Kano & Kaduna - In the New Jerusalem	Kano & Kaduna - It's cold! At the start of our break, temp got down to 48.	I also canned over 24 jars of food over the school break. Lintels, garbanzo (chickpeas), boiled peanuts, and even some brownies!

“Jeff, Jeff! A snake is eating your little bird!” It was three Sundays ago towards the end of children’s Bible school. One of our students had only days before caught a turtledove that had gotten itself trapped in the chicken coop. So we put it in a small cage and hung it outside of the classroom window. The dramatic announcement about the snake sent me scurrying around the corner of the house with a sizable crowd of children filing out behind me. Sure enough, a snake had maneuvered its way up the side of the house and wriggled half of its three foot length through the bars of the bird cage. The poor turtledove found itself partially in the cavernous jaws before I got the cage cut down and Patrick was able to procure a machete to thrust through the uninvited Bible school attendee. The snake proved to be nonpoisonous, but nevertheless lethal to small birds. Amazingly, the turtledove survived, albeit extremely ruffled, and still adorns the window. All in all, it was Bible school in the bush.

I guess it was a fitting intro into the following week’s lesson: In the beginning…up to a snake in the garden. Having worked our way through the entire Bible twice over the last five years, we’ve begun again. For some of the children, it’s their second or third time to take the Sunday afternoon journey through the Book of books. Electricity is our ally. That is, in an attempt to present the stories in a way the children haven’t experienced them previously, we’ve so far used a video projector in conjunction with the wonders of power point. Many of the same pictures we’ve used before are enhanced and made “new” when they are all of a sudden flashed up on the wall in larger proportions. We’re also sandwiching in a short missionary story each week between the day’s Bible lessons. We ask for your prayers as we again attempt to focus in on the coming Deliverer foreshadowed in the pages of the Old Testament.

This leads me to address the reason for electricity during Bible school—our generator. We had asked for prayer in a previous update concerning our generator’s precarious condition. No sooner had this update been typed, when we discovered enough money had been donated to substantiate a look around town to see what we could come up with. Mind you, this occurred as we prepared the update to go out. No one, save the Lord, knew of our need. Punta Gorda is a small, one-boat town and it’s a rare day that one can find anything of the caliber of a generator at a reasonable price, if he finds it at all. But on this occasion, we located a surprisingly inexpensive model that had just arrived. The need was pressing and our pocket book accommodating, so we took the plunge and bought it. So far, it has served us exceptionally. We don’t see it as a permanent solution simply because it is extremely off-brand, making it difficult to ever find parts for. Plus it’s a little too bulky to travel with us in the buggy for use in village outreach. However, it is the Lord’s provision for now and it is doing its job. Thank you to all of you who’ve been praying with us about the matter. “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24).

We’re including a link to view pictures of what’s become a weekly venture to fill the buggy with grass. The lot in the village where we’d been tying our horses for the last two years suddenly found itself occupied by a new family. This meant our horses had to go. We’ve cut grass for the horses at times before, but now we’re doing so out of necessity. A student or two rides with one of us after school as we head about two miles outside of the village. There lies abundant growth of what’s locally referred to as “elephant grass.” I suspect an elephant would like to eat it if there were any in Central America. It reaches almost seven feet in height and has long blades and a tough stalk. The horses are getting use to staying in the pen behind the house and munching on it. The pile you see in the picture took three of us an hour to chop and lasted about a week feeding three horses.

Top on our prayer list currently is, for obvious reasons, the village vote determining our future status in San Jose. Some of you have asked if we know when the vote will take place. At this point we do not. All we do know is that the topic has come up in a village leaders’ meeting recently. We sent a letter last week to the leaders acknowledging that the five-year mark has been reached and asking for the village to make a decision about whether they desire us to continue to stay. Though we’ve not heard anything back as a result of the letter, we will know what step we’ll be taking by the end of March. Until that time, please continue to pray that the Lord’s will be done. As the outcome of the first vote allowing us to live in San Jose five years ago confirmed the Lord having led us to minister in Belize, so we feel the outcome of this vote will indicate whether it is His desire that we remain or move on.

We will be sure to keep you updated as the future unfolds.

In His service,

A full house as we begin our third run through the Bible.	A view from our loft.	A new addtion - Q&A time at the end of Bible School.	Winning a prize!	Even before the buggy came to a stop the sheep was already eating her fill.
A buggy full of grass for the horses and sheep.

Click on the above pictures to make them larger.

