ABA, NIGERIA Wednesday, November 26
By Marti Schneider, on location

Every morning at the 9 o'clock meeting we get together with the teams
that go to the outlying sites. They travel to villages that are perhaps
40 to 60 kilometers. Each morning the host pastor comes to the meeting.
We hear some reports and get an overview of the significance of the
message for the evening. Then the stadium team, which includes Don and
a number of local pastors -- including some young pastors from various
conferences around Nigeria -- remain in the meeting room to work on
items relating to the stadium meeting. The outlying teams sit on the
terrace at tables under a tree and work on their sermons with the
pastors who will be translating for them.

Our teams include:

*Bruce and Carol Powers from Mesa, Arizona. Bruce is a doctor,
and they have been on three previous evangelistic preaching trips with
Global Evangelism.

*Carl Arosarina is an elder from the Chestnut Hill Church in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

*Roland Nwosu is a pastor in the Loma Linda area. He is a
Nigerian by birth and began his ministry there. He continues to
minister in Nigeria through a TV show called “The Adventist Hour.”

*David Friesen pastors in the Texas Conference. I asked where?
He said, “Near Austin.” I asked, “Which church?” He said,
“Elgin.” (That is the town in which my mother was born. Her
father was a church school teacher at the time.)

*Stewart and Kathy Pepper are from West Virginia where Stewart
has a three-church district.

*Howard and Phyllis Jeffers are from West Virginia, where Howard
is a Respiratory Therapist. They are church leaders in Elder Pepper’s
district.

*Ron Shelton, brother of Danny, is an electrician in Southern
Illinois.

*Teresa Shelton is Ron's wife. She conducted her own
evangelistic meetings.

*David Burnett is a pastor in the South England Conference.

I wish that I could have traveled out to their sites and seen them in
action. However, there was no way to do the special feature and then
get to a site. The program would have been over. We had to stay
focused on the stadium site. Hearing their stories, it can be somewhat
dangerous to be out there in the night.

Today we made another attempt to see the dredging business of Dr.
Frank. Benny Moore and Phil Draper joined our usual team. The water
was still over the road in several places on the third day after the
rain, but it was somewhat reduced. Our van made it through all the
bodies of water and down the new road that the trucks take to the dredge
site. After all of the effort to get there, the dredge had an
electrical problem, and they didn't get it repaired in time for us to
see it in action. Dr. Frank may bring just Asse out to video the
dredging in action.

Today when we saw Isaac he told us that he had spoken to his wife about
his decision to become a Seventh-day Adventist. She agreed to join him.
They have four little girls from age 12 down. Both Isaac and his wife
were baptized about four years ago in a "river" baptism meaning they
have been immersed. So they plan to join the church by profession of
faith. We were pleased that he had taken the initiative to talk to
Charity. I have told Isaac that I will pray for them when I pray for
our children.

This evening Queen Eruba came again to practice the song . . . we will
try to sing it tomorrow night (Thursday). She showed me how to put on
the headgear. It was so pretty that I wouldn't let her take it apart.
We simply lifted it off of my head and placed it on the shade of a floor
lamp.

Here is the story I told about Queen's father:

On Sunday Sister Daniel and I got into President G. C. Nwaogwugwu’s
(N’wo gu gu) car along with Asse Augustin, our camera man. In a few
minutes we arrived at the home of Pastor Nicholas Nwala Eruba. He is
the longest living retired pastor in the East Nigerian Conference of
Seventh-day Adventists. He was born in 1909, or maybe even earlier, in
the village of Umuokahia (Umuo kahia).

As we approached the house, I noticed the name of his home,
“Shepherd’s Court.” He is the shepherd of people, just as
Jesus is.

We gathered on the veranda with a large group of relatives -- his sons,
his daughter, his grandchildren. When I complimented him on how nice he
looked, he replied, “I dressed up in these clothes because I heard a
stranger was coming.” (I wonder who that could have been!)

I received a lesson in African culture. I learned that Pastor Eruba is
the oldest clan head of the Umuokahia Clan. He has a very long title
beginning with EZEAMA, and I know that means he is a ruler. The family
gave me a lesson in gereonthocracy, rule by the eldest. I asked if
Pastor Eruba is the ruler of a village, and I learned that he is the
ruler of eight villages, each village having 20 –50 families. His
father was also a ruler. His leadership will pass to the next oldest in
the eight villages.

“Do any stories come to your mind that you would like to share
today?” I asked. And Pastor Eruba began, “The Lord blessed my
soul-winning enterprise. I was able to convert three ju-ju idol priests
. . . and I got their idols . . . the priests became Seventh-day
Adventists. When I was sent to my first station to work as a beginning
minister,” continued Pastor Eruba, “I asked my wife to remain at
home. ‘I am going on my duty with my Bible,’ I told her. I went
out not knowing where to go . . . but I would go until God gave me one
person. I met a man and began to talk to him about Jesus Christ. I did
not know that he was a former member. I was able to win him back.”

And I ask you, Doesn’t that sound like Jesus, going out looking for
the one lost sheep?

“My work is to win souls, said this very special
90-something-year-old man. When I was only preparing to become a
pastor, I used to go everyday to talk to people. There was not one time
that I returned home for the Sabbath without bringing 12 souls. In the
nine months that I stayed with the district leader, I brought more than
260 souls to Jesus. I love to work for Jesus, because He has worked a
lot for me.”

Pastor Eruba said, “I see many poor people begging. I ask myself,
‘What shall I render to my God who has made provision for me.?’
The little I have, the penny in my pocket, I’ll give to the poor.”
Even though his salary in the early years was only 2 shillings, 6 pence,
still he found a penny for the poor.

We invited Pastor Eruba to pray for our ministry. His prayer was this,
“Dear Lord, They’ve come to fish for souls. They are blessed if
they are able to win souls. So, Lord, I say, Give them clear
understanding and a word from your mouth. Do not fail!” And I
don’t believe that God will fail to answer the dear old pastor’s
prayer!

Thank you, Pastor Eruba, for your years of ministry! Thank you, Aba,
that you have allowed us to experience the richness of knowing Pastor
Eruba. Thank you, Nigeria. . . and Africa, for sharing your people with
us. And dear God, thank you for your Son, the Good Shepherd, who does
not want even one to be separated from Him. Thank you for coming to
seek and to save lost sheep like us.

Signing off for Wednesday,

Marti