I’m sorry I don’t have time to respond to them all. Please keep sending them to jdblundell (at) gmail (dot) com, they are greatly appreciated.
 
Before I end, here’s a quick fact about Nigeria: Over half of the population of Nigeria live in cities. In a society that has long survived on farming as a way of life, these urban masses are presented with problems that have never existed before. If you facter in the fact that it is estimated that by 2008 there will be as many as 12.5 million orphans due to the AIDS pandemic you have problems that can devestate any city.
 
God bless you all and thank you for your prayers and thoughts.

First full day in Nigeria

It’s Thursday, Sept. 28 at 7:28 p.m. (Nigeria Time).
We’re visiting an Internet cafe near the hostel we’re staying at for the next two weeks in Jos, Nigeria.
It’s been an amazing 24 hours since we touched down around 8 p.m. in Abuja.
I will say, our hostel here in Jos is much nicer than the one in Abuja. Rob and I were missing a toilet seat in our luxuary suite and the power went out for several minutes about an hour before we went to bed. But I understand that’s sometimes the norm across the country.
The missionaries here in Jos said they just went eight days without any electricity. I’m sure my dad would love to see the wiring they do around here. Wires are criss-crossed like crazy and many of the electrical poles still use glass insulators on them.
My first impression of Nigeria was how friendly everyone has been. When I think of customs agents and army officers I don’t typically expect them to be as friendly as they are here.
Numerous folks went to work when we showed up in Abuja with three of our checked boxes missing.
And I was amazed at how many people asked us for Bibles. They seemingly knew right away what we were here for and we gave three Bibles away just in the airport. Numerous others asked for them, but we had no more to give. A customs agent named Rachel wanted me to promise that I would bring one for her on our return.
After enjoying our luxuary suite in Abuja, including the 4 a.m. prayers by the Muslims over their public address system and Rob’s late night charlie horse, we took off on the three hour drive to Jos this morning around 8 a.m.
The traffic was unbelievable. The standard mode of transportation for taxi drivers is a motorcycle and they owned the road with hundreds zipping up and down the roads.
We made one or two stops along the road and children just flooded the sides of our bus as they saw Americans who might buy their fruits, nuts, eggs and other goods.
They all loved having their picture taken, as long as we could show it to them afterwards.
We arrived in Jos at the missionary’s compound and ate lunch before heading to the hostel to unpack.
We quickly head to the TH were we met 70 plus boys that the missionaries are working with. Most of them lived on the street before coming to the transitional home.
I was immediately grabbed by Arnold, a young boy who wouldn’t let go of my hand the entire time we were there.
He led me around every inch of the compound.
My times up I’ll try and write more later.
God bless.

Record store v Church

Thomas has a great entry on record stores and churches. What can we learn from the fading record stores? From the NYT:

The neighborhood record store was once a clubhouse for teenagers, a place to escape parents, burn allowances and absorb the latest trends in fashion as well as music. But these days it is fast becoming a temple of nostalgia for shoppers old enough to remember “Frampton Comes Alive!’
Around the country, he (Eric Levin) said, shops like Grimey’s in Nashville, Shake It Records in Cincinnati and Other Music in New York are hanging on to young customers by evolving into one-stop hipster emporiums. Besides selling obscure CD’s and even vinyl records, many have diversified into comic books, Japanese robot toys and clothing. Some have opened adjoining nightclubs or, in Mr. Levin’s case, coffee shops.

Thomas says, “The lesson here is to adapt or die… its a sad lesson… I’ve lost Our Price and Impulse in Hamilton… and apart from Woolworths and ASDA there isn’t anywhere to by music in Motherwell. I have to go to one of the 2 Fopps in Glasgow… or HMV… or one of the Virgins (no laughing… but there are at least 2 Virgins in Glasgow).”
I wish I had more time to delve into this and spit out my opinion before I head out to Nigeria but I better not right now.
But read the entry and leave your comments. How is your church adapting? Is your church adapting? Or should we bring back the hymnals, the King James Version (if it was good enough for Jesus and the disciples it’s good enough for me), and the old pipe organ?
What are your thoughts?