Power Failure!!

Nov-Dec 2011

Our brand new Mac laptop failed us when the power cord quit.  It had a slick cord with magnetic plug-in but the thing died.  Nancy kept it going for a while by applying an ever-so-slight bend to the left but it finally quit altogether.  As we write this we are getting along on one computer instead of two.

Then the other day the power went out in our house.  In fact, most of Jos and other large cities went black for one day plus.  We get regular black outs, but this time we were cut because of worker disputes.  Unhappy Nigerian power company workers went on strike.  So here we were running our generator about 6 hours a day.  That would keep our refrigerator up and other necessities.  Including the one laptop we were then sharing.

Our film outreach leader came by to drop off his camera card.  (A sample photo is shown above.)  What a guy!  We request pictures to assist our report writing, and he was the only one to respond in quite a few months.  As we looked over the pictures showing the village scenes and people, we kept seeing faces of ordinary Nigerians.  Many of them recipients of film or medical outreach and many looking disadvantaged.  Like the children pictured: happy but needy.  Not much concern for electrical power failure there!  Many of them hardly even had clothes much less laptops.

It made us stop for a minute and give thanks.  Thanks for conveniences.  Thanks for even part time electricity.  Even more so, a thanks for knowing the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ.  Some pictures showed individuals making first time commitments to Christ.  We are thankful to God for dedicated staff (and portable “power equipment”) that made the outreaches possible.

Power Encounter

But the village scene is misleading.  What looks like “powerlessness” isn’t so.   For ages these people have tapped a traditional power source, unfortunately, a satanic one.

Even in places where churches and pastors successfully planted and watered biblical truth, old beliefs haven’t died out.  Our City Ministries organization recently sent a “power encounter” team to a pastor in Gombe State who needed help.  Sending a team of this sort was a new idea for City Ministries and it was carried out prayerfully with experienced leaders.  They returned telling how our faithful God responded to the need.  There was release from spiritual bondage and new decisions for Christ.  The team also returned with new names of orphans wanting a home in our ministry!

Christmas Encounter

But what was the first Christmas after all?  A sort of “power encounter” when Christ was sent to a dark world overpowered by evil.  An invasion where individuals learned about a loving God and the power of forgiveness.  And it all began with the arrival of a baby in a manger.  The New Testament account is amazing!  We are thankful that we can rejoice again this season over the good news.  And we pray for the many others who still need a personal encounter with this Savior.

Power Solutions

Power failures can be and are being resolved.  We are thankful for Christ’s intervention and ask you to pray along with us:

1.  Give thanks for a traveler who (if all goes well) will bring a new cord from the U.S. for our Mac!

2.  Pray for Nigeria and for dissatisfied workers: those under national power service and others. 

3.  Give thanks for the best-ever Christmas gift available to each of us personally: Jesus Christ.  Pray for those still held captive and without faith in the Savior.  Pray for new decisions even this Christmas.

4.  Pray for our ministry and the many needs.  Pray for our workers as they reach out to those in cities and to those in villages, like the one pictured.  Pray for finances in difficult times.  Contributions would greatly help City Ministries children, especially right now with the purchase of grains. (Please contribute to project 85550 at SIM.)

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, …

Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.”  From Isaiah 9:6,7.

“Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, …

And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father – to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.”  From Revelation 1:4-6.

Merry Christmas!

John and Nancy

Many Fires!

Fireplace fires in the depths of summer?  It’s true.  The photo shows one in our own living room from just a few weeks ago.  You’d be surprised at how good it felt, unless you also live at about 4,500 ft (like maybe Denver, CO) and experience a lot of rainy, wet afternoons.  With dampness that just seems to go right through.  Then you’d understand.

The ladies in the picture are a couple workers here.  On the left is Dee.  She is from Texas and is a long term worker here in City Ministries.  The other is Jessie, a short termer also from Texas.  Jessie stayed a few weeks to help our kids develop their jewelry making.  Back in San Antonio Jessie is a professional running her own shop.

On the evening of the photo we were together (they live not far away) and managed to drive away some of the damp and cool.

A Burning Fire for Jesus

The idea of “Keeping the Fire Burning” is an ongoing theme for Dee.  Her special emphasis is discipleship and she develops study material for our children and then trains our Nigerian workers who teach it.  She also instigated a monthly prayer emphasis that goes by that same name, “Keep the Fire Burning.”

