Good News On Water

I would love for you to pray for my Dad, Eugene Boggs. He is facing serious difficulty with his health and needs a miracle. I appreciate those of you that take prayer seriously. May God bless you, friends.

Good News On Water

I mentioned one week ago that we had decided to fund the bore-hole for water at Landmark Christ Mission in the city of Ibadan for Pastor Stephen Kuye and his congregation. He told me later that the geologist expects to find water about 100 meters down.

I am happy to say that the well is now fully funded and we will be able to deliver the resources to Pastor Kuye when we travel to Nigeria in less than two weeks. We are so happy to be able to do this for the church and for the Muslim community around them. This should provide an open door for ministry. Hallelujah!

KJo has been working diligently to purchase everything we need and to pack the suitcases properly. It is quite a chore to get everything correct and keep each bag at no more than 50 lbs. Kelly is a pro and I am thankful to have her on my team.

We have one more revival beginning Friday and going through Monday night. When that is concluded, we will drive the bus to the Knoxville, Tennessee area for our flights to Nigeria.

We are slightly excited to return IF you have not noticed. Thank you for praying for us.

Davy

Got 'Em-School Supplies For GoodNews Christian School

Each time we travel to Africa we try to take a suitcase full of school supplies for GoodNews Christian School in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria. Traveling to Nigeria we are allowed two 50 lb suitcases each and we dedicate of of the four to school supplies. 

We have been doing our best to support the school since before it began and this is a fun part of it.

 Here it is, ready to go.

We gave readers a chance to contribute to the school supplies and we appreciate the overwhelming response. We spent about $600 on supplies and we have a few hundred more to give the school to purchase more supplies themselves. We have more money to cover our yearly commitments to the school as well.

KJo and Odie spent several days running to and fro gathering the things we needed and ordered quite a bit from Amazon. I think they were relieved to get everything together.

We will have pictures of our visit to the school when we get to Nigeria. That is always one of the highlights of our trip. Thank you for stopping by.

Davy

Searching For Water In Nigeria

Pastor Stephen Kuye was one of the first men we met on our first visit to Nigeria in 2007. He was with Bro. Shobanke when he came to pick us up at the airport in Lagos.

2009

Pastor Kuye was one of Bro. Shobanke's first converts many, many years ago and he has pastored in the city of Ibadan for decades. We preached a Gospel Crusade for him in 2009 and we have preached in the church several times through the years.

His church is Landmark Christ Mission and is smack dab in the middle of a Muslim neighborhood. He told me several years ago that about 80% of his church are converted Muslims.

2009

2012

2018

We were able to help them with the roof on their new church in 2009 and with other items in later years. It has been a joy to work with Pastor Stephen Kuye and his people through the years and we count him as a dear friend.

We received an email from him yesterday detailing the water situation at the church. This is part of it below.

In the community where we are, there is no drinking water. We always struggle to get water, in particular when the church is preparing for annual camp conference and some other special church program and the struggling is too much. We are praying to get bore-hole water. This bore-hole will cost us $2,000 US dollars.

We decided immediately to take care of this expense for them even if we have to dip into our general operating fund for part of it. It is a small price for us to pay to help them have water. I do not know if the water would be drinkable by our standards, much of the city water in Nigeria is not.

That is among the questions I have asked, but either way, they need water and we can help them do it. I believe the Lord places resources in our hands for things like this because He knows we will pass it along.

The excitement in our hearts is building as our Nigeria trip gets nearer. We can hardly wait. Bro. Shobanke emailed the flyers for the Conference and the Crusade and seeing the flyers amped up the eagerness to go even more.

Thank you for stopping in today.

Davy

Update On Upcoming Nigeria Trip

We are gearing up for our trip to Nigeria soon and we are excited about it. Kelly Jo and Odie have been buying school supplies and hope to wrap all of that up this week. The supplies are fully funded and we are going to have extra funding to give to the school and we are very thankful for that.

Thank you to those of you who had a burden to help the school and contribute to other needs of our brothers and sisters in Nigeria. May God bless you for your kindness and generosity.

Your graciousness and goodwill will not be forgotten. 

-For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister. Hebrews 6:10

Bro. Shobanke has a Minister's Conference scheduled for us the first few days of our trip and an outdoor Gospel Crusade the next week. We will also be preaching a combined service at the main Christ Ambassadors Holiness Church on the first Sunday and at another church in Abeokuta on the second Sunday.

Our place to stay has been reserved and they are waiting for us to arrive. Kelly Jo and I are excited to see our dear friends again in Nigeria and we are expecting the Lord to guide us and help us each step of the way.

Thank you for praying for us concerning this short trip to Nigeria. There is no telling what the Lord will do for His people.

Thank you for stopping by today.

