Saturday, March 21, 2009

We left the hotel at about 9:00am to begin our journey back to Lagos, with a plan to visit one library on our way back and then see some of the ministers who were attending a wedding ceremony in another town. We were not able to get petrol to buy when we were leaving the city, as there were long lines of vehicles waiting to buy petrol in some of the stations that were selling at that time. We decided to drive on to the next town called Okene, where we bought petrol. We continued on our long drive back to Lagos, but this time through another route to be able to meet some of the brothers on our way. We drove to Akure and met three of VGR lending library representatives at the wedding of a minister’s daughter. I met with brothers. David from Calabar, J.O. from Ado-Ekiti, and Sola from Osogbo. I also met many other ministers who were very excited with our passing by, and we took photographs with some of them. I had a brief discussion with the representatives and told them of our proposed visits, if the Lord will, and when it could likely take place.

A minister brother helped to get food for us as we were to commence our onward journey back to Lagos. We were grateful as we had not up to this time about 1:00pm, eaten any food. We left the venue with Brother Sola, one of the representatives whose library at Osogbo we were to visit on our way. He rode with us and we drove to his town which took us about two hours.

At Osogbo Library

Brother Sola formally welcomed us into his home and we met his precious wife.

A Brief History of the town

Osogbo, a city of approximately 350,000 people, is located in the heart of southwestern Nigeria’s Yoruba-speaking people. Legend has it that Osogbo was first settled about 300 years ago by two hunters with an offer to protect all their descendants from outside tribal attacks in exchange for their promise not to hunt near her sacred river. The people began to worship her regularly, and today the colorful Osun Festival draws tourists from all over the world to celebrate “sacred people and sacred places.” Osogbo is now the capital of Osun State, a major distributor of electrical power for Nigeria, and one of the foremost centers of Yourbu arts and culture in Africa.

Brother Sola, is a very fine brother, and I asked him what it will take to have a shop rented for the library. He told me how much it would take to rent a shop. This amount, as small as it is, he could not afford as he told us. I asked him if he would be able to find one of such places. He said they are readily available. I told him assuming if VGR rents one, can he keep it as VGR library. He said yes and that once it is VGR, it has to be according to the rules and agreement governing the library. I told him I will report this and see what Brother Joseph would decide about that. After discussing the work, he will be going to give books to the school libraries in the town. We then proceeded to his church.

We departed the city to commence our journey back to Lagos. He went with us to provide us guidelines up to a point where we would easily catch up with the rest of the road.

The Lord gave me a mighty protection that evening as a truck from a construction company, who refused to obey traffic lights, almost ran into me. He was driving as if his brakes had failed, blowing horns with terrific warnings and his full headlights all out. I observed this as he was approaching through my rearview mirror and quickly turned off to another lane as he was speeding directly behind me. The next thing I saw was a bang! as he ran into the next vehicle I had just swerved from its back. He crashed the back of that vehicle and continued on until some other drivers pursued him and caught up with him at a police check point, where he was reported. It was like a dream, and I really thanked the Lord for His protection.

We arrive in Lagos town at about 8:00 in the evening. It was a very fine trip. The Lord was good to us.