as he spoke to our fathers, to Abrahamand to his offspring forever.”

As we near the day that we celebrate the birth of our Savior, I am excited to share the news from Ibagwa, Nigeria that the shipping container has arrived with all of its contents! Praise God for His timing and for His protection of the contents!

It took the truck 12 hours to make the normally 4-hour trip from Port Harcourt because of police attempts to pilfer some of the contents, 2 flat tires, and a broken bearing. Praise God that the shipping company sent a representative along to watch the container, and that the shipping company does not pay bribes (even though that delayed the container an extra week at customs). Todd, the Ikpe family, and others spent all night last night unloading the container, which is a blessing because it is so hot and humid during the day there now during the dry season. Todd is now staying through December 31 to drill a well for the family and to do whatever he can at the Prayers Farm site.

People from the villages around have been stopping by requesting Bibles and hearing the gospel from the family as they receive them. Praise God for the opportunity they now have to read the truth of His Word! Please continue to pray for the truth of the gospel to be understood and preached in this part of Nigeria.

The picture below that I took from Colorado Mines Peak near Berthoud Pass is a mosaic that contains 1000 pictures from my trips to Africa (Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, and Nigeria) this past year. May God be praised for the ways He has worked throughout the past year in and through my life! I look forward to joining eMi full time and partnering with many of you in the coming year!

Magnifying Christ, the Lord,

John

Luke 1:46b-55

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

Dominic contacted me tonight and told me that he was going to be making some phone calls about the shipping container. Please pray for favor with the people he speaks with and that the container would be released to be delivered to Todd at Dominic’s sister’s house in Ibagwa. Also continue to pray for Todd as he decides whether or not to extend his stay in-country because of the delays with the container.

May God be glorified through all aspects of Prayers Farm, especially in the periods of waiting on His timing.

Tuesday’s design review at eMi’s office went well, and we received some good input on the design from other staff engineers and architects. Today I was blessed with the opportunity to share some Nigerian food and present pictures from my time there with some coworkers at my office. Tomorrow morning I get to share more about the trip with the eMi office in Colorado Springs. The two interns who went, our project leader, and I will present on the personal and spiritual impact of the trip. This project in particular remains at the forefront of my mind, and God is still inspiring me to trust Him more because of it.

I am excited about opportunities to share with all of you about this trip, particularly if you are in the Denver area. I will be giving a presentation with some Nigerian food at 6 p.m. on Sunday evening, November 22 at my church, Grace Fellowship of Lakewood (9210 W 2nd Ave in Lakewood). A time of prayer, worship, fellowship, food, and informal presentation will last from 6 until 8 that evening. I look forward to seeing many of you there!

Thanks for your continued prayers for this project! Please continue to pray for the shipping container, as Todd is still in-country waiting for its arrival at our host family’s home. I heard from Dominic on Monday that Todd thinks the container may arrive next Friday (11/20). Also pray for Todd to have wisdom in deciding whether or not to extend his stay past Thanksgiving. He was planning to return before then so that he could spend some time with his family. The container was expected to arrive before the eMi team, but corruption and staged attempts to steal the contents have significantly delayed the process.

The surveyor, Scott, and I are waiting to finalize plans for our return trip until the container is delivered. Please pray that we will be able to find reasonable airfare if we still travel in early to mid December. Right now we are looking at dates of December 3 to December 17, but that could be pushed back to early January depending on what happens with the container. Also lift Scott up in prayer as he seeks finances for the return trip. Praise God for His faithfulness to abundantly provide for our needs, and for this opportunity to return so quickly!

Lastly, I have been offered and have accepted the position of Project Engineer by Engineering Ministries International, to begin on staff toward the middle of next year. May God be faithful to raise up strong prayer and financial partners as I continue the transitional journey toward full-time missions ministry. Praise Him that one of my main roles will be researching about and working on projects for the West Africa region! I will also get to help with design plan standards and technical drawing setup in an effort to make the plans and reports that eMi provides even better for the ministries we will be serving in the future. Right now, I am staying in the Denver area to coordinate a Perspectives on the World Christian Movement class that will be offered at my church starting January 19th. Visit www.perspectives.org for details on the course or if you are interested in registering to take the 15-week class. Pray that God would move powerfully in the hearts of the coordinating team and the students throughout this life-changing course on God’s mission for peoples of the world.

Thanks so much for your prayers!

John
Eph. 3:14-21

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Morning greetings! As the sun rises on this first day of November, I am praising the faithfulness of our God and resting in Him.

Our Mighty God continues to use the visit of 11 eMi staff and volunteers for His glory among the two villages in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria and beyond. Questions remain in minds as to the reason so many white people visited this area that had not received such a guest before hosting Todd about a year ago. Although the media were notified of the team’s presence in Akwa Ibom, I believe God has intentionally not allowed news to spread widely beyond the local villages at this point so that the future impact will be even greater and more surprising. We briefly encountered the congressman we were to meet with on our way back through the Calabar airport. Praise God for showing him that our presence was not a lie made up to draw attention! I believe God will still work through his influence to improve the transportation access for the Prayers Farm site, even without a detailed engineering presentation. Please pray for him, as well as the family political contact named Koko who tried to setup the meeting with the congressman.

