Missionary newsletter-May

Dear Family and Friends,

The huge rock formations that are everywhere on this Nigeria Mountain Plateau and huge rocks balancing on smaller rocks but not ever falling or smashing each other reminds me of the Bible passage in Isaiah 26 verse 4, "Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock."

This will be my last news letter from Nigeria Africa as we are leaving from Abuja on May 29.  It is hard to leave, there is so much that can still be done.  I know I need to come back to the States and am looking forward to that.   Yesterday the Ladies at Mashiah had their weekly Bible study and invited me to come.  The Bible leader read read the passage from James 3 verse 17.  Then she said that KA KA (that's me) 

had used that God given wisdom to teach the ladies the quilting skills.  They danced and sang for me.  Each of the students I had taught was asked to stand and then they all came to my chair, knelt down and personally thanked me.  I told them when I got to heaven I would be able to dance like they do.  I also told them how I came to Africa after Everett died to tell them about the hope that only God can give but I received so much from them in the joy in the Lord that they showed me.  Even though they had lost so much more than I had they could still express that love in Christ.They call me "Grandma" but mostly "Ka Ka".  I thought Ka Ka was the Hausa word for Grandma but just yesterday I was told it meant "old woman".  That burst my balloon but it really is a term of endearment here .  In Spanish "ka ka" means "poop" so watch your language!!. 
The other day when I stopped at Hillcrest Officea Nigerian office man asked me when I was leaving.  He said,"When you get to the airport in Abuja they give you a test to see if you know Hausa.  If you don't pass we keep you here."  I said, "I know : sanu, lafia, ka ka, Allah and amen, is that enough?"  He saidI don't know, I don't give the test.!"  One odf the words I was surprised about is Allah, that is used by both Muslims for their god and Christians for their God.

"May God, the source of hope fill you with joyand peacethrough your faith in Him.  Then you will overflow with hope by the power of  the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13

In His Love and Mine, Lois Watt
 

--
Lois Watt.

Missionary letter

Dear Family and Friends,

"Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Jesus Christ for you. !Thess. 5:16

We certainly were very thankful to God for the safe journey to and from the LCN Convention 2007in Uyo, Nigeria across  the road from the seminary at Obot Idom.  The church where the convention was held was built with funds from LWML in US.  It was estimated that 14000 people attended.  Can you imagine 14000 people and one bathroom?  Nigerians have no problem with that.  There were many huts set up  in the area around the church with poles with sacks, sheets or bags used as tarps on 3 sides.  Inside the hut were a table and benches.  The food was cooked over  open fires, rice and red stew, boiled  or pounded yam and egusi soup (made with ground seeds and greens with maybe a little meat).There were flats on the ground with boiled eggs and minerals (pop) to drink.  All of this was for sale.  . At the service  as the time came for the offering  people danced up the aisles to put their offerings in the bowls on the tables.  Nigerian money is all paper, no coins, beginning 5 Niara or about 3 cents.  At the convention  the missionaries and pastors sat on chairs on  each side of the altar.  The front row of pastors danced up to present their offerings and I saw one of them wearing a cross that Everett made.  I was really surprised.  So when we went up to give our offering I  looked at the cross and asked him where he got it.  He said that it was a gift given him by a former pres. of the seminary.

The trip was very long.  It took us 2 days each way.  The roads were mostly paved but the potholes are atrocious.  You have to drive around them and dodge the traffic.  There was a pothole as big as the car.  We drove into it very carefully so we could take a picture.  The depth of the hole was up to the hood on the car.  The lories are something else.  They pile them twice as tall as the lory itself and people are sitting or lying on top , sometimes sleeping.  They are braver than I.We drove some at night against all warnings not to but, Ivan was leading us in his van.  There were many check stops.  they would lay logs across the road like an obstacle course and then they would have a board on a rope with nails in the board that they would pull out so you couldn't go.It was very hard to see because Africa is so very very dark at night especially on the road.  The police officers only had flashlights. It was a very nerve wracking trip. 
-- All along the way are people walking on the side of the road all times of the day and night.  They are very hard to see unless they wear white. I would estimate that it would be like seeing 200 people walking on the side of the road from my house to Grand Island.  It was very dangerous and a couple of times  I couldn't believe we made it.  The angels had to have been assigned special guard duty.

