April 2024 Missions Update

Calvary greetings in Jesus name. Thank you so much for partnering with us to take the light of the gospel to places where Jesus was not known and to people under the cruel grip of the Prince of darkness. So much has happened, and as usual, we are committed to sharing the goodness with you as well as the areas we urgently covet your prayers. The report will fuel your partnership and prayers for us and the work. We would increasingly conceal the names of persons and places we consider to be a great risk to our work and missionaries.

Salvation and Healing on the Field

Just concluded Gobirawa Widows Conference

God has been very gracious to us regarding our primary focus, the salvation of souls. At Tibiri, two young ladies (names withheld) surrender their lives to Christ. 

At Kamberi Field, a young lady who had been challenged entirely for eight years got delivered. We also had another case of a swollen hand that miraculously healed. 

GFIM DMM Selected coaches at just
 concluded retreat

At Kwalan Gobirawa, a young lady also surrendered her life to Christ, while some widows were impacted through several gifts, which included wrappers and foodstuffs. Thank God for the divine provision. The fantastic thing is that most of the gifts given to the widows came from believers in Niger Republic. We continue to participate in the Discipleship Movement (DMM) Coach Retreat to strengthen our DMM facilitators

Sadly, we lost one of our converts to the bondwoman. This was after a long time of pressure and enticement to have him and others abandon their Christian faith using gifts like money, houses, and cars. Pray that this young man will become restless until he returns to the faith.

29th African Missions Summit (AMS 2024) 

Joel Emmanson at the
29th African Missions Summit

The 29th African Missions Summit (AMS 2024) was a huge success, and we are grateful to God and all our friends and partners who made it possible. Over 300 delegates from almost every state of the federation and surrounding African countries gathered at the headquarters of Grace Foundation on March 20-24, 2024. In addition to prayers, we explored how best to combat the growing darkness across the nations. Some of the guest speakers include evangelist Samuel Yahaya, Yinka Laoye, Sister Yemisi Madamori, and Pastor Joseph Egwuda.

Worship in Local Expression

Collaborating with the Declare Global Outreach Mission, our missionaries are recording music videos

Some Participants at the Worship in Local Expression 

and evangelistic films in the Kamberi and Dukawa languages. The collection will last for three weeks, and the DGOM team working with our missionaries includes Cinematographers, audio engineers, and other facilitators under the leadership of Pastor Seyi Ige.

Three Boreholes (Water for Life)

God provided us with three boreholes in three needy communities this quarter. The Zarazong community, where our School of Cross-Cultural Missions and the Home of Grace division of Grace Foundation are located, have been going through severe challenges of water. Three boreholes have been drilled in the past, but they have all failed. This last one is about 240 meters deep and gulped close to N5 million, out of which the drilling was carried out as support. The borehole machine, PVC pipes, electrical, and other installation costs were hefty. We are yet to enjoy the borehole very well because of the electricity cost of pumping water. We are praying for funds to install a solar system to power water pumping from the borehole.

The Final Command Ministry, as part of encouraging our access ministry in Beru funded a borehole project at the cost of N1.5million. Three drilling machine vehicles tried to get to the location but failed because of the fragile bridges on the route. The borehole is firm and in process now. Please pray along with us that the entire project will be successful. 

The third borehole is located at Kwala Gobirawa, and it was built after many years of prayers. Join us to thank God for the breakthrough and that God would bless those who have sacrificially put their fund together to carry out the water project. 

Mission House and Pioneer Church Building 

New Benin Republic Mission House

As we continue to labor to take the light of the gospel to challenging terrains, we are confronted with inadequate accommodation for our missionaries. To make more of an impact, we are constantly intentional about combating the need for accommodation.

At Benin Republic, we have completed the wall work of the missionary residence. The converts used their fund and skills to build it. They used mudblocks, so they had to be roofed before the rain started. The cost of roofing, plastering, windows, ceilings, and doors would gulp about N 2 million. We have some bundles of zinc already. Pray for financial support from us to complete the work.

Missions Training 

AMLI graduates

The 27th set of the School of Cross-Cultural Missions has resumed its studies. We are grateful to Gospel Bankers and AFLEND for the support provided to sustain some of the students. We are so glad that most of the students are educated enough to understand the lectures, and the spiritual background allowed them to absorb and appropriate the training content. 

Two of the new applicants (Fulanis) are from Niger Republic. We are yet to ask them to resume because of the funding. Other Nigerians also seek training, but their admission is still being processed. 

The 26th set has graduated, but we are restrained from carrying out the graduation ceremony until they work on the mission field for at least one year and their mission leaders/field leaders affirm that they are okay for graduation. This is necessary because of the report we have received concerning some of our previous graduates.

Our bi-annual Advanced Mission Leadership course is scheduled for October 1-10, 2024.  Pray along with us for all the resources and wisdom and grace required,

Home Of Grace (HoG) Update

The children are growing in every aspect. We are glad they are improving their spiritual lives as we spent more time together this Easter break. Samuel Moses is pursuing a degree program in Guidance and Counselling at the University of Jos. Elizabeth Daji is in NDII (National Diploma) at Plateau Polytechnic. Her result for ND1 is relatively okay. Comfort Boubaccar wrote her JAMB examination last week in preparation for university admission. Yakubu Omali came first in his class, as usual. Naomi came third. All the other kids are coming up but need to brace up. 

