FEATURE ADVENTURE
With Love from Scotland to Nigeria Esther Williams
M
y name is Esther Williams. It was my very first time in Africa. I live in the West Coast of Scotland, but before then, I lived in Dundee, the place from where Mary Slessor, the great missionary set off to Calabar. After moving to Dundee, my husband Matthew and I started attending the Redeemed Christian Church of God church called “Open Heavens”. We got attracted by their exuberant worship, fervent prayers, passionate preaching and sound Jesus-centred teaching. In addition to that, having studied fashion design, I enjoyed the colourful prints of the fabrics and the designs and shapes of the traditional outfits and hats. The mermaid tail is such a right solution for all body sizes and is so explicitly feminine. Women, children and men, when going up to the house of the Lord on Sunday, dress up like going to a wedding and in that way honouring God. Although being one of the few whites, it has come very naturally for us to embrace this close-knit family church, consisting of predominantly Nigerian believers. I heard that our Pastor and his wife were travelling to Nigeria for the funeral of his father, it came to my mind that this was precisely in the same period that I had requested my annual leave at work. In the process, we discovered that it was a ‘God’ plan that we accompany them and make acquaintance with Nigeria. When we brought up this idea over a meal at our home, it was received with enthusiasm. Remarkable really, because it is not a small thing to have two white strangers tailing you on a family visit in your homeland, with health and security issues in mind. This was September, so we had little time to organise all for our departure on the 8th of October. Online we applied for our visas, and we flew from Edinburgh to London for our biometrics. After a few visitations to our doctor, vaccinations and other preparations, we were ready for our adventure. 40
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Fourth Quarter 2020
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