Other Fires

But fires in a fireplace are not part of the routine for average Nigerians.  Wood fires used here are mostly outdoors for cooking and it is common to see them keeping guards company during the cool evening hours.

Unfortunately, fire hit our ministry this month as a weapon.  Our Lafia Gidan Bege and CARE Center (Lafia, Nigeria) came under attack when it was mysteriously set ablaze one night.  This caused only a small amount of damage.  But in the nights that followed fires mysteriously returned.  By the end of the week our property suffered fiery attack on five different nights leaving most everything destroyed.

Thankfully all of our children and adults escaped without injury.  Christians in Lafia responded immediately, taking in our people, providing housing and care.  Praise God too that this bizarre attack caught the attention of the governor.  He made a promise to help with the reconstruction and even the ongoing support of the center. 

Obviously, God is still in control protecting lives and City Ministries work.  He is also initiating something new between the ministry and the government. 

By the Fire.  In the Fire.

Looking back at our photo, it looks pleasant “by the fire.”  But when thinking about Lafia, we recognize that our world forces us to be “in the fire.”  As Christians we don’t have much choice in the matter.

Pray for each of us and about your own situation.  Pray that we are not so comfortable “by the fire” that we do not effectively “face the fire.”  Which fire? There could be many: opposition, doubts, or the fire of un-involvement.

Thanks for praying.  Thanks too for being a part of what’s happening here as well as in your own neighborhood.

On the Job

The pictures show Nancy back on the job here in Nigeria.  Doing what she likes the most: getting children to tell their stories and giving them encouragement.

Safely Back in Nigeria

Aug 03 2011

It’s been about a week since arriving in Jos.  A lot of airplane hours tell us we are far away from Milwaukee and New Berlin, Wisconsin.  But a couple visits with our kids on Skype help us to feel not so remote.  We are getting settled and it is good to get started back into life and ministry with our Nigerian friends.

Our ministry here calls us to a variety of places but in each case it calls us to relationship building.  We partner with a number of key Nigerians in our ministry (as well as westerners) and during these first days we are in a sort of reconnecting or catch-up process.  Really it’s a sort of fun thing as well as meaningful.  Some examples of reconnecting:

§ A gathering for prayer the day after landing in Jos.  This City Ministries prayer group meets particularly for praise and to seek God regarding ministry needs.  The meeting this week included a “greeting” directed to us and everyone had a small lunch.  We knew we were back to the field as we ate pounded rice and draw soup with a warm Coke.  The okra “draw soup” is a sort of iconic Nigerian choice with its gooey stringy composition.  But our friends were kind to us and provided us with spoons.  This indicated a mutual concession: we appreciate their traditions; they are not offended if we don’t eat with our fingers.

§ Sunday morning worship.  We attended our regular church here in Jos.  The group prayer time and other remarks reminded us of the ongoing religious tensions permeating the landscape here.  The session of special “thanksgiving” and 3 hours of meeting time reminded us that Nigerians continue to devote themselves to God and to the corporate setting.  It was encouraging and uplifting as always.

§ Compound prayer meeting.  We rejoined our small group prayer meeting on Sunday evening hovering under a car port roof while a light rain persisted.  It was a good time and refreshing to be in this mixture of Nigerians and Americans.  We shared thoughts, scripture and prayed.  Each one conveyed personal trust in God and a sense for the value of community as they turned out in spite of rain and in one case on crutches (we have a neighbor with polio.)

We need to stop here and get back to the more mundane routine of getting our house “up and running”.  Our generator is again operational as well as our car but we have a ways to go.  Before signing off we ask you to please pray with us.

1.  Thank the Lord for safe travel.  All of our bags and boxes made it including an extra piece requested by the SIM office.  Give thanks also for the courtesy of the United Airlines (Lufthansa) counter people in Milwaukee.  They allowed an extra piece for free because we are involved in humanitarian service.

2.  Give thanks for many prayer partners and financial supporters.  God blessed us so many times in the US through many special people.  Our daughters along with husband Orlondo and friend Scott gave us unbelievable help.  Give thanks for new commitments of financial help although we did not reach our goal.  Pray for God to enable some supporters who were unable to keep previous commitments.