Work at Mashiah is going fine.  I wish I could understand what they say when they tell stories and laugh so much but it is in Hausa and not English.  They asked me if I wanted to learn Hausa and I told them I was too old.  They laughed at that.  So much for this letter.  May God be with you all and bless you all.  Love, Lois
Lois Watt.

--
Lois Watt.

January Newsletter

Dear Family and Friends,

I hope everyone had a Blessed Christmas and I pray you will all have a Blessed 2007.

 

A dearest Jesus, Holy Child

Make Thee a bed soft undefiled,

Within my heart that it may be

A quite chamber kept for Thee.

 

Christmas here was very different but interesting.  We had some wonderful Christmas music programs with the true Christmas message.  Nigerians love to sing! We had a faculty Christmas party,an  LCMS Missionaries progressive dinner on the LCN (Luth. Ch. of Nigeria)

Compound, an LCMS Ladies Bible Study Special Candle light devotions with party, a Mashiah Christmas party with gift excange,(I gave a basket of eggs and a bag of Spritz cookies),  a Mashiah Staff party.  We had " 9 Lessons and Carols"," Messiah Cantata".  Jennifer's family was involved with a lot of the music  We went to LCN on Sun. and to Christmas Eve. at HillCrest.  We then went to the Rasch with the Erbers ( LCMS pastor) for Christmas Dinner.  Jennifer had made a tasty ham by soaking a chunk of pork in a brine for about a week, Teri made a roasted chicken that she had put in a brine overnight. It was a feast when all the food was put together.

We went to LCN on Sun. but did not go to New Years Eve.  That service was from 9pm to 12pm. Ivan and Jennifer Rasch came here for snacks and fellowship.  Our neighbors also stopped by.

 

At the Mashiah Christmas Party 12 tredle sewing machines were given to 12 ladies to take to their home so they could also sew from home.  These ladies did not know who would get the machines.   The  machines were brought out and the ladies who got them were so happy they danced and sang  and cried.
The machines were purchased with gift money from the US and also from Nigeria.  Michael Rasch had saved up some of his tutoring money for this so 2 machines were given by Michael.  He had sent it with me when I went to Nigeria.

For the 70 Nigerian workers at Hillcrest (guards, ground keepers etc.) they slaugtered 2 beef on the compound and divided that up and then took a gift offering from Hillcrest people to purchase 100 -ten pound bags of rice for their Christmas Dinners.--
 

Deborah and her friend made a Christmas tree.  It really turned out nicely.  They made it out of sheets of tyoing paper.  They made a tube, colored it brown, about 4 feet tall and then made circles, colored green and cut to resemble pine trees along the edge and put 7 circles over the tube with a foil star at the top.

 

Nathaniel  bought some rabbits and rabbit hutches from a teacher, who is leaving,to use for meat instead of chicken.  The chicken is good but very expensive.  The pork is pretty good but it isn't cut up very well, the beef is tough, I  have a hard time chewing it.   Nathaniel already has a new litter of 7 baby rabbits.  Zachariah and Deborah each have a white rabbit for a pet that will not be used for food.  They are in a separate cage and in the house sometimes.  You are supposed to able to litter box train them.  We haven't succeeded as yet.

 

 I have 3 weeks off of work, we worked so hard before Christmas and I added a day each week to my work schedule I was glad to have some time off.

 

We go to the LCN  National Convention in Obot Idom  next Thurs.  We will atay for about 4 days.

 

It is so dry here but really a bit cool.  Nathaniel started the fireplace the last 3 evenings so we were cozy warm.Most people don't have heat.  It is jacket weather here in Jos on the mountain plateau but the Nigerians bring out their stocking caps, heavy coats and mittens.

.To quote Timmy Rasch when the clock showed midnight he said, "2007, I just can't believe it's 2007!"

