11/17/2016
Hello Friends & Family! I'm back on U.S. soil, safe and sound and very grateful for the Lord's blessings! I'm dealing with some serious jet lag, but I hope that by Sunday, I will be back on track and able to make it out to the House of Worship on time. My Pastor (Pastor Michael Page) is a stickler for being on time and he's not cutting me much slack... even when I play the "Mommy" card or the "Widow" card!
I'm only slightly confused about the time. I think I slept somewhere between 24 and 30 hours! I stayed up until around 3am, my first night home, which was high noon in Africa! I was wired for sound and ready to go. I finally made myself go to bed. By the next afternoon, I was sleeping soundly when my grandson, Taylor, called me about picking up him and his brother, Lawrence, from school. (I had sincerely promised to do so when I first got back.) Anyway, the phone rang and somehow I grabbed it but couldn't figure out why he was calling me at 2:40 in the morning about a ride from school! He politely explained that he had already been to school, was out and ready to do our Grandma/Grandson thing at 7-11 and our local Pizza Joint! I mumbled something unintelligible and thankfully, he hung up. When I woke up the next time it was dark and I didn't know what day it was or what time it was or where I was. To further complicate things, I hadn't set my clocks back before I left because I stayed the night at my daughter and son-in-law's home and left for the airport at 4am on that Sunday. So the clocks were playing tricks on me, too. I did the only thing I could do. I rolled over and went back to sleep again.
My trip over to West Africa was extended by 20+ hours due to a delay of and hour and a half in Chicago, which caused us passengers bound for Abuja, to miss our flight out of Germany. After a day in Germany and re-routing to London and a another day there, I finally got to Nigeria after 50 hours of travel, including two nights of sleeping (or trying to sleep) on the plane!
Despite numerous setbacks, I was bound and determined to get to the Motherland no matter what. I had sent half of the books on to the Pentecost Festival with Bishop Joe Ichull and I had the other half in my suitcases. The conference opened on Monday, but I didn't arrive in Africa until Tuesday afternoon, even though I left the United States on Sunday! I should have been there on Monday.
I was picked up by two fine young men who were holding a big sign with my name on it! I was pretty sure that it was ok to get in the car with them! Bishop Joe had told me who would be there. After a 6-hour "road trip" over some of the roughest terrain imaginable, we arrived at the hotel and I was grateful to see a big, clean bed and air conditioning that worked .... whenever the electricity was on! I got a couple hours of rest and they were back to pick me up for service!
That pick-up started, what would become a grueling, three-times a day ministry schedule to several hundred people, including pastors and members from the Bush Country and the city. Services were held at 9am, 2pm and 6pm. I was blessed to teach End Times Prophecy at each one and get through the Book of Revelation in 3 days for a total of 8 sessions.
The people received the Word with gladness and it was awesome and unique to bring such a specific message through the use of an interpreter! I learned later that the church had mounted 8 speakers up on the roof and were blasting the service to the surrounding community! The neighbors wanted to know who was that person from America, (I guess my accent gave me away), that was speaking. They wanted to know if she could stay a month and speak! It was phenomenal and I was humbled to be used of God. I give God praise for His plan for the Last Days and for making me a part of it. More details, comments and updates to follow.
Shalom!
Evangelist Mary Page
P.S. Gotta go now because my clock says it's 4:40am! Hopefully, I'll wake up before tomorrow night! :)
