An adventure in the mud

We returned from the bush this afternoon around 3 p.m.
Well, three of us did.
The other three returned an hour and a half earlier.
Six of us left yesterday morning to head to the bush, while the rest stayed behind and rested and then did a special fair day for missionary families today in another surrounding community.
We left for the bush around 9 a.m. Friday morning and it was a ride.
The recent raining season and added rain in the last day or so added for some sure fire fun in the mud as we had to Toyota vans/buses following an Isuzu Trooper.
Each vehicle was stuck at least once in the mud as we plowed on to Golo in Gombe state.
I made the mistake of helping get the Isuzu Trooper unstuck only to turn around and start to walk off and then get covered from head to toe with mud as the Trooper sprayed mud everywhere on my back.
Luckily I had a spare shirt with me, but too bad I changed right after that, because less than an hour later, my second shirt was sprayed with mud.
We arrived at Golo and visited a church plant where less than a year ago there was no church and now 60-70 people meet there every week.
We dropped off a group of boys from TH who were there to do outreach while the rest of us continued on to Bilery in Bauchi State.
On the way out of the Golo area, our van was stuck again in the mud and someone (won't mention names) had the idea to push the van out with the 4 wheel drive Trooper.
Not a bad idea if the 4 wheel drive had worked right. Instead we ended up with both vehicles stuck less than 10 feet from each other.
It was amazing to think that we were in the middle of nowhere and suddenly 10 to 15 natives came from somewhere and helped us push the vehicles to dryer land.
We litterally picked the van up and placed straw and wood under one of the tires to get traction.
Finally we were on our way again to Bilery.
The first vehicle, with three of our team members sped on, but our van had other ideas.
Halfway there we were forced to stop and change the fuel filter.
Less than a mile down the road that wasn't working and we changed it again.
Finally a short treck later, we stopped again and put the original fuel filter on and were able to get on down the road.
We arrived to Bilery shortly after dark and enjoyed dinner with the natives and another team of guys from TH.
The van bringing the equipment to show the Jesus Film broke down somwhere along the way and we were unable to show the movie, but it gave us time to fellowship and play with the children in the village.
They were all easily entertained, as many Nigerian children are, with our hoots hollars and "snaps" or cameras.
I made "the mistake" of hooting at them at one point and they were my captive audience for the next hour.
We finally headed to bed in a local house and some of us crashed in the van.
We awoke at 6 a.m. so we could hit the road by 7 a.m.
One thing about Nigeria is there is no real concept of time.
An hour can mean three hours and 7 a.m. can mean 8 a.m. as it did this morning.
We finally left our sleeping place and stopped by another church/school plant where Nigerian doctors were giving medical help to the natives and boys from TH were doing counseling.
It was great to see ministry in a very practical way.
We finally headed on our way and after replacing a flat tire, we were on the road again.
As on the trip to Bilery, the Trooper plowed on ahead as we had to stop again for fuel filter problems.
Finally our driver decided to bypass the fuel filter and rigged an empty pen in place of the fuel filter.
That got us to about 6 km outside Jos, where a large hill finished us off.
We were stuck and no vehicles were available to pick us up.
While we waited for a mechanic, our driver litterly sucked the fuel and filth out of the carborator and got us running again.
We arrived back at our hostel a short time later.
Since then it's been a restful evening.
Church is early tomorrow and starts at 8 a.m. I'm scheduled to give my testimony before Rob speaks.
Pray that God will give me the words the people of Nigeria need to hear.
Pray that God will speak through Rob, Willey and I as we share God's love and word.
Thank Him for His healing power and grace and mercy.
Pray for continued boldness with the people of Nigeria as we wrap up our final days here.
We fly out of Abuja on Wednesday night and will arrive in Dallas on Thursday afternoon. Pray for safety and that God will build a wall of fire around us to keep us from harm.
God bless you all. May His word continue to go forth to all the nations.
Love you all and can't wait to see you all in person.
Thanks for your emails and encouragements!