On Tuesday afternoon, the 17 th of May, we were strolling through Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, and wound up at the Tourist Information desk to ask whether the tulips were still in bloom this late in the season. The answer was, of course, “No,” but we ended up in a rather enjoyable conversation nonetheless with the two beautiful young ladies who worked at the counter. Before the conversation ended, we were asked whether we were adventurous Americans travelling all over Europe or what. To which we answered, “No, we are on our way to Nigeria.” Their faces were puzzled, and after they looked at each other for a moment, they asked us, “What do you do in Nigeria?” My answer was, “I am a missionary.” To my amazement, the next question was, “What is a missionary?” What is even more amazing to me, is that I get asked this question over and over again. Sometimes, even by church folks. I thought everyone had some sort of mental picture in their mind when they thought of the word “missionary,...

Everyone loves missionary stories, right! Before our trip even began, we were already biting our nails. As we reported in our last two newsletters, the Nigerian government has changed the process for visa applications, and confusing doesn’t even begin to describe the new process. Jennifer and I had to resubmit ours a second time for processing, but we finally received them at 12:30 on Saturday afternoon before our departure on Monday. Mark, on the other hand, is on his third submission and still waiting for his to be approved. On our way to the Orlando airport on Monday afternoon, Delta called to tell us that our flight to JFK had been delayed ½ hour (sound familiar, all you David Smoot Facebook friends?). That’s the only similarity we share. Our flight really was delayed. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time, even without any flight delay. The Skycap took our luggage to his counter and began to check us in. Now, enter the problem.   The details of the story are long a...

For all you blogger junkies out there, and for all you folks who just like up-to-the-minute reports on what’s going on in the world, we’re going to try something new while we’re on this trip! Provided that we have internet access, we are going to post a new blog every few days giving you a quick view of the trip, complete with photos and video clips! Most of the blog posts will be about ministry time, but we may even post a few about the joys and fun of travelling as well. You’ll see a new “itorch report” like the one above, with one of our pictures next to it with each new post from the field. We invite you to "follow us" and be sure to subscribe (over there on the right) to get the latest updates! Because there are over 4.4 billion people in the world who still need Jesus, we remain Yours in missions, Leadership Training International

It’s Saturday, May 14th. Jennifer and I are wrapping up everything that must be done before we begin our journey to Nigeria on Monday, the 16th, and this early-sequence newsletter is one of those things. We’re sending it out early because it has information you need to know about while we are gone, and we won’t be home to send it at the regularly scheduled time. ABOUT THE TRIP Six of us are going on this trip – our Associate Missionaries Larry Koontz and David Smoot, Glenn Beiersdorfer (a member of our home church who will be travelling with David), Mark, Jennifer and I – and all of us are excited to be going. As you know, Nigeria has gone through two years of terrible strife and bloodshed, but things have settled down with the election of their new President. We are so thankful for this improved situation in the country. Now it’s time for the country to heal and repair itself. We believe God is going to use us to help this process along as we minister in our various venues. By t...

Greetings from the beautiful, sunny North! Huh, big surprise, the “new, improved” visa process turned into a major ordeal, but I (Mark) should have my visa back in time for departure on Saturday. And everybody said....  AMEN! During this trip, I will be ministering in several venues around the Jos area. My itinerary is as follows: May 23: Arrive in Abuja May 24-26: Ministry in Fobur, East Jos May 27-29: Conference in Jos (this is a new venue) June 1-5: Outreach in Rayfield June 5-7: Followup in Fobur June 8: Depart Abuja Wow, God has really blessed me with a full ministry schedule. Please, pray that the Father shows up in power, and that I hear and share His heart, what He is saying and doing in the moment. I’ll try and update from the field on our blog. Thanks again for all you give to make this happen. Yours for the Kingdom, Mark and Julie Fellowship with God leads straight to obedience and good works. This is the divine order and it can never be reversed. A....

Greetings from the beautiful, thawed out North! Wow, time flies! This trip is only 3 weeks away, and it seems like just last week we were still wondering when I (Mark) could go. Now comes “crunch time,” the scramble to get visas, itinerary, etc. done as soon as possible. And now the excitement, the anticipation, of another adventure with Jesus builds. This is when you begin to wonder what the Father is going to do, how is He going to “show up,” what kind of fruit will be born of this? Now is when you put the finishing touches on messages, prayerfully hopeful that what you bring is from the heart of the Father. Expectations are laid on the alter, in exchange for trusting Jesus to do what He wills. This trip is stirring more hope, more anticipation, more faith than in the past. Part of this may be that I just got back from visiting Bethel Church in Redding, CA. What a blessing to be in that atmosphere! I believe that I’ll be taking to Nigeria some of what God gave me at Bethel. A...

Last month, we put out “A Call to Prayer,” asking you to please keep Nigeria in your prayers as they began to maneuver through 4 long weeks of elections, with the most critical of all the elections being that of their President. Praise God, I am happy to report that by and large, these were the most peaceful and secure elections that Nigeria has experienced since they returned to democratic rule in 1999. But, they were by no means “violence proof.” Several major riots broke out in some of the Northern States, including Bauchi and Kaduna which border Plateau. Maidugari, located in Borno State (and where our Associate Missionary, Rev. Larry Koontz, has worked among the Kanuri tribe doing medical missions for the last 15 years), has also had its share of outbreaks. Nevertheless, all is relatively calm, especially in Jos. Thank you all so much for your prayers. 23rd ANNUAL LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE I had wanted to wait until the elections were over to be sure that the situation there cou...