We now have three corp members assigned to teach them after school hours and during the holidays. We also organized a holiday fashion design school for them with three experienced instructors on the ground who taught them how to sew clothes. 

March 2024 Missions Update

 Calvary greetings and a happy new month to you and your family in Jesus' name. We are so grateful to God for the measure of blessings we have enjoyed over the past three months. God has been so good, and we cannot thank Him enough. We are also grateful to you for your selfless, sacrificial partnership. Thank you for all you do to help us bring light to the darkest region of the world. Below are some of our reports:

Conversion, Discipleship and Persecution

God backed up our labor in the past months by touching the hearts of the people, and many persons embraced Jesus as the Lord of their lives for the first time, and many others who left the faith were restored. These cut across many mission fields where our missionaries are working and persons from challenging backgrounds, such as our other "cousins."

Closely associated with these were incredible miracles of healing and deliverance. One of them included a woman who slumped and was reported to have passed on. Some persons brought her to the mission house at about 3 am, she was prayed for, and God brought her back to life. Many people surrendered their lives to Christ in response to the miracle.

We have very severe cases of persecution, which necessitated the persons concerned to relocate to other places for safety. In the process, some of our brethren were arrested and taken to court for aiding the escape of the converts whose lives were in danger. A fine of N300,000 was paid, and they were released.

Three More Motorcycles

As the work continued to expand in the face of the reality of limited missionaries, we had no option but

New motorcycle for Beru Mission Field

to buy more motorcycles to enable the missionaries to cover more villages. At Benin Republic, one of our missionaries, Ayuba Dawa, has converts in five villages far from each other. With God's provision, we bought a new motorcycle for him with which he covers the villages, and he does so with greater ease now. We also purchased another new bike for Santi Yunusa and Moustapha at Beru Field, Bauchi and Garba, and Alisabatu Gambo of Salkam in Niger Republic. A motorcycle now costs approximately one Million Naira with additional costs, which include registration/plate number and customs duty. We covet your prayers for five more motorcycles.

Borehole and Severe water challenges

The borehole we drilled at Samunaka is yielding water, but for now, we cannot maximize it due to lack of a generator that we can use to pump the water. Now, a 6KV generator that can pump water without stress costs about one million naira. The water scarcity is severe as they have to trek long distances to the irrigation dam to get water to drink. Converting the borehole to the hand pump cost N700,000 at the last check. The Beru people do not have any source of water. The Final Command has paid N1,450,000 to drill a borehole there for us. Hopefully, in less than two weeks, they will have good drinking water in the land, strengthening discipleship effort. Please pray that the Lord will provide funds for them to fulfill their promise. The 230-meter deep borehole at Zarazong has collapsed due to the nature of the soil. We are trusting God for another. Please pray along with us. The boreholes at Sanga and Bum are serving well.

Mission Houses and Church Building in the Frontiers

Zarazong Shepherd Cottage Phase 2

In the last six months, God helped us to build five churches where none existed. There are no houses for the missionaries to rent for each of these fields, and they cannot live in the church building. We therefore, have no option but to build homes where the missionaries and their families will stay. We completed the one in Salkam, Moro, and Beru. The Shepherd Cottage at Zarazong is near completion now; the Mission House at Ahole, Niger Republic, is at lintel level. Pray with us for resources to complete the ones yet to be completed.

African Missions Summit (AMS 2024)

Mission leaders from no fewer than 10 African countries will converge in Grace Foundation Inland Mission’s headquarters from March 20-24, 2024, to deliberate and pray on how best to confront the

gross darkness upon the people. Please, we covet your prayers for this strategic roundtable consultation/retreat as decisions that will accelerate the work of the harvest in the darkest region of the earth. Pray for the budget and divine protection for delegates as they travel by flight and through Nigerian roads. Pray also for the resource persons for divine insight and utterances. It is open to all critical stakeholders in world evangelization, including yourself.

Transition

On a sad note, my mother passed on to Glory on February 21, 2024, after a very brief illness. We covet your prayers as we tidy up arrangements for the burial. There are rampant cases of kidnapping in the village where she would be buried. While we make security arrangements for both Policemen and vigilantes, pray for divine protection for all our

guests and our family. She died at approximately 81 years old and left behind sisters, children, and grandchildren.

Prayer Needs

The severity of insecurities across our various mission fields is unparalleled now than ever. Please pray for divine protection for our missionaries, their families, and the converts.

The weakening of the Nigeria currency and the hyperinflation are affecting our missionaries' welfare. When converted to CFA, the purchasing power of their upkeep allowance dropped significantly except for those whose allowance are in Dollars. Pray with us for the provision of funds to help improve the welfare of the missionaries and that God would meet their needs miraculously.