Post from Christian Asgill

Dear Brethren: We owe gratitude to the Almighty God through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for the Great Work He has allowed us to do during the last fifteen days. We, (Theophilus and myself) have seen our brethren: Steve Niemeier, Mitch Johnson, Connie Niemeier and Cindy Hill off at the Pelican Water taxi terminal for a trip to Lungi airport as they journey home. Collectively, we had labored for the past days teaching in the morning and evening of every week day and a long session starting 9:30 am to 3:00 pm on Saturdays. The turnout had been impressive with willing minds ready to study the unperverted Word of God. To His glory, while we planted and watered, He caused an increase as twelve souls responded to His command and submitted in baptism. GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME!!! The visiting brethren had been an encouragement to all here especially at Priscilla Street and we thank God for their lives especially our sisters: Connie and Cindy who demonstrated how excited they were in teaching fellow sisters and the children. MAY THEY ALL BE BLESSED A HUNDREDFOLD!!! Amidst the blessed time time that we were having, satan showed up in the form of an attack on the soldiers of Christ, but since our Lord leads in the battle, an accident that would have been otherwise ended in a manner demonstrating that He is always with us, The regular driver was absent and Moses, a one time driver of Steve and company offered to assist though he was not well. As they moved, he kept off the lane downhill and smashed into a pole causing a halt. Our brethren came out unhurt except for the shock and trauma. I zoomed to the scene from across town and caught up with the brethren at the hotel as staff from Kona Lodge had responded swiftly. We prayed a prayer of thanksgiving to God for all He did. Nontheless, we resumed teaching the next morning with the brethren all set to save souls! Brethren, let us be united in prayers for journey mercies so that they can reunite with their families and saints of God. May the Almighty God bless us all as we strive to expand and maintain the Kingdom of His Dear Son, our Savior Jesus Christ! In Him, Christian

Day 14

Today was our last full day of teaching on this trip. We went to the Crown Bakery for a quick breakfast – we have become pretty close to Fadi who has roots back to Belize but was born here in Sierra Leone. His father started Crown Bakery 22 years ago and Fadi now manages the one we go to downtown and they have opened another one on the west side of town – he has a brother who runs that one. Hannah who has been our waitress for the duration since we first went there on the very first trip in 2009 took care of us each time we were there. In fact on the first day we walked in she just ran up and hugged me and said “it is good to see you Steve” she was glad to meet my wife and Cindy and Mitch. We are thankful that we had the Crown Bakery on this trip – we had our final “lupper” there this afternoon and told Fadi and Hannah goodbye. The day sessions today were very tough – the last classes with the children left Connie and Cindy sad and the children just held on to them and would not let them go – the children cried – Connie and Cindy had tears in their eyes – very emotional. In the last class I had for the older children we tried to stay upbeat – they participated well – I kept my sunglasses on – no need to tell you why! Then Mitch and I moved on to the hall – the students were back again and we had some great discussions – Mitch taught about eternity and I explained to them about Ephesus in Acts 19 describing the city like I did yesterday about Acts 17 and Paul at Athens. The trip to Turkey and Greece earlier this year proved to be great tool to explain these and other scriptures more clearly – they all listed to Mitch’s lesson and mine very intensely. During the teaching one of the women Mary Tu who has been attending the studies made it know that she wanted to obey the gospel. Christian took her confession and off to be baptized at Priscilla Street they went. We kept teaching and then they returned and we had prayer. Then off to Crown Bakery as I mentioned for our final “lupper” of this trip. Then on to the hotel for final packing and preparing the things that we will be leaving here for the brethren. All of us will be leaving articles of clothing – the 325 story boards that the ladies spent hours preparing will be left for use of teaching the children – Mitch and I each are leaving the notebooks containing our outlines and power point lessons and the flash drives that we loaded for the teachers over here to use. We also left shoes as some needed them – we have left songbooks – tracts – Bibles – and our luggage has gone from 11 pierces plus four carry-ons to four pieces of luggage and the carry ons. We will not sleep much tonight as all are keyed up about catching the water taxi early in the morning and the chaotic venture through the Lungi Airport. We will leave the hotel at 6:45 A.M. and the plane leaves at 11:35 A.M. We are to arrive in London early tomorrow night. We will then catch some much needed rest in London. We all saved our personal money for several months so we could have some time in London at the British Library and British Museum to visit the many Biblical artifacts that are in both of these places. I can tell you that this group is tired and yet so thankful for the opportunity to come and teach and then to have time to learn ourselves more about the artifacts that just confirm the places written about in the Bible. We all want to thank you for your prayers and your financial contributions to this trip. 12 precious souls have been immersed into Christ – the brethren at Priscilla Street are starting a new convert’s class that will be meeting Friday night at 6:30 pm and Tuesday evening at 6:30 pm. They have invited anyone who has been baptized in the last 5 years the brethren here seemed to have been strengthened and many have been taught the un-perverted word of God. Tonight they prayed that we would not forsake them or leave them – they are learning and need more teaching. A touching farewell to us! Tears flowed – children hanging on tonight to all of us – our brethren tired but sad – we left them with uplifting lessons from Acts 27 and I Corinthians 15 – we encouraged them to keep working and their work would not be in vain if they stayed steadfast. Thank you for following the blog – after resting and thinking about this trip with a fresh mind I will post a summary of the trip – please give me about 10 days or so to do that. God is good! All the time! Today was not an exception! May God Bless You!

