yay!

Drumroll….

It’s that time! Time for the update. THE update.

So it’s taken me a while, but I’ve finally been able to update. The only reason that I am able to is because I’m actually writing this in Word over the course of an entire day two days a week, and I’m not sure when I’ll be able to post it. But if you’re reading this, then it’s safe to assume I’ve gotten an internet connection and have posted it. I’ve been all over the place since I landed, so I’ll start at the very beginning, which Julie Andrews would tell us is a very good place to start.

My flight to London was pretty long (more than 7 hours) and I didn’t get too much sleep during it. I managed to watch 3:10 to Yuma above the roar of the engines (everyone had their own touch-screen VOD TV!) and ate a bunch of food, even when I wasn’t hungry. My Dutchness can’t let me pass up free food… I landed in London at 9am, local time – the start of a new day! (Despite my body going ‘what in the world are you doing?? It’s 3 in the morning!!) I took the Underground (mind the gap!) to Green Park (not surprising, it’s pretty green). From there I hopped on a double-decker (bus, not hamburger, silly) and started my grand tour of merry ol’ London! It was a bit chilly at the top floor of the hamburger bus. Especially since it didn’t have a roof, but I’m a man and I can take a little chill. So as soon as I finished crying I started looking around. Was pretty sweet. I wasn’t on the bus very long before I was told that Madame Tussauds was coming up and that the tour company sells tickets cheaper! My Dutchness was freaking out by this point. I almost jumped right off the bus. (Turns out he meant the next next stop) So after I waited for the next bus, I went in and enjoyed the wax museum. I’ll probably post those pictures on Facebook when I get the chance. I won’t bore you all everything I saw in London, as I’m sure many people have already given up reading this having seen how long it is, and I haven’t even gotten to Africa yet! So I’ll loo-loo-skip-to-my-loo ahead to Africa now.

I landed in Abuja (the capital) at 5 in the morning and was greeted by the smiling faces of Chinyere and Kyle. After going through customs and immigration (turns out my visa is only valid for 30 days, but this is apparently normal and quite rare that they give one for any longer than that. It is also very easy to get it extended here and will only take one day. Quite the difference…) Kyle and Chinyere drove me to a nearby Baptist house run by a older couple who’s son I happened to sit beside on the plane. Small world! I got some much needed sleep there and at 11 or 12 we went to a couple’s compound in Abuja. Megan and Mike live there with their two incredibly cute kids. Chinyere and Megan ‘showed’ me the market in Abuja (they were really going fabric shopping and I basically tagged along). The markets here are very busy places. Tons of people and tons more stuff. (For some reason everyone there wanted to sell me a belt. I have no idea why. I have a belt…) We did random other stuff. Shopping for pirated movies (I got Rome season 2!), ice cream stop (more vanilla-y and creamy-y than home), went for lunch… Kyle asked if I wanted fish and chips, and if you happen to know some of my favorite foods, you would know that fish and chips is(are?) near the top of that list. It’s a tad different here though. Rather than deep-frying a frozen chunk of fish, you go to the lady behind the BBQ, tell her what you want and she grabs an entire fresh fish and BBQs it for you. You sit down and she then brings over the freshly crispy fish and you eat the meat off the bones. Delicious. Really.

The next day Kyle, his wife Anna, their two kids (I have to teach Zion hockey one day), Chinyere and I drive out to Jos. A 3 hour drive and I’m there! After leaving Abuja, I’m told I’ve finally left the West, as Abuja has so much influence of the West it’s not quite like the rest of Nigeria. I spend the next two nights at the Orkars, who will drive me to one of the compounds before I move into the other compound for good. So I’ve been steadily on the go since I landed and haven’t had a steady, strong signal or power supply to be able to email or update properly. Pretty much every day the power has gone out at least once. Usually right before I try to send an email or post this…

I’m going to be moving to the other compound this Saturday and hopefully will have steady internet. The place I’m working (Rurcon, the second ‘r’ is silent) has pretty slow internet, especially email. Rurcon is a pretty cool place. I’ve been learning a lot about what they do here. They’ve given me a lot of information to wade through. In a nutshell, they train church leaders and Christian leaders to treat all areas of life in a religious manner. So they can then go and teach the same to all those under them (which is a lot). Their goal is ‘an African community transformed as God intends’ – they take this from a Biblical standpoint of how Jesus called us to spread the word, but also to help the needy. Often we hold the preaching aspect above helping and do not feed the needy or help the injured… but preach to them, often forgetting that Jesus did both! We tell poor people “don’t worry, put your trust in God and He’ll provide” then go back to our fully-stocked fridges. Did God maybe give you that fully-stocked fridge to feed those hungry people?? God tells us to rely on Him, yes. But He also tells us to help those in need. Matthew 23:23 says: “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things”. We can’t keep doing the bare minimum. Jesus quotes a prophecy from Isaiah in Luke 4:18-19 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." We’re supposed to strive to be like Jesus. So let’s go preach the good news to the poor! Proclaim freedom for the prisoners! Recover the sight for the blind! Release the oppressed! Proclaim God’s favor!!

But anyway, I’m supposed to be updating y’all.

What else, what else…
I’ve got a cell phone here… if you ever wanna chat via cell or text message, just drop me a line! My number is 001+234+0808-158-3288. Or comment me with your cell phone number and I’ll message you sometime. I remember like 3 different people’s numbers, so if you don’t tell me, I won’t know. I have all that info stored in my cell back home. But that’s not here. And there’s a 6 hour time difference here too, so no messaging me past 6pm in Ontario.

I hope to be able to keep a more regular contact as soon as I’m settled in. I hope everything is doing well wherever you’re reading this from. Things here are excellent!