Safely In Nigeria

Hello just a quick post to let you know all is well. I just realized I missed a voicemail from Dad. They made it safely to their hotel in Nigeria. He asked me to post because they do NOT have wifi.

They were extremely tired but safe. In Atlanta they were delayed untill almost 2 A.M. So Wednesday day was a long travel day for all of them. Bro. Gary started early Wednesday.  I know he was wore out. 

On the home front in Ohio I am doing great. I have been hunting two full days. I am still a deer hunter.  Hopefully I will change that soon. 

We are headed out for a girls trip now. I will fill you in later. 

Odie

A Visit to the Original KFC in Corbin, Kentucky

I am going to have this ready to post on Thursday just in case we are not able to post from Nigeria the first day. Remember, there may be more than one post a day while were are gone so scroll down to see.

Sunday we ate with the Carpenter's at the Original KFC in Corbin, Kentucky. The colonel's story is very interesting and the chicken was very, very good. We had great food, fellowship and fun in the house that fried chicken built!

Of couse, Kelly Jo had to have some pictures with Colonel Sanders. She loves those celebrity pictures you know. In this first one the Colonel is trying to balance a bucket of chicken on her head.

Evidently Colonel Sanders had never seen an iPhone. I would guess he is just too busy preparing chicken and visiting with all of the folks that come through. You can see that he is very interested in the KJ's iPhone. He really loved all of her pictures, especially the pictures with other celebrity's. 

He was really fascinated that she had met and had her picture taken with Big Boy, The Geico Gecko and Ben Isaacs. The Colonel has known and respected Big Boy for many years but he really wanted to meet the Gecko and Ben Isaacs someday.

I am so glad we finally made to the home of Colonel Sanders and Kentucky Fried Chicken. I have been a fan for years!

God bless,

Davy

Bro. Timmy Carpenter and Odie

Atlanta

UPDATE 10:45 PM: Maintenance issue with the plane. Departure delayed until at least 1:00 AM. Still seated on plane as of 10:45 PM.

UPDATE #2 1:30 AM: We deplaned (Tattoo) about 10:55. Everybody and everything went off the plane and into the terminal. Delta was super professional about it. Every employee had a great, friendly attitude. They have been trained good.

They provided a meal voucher and all the refreshments we wanted. We are back on the plane and we are waiting for a replacement crew and for all the bags to be stowed.

They are hoping to be in the air by 2:00 AM. That puts us in Nigeria about 7:00 PM their time.

Original Post:
We are on our way. In fact we are boarding in Atlanta right now.

The last picture is the line of elderly and those that need assistance boarding. I counted 17 wheelchairs. Odie would have made 18 if she had come. Lol

The plane is completely full. No room to lay down on this flight. Maybe we can sleep some sitting up.

Bro. Lockwood was waiting for us in Atlanta and we made some Nigerian friends while at the gate.

The lady in the picture with KJ and Bro. Lockwood lives in Ibadan. Hopefully she can attend service there Sunday the 9th.

It won't be long and we should see all of our Nigerian friends.

Odie hunted today but no deer yet. I think she plans to hunt Thursday too.

God bless you all.

Davy

Time for Lift Off! Nigeria Here We Come!

Today is the big day.

We plan to leave the BoggsMobile about 11:30 and head toward the airport. My parents are going to take us and we will probably stop for a bite to eat on the way. I would say we will be in the room at the motel in Abeokuta by 7:00 tomorrow night if all goes well. That is 1:00 PM eastern time so it will make for a pretty long day. We only have to change planes once so it will not be too bad.

We are so excited about the trip and we are expecting great services with many folks saved, healed and delivered by the power of God. Bro. Shobanke has called several times over the last week and he and his people are very excited as well. I am very anxious to see my bothers and sisters in Nigeria very, very soon.

We have been receiving several calls, texts and emails the last few days letting us know folks are praying for our safety and for the success of the meetings. I want you to know that I appreciate that so very much. If ANYthing is accomplished during our visit to Nigeria it will be God that does it.

I have absolutely no ability on my own. I know that better than any other human. But God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us! God's power working through a man. Isn't that amazing. God will keep His Word because He can do nothing less. Praise God that He is faithful and true.

Thank you for praying. God hears and answers prayers.

We will not be communicating by phone or text while we are gone. AT&t charges nearly $4 for every UNANSWERED call and every voice mail that beeps through even if I do not listen to it. They have no special rates for Nigeria. Texting is not too bad expensive but I dare not leave my phone on since every call I would decline would cost $4.

IF we have access to WiFi we should be able to email and to post to the blog. When you check the blog over the next two weeks, make sure you scroll down to the next few posts because we may post two or more times a day. I can set it to posts emails with up to five pictures directly to the blog. If I have a connection I may do that several times a day. We will see how it works out.

God bless you. Keep praying. If for some reason we do not make it back, do not worry or fret. We are in good hands!

Davy

First Day Home and Getting Ready to Leave

Tomorrow (Wednesday) is departure day for us and we are knee deep in preparation. We worked most of the day Monday and we must work all day today to pull everything together for Nigeria. As I said the other day, Kelly Jo works so hard get things ready. She has been proving it again today.

We did take a small break yesterday evening to spend some time with family. Kelly Jo's great uncle Bill Morgan passed away on Thanksgiving day and we attended the viewing. We saw a lot of family and friends and it was good to see them all.

We also said a cheerful tearful goodbye to Odie. She went to stay with Kelly Jo's parents for a few days. She is hoping to go deer hunting again this year. Hopefully by the time we return from Nigeria Odie will be a deer slayer and not just a deer hunter.

