we're off!

Nine of us are loading in the van in a couple of minutes to go to the ancient city of Kano!  We will worship with the FM congregation there on Sunday and just play tourist on Saturday.  It should be great – even considering a day each way in the car.  Pray for our safety!

SEEK AND FIND

It’s Friday night at the Myers’ place.  It’s the first night in many, many months that the four of us have been alone.  So, observe how we spent the evening.  Special note:  Unseen is the cloth across the window to darken the room (we had to start a movie before dark in anticipation of prayer meeting from 8 to 10).

1.       Locked gate (aka “protector”) to the Assembly Hall

2.       Big screen (a gift for ministry to show films in the camps) set up for Fantastic 4 Silver Surfer

3.       Projector (also a gift for same ministry)

4.       DVD player/speaker/amp (purchased with gift money outside our budget- completes the film ministry package!)

5.       No shirts, no shoes, fully coated with Off! Spray (leftover bottle left by WFMC)

6.       One pepperoni pizza, one combo (bought cheese in Abuja this week and WFMC team brought pepperoni stick)

7.       Crystal light (gift from US)

8.       Tabasco (gift from US)

9.       Malaria medicine to take with meal

10.   New sewing machine (dedicated gift from the US – used earlier to repair 4 Fulani boys clothing items)

11.   Red vines bits for the movie (just arrived in care package)

So you see, we are well taken care of!  As much as we are getting used to the constant flow of people through “our” house, it is good just to lock the doors and laugh together (and alone) sometimes.  Thanks to all of you who have brought us so many comforts of home!!

 

Moving

I hate to say it, but I was so grateful that my little friend bawled his head off today.  You see, I really wanted to cry.  It isn’t the Nigerian way to show a lot of sorrow.  Phyllis said if they cried too much about anything, they would be crying all the time.  But, I am SAD.  My day started out great, praying on the back porch, walking down to the little river and sitting on a rock with my feet in the water, sipping coffee while my friend washed her clothes on the rocks.  Then we walked a very bushy footpath through the beautiful early morning light to the place they had spent the night.  I helped carry things out to the road to wait for transport so our friends could move to a camp a little over an hour away.  One teenage girl is the person who has been here on our doorstep more than any other person – including the staff.  I have come to think of her as a friend, kind of the big pesky sister Jack never had.  Her parents are having difficulty, so the best option for them was to leave.  It was so sad for the one boy, Jack’s age, to have to leave behind his fowl.  His lip even quivered – but he didn’t show emotion beyond trying to find a way to carry them along.  Every time I have been to their camp he has walked me around making sure I know which fowl are his; he’s so proud.  Fulani are nomadic, so this had been their way for many years, but as some of them have become our students, they have enjoyed this semi-permanent home.  I think the biggest sorrow for me is that they are some of the people God put a special light around when we first arrived.  You know how that is?  It’s like, whether they bug me or attract me, either way, God just shines a light on certain people for me to give extra love in His name.  Three of those people were driven away today.  Thankfully I carried my little bawling buddy for ten minutes, secretly sharing his sorrow at their departure without causing discomfort for the other adults around.  May God bless them and put other Christians near them!  And may the children return as boarding students!

 

Oh yeah!!

God has done it!  Stephanie is in Nairobi and now has her return visa in hand!!  Yay!  She’ll be back in a couple weeks after some time in Burundi.  We are so thankful!

It's birth day!

This morning was filled with excitement! So as not to miss Stephanie (she
departs tomorrow), our new kitties were born AND our chicks decided to begin
to hatch a day or two early. It's been a fun morning!

rats

Well, we celebrated too soon.  I know God will cover it, but Stephanie’s visa was NOT issued.  She’ll need to try in Nairobi.  Keep the matter in your prayers!  Her transfer is already initiated with the FM VISA (stands for volunteers in service abroad – we are FM VISA missionaries, too) office and her former assignment.  It’s just this travel visa…  We are trusting the Lord – and being stretched!

Celebrate!