Day 13

Well after the eventful evening we had yesterday today we hoped would be more of a normal day of teaching. We are glad to report it was! A quick breakfast at Crown Bakery – then to Priscilla Street for the children’s classes and then to the hall for the adult teaching. Today’s teaching was some of the best classes that we have had. We had the students back of Solomon’s. They listened well as Mitch taught about prayer and I taught about false teaching using Acts 17 as the bases. During the teaching two – Moses who is the son of Solomon – about 18 years old went out to talk with Christian – then they came back in – we stopped – Moses made the good confession – while he was ready to make the good confession Francis a young 19 year old who has been at all of our classes and stated he was a teacher at the Temple of Faith where his father was a “pastor”. Francis stated he also wanted to be baptized – his confession was taken and then off to Priscilla Street for the baptisms – Mitch and Christian went with them and Tejan baptized them while Theophilus stayed with me and we continued the teaching. Then on to Crown Bakery for a quick lunch – back to the hotel for an hour of rest and then a safe return to Priscilla Street for the night sessions. Mitch had a lesson on the church at Thessalonica – and one on the worship of the church – I had one on what we find in Christ if we obey Him – and the third part of why Satan wants to kill the Priscilla Street congregation and what he uses to do so. The ladies have taught the children and the ladies and you can tell the children have learned so much – the ladies have just performed wonderfully. Mitch has taught very good lessons about prayer and about congregations of the N T and about the Lord’s church. This has been a good teaching trip – also one with some exciting events – and one where the Lord has provided increase of 11 souls – all of them it seems are solid as they have either friends or family at the Priscilla Street congregation except for two. Tomorrow will be our last full day of teaching – we are tired – throats are sore –but so are our great brethren here at Priscilla Street. We had a good crowd tonight and they are wanting to do what the Lord wants them to do. God is good! All the time! Today – not an exception!