May God be with you all and bless you.  Love Lois Watt

--
Lois Watt.

November 30, 2006

Dear Family and Friends,
We are all fine here but are looking forward to school vacation starting Dec. 15 until the 10th of Jan. I don't know what things are being planned to do during that time. One thing is going to the LCN (Luth.Ch. of Nigeria)Synodical Conv. the first part of Jan. It will be at Obot Idom.
The last time I said I would write about a Nigerian wedding. This was the wedding of Ayuba and Racheal. Ayuba is a polio victim. he walks on his hand on blocks of wood and drags his legs. His parents didn't send him to school because he was handicapped. At 18 years old he decided to go to school. He put himself through and became a teacher He then with the help of a Mission in the States started a business of making hand propelled wheel chairs using bicycle parts. He became so busy he gave up teaching to make and give away these wheels chairs to any polio victim in Nigeria. He has given away 1200 of these chairs. He also make folding white canes for the blind. He gives a Bible with each item.
We were invited because Nathaniel did some fixing of electronic equip. The wedding was in a little village of 30 families about 1 1/2 hours from Jos. It was supposed to start at 10 but I think it started about 11. We were late so when we got there the church was full and the church surrounded by about 10 people deep. We were ushered into the church clear to the front to a row of chairs facing the cong. and facing the wedding couple who were seated in the front row.The service still lasted another 2 hours. It took a little longer because the speaker had an interpreter in the village lang. After the service the bride and groom went to the front of the aisle and had a plastic tub between them. As music was played people danced up the aisle and put money in the tub and cong. the couple.We drove to the reception that was held in a big field. They had 2 huge canopies, a smaller 1 for the wedding party. They bought out a cake and put it on a table and then singers and dancers provided the music and the people again danced up to the path the bride and groom would take to the cake and papered it with money. There were so many speakers because he was so well known. The dignitaries had to give their political speeches. There were van loads of handicapped persons, a van of blind people and there were many people who walked on their hands because of polio. They don't always use their wheel chairs in a field like that or they can't get the wheels chairs there.They estimated there were 1200 people there We left at 5:30 and the food wasn't close to be served yet. It isn't very safe to drive at night. The wedding clothes were a bit like in America but not as extravagant. Ayuba's wife was a pretty bride she was not handicapped. Ayuba was so esteemed by so many people and such a role model of Christian love.

The poinsettias have been in bloom for about a month now. The red leaves are at least 12 inches across and so pretty, they are large bushes. So much for this time. May God bless each one of you. In His name, Lois

October Newsletter from Lois

Dear Family and Friends,

I read this poem by Amy Carmichael and thought it was a good beginning for my newsletter:

Hillcrest School had a week and a half vacation so we made a trip to Ali Fopa, the village where Wally and Betty had their ministry.  Wally and Betty were held in very high esteem there.  The Rasches and Mays (Dist. Pres. from Ind. Dist, were in Nigeria for Retreat which was cancelled because of political problems in Jos) went with us. I got to see Betty's (Lois' sister) house.  We didn't get to go inside because someone was living there.  I had seen pictures but it was special to actually see it.  We saw the big cirle of cement (15 ft. in diameter) over the cistern.  Ivan said they rode their tricycles round and round.  They also put their desks out there to do there lessons.  Ivan would mention here was a tree and here another one that we climbed and played tree tag. He showed us a water hole where he said he got into trouble for swimming in it. We walked a short distance to Rev Ottomueller's house(June Meier's uncle) .  From the back of his house was a beautiful view of a large deep valley.  We saw the teak forest that Wally started and encouraged the people to plant to make money for the church.  We saw three churches in the 5 villages in the same language group.  These villages were not far apart.  We were hosted by Simeon, A man who was Walley's helper in his Bible translation for the Ikpari Language there.  He and his family treated us to the very best they had.  We slept in his brother Moses' house.  It was primitive compared to the houses our family enjoy in the States.  We have so many THINGS compared to the village people.Everywhere we went the people were so hospitable and happy to see us. We

