. . . you know there is a big disaster. I can’t remember the ever seeing my grandmother run anyway.

This is one of the Nigerian sayings that Pastor Bassey quoted as the introduction to his sermon this last week.

I spent the last week near the city of Badagari in Nigeria. Here most of the pastors from Nigeria, Ghana, and Togo gathered together for a joint West Africa pastoral conference. This was caused mainly by the political insecurity of Nigeria. Since it seemed abnormally unsafe for me to journey to Efa we brought all the pastors together near Lagos, Nigeria. Once there of course we needed something for them to do. I was also hoping that it would be a good chance for Kossi and the men from Togo to learn from the deeper theological understanding of the Nigerian men. Besides the original reasons it turned out to be an excellent opportunity for me to hear the pastors speak and preach. An opportunity I have seldom had before since I am usually the one preaching. Further I learned a lot just by being able to socialize daily with the pastors. The Nigerians who regularly hold conventions and conferences on their own were excited now because of the addition of men from Ghana and Togo.

There was some last minute difficulty caused by the nationwide strike in Nigeria. At the beginning of the year the Nigerian government removed subsidy on fuel. This meant the gas prices at the pump jumped immediately from 65 nira per liter ( $1.52 /gallon ) to 110 nira per liter ( $2.57 /gallon ). The National Labor Committee started a strike on Monday January 9^th. The same day the pastors were planning on traveling from Efa to Lagos. Martin Essien however, knowing the problems this would cause quickly rescheduled their travel for Sunday night. The men from Ghana and Togo were not as easy to reschedule but because most of their travel took place across Togo and Benin it didn’t delay them too badly. They showed up late Monday night and were ready for the conference on Tuesday morning. Otherwise the strike really didn’t cause problems for the conference. Although it made it impossible for me to visit Efa even for a single day.

Present at the conference was one young man named Jospeh Kofi Ackah from Ghana. Previously in contact with Steve and Gretchen Eichstadt, Joseph had contacted me about the possibilities of beginning a church in Ghana. We met here at the conference where we were able to spend a little time in study each day. He asked for baptism and agreed to attend the Bible Institute in Efa, Nigeria. His hope is to return to Ghana after his time at the Bible Institute.

Pastor Kossi Blewu from Lome, Togo arrived with more joyful news. Currently serving two congregations in the city of Lome, Pastor Kossi has four new outreach areas he wishes to pursue. Two at various places around the city of Lome where small mission congregations are already present. And two more in the country of Benin were an acquaintance of Kossi who gave his life to the Lord has donated land hoping these places may be used to build churches.

May the word of grace continue forth by the power of the Holy Spirit,

Pastor Matthew Ude

St. Stephen's Lutheran Church sign

I am no longer anywhere near Efa. On Tuesday I finished whatever business I could in Efa and on Wednessday flew to Lagos. Pastor Essien Michael picked me up from the airport and rode with me down to Badagry.  Badagry is west of Lagos settling snug against the border of Benin. We slept that night at the hotel and proceeded to seek out Pastor Eric and the church the following morning.

The church itself is apparently so close to the border with Benin that every time we returned from the church to the hotel, a distance of maybe two miles, we would pass through a customs checkpoint. The customs officers, however, apparently knew we were not coming from Benin and would let us pass through.

On Thursday Pastor Essien Michael and I meet with Pastor Eric as well as the president of the church in Badagry. We talked for a while about the church, its troubles and triumphs and plans. One difficulty is that the church sits far from the village of Efa where the Bible Institute is, the home of most of the men who train there, and the native language of Efic is spoken.  Here the native tongue is Yoruba.  A language strange not only to my ears but more importantly to Pastor Eric’s as well. Pastor Essien in Lagos does not have as much difficulty since the people in the city are generally better educated and more at home with English. Meanwhile Eric perseveres with the Lord’ s grace. After this Pastor Eric, Essien, and myself spent a little time in an impromptu pastoral study club. Pastor Eric and Essien each shared a recent sermon which we all then were able to discuss and learn from.

The plan was for me to stay here in Badagry and visit this church also on Sunday, when I would get to meet the congregation. To that end I awoke, went over my sermon, dressed for church and went out to wait for the taxi that had promised to come and pick me up. When he still was not there at nine twenty, I called his cell phone.

“Yes,” he said, “I am coming at nine on Sunday, tomorrow!” – Opps – it is so easy to lose track of the days here.

When I actually made it to the service on the right day, it was a beautiful sunny day, and the church with incomplete walls made a very pleasant place to worship as long as there is no wind or rain and you can sit in some shade, which was the case today. The service also was very heartening to me, as it was all in English and when I preached I did not need an interpreter. The liturgy was page five and the hymns were all from the Lutheran Hymnal. Although the African’s seemed to largely ignore the melody that was printed and either made up their own or had leaned different tunes from elsewhere. This made it difficult for me to sing with but at least I understood the words.

Today I fly to Ghana to meet with Pastor Gideon then on to Togo to Pastor Kossi and the Pastoral Conference that is planned there. I was told that there is a McDonalds in Lagos, I will have to see if I can find it on my way to the airport.

Pictures of  Badagry and of Nya and the people and congregations there are posted below.

-          Pastor Matthew Ude