Winter '10 Newsletter
Greetings from the Wengers!
Sometimes when I speak with people on the phone, they ask, “Where are you calling from right now?” Right now we are in North Carolina, having recently returned from a four-month ministry trip to Nigeria.
We left home on August 8, and stopped in Harrisonburg for a reunion of the descendants of my maternal grandmother. From there we drove to Pennsylvania and visited Rosalyn and Rhonda who then took us to the Philadelphia airport. Rhoda and I took Ryan and Rosetta with us, and we accompanied Rachelle as she returned to Nigeria after furlough time teaching linguistics at SIL in North Dakota. Raphael drove the van back to North Carolina.
We arrived in Nigeria and Jennifer Harper met us at the airport in Abuja, and drove us 4 hours to the town where she and Rachelle live.
My assignment was to teach at the theological school for training pastors in the village where Rachelle lives. We lived at her house, and had delightful times of fellowship and interaction.
I taught New Testament Greek, Hermeneutics (how to interpret the Bible), Survey of OT historical books, Life of Christ. After the semester ended, I had the privilege of conducting a series with the faculty regarding soteriology (the study of salvation). I had wonderful times of fellowship and interaction with both students and faculty.
Rhoda also enjoyed teaching a music class. She continued working with Ryan and Rosetta in home school, and added a new subject: Greek. She began learning Greek herself as she taught them. A teenage son of the principal found out about her class and asked if he could join, so she included him in it as well.
For Ryan and Rosetta, the home school schedule was modified from what we usually do in America. Part of their education during those months was learning about life in Nigeria: How to do cooking under different conditions, with different ingredients, with different equipment. Ryan would buy supplies at the local market, and get grain ground for baking needs.
On the way home, we stopped in England to visit Renee who is serving as a cook at a New Tribes Missionary Training Center. We enjoyed spending several days with her and meeting her friends, and seeing where she worked.
Raphael drove the van from North Carolina to Pennsylvania and he had Rosalyn met us when we flew back to Philadelphia on December 10. On December 12, we drove to JFK in New York to meet Rhonda as she came back from Togo where she was serving as a midwife for a month. (She plans to go back for a longer term, but first needs to do some French study—the national language there.) We arrived home on December 14.
Here are activities of the other children.
Roland and his wife moved from Mexico to Peru. He is flying for a different company that involves much less time away from home. Living in Peru gives them opportunity for reaching people there with the gospel.
Rosalyn continues to work as a midwife in Pennsylvania, delivering many babies especially among the Amish.
Rolanda lives at home and continues to work at step-down ICU in a local hospital. Taking additional nursing courses keeps her very busy.
Raphael continues self-employment designing web-pages for people. He came to Nigeria in September for a one-month visit. He and Ryan had a wonderful time together there.
Pray for us as we prepare for ministry at churches in Florida and Georgia in February- March, and another trip out through the West and up into Canada during the summer and fall.