were even honored with the "Queens Dance"  She dances only on very special occasions.  A 2 yr, old old girl is chosen, she is taken from her home and raised by "queen mothers" and trained to dance.  She is queen until she is married.  This child was 8-10 years old.  Her head was covered with a head piece of strings of colorfull beads.  Her face was painted with white dots and her body with while stripes.  She wore croqueted shorts with bells around her waist and on her ankles.  She was brought to the circle standing on the shoulders of a man.  He lifted her down and she began to dance.  Each dance she performed represented some meaning in the villages.  A man interpreted them for us for example a lion stalking, a duck etc.  She was to chose someone who would be a representative of the man she would marry.  She chose Ivan.  He did a litlle moving .  Then all the former queen or queen mothers began to dance and had us ladies join the dance.  One lady I thought was showing me how to do the dance so I tried.  Jennifer later told me she was challenging me to see who get get down the farest in the dance, of course I didn't win.  We passed the "cola nut"  and each person took a bite.  It was a very bitter tasting nut.  They served us palm wine.  It was new wine so it wasn't as fermented as it becomes by evening but it continues to ferment in your stomach so you could think you didn't have much but be a little tipsy later.  I only took a small drink and gave the rest to Nathaniel.We watched Simeon's sister make palm oil.  It is a long process of pounding the nuts, boiling , pounding some more, boiling and seperating the oil. It is a long process and very labor intensive. It is red in color and mixed with rice to make a red stew which is very tasty. We went to Dinah's village, a nigerian lady who was Kendra best friend as a child.  She served us freshly roasted ground nuts (peanuts). When we were introduced to the villagers they shook my hand and would look at me intently and shake my hand again and I knew I reminded them of Betty.  Sometimes if they spoke English they would say they could see the resemblance.  I tried to learn the greetings, I could get the "nobe" and reply "nobebietsy" but then I would get nervous and forget the "e ooma heh" and all the rest.  The Dist Pres and Judy were very happy to get to see the village and the sem at Obed Idom, the high school where Wally taught and the high school where Betty taught.  The high school where Wally taught is still Lutheran but the school where Betty taught is now a Gov. run school. There was a middle school very near Simeon's home, we could see the children in their uniforms outside.  The vice principal came over to greet us.  I asked him how many students they had and he said he couldn't give me a number because it varies so much from day to day.The Mays were dissappointed not to get to Jos.  We have 19 LCMS people in Jos (including the 7 children).   We have Wed. night devotions and sometimes communion when Rev. David Erber is there.

At Mashiah, where I teach quilting we are now working on Christmas items.My classjust finished a wall hanging " Snow Buddy".  It had several trees, checkerboard, pioneer points and a snow man with cap, and scarf.  It was too hard for my beginners.  I really agonized over that one.  A volunteer from the States for 2 weeks started it when I missed a week because of my back so of course I had to help them finish it.  It was fun thought to tell them about snow and making a snow man in Nebr.

So much for this time.  We are all fine here, the political violence is over and was not at all like it was in 2001,  which was between the Christians and Muslims.  This was an upraising against polical personel and the muslims were not going to retaliate because they didn't like the corruption either. Heb. 13; 5b and 6

I will never forsake you.  So we can confidently say, "The Lord is my helper, I will not fear: what can man do to me."

In His name, Lois Watt

Address :  Hillcrest School

13 Old Bukuru Road

Jos, Nigeria, West Africa

e-mail

Lois.Watt @gmail.com 
 

--
Lois Watt.

