Boys in Jos praying for you

From Erin:

Hello friends,
At the end of this month, our boys in Nigeria will be gathering to pray for you. They will spend time thanking the Lord for all of you.
They will also be interceding for you in specific ways. We need to know your prayer requests.
Please, even if you have not been in communication with me, email me a request so that I can send it on to Nigeria.
There will be over 140 boys, orphans and former street children, lifting up your requests to our Lord.
It will just take a moment for you to send on a request that God will hear from the lips of His children in Nigeria.
Please email your prayer requests before Sunday November 19th. Your response will help facilitate this time of intercession. The boys are learning how to pray and to be thankful for all the Lord has done for them.
It is all about Him.
Erin Rigsby

www.webmissions.net/erinrigsby

"I cannot change the world, but I can change the world for one person."
Mother Teresa

News from Jos

Pastor Steve at Lakepoint Baptist Church is on his way back from a quick visit to Jos, Nigeria to see the work that's been done by the "Crazy Texas team."
Here's a couple e-mails regarding his trip:

Pastor Steve and his team left today for USA. Their visit to us was rewarding and exciting. They were thrilled, excited, happy and helpful.
They visited all your projects in TH, Gidan Bege, Gyero, VVF plus our trip to the bush in Bauchi State. On our way back we stopped at Gumau where a Bauchi State Judge gave us land for a large Church in the small town. We prayed there holding hands and praising God. There Pastor Steve announced a $5000 donation for the project. Elder Ken gave $2500 for the one inside the village next to the you built.
At the dinner in my house yesterday, Pastor Steve further pledged $20000 towards our ministry. $5000 of this sum is to go for 2 village Churches, $3000 for grains for the street kids and the remaining $12000 for Gidan Bege compassion work.
At his meeting with Plateau Church elders, areas of cooperation in Church planting, youth minstry and leadership training were discussed and agreed upon. This is one visit that has achieved so much for us. We thank God for all of you and your prayers. You started it all and He will surely bless you abundantly.
Please share this information with Jerry White, Steve, Richard and the rest.
I do hope that Mama P has orderd my book from AMAZON on the internet.
Yours together in Christ
Dr Garba

This one's from Peter, the missionary we worked with:

Dear Bro;
Greetings from over here - I hope you are all super well!
I see Miriam said I am sick = I am fine!
It was awesome having them here! PTL Bro - it could not have gone any better! We had awesome times driving, talking about ministry, awesome times at all centers, awesome times over meals = it was sweet!!!!!!!!!!!
Also - pastor Steve was real encouraging. We don't have someone like that here - a pastor for the missionaries = we would love to get him back to do the SIM conference and also leadership training for Nigerian churches/leaders and he seems very open to do it. I will get to spend some time with him when we are home and I am looking forward to that.
In just few hours with the leaders of Plateau Church he had them thinking about new ideas and we were all pumped!
The others on the team were also great!
Also - they gave us some sweet cash for next year's ministry needs/projects! They gave us the following commitments:
$3,000 for formula for AIDS mothers & their infants = in cash.
$5,000 for church planting in Bauchi = in cash.
$5,000 for additional church planting or sponsoring indigenous missions or related anywhere = will be coming.
$12,000 for food/help for orphans & needy children = will be coming.
That is $25,000 big ones = PTL!!!!
He told us that will be all for 2007 directly from the church and that your
stuff is additional.
Also, Ken (one of your elders) gave us $500 for a church plant in cash and said he will send $2,000 more so we can build another church in Bauchi.
Pastor Steve told me to communicate with Rod on how all of this is spent and I will of course keep you in the loop.
Sweet baby! It is actually a miracle that Nigeria is being accepted as a partner. Additionally, Pastor Steve said they had put all new partnerships on hold this year, but he is breaking his own rules. He's allowed!
Tell everyone that God is answering our prayers big-time and that we are sooooooooooooooooooooooo grateful for everyone's hard work! With God's help, you all made this happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In Him - your happy friend - Peter for all.

Authentic community

Thomas writes:

One of my fav teachers :: Erwin McManus :: is interviewed on relevantmagazine.com - check it out! Heres some quotes...

I have a huge sense of concern, because a lot of the postmodern conversation seems to be incredibly self-indulgent. It’s about: “how do I connect to God?”; “how do I create an authentic community for me and my Christian friends?” It seems that the questions are wrong. We keep asking, “How do we create postmodern churches?” rather than asking, “How do we serve and reach the postmodern world?”...//...I have so much confidence in the reality of Jesus that I feel no pressure to try to make people act or be a certain way. I’m banking everything on the fact that God actually changes people. For me, I don’t do what I do because I have to. As well, I don’t make my life choices because I worried about judgment or anything like that. For me, my whole motivation in life is love. And ironically, I know a lot of people think that to be irreligious means that they cuss a lot or drink a lot, and that’s where we are finding our freedom. But actually, what is happening is we’re finding safe ways to be risky. If you really want to be risky, do something that is genuinely valuable and risky at the same time. I don’t need to smoke a cigar to feel fully alive. I felt fully alive when I was in the middle of the Hezbollah.

