Questions to ask someone who has returned from a missions trip!

• Think of a Nigerian that made an impression on you and tell why.
• Tell about something funny that happened to you on your trip.
• Share about something that was hard for you and how you dealt with it.
• Share an illustration of God moving on your trip.
• Share 2 ways that you personally can keep ministering after your time in Nigeria.
• Share one thing you learned while on your missions trip.
• Share something that the MOM staff said or did that made an impression on you.
• Share something about the MOM staff.
• What was a typical daily schedule?
• Tell us what you did with your free time or recreation.
• What was your favorite meal? Share something that happened during that meal.
• Tell something about living in Nigeria that was difficult for you and how you dealt with it.
• Share one thing about the culture and how it impacted your life.
• Think of a couple of feeling you felt being new to the Nigerian culture. Think of 2 ways how minorities who attend your church may feel.
• Share how this trip has changed your view of the world.
• Name three things in the Nigerian culture that you experienced that was different than your own.
• Complete the sentence; “For me, Nigeria means…”
• Complete the sentence: “The things that I’ll miss most from my time on this trip are…”
• Share how this trip affected your relationship at home.
• What is the hardest thing you face now that you are back home?
• In what ways did your experience in Nigeria change how you relate to your friends who didn’t go?
• What is some attitude or behavior you thought of while in Nigeria that you want to start or stop doing now that you are back home? How are you going to carry through with it?
• Complete the sentence: “My hardest thing upon returning was…”
• Some people may think of your experience as a vacation or a neat trip. What would you say to help them understand it was more than that?
• In what ways did working at your ministry site strengthen your direction for the future or change it?
• In what ways has your walk with the Lord deepened?
• Share a story that illustrates God showing love through you to a Nigerian
• What did you learn about God and His character through your experience?
• Name 3 ways that the Lord ministered through your outreach and give and illustration for each.
• Name something that happened that you didn’t expect to happen.
• What did God teach you in relation to ministering the gospel to others.
• Name one area in your life that was benefited by going to Nigeria.
• Describe one that that has been difficult.
• Would you like to spend more time ministering in Nigeria? Why or why not?
• What is something that didn’t happen that you expected to happen?
• In what ways can you apply what you did in Nigeria to your lifestyle back home?
• What was difficult for you during this trip and how did you deal with it or are dealing with it?
• What was the most exciting thing that happened?
• Have you be frustrated at the lack of interest from others toward reaching the world? If so, what do you think you can do to help them be more involved?
• What issues are you now facing that seem difficult to handle?
• What you do differently if you were able to participate in this trip again?
• What was most important about this trip?

Back at home

Greetings all - the 2010 Nigeria team, plus 1 and minus 1 is back at home as of 2:40 pm this afternoon. It was quite the sight for the "plus 1" member of our team, Hassan Styskal to be greet at the airport by his new big sister and former Otutuluian, Hannah! Also at the airport was a more familiar face, that of Lydia Vonderhaar. They both pointed at each other as if to say, "Hey, that's one of my kind of people!"

Our "minus 1" is Renee Leachman, who was able to change her itinerary so as to take care of Nigerian adoption paperwork and appointments. Please keep her in her prayers as she quickly become the lone "enefu" on the orphanage compound. Also in prayer, remember the process she is going through, that she might be able to come home being an official parent of two lovely little girls.

I can't speak for the rest of the team, but my head is almost literally spinning right now. Traveling since 2 am Monday (Central standard time), 36 hours is a long time to be up without a lot of sleep. I have been through so many security checkpoints, I'm starting to reach for my baggie of liquid items for every corner I go around.

I had written a nice post about how you can help us share our stories with you last night, but it's on Stuart's computer, so I will have to have him upload it so that I can share it with you. The basic gist is, ask specific questions to particular scenarios of the trip.

Thanks for your prayers. God faithfully answered them all, and most of them in the way that we wanted them to be answered!

Travel Home

@8:49am from Julie:
"Team left Otutulu at 8 this morning, now we're 1 hour outside of Abuja. We are heading for quick showers then off to the airport. Renee stayed behind to work on adoption. Final visit to Lokoja orphange was difficult. We were informed that Wale had died. (this is the little child that Tammy Maisano's family supports) Icky hard reality that really hit home."

I wish...

Thoughts from Stu....

What an incredible trip. This has been tough to unpack in my head and verbalize much on this blog. I have seen much and experienced much. I am sitting here wishing....

