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Bro. David Pierro's Mission Report |
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(Faith & Victory : Sept.
1984) |
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Dear Print Shop workers and fellow saints: Greetings in the name of
the Lord. Last fall (November, 1983), two of my sons, my father, and
myself took the opportunity to visit the saints of Nigeria,
especially those of Bendel State.
The saints there all gave us a warm welcome in both town and
country. They were very hospitable and deeply concerned that our
stay in Nigeria should be free of serious problems. They offered
many prayers on our behalf before, during, and following our stay.
God protected us while there and brought us safely home again.
We stayed at the town of Abbi which is about 18 miles from the
congregation at the town of Kwale. There at Abbi, Bro. Titus Enu
owns a large home at which we stayed. Bro. Titus and the saints from
Kwale and surrounding towns visited us almost daily. We had more
than a half dozen of our Evening Light Songs books. We tried to
teach them some of our songs. Along with their songs and prayers
they brought us an abundance of food: rice, cabbage, lettuce, sweet
potatoes, bananas, oranges, grapefruits, beef, fish, cans of
evaporated milk, as well as many other fruits and supplies.
We enjoyed attending the church services each Sunday at Kwale. I
especially enjoyed the prayer services. They sang many songs from a
repertoire of some 200 songs which God inspired Bro. Titus to
memorize or write. They sang from that large group of songs without
the aid of books in the language of that area which is Ukwani. We
also sang some songs in English from a small hymnal. For each
service there was also a translator who translated the preacher's
words into English or Ukwani-whichever was needed. The services were
very Spirit-filled.
We made several trips into the surrounding countryside to meet and
worship with saints who lived too far to walk or ride bicycles to
Kwale-probably 15 or more miles off in the woods. Bro. Titus had the
only automobiles of the Kwale congregation. One of his cars was
inoperable because replacement parts were not available in that
area. He has since located the needed parts for that car in a large
city several hundred miles from Kwale. Meanwhile, his second car
broke down also about a month or so after we left. Consequently,
Bro. Enu has been trying to walk or hire taxis in order to get
around to carry out his duties.
Bro. Titus told me that his vision is to evangelize all of Nigeria
and far beyond. So far means of transportation and adequate support
have been lacking. In order to get the money which they need to do
this large work for God, the saints hope to begin farming on a large
scale, using modern tools and methods. There is plenty of open land,
and the water supplies are excellent both in wells and rivers.
Although we drove for hundreds of miles in southern Nigeria, we saw
no farms which exceeded two acres in size and we saw no farmers
using tractors or other modern equipment (not even rotor tillers).
We saw vast quantities of open land. We saw no one trying to
irrigate, although splendid opportunities seemed to exist. Their
custom seems to be to depend strictly upon rainfall for the watering
of their crops. We have heard that the Nigerian government has begun
developing a few large farms; and is trying to encourage individuals
to begin farming on large plots in the modern way.
The cities in Nigeria are growing very quickly, since the farmers
have not been able to supply sufficient food. Consequently, much
food is imported. Last year we read that over two billion dollars'
worth of food was imported into Nigeria. During our stay there I was
quite shocked at prices, especially those for food. Here are some of
the prices I remember: a small watermelon-$8.00; one pound jar of
honey$8.00; one pound of sugar-$1.33; live chicken hens$13.00;
live turkeys-$75.00; live pygmy goats-$133.00; a grown
cow-$1,330.00. A huge amount of rice is also imported.
We returned from Nigeria spiritually refreshed and with a clearer
understanding of some of the material needs and opportunities which
exist there. I will be happy to share any additional information I
have concerning conditions I observed or experiences I had in
Nigeria with anyone who has a special burden for the work there, if
they will write me.
If there were any who had desired the information in this report,
please accept my apologies for not having sent it to the Faith and
Victory paper sooner.
With Christian love, -Bro. David Pierro |
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