We started our Journey in San Antonio our flight left @ 4:20 and was a 3 hour flight from San Antonio to Detroit.  We then took a plane from Detroit to Amsterdam and that flight was over eight hours long.  We watched movies and played video games and slept a little.  Once we arrived in Amsterdam we were tired and still had a 6 hour flight to Lagos.  We slept a little on the plane to Lagos watched more movies and played a few more games.  Our flight was delayed about an hour for maintenance on one of the engines.

Once we landed in Lagos we were officially exhausted.  We waited almost an hour to get through immigration then another hour to get our luggage.  It was great to see Diran after that long trip.

We stayed the night at the Lagos Airport Hotel and had Chinese food as our first meal in Nigeria.  The room was clean and nice, it also included breakfast.  After breakfast we checked out of the hotel and headed to Ibadan.  I was able to find out first hand how Aran Petty got his name.  On the way we stopped by Redeemed Camp Ground and were amazed and blessed to see and be on the ground where such miracles of the Lord have and will continue to Happen.

Our first stop in Ibadan was to the Abundance Ministry office and day care.  It was nice to meet Lalo and Mamma O.  We met Dupe’s mother as well.  I also saw first hand the computers that they use in computer training classes.  They really need more computers and a projector so they can teach more people.  We then headed to Abundance Villa.  All I can saw about Abundance Villa is WOW!!  What a blessing from the lord to have such a wonderful place to stay.  We were able to meet Temi and Dupe’s sister at the house.  We had lunch and headed to HHH, on our way we had to stop at the tire store to get tires for the Expedition.  We then went to HHH and met the rest of the staff and saw how the children have grown.  They were so great!!  We took them the shoes we had brought, and they loved them.  The children are really well cared for and they are happy.  We saw that they got 4 new fans, and 6 new tables that have moveable attached stools to them. 

We are winding our day down back at the villa where we are getting ready for dinner.

All in ALL a very blessed day.

We started a bit late today since we were waiting for the tires to get replaced that we purchased Yesterday.  We got started about and headed to IFE,  We met Mamma O and Lulo at the space in Ife.  There were about 150 ladies there and when we got close we could hear the ladies praying and I was impressed that these ladies had been there already for a couple of hours and were glad to see us.  They did not know we were coming so the crowd of 150 was considered small.  Tracy and I were blessed to have a prayer of blessing prayed over Tracy and I by the ladies.  They prayed that what we had been waiting for an answer would come to pass soon.  What a word from God that Tracy and I had been praying for a few things and it has been told to us not to worry but know that God is blessing us and taking care of our needs.  Before we left the ladies we blessed them with new shoes.  New sandals are always appreciated in Nigeria since most of the people walk wherever they go and they do not have sidewalks so they are walking in the sand or mud when it rains.  When we left we went to the new building that was purchased earlier this year in ife.  It is larger and will accomidate more women than the current location.  It is amazing to think that they get 700+ women to show up to thank God for what he does, all this with no air conditioning and no seats for them all, and most of them standing in the street.  The new location will not only provide a place to worship but will also give them the opportunity to manage a fish farm to help support the ministry.  The people doing the remodeling found a live fish in the back of the building, a start in the fishery.

Day 3

The day started off with fresh bread and real honey, it was soooooo good.  Earlier in the morning 4AM we were awakened by a huge storm.  Tracy saw the limbs of the trees nearly touch the ground.  Since it rained in the morning, most of the markets were closed since all their shops are out in the open it is hard for them to conduct business in the rain.  Diran took us to the local Jr College called Polytechnic, where his Mom used to lecture.  It surrounds the main university and Diran’s alma mater University of Ibadan.  This is where his Dad lectured and then started a whole department.  All of the PHD’s in that Department, his father taught.  Diran spent most of his life on this campus.  Since his Dad was a professor there they lived in a lovely home on campus, and Diran attended school there throughout his educational career. 