Day 12

Today started as any other day – off to Crown Bakery for a quick breakfast – however traffic was very heavy so it took twice as long to get there – some of us are struggling with the normal stomach issues that occur when Americans come to teach over in Freetown. After the quick breakfast on to Priscilla Street and the hall for the teaching. The fifteen students did come to the study at the hall and we taught them what they needed to know to obey the gospel and benefits such as prayer and peace if they are children of God. The ladies had good classes with the children. After our break Christian taught a very good lesson on Barnabas. It was a good day session of teaching. John Kabul and his wife did come to the morning session – he is frail – he is suffering from Asthma and the good news is he is still faithful but many hindrances have happened to him and he is meeting with his wife and 4 other members in his home – he remembered that some of the N T congregations met in homes – especially because of persecution – he has suffered persecution that I will deal with in the closing blog of this trip but not spend time now in doing so. After the session we went to Crown Bakery for our “lupper” - then on to the Kona Lodge to catch a quick hour of rest before the teaching for the evening sessions at Priscilla Street. Well, folks we never made it to Priscilla Street. Now – WE ARE ALL OKAY AND NOT HURT IN ANY WAY – our normal driver U K was not here when we were ready to go – so Moses – who had driven for us in 2011 was going to drive us – however the vehicle we have been riding in is a right hand drive vehicle. He just did not seem comfortable in handling the vehicle – as we left he kept going over to the right side of the road – it seemed he could not judge what he was doing – as we were in Tengbehtown going down a hill – he just could not get his bearings – he panicked – thought he was hitting the brakes and actually hit the accelerator and then pushed in on the clutch and would let it out and just panicked – heading right the whole time – I tried to get the gear shift into neutral and fortunately we did get it out of gear – however we sideswiped a truck and then hit a phone pole – the pole bent double and we finally came to a stop – Moses hurt his shoulder – but he was loose headed – he had some type of confusion to hit him – he is a good man but something happened to him. Mitch, Connie and Cindy were in the backseat of the SUV – all okay – just shook up – I was in the front seat – okay – AGAIN WE ARE ALL OKAY – JUST A LITTLE SHAKEN UP – Tengbehtown is not a good place to have an accident – we were immediately surrounded but God was with us and I told one of the first ones there we were Bible teachers – he made that known to others – Mitch took a group of those surrounding us and faked a leg injury to get their sympathy – I took another group and talked with them about that we had two ladies (who we kept in the vehicle) that were upset and Moses our driver was not well – we called Christian – and the Kona Lodge – within minutes Kona Lodge sent a whole force of people including the owner – then Christian came and I do not know how he got there so quick – but he was at the Kona Lodge when we arrived. When we arrived back at the lodge the wife of the owner met us – apologized – all the workers were out front – they apologized – the owner then came back and he apologized again – they could not have been nicer – It was decided that we should not teach tonight as our S L brethren were shook up also. AGAIN – WE ARE OKAY – WE WERE FORTUNATE THAT WE HIT THE POLE AND SLOWED DOWN AND WERE ABLE TO TURN THE VEHICLE OFF AND TAKE THE KEYS – our poor driver Moses was so disoriented. We folks that was our day – a little different than we thought it would be but at the end of the day we can still say – GOD IS GOOD! ALL THE TIME! TODAY – HE REALLY WAS GOOD TO US!

Day 11

After yesterday we were very tired – especially Mitch and I. The ladies are holding up fine – however the men have been dealing a lot with some pretty heavy teaching and question and answer sessions pertaining to the eldership as well as spiritual gifts and church finances. We of course are here just to teach and the brethren at Priscilla Street asked us to teach on eldership and church finances among other subjects. We have been doing that and doing it in a teaching way – allowing many questions and answers and comments. For those who teach you know that this can be the most challenging and yet the most beneficial for the students if done right. During the teaching yesterday morning it was stated that there were some who had objections against the men whose names were submitted for elders. As a result of this I believe I mentioned in yesterday’s blog about Tejan removing his name as he was told he was not fully capable of being apt to teach. He is very capable of teaching – he stepped down to avoid any conflict in the congregation. As a result of two individuals stating they had scriptural objections we asked them to write them down so the remaining two candidates could respond to them. They did this but did not talk with the candidates – they gave those objections to Mitch and I myself – we immediately just handed them over to Christian and then to Theophilus. After a sleepless night by both of them and some very long conversations with their spouses they were looking at what they should do. In talking with them it was decided that at this time they might remove their names (even though the objections proved to be unfounded as we will explain later in this blog). We started today with just a piece of toast for most of the group – I had nothing as the S L revenge that had a hold of Mitch earlier now found a willing candidate in me during the night. However, I was able to go and teach the Bible Class and worship and I am so glad I was. The Bible Study period for the ladies and children was very profitable as we understand. The ladies have been teaching the children and the ladies that they should love one another – this is not something shown in S L. No one trusts anyone including their brothers and sisters in Christ. However, that is now changing – to God be the glory on that! The men’s class was on relationship and trust – with God – Christ – apostles teaching and with our brothers and sisters. We tied that in to church finances and how we should trust one another and the ones that are keeping the finances and one keeping the finances should be responsible to all for record keeping. I used our wonderful deacon at Greenwood – Jeff Hendricks as an example of how to do the job. The worship service was very emotional – Mitch did a great job with a lesson about Peter and his transformation to a great apostle. Three young folks – around 15 to 15 came forward – one was Christian Asgill’s son. One young lady and two young men – all having ties with the congregation at Priscilla Street – bringing the total to 9 baptisms on this trip and all but one had ties (knew someone) at Priscilla Street – the one that did not is a jewel so far – Solomon who came because of the DVD’s. What a great experience – BUT God was not done showing us His power as of yet. First, Christian came and stated for the sake of the congregation at this time he was removing his name from being considered for the eldership – he no sooner than sit down than here came Theophilus with a statement centered on the song “Angry Words” and stated he loved the Lord and the congregation at Priscilla Street and was removing his name. They both stated that after a period of time they would like to study the subject again and move forward with appointing elders. About the time we were going to have prayer for their good hearts one of the young brothers who had made the objections against them came up front and stated he needed to make a confession of sin – he stated that he had gotten angry and caught up in the movement of not having elders and he had sinned and actually had no scriptural objections against either one of the men! He had tears flowing down his cheeks. We then prayed for all of them. This subject of elders will come back up in a more peaceful way in the future because of the teaching done on this trip about love and taking in the whole context of the scriptures and that an elder is not a perfect man and he may have been a sinner many years ago but was now a man who could meet the qualifications. WHAT A SERVICE! Unfortunately for the other three who are able to eat the Crown Bakery is closed today – we stopped by the store for more water AGAIN! Then to the hotel and they ate French fries and rice – then it was time to rest and all need rest – we have more days of long teaching ahead of us – tomorrow 15 older students from a school will be coming to our teaching at the hall. Also, more teaching the children and there is one young man – Daniel – age 10 that has won the hearts of all three of us – his parents are Baptist and yet he comes to all our services by himself and has questions – he is one of the smartest 10 year olds we have ever met – must stop on him as tears flow when I think what he will go through in his life. God is good! All the time! Today was outstanding!!!!

