Dear Church,
I am passing along the updates from Matt Pegram, direct from Nigeria. I'll continue to do so as they come in. Let us bear down in fervent prayer, holding up our brothers and God's mission to these villages. All for His Name. Jen Frye
And in the words of Matt:
"Thursday Update:
Today we began with a lot of driving. Along our route for our second visit to Makoko Mike got quite ill in the car requiring us to turn around and drive him back to the SOS flat. We were about 1 hour into our 1.5 hour journey. The driving is a major part of the mission unfortunately. It is not just the distance but also the traffic and horrible conditions of the roads. There are absolutely no traffic laws enforced. Beyond Thunder dome without the spikes and guns comes to mind. Since we do not have 4 people packed into the back seat of the falling apart SOS Jeep Cherokee I'm able to use this trip to two thumb an update. 100 degrees, no A/C, no emissions inspections, dusty, the air quality is pretty bad. New appreciation for needed SOS vehicle. Gbenga and Paul do our driving. Praise God for locals. Horns are used for their intended purposes here since the highway is ~4.5 lanes (unmarked) all they while they dodge dirt bikes, street vendors and pedestrians often carrying children. Chaos. There is a dead body (adult male) not far from the highway turnaround (by the Muslim training camp) on the side of the road near the SOS flat. Just another reminder of the pressing need for the Gospel.
Arriving in Makoko for our Mike-less visit. At least the canoe will be more stable this time.
Canoe much more stable without Schadt. Spoke to Noah (head of school) about water situation. Flood a month ago destroyed their container, its scaffolding and pump (well itself ok). Also flooded their built up, 20x30' "school yard." Gave $1000 for new water container, new scaffolding and pump + much needed paper for students. On to Mosque......without Mike. Gbanga asks "do you just want to see the outside?" Tempted to say yes.
Mosque anticlimactic. No opportunity to preach. Little time spent. Advised by Gbenga to get out before 4:00 prayer. Both due to Muslim danger and due to getting stuck on Legos Island for the night if we don't get going. Guess I can at least say I'm less intimidated to visit a Mosque in the US. Heading to flat to check on Mike. Will take few hours to get there. Please Pray for Mike. Can't imagine Otere and Akakan without him. Mike has given me the privilege of preaching the Sunday morning worship service in Akakan.
FRIDAY's UPDATE:
Mike was not 100% this morning but well enough to join us in Otere today. Paul want to the doctor today and could not join us. (Nigerian, SOS Paul, not Clearwater Paul). Jacob woke up with a bit of a stomach bug. Ironic since I'm the only one that cleaned my plate of lagoon fish stew in one of our house visits in Lagos. With the city portion of our mission complete, onto the bush.
Otere was amazing. They have erected a shelter with a tin roof on the land they have given to SOS (at least 2 acres). Remember this is a Muslim village! I can't say we packed the 30x20 structure but there were a good 60 people in there and on the outskirts. Included were the chief and village elders. I taught from Luke 15 (through Gbenga interpreting into yoroba), the father and two sons and Mike followed up with further exhortation and Gbenga closed. We met with the chief and elders before hand. Very much like sitting in a North American tepee only without the pipes. The service ended with hallelujah and praise the Lord chants in English. Just after we got there Jacob had a dizzy spell, pray for the health of the team. Many details but this is all my two thumbs can handle for today. Orphanage tomorrow.
I am passing along the updates from Matt Pegram, direct from Nigeria. I'll continue to do so as they come in. Let us bear down in fervent prayer, holding up our brothers and God's mission to these villages. All for His Name. Jen Frye
And in the words of Matt:
"Thursday Update:
Today we began with a lot of driving. Along our route for our second visit to Makoko Mike got quite ill in the car requiring us to turn around and drive him back to the SOS flat. We were about 1 hour into our 1.5 hour journey. The driving is a major part of the mission unfortunately. It is not just the distance but also the traffic and horrible conditions of the roads. There are absolutely no traffic laws enforced. Beyond Thunder dome without the spikes and guns comes to mind. Since we do not have 4 people packed into the back seat of the falling apart SOS Jeep Cherokee I'm able to use this trip to two thumb an update. 100 degrees, no A/C, no emissions inspections, dusty, the air quality is pretty bad. New appreciation for needed SOS vehicle. Gbenga and Paul do our driving. Praise God for locals. Horns are used for their intended purposes here since the highway is ~4.5 lanes (unmarked) all they while they dodge dirt bikes, street vendors and pedestrians often carrying children. Chaos. There is a dead body (adult male) not far from the highway turnaround (by the Muslim training camp) on the side of the road near the SOS flat. Just another reminder of the pressing need for the Gospel.
Arriving in Makoko for our Mike-less visit. At least the canoe will be more stable this time.
Canoe much more stable without Schadt. Spoke to Noah (head of school) about water situation. Flood a month ago destroyed their container, its scaffolding and pump (well itself ok). Also flooded their built up, 20x30' "school yard." Gave $1000 for new water container, new scaffolding and pump + much needed paper for students. On to Mosque......without Mike. Gbanga asks "do you just want to see the outside?" Tempted to say yes.
Mosque anticlimactic. No opportunity to preach. Little time spent. Advised by Gbenga to get out before 4:00 prayer. Both due to Muslim danger and due to getting stuck on Legos Island for the night if we don't get going. Guess I can at least say I'm less intimidated to visit a Mosque in the US. Heading to flat to check on Mike. Will take few hours to get there. Please Pray for Mike. Can't imagine Otere and Akakan without him. Mike has given me the privilege of preaching the Sunday morning worship service in Akakan.
FRIDAY's UPDATE:
Mike was not 100% this morning but well enough to join us in Otere today. Paul want to the doctor today and could not join us. (Nigerian, SOS Paul, not Clearwater Paul). Jacob woke up with a bit of a stomach bug. Ironic since I'm the only one that cleaned my plate of lagoon fish stew in one of our house visits in Lagos. With the city portion of our mission complete, onto the bush.
Otere was amazing. They have erected a shelter with a tin roof on the land they have given to SOS (at least 2 acres). Remember this is a Muslim village! I can't say we packed the 30x20 structure but there were a good 60 people in there and on the outskirts. Included were the chief and village elders. I taught from Luke 15 (through Gbenga interpreting into yoroba), the father and two sons and Mike followed up with further exhortation and Gbenga closed. We met with the chief and elders before hand. Very much like sitting in a North American tepee only without the pipes. The service ended with hallelujah and praise the Lord chants in English. Just after we got there Jacob had a dizzy spell, pray for the health of the team. Many details but this is all my two thumbs can handle for today. Orphanage tomorrow.
