Our Children are Letters for our ministry.....

“You are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This letter is not written with pen and ink but with the spirit of the living God , it is carved not on tablets of stone but on human hearts.” (2 Corinthians 3 v 3 )

Our children’s changed lives speak for themselves they are our letters that show in essence what Kings Kids ( an arm of City Ministries of EMS ) is all about. Currently we look after 250 children living with us in our care centres, Orphans and Vulnerable children from across Nigeria.

One such child is Emmanuella a 12 year old girl who

came to our ministry two and a half years ago. When she was brought to our centre at Gidan Bege she was in a bad state, our staff were moved to tears when they saw the extent of the maltreatment she had received at the hands of a local “prayer man “. She lost her mother and her father left her with her Grandmother, She was falsely accused by an aunt of being involved in the secret society as people living around were becoming sick and she was taken by her aunt to a local “prayer man “ for help. He proceeded to burn her with a heating iron in order to get a confession , on her arms, legs and back. She was branded like an animal with a hot tool ! !

She was in so much pain and so confessed and therefore her life was in danger from the community wanting to kill her, and so she was brought to our ministry.

When she first came she was traumatised and very afraid whenever prayer was mentioned , she was very difficult to draw close to physically and was angry and confused with her family for allowing this to happen to her. We found the family and counselled them as to the effect of the damage their actions had caused to Emmanuella, , they were repentant and came to see her and sought her forgiveness. She readily forgave them and they all cried together. Gradually over the last two years they have visited us and she has visited them, she has grown spiritually and is understanding the power of prayer to fight against the attacks of Satan in order to protect herself. She has learned to love again and has physically healed from her injuries and has become a happy, outgoing child. Now this summer she is going to be reconciled and go and live back with her family.

God has done this. He has brought healing physically, spiritually and emotionally. He has restored the relationships in this family amazingly and has turned a horrible situation into good.

She is a letter from Christ

going back into her

community showing the results of our ministry upon her life, a living testimony of why Kings Kids is needed and just one story among many.

Little lives growing..........

Its amazing to see how our girls are progressing and growing in the ministry. Those who have been following my blog for long will remember Favour who came to us in 08 after her mother died and Sandra earlier in the same year as a result of neglect...now look at them young ladies :)
It is amazing to see what a difference love and care makes in the lives of little ones.
Seeing them grow gives so much joy to us so how much more to our heavenly father who created them.

Who am I ?

I love the Casting Crowns song Who am I....?
The chorus of which goes..

Not because of who I am
But because of what you have done
Not because of what I have done
But because of who you are

I am a flower quickly fading
Here today and gone tomorrow
A wave tossed in the ocean
A vapour in the wind

Still you hear me when i am calling
You catch me when I am falling
You tell me who I am
I am Yours...I am Yours...

As I reflect on my life lately I am humbled by the way God guides and leads and brings new challenges along the way, not because of who I am but because of who HE is to bring Glory and Honour to HIM.
I am a vessel , a flower quickly fading...(sometime it feels like it !!) someone he is choosing to use here and now in Nigeria.

A few weeks ago I popped into a shop to buy some food and I saw a white lady i didn't know and her husband who is Nigerian. I overheard her accent and didn't think it was American !! and so when her husband left I asked her where she was from...
She replied London !!! and was so excited when i in turn said I was British too :)
She has been living here for a year now and has had no contact with a white person and lives on a totally Nigerian compound in Jos, she badly needed a friend who she could relate to and was so excited to talk. Her husband commented that she was obviously meant to come to the shop today to meet me !!! She had never met a missionary or knew much about ministry ( a suprise to me here )and was keen to be friends.
When we met later in the week it turns out she was a brand new Christian and was in need of someone to Disciple her. She has come through an awful lot in her life and God has brought her to Nigeria and got her attention....and then a few months later he introduced her to me :)
I felt God say to me that he wanted me to disciple her !!! wow.. I was already super busy and not looking for new challenges and I had not done one on one discipling before but I knew this was from God and he had a job for me to do :) Not quite what i was expecting to be doing here so far from home but God had a plan...

Well we have met a few times now and its so exciting to see someone grow in their faith, she is coming each week with loads of questions from the daily studies she is doing and we are having hours of discussion. She sadly has not ever had conversations about God with a British person before and God has designed it so well that she has come out of her country and yet connected with someone to help her understand her new faith .... and that is ME !!!