Day Ten

The day started like most days – up early – then a quick breakfast at Crown Bakery – then to Priscilla Street for our teaching. Today we started with the general teaching on elders where all the congregation could be a part of the class. It was a very intense session with many questions and answers. During the study one of the men whose name was put up for an elder made a statement that he needed to remove his name as he needed more time to prepare himself in the area of “Apt to teach”. This man can teach and has led others to Christ – he wants to learn more about how to convince the gainsayers. We had prayer for him – he has a great heart and set a tremendous example. It was very hot in the building and Mitch and I both were answering questions and teaching – we had a bed sheet chart up with all the qualifications and we wrote on the board to explain things. Whether elders or appointed is not up to us – we are just here to teach the Bible and in so doing we are trying to address issues about elders and their work and qualifications. Then we moved on to the hall for the men’s class and the ladies conducted the ladies classes at Priscilla Street. We taught the men a lesson from Acts 3 and 4. The ladies had more ladies than we did men and they had a great class going. We then went to Crown Bakery for our “lupper”. Then on to the hotel for some much needed rest. I have not mentioned this before but when we go to the Crown Bakery a man we call “the running man” runs down the road and clears traffic for us. He is very poor but he is such a pleasure to watch and enjoy – he has a big smile with not many teeth – we enjoy giving him a few Leones for his service – in return today he gave us a deck of coca-cola cards. He must have run 2 miles with us – that uplifted all of us. We definitely have a friend in the running man. Also, our driver is one we call U K – he is a very good driver and watches out for us. He is always on time and makes sure all is okay with us – all of us really like him. The hotel – Kona Lodge – is much closer to Priscilla Street than the Lighthouse – the restaurant is not as good but adequate – however, we are only 15 minutes from the Crown Bakery and that has helped. The staff here at the Kona is great – they have all gotten to know us and take care of us. We are tired! The intense schedule – the heat – the questions and answers have taken their toll. Connie and Cindy are hanging in there – Mitch and I both are having some voice issues but that is to be expected. We will make it to the end but we will be more than “wet dish towels” when we get on the plane to leave. Tomorrow we go to services and teach at Priscilla Street – then a little more rest. Monday – Solomon who just obeyed the gospel and who teaches at a school is bringing his 15 students to our teaching – he said “now that I am saved – they should be too!” We are excited about this opportunity. For all of those who have been keeping up with the John Kabul mystery – Augustine spent a lot of time and found him – I talked with John Kabul today and he promised he would come and see me on Monday. I do not know where he has been or what he has been doing – hopefully Monday I will learn more. God is good! All the time! Today was not an exception!