September Newsletter

September 2006
Nate and Teri Watt
Jos, Nigeria West Africa
In association with LCMS World Mission
www.lcmsworldmission.org
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?... O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Psalm 8:3-4,9
September was a busy month for us, as I m sure it was for all of you too. I miss going to the Nebraska State Fair and riding the rides on the midway. Eating cotton candy and funnel cakes. Hope some of you enjoyed that for us this year.
Well, we’ve had our own set of new experiences here, not quite up to the midway and cot ton candy standard, but ones that we’ll enjoy looking back on. We’ve had some interesting highway experiences that gave us that thrill of near death, but without the predictable quick and safe end to the ride you find on the midway. And some of the food here is good, but seriously lacking in the sugar content of my beloved cot ton candy. Of course, the Fair only lasts a short time and all the joy and excitement that goes with it fades. But the relationship we all have with Jesus is eternal, and that s why we’ve come so far away from our familiar settings. We want to see everyone get the chance to benefit from the joy and excitement of t hat experience, too.
Nate’s been a busy guy
...at least we don t see much of him, so I m guessing that means school is keeping him busy. Uncle Ivan had given Zachariah a Bible last year and he really enjoyed it. It is a youth version of ESV with very interesting maps and such. Well, I was getting worried. I hadn’t seen it around for some time and Zachariah didn’t seem to remember where it had gone to either. I finally, nervously, asked Nate if he had seen it anywhere. He said, yeah, that it was in his backpack. Apparently, he had swiped it and was using it in devotions in his first period Calculus class. He said it was a nice small size for him to carry around instead of his bigger one. Please pray for the students to hear the Word and follow the Truth.
As for t he rest of us
Lois s ladies finally got a very difficult wall hanging done. She was really concerned about it because it seemed to be a lit t le too challenging for the level that her ladies sew at . Her part is over and it has been handed off for the finishing touches. Sooo, now that that is finished she can work on what she s been planning for her students to do. Lois has come up with some really great ideas for her quilting ladies. Right now, she s teaching them how to make pastor s stoles. She already has several beautiful designs worked out . The ladies are learning a new one almost every week. Her goal is to make a bunch of them and take them to the 2007 LWML National Convention in Sioux Falls. She wants to sell them there for the Mashiah ladies. We always see her at the kitchen table with her graph paper and ruler working out another design ( or perfecting one ).
Zachariah, our son, is in the 5th grade this year. In Bible class, they’ve been studying the Psalms. They even got a chance to try and write a Psalm in their own words. I had a surprise today when the 5th grade lead chapel. They told about the different kinds of Psalms they learned about, recited some of their memory verses ( Psalm 8 and 23 ) and read some of the Psalms that they wrote. To my surprise Zachariah got up and read his Psalm! It received a few chuckles and I think he was smirking just a lit t le as he read it . But I thought that was a great way for the kids to really learn about how the author of the Psalms may have been feeling when he wrote them. And it provided a neat way to express yourself to God. Writing a letter to God is different than just praying whats on your mind or in your heart. Put t ing your words on paper seems to cement them just a lit t le bit more, makes you edit and re-edit your words and really think about what you re trying to express. It helps you to understand what God already sees in your heart . I finally finished teaching the vicar s kids in September. Not because they were experts already, but because they moved to Obot Idom. That s where the LCN (Lutheran Church of Nigeria) Seminary is located. Their dad is going to go back to finish his pastor s t raining. The kids were really doing very well. After only about 16 or 17 lessons, they were reading at about a first grade level. They showed real promise.
At the end of our lessons, we would sit and read books together. They did pretty good, struggling just a lit t le bit . Then I would leave the books we read so they could practice for the following day. When they would come back and read the same book again, they would sail right through it. This gave me great hope that they will be able to continue. I worry, because we had so few lessons. On the night before their last lesson I really had a hard time.
I was trying to decide which of the numerous things we hadn’t yet covered I should finish with; there was still so much they needed to learn. It’s in God s hands now. Lois and I were talking about it and she said it really was a miracle how well they picked it up. She never met anyone who learned to read so fast. God must really have plans for those kids. Please pray for them. I did have some discouraging news from their mom, though. It seems that the daughter probably won t be going to school after grade six due to school fees and the fact that girls are needed to help in the home. That really made me sad to hear, she really seemed to like learning. The bright side is that at least she can read now! And if you can read, you can learn anything. And most especially, the Bible. That s the most important studying they’ll do! The father has been out of school for 6 years now. We were pleased to be able to help him with some of his school fees. (He was sooo happy! He s praying we stay in Nigeria. He has three more years of school left ahead of him. ) Some of Everett s memorial money was designated to come here for missions and we are enjoying being able to help in ways we were unable to before!
Questions??? If you have any questions you’d like answered, or are curios about something you think should be in the Notes on Nigeria, let me know at mrsjpersec@yahoo.com. We’d like to hear from you! Please let us know how you are, too. I f you can, write to us at Nathaniel and Theresa Watt; c/o Hillcrest School; Box 652; 13 Old Bukuru Road; Jos, Nigeria, West Africa. Our email addresses are: f or Nate: jpersec@hotmail.com and for Teri: mrsjpersec@yahoo.com . We love to hear from you! Or if you’d like to add another email address to our list, please let us know.
Thank you! Wed like to thank everyone who helped us and encouraged us to come to Jos. We f eel that we are here to do Gods work and to help spread the Good News of Jesus, and that wouldn’t be possible without your support. We appreciate all your gifts and, especially, your prayers. Thank you so much! I f you would like to help support missions in Nigeria, you can send your gifts to: LCMS Mission Senders; 1333 S. Kirkwood Rd.; St. Louis, MO 63122. In the memo line: Watt/Nigeria. Thank you! I f you would like to stop getting this newsletter please email us at jpersec@hotmail.com or mrsjpersec@yahoo.com. I f you get it through the mail, please send a short note to the return address on the envelope.

