The 326th good thing about Lagos: Getting to know the Sister missionaries

I have to post a picture of these beautiful women we've enjoyed getting acquainted with.  In our Mormon church congregation we've had assigned to our area 4 young women to do their missionary service.  The sisters (as they are called) change out periodically, but we like getting to know them and have them over for dinner now and then.  The sister missionaries always have come from West Africa, most from other parts of Nigeria, but also from Sierra Leone, Benin and Liberia.  The sister on the right in this picture is Sister Dean, and she has been my favorite (though maybe I shouldn't so publicly state favorites, but I don't think any of them will ever see this blog...).  She's from Sierra Leone and she has a really fun personality.  She's comfortable enough with us to make jokes about our cooking.  I was sad when she got transferred to another area.

 

 

The result of having beautiful young women like this doing missionary work in our area is a plethora of young single men joining the church.   I hope they're joining for the right reasons.....

The 325th good thing about Lagos: Stake Conference choirs dress up

 In the Mormon church, twice a year we have a Stake Conference -- the local congregations who are part of a larger organization called a stake meet together.  The Ikoyi Ward, where we meet and worship each Sunday, is part of the Lagos South Stake, which is made up of 8 congregations from different areas.  Lagos has 3 Stakes and the South Stake Center is in Festac.  One thing that I always enjoy about the Stake Conferences is the choir.  The singers are not especially well trained, but they practice hard and always sing with spirit and enthusiasm and they always look good!  I don't know if it's the Nigerian penchant for dressing alike -- they really seem to enjoy this -- or if the church members here see how the Mormon Tabernacle choir dresses alike and feel like they need to follow suit.  But they come up with different matching outfits each Conference.  On Saturday the women had jaunty little hats attached to the side of their heads (how DO they do that?), bow ties, and white and black outfits.

For the Sunday meetings, the women were in pretty blue long dresses.  Not very Nigerian looking, but they looked very nice.

 The guys had these matching beaded ties.

I took these pictures when they were rehearsing outside before the meeting.

This is Israel, one of my piano students.  He's a very talented musician -- very good at playing by ear.

This is Eddidiong Patrick.  He likes to go by Patrick or Eddie.  He was also a very talented piano student of mine and is now a church missionary in Calabar.

 

I took this picture when they were singing some postlude hymns after the meeting. 

 

This is my good friend Blessing and her darling daughter Emmanuela.

 

 

Here's some of the Ikoyi Ward expat women.  Love these ladies!

The 310th good thing about Lagos: A reminder of Easter blessings

Several years ago the Bible Study group I am in had a Passover celebration to teach us about the Jewish rituals.  The group leaders decided to do it again this year.  We didn't have the advantage we had last time of being taught and led by a Jew, but we followed an extensive script based on a Messianic Passover, so it was a little different because the script made reference to Jesus and related how he had fulfilled the prophecies promised in the Passover. 
Again, we began our celebration with a washing of the feet -- we had our feet massaged and washed and then took a turn to wash the feet of another.  It made me realize again how intimate this act is and how humble Jesus was to do this for his disciples.

The script for the Passover celebration is actually quite lengthy and we were on cushions sitting on the floor.  We had the matzoh and parsley dipped in salt water and horseradish and all the traditional things and a meal of traditional Passover foods. 

 Through this Passover celebration, and all through this Easter time as I've been reflecting on the meaning of this holiday, I've had flashbacks to our visit to Israel summer before last. As we ended the Seder with shouts of "Next Year in Jerusalem," I had visions of the ancient trees in the Garden of Gethsemane,

 and the peacefulness of the Garden Tomb setting,

which reminds me of the wonderful gift we've been given,

 that Jesus is not here, He is risen

I wish my family and my Christian friends and blog readers a meaningful Easter holiday -- a time of hope and faith and gratitude for our Savior, who was not passed over.

