{"id":5220,"date":"2016-08-31T08:27:36","date_gmt":"2016-08-31T13:27:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.brethren.org\/?p=5220"},"modified":"2016-08-31T08:27:36","modified_gmt":"2016-08-31T13:27:36","slug":"some-highlights-fellowship-tour-august-2016-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/2016\/08\/31\/some-highlights-fellowship-tour-august-2016-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Highlights – Fellowship Tour August 2016 (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jessie<\/a>
Jessie with Carl & Roxane Hill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

(by Jessie Marsiglio, PSWD Pomona Fellowship CoB)<\/strong><\/p>\n

From America we set off with expectations and ideas that were quickly squelched.\u00a0 We thought Nigerian life would mimic our sheltered American existences.\u00a0 Americans MUST have kitchen appliances, good paved roads, uninterrupted utilities and internet, well stocked grocery stores and every other convenience of our everyday life.\u00a0 But we found no appliances, potholed and muddy roads, intermittent utilities and internet, street\/bazaar vendors, garbage routinely piled on the sides and median of the roads, constant military checkpoints.\u00a0 AND THAT WAS THE FIRST DAY.<\/p>\n

But despite all that, all the people we encountered were friendly and loving, helpful, kind and generous.\u00a0 The poorest of the poor, the homeless in the IDP (internally displaced persons) camps have hope for better days — so much so that the light of God shines in their entire faces and actions.\u00a0 The Ekklesiyar Yan\u2019uwa a Nigeria (EYN) staff and pastors all were hopeful that we would carry their stories back to the States for all to know<\/strong>.\u00a0 We also met with leaders in the community and heads of non-EYN organizations who befriended us and talked about their efforts and hopes.<\/p>\n

\"Destroyed<\/a>
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Destroyed Bridge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Travel throughout Nigeria was difficult but we had fantastic drivers who avoided (as much as possible) potholes and road blocks and who deflected the military checks.\u00a0 Evidence of Boka Haram (BH) invasion and Nigerian military actions were still evident on every road.\u00a0 One specific bridge had been destroyed to halt the BH and to cross it we went down and back upward on 90 degree angles.\u00a0 Markus jokingly said we should walk the bridge and I took him up on that challenge.\u00a0 As I got to the bottom of the rubble and started up the other side, I had such a feeling of wonderment, scare, etc.; and I think I must have felt the same as the Nigerians as they first crossed that bridge.<\/p>\n

\"Destroyed<\/a><\/p>\n

Before the BH, the church at Michika had had three services on the first three Sundays of the month with one combined on the fourth for a combined total of 3000 members.\u00a0 BH waited until the benediction on that fourth Sunday before shelling the church.\u00a0 Now the congregation is reduced to 2000 who meet in a tent next to the bombed out church building.\u00a0 \u00a0We swore we could still smell the ashes of the burned books in the library. Everyone is looking forward to the reconstruction of the church as they prepare to rebuild in the next few months (drawings of the \u00a0 \u00a0 plans are posted on the walls).\u00a0We also visited another damaged church and spoke with the two pastors.\u00a0 They are holding the congregation together but have no idea when their building will be repaired.\u00a0 This apparently is the norm for many of the destroyed churches.\u00a0Check out \u00a0http:\/\/www.brethren.org\/nigeriacrisis\/action.html to see how to join a workcamp to rebuild churches in Nigeria.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pictures by Hills, Kendra Harbeck and Sarah Rae Parcell\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(by Jessie Marsiglio, PSWD Pomona Fellowship CoB) From America we set off with expectations and ideas that were quickly squelched.\u00a0 We thought Nigerian life would mimic our sheltered American existences.\u00a0 Americans MUST have kitchen appliances, good paved roads, uninterrupted utilities and internet, well stocked grocery stores and every other convenience of our everyday life.\u00a0 But<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[139,236,370,419,447,708,813,814,882,1228],"class_list":["post-5220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nigeria","tag-boko-haram","tag-churches-in-nigeria","tag-ekklesiyar-yanuwa-a-nigeria","tag-eyn","tag-fellowship-tour","tag-love","tag-nigeria","tag-nigeria-crisis","tag-peace","tag-workcamps"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5220\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}