Missionary newsletter from Lois

News Letter-Lois Watt

Dear Family and Friends,

I can't believe it is 3 months that I have been here.  It is still the rainy season so everything is green with lots of pretty flowers small birds and butterflies.   It is toward the end of the rain and then there will be no rain anthen the HARMATON winds come and blow dirt so everything really gets dusty.  I don' t think I will like that very well .  I don't know how long it lasts.  In Oct. there will be a LCMS conference here in Jos.   Missionaries from Nigeria will come.  The Houges will be here from Kenya. ( Mrs Houge was Jonathan's teacher in Gresham.  They will be staying with Jerry and Carol Loewe.   Carol and Jerry are from Nebr. And were in Kenya first when they came to Nigeria.  Two Dist. Pres. One from Indiana and one from New Jersey and 1 lady, probably a wife.   I was hoping it would be Linda Reiser but I guess not.  In Oct the school has vacation from Oct. 14 to 23.  After the conference we will take a trip with the Rasches to Wally and Betty's village.  Ivan said they would be anxious to meet me because I am Betty's sister.   Wally and Betty were held in high esteem.  I don't quite know what to expect.

I have been feeling fine.  Sometimes my back bothers me if I have been sitting at the table drawing quilt patterns or I stand to long.   Nathaniel and Teri go swimming in the morning at 6AM.  Nathaniel said he doesn't get backaches since he does that.   The pool is at Elm House compound.  I usually don't get up till they are gone to school .  There isn't quite so much commotion that way.

I got a personal e-mail from each of my siblings this past month so I was pleased (except Betty)  I do get the news letter.   We don't get any other news.  We don't have TV so we don't know what's going on in the rest of the world. I haven't heard from Michael at all.   I don't have an address for them in Schuyler and they don't have e-mail any more. Sometimes we use the computer to call but it doesn't always work and then we have to work around the 7 hours difference. I like quilting with the ladies.   We made a Fishers of Men wall hanging  and a round table cloth, both of those things sold.  I have the beginners so they don't know how to read English real well and don't know the fractions, both are important in quilting so we are very fast with our projects.   I get a little agitated when they don't have electricity because then we need the charcoal iron and that takes about 15 or 20 minutes to get it hot enough.   It is so important to iron the pieces. They iron standing up with the iron and pad on the floor.  The sewing machines are pedal so they can always sew.

Please keep praying for me to continue to have the missionary zeal in my life.  What does God do to get our attention Move you to another land,(Abraham), get you out of retirement (Moses)?   "When you were in trouble, you called and I saved you, I answered you with thunder."Ps. 81;7    In His Love and mine, Lois

--
Lois Watt.