Great Progress The First Floor of The GoodNews Christian School

Earlier this month I received an exciting email from Nigeria concerning the school construction. Even though the rest of the building is not ready to complete, the first floor is being finished. They will use the classrooms on the first floor while the rest of the school building is under construction.

I am so happy to see the pictures of progress and I will post them below. First is the note I received from Bro. Samuel with the pictures.

Calvary greetings to you our beloved Pastor and family.  I want to bring to your notice the progress report of the ongoing project in the school.

The renovation of the first floor is taking shape. Plastering work is currently underway, and we are in the process of installing new doors as well as burglary features on the windows of the principal’s office.

We sincerely appreciate your generosity and unwavering support. May God bless you and your family abundantly.

Pastor Samuel Oladipupo Bamidele

The Principal of Goodnews Christian School Saje Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

The pictures are beautiful. I hope to see it in person in the future.

Davy

Thinking Of People and A Place That I Love Dearly

My dear friend Bro. Shobanke from Abeokuta, Ogun state, Nigeria turned 80 years old earlier this week. They are combining a celebration of his birthday and 50 years in the ministry with campmeeting.

Originally, it was my plan to be there for this big event and also to dedicate the new church that we helped build earlier this year. I was not physically able to make the trip, but my heart has been aching to be there so badly. 

Today I have been looking at videos and pictures from our trip there in November/December 2023. I have been weeping and laughing at the same time at several points during the day. 

I love my Nigeria family and I long to be with them. Perhaps God will grant me the privilege to be with them in the near future. Hopefully, it will be sooner rather than later.

If I thought I could handle the long trip, I would have already been there this summer. If I am going to be in one place, unable to preach revivals, it might as well be there as here.

We had saved a little more to send for the school construction. We sent that today along with a little extra for Bro. Shobanke’s 80th birthday. I would rather deliver it in person, but I am thankful to be able to deliver it at all.

I found today that I have videos that I have never posted. I need to get on that. Until then, I will try to post some links below to YouTube videos that we have already posted from our trip to Nigeria and links to pictures. 

I hope you enjoy them. You can follow on from these links to more pictures and videos. Thank you.

Davy

Pictures

Pictures

Pictures

David and Svea Flood, An Inspiring New Drama From Australia

Please stay with me for a moment as I tell you about a precious video that was sent to me a few weeks ago from Australia. 

Those of you who have known us very long, know that the life of Svea Flood has had a tremendous impact on my life. I can not imagine not knowing her story and not living with the inspiration it has provided to me in the pursuit of men and women for Christ.

David and Svea Flood left Sweden with their toddler son in 1921 bound for the Belgian Congo. Their time was filled with uninmagined difficulty and Svea only won one convert to Christ before dying 17 days after giving birth.

I have told the story dozens of times over the last 16 years or so! Here is a brief recap that I told on A Word For Wednesday in 2021.

I can not fully describe for you the impact Svea Flood had on my life and still has today.

In May I was contacted by some precious people in Australia, Deon and Kirsty van Tonder, who wrote a drama and produced it along with some home school families. I was thrilled all the way through it. I know these details well but I wept and cried as though I was hearing it for the very first time.

I recommend it highly. It is necessarily lengthy to tell the story, but even if you need to watch it is small bits over a few days, the life of Svea Flood will touch you! It inspires me all over again to give my life to the cause of Christ.

Thank you for joining us today.

Davy

More Good News at GoodNews!

I received a great email from Bro. Shobnke in Nigeria over the weekend. I was happy to hear wonderful news. I will show you the pictures and then talk a bit about it.

Can you believe your eyes? The second story of the new building at GoodNews Christian School is taking shape and it looks super. There is much more to be done but this is the priority at this moment.

"We want to first do the finishes of the ground floor like plastering, electrical work, doors, windows and painting for  each class so that the school can begin to use the Ground Floor before September which is the next session of the school Academic Calendar "

We are thankful that God has allowed us to be a part of supporting GoodNews School and helping to build this additional building. By God’s grace, we hope to help complete this project. 

I also love keeping you up-to-date on this. I love what God has done and what God is doing. Thank you for praying for us and thank you for helping us to help our friends.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Davy

A Beautiful Sight In Nigeria

I am telling you, friends, this is a beautiful sight!

I received some of these pictures by email on Sunday and a few more overnight going into Monday. I am so thrilled to see them and it makes me happy to share them with you today. 

It takes time to process the money and they did not receive it until Friday. However they had already mobilized the workers and materials. They gathered together and completed the concrete decking on Saturday.

They mixed the concrete on site with a portable mixer and carried it to the second floor and poured it by hand. There was a whole lot of manual labor going on Saturday. 