Davy

Ready For Nigeria-Mission Project

Okay, we are ready to go to Nigeria, West Africa! Well, there might be a few hundred things left to do, but two of the biggest things are completed.😍

We now have our travel visas from the Nigerian Consulate in hand and last night we sat down and made the painful airline reservations. Yay!

I described part of the tedious process of applying for the visa a few weeks ago. We overnighted the application and our passports to New York City on a Thursday and the return overnight package arrived in Waynesville, Ohio eight days later. Wow! That is a record for us!

Not only did the Nigerian embassy process them quickly, but they also issued visas valid for 60 months! We always apply for the longest possible visa, but they usually give us 90 day/single use visas.

The longest time available to request this time was one year, but these visas are valid for multiple visits and 60 months. That is amazing. Hopefully, we can go at least three times over the next five years. That will spread the crazy visa costs over three full trips.

That soothes the pain a bit.😂

The flights are more expensive than we have ever paid in the past. These flights are about double our last visit.  That hurts, but we have been watching the prices and expected it. 

However, we have had some very cheap trips over the last 16 years so we are probably still in positive territory. The US and Nigerian governments make $1500 combined between the two tickets so I can not really blame the businesses providing the flights for wanting to make a little money.😒😊

School Supplies

While we are in Tulsa in a couple weeks, Kelly Jo and Odie will make a school supply run. We will use one of our luggage pieces to take 40+ pounds of brand new school supplies to Good News Christian School in Abeokuta, Nigeria.

Pre-Covid we spent $300-500 to purchase the school supplies each trip. I imagine it will require a bit more now, but it is such a joy to help with the school. 

The supplies we take are carefully chosen by Kelly Jo with three things in mind: what is needed, weight and how they travel. Some common school supplies are not suitable for transport or the harsh climate in Nigeria.

We also help each year with salaries and construction projects at the school so we will be taking as much as we can for that too. 

The Christian School in Ellisville, Mississippi has been a major help to us in supporting Good News Christian School the last few years and they are sending a great offering with us this year. Other churches and individuals have helped us prepare to give generously as well. Whatever else comes in will go right in with that.

Many of you have asked about helping with the school and the churches in Nigeria. If you or your church, school, company or organization would like to take on some of this as a mission project, that would be awesome. We will pass it straight to their hands. Please never feel any pressure. There always seems to be plenty.

Please do not send school supplies to us. Because of the logistics and circumstances described above, it is better for us to purchase what is needed, pack it properly and take it as luggage. Any extra money will be given directly to the school leadership to purchase what they need.

We are excited about making the trip, seeing our dear friends and enjoying the presence of the Lord. I am sure we will have more to say about the preparations in the next 60 days.

Thank you for stopping in today.

Davy

Now We Wait!

Now We Wait!

I mentioned Tuesday that we would need to begin the tedious process of the Nigerian Visa application. That very day, I waded into the deep hole and KJo finally dropped the FedEx envelope in the box about 6:15 Wednesday evening. Wow! What an experience!

They have simplified the actual application by about five pages. I do appreciate that, but the website is still incredibly buggy, clunky and slow. We were so happy to get that part finished and paid for Tuesday night, but the journey was only beginning.

After the application is completed for the Nigerian Consulate, then we have to print the application, print the payment receipt AND print the payment acknowledgment slip. 

Payment receipt and payment acknowledgment slip? What is the difference? Who knows!

The proper thing after that is for both of us to make an appointment and travel to the consulate in New York City. We need the printed application, receipt and acknowledgment slip plus our passports, new passport-type photos, proof of flight and hotel reservations, a bank statement and a pocket full of money.

Then we leave all of that in NYC and go back in 8-10 business days and pick up our passports and hopefully the approved visa. Sounds completely simple, right? Yep, easy-peasy! NOT!

Since two trips to NYC are not feasible, we pay a company $240 each to carry the stuff into the consulate for us and pick it up when it is finished. The fee is way higher than it was 16 years ago, but I am sure they earn their money.

We send them all the things above and a big fat check, including more Nigerian government fees and wait a couple weeks for them to do their magic. Once they have the Nigerian visa in hand, they will overnight our passports and visas to us.

Hopefully, we did everything correctly and the applications will sail through and the visas are approved. Then we will work on trying to get the right flights for the right dates and all will be set.

After we are reunited with our people in Nigeria, it will all be worth it. I am looking forward to that!

Thank you for dropping by today.

Davy

More News On Nigeria

More news on Nigeria

Unfortunately, we missed our scheduled trip to Nigeria in 2020. The world took a turn upside down and we were not able to go in November/December 2020.

By early fall 2021, I had only been back on the road a few weeks after being sick with COVID-19. I was still using supplemental Oxygen and could not handle the long trip so we set our sights on late 2022 for our Nigeria trip.