2/23/2007 –

Dear Friends,

At dusk on Sunday we received our anticipated visitors. The four men took their seats in the semicircle of chairs. We faced them and hoped that the cultural pleasantries wouldn’t be dragged out too long in light of the news our guests bore. The alcalde (elected village judge) opened the conversation explaining that they had just come from a village meeting. This we already knew. For whatever reason, he then decided the chairman (village mayor) to his right was the one who should convey the message. So the alcalde delegated the duty to him. “Mr. Patrick, Mr. Jeff,” the chairman began hesitantly. Perhaps he felt the tenseness of the moment as we certainly did. “Since your days are up, the villagers voted on whether or not you can stay in San Jose.” I glanced around the room and noticed the other representatives, including the health worker and deputy alcalde, had their eyes averted towards a seemingly interesting location on the floor.

The chairman continued, “Although I am a leader of the community, I don’t have any authority to say yes or no by myself.” Baaaaaa! Our sheep interrupted directly outside of the window letting us know it was her dinner time. “Yes, there are some that discussed your situation, and a few said you are trying to help people—you have a school. But the majority said, since your time is up, we should quit you people from staying.” That was local dialect for it was a no vote. We responded with, “Yes, we understand it was a matter that was to be decided by the villagers. That is how we agreed it would be.” So after six years in Belize, and five specifically in San Jose, in a matter of 25 minutes our ministry within the village drew to a close.

In the days since, we’ve had numerous drop-ins from various villagers. Some said they weren’t at the meeting. Having just heard the news, they wanted to come and see if it was true. Others assured us, “I wanted you to stay, but it was a decision of the village.” What doesn’t quite add up is the number of people who’ve made the last statement, yet the vote still went south. We know for a fact that some of our “sympathizers” spoke loudly against us at the meeting. We’ve been able to piece together a fairly composite picture of what occurred. At least half of the village men didn’t even attend. Those that did apparently represented the faction that feels we aren’t making positive contributions to San Jose. The handful that spoke in our defense weren’t as influential in village politics as the opposition.  Unfortunately, a lot of the individuals who we feel genuinely desire that we stay were not present at the meeting. So their sentiments could not be manifested in a way that might have made a difference.

On Monday morning we gathered our students for a final devotional time and then explained what they already knew. How do we say to them, “We were ready to carry you all the way through to graduation, but certain adults in the village took that opportunity away from you”? We can accept the decision and follow the Lord elsewhere, but our students have the most to lose. We’ve been surprised by their expressions of sorrow, not only at the abrupt end of the school year, but even more so towards our leaving. God may very well use our departure as a catalyst for some of our students to seriously consider why we were here in the first place. Sometimes an opportunity only becomes precious when one realizes it is slipping away.

Ironically, on the same day of the vote, a short-term team visiting as guests of a local denomination had just finished building a new parsonage/fellowship hall for that church. It has been our frequent observation that visitors to the village are welcomed with open arms when the villagers reap material benefit from them. However, after five years of us giving our lives, which is not so tangible, we are being asked to leave. This is coupled with the fact that some of the strongest voices opposed to our ministry came from the mouths of those whose children routinely attend Sunday Bible school. 

How are we coping? Our sadness is not so much for ourselves as for the village. We came to San Jose in obedience to the Lord’s call. We’ve done what we have here unto Him. The immediate results are irrelevant on eternity’s scale. Because we are simply the Lord’s servants, we being turned away is a reflection in many ways of the village’s response to the Gospel. We are by no means perfect, and we’ve had to learn from mistakes we’ve made over the years. But we have striven to run the course set before us.

We’ve always known that when the time came for us to leave, we would feel as strongly about it as we felt when we knew we were to come. The Lord has clearly closed the door. In that sense, any temptation to be discouraged is lifted by the knowledge that we are in God’s will. He will be no less faithful to lead us out as He was to lead us in. Neither of us could begin to convey in an e-mail the various emotions we’ve passed through over the last couple of weeks. Suffice it to say, the Lord has confirmed in a myriad of ways within both of our hearts that everything is unfolding as it should and we need not be anxious to begin making preparations to leave. We of course covet your prayers—for ourselves and for San Jose.

As for the immediate future, we’ll be sorting and packing in hopes to be out of the village in a month. We feel there is no reason to tarry anymore than the Israelites did when the cloud would depart from over the camp. We will need to leave Belize by May. The reason for this is that our work permits that allow us to reside in the country were issued on the condition that we are accepted by the villagers as missionaries in San Jose. Without that support, it would be difficult to renew the permits which expire in May for another year. After returning to the States, we foresee sojourning there several months to prepare for our next field of service. Though we are of course still praying through this important decision, we do feel led towards a particular land. We also sense that our future ministry will resemble our work in and around San Jose. For that reason, we are praying that we’ll be able to get many of our supplies, including school books, back to the States for use elsewhere. We aren’t sure at this point if the old bus will be in shape to make the return journey. It will be enough for now to simply get it out of San Jose.