Day Nine

No Crown Bakery for breakfast today – a quick piece of toast with peanut butter and away we went to Priscilla Street to teach the children – Connie and Cindy downstairs with the small children first and then Mitch and I stay upstairs with the older children. Mitch spends this time talking with Theophilus about the work of the Lord in S L and I spend the few minutes in teaching the older children facts about the Bible. So far we have taught them about 12 writers of the Bible and what they did such as tentmaking – fishing, etc. They are so smart and so quick to learn. Also, we have taught them how to say “I love you” by touching your eye – crossing your arms across the chest and pointing at the individual or individuals you are talking with. They have taught this to the older members of the congregation in the evenings. Connie and Cindy are teaching kids but the kids are teaching them new songs also. It is great! The teaching at the hall was the best we have been able to do on this trip. The crown was very receptive with several non-members of the church attending and Mitch was on his game – I just tried to stay out of the way. We taught short lessons that they could remember and we taught several of them so they were able to learn many things in short and quick lessons. We then had a very good question and answer period – one older lady who is a non-member asked some great questions on the Holy Spirit and Solomon who obeyed the gospel last week (the one who saw our DVD’s) is asking some really good questions – he wants to learn so fast and quick – this is really encouraging to all. We then made a quick visit to Crown Bakery for our “lupper” and then to Mono Prix the store for some items for us and the church – we purchased them grape juice – it is so expensive for them yet they do not complain. We just wanted to help – they are so appreciative. Then a quick stop at the hotel to catch our breath and then on to the teaching for the evening sessions at Priscilla Street. Mitch taught tonight about the congregation at Ephesus and then his second lesson was on the work of the church. I followed with both parts of a lesson from an old bedsheet chart about the “Apostacy, Reformation and Restoration”. The audience was very attentive for the three hour session. We did have a surprise guest – a reverend in the Pentecostal church who is the national chaplain for the opposing political party running against the incumbent president. He stayed all the way until we got into the instrumental music question – that was about all he could take. After the studies a young lady came and asked Mitch for some passages to help her teach a Seventh Day Adventist friend. Mitch will take her some scriptures to assist her. During the study a young lady came forward – she is the daughter of one of the members at Priscilla Street – she wanted to be baptized – our new sister in Christ – Cecilia French. This is the sixth baptism and all of them have great potential to grow – all of them except Solomon had ties with members at Priscilla Street – Solomon found us through the DVD’s – he has been to every service since obeying the gospel and has taken so many notes of the lessons it is almost mind boggling. Tomorrow – a full day again – three hour study on the elders with the whole congregation – then the break out men and women classes. We are all tired – I can honestly say that this team is using all the energy they can “muster” each day and at night they are well spent. God is good! All the time! Today was a special blessing from Him!

Day Eight

Another day in Sierra Leone! Off to Crown Bakery for a breakfast – then to Priscilla Street for the children’s classes – Connie and Cindy have about 50 age 3-5 in a very confined space – then about 25 8 – 12 year olds after that. I am really enjoying teaching the older group for about 15 to 20 minutes before we leave for the hall – we are working on the writes of the Bible - who they were and something about each one of them so it will make it easier for them to learn – they are sponges! Also, some of them are coming to our evening services – some of them walk in the dark by themselves – they sing – listen – AND BEHAVE! There is the switch that is held by one of the men or women in case some of the smaller ones misbehave. This morning Mitch had a very good lesson on The Prophecies Concerning the N T Church. We are hitting this over and over to get the point across – we have some who are struggling to understand this and we are here to teach – so we go over and over things such as this. Then we talked about Christ – we gave them two more points about Christ and His name – He makes supplication – He was serving – we apply this then to our lives. Then the questions started and our charismatic friend was back and we had a very long discussion on spiritual gifts – it was intense but needed. Then to Crown Bakery for a quick “lupper” – on to the hotel for about an hour and then back to Priscilla Street for the evening/night sessions. Tonight a very long lesson on Drinking is what I presented – Sierra Leone is no different than the USA – a lot of folks drink – the full house took many notes as we went into great detail about Biblical wines. Then we talked about point number 2 of Why Satan Wants to Kill This Church – part of the “Reviving a Congregation Series”. Then more questions and answers. Then to the hotel just before the rain cut loose! It has rained about every night. Our good brethren here are tired – they are such troopers over here – they keep on coming and smiling. We are having a number of non-Christians at every study – the five who were baptized are attending regularly. Solomon – one of those baptized is asking questions and questions – it is so good as he is learning and learning! It is the middle of the trip – the teachers are tired! They are not giving up but you can see in their faces the tiredness – I am tired and I have done this several times. We pray for the second wind tomorrow as we have several more long days of teaching ahead of us. God is good! All the time! Today was another day of proof of that!