We grabbed some Cassano's pizza on the way back to the bus and shared that with friends as well. We appreciate Bro. Jared and Sis. Valerie Burris for stopping by to visit for a few minutes. They are here from California visiting family so we appreciate the time they spent with us.

We went to my parents house today to retrieve luggage and extra clothes that we keep in Dad's barn. It was real good to see some of my family too. My Dad needs prayer physically. I will probably share more on that when I return from Nigeria.

Pastor James Fellers had planned to make the trip to Nigeria with us but as often is the case with a Pastor, he can not leave at this time. We are very disappointed that he is not able to go but we know his first obligation in ministry is to his church. We sure will miss him.

Bro. Gary Lockwood from Sun Valley Church in Florence, Montana is going with us this year. Bro. Gary is a layman in Pastor Mike Metzger's church and we are happy to have him along for the trip. We will meet up with Bro. Gary in Atlanta for the overnight flight to Nigeria.

I appreciate all of the calls, texts, email and letters we have received the last few weeks letting us know that you are praying concerning our trip to Africa. I know that we need God's help, guidance, protection, provision and power. Thank you for praying for us. May God bless you for it.

Davy

Travel Day - Sunday

Sunday was our fourth travel day in a row. We have not had four travel days in a row since we came back from Montana. Before we hit the road today we had a couple of services scheduled.

Sunday morning we sang and preached at Liberty Tabernacle in London, Kentucky for Pastor Lester Carpenter. Although we see the Carpenters at Bond and Dryden Rd. it has been several years since we have been to their church. It was so nice to see them and to be in church with them.

Bro. Carpenter was a great influence on me and Kelly Jo when we were young. He preached some great revivals that we attended both before and after we were married. He encouraged us in dedication and Godly living during some rough years and we will never forget it. It was blessing to preach in his church.

We ate a great lunch at the original KFC with Bro. Carpenter, Bro. Tim and Sis. Waveline Carpenter. I will have some pictures from lunch at a late date. After lunch we cranked the BoggsMobile and moved a few miles to First Pentecostal in London. We had parked the bus in their parking lot a couple of times when passing through but we had never been in service with them.

Pastor Vernon Jarvis contacted us earlier in the year about going by for a service. We set it up for this Sunday since I knew we would be headed home this weekend. We enjoyed getting to know Pastor Jarvis and his church better and we enjoyed the service too. We actually ended up knowing some of his folks and it was good to get reacquainted with them. Some of them I had not seen in 28 years.

After church we pointed the BoggsMobile toward Ohio and let it run. We stopped once for what should be our last fill up with diesel for 2012 and pulled into Dodds church about 1:00 AM. The next two days will be a whirlwind of activity as we wind up preparations for our trip to Nigeria.

It is good to be home even though we have not seen anybody yet and we will not be home long. It is still good to be home.

God bless,

Davy

Travel Day - Nashville, Tennessee to London, Kentucky

After we rested Saturday morning Kelly Jo worked on packing for our trip to Nigeria. She has more stuff to pull together and pack than I can remember and not much time to do it.

She works so hard to keep us going but especially on trips like this. She is irreplaceable.

We finished some work and headed for London, Kentucky. We left a little before 5:00 PM central time but it was already mostly dark. Official sunset was at 4:34.

Nashville may be saving a lot of daylight with "Daylight Savings Time" but they are not getting to use it in the winter. The Gov'ment must be shipping it to Florida or some where.

It ended up being about 199 miles to Bro. Lester Carpenter's church just south of London. We pulled in a little after 9:00 Eastern time. We have driven right into winter. It was supposed to be 21 last night and I believe every degree of it.

Since it is winter it is time for some heat. The fire place in the BoggsMobile is so inviting. You like it?

We saw this on the highway Friday. It looked like a brand new front loader washing machine in the back of a nice Cadillac. I guess she ran into a black Friday sale that she could Not pass up!

We are supposes to be in service here this morning and another church tonight. I will try to give you a full report tomorrow.

It is only 200 miles home so we plan to drive it tonight. I hope you have a great Sunday in church.

Davy

Travel Day - Texarkana, Arkansas to Nashville, Tennessee

We started before 9:00 yesterday morning and had a great travel day. I expected the traffic to be heavy the day after Thanksgiving but it was not.

We had a little bit of one lane construction traffic in Arkansas and that was about it. We drove a little over 490 beautiful sunny miles.

We could have driven the other 195 miles to London, Kentucky but I have learned from experience that 500-550 miles is a good limit for me. Besides we have some business to take care of here.

We pulled into Prevost Nashville before dark and rested good over night. They have a great big parking lot and it has gated access for security. It is a real nice place to stop.

Speaking of nice places to stop, we had to sleep among the trucks Thursday night in Texarkana. That Flying J used to have designated RV parking like all the rest. It says on the brochure that it still has it but it does not.

They have put in a new entrance and I suppose that took the area for RVs. I hope that does not become the norm because we stop at a lot of Flying Js.

The leaves were nice in Arkansas yesterday.

The BoggsMobile and Green Machine in West Memphis, Arkansas

Found these at a truck stop. I guess I should say they found me.

Raspberry Dark Chocolate M&Ms! O mi palabra!

What will they think of next?

We had dinner at Jack's BBQ, our favorite in the Nashville area. It was good as always.

We also sang at the Grand Ole Opry last night.

Yep, we sang at the Opry as we were driving around looking at the Christmas lights.

That was our travel day.

Davy