Needless to say, the next several months will be a transitional period for Dayspring Mission. Thus far the Lord has kept us in His perfect peace. It is by His grace alone that we can step away from a place where our roots are buried so deeply and still sense the step is precisely the one God desires that we take. Your prayers and support in this matter have been a crucial factor in this confidence in which we stand. We thank you for them. As we enter this season, we are reminded of how the Lord has unceasingly met our financial needs since we’ve lived in Belize. If He can provide down to the dollar week after week to cover pressing expenses only we know of, He will surely not forsake us as we change course and steer the mission in a new direction. Though our ministry in San Jose is winding down, there will also still be ample opportunity for us to continue our outreach for the next few months in Belize until our feet leave its soil. 

If you would like to peruse the “Belize Chronicles,” that is, our e-mail updates beginning in 2000 when we drove the bus down, we now have all those posted on the website.

We’ll be in touch!

“Now thanks be unto God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ…” (II Corinthians 2:14).

In His service,

3/23/2007 –

It wasn’t exactly a glorious departure. The mechanic had already been out to the village twice. We felt that the reason the bus wouldn’t start was probably due to some minor cause, but the days were ticking by. So we forewent “driving” altogether and got a tractor to tow us out of San Jose. Imagine twelve miles of mountains to navigate and our generator and a compressor both chugging away inside so that at least the air brakes would function. There was a lot that could have gone wrong. But save one broken chain, a slightly rippled bumper, and many stops for readjustments, we made it.

Yesterday’s slow journey represented the final link to be broken in the closing of our ministry in San Jose. In the month since we began this process we’ve conducted our last children’s Bible school, dismantled the house, and been about the business of packing. Did I mention packing? For all of you who’ve ever had to move, that one word is satisfactory to summarize how the majority of our time’s been spent. Add to that equation the fact that we still need to ship our supplies from Belize to Mobile, and then up to Birmingham. We’re looking forward to shifting some of our focus from boxes to the buggy as we travel this next month on a last tour of the land. Presently, we are relocated at the McKinney’s. They are fellow missionaries and dear friends. They don’t even mind that we brought all our animals along.

We can’t adequately express our gratitude for the e-mails we’ve received from many of you. We have confirmation within our hearts that the Lord is releasing us from this field and bidding us elsewhere. But we couldn’t help but wonder how you as our friends, supporters, and prayers would receive the news. Your commitments to stand behind us in the midst of this tumultuous time have been a Divine factor in keeping our spirits’ up. Recently, each day has brought its own fresh batch of emotions and a variety of unique decisions to be made. Neither is of the kind that we typically wade through. Your prayers have been felt as the Lord’s leading has been evident in each step we’ve taken. Getting completely moved out of the village in a month, including the bus, testifies to this.

This is our first full day out of San Jose with the knowledge that it is no longer home. God alone knows when or if we will return. More importantly, however, He perhaps has in His keeping some future date set when others will pick up the mantle that has fallen from our hands. We can only pray that when the fields are white for harvest, obedient laborers will step in to reap.

“So neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”  I Corinthians 3:7  (italics mine)

For His glory,

5/3/2007 –

Dear Friends,

After close to a month that it took to make the move out of San Jose, another month has now brought us back to Alabama. We said our good-byes to the bus as the new owners towed it off. But the most difficult possessions we parted with were the horses. However, the Lord did bring buyers who we feel will continue to care for them as we had. We are thankful for the invaluable experience of working with horses during our sojourn in Belize.
It seems that our equestrian mode of transportation will continue to play a role wherever we may find ourselves in the future. Not only did the horse and buggy travel put us on more equal footing in the villagers’ eyes (as opposed to a car, which very few own), it also always caused people to flag us down out of curiosity wherever we went. There is not much better of an opportunity to hand somebody a tract or seize the moment to share the Gospel than when they initiate the encounter themselves.

The extended road trip we had intended to take before leaving providentially turned into a series of smaller journeys. Being relinquished of our duties in San Jose during April gave us the freedom to hit the road at our leisure. However, the looming deadline of the ship leaving port with our supplies kept us from venturing too far. We experienced one of the ironies of life’s timing on these trips. A typical conversation would follow along the lines of, “It’s been fantastic meeting all these new folks outside of the village.” “Yeah, we should have gone out visiting more often.” “I wonder why we didn’t?” “Oh, that’s right, we were only able to leave San Jose once a week.” “Yeah, and that was just to head into town for groceries.” “You can’t do what you don’t have time for.” “Hmmm” (insert deep thoughts here).

