You may remember a couple of prayer letters ago that I mentioned some regional Youth Conferences geared toward challenging young people to surrender to the ministry. I had the opportunity to travel to the second conference in a city called Ibadan. It was a privilege to preach and teach at this “Who Will Go?” Conference, along with Nigerian pastors and a couple other missionaries. It was a great few days, getting to spend time with the young people and present to them the need for those to spread the Gospel to Nigeria, as well as God’s ability to provide for them. It can be a challenge for people here to even consider surrendering to the ministry since many often see the ministry as having no money. Nigerian culture teaches their youth that they need to go make as much money as they can to support the family, and anything that doesn’t make money is worthless. So far in these 2 conferences, we have had 170 young people attend, 16 young men surrender to the ministry, and many others surrender to serve God in any way that He leads them. Please pray that these young people will stay faithful to God’s calling in their lives. We have one more of these conferences coming up this year during the first week of June, so please pray that it will be well attended, that God will work in the hearts of those who come, and that more will surrender to serve God with their whole lives.
It was wonderful getting to celebrate our little Lydia’s first birthday. She is such a joy in our lives and wins the hearts of people wherever she goes. Thank you to everyone who sent messages to wish her a happy birthday. We had fun celebrating, and Lydia loved having ice cream for the first time—although she wasn’t a huge fan of the cake.
Please pray, as we have had several recent difficulties with our vehicle. We needed to replace our engine and had a car accident within a short time of each other. Fortunately, we had enough in our emergency fund to cover the repairs, but it took a lot. Since so many of you have told us to let you know if we need anything personally, I wanted to let you know of this so anyone that wanted to give towards the need could.
Thank you to everyone who prayed for the national elections here in Nigeria. There was strife in places, but nothing nationwide. The president and vice president who won the election are both Muslims, which makes some people nervous about what they will do about Christian persecution in Nigeria. Please pray with us that our ability to spread the Gospel here will remain unhindered.
That all the world may know,
Caleb Christiansen
