Author Archive

Learning, Laughing and Sweating!

Posted: October 6, 2014 by Patrice Miles in Uncategorized
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khriddle's avatarSwept Away

Now into our fourth week of school we are already having a great time learning and laughing together!  We are LEARNING as we begin establishing a routine and strategy for our days, and discover what does and does not work inside a less than typical classroom setting.  For the kids the books are filled with new subjects to learn, and as for me the subjects may be old, but still ones I must RE-learn.  Predicates, action verbs, spelling list, phonic sounds, word problems and read alouds have come back to haunt me!  All those things I thought I had left far, far behind!!! Through learning we are also LAUGHING!  As I said school in Africa is just a little more quirky and we just have to laugh at our daily struggles and mishaps.  Science experiements have already failed miserably, but we just move on! Unexpected bathroom visits are a commonality…

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Ebola in Nigeria

Posted: September 15, 2014 by Patrice Miles in Egbe, Egbe Hosptial, Egbe Nigeria, Miles In Missions, Missionaries, Nigeria, Prayer
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The world was awakened to Ebola several weeks ago when our fellow SIM friend Nancy Writebol and SP worker Kent Brantley contracted this horrific disease. It seemed like anything I read on Facebook was about Ebola. Since then we were relieved to hear that all our SIM friends that were living in Liberia, are back in the U.S. and doing well.

IMG_2990I am sure you have heard that Ebola is in Nigeria now. Currently there is 19 cases and 7 deaths. Lagos and Port Harcourt are currently the two effected cities. Both of these cities are about as far away from Egbe, as Louisville, Ky is from Charlotte NC. Due to the distance one would think the likelihood of it coming to Egbe is very small. However, when the first case was reported I gripped my chair and my mind started racing. What if it spreads? Can it come to Egbe? Will people hear about our fancy new hospital and think the Western doctor can cure Ebola?  What can we do and how can we control it?

Well you cannot do anything but prepare for it and you definitely cannot control it, you can only contain it. This statement is not something that comes easily acceptable to me and my Western mind. My whole life I have planned, studied, prepared, and controlled everything…or so I thought. Now I am faced with something so much bigger than my mind can even grasp. The funniest thing is if you talk to anyone in the Egbe community, they are not worried or anxious. Their response is that Ebola will not come to Egbe. They say it with such faith and belief it will make you tremble! “Ebola will not come to Egbe!”

photo5555I don’t know what God has planned, but what I do know is what he promises. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

As our medical team creates an isolation ward, security is tightening, pre screening of patients is starting and we have ceased all visits to the wards by non-essential personal. While all of these pre cautions are being implemented and the local churches are praying for this hospital at 4:30am every morning, I find peace in my time here in Egbe. Everyday I wake up in the freedom to know that he has got my family in the palm of his hand. He has us right were he wants us.

I am so proud of the team of professionals I serve with. I have watched our Medical Director, head Family Physician, Samaritans Purse Project Leader and my husband spend hours on meetings, calls back to the states, intense research and collaboration and then implementation of new policies and procedures. This disease is foreign to everyone here but “Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14).

For more information on the Ebola Crisis visit http://www.simusa.org/ebolacrisis

 

 

 

Work Boots – Part 2: The Road Trip

Posted: August 19, 2014 by Patrice Miles in Uncategorized
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This is an amazing story from our friends in Louisville that visited a few months ago.

dbeville's avatarbeville75

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We returned from Africa on May 17, 2014. Coming home was both comfort and conflict. I wanted my bed. And I wanted my babies. But I didn’t want to forget what I was learning. I missed my new friends and the Miles. I didn’t want it to just be a vacation. I didn’t want marriage to become mundane again. I didn’t want to forget the whispers inviting me to the Kingdom – not just in Egbe, but at home too.

My good intentions were boiling over, so within a week I called Lisa at LifeBridge (<-link) to get some guidance on how to go about seeking donations. Her advice was to start locally.

I didn’t do many things right in this process – I really was just along for the ride – but one major thing I learned in Africa is that I NEED God. Not as a magic 8 ball or…

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Work Boots – Part 1: The Invitation

Posted: August 19, 2014 by Patrice Miles in Uncategorized
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This is an amazing story from our friends in Louisville that visited a few months ago.

dbeville's avatarbeville75

IMG_4507.2 In May of 2014 my husband, Stephen, and I spent 2 weeks in Egbe, Nigeria.  After 25 hours of airports & flights + 8 hours of a slow, bumpy drive from the capital city of Abuja, we were IN Egbe. Not looking at pictures, but THERE.