If you have never had the opportunity to disciple someone one on one I challenge you to look for those God opportunities he brings along your way. It is very challenging but so exciting and encouraging and really builds your own faith as you reflect on who God is and the changes in your own life.

When our life belongs to God and we let him be in control its amazing to see what he uses us for. We are flowers quickly fading , here today and gone tomorrow and we need not to miss the opportunities he gives us to bring Glory to him.

Life in Ministry...

Kings Kids ( the ministry I work for ) --- Vision Statement says...

We aim to HONOUR GOD by developing Young People who love and serve God and impact their society for Christ and mobilizing the local church to do the same.

As I have been reflecting on this vision recently i have been challenged to think about what that means and what my part is in the fulfilling of this vision, what it looks like to me...

There have been many challenges since I last wrote a lot of political, religious and tribal instability here in Jos and many people have lost their lives, and yet despite it all I am here continuing to carry out God's call to Honour Him by serving where He has called me to be, fully carrying out the ministry He has given me. I know that this is where God wants me to be serving Him by ministering to the many young people he is rescuing and bringing from darkness into light .
We recognise that this is God's ministry and Trust Him to provide for the needs of looking after 250 children on a daily basis, He brings individual lives to us through so many different ways each broken, rejected, abandoned child special to Him and He asks us to Honour him by the way we love them, respect them, care for them and teach them about their Saviour.
We aim to disciple these young people to teach them how to live a Godly life and see such amazing changes from when they arrive as they heal and blossom with new life, and are released from bondage, free to live a life that Christ intended for them.
Discipleship is an ongoing thing, its challenging and requires much patience and forgiveness and encouragement....as we "pour out our lives" into these young ones so that they can grow up to impact their society for good .
I am still amazed and and in awe of the changes God's love brings to a child's life and feel humbled and privileged to play my small part in the process.

Just this week we have received four new girls each with a story to tell. One new girl Fatima is a 14 year old beautiful girl. Her mother is a prostitute and drug addict she has never known her father. She has been a "hidden child" she has brought herself up her mother leaving her for days on end as she went about her business, she was taken to school but that is the only place she went as she had to keep out of sight. As she has got older there was a real danger she could be groomed for a similar life one she was trying to get her mother to stop doing . Her mother felt she was too much disturbing her life and so brought her to the ministry so she could carry on her lifestyle in peace. Fatima gave her life to Christ and came to live amongst the sixty other girls....quite a change for her...she had never had a friend before or so much company it was quite overwhelming at first. Then just a week later i saw her grinning from ear to ear fully integrated with her "Sisters"...she told me she has never been so happy she is bursting with happiness a real testimony to the ministry and a reason we need to be here for others like Fatima.

Lost and Found

These last few days have brought home afresh to me the message in Luke 15 when Jesus is talking about the parables of the Lost sheep and the prodigal Son and the cost of Discipleship and forgiveness. I love the way the shepherd kept searching for the one sheep that was lost, leaving the rest and searched until he had found it and then returned back to the rest rejoicing . Also the way that the father welcomed back the prodigal son even though he had made bad choices and treated him really badly, he forgave him and celebrated that His Son had come back home..

My understanding has been awakened this week afresh as one of my older girls aged 16 decided to run away and we had no idea why or to where she had run...she just did not come home from school. The staff tried looking for her but by nightfall they had no idea where she was. I rallied people to pray along with us that God would a. protect her and b. would expose to us where she was hiding. The next day i joined the search for this precious daughter who has been with us for two years and has made so much progress...
Mama Sati and I visited the school, talked to friends, visited friends homes gradually formulating a picture of what had been happening recently and gaining and checking out leads...we were going from here to there meeting so many people , and just when it seemed we were getting no where fast we got a call from her uncle to say she was at his home....and could we go and get her !!! yeah... we were rejoicing that she was ok but had so many unanswered questions that needed answers
God had answered our prayers and exposed where she was...we hurried there and talked with her relations and discovered no real answers ...
Only God really knows the why ? and how ? and where ? we carried our daughter back into the fold to her sisters all who had been so worried about her .
It was then that we had to make some choices, just like the father did in the prodigal son parable we had to accept that she made some bad choices, had probably done some wrong things and we needed to forgive her and love her despite everything.
It is not always easy to do but God calls us to disciple others, to encourage the weaker brothers and sisters in the faith, to forgive when they do wrong and keep loving unconditionally like he does to us.
I don't know what the future holds for her but i do know that i have to ask God to help me trust her again and to keep loving her and to pray she will learn from her mistakes and grow closer to God as a result. I am grateful that our shepherd never gives up on us even when we go astray he will always search for us until we are found and he can bring us home.