There is so much more that I could share about this trip, and I am sure God will enable me to communicate further details in the coming days and months. For now, I want to share a few highlights:

• From the beginning of the trip, God moved me to place a high emphasis on prayer, beginning my journal with prayer from Job 5:8-16. As I learn more about Nigeria and this project, God has revealed why prayer is such an integral part of the project. The name of the farm is not a coincidence. Everything must be based on prayer because of the extreme opposition to every part of the project. Please continue to pray that the poor would have hope and food (physically and spiritually) as a result of this fish farm training center.
• Throughout the grueling physical work just trying to do a quick GPS survey and percolation testing on the site for the first 3 days, God’s strength sustained me. Thank you to everyone who prayed for physical and spiritual strength! God gave me words to share with those who were helping me, as well as supernatural strength to cross marshes and carry buckets of water uphill from the river. And, God supplied more energy in the evenings to play soccer with the kids and stay up late into the night with Him!
• One of the choruses we sang in church last week included the words, “What You say, You will do.” God immediately directed me to Psalm 37, filling my heart with hope for the righteous and compassion for the wicked. Please join me in praying that God would draw evildoers to Himself so that they might be seen as righteous through Jesus. Pray that the truth of the gospel, through Christ alone apart from works, would permeate hearts and minds in Nigerian churches.
• As I was brushing my teeth on night, admiring the heavens that God created with Rob, we heard tribal chanting in the distance. The Spirit prompted both of us to a time of prayer in the silence that followed the chanting, and as we closed with “Amen,” singing that sounded like worship of the Creator broke out in the distance. Please pray that God would overcome the confusion of mixed tribal and Christian practices, leading people in truth to worship and call to Him alone.
• We experienced unexpected tribal restoration last Sunday at our goat feast. Two families that formerly did not get along both showed up at the same time and decided that they had nothing against each other. We praised God in a time of prayer, begging for more restoration among families and tribes in Nigeria. Praise God for His healing power that reverses years of hatred in seconds!
• At our team closing time, God spoke more confirmation into my life of being called to West Africa. Rex, our team leader, commented that “You are in your element here.” Praise God! I can’t wait to return, but in the meantime I will do my best to share more personally with all of you.

As a testimony of the significance God has stressed to me for this project and for the people of Nigeria, I am preparing to plan a return trip with Scott, our surveyor. Praise God for already providing the funding for this upcoming part of the project! We will return to survey the correct boundaries, initially masked as we surveyed the site on this past trip. Praise God for breaking through the deception and greed, allowing the true site boundaries to be known and marked now! Continue to pray that God will overcome the corruption and deception associated with work in Nigeria, from spiritual to mental to physical matters so that His glory and truth will be displayed for all to see clearly.

Continuing prayer requests include:

• For Todd’s witness, health, and safety as he stays in Nigeria until just before Thanksgiving
• That the shipping container (now at port in Port Harcourt) would arrive in Ibagwa and that the enemy’s attempts to steal the valuable content would be thwarted
• For churches in Nigeria to realize the truth of the gospel and that leaders would be convicted by the Spirit to teach the truth of the Bible, not succumbing to greed and the love of money
• Scott and my planning for a return survey trip before Christmas to survey the revised boundary and more detailed survey once more clearing is done
• For God’s continued leading in my life, as God has begun to reveal the potential for serving in Nigeria long-term after serving for the upcoming season with eMi in Colorado Springs

Thanks again for your partnership and prayer support! I think this is only the beginning of exiting news from God’s work in Nigeria and West Africa that I will be able to share with you!

Reflecting HIS glory,
John
Psalm 37

Fret not yourself because of evildoers;
be not envious of wrongdoers!
For they will soon fade like the grass
and wither like the green herb.
Trust in the LORD, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.

Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
over the man who carries out evil devices!

Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
For the evildoers shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.

In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;
though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.
But the meek shall inherit the land
and delight themselves in abundant peace.

The wicked plots against the righteous
and gnashes his teeth at him,
but the Lord laughs at the wicked,
for he sees that his day is coming.

The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows
to bring down the poor and needy,
to slay those whose way is upright;
their sword shall enter their own heart,
and their bows shall be broken.

Better is the little that the righteous has
than the abundance of many wicked.
For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,
but the LORD upholds the righteous.

The LORD knows the days of the blameless,
and their heritage will remain forever;
they are not put to shame in evil times;
in the days of famine they have abundance.

But the wicked will perish;
the enemies of the LORD are like the glory of the pastures;
they vanish—like smoke they vanish away.

The wicked borrows but does not pay back,
but the righteous is generous and gives;
for those blessed by the LORD shall inherit the land,
but those cursed by him shall be cut off.

The steps of a man are established by the LORD,
when he delights in his way;
though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
for the LORD upholds his hand.

I have been young, and now am old,
yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
or his children begging for bread.
He is ever lending generously,
and his children become a blessing.

Turn away from evil and do good;
so shall you dwell forever.
For the LORD loves justice;
he will not forsake his saints.
They are preserved forever,
but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
The righteous shall inherit the land
and dwell upon it forever.

