A Weekend of Praise.

The journey to Igbodu village seemed to take forever, thanks to almighty Lagos traffic. If anyone had told me, I was still in Lagos I would have doubted. The road was scary because it was late, I had to close the book I was reading, I missed several heartbeats on that journey, and I dare not doze so I wasn’t surprised when some tired people walked up to me to tell me I didn’t tell them we were travelling. They had decided to come after they read my CMDA experience post.

We arrived the village on Friday night but the crusade for the day was about to end. I was surprised at the number of people who came to the crusade ground. We joined them for closing prayers and went to our camp. We prayed, ate and were divided into different groups for the prayer chain that was going to run from 1am to 5am. Different groups of people were to pray at different times for an hour each.

It was Saturday morning; we woke up for morning devotion and bible study. The bible study was very interactive and interesting. We did not just go to give but also to receive. Different questions were asked and answered. I would never forget the young man who answered the question concerning man being formed in the image of God in Yoruba. It seemed English language was not sufficient to tell us that the scripture meant God’s spiritual form not his physical image. That dude made me laugh with his analogy.

After the bible study we went in twos into the community to carry out the only assignment God gave when he was leaving earth “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…” So a very tall man choose me as his partner, he was from Kingdom Outreach International Ministries, this group collaborated with CMDA for the village outreach.

We went into the community and approached the second house we saw, there was about seven children with their parents. My evangelism partner started by introducing us, then asked everyone in the house to come out, the people in that house can start a church. Their father came out, a very old man probably in his 80s. They all listened to us as we (he) shared, although I kept praying within me and nodding in agreement, to what he was saying.

We informed them of the free medical services that were available at our camp and the crusade that was to take place at night. They gave their lives to Christ; I smiled when the very young children said the prayers with a look of surrender to God on their faces.

We left and walked to the next building, it was a hut. This middle-aged woman just finished preparing her meal. My evangelism partner had said I was going to speak to her although I was clueless. The manner in which the man started the conversation was epic, before I knew it the conversation became a prayer session, he is truly a missionary. It happened that our fellows had shared the good news with her.

On our way back to the camp, I got very helpful hints on how to evangelize. I am grateful.

We got to our camp now converted to a small center where people could consult doctors free, get free drugs and even have minor surgeries done at the nearest health facility all free.

When the children came to the camp, after receiving treatment or while waiting for their parents, they had classes. The children and teenagers classes. I was forced to go into the children’s class after hearing their sonorous voices. Their sight almost made me cry I was moved. They were so excited, they sang the new song they learnt with so much energy and joy jumping, clapping and dancing, trying to outdo the person with the loudest voice. That sight was beautiful.

We finished that and it was time for crusade. I was overjoyed when an old man walked up to my friend and me to thank us for coming to their community. He had a tooth extraction done free. He was so excited he opened his mouth to show us and told us about the great relief he now had.

The number of people at the crusade ground was surprising. About one hundred people were there. I smiled when the man we went to share the gospel with came and sat in front, it was not lip service, and he truly made that decision. People were dancing with unspeakable joy. A movie was shown and Dr. Oridota came to take altar call. God bless that man, such selfless service. I was inspired.

At the closing phase of the crusade, Saturday night, they were asked to go to a bible believing church the next day and tell the pastor about the journey they just started in Christ. The part where we told them we were leaving the next morning was sad. The people of Igbodu village touched my heart.

While we were praying after the crusade, the man my evangelism partner and I went to share the gospel with came to give a big pineapple, he was truly blessed.

The stressful journey was worth it. I learnt, I made impact and God touched me.

Special shout out to Gracie, Obinna, Leke & Seyi, you made camp really interesting. 😀

PS: #BringBackOurGirls
#BringBackOurGirls
#BringBackOurGirls

Lend your voice to this cause, don’t keep quiet, use any medium you can use to make your voice count. Blog it, Facebook it, Tweet it, Instagram it…

Let history not have it that the wicked prevailed because of the silence of the good. 🙁

#BringBackOurGirls

#BringBackOurGirls