Christmas Shopping with a difference.....

This week we have been Christmas shopping for our children, but it is unlikely to be like anything you have experienced yourselves back home...
There are no toys to buy, no special sweets or videos, no decorations in the shops and no Christmas carols playing and this week sees the 1st of December... In this culture the thing that children love to receive more than anything is a new set of clothes and shoes if the parents can afford it....in our case we needed to buy for 250 children...which as you can imagine is quite an ordeal and costs quite a lot of money. It is great to not be caught up in all the trappings associated with the build up to Christmas, so much simpler and the real meaning of Christmas can be the focus.
So this week I was responsible along with Mama Sati and one of our Aunties to find 62 pairs of shoes for our girls and to buy the material for new dresses and headscarves to complete the outfit.
It was a memorable experience...I had asked them to measure the girls feet not really thinking about how they would do that !!! but these ladies are so resourceful they arrived with lots of pieces of straw from the brooms all different lengths with names attatched and little bundles of wool. So we set off for the market.....remember it is very hot dry and dusty here at the moment ...the shoe area of the market is a warren of small concrete stalls one on top of each other with narrow walk ways between...so many small shops all squashed together and all selling the same things it is mind blowing how they can sell anything all competing with each other. We arrive at the first shop and try and browse....but everyone is shouting out to us from all over trying to get our custom...one man persuaded us that he had wholesale shoes and as we needed a large number we followed him...down alleys and eventually upstairs to a shop full of shoes all sides of the walls...we are given a wooden bench to sit on and then are shown all the varieties...
The aunties are satisfied and so he asks what size ??? well i hand him a piece of wool and a wooden stick !!! and we begin...trying to keep the name and the shoe from getting muddled up. While we are there people keep coming in and out trying to get our attention whilst we are getting hotter by the minute and trying to concentrate on the task at hand. The measuring is very random, the colours and styles pretty awful nothing like buying shoes at home. We eventually have around 40 pairs and decide we need to go elsewhere for the larger girls ones...and so the haggling over the price we are prepared to pay begins....satisfied we hand over our money and then a boy is called to take our very large sack to the car...on his head we quickly follow behind and process once more back through the alleyways to find the car....we pay the boy for carrying our bag and then we have to go back and begin again !!!
This time we are looking for more classy shoes with heels for the older girls...each has given their ideas to Mama and so we look for shoes that to me are highly unsuitable for church in the village which is where they will mainly wear them !!!! but i have no idea but Mama knows what she is looking for !!! and she haggles prices and tells the men her exact wishes it is very interesting to watch...but time consuming as you can imagine :)
Eventually we think we have enough and set out to find headscarves. Whilst sitting in a shop on the upper level we suddenly see the head of a rather large lady emerge on a rickety looking spiral staircase...she is crying for help as she is suddenly frightened...i leap up and give her a hand and pull her up....a few minutes later we see a young man trying his luck coming up the stairs too looking for help !!! i told him he was not a damsel in distress ....sorry ...everyone laughed !!
Finally we are done and its 4 pm and we haven't eaten since breakfast.....and now shopping is over the ladies are hungry and no Mc donalds handy so we stop at the side of the road where they are barbequing chickens and fish on old barrels and wait while they cook.....eventually we eat and can laugh at all the craziness of the day....done for another year :)

Dreams broken, Dreams begun....