I wish you could see the kids smiles at the orphanage.
I wish you could meet the community elders who came today to thank us for the work we are doing here.
I wish you could hear Julie's sarcasm (classic) and fantastic leadership.
I wish you could sing songs with the kids.
I wish you could see Adrienne getting her hair braided.
I wish you could meet Daniel and his family (incredible).
I wish you could see the faith these people have.
I wish you could have seen me & Doug get scolded by the Nigerian police.
I wish you could have seen Larry teach the kids in Sunday School this morning.
I wish you could see Kay playing with the kids during clinic.
I wish you could have seen Renee receive good news about her adoption after the visit from the commissioner.
I wish you could experience their culture - beautiful.
I wish you could see the cow being loaded in the back of the car.
I wish you could see Paul light up around the kids.
I wish you could have seen that judge with the funny, old school wig on.
I wish you could see the kids hanging on Matt.
I wish you could have seen the ruckus we caused at market.
I wish you could see the gas stations we fill up at.
I wish you could experience church this morning.
I wish you could see Adam loving on the kids.
I wish you could taste the good food we have eaten.
I wish you could ride like sardines in these little cars they cram us in.
I wish you could see Eric being such a great brother to Hassan.
I wish you could see the patience Ken shows in every situation.
I wish you could see Kyla tie-dying shirts like a machine.
I wish you could have seen the children's programs Cibolo did (totally rocked).
I wish you could see them laugh at our attempts at Igala.
I wish you could see....a lot.

I saw this qoute the other day and it would be appropriate now...
"Now I have seen, I am responsible."

Nothing but love, stu

As the Trip Continues, the Blessing Grow.

Hi folks, Renee here...

It's amazing to me to think this is the last full day the entire team will be in Otutulu. It's been another full one, but aren't they all? There's been a virus or something that a few of the kids have gotten... in most cases it seems to pass quickly, but the onset comes with quite a punch and it's pretty messy... and that's all I'm going to say about that!

Tonight will be my last night with the team because I'm staying on a little longer than the rest of the team and, if it's God's will, I'll get an audience with the Honorable Commissioner of Woman and Children's Affairs in order for her to approve our adoption of Oma and Anita.

I sit here at 4:00 in the afternoon, contemplating all God is doing in the lives of this team and the people we've been blessed to encounter and I'm blown away. Matt toting toddlers around, Kay jumping rope with the girls, Larry teaching Sunday school to a group of Nigerian children, Paul listening raptly to the beautiful voices of the women of M.O.M. singing hymns.... I could go on and on. It's so amazing to see how God chooses to use each of us; building unique and special relationships with our brothers and sisters on the other side of the world!

I'm going to miss being here with this team that God brought together, but they will be continuing their adventure and I mine. But we'll all continue to do as God directs. To the best of our ability, spreading His light and love...

God's Blessings for All!!!

lessons learned in Nigeria

Hello again, C4 friends and others following along. I just finished writing a posting on my blog, but thought you might want to see Leonard and Renee Leachman's little girl Oma, so please follow this link here!

As I was thinking of what to write here, so as to actually have content, and not just repeat my blog, or send you link surfing, I thought of a few things that we have learned here.

1) Improvisation is the key to live here. So many things will not work the way you want them to, or something will break and need to be fixed. In Stuart's kids camp today, we had balloon games planned to do with all the kids. 2 different age groups, in rotation, 3 rotations per group. But, when kids aren't used to having access to balloons frequently, you don't have an interpreter, and the grass has very sharp edges, balloon do not last very long for any games to be played! Also, I tried to repair several wheel chairs today and previous days, and I can not tell you how frustrating it is to not have a hardware store handy to by spare bolts, nuts, tools and WD-40.

2) I have asked the question - "What is your name?" a lot this week. When you have 150 dark skinned children, the girls with braided hair, the boys with shaved heads, and they are all about the same size and body shape, and you have a hard enough time understanding their names and accent. Oh boy. It would take me a month here to learn every one's name. One boy was kind enough to take a crayon and write his name on the skin of his chest for me one night - Iko. I laughed, but I can recognize him now!

3) I appreciate napkins and running water to wash my hands. On previous missions experiences, I had come to appreciate hot and cold running water, but now I will just appreciate having any water at all that can run from a faucet into a sink. You don't know what that means.

4) I am humbled by the things that I want, and what I really need in life to live. I have not taken a single thing out of a refrigerator this entire week. We need refrigerators, really?? No, we don't. You can live without them, and quite well, for the food that we have eaten this week.

I am running out of time here in the office, so I will say good night. I hope to blog one last time tomorrow night, and give you a few hints at how you can make our homecoming a profitable one for everyone involved!

Live To Tell,
Adam J

Follow the links!!

Apparently, everyone was too tired to blog last night after our big day with clinic and the commissioner, the media and all the rest. We woke up to a huge rain storm yesterday morning, and we weren't sure exactly what the day would bring. God worked it out to his plan, which also included just the Commissioner coming, and not the Magistrate. The media came out, did some interviews, and hopefully will present the entire piece in a positive light.

We had a busy, fun day today, going to market, but both myself (Adam) and Stuart have blogged about it on our personal blogs, so if you want the rest of the story (or all of it!), you will have to click the links below.

You can get Stuart's page here, and my page can be reached here.

Thanks for your prayers. We are all in good health and spirits, and praising God for the relationships He is building and continuing to grow!