NigeriaGreetings to you all and thank you once again for praying me through a demanding 10 days in south east Nigeria. I felt the effect of prayer several times. God opened 3 doors for ministry and I was able to give 9 messages over 8 days, 4 of them at the church in Umunakanu, the home village of my brother Chika, who organized the trip and who goes to the church I attend in Kuala Lumpur. Then I spoke 3 times at a big bible training college in Old Umuahia, where over 1000 students are being prepared for work in Nigeria and elsewhere. I then moved on to an Anglican church in the bush in Ebonyi state, which was being consecrated by the bishop and I gave a short message at the main service and afterwards spoke to about 30 clergy who had gathered there for a retreat. I think the highlights were the enthusiasm of the congregations, the salvation of about 15 young people one evening at Umunakanu, the help given when speaking, especially at the bible school, the proliferation of churches, and the big interest in Christianity everywhere I went. This is the most Christian place I have ever visited or lived in. God looked after me well, I had no illness or accidents on the potholed and sometimes unsurfaced roads, and after a week’s rest in Kuala Lumpur I am feeling a lot more refreshed after the hard work and travel. If you like details, please read on!

26 Oct. After a long flight via Dubai with little rest I landed mid-afternoon in Lagos, the capital of Nigeria, population about 15 million. Spent 2 hrs waiting for my luggage and then met bro. Chika, who took me to a nearby hotel. There were numerous signs for churches on the roads of Lagos which is famous for its huge gospel campaigns and prayer meetings… up to 3 million at some of them according to Operation World. The names seemed designed to convey hope to poor people and I wrote a lot of them down. Many businesses and vehicles had Christian titles. Nigeria has over 130 million people, more than any other country in Africa. Most are Christian but there are many Muslims in the north of the country. The earlier work of western missionaries started a big change in the people, who have largely left their traditional ancestral tribal beliefs and accepted the gospel. On Sundays the streets are full of people going to or coming from churches. The Anglican church has more than twice as many members in Nigeria than it has in England, according to Operation world. In fact I told the clerical group I spoke to that the Anglican church of the past was in England, but the one of the future was in Nigeria. The breadth of the church was clear, not so the depth, and I felt teaching was needed to help churches to mature.

27 Oct. This was my fist lesson in Nigerian travel. The bus from Lagos to Chika’s village was due to start at 10 am but it did not start till after noon and broke down after about 5 minutes. I thought first of all it was stuck in a traffic jam but in fact the gears were not working and we waited some time for them to be fixed and the bus went back to the terminal. We were asked to transfer to another bus but instead decided to get a refund for our tickets and fly to a place called Owerri which was near Umunakanu, where I was due to speak tomorrow. We could not get a flight that day so spent the night in a friend’s house in a gated colony. I was told this was the first time this bus service had broken down but I cannot help feeling it was the mercy of God because the 7 hour journey would have been very wearing, as I discovered on the return trip 10 days later.

28 Oct.{Sunday} We were up early for a 10 am flight and arrived in the town of Owerri about 11 am for a quick transfer to a car and a very fast 1 hr drive to Umunakanu in time to deliver a message to Chika’s church. A ladies choir sang some beautiful songs and I felt God’s help in giving the message after the long journey, and asked people to pray for salvation at the end. The pastor translated everything into the local Igbo language and I noticed a lot of children listening attentively and thought some of them would respond, but in fact about a dozen adults stood to say they had received Christ for the first time. Most of the 100 or so members of the congregation came to the front and knelt for prayer for healing and other needs, and it was only possible to quickly lay hands on each head and pray the blessing and healing of God. But it was effective judging by testimonies I heard later. In the evening we discussed the programme for the remaining days and I discovered it was considerably revised… but after getting over the shock I realized there would be less travelling and pressure so the changes were really a benefit to me.

29 Oct. I stayed and rested most of the day at the home of Chika’s brother Johnson, a leader in the local legislative council. Got to the church at about 5pm to find nobody there so we drove round the village looking at the many church signs. Practically everyone attends a church. I had a feeling the previous night that my words were not getting translated accurately but a new translator was found and things went better once the service got started. Spoke for over 1 hour on several subjects starting with Rev. 21 and ending in Job but the increased congregation seemed happy and about 50 came up for prayer afterwards.

30 Oct. Rested at Johnson’s place most of the day and was getting used to the absence of electricity due to daily long power cuts. The tropical climate and vegetation were much like Malaysia, lots of palm oil, coconut and banana trees, plus orange trees which had the best orange juice I have ever tasted. I was told all fruit and vegetables were organic. I ate mostly eggs, tomatoes, onions and fried plantain chips and drank bottled water or tea. I discovered it was impossible to get fresh milk as it went off due to lack of electricity. The evening service at the same church lasted 4 hours and there was a big crowd of 150 plus with some standing outside so I spoke for about 1.5 hours and the translation went better as the pastor had got more used to my accent. A lot of the people understood my English anyway. At the end I had 3 different calls for prayer, one for speaking to any mountains they had in their lives, another specifically for healing, and a third for salvation. The last one was an afterthought as the pastor was about to close the service, but I suddenly felt I should ask for people who wanted to become Christians to come up after the dismissal and as I stood at the front I was pleasantly surprised to find at least a dozen boys of about 16 yrs old and a few girls standing ready to pray. After making sure they knew what they were doing we all prayed a suitable prayer. One boy had a Brazilian football shirt on so Ronaldinho was among the saved that night! I think these young people had come from other churches where maybe they did not hear the gospel, as I did not see them on the following Sunday. So maybe some of my prayer partners were very active that evening.