Interesting thoughts. Comments? Questions? Problems with what McManus is saying? Do you feel the same about Christianity today?

Nigerian wrestler attacked

From the People's Daily Online:

Canadian Olympic wrestling champion Daniel Igali was attacked and robbed in his native Nigeria two weeks ago, Canadian press said in a report Wednesday.
Igali was confronted two weeks ago while watching television with his brother in his private residence in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, four days after arriving from Canada. Four armed men burst into the apartment, demanding valuables before striking Igali, the report cited Nigerian media as saying.
"I was stabbed at the back of my neck and beaten up with the butts of their guns," Igali told the "Daily Sunsport" of Lagos. "They collected everything from me -- phones, laptops and cash.''
"The Daily Champion", a Lagos-based newspaper, reported the stolen property was valued at 1.5 million naira (about 122,600 U.S.dollars).
Igali, who won gold in the 69-kilogram category at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, said he was traumatized by the robbery, and isn't sure he wants to remain in Nigeria.
"I thought I was doing a good thing, coming home and helping in community development," said Igali, who commissioned a modern sports academy in September his home town of Enewari. "I have spent so much time and resources trying to uplift the quality of life here.
"If this is how I want to be paid then I had better stay back in Canada," the Olympian was cited as saying.

Nigerian's minister of aviation sacked

After the plane accident at the Abuja airport last week, which killed 95 people, the Nigerian minister of aviation has been fired.
From the BBC:

Nigeria's aviation minister has been sacked following the plane crash on Sunday in which the spiritual leader of Nigeria's Muslims and 95 others died.
Babalola Borishade swaps jobs with Culture Minister Femi Fani-Kayode, according to the president's office.
The crash of an ADC Boeing 737 into a cornfield just 2km (1.2 miles) from Abuja's main airport was the third major airline disaster in a year.
Nigeria held three days of national mourning amid widespread anger.
Critics are sceptical that an aviation industry overhaul to improve safety announced by President Olusgeun Obasanjo several months ago will actually work.
An investigation into the cause of Sunday's crash is already under way and ADC's aircraft have been grounded.

First woman governor in Nigeria

Virginia Etiaba has been sworn in as Nigeria's first female governor after Anambra state legislature impeached Peter Obi for gross misconduct.
From the BBC:

She had been deputy governor in the south-eastern state and initially refused to take the position.
Mr Obi said he would not leave office and civil rights groups have criticised the whole process as unconstitutional.
A BBC correspondent says the battle could get more volatile if supporters of the two sides take to the streets.

Update from Erin Rigsby

Erin Rigsby is a 2000 graduate of UMHB and has spent the last two years in Nigeria working with the boys at Guerro, TH and Gidan Bega. She's currently on furlough in the US and I plan to post her updates as I get them.
Please keep her and the boys and missionaries in your prayers.

“The kids have such joy in their faces.”
“How is John doing, the boy with depression?”
“What do I do to become a missionary?”

These are a few of the things I have heard during the past three months.
-- After seeing my DVD about Nigeria , numerous people have been touched by the joy in the eyes of the boys in Nigeria . These kids have every reason to be angry and bitter, yet they choose to be free and to trust in the Lord.
-- Prayer warriors have been interceding for John, who I told you all about 5 months ago. John is OK. From what I have heard, he still battles depression, yet has not been suicidal. I have been so blessed to know that people really pray for the boys by name. Check out the attached November prayer calendar! (If you have trouble viewing it, click 'view' and 'print layout')
-- How thrilled I am when someone shows an interest in serving God’s people overseas! One goal of being back in the States is to plant seeds of interest into people’s hearts.

September was an incredible, abundant, God-filled month! He just LOVES those kids in Nigeria ! He wants hundreds of people to hear about them and I get to be the spokesperson! I spent three weeks in Chicago and was able to share with a Chinese youth group, the Moody Church congregation, ten Sunday school’s, house groups, Moody Graduate School, individuals, kids in inner – city Chicago –- it was SO much fun!

PLEASE NOTE: At the end of November I will wrap up formal speaking engagements, with the exception of being available to speaking in Sunday School classes. I love sharing and being an advocate for the kids, but I am also getting tired and need some rest. :) If you were planning on asking me to speak in December, please understand. I have some open days in November and you are welcome to contact me.

I still plan on returning to Nigeria in January.

Check out the pics from the past 6 weeks: www.webmissions.net/erinrigsby/photos.html


Your partner in ministry,

Erin Rigsby
www.webmissions.net/erinrigsby
"I cannot change the world, but I can change the world for one person."
Mother Teresa

US Warns: Attacks planned across Nigeria

From the AP

LAGOS, Nigeria — Militants in Nigeria are planning a major new wave of attacks and kidnappings in the next few days that could include up to 20 simultaneous bombings across the country's oil-rich delta region, U.S. diplomats warned Friday.
The warning came in an e-mailed statement sent to American citizens from the U.S. Consulate in Nigeria's main city, Lagos, and a U.S. diplomat confirmed plans for fresh attacks were believed to be under way.
"The U.S. Government has learned that as of late October 2006, a militant Niger Delta group may have finalized its plans for a unified attack against oil facilities in the Niger Delta region," the statement said. "The attacks allegedly will be carried out sometime during the first week of November and will include 10 to 20 simultaneous bombings of land-based targets and a series of separate attacks on oil installations in which expatriate workers will be taken hostage."
The statement gave no details on what specific oil installations might be targeted.
A diplomat at the U.S. Consulate in Lagos, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the press about the issue, confirmed the threat was being taken seriously but had no other details.

