● Participants: In addition to promised presence of the Holy Spirit, the other major participants include the members of 60 congregations in Lagos; Elder Bill Tucker, Speaker Director of  The Quiet Hour, and a team of guest evangelists recruited by Elder Tucker.

● Locations: The group agreed the primary site would be the Balagun State Stadium (pictured below) as well as another 10 locations scattered throughout the city.

● Objectives: a) To challenge and equip the members to have given a complete set of Bible studies to 25,000 individuals between March 1 and October 10, 2002.

b) To mobilize these individuals to attend a reaping series of meetings in 1 of 11 sites,

c) To lead at least 10,000 of these individuals to baptism,

d) To leave another 5,000 people studying in preparation for future baptisms,

e) To leave each new member assimilated into a congregation and giving Bible studies.

f) To provide an opportunity for participation in a major evangelistic event to a large number of guest evangelists and support teams, including laymen, young people and pastors.

It is evident that the success of these meetings will depend largely on the number of church members that become personally involved in giving Bible studies and the number of individuals with whom they are working.  To facilitate their activities almost 200 lay-coordinators will be selected and trained between prior to March 1, 2002 each of whom will recruit, assist and mentor up to 30 laymen in their respective personal Bible study activities.  These will be the key individuals to oversee the visitation program during the crusade, and during the time after the crusade when the new members are assimilated into the church and trained to be spiritually mature soul-winning members.  In other words, discipled.

The published price for this hotel is US$65 per day, presumably for two people. Breakfast at the hotel costs $4 per day.  I have asked the union to confirm this information.  They are supposed to be asking for discounted rates for our group. The Union will provide the other two meals at US$7.50 per person per day.  (Telephone numbers are still to be provided)

and Support-Team Members

10/3 Ethiopian #941 4:45 p

Cancelled - vacant

Miscellaneous Issues

NOTE:  I discovered a problem with the PowerPoint graphics for one of the sermons on the CD that I sent you.  For some reason when you select the graphics for sermon #19 (Why So Many Denominations?),  it repeats the graphics for Sermon #18 (Health)!  The sermon notes you have printed out are just fine.  As soon as I get home I will mail you another CD with this corrected.  Please be sure to discard the CD you have as soon as the new CD arrives.

No later than August 1, 2002 guest evangelists and support team members must Mrs. Beeler the following:   1) A valid passport, 2) two completed visa application forms, 3) four pictures, 4) a letter of invitation naming each traveler (one letter for each family), and 5) a check made out to the General Conference of S.D.A. in the amount of US$60 per visa requested ($45 for the cost of the visa and $15 for the courier taking your passport to the Liberian Embassy), and 6) a photocopy of your airline tickets, or at least the travel itinerary provided by your travel agent.   These items should be sent by Federal Express to Mrs. Diana Jo Beeler, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventist, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD  20904.  NOTE: We have asked the Nigerian Union to send the letters of invitation to Diana Jo Beeler.  If your documents are there when these letters arrive she will be able to process your visa application at that time.  Please RUSH these documents to her.

Visa application blanks are available by clicking on the following hyperlink, downloading and printing the application blank in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf), and them completing it in harmony with the instructions below. http://www.nigeria-consulate-atl.org/document/visa-3.pdf  Note, that you must print the visa application out on both sides of the same page.

Letters of Invitation: When The Quiet Hour leaders provide the Nigerian Union a final list of those who plan to travel to Nigeria,  the Nigerian Union will begin the process of securing letters of invitation for those individuals. When those are in hand, they will fax those letters to Mrs. Diana Jo Beeler.  She will attach those letters of invitation to the applications and other items listed above and submit them to the Nigerian Consulate.  When the visas have been entered into the passport she them (the passport and visa) by Fed Ex the same person(s) who sent them to her.

Water: Visitors should still assume tap water is not potable.  Bottled drinking water is readily available at about 50 to 60 U.S. cents for a 1.5 liter (3 quart) bottle. Another option is that guests may want to purchase a hand-held water-purification system at your local camping store to use to purify the tap water.

Medication: Gastro-intestinal disorder (Montezuma's revenge) is the traveler's scourge when visiting a part of the world in which you must consume anything that is unfamiliar to your digestive track!  Problems are inevitable, even to the most cautious. So the word is, be careful, listen to your body, and then respond quickly.  I'm no doctor and will not give you medical advice, but I will tell you what I do (and these steps have worked during some of the most "trying" situations).

(1) On a personal note, I am careful what I eat and drink, but I don't worry about it.  (2) I listen to my body.  If know from experience it is easier to stop the problem before it becomes serious than waiting to address it after it's too late.  Meanwhile, I'm miserable and my work can be undermined.  So, as soon as I realize trouble is "on the way" I will take one or more of the following medications: a) Imodium (treats the symptoms, but provides welcome relief), and/or b) one of two antibiotics prescribed by my physician:  Either Cipro (one 250 mg. pill in the morning and the other in the evening), or Avelox (one 400 mg pill per day).  Either of these has an immediate and positive effect on me and helps eliminate the problem before it become serious.  If I didn't "catch it" in time, then I may take Imodium to provide short-term relief, as well as take the antibiotics.  Obviously, you must consult your physician before you leave on your trip and secure such medication as she/he recommends, since you are unlikely to find the same medication sold under the same name in another country.

Malarial prophylactics: Malaria is endemic to most of Africa.  I do urge you consult your physician and/or your area public-health department about taking medication to help prevent this disease.  For many years Larium was the medication recommended by the General Conference Health Department for their traveling staff. Recently a new mediation has been placed on the market which and is widely recommended to me by Public Health Departments.  It is called "Malarone."  Since I'm away from home I don't have the documents with me to confirm the spelling but I will correct this paragraph when I get home.  However, this should be sufficient for your to mention to your physician or health department and to get their recommendation.  What is important is that you take the medication prior to, during, and upon your return home, in harmony with the recommended dosage pattern (one day before leaving, every day while you're away from home, and daily for one week after returning).  Also, while you're here, be sure that when you go out you spray yourself with mosquito repellant.  Interestingly enough, during my current visit to Nigeria  (Sept. 2001) I didn't see a mosquito, and this is the rainy season. But, it's far better to expect and prepare for a swarm and be happy when they don't appear!

Inoculations: For counsel regarding which inoculations are recommended for Nigeria, please go to the following site:  www.tripprep.com   On general principles it is better to be protected.  I'm not aware that any of these are endemic to Nigeria, but caution suggests that travelers may want to secure some of the following vaccinations simply on general principles: Yellow Fever, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Typhoid, Meningitis, and Tetanus.

Medical care: While at least physician will be part of the team, we are also fortunate to have several SDA physicians in Nigeria as well Ile Ife Hospital (located about two hours by car from the Nigerian Union Office in Lagos).

 Your request to rent one of these sets should be sent to Global Evangelism.

While the electrical supply in Nigeria is increasingly constant, it does go out periodically. Consequently most hotels and businesses have standby generators.  Plans are under way to rent a suitable generator for each meeting location to care for that eventuality.