What a week it has been since i last wrote....
One of our graduated boys came to see me last weekend in a real confused state, he has been saving hard , doing lots of jobs for people to try and earn money so he and a friend can begin their own business. They have been dreaming of what their future will look like and planning what steps they need to take to get there....BUT he received news that has broken all of those dreams....He has gotten his girlfriend pregnant and her parents have sent her away from the house and she is now his responsibility....Not what he had planned, He was feeling so guilty and needed to be able to talk to someone who would not condemn him but someone to help him sort through what was going on in his head and help him seek forgiveness . I was the person he chose to talk to....As I sat listening to him my heart was broken as i felt his pain and i was incredibly humbled that he felt he could come and confess....broken dreams..
Then just as i was trying to get my head around the first broken dream I was informed by our nurse that one of our girls has tested positive for HIV ....I was just commenting after last weeks funeral that i didn't know how i would cope if one of our girls died and then a few days later here i am trying to explain to a teenager that she has a fatal disease and all the implications that go along with it...we have no idea how she contracted it and as she sat and wept all i could do was hold her and cry too and reassure her that it was not her fault her dreams were broken....
BUT
This week I have had the opportunity to dream dreams that God has for this ministry alongside a visitor who is looking to partner with us as we look to see how we can prepare our children to leave us and set up on their own. A year ago i had sat with this lady and expressed a dream that i felt God was showing me of a "vocational centre" that would be ideal for our kids, she too was thinking something similar and she went home and drew it out...then when she came back we discussed our idea one year on and were getting excited but knew now was not the right time and it seemed such an impossibility so we put it on the back burner while we worked on other things...BUT... We got the opportunity this week to meet the Governor of this States wife and went to view a vocational training project that she has been developing...as we were walking round both of us could not contain our excitement as we were witnessing the reality of something like what we had been dreaming before our eyes....the Governors wife had been dreaming for 6 years before beginning .... I was amazed that something like what i imagined could be done here and knew i have to trust that God can do it if He wants and i just need to keep the dream alive until the time is right...
I was able to start to clarify the dream of transitioning our older girls out of the ministry too, I was able to see that we should start working on the three older ones and had them to stay over this week to work with me and our visitor to brainstorm what they were thinking and dreaming for their future...it was a special time and awesome to see how these girls are able to dream of a bright future as a result of our ministry rescuing them from a hopeless situations. Their lives have been totally transformed by God .
As I reflect upon this week I am glad that God is not suprised by anything, he knows before we do what is coming and He holds everything in his hands. He knows our hopes and dreams, he knows that sometimes these get shattered and broken, He shares our sorrows and rejoices with us in our joys. He can bring dreams to fruition and provide all that is needed to fulfill them.
As I walk step by step with him i know he will accomplish what he wants for this ministry and all involved in it at just the right time.

Be Still and Know that I am GOD.....

" When the oceans rise and thunders roar,
I will soar with you above the storm,
Father you are King over the flood,
I will be still and know that you are God..."

This song has kept coming to my mind this week...... There have been times when i have felt totally overwhelmed, completely out of my depth at the enormity of what needs to be done here, where to start.
When there seems to be so much needless sadness and death, when just shaking a hand and smiling at a bereaved person seems to make all the difference.
When my plans for the day are completely thrown as a girl runs away, as one of our children dies and we have a burial to attend.
When my car starts making strange noises,when there is no electricity.
When it is hard to understand why people think like they do in the culture we live in, why their priorities are not the same as mine.
When i am confronted by my shortcomings and doubt that i will ever be the person God wants me to be...
When i wonder if i will have enough energy to cope with all the challenges....

It can feel like the ocean is rising and that i am going to drown BUT I am reminded that God is with me and will help me to soar above it all , and that i need to take time to be still and see God all around me in the lives of the children he has brought to us. Through sharing a meal with them, through spending time colouring and teaching them how to play with bottle tops!! and hear them giggling in delight
I know the oceans will continue to rise and the storms will continue to be fierce but I can be still and know that God is in control , and that i will soar above them all ...one day at a time :)

The Battle is strong but we are on the winning side :)

This truth was brought home to me again yesterday as it has been many times since my return to Nigeria. It was a day of mixed emotions, a day of contrasts in which I witnessed the battle between Good and Evil manifested over and over again...I was driving to Gyero ( our rural care centre where we have 110 kids ) down the un- made road early in the morning. It was a nice day as I drove past many groups of women all carrying things on their heads as they walked to their farms as it is harvest time here. It was a really lovely sight, so colourful a real sense of community as whole families/communities all turning out together to gather in the harvest, all laughing and singing as they trekked together.



i had gone this day to meet one of our staff who was bringing a new girl whose life had been threatened because of her involvement in the occult. When they arrived I was suprised to see such a small girl of 5 years and one who clearly had not seen a white lady before !! she was quite scared.
Her Father had brought her as the people in his community had rejected her as it became known that her mother had been involved in the occult herself and was likely to have initiated her daughter. The mother had been sent away and the father left with this girl. Satan is so good at blinding people's minds they are blinded to see truth and do not believe they can pray against thses things themselves. Satan loves it particularly when it involves children...BUT God has other plans...she was rescued and brought to us, prayed for and delivered from any evil. Her Father too gave his life to Christ , he went home a changed man PTL. This precious new life is now in our care...a living example to the power of God.
She was quickly welcomed by Faith one of our other new girls (of just two weeks) one who knows how her own life was spared ...it is great to see how well the girls all look after each other.


