To Nigeria With Love

December 6, 2010
Kasham
“Hi, Mike, can I ask you something?”
Our neighbor John Gill stood at our back
door. “Sure, come in.”
“Deborah just rang from down at Spring of
Life and says they have a baby that needs a
place to stay. Would you and Barb be inter-
ested?”
John and Deborah, from New Zealand, are
the new SIM hostel parents next door. Deborah
has been working at the Spring of Life HIV cen-
ter at Evangel Hospital.
“Great!” I said, “Barb has just been waiting
and waiting for a baby!”
“Really? I never thought it would be so easy
to get this baby placed.”
So Kasham came into our
lives, not quite two
months old. As the story
was eventually pieced
together, her mother died
a few days earlier and her
father had died some
months ago. They left be-
hind Kasham and two other children as HIV
orphans. The grandmother and other relatives
have very little themselves. The two older chil-
dren have been sent back to their village to live,
but there simply weren’t the resources to take
care of a tiny baby.
Kasham has been fun and pleasant to care
for, the perfect baby. We are still waiting to find
out whether she herself is infected with HIV,
since the hospital had run out of the needed
tests. Her extended family should decide in the
next few weeks whether they will allow her to
be adopted by a Nigerian family, or will take
her themselves
Peacemaking
I mentioned in the
last letter that I was
helping write a Bible
study curriculum on
peacemaking. As we
got deeper into the
issue, we saw the
need to include a
deeper foundation
for what it means to
be a disciple of Jesus
and a member of the family of God. Unless we
understand that our being “in Christ” overrides
all other parts of our identity, ethnic strife will
continue. Unless we understand that being a
Christian means obeying Christ, not just claim-
ing some beliefs, some may continue to em-
brace hatred and violence.
• Is it right to keep weapons at home for de-
fense? To keep them in churches?
• What did Jesus mean when he said “if you
don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy
one”? How does that relate to “turn the other
cheek”?
• If justice and peacekeeping are the responsi-
bilities of government, what should we do
when the government is unable or unwilling
to do those things?

Mike & Barb Blyth y Serving in Mission (SIM) SIM USA Saralynn & David Nege: saralynnng@hotmail.com
PMB 2009, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria P.O. Box 7900 Jonathan & Lori Blyth: squidblyth@gmail.com
mike.blyth@sim.org y mikeblyth.blogspot.com Charlotte, NC 28241 contrachapado@gmail.com
Phone +234.816.252.2097 y Skype: MikeBlyth www.simusa.org Steve & Lisa Gertz: lisagertz@gmail.com
steven.gertz@gmail.com
Those are just some of the
questions that came up in
a meeting we had with
leaders of several Nige-
rian denominations. We
were thankful for their
interest in engaging the
issues and for their theo-
logical and practical in-
put. They encouraged us,
saying that the churches
badly need such a study
as we were writing, to ad-
dress the problem from a biblical point of view.
We’re praying that many churches and
study groups will use this curriculum and be
transformed as they put into practice what Jesus
taught.
I’ve also been helping out with another
book that has just been published, Every Abor-
tion Stops a Beating Heart, addressed to African
Christians and Nigerians in particular. Though
abortion is widely practiced here, churches for
the most part have simply ignored the moral
issues. While, in the end, even sincere Christian
disciples will have areas of disagreement about
abortion it’s important to take the first steps of
bringing the subject into the open and looking
at it carefully.
You can read or download these books and
related materials at http://scr.bi/ieSFww.
Please share the link with others working in
other places where the same issues may be im-
portant.
Family News
• Luke (11½) is doing very well and has made
a lot of progress in school, especially in
arithmetic and reading. Unfortunately, we
have not been able to make any more pro-
gress toward taking him to the US.
• All three of our other kids have moved
since we last wrote. Steve and Lisa are in
Amman, Jordan where
Steve is studying Arabic.
Jonathan and Lori have
moved from Eau Claire to
the small town of
Bloomer, WI. David and
Saralynn are now in
Hinesville, GA (near Sa-
vannah) where David is
posted as an army medic.
• Baby Branwyn Andrea
joined Jonathan & Lori’s
family on November 30, and Saralynn is
expecting her baby any time now! We are
truly blessed!
Prayer Points
• Please keep praying about Luke’s future.
The whole situation is so complicated that
it’s not clear how we should proceed.
• Pray that baby Kasham will end up in a
loving family that can care for her … either
with her own relatives or adoptive parents.
• Continue praying for peace in our area and
for Christians to handle conflict in Christ-
like ways. Sporadic violence continues
around Jos. Pray for those who suffer perse-
cution for their faith. National elections are
scheduled in a few months, and people are
concerned that this will lead to an upsurge
of violence.
Thanks to all of you for your prayers and sup-
port. Follow us on Facebook if you can.
Family addresses:
David and Saralynn Nege, 901 Olmstead Dr Apt 8,
Hinesville, GA 31313-2101; 619-922-8629
Jonathan & Lori Blyth, 1800 Main St., Bloomer, WI 54724;
715-568-5130
Steve & Lisa Gertz, c/o Qasid Institute, P.O Box 961329,
Amman 11196, Jordan; (+962) 798 265 332