3.  Pray for us as we start into our full schedule.  Much of our work with the kids and with our Nigerian partners will increase next week.  Pray for our needy kids, pray for our annual City Ministries camp that comes up in August.

Thanks for praying and for being a supporter.

John and Nancy

Our June-July Letter

Dear Praying Partners,                                                                                                                   

Thank you for praying!  We arrived safely from Nigeria, first to our SIM offices in Charlotte, NC, and then onto Milwaukee, WI, in early April.  God answered prayer regarding a place to live: Our home church helped arrange 2 months and a ministry friend for one more.  Another answer to prayer: encouragement to persevere in the midst of “adjusting to the U.S.” stress.

Home Assignment:

See for yourself what is going on in Nigeria.  Thanks to Andy at SIM and J.J. at Elmbrook Church, we have 4-minute and 10-minute videos (DVDs) to use during our upcoming meetings.  Both guys did a cool job with this!  Contact us for a meeting or go to VIMEO to see the 4-minute edition.  Click on:  http://vimeo.com/24735905

Updates by Email.  We encourage email and will be sending updates by pdf attachment.  If you are now receiving a paper copy of our updates, please let us know if you want email. Thanks!

      Sawyers-in-mission blog.  We will also post our updates on a blog created just for that purpose.  More info is coming on that.

Prayer and Finances:

We are very thankful for all of you that support us with prayer.  We are also thankful for any and all financial support that you have sent and for your faithfulness in spite of rough times.  

Health News:

We are thankful for really good health year after year.  We arrived in the U.S. feeling fine, but John’s routine physical indicated something suspicious.  To make a long story short, a hematologist here in Milwaukee confirmed that John has CLL, a type of leukemia.  It’s true that CLL (like other leukemias) does not have a cure.  John has not been experiencing any symptoms, and the doctors assure us that many people with CLL continue this way for years.  We were also told to return to our field and carry on normally.  We will have to send blood samples for lab testing periodically, but that’s about it for now. 

We are thankful.  If you are going to have leukemia, this seems to be the easiest one to deal with.  Please pray for us.  Pray for continued good doctor’s care and for healing.

Family: 

Our children.  We’ve enjoyed great times with Jennifer, Melissa and Orlondo.  We’ve tried a restaurant or two, checked the tulips, walked through blowing snow and of course, hit “the malls.” May was big with Jen’s birthday, Melissa and Orlondo’s anniversary and of course, Mother’s Day.  We’ve been around enough weeks now so that when we get together in one room we are NOT all talking at once!!! 

John’s mom.  Last November, John’s mom moved to a senior apartment with extra care available.  We visited her in April for our first look at her beautiful new surroundings.  Mom is receiving important help with daily activities and is stepping back from one of her favorite strongholds: meal preparation!  Others now come in to lend a hand.  She is walking much less and gets help with longer distances.

     There is a lot she is doing very well.  She always gives us an energetic and cheerful greeting, keeps up on the news and maintains her spirit of love and encouragement.  She is also our number one prayer supporter.

Future Plans: 

         We will return to Nigeria July 23rd, Lord willing.  Please pray for us during these upcoming weeks.  Pray for effective communication with individuals and supporting churches.  Pray that we will manage our time well: family, office time at church, shopping and of course, packing! 

         Pray that the Lord will bring in our personal support.  Presently, we are about $500/month short of an already reduced figure.  In order to return to our previous salary and to full ministry funding we should increase to about $900.  Pray that each of us would know God’s plan in this and that we would not have to cut our next term short for lack of funds.  Contact us for more information (addresses below.)

         Please pray also for our workers in Nigeria.  Pray for safety in the face of violence and protection from a recent cholera outbreak in Jos.  Pray for worker commitment and follow-through.  Pray for new individuals to join in where we are working.  We believe the time is soon coming when we will hand our work over entirely or in part.  Some of what we do could be continued from a U.S. location.  Pray for the Lord’s leading in all of this.

“For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome…”          Deuteronomy 10:17a

Thanks for standing with us,

John and Nancy Sawyer                  1606 S. Coachlight Drive, New Berlin, WI  53151           nsawyer_cmjos@yahoo.com