Suddenly there was a loud wailing to be heard over the village , upon investigation i saw a lot of women running and crying up the road I had previously seen them walking down a few hours before. There were so many running for their lives, we heard that there had been some fighting between rival tribesmen in the farmland and two fatalities, the ladies were scared of another uprising...having lived through several.. It was so sad...we too had to quickly leave the village, which was really heartbreaking leaving the children behind all we could do was to pray for their protection.

There was a spriritual battle going on too it was clear, we prayed and prayed for God to bring calm and He did and rain and rain and rain...( we are in the dry season !! )

As I was processing my day from the safety of my home I was reminded that He who is in me IS GREATER than he who is in the world. That the victory is his...BUT we have to be aware that the battle is very real and prepare ourselves because as yesterday shows he can strike at any time.. Praise The Lord he protected me and our children...but please join us in praying as the battle is strong...but rejoice that we are on the winning side.

My Return to Jos and Blogging.

I returned to Jos six weeks ago after spending six months back in UK. It is my intention to re start my blog and hope you will all enjoy keeping up with the many stories that i will post about my work here amongst many precious children whom God has brought to a place of safety...to a House Of Hope ( Gidan Bege ).

Consider How precious children are to God....

This is Nkiru, an 11 year old girl who was brought to our centre this week. She was clearly very under nourished and very traumatised and withdrawn, she was sooooo skinny, it was very sad to see.
Her story is as follows :-
She was born out of wedlock and her father disappeared and she has never seen him. She has lived with her mother who has blamed her from the day she was born for causing her trouble by being born.... The mother married and has two other children whom she treats very differently.
Her mother is a heavy drinker and after working she goes to the local bars and comes back and beats Nkiru daily. She had been eating most days one meal a day sometimes no food at all, and told of being beaten, locked up and starved...Until she was so hungry when a woman offered her a biscuit in the street she ate it and then found herself initiated into the secret society (ocult movement)...and then all hell literally broke loose and she was abandoned by her mother, and an aunt brought her to us. Ironically getting involved in the cult was her salvation to getting out from a horendous life, where she has grown up with the messages that she is unwanted and unloved. It is so hard to imagine doing such horrible things to an innocent child. As she was recounting her story we were all moved to tears, to see how thin she is and how withdrawn was so cruel and heart breaking to see.
It made me think of how our creator God feels to see one of his precious creations treated in such a horrible way, his heart is surely breaking for so many like Nkiru who are not rescued and brought out to a ministry like ours. I recieved a book this week from one of our supporters in US entitled " Too Small To Ignore" reminding us all that the least of these matters....
It reminds me that Satans most important task is to break the heart of God and he knows how much little children are important to Him and so he attacks small and innocent children. I quote

" At the moment of birth all heaven waits in anticipation and breaks into songs of joy , each child born into the world is in the image of its creator with the potential of bringing glory to God, meanwhile Satan and his hosts are waiting ready to pounce and destroy that life as quickly as possible , knowing it will break the heart of God. Given this frightening warfare between Heaven and Hell it is all the more ironic that children are seemingly so unimportant to adults."

We see so many innocent children being abused by adults here for their own gratification in this withcraft it is horrible. Praise God he has armed us for the battle and He has defeated Satan and these children can be delivered by the power of prayer. Please continue to pray for the children all over the world who are abused and used by adults for their own gain, innocent lives each one precous to their creator, it is not something that can keep on being ignored.

He holds my every moment.....

Yesterday was a very sad day in our ministry . One of our boys who had been reconcilled back to his family died, aged 18 years of kidney failure. Something which probably could have been helped in a country with better medical care, but he suddenly became ill and within a few weeks was admitted to hospital and died.A young life so full of potential. Lukman was a gifted boy, he sang very well in a band, he was a gifed artist and a born leader. He was a converted Muslim and was sure of his salvation.

Death is such a common thing here, it is treated with respect and the whole family and community all come out to send the person home. The family are involved in digging the grave, preparing the body etc..there is no funeral directors to do it, a distressing thought to us but one in which the family has the chance to do something for the person one last time.