Egbe is a small, poor African town without much running water, nor a trash system. Pigs and goats roam like squirrels. Young children may or may not wear pants. There are small markets and schools. Many homes. At least 1 hotel. Machines (mopeds) everywhere. Streets full of mostly-friendly pedestrians. Ancient stony hills partially surround the city. No public parks or city bus. And on the edge of town, there is a hospital. A life-giving, life-saving; life-changing hospital.

ECWA Hospital is being revitalized by the children of George Campion, the man who originally built it in the 1950’s. Our friends, Lenny & Patrice Miles…

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Hands and Feet of Jesus

Posted: August 14, 2014 by Patrice Miles in Uncategorized
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Beautiful post from friends of ours that I have been waiting to see pop back up on the radar. So glad to hear your words Bethany!! We are all so proud of your Dad and your family for serving!

bethfank's avatarBethany Fankhauser

As my throat began to choke up and tears slowly filled my eyes, I looked up at my dad dressed in a Tyvec suit and full protective gear. The image before me was one I will never forget.

My dad, a missionary doctor, was standing in a circle of nurses and aids, praying. He was lifting up prayers for the patients who were suffering from Ebola, for their family members, and for the protection of the staff who were about to step into the isolation unit. I held my camera close to my side. When I heard my dad say, “amen,” I glanced at the group standing before me and felt a strong sense that I was in the presence of people who were acting as the hands and feet of Jesus.

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There were rain drops falling off of the tin roof covering the ELWA Hospital Chapel. The newly painted chapel had been converted…

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1 Year Furlough

Posted: August 9, 2014 by Patrice Miles in Lenny Miles, Miles In Missions, Patrice Miles, SIM
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milesSoon my family and I will be heading out on our one year furlough. Four months ago when my husband started planning this, I wasn’t that excited. I love Egbe so much that I didn’t feel like all the work to plan and leave was worth it.

Traveling out of Egbe isn’t so easy. The first battle is planning your trip through limited internet access, blocked websites and emails because we live in Nigeria and bad phone service. Once that is planned then you have to book tickets trying to use points so we can travel for close to Free.  Then plan your 8hr drive to the airport that will be an exhausting venture for our family. Both Lenny and I have roles and duties in Egbe that have to be delegated out to other Missionaries and national staff. We have to plan for the care of our dogs, cats, house, yard etc. and pack our entire family for different climates than we are used to. Sometimes you need a furlough just from planning your furlough…haha!

workAfter all this planning we are less than two weeks from our furlough and I am so glad my husband made us do it. We are exhausted from the past year of work. Just in the past two months alone we have prepared 5 new missionary houses, oriented 6 new Missionaires to Egbe living, hosted over 24 volunteers, moved into the new OPD, moved CSR, put a facelift on maternity, built a new guardhouse and gate and I am forgetting so much more as the past two months is a blur. Needless to say our family needs this time together on furlough. So why do I feel so guilty for taking it?

kids 3As I think about the comfort and rest that this furlough will give my family, I also think of so many I leave behind that can barely afford to buy food and water.  How do I not feel guilty? When our supporters see our pictures on Facebook and wonder if we are using their hard earned money to play abroad, how do I enjoy my time away? These are the thoughts and feelings I battle with as we prepare to leave.

towerMark 6:31 Then because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them. “Come with me by yourselves to a quite place and get some rest” This verse reminded me that even Jesus and his disciples needed to get away from their ministry to rest. We all need rest. So many of us go go go no matter what country we live in. When we finally sit down we feel guilty because there is still so much work to do. I have come to the conclusion that I am good to no one without rest. When you burn the candle at both ends it burns out so much quicker. When you live were you work you have to leave to find rest.

We are excited to find rest in Europe in less than two weeks. I hope you will enjoy our pictures on Facebook as we find rest in multiple SIM guesthouses. I pray you will celebrate with us as we get to spend time alone with God and our children as we re-energize for another year in Egbe!

Dog Food

Posted: July 26, 2014 by Patrice Miles in Egbe, Miles In Missions, Uncategorized
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sunday shadeiWhen I moved to Nigeria I knew we would probably have animals. My whole family is animal lovers and I have always had dogs, cats, rabbits, snakes etc. Once arriving to Nigeria we were so excited to be given a gift of a 6 week old puppy. Bingo was his name O. After the excitement and play time with the new pup was over, I realized I had to feed it. What do you feed a puppy in the bush of Nigeria? I can’t just run up to the local grocery store and pick up some dog food. Bingo2We were told to feed him pop which is a ground corn, beans, water and seasoning that is boiled and looks like oatmeal. This worked for awhile but once he grew he needed more solid food. We started giving him our leftovers…bones and all. I think we had one of the fattest dogs in Egbe. Dogs here are for protection and are lucky to eat daily so very skinny.