Hurray!  Stephanie gets to come back!  Yes, she leaves on the 18^th (Wednesday) for Burundi, but God has SO blessed us… she is coming back!  She felt the Lord calling her to serve here with us instead of teaching at Hope Africa University for the fall semester.  We have been pursuing the change for about a month and now it looks as if all the pieces are in place – praise God!  We had an afternoon of trust-stretching, after the local office of Immigration denied her return visa, but, thankfully, Rev. Joel took it up with his man at immigration in Akwa Ibom and it should be released tomorrow (it won’t hurt to pray for that)!  So, she’ll go relax in Burundi for a few weeks, enjoying the young people (we are short on young adults), the cafes (there is only instant coffee here – let alone a café), and most especially her cousin Rachel who is her roommate and a fellow teacher.  She should arrive back before school starts and stay until early December.  Yay!  Awesome!  Thank you God!  Look out Hope Academy!  By the way, if you want to send some funding for her, contact the church.  We are trusting the extra living expenses and expensive plane ticket will be provided by supporters of hers and Hope Academy’s.  We were laughing the other day that a year ago she didn’t even have plans to return to Africa – let alone to be diverted to Nigeria.  God is so trustable!  It’s a great adventure being His child.  She has done SO much for this place in her short time here.  It is going to be so different (with her help and by God’s grace) by December!

And I thought Wal-Mart had everything.

Sulemon

Getting somewhere

I love Sulemon!   He is a little terror sometimes, but bright, adventurous, and hilarious.  Today he offered so much encouragement to me.  The other kids asked “Auntie, gimme Legos.”  From 20 feet away, Sulemon shouted “you need to say please!” 

Saturday!

School is out, so we don’t have to go to the market on Saturday morning to buy the rice, beans, etc., to feed the school children and boarders!  It is difficult sometimes to will myself to look around and find reasons to be thankful to be there for those hours.  Tomorrow I may have to watch some Tom and Jerry – after I sleep in! 

Hurray!

I am so excited!  Tonight I will get to try the new sewing machine a very generous donor bought for us!  I like to sew, but it was more of a pre-kids thing.  I was wishing – didn’t even get to prayer – for a machine to have over here to use to repair kids’ clothes, school uniforms, and to use with our church women for fundraising/microenterprise/skill building.  It is a case of answered unspoken prayers!  One day Kathryn walked up to me – I hardly knew her – and said, “the Lord put in on my heart that I should provide a sewing machine for your ministry in Nigeria.  Do you sew?”  Of course, I started to cry.  God is so good.  It was so busy around here that for a long time, I didn’t even have time to shop for a price, but when I did, she donated the amount through the church.  The WFMC team carried it to us last month.  I sent a tailor friend shopping for it today.  Now it is finally here!  It has an “engine,” as they say here, but it is no fancy thing.  It is the industrial black model that didn’t change much for a hundred years in the U.S., with what I would have called an “old-fashioned” treadle foot pedal operation.  It’s the one all the tailors around here use, working on their porches.  It should serve this mission for many, many years!  Thank you Jesus, thank you Kathryn!

How to measure success?

I am so thankful for Stephanie!  We are going to miss her because we love her, first.  She leaves on the 18^th.  But, we’ll also miss her for all the work and all the love she contributes.  Today she made a BUNCH of copies – double sided, even.  Copying in town is expensive and poorly done, so I knew this would be something I would need to tackle, complete with several injections of ink into the “non-refillable” HP cartridge.  Because of how it seems to go around here, I was thinking it was a couple day project, with stacks and piles all over my room for the duration.  She got it done WHILE we worked on another project together!  What a successful day!  I suppose I should note that Devin had what many would call an unsuccessful day.  He drove the almost 3 hours (each way) to Etiose for three connections.  He was to set up some work (strike one- it will need another trip), carry Mr. Haruna to meet with an education official (strike two – the official wasn’t around, although it was planned last week and confirmed yesterday), and meet with the surveyor (strike three – his second no show, although it was set up last week and confirmed yesterday – of course he wanted us to leave the money…).  At least Jack had a chance to play with three of his good friends, some of our boarding students who are at home for their summer holiday.  They saw each other at the market area before reaching the camp site/school site and the kids hopped into the back of the truck to ride out to the school.  Jack climbed out the back window of the truck to join them, and said “I’ve missed you guys SO much!”  It HAS been a week and a half, after all…  Of course, that connection, in the end, makes it a successful day!

Mustafa

Ikot Ntuk local dignitaries

Mustafa

This is a guy you should pray for!  He is a Muslim, our security guard, who loves music.  He has watched the Jesus film in several languages now, showing it to all his family and brothers in their native tongue.  He is so insulted that they would “kill this good man after all the things he has done!” and can name many of the miracles!  He always asks us for prayer – and sees prayers answered in Jesus’ name!  Join us in praying for his release from darkness and entrance to the Kingdom! 

Mustafa