Spoiled Americans...

Tuesday, Aug. 28: There’s a first for everything, I guess. At least my first day in the country of Nigeria worked out that way. It was one of those “comedy of errors” travel experiences that I’ll entertain my kids and grandkids with someday:

• First, since we landed in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria that is about 90 minutes by car from the conference site, and there was another speaker arriving a little later, our hosts took us to the nicest hotel in the city and we checked in, misunderstanding that they thought we wanted to spent the night to get some rest before going to the conf. later. Except that the rooms were priced at about $400/night, and we weren’t going to stay all night anyway. So we went thru the drama of explaining to hotel management that we weren’t staying after all and needed our charge revoked.
• Next, since the other speaker’s flight was delayed, we were taken to a local bishop’s home to freshen up from the 24-hours of travel since leaving O’Hare – but the house had little plumbing, so it was only a (cold) makeshift shower – welcome to missions!
• The expected 2-hour wait stretched into almost 5-hours, but jetlag had kicked in by this time, so I was particularly bothered by the delay, if you know what I mean.
• Finally, we drove to the conf. site in Akwanga, only to learn that there had been a miscommunication, and the hotel was not available for the first night. Instead we were housed as the first guests in another (new) hotel that had not yet opened to the public. I soon learned why, as there was no running water and (in my room) no lights at all. It was a very interesting night.
• About 5:30am I went out to find the owner, which resulted in waking virtually our entire party, just to get me switched to a different room that at least had lights (still no plumbing). A few hours later we were off for the opening session of the conf.
  

All in all, it made me realize (again) how spoiled we Americans are – or at least, I am.
It’s somewhat embarrassing to realize how believers in other parts of the world are serving the Lord zealously in conditions that would probably stop most of us dead in our tracks, even when sometimes it’s just creature-comforts we’ve become accustomed to – like running water and hot showers. Help us, Lord!