March 19th - Adip Hotel to the House

On Sunday I overslept and missed church services. The hotel is a short walk to Redeemer Lutheran. Early in the afternoon we found out that the trainers from Kenya have been delayed again. They had flown from Lagos to Abuja but because of the Harmattan dust cloud over Yola the planes were not flying in. They were sitting waiting for news at the domestic airport in Abuja. The news was bad. The flight was cancelled. Teresa contacted Bishop Benjamin. He arranged for them to be lodged at the Catholic Guest House near the airport. The current plan is that he will rearrange his schedule and drive to Yola on Monday with the trainers. If he cannot do this he will pay for a bus ride to Yola. He was coming to speak at the Gongola Diocese annual convention later in the week in Guyuk. If he drives them here, he will be a day early. The week long training has now been compressed to 4 days. Teresa and others called all the students who were not already on the road to come Monday afternoon instead of Sunday. Since they do not need the room I decided to stay another night. 

It is now noon on Monday and we have not heard if the trainers are on their way. It is a long drive from Abuja. We are assuming that they are on the road somewhere.

Yakubu on left, resting.

Market at one of the kitchen shops

 Yakubu came mid afternoon on Monday and picked up Teresa and me to buy 30 cases of water for conference and to take me over to the house. We also stopped at the Jimeta market for Teresa to buy some pots and pans. Numan is a small town with limited shopping. We got to the house around 4:30. 

Teresa & Yakubuat a bedding shop

The Women’s Fellowship is practicing songs on the front porch. My front and back porches are favorite gathering places. There still was no water in the barrels. But the water sellers were still working at the borehole just outside the compound. We yelled to them to bring a cart of water. The house was cleaner than in past years but with the Harmattan dust it was still needed some work. I cleaned for a while and then decided check my food stores and walk to the store before it got too dark. The cans of vegetable salad I left here last year does not expire until this month. The nearby stores did not have dish soap so I walked about a mile to a Micoh Supermarket. A store of about 200 square feet inside and some outside storage of large items.

On the way back I stopped to buy some hard boiled eggs from a lady the peddles food outside the Specialist Hospital. She is one of around 20 peddlers selling to people who have family or friends in the hospital. She wanted to know what I brought her from America. She has been kidding me about taking to America for a couple of years. I keep tell her that my wife said I could not bring women home. She says I need two wives.

Back at the house I get out the IKEA solar light I brought along. Good thing I charged the battery. This year there is less power. The church had a fire and they hope to have repairs completed in time for Easter Sunday service. They had to replace the roof, all the ceiling tiles and the electrical system. These were all things that needed to be done but they were not bad enough to spend the money on. The fire is believed to been caused by a fault in the electrical system. When they are finished It will look like a new church inside.

Until the church is back running they will not be using their generator. I will be dependent on the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (NEPA). I washed all the dishes, rinsed them in a weak chlorine solution and set up the mosquito net, took my first cold shower and went to bed.