The 307th good thing about Lagos: cute kids at church and a helpful young woman

Since last fall I've been serving in my local Mormon church congregation as President of the organization for children -- the Primary.  That means after our main worship service on Sunday morning, I organize the children's classes -- large and small group teaching.  We don't have a big number of children -- usually around 7 in the older class and the same number of the younger ones.  We just split them into 2 classes.  I really need to get pictures of all the kids, because I have become quite fond of all of them.  We have some American and British expats, as well as Nigerian children.  It's a challenge to keep them all engaged and interested.  I have counselors in my Presidency as well as (sometimes) teachers that help me.  Sometimes the commitment and teacher preparation are lacking, but we are trying to train leaders and teachers to be committed and prepared.

 It's easy to care about these happy faces.  Sometimes on Sundays like today when I had no teachers there and my counselor who was doing the (large-group) sharing time lesson also didn't come and it was extremely hot (no air conditioning ever), so I was pinch hitting with doing the sharing time and also then teaching a lesson -- I left church feeling pretty worn out.

 But I'm really grateful for the help and support from a young 18-year old American senior in high school.  Macae is happy to be helping in Primary.  She leads the singing and sometimes helps read a story to the children.

 She loves the kids and when she isn't busy helping with the music, she is often holding a baby.  Thanks Macae!  We'll miss you when you leave for college!

The 293rd good thing about Lagos: A modest church wedding

Weddings are usually big affairs in Nigeria.  There are often two or more ceremonies (traditional, church, civil) and often they have hundreds of guests and run up into large expenses.   A couple of years ago we attended a very nice wedding of one of Brent's co-workers, and I'm sure the expenses were huge.  This cultural expectation for a large and expensive wedding often serves as a disincentive for young people to get married and often Nigerians will wait till they are older to get married so they can afford a big celebration.  In my church, the LDS church (sometimes called Mormons), marriage and families have a high importance.  Church leaders here in Nigeria often try to stress when speaking to and counseling young adults that this cultural expectation to incur great expenses for wedding celebrations imposes great difficulties and stress on families.  They encourage young adults to date, build relationships and to find a partner to marry, and to join in marriage without incurring great debt that will cause difficulties for them and their families.  It was great to participate in such a wedding with a young couple in our congregation.

Joycelyn and Michel were married in a simple ceremony in our church building.  We helped with very modest decorations and refreshments.  Joycelyn provided a cake and we celebrated their union together. 

 Here are some of my photos from after the ceremony.

 Lots of church members were there to join in the celebration.

 Like many young Nigerians, Joycelyn and Michel struggle to maintain good employment and it's difficult for them to make ends meet.  But now they are facing their struggles together and they seem to be doing it very joyfully.  And I think that's a very good thing!

The 291st good thing about Lagos: a church Christmas program

I'm still playing catch-up on my blog posts -- still got a ways to go before I'm in 2012, though.  Just a few days after Thanksgiving last November, we were into Christmas in Lagos.  Most expats leave fairly early in December, so if there is celebrating to do here, there is no time to waste.  Because I am among the early December leave-takers, I haven't been around to do much Christmas celebrating here.  But this past year someone scheduled and organized an ecumenical church Christmas program for the Sunday afternoon after Thanksgiving.  I helped her choose music for a choir and we spent some very enjoyable times practicing together.  It's always so fun to sing Christmas music and choir singing is one thing I really have missed while I'm here.  I get back to the States in time to listen to Christmas music programs, but not to sing in them and singing has always been such a big part of my holiday experience.   I don't have any pictures of our little choir (only about 8 voices or so), but we had a nice varied program with narration and a children's  Christmas play in between our music.  The pictures I have are of the Saturday dress rehearsal.  The kids were so cute in costume -- and they were even better in the Sunday performance. 

 Aren't these angels cute?

 The wise men were my favorite, though.  They did some serious gazing through paper telescopes and commenting on the size of that star.

 I've been involved in many of these programs over the years, but I never get tired of them.  There's always some disorganization and lots of cheesiness, but there's a sweetness to the unsophistication of it all and the Christmas spirit descends.