These encounters included an American man and his wife who’ve been in Belize for 32 years. Through conversations with them, they filled in some of the gaps in our Belize missionary history timeline. Also, it was a couple from Holland who bought our bus. Their English is excellent, which is good, because our Dutch is nil. Then, to top it off, as if we’ve come full circle from where the Mission began, a group of Nigerian medical personnel recently arrived in Punta Gorda. Three are Christians and we spent our last two Sundays in fellowship with them. Their company was a cup of cool water poured on our souls. It’s no understatement to dote on Belize’s multiculturalism, even without mentioning the Creole, Garifunas, East Indians, Mayans, Spanish, Chinese, and German Mennonites who’ve called it home for successive generations.

Please continue to remember the inhabitants of San Jose in your prayers. In the short time we’ve been gone, two people have unexpectedly died. One girl, who’d just graduated from secondary school, stepped off of a slow moving bus. She was trying to catch another passing bus, but lost her footing and hit her head on the pavement. We also learned that a man was murdered one night at the local bar about three weeks ago. In a village of only 800 people, events like these inevitably affect, in one way or another, almost everyone. To the unbelieving eye, freak accidents and senseless killings result in either confusion, anger, or both. However, back of all that we see in this fallen world in which we temporarily dwell, lies the Everlasting Arms. Pray that these events will drive villagers to Christ, and not further away.

San Jose also held its Chairman (Mayor) elections recently. Out of four candidates, the owner of the bar was elected. Many of the women went to cast their vote as well. It is sadly amazing to us that the bar owner received votes which would have had to come from at least some of the women in order for him to claim victory, when they are the ones who suffer the most at the hands of drunken husbands. Overall, the election outcome is an indicator of further spiritual deterioration. Perhaps more than ever, San Jose, and the Toledo District at large, need our continued prayers.

We loaded the moving truck last Wednesday. The following day we drove up to the port and transferred what was in the truck to the container. We tried our best to sign on the ship as crew, but to no avail. So we settled for a flight and made it back late Friday night. We look forward to seeing many of you over the next several months. We’ll be available to share with your church or group about the future of the Mission. We are planning to make a trip to a new field in the fall. Dropping an e-mail will be the best way to contact us. The earlier you can let us know, the better, as we are now hammering out our stateside schedule. Again, thank you for your prayers. Though we’ve been busy, this whole relocating process has been upheld and made much smoother with the assistance of your petitions to the Father.

For His glory,

6/11/2007 –

Dear Friends,

Four months after the decisive vote, we are feeling some closure to the “big move.” We had expected to pick up what we shipped back from Belize a couple of weeks after our return to the States, but US Customs was concerned about what was vaguely described to us as a soil issue. We were never clear if this was supposed to refer to dirt on items inside of the container, or that which might have accumulated outside as it sat on the ground in Belize. As far as we could tell, this resulted in boxes being taken out, a few opened, and then generally thrown back inside in a much more haphazard fashion than we had originally packed them. But we finally did receive clearance to drive a moving truck down to the Mobile docks and load up our supplies (that incidentally all smelled like fish). Now most everything is tucked away in a storage shed beside our house on the Warrior River, awaiting the slow process of being sorted through and catalogued for future use.

We are now turning our attention towards the old fishing cabin we call home in Alabama that has sat vacant the last seven years that we’ve been in Belize. Actually, it’s never been used as a full-time residence since its construction in the 1930s. Patrick inherited it just as we were gearing up for a long term commitment to settle in San Jose. So aside from the little bit of work we’ve squeezed in on short trips back to the States, it’s in need of an overdue overhaul. The house has no plumbing. As a result, a travel trailer is currently serving as our impromptu shower/bathroom facilities, and we’re filling buckets from a spicket in the yard for water.

We’re hoping to have all of this remedied, as well as some necessary remodeling finished before we head out again in the fall. That way it will continue to be a plausible home for us to hang our hat during future furloughs. In the meantime, our surroundings won’t allow us to grow too soft as we are in between mission fields.

Speaking of heading out, we are a little over three months away from our intended departure for ----------. We are planning to spend late 2007/early 2008 visiting ----------. This will give us a sense of the feasibility of establishing long-term work there. We envision replicating a similar ministry model that we developed during our time in Belize, but on scale that is relevant to the numbers of partially-reached and unreached peoples that dot the ---------- countryside.

