Th e Christian Vol. 14, No . February 1970 Page 9 W EST AFRICA CHRISTIAN MISSION T h e rainy season this year w a s a re cord breaker T h e roads have been next to impassable. On e wall o f th e mu d buil ding in which the Iwaya church meets h as collapsed. Many private homes have su f fered t h e same fate a nd other people have been forced t o leave their homes because o f high water. Th e farmers were unable to get ou t their crops an d there will likely be a food shortage later on . Due to t he rains, we have no t begun th e building o f o u r house a s soon a s we hoped. That will begin shortly. Since Nigeria i s a land of more than 25 0 different languages, preaching with a translator i s not imusual. I n o n e area which we recently visited, th e people o f tw o vil lages less than 2 miles apart could no t speakto o ne another except through an i n termediate language. The people in A p - piapmn could not understand Yankur a nd t h e people o f Ekuri could not understand M be mb e, b ut several of them spoke Efik a n d could communicate i n this common language. A fe w people in both villages could also speak English. The language situation i Nigeria i s quite a contrast to America where English i s universal an d fe w people a r e bilingual, much less tr i lingual. On August 28 Don Baughman, Hussien Momodu and I made a trip t o t h e recently w ar liberated Cross River area W e di d n o t know ho w th e people had fared, b u t w e wanted to find o u t a nd help in any way w e could. F o r months we ha d prayed for th e safety of the people while they were in t he midst o f war W e also d i d n o t know i f w e could complete the trip into the area. What we found gave u s cause fo r r e joicing. o b e sure, w a r ha d left i t s mark. One church building had been burned by r e treating Biafran soldiers. Medical aid an d drugs were non-existent. Tw o evangelists had abandoned their work to enlist in the army. But even with these things, t he s i t uation could have beenmuch worse There w a s an abundance o f food a nd th e people were in fairly good health. While there was some damage a s a result o f th e war, most homes were n o t damaged. The Christians were i n good spirits an d were looking forward to making progress for the Lord no w that th e fighting has ceased. T h e churches ha d m e t regularly, except for tw o months when th e actual fighting had taken place in th e villages. When t h e soldiers came, th e people went into t h e bush f o r safety. Many Christians continued t o meet for worship in the bush. Tw o o f the Nigerian evangelists, Bro. Ebak an d Erim, were busy preparing for a leader ship retreat to take place later i n th e year. T h e feeling among these people is that for the time o f Biafran occupation an d immediately following because o f th e turmoil, th e work o f the church d id not advance. No w it is time t o make p r o gress f o r Christ. Momodu, th e evangelist o f th e Bariga church, Lagos, i s t h e evange list wh o accompanied us on t h e trip. H us sien was a valuable asset t o o u r journey because he speaks Hausa fluently, an d important factor because of the universal nature of the Hausa language, an d the fact that many of t h e soldiers a re Hausa. Hussien also speaks Yoruba, Ishan, an d some other mid-western languages. Hussien helped with th e preaching a s w e m e t with the churches in t h e area On th e final Sunday o f o u r visit to t h e Cross River area, we were invited by the chief to eat some meat pouch rat) from a very ancient ceremonial serving dish. Hussien, who i s th e s o n o f a chief, advised that w e should n o t eat because ofthe fetish signi ficance o f t he serving dish. The chief wa s n o t offended and realized t h e reason why Hussien h a d advised u s no to eat This encounter provided an opportunity to witness f o r Christ t o a m a n w h o was an idol w o r shiper. In other parts of Nigeria the wa r c o n tinues an d th e suffering i s much greater than f o r t h e people in t h e Cross River. F o r these people the war h s ended and their peaceful village life has resumed. We rejoice f o r them in this. Pray fo r an en d to Nigeria s civil w a r an d th e healing o f t he wounds i t h a s caused. Pray f o r the people o f t h e churches a s they prepare f o r a revival. Pray for strength an d wisdom f o r u s . Walter Smith Bo x 7 6 Otta, Nigeria, Africa
