Memorable visits, joining of hands and hearts

A memorable day, no, two. We were in Zaki-Biam, an hour and a half by interesting roads from Mkar, where we are staying. Zaki-Biam, home to the world’s largest yam market, is our target site. Yesterday we met the classis leadership: pastors, elders, school teachers, and others. There are presently five churches in the classis, soon to be six, each a sprawling collection of church, preaching sites, schools, and clinics. We toured the Zaki-Biam Secondary School, which is still under the capable leadership of a woman of a certain age. She was a classmate of John Orkar in teacher’s college. We also toured the hospital. The doctor we met in 2009 now practices in Jos. He has been replaced by a young, energetic doctor, who spent a half hour or so with us. In both places we found issues to be addressed, and in both places we found much to encourage us.
The day ended with an impromptu meeting with a group of four people. Two of them were members of the same HIV/AIDS support group. They seemed to be doing well. The other two, who shyly hovered at the outskirts of our group until invited in, were a married couple. She was HIV positive; he, negative. Gideon Gogo (Nurse with Beacon of Hope) masterfully drew them out. She was clearly sick, but had not been treated. Her husband had not touched her in a year. Their relationship a wreck, they needed what the others had, a support group. More on this and the several support groups we met with today later.
Let me jump to today, Friday. For the purposes of this blog, I’ll mention only the last two events. We ended our time in Zaki-Biam with a short meeting with the five pastors of the classis and the secondary school principal. The meeting began with a short speech by Rev. Girgi, the pastor of the central church and the leader of classis. He talked about their dreams for the partnership between them and us. I responded briefly in turn with our dreams and ideas. After a bit of discussion, we had to go. Gideon asked the principal to pray. Before she did, we held hands—Nigerian pastors, the principal, the four of us, Gideon, Talitha, and Rev. Saamo. We sang from memory “To God Be the Glory,” the Fanny Crosby version; the principal prayed; we said the grace together, still holding hands. And then we took our leave: friends, partners in ministry, members of the same kingdom. As the old saying goes, it doesn’t get any better than that.
We left Zaki-Biam and drove a short distance before turning off into what Nigerians call “the bush.” We took a long single lane trek past several traditional compounds to a place called Ngobua (“Gobwa”). There we met with the members of a rural church. Two of us (Mark and Grace) met a large support group from the church; the other two (Nancy and Clay) met with the pastor and the elders. They, the elders and pastor, reported on how a 2009 Beacon of Hope sponsored meeting had helped them respond to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. They were grateful to them and us for helping to sponsor Beacon of Hope. But then one of the elders said something that stunned me. He said that the Beacon of Hope intervention had brought them together. Before, he said, the council and church had been divided; now they were unified. Their faces spoke of the confidence they now had in each other. In facing together this plague, they found in each other and in God a new sense of mission and new sense of unity. It is often in the face of difficulty that we find strength.