Pastor's Corner - August 5th, 2022

Happy Sabbath!!

Paul and I arrived in Lagos a little after 10:00PM yesterday evening, and after an hour and a half to clear immigration, get out bags and clear customs, we were headed to Dare's place arriving at the 26 hours of travel mark. We routed through Amsterdam, and down to Lagos via Europe this time, which gave us a bit of a trip, couple that with an almost hour delay on the tarmack in Amsterdam, we got in later than we had hoped.

Nigeria is 8 hours ahead, so while it is currently noon back home as I'm writing this, it's been Sabbath here for the past couple of hours and we're nearing bedtime, so I figured I'd get this update put together, get the announcements compiled and sent off so it was a little less rush in the morning.

This evening, Tohun prepared a delicious meal of spaghetti, (noodles with chicken and fried pepper sauce) and some time to catch up. Paul and I both spent the next 20 minutes or so with noses running and lips burning, but it hurts so good, and the food is a highlight of the trip. This morning, we had some fried eggs with habanero peppers cut up in them, and some dodo, which is fried plantain.

This has been the longest time between trips since I started coming over in 2016, with almost 2 and a half years since I was here last. In some ways I'm a little out of practice, but it's amazing how things that were once foreign, and different, almost jarring in a way - can become customary, normal, and almost comforting. The humidity that hits as soon as you disembark the plane, the smell, the mass of humanity crowding in at every turn... it's hard to describe, but it's just Africa.

Paul and I will spend services with the Lagos congregation tomorrow, and then head out to camp out on Snake Island Sunday morning/afternoon. We'll spend the week out there, just like our camps here in the states, then back on the following Sunday with a couple of days to catch up on energy and laundry before flying to Ghana for a whirwind tour of the country with meetings/programs planned in Yeji, Kumasi, Agona, Cape Coast, Takoradi, Winneba and Accra. We return home on the 22nd of August, but it will be the afternoon of the 23rd, before we're home. We're routing through Paris on the way home, then Seattle, and finally home to Spokane and Portland. 

Thank you for your prayers, they are much appreciated. We're in very good hands. I hope you all have a wonderful Sabbath, and enjoy the time together. 

With Love,
Ben