The 288th good thing about Lagos: November times feed the spirit in different ways

In November we returned from our vacation just in time for the first LDS Stake Conference of the new Lagos South Stake.  This new Stake was formed last May, and this was its first conference, which is held biannually.  The Stake Center is at the building in Festac, which can be quite a trip, as the traffic to get there can be difficult.  Also, it's on the mainland, so we have to take special security when we go here.  The building is a regular church-built building, and now that it will be a stake center, the church will add on to make it larger.  They had tents outside for overflow for the weekend conference.

 At the Saturday meeting the choir members had matching scarfs with their white blouses.  And on Sunday, the women had matching blouses and men matching ties.  Quite impressive!

 And there were nice flowers in front of the podium.  I played the organ for the conference -- well, as long as the organ lasted.  It had an electrical failure and they had to bring in a keyboard for me to use after that.  In Nigeria, one must be prepared to improvise.

Conference fed my spiritual side and my spirit was fed another way with a ladies trip to the beach.

 Lisa has been so great to organize regular week-day trips which are a wonderful way to escape the city.  We go on the ExxonMobil boat to the company beach hut.

 The boat ride is so pleasant to get away from the city.  We pass lots of barges where men are diving for sand.  Sometimes they are wearing clothes, sometimes not.

When we are dropped off at the dock, it's a short walk by the village and the school,





 and then we have the day to eat, play games, chat and walk along the beach.

 When we return, we come back revitalized!  Thanks, Lisa, for organizing our beach days!

The 271st good thing about Lagos: A new LDS Stake in Lagos

My regular blog readers know that I am a Mormon, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  My church has many members here in Lagos and it must be growing.   The church has been organized into two Stakes here in Lagos, and last Sunday members of both Stakes gathered for a conference where a third Stake was organized.  (An LDS Stake is like a Catholic diocese -- an administrative unit that consists of a number of congregations which are organized geographically.)

Because the Stake building is full when there is just one stake gathering, we knew it would be stretched to the limit with both stakes in attendance.  The meeting was scheduled to begin at 10, and I heard that people were arriving at 7 AM.  We got there just before 8:30 and the main building was full.

They had set up tents out all over the parking lot with video projections from the podium.  They actually had a good sound system and the video worked.  There were strong fans outside, so actually we ended up being more comfortable outside under the tent than inside the building.  There's no AC in this building, so, with it as packed as it was, it got pretty warm in there.  I don't know why this picture of Brent came out looking so strange -- it's a normal picture, but when I put it into blogger it got all distorted.

We are now members of the new Stake, the Lagos South Stake. 

There were lots of missionaries on hand to hand out pamphlets and answer questions.  When we go to Stake Conference, which is on the mainland, our company requires us to go in the bullet-proof vehicle and with policeman and security detail.  We think this is exercising much more caution than is necessary on a Sunday morning, as the troublemakers are usually sleeping off their Saturday night by then.  But one of our company security guys has come with us before to Stake Conference and, instead of napping in the car with the driver and policemen, he attended the meeting.  He's said before how much he enjoyed our church and after this meeting he had lots of questions and said it was all very interesting.  We told him about how all these new Stake leaders that were put in place had regular jobs and their church responsibilities were taken on as volunteer/lay positions.  They would not receive a salary for their church work.  He thought that was amazing.  There was talk in the meeting about LDS temples and the hope expressed that someday a temple would be built in Lagos.  The security guy asked questions about the temple and said that he thought he would like to join our church so someday he could go to the temple.  So we got his contact information to pass on to the missionaries so he could learn more about it.

We love associating with these Nigerian members of the church.  They have a wonderful spirit and excitement about the gospel.  My American LDS friends may be interested to know that I could almost count on my fingers the number of white people in this gathering of thousands. The reorganization was assisted by two black church authorities, one from Kenya and one from Nigeria.  All the members of Stake presidencies of the three Stakes are black Nigerians.  Though the church may seem awfully white in much of the United States, here it is entirely a different color -- and that's a very great thing!  It was exciting to be here for this evidence of the growth of the LDS Church in Nigeria.

