David Ardill and Jasmine

 They will face a tough road jumping through the obstacles of the state government to meet the legal requirements for adoption. We encouraged them to be patient and persistent and we would walk through the process with them.

Some of our friends for the U.S. asked about adoption here. It is currently not legal for non-Nigerians to adopt a child from Plateau State. So we are focusing on selecting couples who are state residents to adopt the children coming to us though the Crisis Pregnancy ministry. We have three more pregnant women “under our wings” now and are working through the counseling, contact with their families and evaluating their needs. One of our greatest needs is for a house where these women can stay until after they deliver. Many are rejected by their families and have nowhere to go. Please pray for us as we begin to look at our options and the possibility of purchasing a house that would allow us to improve our counseling, provide literacy and vocational training and do a better job of discipling these young women.

On Saturday we had a good inaugural meeting of the Pro-Life Evangel Advisory Committee. We have a great group of men and women from the community on this committee and the discussions were productive. We are developing our relationship with the government social services department. The woman in charge of this department handles the adoptions for the state government. She has been a bit difficult in the past but we hope her attendance at the meeting has helped her understand what we are trying to do and we pray she will become an advocate for us instead of an adversary.

Grace, the director of Pro-Life Evangel, is in Lagos today trying to get a visa to go to South Africa for a conference on crisis pregnancy ministries in Durban, South Africa. Please pray with us that she will get the visa and be able to go to this important meeting. The conference would be a great encouragement to Grace and give her more ideas and vision for this critical work. We had a good conversation with the ECWA General Secretary this weekend and shared with him this need and the work we are doing. He was enthusiastic and understands the size of this problem in the youth groups and churches in Nigeria. We need a major shift in thinking in churches to abandon the complacency and acceptance of abortion and a clear understanding of the sanctity of life. If the church is to discourage abortion, they must provide an alternative and we believe adoption is the answer but it needs to be explained and accepted as the best solution to this problem. Some think it will only encourage more immorality if there is an “easy” out but we believe this ministry provides opportunities to bring reconciliation of the girl with her family and the Lord as well as rescue an innocent child from destruction.

My mother had major hip surgery on Monday. We heard from my family that it went well. Please pray along with us that she does not develop infection or other complications during her recovery.

We are off to the dentist this morning with Dorothy, Heather and David. Thanks for your prayers, emails and support in many ways.

For His glory,

Bill

Keywords : Bill Dorothy William Ardill crisis pregnancy adoption Nigeria

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