Today we slept in due to our long day yesterday, and returned to SIL Nigeria to observe Rachel and her team. They were studying 11 different stories in the Waci language to look for similar words/phrases in them that mark certain points in a narrative (I.e in English we use...

Today was a Nigerian holiday- National Workers Day. So, instead of heading to the SIL office, we visited an orphanage called Seeds of Hope. A Nigerian man named Bomshock met us and took us out to East Jos for the visit. Bomshock had an incredible testimony. He barely survived a muslim...

It was another full day in Jos! We broke bread with Rachel for breakfast and headed over once again to SIL to observe and learn about Rachel’s work. We enjoyed a devotional time that the staff holds daily in the morning before any work begins that is focused on prayer,...

Today we got to go into the SIL Nigeria office with Rachel. They currently have over 100 workers there. It was an honor to meet so many servants of God. Many of the workers are native Nigerians. I was blown away by the sophistication of their work. It was like...

This morning we had the great joy of worshipping at Equa Seminary Church that is located at a seminary called JETS. We enjoyed singing some loud (by American standards) praise songs. We got to hear from a Nigerian missionary to the country of Niger (just to the North). I was...

Jimmy, Rachel, Albert, and I woke up and, at 6am, began the drive from Abuja to Jos. There are minimal traffic rules, if any, so commuting is more of a free-for-all with some general principles rather than set laws. We stopped for gas, but there were few gas stations and the...

Evan and I left Thursday morning from Peoria at around 4am. Rich Hoyt was our gracious driver. We stopped for breakfast at McDonald’s and enjoyed chatting with Rich who has served in Africa for decades. We made excellent time getting to the airport, through security, and to the gate. Our...

When you think of prayer most of us think about taking time specifically set aside. We get alone, we get quiet, and we pull out our list of prayer requests. You might pray some scripture, you might think through some people you’d like to pray for and then you spend...

This week’s action step is really the heart of what we are focusing on as a church this year. There is no “praying the miracle,” without choosing real people from our lives to intercede for. Prayer for the lost is commanded by God (1 Timothy 2:1) and is modeled throughout...

Today we climbed Chimborazo! We woke up ready to tackle the day, starting with a hearty breakfast, and then we all loaded up on the bus to the mountain. It wasn’t quite as nice a bus as the one from the airport, but we all fit and that’s what mattered....

The day began quite early for Lydia and Cesar as they decided to hike up a nearby hill to watch the sunrise. Although to their sadness and frustration, all they could see were clouds. Once they hiked back down, they chilled while everybody else woke up one by one, and...

We started the day by sleeping in and then eating some cereal and toast. Today was more of a rest day, except for a bit of sanding in the new building they’re working on in Codeinse. There was not much to note, except a small girl’s trip to the nearby...

We were able to sleep in a little bit longer this morning, which was incredibly nice. We ate a lovely breakfast and then headed to the community for our final day in the village. We arrived and got straight to work continuing the trench. It went much more smoothly, and...

After waking up, we had an amazing breakfast of french toast and coffee. We had to wait for the trucks that we were going to drive to come. Once we arrived to the community, we began work on the trench for the pipes. All day, the view of Chimborazo was...

After a good night’s sleep for some and a not so good night’s sleep for others, we all ate a lovely breakfast of bacon and eggs and piled into the three trucks headed to the community. We arrived and were greeted by around 75-100 locals all ready to work. We...