I have heard from Brother Shobanke and from Brother Samuel Bamidele, his son-in-law. They are both very thankful for the tremendous help toward completing this much needed additional building for the school. 

Of course, there remains much more to do but this is a great mile marker in the process. I am  thankful for those of you that have helped us to help them. Praise God for each of you and the sacrifices you have made for the people of Abeokuta, especially the children in the school.

It is amazing what a few of us can do when we pool our resources for one common cause. May God bless you for joining with me and my burden for these precious people.

Thank you for dropping by today. I hope you have a wonderful week.

Davy

It Is A Joy To Help GoodNews Christian School

Thank you for rejoicing with us on Friday concerning the new sanctuary at the church branch in Abeokuta. I also appreciate the encouragement we received about the possibility of traveling there to dedicate the church later this year. 

I have no idea IF I will be able to do it. It is nice to know not everyone is cheering/praying against the prospect.😁

We believe in the purpose and the promise of the school in Abeokuta and we have been vocal about it. We have and we are willing to continue putting our money where our mouth is.

Today I want to write to you about what is needed to complete the building for much needed classroom space. I shared pictures with you earlier of the new construction at GoodNews Christian School. You can click on the link or you can see a few pictures below.

The structural engineer has cautioned them to finish the second story floor as quickly as possible. The wood and iron are now exposed to the sun. Also the rainy season will be on them soon. The engineer wants it covered with concrete. 

It is not much further along now than the pictures above because they have come to the end of their resources. Inflation is completely out of control in Nigeria, much worse than when we were there in December. The economy is spiraling and it is very difficult for the people to meet their personal needs.

We have a little more funds we have planned to send but not enough to cover the concrete for the second floor. The price of the rebar, gravel, sand and bags of cement have went out of sight. We hope to scrape up enough for them to finish that phase and send it next Monday 4/29.

It is a joy to help provide a place for GoodNews School to touch the lives of over 200 children. We look forward to doing all that we can.

Thank you for reading today.

Davy

Please Help Us Rejoice!

Look at this beautiful new church in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria!

I have great news about the church where we preached in Abeikuta late last year!

They needed a bigger sanctuary and this is what the new one looked like the night we were there in December.

We had a wonderful service that night and my heart was refreshed and encouraged. I left there that night with determination to help them complete the church. 

I was delayed a while with a detour through the ER, hospital and rehab, but in early February I found out what they needed. I eventually sent the amount they said was needed for completion.

I posted these pictures on March 1 of the day they were putting in the concrete floor.

I am happy in my heart to tell you the construction is finished and I received pictures yesterday to prove it! Hallelujah! Most of the finance came from our missions budget but we did receive some direct help toward the expense. Thank you very much!

Wow! This is beautiful!

Bro. Shobanke wants me to travel to Nigeria at my convenience to dedicate the new church building. If I had to go next week, I could not do it due to the hardship of travel for me. But we are fervently praying that I will be strong enough to travel to Nigeria at some point this year. That would be a mighty victory.

Having this building finished so soon is a mighty victory in itself. Praise God! I m so happy to see it!

We are also helping to build a new building at GoodNews School in Abeokuta and they need some miracles concerning that. I will try to bring you up tp date on that project next week.

Thank you for reading today.

Davy

 

Watching The New Building Go Up! Yay!

We have received good news in the last few days. The new building at GoodNews Christian School is underway. You may remember I posted a picture of the foundation and slab from when we were in Nigeria in December.

Here it was as we saw it.

We left a little money for materials when we were there in December and sent a little more in February when we provided resources to complete the construction of the new sanctuary at the church branch.

In early March we were able to send a good amount specifically toward the school building construction and I am so happy to see these pictures of the progress. The first floor structure is up and it looks like they are preparing to pour the floor for the second story.

I would love to be there smack dab in the middle of it, but there is not much I could do but watch.😁 I sure would like to watch and cheer them on! I am limited by distance, knowledge and physical ability.

I have come to the conclusion that it is not my responsibility to pour the concrete or build the walls but to do my best to find and supply the resources for them. I can do that and I love to do it. 

For many years we could not wire money to Nigeria with any reliability at all. I refused to take a huge chance on loss so we waited until we or someone we knew was traveling to Nigeria. That often delayed the delivery of the funds way too long.

For the last couple of years, we have been using a service that has been safe and quick. We have not had one problem. There is a fee but it is the same no matter what the amount. The fee is not insignificant, so I try to send as much as possible each time.

Boggs Family Ministries ALWAYS covers the fee so any money sent through us to help on a Mission project goes directly to the project intended without one cent being diverted for expenses of any kind.

By God's grace, we will try to send more in mid to late April. We believe in the ministry and goals of the GoodNews School and we are excited to be a small part of it.

Thank You for reading today. Tomorrow is A Word For Wednesday.

Davy