The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
and his tongue speaks justice.
The law of his God is in his heart;
his steps do not slip.

The wicked watches for the righteous
and seeks to put him to death.
The LORD will not abandon him to his power
or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial.

Wait for the LORD and keep his way,
and he will exalt you to inherit the land;
you will look on when the wicked are cut off.

I have seen a wicked, ruthless man,
spreading himself like a green laurel tree.
But he passed away, and behold, he was no more;
though I sought him, he could not be found.

Mark the blameless and behold the upright,
for there is a future for the man of peace.
But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed;
the future of the wicked shall be cut off.

The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD;
he is their stronghold in the time of trouble.
The LORD helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.

John and the rest of the team have left Nigeria.  The meeting with the congressman was cancelled, but they had a good in-country presentation last night. John had some great gospel conversations with helpers on the site during his time there.  Pray for a safe trip home. Thank you!

John says the congressman still hasn’t arrived, but maybe today he will. Also, today John might get to visit the army barrack school that their host family’s son, Vine, attends.  He says it’s hard to believe it is already their last day.  Sunday was great, with worship and a goat barbeque,  Also there was restoration in Dominic’s family.  Dominic is the Nigerian visionary for this trip; he lives in the US.

Thank you for all of your prayers!

The presentation with the Nigerian congressman was postponed to tomorrow after church.  Pray for the presentation and for possible Nigerian media interviews tomorrow through Monday.  Also, this congressman is influential in needed road improvements to the farm site.  This is a huge need for people outside the immediate village to access the site.

John wishes the end of the trip was not so near.  He thinks the hospitality and welcome there has been more amazing than anywhere else he has visited in Africa.  The team has been able to live close to their host family, who are such amazing people.  However, deception and corruption is prevalent among the people, even among “Christians.”  True teaching and discipleship is needed.

John says things are going well in Nigeria as the engineering team breaks for dinner under a sunset sky.  They can hardly believe the trip is halfway over.

Most of the survey work is done and the site boundary has been cleared (John has been stomping around swampland, tall grass, and trees with a GPS for 3 days).

The people built the team a temporary shelter with electricity (that will later be converted to a chicken coop).

The area kids are playing soccer with new soccer balls the team brought.

Saturday, the team is going to a nearby city, Uyo, to meet with a district congressman to present the project plans, drawings, and other information.

That’s all for now.

Hello from the Denver airport!

Praise God that my bags are checked, I am through security and waiting for my flight to Atlanta! I will meet all of the team except for Rob from the UK, and we will continue on to Lagos, Nigeria. We will be spending the night in Lagos and having a time of testimony sharing and fellowship tomorrow evening, as our flight to Calabar will depart on Monday morning. Then we will travel by vehicle for another couple hours to the village and future fish farm training center site. I appreciate your prayers for the journey ahead!

The guest house that we were going to be staying in is no longer available, so there is a team building a house especially for us. What amazing hospitality! Please join me in lifting the workers up to our Father. May they sense our extreme gratitude and be blessed by our visit.

Once we arrive on the site, our schedule will be pretty busy with surveying, site investigation, planning meetings, and design meetings. Please pray that each of us would be able to contribute much technically, and that we would have time to interact with and involve people who will be around the site. May God’s name be lifted high through our lives, and may He receive all of the glory.

Thanks again for your prayer support over the next 12 days! I look forward to sharing more with you on how God moves!

“Great and amazing are your deeds,
O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
O King of the nations!
Who will not fear, O Lord,
and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
(Revelation 15:3b-4)

For the glory of the Lord,
John

I have a few quick updates about the upcoming Nigeria trip, which I depart for on Saturday afternoon:

• I am now the only civil engineer going on the trip because Emily (the other civil engineer) has been having back pain. Please pray for Emily, as she is disappointed not to be going, but she still wants to be involved in the project.
• Praise God that Rob from the U.K. was able to get his Nigerian visa!
• Pray that I would have wisdom in my time management in the days before departure as I wrap up tasks at work, transfer coordinator tasks for the Perspectives class planning, prepare downloads and project reference materials, gather and pack items on my packing list, and prepare spiritually for the trip. May God provide rich times with Him in the midst of the busyness of preparing for this trip!
• Pray for the trip leader Rex and the eMi interns tomorrow as they visit and learn at a fish farm site in Alabama that uses biogas from fish waste to generate electricity.
• Lift up the entire team as we prepare to leave: Rex (eMi trip leader), Michael (eMi civil engineering intern), Brice (eMi mechanical engineering intern), Jim (electrical engineer) and his wife Mary Ann (volunteer), Brian (agricultural engineer) and his wife Kate (architect), Benjamin (architect), Scott (surveyor), and Rob (mechanical engineer from the UK). May God grow us together as a team and use us faithfully for His glory on this trip.

Updates while I am in country may be sent by my mom, as I will have very limited or no access to email and the internet. We plan to stay mostly around the village and site to avoid any unnecessary risks in larger towns or cities.

Thanks for your continued prayer support for this trip. I am looking forward to seeing what God will accomplish in and through the eMi team!

Reflecting HIS glory,
John