The 246th good thing about Lagos: An opportunity to help a missionary get ready for service

As a Mormon family, we raised our sons with the expectation that when they were 19 years old, they would take a break from their regular life -- college and other activities -- and serve God and the church for 2 years as a missionary.  They weren't forced into this choice, but we were pleased when they decided to serve a mission.  We knew that they would learn many important lessons through this service, about sacrifice, perserverance, and putting God first in their lives. Young Mormon missionaries don't have any choice where they serve, but both our sons were happy when they received their mission calls -- our older son served in the Czech and Slovak republics, and our younger son served in Portugal.  They gained fluency in the languages of these countries and learned to love the people there.   They gained a lot of maturity through their mission experiences and we feel that their mission years were well spent.  The past couple of years we've had the opportunity to play a small part in helping another young man prepare for his missionary service, and we've felt very rewarded, because we know that Ben will also benefit from this time of service.

We got to know Ben a couple of years ago after he moved into our church congregation's area.  As a young teenager, Ben had left his village in southern Nigeria after the death of a parent, when he came to Lagos to try to get a job to help support himself and send some money home to his family.  He had converted to Mormonism in his village, and when he came to Lagos, some church members helped him find jobs and housing.  His other parent died shortly after he moved away, so he felt more strongly about the need to help support his siblings back home.  When we first met Ben, we felt there was something special about him.  Though his life was very difficult, he was a hard worker, always optimistic, always on the lookout for an opportunity to help someone out and always had a nice smile.  Ben had left school very early and we knew that before he could serve a mission, he would need to reach a level where he could pass a high school equivalency test, so we helped him by getting him into a tutoring program he could attend after work.  He had long days with work and school, but the staff of the school always praised Ben and said he was their top student.  Ben loved to learn about new things and enjoyed talking with Brent about government and economics.  When Brent was helping Ben prepare for his equivalency test, we were amazed and worried when we realized how poor his vocabulary was.  He just hadn't had exposure to many things that would expand his vocabulary -- though he is a very intelligent person, his life experience was very limited and, therefore, so was his vocabulary.   Ben was very happy when he completed the preparatory work for his mission and he received his call to serve in the Calabar Nigeria mission.  This is the area that covers his village, so he was excited to possibly return to see some of his relatives again.  Most missionaries from West Africa also serve in West Africa, as it's difficult for missionaries from Western countries to serve in many of these countries.  Ben left in late November for the Missionary Training Center in Ghana.  He was very excited when he received his passport.  His flight to Ghana would be his first time on an airplane.

During Ben's two year mission, the pressure and difficulties he faced in supporting himself will be eased as the church will support him during his service.  Generally Mormon missionaries and their families pay a standardized amount toward their own support during their mission, but most Nigerian missionaries can't contribute much and are largely supported through church funds.  Missionary service will give Ben some time to focus on personal study and giving of himself to others and he'll have relief from the worry about having money for his food and housing.

We helped Ben get some clothes and things he needed to bring on his mission, and also got some help from church friends in Texas, who gave us extra shoes and shirts for Ben.  Ben was always so appreciative for every little bit of help we gave him.  We encouraged and expected him to be self-sufficient with his basic support, but wanted to help him with the extra things he needed to be able to serve a mission.

This last picture is of Ben when we last saw him, just before he left for Ghana.  We were so excited for him to reach this point.  I know he will be a wonderful missionary and that he will gain so much from this experience. Brent and I both feel kind of sad that we likely won't ever see Ben again.  But it's possible that he will be able to email us someday.  When Ben returns from his mission, he will be eligible for the church's Perpetual Education Fund, where he will be able to get a low interest loan for his continuing education so he can better prepare for a career that will improve his position in life. 

We wish Ben the best of luck as he serves his mission and goes on with his life.