finale of the sofa saga......

Today after weeks of waiting and having a disasterous experience last time my new sofa and chairs arrived..

Well the sofa caused many difficulties again trying to fit through the door but eventually it was in and then the chairs and i am glad to say it looks great...and is comfortable too.

see for yourself....

Hopefully this will last me many years so i dont have to go through the saga all over again.....

How to solve the problem of water in Gyero......

As the dry season gets even hotter in these last few months before the rain comes it is a challenge for most people to find water to drink. Not only water but clean water..it is really sad to see so many people here drinking dirty water.

Well out in the village it is not usually a problem but our bore hole has been broken ever since i got back and so the uncles and a "well man" decided to try fix it...well what a performance , everyone was trying to fix it, including so many of our children it was real entertainment and its still not fixed....

we take it all to pieces....and are left with a pipe sticking out of the ground...

the boys try and pull the pieces of pipe apart...

two try...and then many more join the tug of war...

all hands on deck trying to put bits together

three uncles pulling and pushing, trying to re- join pipes

how to make the pipes pliable in a village

so in the end after hours of work they put it bck together and it still doesnt work!!!! so we are having yet another "expert" coming to try again...please pray with us that they are successful and our boys get clean water again soon....

our girls

Look at how industrious our girls are as they are learning how to knit and crotchet in the village.
They are so excited that they are knitting booties for babies and hope to make enough to sell in the village. They are attatched to their knitting needles now whenever they have any spare time its so cute to see.

We interviewed a widow too this week and took her out to meet the girls, it was so great to think at last we can have a Grandma to live with the girls. This lady had been praying for 3 years to be used by the Lord in this kind of work, after having 9 children herself and having been a widow for twenty years...We pray she will setlle in well next month to living in the village.

Our girls continue to be a delight, they are so enthusiastic about learning new things....its a joy to teach them.

The Lord is holding my hand.........

I read this verse this weekend in my Bible which is very applicable to where I am right now and i wanted to share it with you...

The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.
Though they stumble they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.

I have been involved in doing many different things so far and with the concentration on Language learning it can seem as though i am disconnected at times from the children i am here to work with. I seem to be doing many new things and it is difficult not to feel unsettled as the future direction of my ministry is not clear. So it is great to know that God directs my steps and he can see the big picture and he knows exactly what he wants me to do, I just have to keep walking in the direction he leads.

The second part of this verse is great as it tells me the Lord delights in every detail of my life. As those who know me will know i am a details person and i like to talk a lot and sort out verbally what i am processing. It is a great comfort to me that God delights to hear all my mumblings, and to those around me who dont need to do that so much. God will never tire of my thought process and need for detail...

Through this period of transition and instability it is easy to stumble and loose focus as the enemy is always keen to fill my mind with doubts. But God stops me from falling...hallelujah.I just need to stop being so clumsy myself!

It is a comfort to know that whatever he has lined up for me in my future that he is right there with me holding my hand. Some of the new things are challenging and change is never easy but I am not alone. My Heavenly father is holding my hand. Sometimes as a single person I long for someone to hold my hand but who could love me more unconditionally and be more reliable than the person who made me and knows me intimately.

I am Thankful he always keeps his promises.

Family Group visits.....

One of the new things we have been trying with our boys as we have grown so large is to split them into "Family Groups" each about 10 - 12 boys and an Uncle and Aunty. We meet each Tuesday night and twice a month we cook together over open fires in the village. The boys shop for the food and prepare it all and cook it, after collecting firewood in the bush. It is really helping them to get an idea of cost of food and is teaching them how to cook for themselves, and challenging Aunty Nicky how to cook with little facilities and with interesting ingredients....

It is helping the boys to feel connected and we share issues and sing and pray together each week as well as doing fun activities together.

One of the highlights for them has been to come to town to "visit" their Aunty and be spoiled with food and drink ....I have had two family groups here now and it is amazing to see how much food they can eat, whatever i give them is consumed.....

The experience of eating of a china plate with a fork and using a napkin is such a cultural experience for them, its a delight to be able to provide it for them.

Another thing which is of constant amazement to them, is something which it is easy for me to take for granted my flushing toilet and hot water from a tap!!! such things do not exist in their lives so as you can imagine there is a constant stream of boys in and out of the bathroom and people willing to wash up ......

Its a reminder to be thankful for the little things in life which make our live so much easier....

Two of my favourite people

I am truly blessed by having these two beautiful women in my life, they both minister to me in different ways....

Firstly meet Eunice...... my househelp.

Eunice is a student at the University and she comes two afternoons a week to help me in my house...a luzury you might think but as everything has to be made from scratch and shopping is not just done in a supermarket....she is an amazing help to me. She is such a cheerful person and so hard working , I can help her by employing her and in turn she helps me.

Second meet Ritmua.....

She works in our ministry as well as studying at the local Bible College. She is so encouraging and is a good friend and has an amazing singing voice. She comes at least once a week to my house and we cook together, she is so keen to learn. Its great to have good local friends to learn the culture from and to practice my Hausa conversation.

Praise God for all his blessings.

Beauty even in the dry season

At times living in a hot and sticky country , where the wind blows in sand from the Sahara and everything gets covered in a layer of dust, where the electricity supply is on and off and many suffer from lack of water, where the fridges defrost and all the food spoils, where it is noisy and dirty and your feet are always dirty......


It is a challenge to find nice things to look at and to restore your soul and lift your spirits...


But look at this....
God has provided me with beauty right outside my door....this tree which looked so dead a few weeks ago is full of bloom and the most amazing scent....and it attracts birds which sing outside my window in the morning..
A cool reminder of my Creator that even in the seemingly barren places there is glimses of his beauty....

look at this little Miracle...

Look at how this little lady is growing....she is putting on weight and can sit on her own now....
She truly is a "Miracle" ......



With her new Mummy.....
With Aunty Erin............Praise God for the provision of this baby.........

Teaching again....

Sorry for the delay in posting a new blog we have had very bad electricity and internet for the last few weeks, so am trying to catch up now....

Teaching again...........................

As you can see from the above photo I was involved with fellow Missionary Anna-Karin in my first "proper " teaching / training day a few weeks ago. We both being former teachers ran a days seminar on "How to Teach" for out Nigerian collegues who are involved in teaching our children in the ministry. Only two of them have had any training of any sort and the rest nothing so it was long overdue.

It was difficult to know where to start in a cross cultural setting....so we picked some basic principles like the importance of good timing both for teachers and boys ( a huge big deal here "African Timing" is something to be experienced !!! ) How to make your classroom a good learning environment, How to encourage and punish children( without beating them!! ) and the importance of setting rules for the classroom. Then in the afternoon we taught the concept of planning the lesson, with an aim and assessment ideas being floated.....

We made them get involved in role play, discuss in small groups and brainstorm...they all coped well we had 20 people including three missionaries....

I really loved it and it was so encouraging to read the comments made in the evaluations...one person wrote it was great not to fall asleep in a seminar because it was so stimulating !!! Someone asked one of our leaders what I used to do in England as they thought i made a great teacher! so maybe I can't get away from my past life after all......

Seriously it was great to be able to see what impact my experience could have on others and we plan to do many more. It is at times like that I know why God has brought me here