April 2025 Newsletter

Dear Friends and Family,

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Few things seem more important for me than to desire for my friends and loved ones God’s Grace and Peace. Each day reminds me of how much this is needed for us all.

When last we visited I told you about a trip to Obudu and the efforts at the Correctional Facility. The warden told us that the title “Prison” is no longer preferred, as the aim is correction and rehabilitation. Anyway, we are glad to report that several more prisoners have joined in the congregation that now meets every Sunday. Thanks again for helping to make this trip possible.

Please allow me to tell you about three more trips we’ve made since our last visit. First was our trip to Calabar with our son in law Chris and his father. Calabar is an old city, once a center of the slave trade and the first capital of what later became Nigeria. It remains a quiet and peaceful town, one we have visited many times in the past. We used to make the trip in 4 hours, but the roads have deteriorated till it took us much more than this to travel. One section of road was so bad it took us five hours to travel 55 miles.

The unexpected blessing of traveling this section was at one point the road became blocked with traffic and we were diverted to a winding remote road. I did not know it would lead us to the graveside and compound of Mary Slessor. For those of you who may not know her, she was a single missionary who had a huge impact in Southeastern Nigeria. She started life as one of 7 children in Aberdeen Scotland, and entered the textile mills at 11 to help the family. But her mother, a devout Presbyterian, nurtured her daughter’s faith and interest in missionary work, especially inspired by Dr. David Livingston, another famous Scottish missionary.

In 1876, at the age of 28, she started her work in Calabar, learning the local language and culture. She is best known today for her efforts to end the common practice of killing twins. She gave sanctuary to a large number of twins, grooming many of them to become leaders in society. My friend’s grandmother was one of the last sets taken in, and trained as a nurse. I could imagine this all taking place in the compound at the top of the hill where Mary operated a hospital, a Leper colony, an orphanage and what became her burial site. She died in January of 1915, and her grave is marked by a pile of native stones piled in a cone on her grave.

I felt such respect and admiration when I made that unexpected detour and came upon her remote, unmarked outpost. Even today you have to make considerable effort to reach her station by a narrow winding road. I can well imagine, after 36 years in West Africa, what it was like back then. She traveled inland by canoe. No roads, no cars, no electricity, no communication. No husband. But she had a clear sense of purpose that warranted her to make such sacrifices. And that was to share the message and love of Christ in a very dark and dangerous place.

You and I share that same commission. We have two family members who came to us as infants when their sibling twins were taken away from their mothers. So we came thirty two years ago to find the practice still carried out, but no longer openly. You and I also live in a dark and dangerous world, made so by the sin that is so prevalent. Our stand against such felony still requires sacrifice. Even though we may not all have the opportunity to serve in remote locations, we all have the opportunity to serve. And we sincerely thank you that you continue to serve alongside us, in the shadow of Mary Slessor and other great trailblazers.

Another great trip was to Ghana, to meet old and new friends and to check up on our kids who study there. Our trip was made possible by the kindness of Peggi Bernez who invited us to come and meet her and her team. They are considering blessing our work here and wanted a face to face meeting. So we were very blessed to have this unexpected trip. It gave us the chance to introduce ourselves and our 8 kids that are studying there. We hope this can be the opening chapter in a long and fruitful relationship. It was good to visit the kids in their school and to have them over for a meal and a slumber party at the hotel.

It was also great that we were able to take a trip to Kumasi where my African journey began 54 years ago. It was there my father took his family to live and work for the Lord, and it started a thread in the fabric of my life that is still being woven. What a blessing it was to see old friends who still remember us kindly. Two of the friends we met were Rose and Kingsley who were leaders in our young people’s Bible class. We laughed when recalling when we came out from the church building in the dark and Rose was bitten by a poison snake. The funny part for us now, (definitely not then) was David Gardner, another missionary kid (called MKs) used his Bible to kill the snake. This upset everyone that he would use his Bible this way. He quickly replied that the Bible says it is the Sword of the Spirit, and he used his as a sword. It was good to be able to relive old memories and renew old friendships. I even got to show Nkiru the house I lived in as a teenager.

Well, time for the news of a different journey taken by our sister Comfort recently. It is a journey we all must take one day and by necessity must prepare for. Sister Comfort was baptized last September and has faithfully been a part of us since. She is one of the widows that have gathered around us, and makes a meager living washing empty plastic bottles for recycling. Her husband died five years ago, and she has not had money to bury him since. His body was still in the mortuary, unclaimed because of an unpaid bill. After Comfort missed two Sundays in a row, Nkiru sent one of our boys to go check on her. By then she was very ill. We took her to five different hospitals, but it was already too late. We played a good end game, spending over 400 dollars, which is a big sum of money for the average person here, in a vain effort to save her life. Had we known, had we been closer in contact maybe we could have saved her. Who knows? We don’t even know what killed her. I just know lapses of communication contributed to her death. We are growing, but we are still not involved enough in each other’s lives to know intimately the needs of each other. What a worthy goal, to be truly our brothers’ keepers.

The good part of this all was that the church responded generously to the need of the hour. Our bus carried a crowd of members who went to the village to assist in the burial of our new sister and her husband. Bills were paid, coffins were bought, and the Lord received glory because villagers saw love being exercised. Your contributions helped in this process. The kindness of the persons who helped us buy a bus, the contributions you make that allow us to meet the never ending needs of those around us. Thank you for allowing us to carry on.

Another trip was a monthly outing to a women’s day on a Saturday. It gives sisters a chance to see they are part of a much larger family and to hear good lessons given by different sisters locally. Again, the bus has been a great blessing, though I had to replace the shocks on it and our car after our recent out of town trips.

Brethren, the harvest is plentiful. We have had over 45 baptisms so far this year. But we still have so much to do and so little time and strength to do it. Thank you for lifting up our hands and helping us to be the face of Jesus that many yearn to see.

We continue to pray for you all, and ask that you do the same for us. It is by His grace that we have the hope of meeting again, if not here, then in the south east corner of Heaven. We love you and appreciate you.

Remain blessed,

Cliff, Nkiru and the family