2022 did not work because of Nigerian Visa problems. It is best to apply for our Nigerian Visa about 90 days before the trip so in July of 2022, I began to check on the Visas. I found that the Nigerian Consulate had temporarily stopped Visas for US citizens and would begin shortly.

By October they had gone through about four different reasons why they could not process Visas, but they were still not issuing them. I have to send my actual passport with the application and I needed my passport for travel in November so we finally called off the trip.

We were all disappointed, but there was nothing to be done. We shifted to planning for 2023. That has been the strategy all year.

With Bro. Shobanke in the US, sick and unable to travel home, we did not know if we should proceed or not. I told you yesterday that he was able to travel home and we are praising God.

As I visited with him the day he left, he plainly told me that he wanted us to come to Nigeria this year. He made me assure him that even if he passed away tomorrow I would do my best to go to his people in Nigeria.

I promised him that if we can obtain Visas and his people will allow us to come, we will certainly do our best to keep our commitment to him.

So, by God's grace and help, KJo and I plan to leave for Nigeria, West Africa in the last few days of November for about two weeks. If all goes as planned we will preach to all of Christ Ambassadors churches on the first Sunday along with a Minister's Conference and an outdoor Gospel Crusade while we are there.

We are now beginning the tedious process of the Nigerian Visa application. It has always been incredibly complicated and also expensive in the past. I will let you know if anything has changed.😊

KJo and I are concerned about my ability to make the trip physically as well so we would appreciate if you would speak to God for us. Would you pray for us through the whole process beginning now? Thank you very much.

AND thank you for joining us for a few hours today.

Davy

GoodNews Christian School - Expanding Again

We are happy to report that GoodNews Christian School is expanding again!

There is a constant need for more classroom space at GoodNews Christian School in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria. Some of you helped us build a new two-story building a few years ago on the last available piece of land on the property.

This building started as a single-story structure with two rooms and now it is two floors and at least six rooms. It was completed in 2020 and early 2021. They knew it only temporarily solved the problem, but it was the best that could be done.

One of the couples that run the school lived in a very small house on the property. They soon moved to a rented place off-campus and the house was used for classrooms.

Now, the house is being pulled down, the foundation is being beefed up and a three-story building is being built in its place. This picture was taken inside the house in 2016.

We have tried to help financially with every building at GoodNews Christian School and we are going to help with this one by God's grace. You are welcome to join in on the fun, if you like. Make sure we know the contribution is for the school in Africa and absolutely every cent will go directly toward the construction.

We love these people and we love these children. God has placed them in our lives and we are thankful for that. IF everything works correctly, we plan to see them face to face in December with God's help.

Thank you for reading today.

Davy

New Windows and New Paint

Hello, everyone!  I hope all is well today. We are doing great, by God's grace. Thank you for the feedback on the video posted yesterday. I appreciate it much. 

One of the things we have purposed to do as a family and ministry is to support missions as much as possible. I mentioned in the video that we have been traveling to and supporting the work of Bro. Shobanke, Christ Ambassadors Holiness Church and the GoodNews Christian School in Nigeria.

While I was busy posting the video, I received an email from Bro. Shobanke concerning a good dose of money we were able to send to them in early June. It used to be impossible to wire money reliably to Nigeria, but now we can send an international wire straight from our ministry account to their bank in Abeokuta.

We have done it numerous times over the last two+ years in increasing amounts and we have not lost a cent. It costs us $60 for each international wire so we try to send a worthwhile amount each time.

Some of the money the last two times has been sent specifically for the main church and Bro. Shobanke mentions in his email how it was spent and expressed his gratitude. He also attached pictures of the new windows and paint on the prayer tower. 

I am including the pictures in this Mile Marker. It is beautiful! If you have ever contributed one dollar to Boggs Family Ministries, the sincere thank you from Nigeria belongs to you.

Thank you for dropping by.

Davy

Below is the email from Bro. Shobanke. I have removed the personal remarks.

From: Pastor E. Ade Shobanke

To: Evang. Davy Boggs

Dear Evang. Boggs,

Calvary greetings to you in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, I received the money you sent with thanks and I gave to everyone as instructed and they were all appreciative.

The money you sent to our main church was used to paint our prayer tower. The windows of the prayer tower were fixed in December with the money you sent to our main church in December.

We are indeed grateful and appreciate you and your ministry for being a great blessing to the work which the Lord has entrusted unto our care in Nigeria.  You are indeed a great partner with us in the ministry.

The money you sent has indeed added great beauty to the prayer tower, to God be the glory. I attached the pictures of the painted prayer tower.

We are all praying for you and your ministry. Thank and God bless you.

Pastor E. Ade Shobanke