Lukman came from a village in the bush and so his body had to be taken home to rest in the family compound. As money is so short we as a ministry provided a truck and a convoy of us drove on the rough unmade roads, across rivers with no bridges, over rocks and grass, slip slidding in the mud for 4 hours to reach the village. The whole community was waiting to bury their dead, and our boys who were his classmates carried his coffin and laid him to rest. It was all hands on deck to fill in the grave with earth and to pray over the body...there was much wailing and agony at such a young life full of potential being taken......but leaving behind such a legacy to his community.

It always strikes me in church and whenever a Nigerian believer prays they always thank God that they are alive, among the living ones. Believing that they are no better than those who have died but that God must have a reason for leaving them alive to live another day.

They know that one day they will die and that could be today, life seems so short here and so they live with one foot in eternity, and are grateful for every day...it is such a sobering thought and it helps me to appreciate every day i am alive to think about what is the reason that God has left me alive today what is it that he is wanting me to do for Him?

What about you ?

I love the words of this song....

You hold my every moment,

You calm my raging seas,

You walk with me through fire,

You heal all my disease.

I Trust in You, Lord I Trust in You....

Nothing is impossible for you,

Nothing is impossible for you,

You hold my world in your hands....

I am glad that i don't know what will happen tomorrow but i am sooooooooo glad that my Heavenly father knows already and He holds my every moment....and He holds my world in His hands so i dont need to worry but just Trust and walk with Him one day at a time through whatever He has instore for me.

Camp 2009

I have just returned from a week of camp...a wet and muddy week but one in which God really challenged all of us in so many ways.

This was the first year that we combined the boys and girls for camp ( as we have so many girls now 34) and we had around 150 at junior camp and 100 at our senior camp.....plenty children many of whom have never had this experience before of going to camp...thankfully not under canvas !!We had as our theme "Lead Others to Christ" and lead the children through a series of studies and discussions on Judging, making choices, making a difference in the word they live in, sharing their faith and encouraging others...all to help them as they start to think about transitioning out of the ministry and back into their communities to make a difference.The lessons were all practical and at whatever stage the children were they could all relate.Each morning the Nigerian Uncles led Praise and Worship and gave a devotion, this is always a highlight for me to see our kids worshiping so enthusiastically.

We had a team from Moody Church in Chicago come to help us and they did an awesome job of relating to our kids.

Each afternoon we did activities either hiking, sport or making sandals...(something we hope to be able to start to produce for sale in the future) I stayed with the 8 oldest girls in our ministry and that was great....they gave me such a hard time with my clumsiness !!! There was so much mud it was a challenge for me to stay clean but they seemed to manage it no problem ....in the end they made sure there was always a bucket of water outside the room for me to wash my feet in before i entered....

I introduced them to pillow fights and showed them how to have fun !!! they have had so little opportunity to relax in their lives....and have fun :) So even though I am tired it was an amazing week for all concerned, for me i was stretched in many different ways....and was amazed with how God used me a weak vessel to make a difference in the lives of these children.

Check out the pictures .....

girls fighting back !!!

worship

two of the team
early morning devotions...6am
making the sandals

the food...

A new lodger moves in...

Jana..... a crazy Texan has arrived....along with her peanut butter, crackers, diet coke and power bars....and crates and crates of stuff in my spare room !!! she did bring chocolate though so i let her in :)

She has been here before...about 10 times but always with a team and now trying to see what missionary life is like on her own... However housing is in short supply so she was staying in a place which had been empty for a while, that had no generator and as our electricity is practically non existent was in the dark a lot.....along with furry rodents and slugs and so had a melt down and took pity on her and allowed her to come and stay !!!!
Its funny living with an American ( Texan i should say .... everyone tells me they are a breed all of their own ) the cultures are very different even though our skin colour is the same :) Good job Erin broke me in.....

She moved in and i left for camp....and she survived....on her peanut butter and crackers and bottled water ...good job i am back to cook some decent food...:)

Seriously it is really nice to have someone staying, to talk to and share with, there is so many things to learn as we minister here...one of the main ones is we all need each other, we all need encouragement and God doesnt want us to struggle on through alone....
Praise God for the good community life we have here and for the many different people he brings along our paths for us to learn from.
Pray for us as we live together for this next month, that we will learn all that God is wanting to teach us both from this experience.....

here Jana with Erin in Texas...