Once we left there we went to the State Run Orphanage.  This is the location where the 7 children from the United States were found.  We started by seeing the 32 children ages 6-17 and found out that there are four types of children there: 1, abandoned, 2. disabled 3.chilren who were involved with crimes with adults, 4. children who committed crimes.  All together under one roof.  I thought that these children were attending school of some sort but soon found out that there are not enough workers or money for them to have a teacher.  There was a lady that used to volunteered but she does not come around now.  This leaves these children without hope or resources, when they turn 18 they must leave, they have no where to go and no skills to find work.  We then went to the children that are under the age of 6 there was about 15 of them, they were all abandoned and some of them because of a disability.  There was one girl who was 22 who had been there since she was 5 (as she corrected us with a smile) but she is disabled so her parents just left her.  She takes care of the small ones in her little way.  They have nothing.  There are not enough workers and the workers that are there are have not been paid since May.  The government workers are on strike for better pay and benefits but meanwhile these people work without pay and with very little resources to feed the children or for their families at home.  We left there very upset and crying very hard.  The workers told us that at least they have some shelter and some food, which is better for the ones on the streets. 

It was very comforting to leave there and go to Diran’s Mom’s house.  She had prepared us lunch and it was a safe haven to go to after all that we had seen.  We also met Diran’s Grandma she is 110, and corrected us all when we thought she was 104.  Lunch was great and the company was even better.  Diran informed us that we would be going to church tonight so I told Dupe that I needed a dress.  We got to the villa, changed and went to church.  It was great, everyone was so nice and it was wonderful to hear the Word of God after such a big day.  The Pastor ask Diran to introduce the visitors, who us, how did they know….We came back to the house and had a good ol “fend for yourself” meal.

Day 4 started with a trip to visit Ronka’s father.  He had recently had a stroke so Dupe and Tracy went to pray over him at his house.   Even though he was sick he looked to be in his early sixties and Tracy was astonished to find out that he was 73.  Tracy bought a hand made sweater vest that looks great.  Upon their return we drove to a different orphanage that Abundance supports, this is an orphanage that house 32 children ranging in age from 1 month to 17 years old.  These are children that were given up by their parents because of religious reasons or that they did not have money to take care of them or they just no longer wanted the responsibility of them.  They all live in a 6 room house, the six rooms include 3 bedrooms a kitchen an office and a church room/bedroom.  The  boys and girls are separated in 2 bedrooms the third bedroom is for the couple that stays there as hosekeepers.  The children sang a beautiful song for us and you could see the joy and love in their eyes.  These children all go to school some are in private school and the rest are in the public school which is closed because of the strike.  I asked a little more about the strike that is affecting so many people and it was explained to me that the Federal government of Nigeria said that workers should receive a certain amount of pay but the state of Oyo government has refused to pay this amount.  Seeing the orphanage today reminded Pator D of a vision and original plan he had to create Abundance Village, a village community that would be able to house many children having no more than 2 or 3 children in one bedroom and allowing the children to feel the home atmosphere that can be achieved.  In sharing this with Pastor Marcos, the person that started this orphanage, he was happy to hear what we were thinking, Pastor Marcos has been ??????????

As we were dring through town we saw a sign that read, “Keep Nigeria Clean”, this sign was surrounded by garbage, some of the garbage problem is due to the strike and some due to the fact that the government just is not worried about garbage.  In the evening we had a prayer meeting with badio and his wife to pray for the mission trip that is coming up, what a powerful meeting that was,  Upon our return to Abundance Villa Ronka had made Puff Puff and it was very good and much appreciated by me.  So much that I had to call my brother in America and tell him I was in Nigeria and eating puff puff…  We were also able to speak to Dr. K as he arrived in Lagos, unfortunately his luggage did not. Which reminded of what I saw when we arrived, a young woman had started screaming like she had won the lottery, when I looked over at her she stated that she saw her luggage had arrived…  We spent the rest of the evening sharing on ways we could help and came to the idea that there are many ways in which we can spend money, our focus is now on ways we can raise money for the ministry.