February

At the beginning of this month I made the decision to spend less time in Lagos with Threadstone so that I could focus on making my ministry and relationships here in Jos more fruitful. Since that decision I have been able to invest more in my ministry here in Jos. I mentioned in my last post that I was trying to start up my own photography ministry, and so far this has worked out! I have gone to several different workshops and classes to cover the action there, and Sports Friends has taken advantage of my interest in photography as well. I spent the first two weeks of this month tracking down the general secretaries of several different denominations to film them sharing their denomination's testimony with Sports Friends. We will insert these testimonies into a generic Sports Friends video to personalize the video to the denomination of church we are visiting and presenting the Sports Friends vision to. So far the project has been a success, but we are only a small portion of the way through it. I will keep you all updated on any progression.

I arranged to go down to Lagos last week for just one week because Threadstone had a large show coming up, and they wanted me there to rehearse prior to the show and play with them. Unfortunately, we experienced some minor (well, actually major) scheduling flaws, and when I arrived in Lagos I soon found out that the show had not been scheduled at all and that there was no reason for me to come other than to play with the band in church on Sunday morning. It was Monday that I determined that I needed to return to Jos, but it was Friday that I was actually able to leave. This is just one example of how God has been working on my patience this year! I have been realizing lately how much of a blessing hardships can be.

My time in Jos since returning from Lagos has been eventful to say the least. On Sunday morning a suicide bomber attacked the Church of Christ in Nations headquarters church just down the street from my apartment. When the bomb exploded the whole house shook and few windows on the bottom floor were shattered. The force was so strong I thought that the bomb had gone off right across the street. The blast only claimed 10 lives and injured 50, which is a miracle! Fortunately, the bomb did not cause much structural damage to the church itself. The church is a large building, which is still under construction, and if it had fallen the casualties would have been in the hundreds instead of just 10. Just after the explosion, Christians retaliated on a small scale by attacking a couple of nearby muslims and by driving nearby muslims out of their shops and burning the shops afterwards. Missionaries were confined to their compounds for the rest of the day, but yesterday things seemed normal and peaceful in Jos so we were allowed out. Please be praying for Jos though! This city has faced much, and the people need prayer.

Thanks for reading!