Dear friends,

This morning Father Mbadugha and I woke up early to go to the airport.

The plane left the city of Lagos at 9:30am (one hour late but we are used to that with Air Canada). It was heading towards the city of Anambra. About half way through the trip, the plane turned around. We were told that the airport of Anambra was shut down due to power outage. We landed again in Lagos. I told Father Mbadugha that this was my second visit to Lagos. He did not believe me at first and then laughed. We departed again. What was to be a 45mns flight turned out to be a 3 hours trip and we landed safely in Anambra at 12:30pm.

We then took a taxi to Oko Town. The occasion to discover a beautiful landscape, but also chaos… It was quite interesting to discover a completely different way of life. Nigerians have kept a great sense of respect towards authority. As soon as they recognize a Bishop, they give us the special treatment. Same thing with elderly people. For example, as we were waiting to take a bus from the airport to the plane, they came with a small cab and took us from the crowd, Father, myself and a NO priest who was there as well, directly to the plane.

We arrived at Father Mbadugha’s place. Father rents a house, actually quite nice. I met Sister Mary-Angela. She seems to be quite a nice sister and plays a similar role as Sister Véronique-de-Jésus in Stilesville. She asked many questions about Sister Véronique and I gave Sister a good report. There is also a postulant nun. Her name is Faustina. There are also 3 seminarians with Father : Emmanuel and Peter, who are entering their third year in seminary, same as our seminarians, and then Anthony who is entering the first year. The house is very religious, very silent and prayerful. Father is really doing a good job here in establishing a solid community.

I started feeling sick. I think it was just exhaustion and hunger. Such a long trip... I must beware of mosquitos and also not drink tap water. Father has arranged that my bed be with a mosquito screen, so I can sleep in peace. He also bought some medication to act as a preventive against malaria. I think it will be fine. Just needed a rest. Feeling good now.

I slept a few hours, said Mass, with my back being soak wet. We prayed the rosary together and ate. After the evening meal, I met the community members one by one, to get to know them better. We prayed Compline and are preparing to go to bed.

Tomorrow, we should have Confirmations for the whole community (except for Father of course and Sister), tonsure and first minor orders for the two seminarians in their third year.

Everything good, as you see. The temperature went down quite a bit. The night is going to be cool. Perfect.

God bless you!

Mgr Roy