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In the heartland of one of the
poorest countries in the world the love of Jesus Christ is revealed
everyday through the actions of Dr. Solomon Oladele and the staff of Christ to
the Villages Mission in central Nigeria. When you think of your own
church and all of the money and work it takes to run your local ministry
and the building that houses it, try to imagine
running 11 village churches and 28 preaching stations in a
country with little infrastructure and where it is
notoriously difficult to conduct business. Such is the everyday life of
Solomon and his staff.
The life of any missionary is a
difficult one. Their life is their work. They live it and breathe it, as do
their families. Often their work is so intertwined with their personal
life there is little or no difference. When it comes to the education of
their children, many missionaries must make very difficult decisions.
The remote locations of many of these vital ministries, more often than
not, forces the families to separate so their children can receive the education they need and should be
entitled to.
Last year the Oladele family
asked Don Olsen to help them find a college for their children, Mathew
and Eunice, to attend in the United States. Matthew is 21 and wants
to study computer science and Eunice, who is 19, wants to study
communications. A decision was made to send them
to Olivet College with the college offering $8,000
in financial assistance. The rest of the funds for their
education came from NACCC churches and congregation members
throughout the United States.
Expectations were running high
last summer when Matthew and Eunice were mailed their I-20's, the
legal document issued by the college that is used by the student to obtain
their visa. That was 7 months ago and Matthew and Eunice have not
yet arrived to begin their college education. It seems that the Oladele
family had become victims of the post - 9/11 immigration laws and their
own generosity. When Solomon took his children to our Consulate in Lagos to obtain their visas they were
"denied" because he couldn't prove his children would return to Nigeria
after their education is completed, a ridiculous notion to any of us
who know them. It seems the best and perhaps only way to prove you
will return to your country, if you live in the Third World, is to have
money in the bank or other material goods which few missionaries have.
Five sets of I-20's have been sent, hours of phone calls by Don Olsen
have been made and a number of return visits to the U.S. Consulate
have been made by Solomon, all, thus far, to no avail.
Please pray for Matthew, Eunice
and the Oladele family. We must be more careful as a nation but we should
not close our doors to those who walk in the path of Jesus Christ.
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