Welcome 2026!

Dear Friends and Family,

By the unfailing Grace of God, we have slipped into the new year, with its new hopes and dreams. Last year, with its triumphs and tragedies, is now but a fading memory. Good or bad, that chapter is done. We look forward to working with the good Lord to see the new year bring peace and progress. Thank you for being such an important part of this journey. Let’s see where the road 2026 takes us.

In looking back on some of the highlights of the year, a few things are worth repeating. Early in the year we reported that much of our family was able to travel to Obudu to help at a correctional facility to help rehabilitate an aged building to turn it into a skill training center. We also saw they were fetching their water from a dirty open well. We were able help replace this with a pump for an existing well, and give them clean water for the first time in a long time. Later in the year, Brother Dan Goodyear, long term missionary in Africa, bought a generator to help ensure a steady supply of water and light. Your contributions have also helped us to furnish a boiled egg for each person who attends the weekly Bible study and worship. This study group continues to grow, as does the number of baptisms. Brother Ugbe and others have helped secure the release of 5 inmates as well. Thank you for helping us to share God’s love in such a practical and fruitful way.

The biggest time and money consumer of the year was definitely the multipurpose building that we started in late July. We reached the fourth and final level just before Christmas, and hope to start putting the connecting beams and the roof later this week. This final level was envisioned to be a secure playground for children, but the government did not approve of that idea. So instead this will turn into a large greenhouse, where we can grow food for our large family and others. The building will house our church assemblies as well as other functions. It will give us much needed classrooms for our children. As many as forty or fifty press into our current space, which is a spare bedroom, a library, and our living room. Can you imagine holding 40 under five for a two hour period in one bedroom? It will also allow us to move our skill centers to site, since we learned yesterday the three shops we rented have been put up for sale. It will also have accommodation for our two ministers who now serve the congregation, plus room for anyone willing to come and visit.

To say this has been a challenge would be an understatement. It has consumed so much of me mentally, physically and financially. Yet because we believe this will help in the growth of our family and the Kingdom, we continue to press forward. It has been suggested to use it for some form of concentrated Bible study, especially for those who wish to prepare to preach the Gospel. We definitely hope to start to share more of God’s Word on the internet, and maybe a media center could be started in one quiet corner. So many needs and ideas.

So far we have spent most of the $150,000 that has been graciously donated. This will get us roofed and starting on the walls, plumbing, electrical, etc. We believe any contributions towards the finishing of this project would be money well spent. We hope to be able to finish this with another 50k, at least that is our target. As always, we know that each and every one who continues to sacrificial give, that the Lord will continue to bless you for your efforts.

Another event that has taken place this year is the departure of our former minister and the addition of two ministers who can serve the growing needs of the congregation that meets at our house. God has been so kind in sending Br. Innocent Nwosu, who preached for a local congregation for the past 19 years. He teaches at a Bible school in the next state three days a week, but is able to assist us part time. We were also blessed to be joined by Br. Paul Sampson and his bride. Br. Paul brings the strength and vision of a young man, and he has blessed us in many ways. Together they have stepped up to lift burdens off my shoulders. We had 110 baptisms over the past twelve months, and there is so much to do to help nurture and mature this young body of believers.

And now my letter must strike a darker note for a moment. Let me start with the news of the death of Sylvia, our daughter at 43 years of age. We use the term daughter in our usual way of inclusiveness, and not in the more traditional sense. She was a street kid of sorts, leading a rough life as a teenage when my late wife met her and helped set her on a better path. At 16 she came to tell us her mother had died suddenly of a heart attack, leaving her eight children orphaned. She said she would take the two oldest, her grandmother would take the next three, but they had no one to take the one year old and the two year old. So that is how Kingdom and Wisdom came to be a part of us. Our bond continued to grow over the years as we witnessed her marriage and the difficult birth of her two children. We were planning to receive them for their annual Christmas visit, with no inkling of the tragedy that was soon to come. She had malaria and was hospitalized on Monday, discharged on Wednesday, readmitted on Friday and died early Sunday morning. She called Saturday night complaining she could not breathe. Being already after dark, we hesitated to enter the dangerous road at that late hour. In hindsight, I regret not making that effort. Her husband, who works offshore, was able to take emergency leave and he was able to arrange a befitting burial.