All this of course means that the time we aren’t putting into the house now, is being spent on preparation for future ministry. Though we launched Horse & Buggy Publications while in Belize, our busy schedule didn’t allow us to put as much time as desired into proofing and editing booklets for reprint, or to write more that cover topics that we feel would be spiritually beneficial. Most foreign mission fields are in need of solid Christian literature and ---------- is no exception. We foresee the Mission’s publishing wing playing a greater role in future outreach. Just last week, the Lord led us to discover a local company that can print paperbacks at reasonable rate. Seizing opportunities such as this are part of what we hope to accomplish while stateside.

Obviously, house repairs, literature production, and sorting through mission and ministry supplies takes time. Even though it’s our desire that our few months back in the States will be restful, it seems our plate is still full. Of course, the financial aspect will affect when we ultimately will be able to depart for ----------. However, we did want to give you an idea of our timeframe so that you may pray alongside of us as we not only seek to use our time wisely and productively while in the States, but also prepare for what the Lord has laid upon our hearts for the near future.

We do have a series of speaking engagements in the Macon, Georgia area next week, June 16-20. Please pray for us as we travel and share with others about our past work and about what lies ahead. We are available to speak to any sized group this summer and early fall. We also would like to see as many of you as possible while we’re back. Give us a call at 205-249-7776, or e-mail us at patrick@dayspringmission.com .

For His glory,

11/02/2007 –

11/14/2007 –

11/17/2007 –

12/2/2007 –

Dear Friends,

As of Monday, we are at last settled into a house. Thanks for those prayers! We had to pay for a whole year’s rent up front and we now have to furnish it, so that has taken a bit more financially than we had anticipated. But at least the latter will, or should, only be a one-time expense. We’ve not made it into the bush yet with all of the settling in to do, but Lord-willing we’ll hit the trails by the end of this month. 

The Lord has really touched some Nigerian brothers’ hearts since our arrival! We feel much like Elijah must have when the Lord said, “I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there” (I Kings 17:4).  First we had a man send his worker to meet and assist us at the airport. This same man also paid for part of our taxi ride and arranged for our first few nights hotel stay in Jos (the city where we are now living). We have been treated to lunch quite a few times, and when we ran out of water (the city only pumps every few days), a neighbor brought us 15 gallons of his own supply. Then another old friend came by with two jugs. The same neighbor has tied us into his generator for when the power goes out (which it regularly does). On top of this, another has given us a Honda generator to use if our neighbor’s generator is unavailable.  A local store owner, on learning that we did not have a stove, gave us a small one to use until we can find what we need. He also threw in a few bananas, a lighter for the stove, and drove us home from downtown. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that we still had more shopping to do, so we called it a day.  ALL of this has come without a word from us! The Lord has truly opened hearts to meet many of our needs.

We have already passed out a number of tracts, with one section of vendors in town asking for new ones each time we pass. The exciting thing is they are reading them! Many even remarked about having taken them home for their children to read. As I gave one to a little boy who I passed on the road this evening, I knew God was leading me to do so, for I rarely give a tract to a person so young. He stared at it at first, leading me to think that he didn’t know any English. I told Jeff as we walked on, “It will definitely get read by others as well.” Then the boy ran by shouting, “How did you know that it was my birthday?!”  Later we passed his older brother reading the same tract with a friend. Since we are daily trying to focus on making the house livable and take care of other “logistics,” our ministry efforts have been more or less limited to short conversations and literature distribution. But with all the taxi rides we’ve taken, and all the shops we’ve been to, there is no lack of opportunity. 

Looking towards this month, a few prayer needs come to mind. We have a spare bedroom and are turning over the possibility of taking in a Nigerian roommate—someone who could help around the house and be present for security purposes when Jeff and I are traveling.  We also need at least a part-time worker who could cook a few times a week, and take care of other household chores. Someone buying food for us and cooking Nigerian-style will save money. And with house help, as we get busier on the ministry end of things, we won’t always have to spend so much time on daily maintenance. We also need to find someone who can consistently give us language lessons. A major first year goal is to spend time learning Hausa, the predominant language of Northern/Central Nigeria.

We have a temporary mailing address. If you would like to send snail-mail, let us know and we’ll e-mail that address to you (please send any donations to our stateside address). If you get a letter from us, maybe you could also e-mail us. We’d like to know how long mail is taking from Nigeria, and the success rate of its arrival.

Pray for us as we seek clarity for each step. Pray that God’s Word will be magnified in Nigeria, especially in those places where it has yet to come.

For His glory,