Gary Fallesen / Tuesday, December 6, 2011 / Categories: Nigeria, Mission: Nigeria 2011, Dispatches Wednesday, Dec. 7 We left the distinct beauty of the Koma Hills to return to the land of police checks and extortion. The chief of Tantille saw us off at daybreak. We prayed for him and for the work that has begun here and then made the three-hour drive in a compact car down the very dusty 90-mile dirt road to Yola. From there we proceeded for eight more hours to Gboko in Benue state, where we are speaking Thursday at a one-day conference on leadership and missions hosted by Chris' ministry. Before leaving the Koma Hills we were introduced Tuesday evening to a man who practices black magic. The chief arranged our meeting. The man, named Kageza, brought two of his idols to show us. They were named Zarab and Noga. They looked like old rusty wind chimes. Zarab, he said, would cause madness, and had worked on five people in his 50 years of practice. Noga would cause a person's belly to swell to three times its natural size, and had been used three times. Kageza claimed more than 100 like-minded people living in the Koma Hills villages often meet to drink wine, slaughter a goat, and celebrate darkness. As the village chief, who was translating for us, said: "This thing will do nothing to me because I am a Christian." "I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness." — John 12:46 (NIV) Tuesday, Dec. 6 Thursday, Dec. 8 Print 3867 Gary FallesenGary Fallesen Other posts by Gary Fallesen Contact author