31 Oct. Got an early start in time to reach the Assemblies of God bible training school at Old Umuahia in nearby Abia state in time for the morning devotional talk at 9.30. This school has 1060 students and a big staff, and translation was not necessary. One of its objectives is to send workers into northern Nigeria, and I gave a 40 minute talk on world conditions, which their President said was apostolic! After resting most of the day I returned in the evening for a special service and was given more time, so was able to speak on more topics, i.e. prophecy and how to prosper in life.

1 November. After another message at the morning devotional time the meeting continued till after 11 am with a presentation by the sisters and distribution of gifts to various staff members. Africans are expressive people and their singing is harmonious and does not need instruments. They like old songs and I had not sung “trust and obey” for many years until I came here. They all dance too… including the Anglicans… but it is more of a shuffle than anything else. We left Abia state, which had a big sign ” God’s own state” at the border, to go to the nearby Ebonyi state to visit the new Anglican bishop, Dr. Christian. Passed a big sign at the roadside “Be wise, accept Jesus Christ now” before arriving at the bishop’s house, a big place with 24 hour security and surrounded by a high wall with barbed wire on top and a big iron gate with ” to God be the glory” on it. Had a nice dinner and chat with the bishop and his 6 children as we prepared for a special service the next day. He told me that, since coming to this area 6 months ago, 2 churches have been planted each month. Got bitten by several insects at night as the house was in the bush and insect-prone. Fortunately they were not serious.

2 November. We drove to the nearby village of Ogwebuike in the morning for a 4 hour service on All Souls Day for the consecration of a new parish. Almost all the villagers came to the “tin tabernacle” with walls of palm branches letting in light and air. The order of service had 23 items and that did not include my message of about 40 minutes including translation, which was ended with an appeal for people to pray to receive Christ. Many raised their hands to say they had done this for the first time. The building was packed, with many standing outside. One of the highlights was the offertory, where people danced up joyfully one by one to put money into a big plastic bowl. When the bowl was full another one was quickly provided, and then a third! Some people came up more than once. An example of cheerful giving. Then another offering was taken for special gifts, the amount of which was recorded and read out. There were lots of songs and I resisted the request of the clergy to join them in their dancing. The time passed quickly despite 30 degree heat, and the 30 or so clergy present adjourned to the house of the local minister for a nice lunch, after which I gave them a message of encouragement without translation as they all understood English. We then drove back to the bishop’s house. On the way back I heard a loud noise coming from the back of the car and discovered there was a goat in the boot, who got very upset whenever we hit a pothole. It was a gift to the bishop from grateful parishioners. We stayed at the bishop’s place for a second night and I discovered his wife was Chika’s mother’s sister.

3 November. Today was a travelling day and we got back to Umunakanu after a 3 hour drive. The road was very bad in places, and people drive as fast as possible depending on the state of the road. I saw no speed limit signs but we were stopped several times at police roadblocks, as smuggling between Nigeria and its neighbour Cameroon is common.

4 November… Sunday. Today was my 4th day at Chika’s home church and I must have spoken for nearly 2 hours, including translation, based on Isaiah 61. Ended with 4 separate calls for prayer, the last for those who wanted to dedicate the rest of their lives to God’s service full time. To my surprise about two thirds of the congregation stood for this, so I told the pastor he would have to build up a new congregation! I wait to see how many follow through on their decision. After some group photographs and a rest in the afternoon we drove to the nearby town of Owerri, where we stayed in a hotel before getting the bus to Lagos the next day.

5 November. After not a lot of rest we got to the bus station early to get seats on a shared minibus run by the Jesus Reigns Ventures for the long drive to Lagos. We were charged for an extra seat due to our luggage and had a long wait whilst the bus filled up. It is normal for a long fervent prayer to be made before any bus trip in this part of Nigeria, and the journey was cramped as there was little leg room. But we had 3 stops on the way and I did not feel too bad when we reached Lagos about 6 pm. The driver dropped us off last at a reasonable hotel.

6 November. Had a good rest at the City Lodge Suites hotel but the journey to the airport took much longer than expected due to traffic jams. There was a big crowd at the airport but a man approached me and together with a policeman helped me to get priority… for a price! But I was happy to give him a few dollars as he had performed a useful service. The flight back was good and I had 2 days in Dubai to unwind and enjoy a change in diet before landing in Malaysia on 9th November.

I hope this report gives you some idea of the opportunities, encouragements, hassles and trials of ministry in Africa. But the rewards are great and far outweigh the minor difficulties. You can see how prayer was answered and we can give thanks to God for all he did in response to your prayers. Thank you for sharing in this ministry with me.
God bless you all!
Bill Yates.

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