Vintage View Vednesday Nigeria 2007

We have been busy finalizing plans for our trip to Nigeria. We hope to be with Bro. Shobanke and all of his wonderful people by the third week in November. Kelly Jo and I are looking forward to returning to our precious family and friends. I am sure it will be a time of great spiritual enrichment for us.

While working on details of the upcoming trip the last few days I dipped into the picture archives and enjoyed several sweet memories of our first trip to Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria in November/December 2007. I have been overwhelmed reliving the sensations we experienced during that trip. It is amazing how a picture can do that to you.

I flip through the pictures and I feel again the fear, wonder, apprehension, self doubt, uncertainty, fascination, exhaustion, joy, strength, anxiety, stability, love and blessings I felt those first few weeks in Nigeria. 

When we left Africa I knew I was leaving a piece of my heart with the Nigerian people. I knew I had been tremendously blessed with lifelong friends. I knew I would be back. There was no way for me to know how much of my heart they would have 11 years later.

I understand that you may not have those same feelings when you view these pictures, that is OK, but I wanted to post a few of them here. I hope you can catch a glimpse of why I love these people so much. 

Please enjoy this Vintage View. Thank you for dropping in.

Davy

One of the very first things we did after leaving the USA was miss our connection in Paris. We were held up in security because of Odie's wheelchair. They wanted us to leave it behind. We were delayed 13 hours but they let us sleep in the Paris Hilton for 6 hours and gave us vouchers for a fabulous buffet meal at the Hilton.

A bad start but a good recovery.

Air France actually gave us vouchers for the lunch buffet too. We were so sleepy and thirsty that we traded them for a couple of bottles of water.😀

Our first view of Lagos, Nigeria in the van.