Re: Plane accident in Abuja

The BBC has a great story about the nine people who survived the plane crash Sunday in Abuja. Three of the nine were sisters.

Nigeria gets new Islamic leader

The Muslims in Nigeria have quickly replaced Sultan Mohammadu Maccido who was killed in a plane crash Sunday morning.
From the BBC:

Nigeria gets new Islamic leader
The new Sultan served as a peacekeeper in Sierra Leone
A new Sultan of Sokoto, the spiritual leader of Nigeria's 70m Muslims, has been announced.
Colonel Muhammadu Sada Abubakar, 53, is the brother of Sultan Mohammadu Maccido, who was killed in a plane crash on Sunday, along with 95 others.
Col Abubakar had been serving as Nigeria's military attache to Pakistan.
Like all sultans, Col Abubakar is descended from Uthman Dan Fodio, who led a 19th Century jihad to spread Islam across northern Nigeria.

I find the last statement very interesting. Pray for Nigeria. Pray for peace between the Christians and Muslims and pray that God's love will be shown to all.

US and UK oil workers seized in Nigeria

From the BBC:

UK oil worker seized off Nigeria
Attacks on foreign workers are common in the oil-producing region
A Briton has been kidnapped from an oil ship off the Nigerian coast, company sources said.
The Foreign Office is investigating claims militants seized two expatriate oil workers - from the US and Britain - during an armed raid.
A spokesman for Petroleum Geo-Services, based in Norway, has confirmed two of its workers have been taken.
Another unnamed official said they were taken from the southern coast by gunmen, who sped away in boats.

Turning swords into ploughshares

I love this.
From the BBC:

In biblical times they said "turn your swords into ploughshares", now in northern Ethiopia a tradesman is bringing the saying into the 21st Century.
In his workshop in Mekele, just 120 km from Ethiopia's border with Eritrea, Azmeraw Zeleke is turning burnt-out shells into cylinders used in coffee machines.
Most of the shells are left over from the 1998-2000 war between the two countries.

Re: Third world water filtration

Here's more from the Red Cross:

The most recent UNICEF data show that only 26 per cent of Cambodia’s rural population has access to adequate drinking water compared to 55 per cent of the rural population living in the world’s least developed countries. The situation is particularly bad in four remote and impoverished north-eastern provinces - Kratie, Mondulkiri, Rotanakiri and Stung Teng - where the main sources of drinking water are springs, rivers, streams and rainwater.
Slightly more than one-fifth of children under the age of five living in these provinces have diarrhoea in a given two-week period, according to the 2000 Cambodia Demographic and Health Survey. The same survey says more than 50 per cent of under-fives in the north-east have moderately or severely stunted growth, an indication of chronic, incapacitating malnutrition.
“The health status of the Cambodian children is grim. Almost one in 10 Cambodian children dies before his or her first birthday,” says Charles Lerman, regional health coordinator of the American Red Cross, which is supporting the CRC’s Community Hygiene and Water Purification (CHWP) project, along with the International Development Enterprises and the Freeman Foundation.
The locally produced ceramic water filter is part of the CHWP project, a one-year scheme that concludes in December that aims to reduce childhood illness and death from diarrhoeal disease by providing safe water containers and disseminating health and hygiene messages to communities.
The CRC is distributing one ceramic water filter to some 6,000 households in 53 villages.
The ceramic filter is a clay pot that holds approximately 10 litres, allowing a family to produce up to 30 litres a day. “It is cheap, portable, effective and can be used and maintained even by the poorest families,” Lerman says.
The CWF is impregnated with colloidal silver, which neutralises any pathogens not already captured by a clay matrix through which the water passes.

Third world water filtration

A short term missionary to Cambodia told me about a process this afternoon to filter water using a clay pot and a special lining.
They're using it all over Cambodia apparently to remove pathogins in the water.
I found some info on the web about the process, or a similar one.

A handful of clay, yesterday’s coffee grounds and some cow manure are the simple ingredients that could bring clean drinking water to developing countries around the globe.
An innovative new technology, developed by ANU materials scientist Mr Tony Flynn, allows water filters to be made from commonly available materials and fired on the ground using manure, without the need for a kiln. The filters have been shown to remove common pathogens including E-coli. Unlike other water filtering devices, they are simple and inexpensive to make.
“They are very simple to explain and demonstrate and can be made by anyone, anywhere. They don’t require any western technology. All you need is terracotta clay, a compliant cow and a match,” said Mr Flynn.
“Everyone has a right to clean water, these filters have the potential to enable anyone in the world to drink water safely.”

Click here to read the DIY instructions.
"Where you live should not determine whether you live or die."