Swimming

I am a bit behind with my blog i am sorry.....we have had so little electricity that it is difficult to keep the internet connection...but i will try and show you a few glimpses of what we have been doing this last very hectic month..!!
We had a donation of swimming costumes when my Dad came and so we had many excited little girls all wanting to wear them and try out the swimming pool....so we aunties braved the rainy weather and went ....

The girls so rarely get the chance to be totally in water as they usually bucket bath with warm water so to get into a cold pool is quite the experience... see below...

Good fun was had by all even though it was freezing.... good job i am used to the cold water in England....such a little thing an outing to a swimming pool but one that brought so much pleasure to theses girls many of whom had never been swimming before.

Praise God for the donors who made this possible.

At last.....she is able to update you on happenings here...

My Dad and Sister's visit.....

At the beginning of June as a real answer to many prayers my Dad and Sister came to stay for two weeks..It was awesome.............. to have my family visit me and try to understand quite what life was like here and what exactly i was doing !!!

My Dad was a little worried to begin with but he survived well, no sickness and no incidents... and generally he liked the food :)

It is really quite strange to have someone looking into your life and it was quite an eye opener to me to see just what I have got used to and think is normal now !!! like the fact we don't have much electricity so when we do no matter what time of the day or night we plug everything in for charging and the washing in the machine etc.. The state of the roads is rough i know but my Dad said he felt like all his insides were shaken up by the time he arrived in Gyero !! and its not my driving :) He knew about the pot holes but now he has felt them:) and the heavy African rain is something to be experienced several times we got caught out its hot one minute and drenching rain the next... which makes for great driving along a dirt road, slip slidding all the way...Praise The Lord for my Jeep :)

The congestion and seeming chaos in the town has to be experienced and the pollution smelt...suprisingly I now weave my way through and am sure my driving has deteriorated considerably by British standards !!

I think my living conditions are fine but my Dad found many things which needed fixing...and experienced how long things take to do and what you have to go through to achieve a simple task here :)

He had sooooooo many questions about missionary life and just what is it we do here...hopefully by the end of his time he has a much better understanding of just what i am doing and why there is sooooo much more to do that I have to stay for longer....

I did get them both working of course....to good an opportunity to miss two electricians in a country which has few trained electricians..and we always have things that need doing..

Enjoy the pics below...Still can't believe they were actually here....

Dad trying to pound Yam...Painting the new parlour in the new girls compound...

My Sister up close and personal with some of the new girls.. The older girls joining in ...all hands on deck.

Fixing the electrics...

An Amazing night to remember.....

Last week I travelled to another part of Nigeria 9 hours away south, to Egbe...It was very different climate and terrain than in the Plateau , much more tropical and ohhhhh so hot ! !

This place used to be a big SIM base years ago but at the moment there are no SIM missionaries there, but lots of work going on with the Fulani people.

The Fulani are a large nomadic tribal people whose lives revolve around cows, they are practicaly all Muslim and they move around depending upon the grazing availability for the cows. Well I got to visit a Fulani camp and was shown around and saw the cows coming in and the wives and children and then we were invited to stay the night !!!

Well I was a bit daunted by the prospect as I was with three guys and I was the only woman, and men and women in that culture are very seperate....so I would be on my own with the women who didnt speak English and who were surrounded by children , and from a very different religious and cultural background than my own....BUT well I did it and it was an amazing experiene...

See the pictures of where we stayed....

This is the lady I stayed with, in this hut , with her and three children...It was amazingly comfortable and dry and remarkable to see how resourceful you can be when you live off the land. This entire home was made from branches and palms and grasses, including the bamboo bed I slept on. It was suprisingly spacious and waterproof.

This is the inside, you can see the bamboo beds and here one of the children drinking out of a calabash (a seed pod )

Here the lady is using yesterday's milk to churn into butter. Once again a calabash is used and manually shaken until thick. Above see the decoration they put onto their bowls all grow from the ground.

This is the daughter, helping the mother from an early age, the boys look after the cows and the women look after the home and children, very clear divisions of labour.

What you can see here is breakfast being made, a kind of steamed porridge served with fresh milk from the cows :) all cooked inside the hut as it was raining outside....

The hospitality shown by this family was amazing, How many of you would let a stranger sleep in with your family and be so hospitable ? I was able to communicate using Hausa and sign language a bit and was totally blown away to catch a glimpse of how people can live with no electricity and running water, totally off the land and cows and sharing with their families everything they have.

I hope that I was a little ray of light into this home, one very different from my own but one in which I was made to feel very welcome.