Moses’ Report for March 2019
Moses’ Report for March 2019
Part One
After hearing some comments regarding honesty, I decided to do my report a little differently this month. So I’m going to do this report in two parts. The first part will explain the sorry condition of this country and how I manage to cope in it. The second part will begin to chronicle my daily work in the ministry.
I live in a third-world country which is worse than many other third-world countries. Corruption is so bad that you can’t get a public service without bribing the official in charge. (Click here for details.) Reporting such corruption has no effect and very few people will report it.
I live with very little creature necessities, let alone creature comforts. The biggest problem is the lack of electricity. At best I have electricity maybe two days in a month, more likely it is two days in three months. Unbelievably I have to pay a bill for electricity, as scant as it is, even though there is no meter to measure my own use of it.
Since electricity is practically nonexistent, there is no running water as a result which affects our sanitation and cleanliness for two thirds of the population who also can’t afford even a well. The other third of people who have money use generators for pumping water from their well. Most of the population here has nothing like refrigeration, freezers, fans and AC in their homes (if they’re not homeless) when the temperatures become extreme.
There are no hourly jobs in Nigeria. What few jobs there are must be purchased under contract before work can begin. Getting such a job requires a circular educational certificate which is obtained from a circular university which I don’t have. (My bible college certificate is not recognized by the government for work.) Good luck, however, on receiving your pay after the work is completed. Rachel, a friend of mine, lost all her savings to one of these contracts. Theft of our labor is done with impunity and it’s not hard to imagine that we are enslaved to our government where complainers disappear.
Thankfully a dear supporter has been providing me with $200 — converting to about 70,000 NGN — every month which enables me to scratch out an existence here. The cost of living is very expensive where the bulk of my support is spent on junk food costing me about 50,000 NGN monthly. I can’t afford bottled water so I buy ground water that’s been treated with chemicals which requires me to seek typhoid treatments twice a month.
Because I live in an open environment, I have to pay for security. I even have to pay electrical bills for no electricity. If I don’t pay, my service gets disconnected and I won’t receive any power at all then. With the constant malaria epidemic, I also have to seek treatment for that once or twice a month. Fulfilling church assignments requires me to seek transportation which is yet another cost for me. Add to all that my rent and you can see that I am far from living in comfort.
There is no social safety net here for the people. There’s no social security, no free healthcare, no free food, no public transportation, no welfare, no food stamps — nothing at all. If anyone can’t make ends meet somehow, they simply die and many do. Our government takes the little we have from us and gives us absolutely nothing in return. We aren’t allowed to even leave the country without paying huge fees of thousands of US dollars.
I have never described my hardships like this to anyone before because I didn’t want to sound like a scammer trying to play on people’s sympathy for money, but since there’s a hint of dishonesty regarding my support as if anyone can live for free in this country, I decided to break from my traditional avoidance of my country’s hardships and bring you this full disclosure to dispel any lingering thoughts that I’m a scammer in religious garb.
Part Two
Currently the Lord has me working here as a youth pastor at Grace Independent Baptist Church in Akwa Ibom state, Nigeria. Nigeria has more than 300 tribes, each with their own language, making it a tough challenge to share the gospel. The area the church serves is close to town and most of the population understands English fortunately but most of the remote areas in Nigeria do not understand English.
I remember meeting some older couples while soul-winning who didn’t understand English and I couldn’t speak their tribal language as well. I could see that they wanted to know what I had to say but sadly there was no interpreter. So all I could do was to pray that God would bring them someone who could help them understand the gospel.
While street preaching I have experienced a lot of people that reject the gospel tracts but ask for money instead. Yet others will hide in their houses when they see me approaching when I’m involved in door-to-door soul-winning and shout at me so they don’t hear the gospel message.
But amidst the hardships, there are also great testimonies of the Lord’s work. I met Joshua on the street one day where he had been sleeping for two days because of some falling out with his family. God had prepared his heart for the gospel and he accepted it with tears. Later I saw him going to school and he was very happy to report that he was now reconciled with his parents. That’s the power of the gospel. God’s word changes lives! I still talk to him and I promised to be praying for him and you can also pray for Joshua to grow in faith.
One of the hardest places to share the gospel is where people are working. The people are working hard and no one wants to listen but I met Antony, a motor mechanic, at his workshop where he listened to the gospel and I believe he accepted the Lord into his life. Some might argue that bothering people at their jobs is wrong but souls are more important than jobs. Some of these people might never make it home alive after work and the time spent receiving salvation on the job will pay eternal dividends.
I met Gabriel who was hawking (selling) vegetables on the street. You can pray for his salvation. He didn’t want to hear more of the Gospel, so I gave him a gospel tract and although he promised to come to church, I still haven’t seen him come yet.
Preaching at church.
Going out soul winning with Success (left) and Blessing (middle),
two of our church youth.
My vision for the church is not only to see souls saved but also to nurture Christians from God’s word and see them take a part in our country’s government. Maybe then we will see Nigeria rise above the terrible stigma it has among the world’s nations and become respected as a godly country.
It is my calling to take the Gospel to my people in my hometown where I grew up and I pray that the Lord would not only send financial support to that need but workers also. The need is great and souls are perishing. To all of you who have prayed and sent support already, let it be known that your efforts are truly appreciated! God bless you all!
If you have any questions, comments, or prayers, please leave them below in the box and I will receive them.