Update 2/22/10

We are all fine & doing well. Very hot. 106 yesterday! Work is going well on all fronts. Do not expect any future e-mails. It is just too difficult. Keep praying for us .

Update 2/13/10

Please keep our mission team in your prayers, particularly Doug Christie & Steve Grunwald. We were all supposed to fly from Appleton to Atlanta today at 6:45 AM. However, due to the snow in Atlanta, flights were all messed up. Doug got sent to Minneapolis then to LaGuardia, from which he has to catch a bus to JFK to make his flight to Nigeria. Steve got routed through Detroit to JFK, where I was to meet him to give him his yellow fever immunization record. Unfortunately, our flight to Atlanta got postponed so many times we couldn't make the connecting flight to JFK in time. So we are flying out of Appleton tomorrow at 3:05 to Minneapolis, from Minneapolis to Amsterdam, & from Amsterdam to Abuja. We will arrive more than a day late.

Please pray:

• Doug & Steve's flights & Doug's bus ride would go smoothly & both would be able to catch their flight to Abuja.
• Steve would have no problems clearing customs without his yellow fever vaccination record.
• Our attempts to communicate with them would work & we could get some updates periodically from them.
• Both would be able to have peace about their situations & give this all over to the Lord.
• Both would be able to sleep well on their flights & would arrive well rested in Nigeria.
• Their in-country flights would go smoothly & their ride would be waiting at the airport for them when they arrived.
• The extra day's rest would go a long way to helping Peg's sciatica problem improve & our flights would go well tomorrow & Monday.
• For a Holy Spirit anointing on all of us that would allow us to truly bless these people & bring honor, glory, & praise to God.
• For good health, safe travel, & protection from the enemy's schemes.

 

Original: Pastor Dave Martin writes:

From January 10^th-February 12^th, I’ll be preparing for a month-long mission trip to Owerri , Nigeria . I’ve been asked to speak on the topic of discipleship at a four week long pastors’ conference there. Monday through Friday, I’ll teach at the conference for about two and a half hours each day. Additionally, I’ll do ministry at the school, clinic, and orphanage under Bishop Ben Egbujor’s direction and in surrounding villages. I’ll also preach six to eight times a weekend.

I’ll use the first five weeks of my sabbatical to complete my reading on discipleship and to compile my notes for teaching and preaching. Please pray for me during this time of preparation. Pray for: good health for me and for all of my family; godly wisdom and a Holy Spirit anointing to know and declare God’s heart on the matter of discipleship; the ability to use time wisely and effectively; and the ability to still be able to share valuable time with my family.

February 13, six of us from Shepherd of the Lakes will depart for Nigeria . Greg Davis and I will leave for a one month stay while Doug Christie, Steve Grunwald, Roy Wanta, and my wife, Peggy, depart for a two week stay. Once there, Greg, Doug, Steve, Roy, and Peggy will set out to transform the looks of the school and orphanage. Hopes are they will be able to repair, plaster, and repaint many of the walls, retile some of the floors, and build some furniture for the classrooms. Doug will head the furniture building detail, seeking to instruct some of the locals in the finer points of this trade. In addition to helping with construction projects, Steve will also volunteer his mechanical skills to tune-up some of the vehicles used in Bishop Ben’s ministry. Of course, all of them will also be called to reach out with the love of Christ to the orphans and other people in this area.

Please pray for us as we serve the Lord thousands of miles from home. Pray for: a Holy Spirit anointing on each of us; safe travel throughout the trip; good health; quick adjustments to the time, culture, and climate changes; open doors through which to build relationships with people and to witness to the truth of Jesus Christ; finances to be available to do the work we’re called to do; and the ability to entrust every nuance of this trip into the Lord’s hands. Pray lives will be forever changed by this trip—our lives and the lives of every person we encounter on this trip.

Pray, too, for each of us to recover well from our trip. (I’ll use the last week of my sabbatical to rest and relax from the jet lag.) Pray what happens to us will light a huge fire under global missions within our church. May all of us see and understand more and more how each of us is called to take the gospel to the far corners of the earth.

As far as e-mailing or blogging goes, I’m going to try to send back some pictures & reports of what’s going on—but we’ve been told we may only have electricity for one hour a day and we don’t know when that hour will be. I know Bishop Ben has a computer & internet access as well as generator backup at his compound (I’m not sure if that’s the right term for the school, clinic, & orphanage he established & oversees.) but how often it will function & how often I’ll have access to it, I really don’t know. So let me know the link & if we can make it work we’ll send some pictures & info your way.