Her two children, 7 year old Jeremiah and almost 3 year old Great Grace have come to live at Grandma and Grandpa’s house for the meantime. Both gifted children, Grace seems to be an old spirit in a small body. She came with her own tablet, which she could use to call her mom whenever she felt like it. So for the first few days she repeatedly called her mother. She told us her mother was very sick in the hospital and that is why she could not pick up her calls. Eventually we told her that her mother had gone to be with Jesus, an explanation she accepted calmly. We grieve at the loss of Sylvia and all that it means to have the core of the home leave at such an age. We pray for strength and wisdom to guide these two precious souls.

And the deaths did not stop there. Our daughter Jessica, has returned after many years in Malaysia, with husband and four children. Her husband’s mother has been suffering from dementia and was finally released from that bondage. A funeral date has not yet been set, but expected in the first quarter of the year. With so many protocols to observe, burials do not take place quickly here.

And then there was the painful death of my dear friend Ini. I jokingly said he was my last redneck friend here in Nigeria. Before he married and had eight children, we used to stay up till midnight, swapping stories and schemes. He was a grand dreamer, with still so much life to live. In spite of a kidney transplant and huge bills and efforts by many, he left this life to meet his Maker just before Christmas. His wife lamented as she left with the body back to Uyo, “So I’m a widow, I’m leaving this hospital a widow”. Please pray for her and her family and the extended family. He has left a hole that can never be filled.

Then there was others, as if a stack of dominoes has been tipped over. The only one expected was the mother of our friend Friday Obong. She lived to be 110, a long and fruitful life. I was glad to be invited to preach at her funeral to an audience of hundreds. It was a grand sendoff. The landlord of our rented shops suddenly died, followed weeks later by the death of his wife. She came to the house to ask for any scrap lumber from our building project in the morning, only to pass away in the afternoon. Two preachers that worked with Prince Ugbe at the Darrell Memorial Bible Institute, were killed in a car accident on New Year’s Eve, to be followed on New Year’s Day by my friend and brother Stephen. Stephen was winning his battle with alcohol, and worked hard to survive by picking bottles out of the trash before daybreak. He had been in the cross over service we held to welcome the new year, and was on his way to our house in the afternoon of the 1st when a car struck him down. Just as life was improving, it was suddenly brought to an end. Then last week our son James’s father-in-law died and well as our friend Aziz, both from prostate cancer. I also have friends in the States who passed during this period. Each one who died presents with its own unique remorse and regret. Please pray for all involved.

For a brief moment, folks thought I was going to join them when I collapsed at the end of our 4 hour service to cross over to the new year. I had the final lesson of the night, and had just concluded when my old nemesis Vertigo came to visit. I managed to stagger like Cooter Brown, (you have to be a redneck to know who he was) to my seat where I collapsed and had to be carted off. I ruined the whole excitement and anticipation of welcoming in the new year. I am fine now, as fine as my 71 year old body and mind will let me. I forget things more often, and stop to catch my breath more often, take more naps on the sofa, things I am fighting against each day. I still have so much more to do. Please pray for me, that I may finish the tasks I have been given to do.

Folks, we appreciate you. Each time we stop and reflect on the mercies shown us, we pray thanking God for bringing all of us together. Your sacrificial giving saves the life of many you will not know till you reach heaven. In the book of MY Opinions chapter 2 and verse 38, you will be walking on the streets of gold one day, and a stranger will approach you to shake your hand and thank you for making it possible for him to be in Heaven with you. Maybe it will be one of the 110 folks that were washed in the blood of the lamb this year, who came to share the same hope you and I have. We look forward to a grand reunion one day. As Granny Jarrell used to sing, “Soon we’ll come to the end of life’s journey, and perhaps we will meet never more. But there’s another meeting place somewhere in Heaven, on the side of that beautiful shore.” Thanks for helping share that blessed hope with the many folks here in desperate need of hope. God bless you one and all in the new year.

Cliff, Nkiru and family