Has Phyllis been resting?
On vacation?
Lollygagging about??
NOPE!
She has been VERY busy! While personally overseeing the construction of the new church and school in Jos, Plateau State, she also led a building team in Kogi State, building TWO new schools and TWO new clinics!
New Okigwe School
New Okigwe Clinic
Clean WATER from a new borehole, located between the camp and new school!
Jouro School
Jouro Clinic
Remember our friend, Jouro, who begged for a school? He is finally getting his wish!
ALL of these new schools and clinics will need monthly support for teacher and nurse salaries. Would YOU like to help partner with a school? We would love to connect your church to one of these schools or clinics, for monthly support, prayer, and connection!
Our GREATEST NEEDis monthly support for teachers and nurses!
Support a teacher or nurse for $50/month!
Click HERE to GIVE!
Courage and Hope...
Two kidnappers, Jimoh and Joseph, were arrested and sentenced directly after Phyllis's kidnapping in March 2015. Phyllis found them while searching from prison to prison. Phyllis has visited with these prisoner's families, and helped them where she could. Jimoh and Joseph have served their time and are now home with their families. Phyllis got to visit them both!
From Phyllis - I went with Reverend John Raji and Reverend Janet Ahiaba to visit first with released kidnapper Jimoh, pictured here in the lilac-colored shirt. I had visited him in prison; this was the first time to meet with him as a free man. We hugged each other joyfully, I was nearly in tears. I congratulated him for surviving those years in prison and coming back to care for his mom. I had the opportunity to tell him about Jesus, who died to save him, and told him the parable of the Prodigal Son. Reverend John invited him to church with us. Pray for him please.
Free man Jimoh, with his mother
Reverend John Raji chats with Jimoh
The WHOLE family squeezed in to see Phyllis and Reverend John Raji, honored guests!
Below, this is released prisoner Joseph and his wife Hannah, standing on either side of Phyllis. Three Free Methodist ministers are with them: John Raji (in tan), Chukuma (in back) and Janet Ahiaba (in green). They had a wonderful visit with this Christian family, hearing Joseph's story, praying for him, thanking God for his life. They invited Joseph to join the upcoming pastoral training, four days with Reverend Nelson Reed. Joseph accepted and attended!
There is no follow-up help, counseling, or provision of any kind for released prisoners here. Reverend John Raji was deeply affected by our visits today with the two released kidnappers. We plan on setting up some kind of appropriate program to meet the spiritual and physical needs of such men and women, starting with these two, Jimoh and Joseph.
Today we rounded up the three days of discipleship training with Rev. Nelson Reed. This is a photo of just some of the pastors in attendance. My friend Joseph, standing in the front holding his Bible, surprised us all when he asked if he could share his testimony. It was so powerful - I wish all of you could have witnessed this story of redemption and grace.
From Phyllis:
My cup runneth over.
Joseph and I spent this morning together in the Free Methodist Church on the Hope Academy campus in Emiworo.
The last time we were together here was eight years ago, when he and his team took me from this very campus against my will.
So our lives have gone full circle, coming together here, now, in great waves of grace, love, joy and peace.
My cup runneth over.
A note from Phyllis - Training on HOLISTIC LAND AND LIVESTOCK MANAGEMENT (HLLM) in Imala Land, Ogun State
Today is the fourth day of the first week of training on Holistic Land and Livestock Management, held at the Good Shepherd Primary School, Peace Village, Ogun State. Sixty-three Fulani herdsmen and two Yoruba representatives from Christian Development Foundation have been faithfully attending the two-week course. (80 herdsmen showed up on the final day!)
Our trainer, Alhaji Bello Mahmud, retired from a full career with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, with a cattle ranch and farm of his own in Gombe State, is a good friend from the early days of my work on grazing reserves. His late father was an Emir in Gombe State, making Alhaji Bello the Crown Prince. This position has gained him much respect and credibility among the Fulani.
This week has been limited to lectures in the classroom, with Alhaji Bello teaching from a PowerPoint presentation following the methodology of HLLM as developed by Allan Savory of the Savory Institute in Zimbabwe. I had taken five Nigerians to a 3-day seminar at the Savory Institute, then invited Mr. Savory to come to Nigeria and present his grazing system to commissioners of agriculture in this country. Alhaji Bello was with us at that time and has been a strong supporter and promoter of this system ever since, practicing it himself on his ranch in Gombe.
Tomorrow, the fifth day of this two-week course, we plan to review all that has been taught so far. Using what we have learned, we will plot out, on the white board, a model grazing reserve with paddocks, water sources, a farm for growing produce for sileage and dedicated pathways for cattle and herdsmen - all that is needed to successfully graze a large herd of cattle on a specific piece of land. We will tell the pastoralists that we will help them plot out grazing reserves in their own areas if they so desire. We will show them the grazing map created by one community in Zimbabwe, a map which indicates locations of the village, school, market and several large paddocks all separated by natural boundaries such as pathways, streams and low hills.
At the end of the day, after a period of questions and answers and speeches by the various chiefs, we will award certificates to all those who attended the training, eat lunch together then watch a documentary on the Wodaabe Fulani, a tribe from Niger Republic.
Next week we will set up the actual grazing reserve we have planned on the 50 hectares of SFA land adjacent to Peace Village. There will be 40 hectares at this site for the grazing paddocks and 10 for the farm. On the farm we’ll grow maize and millet for use in making sileage for the cattle for use during dry season. We are combining the 8 smaller paddocks already fenced and in use at Peace Village to the new, larger 4 paddocks carved from the 40 hectares, giving us a very ample grazing reserve for at least 250 head of cattle. Marking the new paddocks will be hard going, as we must measure each one, clear the boundaries, set fence posts and put barbed wire around the entire place. THEN harrow and plant grass seed! We’ll actually not be able to use the new paddocks for up to one year’s time, in order to allow the grass to grow to its fullest extent and drop seed. It’s hard to wait, but in the long run its for the best, as the cattle will never lack for food!
The NEXT step, by God’s grace, will be to set up a milk-collection center, partnering with Christian Development Foundation, a project in which we will buy milk from the Fulani, together with them make yoghurt and cheese and sell it in nearby cities and towns and in local markets!
In this way, the Fulani will establish themselves as businessmen and women, have the means to better care for themselves and their families, send their children on to higher institutions and gain the respect and friendship of surrounding tribes. We pray that through these projects, peace will be their portion.
May God bless and favor this work among the Fulani, and through it, reveal His great love for them. Again, thank you for your part in this story! We love you and are praying for you! Phyllis Sortor
Prayer Requests:
Pray for Jimoh to come to Christ!
Pray for the right teachers and nurses to hire for the new schools/clinics, and for the monthly support needed for salaries!
Pray over Kogi State, which has seen some disturbance and unrest in the last year - pray for PEACE!
Our Kidnapped Redemption film is NOW AVAILABLE FOR FREE on YouTube! 11-16 people are watching this incredible, inspirational film EVERY DAY!