shepA few months later while in JOS we fell in love with a German Shepherd and brought him home for a playmate for Bingo. With two mouths to feed a big bag of dog food sure would have been nice. We started with leftovers but never had enough. Instead we had to take corn, ground nut (small peanut) and dried fish to a grinder to grind it into a powder. Then about every 3 days Shola has to take a big pot and cook this powder with water, Maggie cubes and cut up yam until it makes an oatmeal chunky mush. It’s really disgusting and smells. shep 1Once it cools we put it in Tupperware in our fridge. It swells up sometime and comes out of the container and all over my fridge. When feeding the dogs the kids normally gag as they take the food out to them. For the most part the dogs eat it but they still prefer leftovers.

shepphotoLately this mush still seems to leave them hungry so I have been googling and trying different variations. No matter what I try it isn’t easy and every few days we are making dog food again and again and again. I would love to find something more hearty as our bush dog Bingo still tries to escape our yard daily to find food. Never in a million years did I think that I would be googling dog food recipes but that is the life of a Missionairy in the bush and I love it! They are kinda cute too!

Spiritual Attack

Posted: July 22, 2014 by Patrice Miles in Egbe, Egbe Hosptial, Egbe Nigeria, Missionaries, Nigeria, Prayer
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thessA friend who I met in Egbe, while she accompanied her husband to work on our lab, led me to a Beth Moore study recently. Today is Day 2 and it started out saying ” Anything God emphasizes, the Devil seeks to exterminate.” This spoke to my soul and led me to blog to you today.

We have had so many answered prayers here in Egbe and continue to daily. The arrival of two more Missionary families this week and still more arriving in the following days is an answer to so many prayers. We are now the second largest SIM Missionary establishment in Nigeria. Our OPD is now open and operational. We have a great Medical Director and Hospital Administrator that are making some amazing changes. I would say that God has emphasized our community and we are on the radar! This is why Beth Moore’s quote spoke to me this morning. “Anything God emphasizes, the Devil seeks to exterminate.”

riddlesSpiritual attack has definitely been felt by all of us in one way or another. From sickness, uncomfortable rashes, electrical issues, marriage issues, sleepless nights, work issues,VISA issues and back at home U.S. issues we are feeling an increased spiritual attack. Our Missionary community is tired most days and we all feel the emotional fatigue from these spiritual attacks.

Beth Moore says;                                                               Are you In a season where faith feels like hard work?           Is loving laborious?                                                         Is hope circling the drain as you keep longing and waiting?If you answered yes to all three questions you are under a triple threat. Satan cannot snatch faith, love and hope from you. You have to hand them over.

Pray our Missionaries and my family decide not to hand over anything  to Satan today tomorrow or any day. Pray that as we are becoming a beacon in Nigeria that we will not experience any repercussions from our popularity. Pray for God to give us the strength and wisdom to discern and persevere.

Beth Moore says we are not like everyone else breathing the worlds toxic air. Our flight has been hijacked by hope! So many have had hope to see the day that this Egbe community is revitalized and it is finally here! 

Front hospital

Yoruba Lessons

Posted: July 12, 2014 by Patrice Miles in Egbe, Egbe Nigeria, Miles In Missions, People of Egbe, Uncategorized
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dbeville's avatarbeville75

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E ku aaro (Good morning)
Ẹ ku ọsan (Good afternoon)
E ku ale (Good evening)
O da aaro (Good night)
E ku abo (You are welcome = greetings = hello)
O da abo (Goodbye)
Eku ise (Well done!)
E se (Thank you)

The Yoruba people will greet you at every encounter and expect to be greeted in return. It can be over-whelming trying to remember which greeting is appropriate when, but the people are gracious and will remind you when you forget. There were times this extrovert just wanted to disappear: “just let me walk! I don’t have to say ‘hello’ again! we’ve passed each other 10x’s in the last hour!” My poor, resilient, introverted husband…he hung in there.

However…now that I’m back in the states – even here in the friendly south – people are just rude. Very few say ‘hello’ even when I speak to them first. Some…

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Egbe Outreach

Posted: June 12, 2014 by Patrice Miles in Uncategorized
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DSC_0006My name are Abolagi Kehinde. 1. I have give my life to Jesus Christ. 2. I want to no how to read. 3. I want to promote. 4. I want to become somebody in life. This was one of the hundreds of prayer requests we received from our latest evangelism outing with Reverend Fatoye from 1st ECWA church.  Rev. Fatoye has always had a dream of getting to do more outreach. A donor recently gave Reverend a generator, large projector screen and projector for outreach. He has invited us on many occasions to participate in the events and they have been so rewarding.

DSC_0009We recently visited Titcomb College which is a secondary school, ages 11-16. The goal was to show a film, talk to them about Christ and then ask them how we can pray for them. I had the joy of spending my quiet time this morning going through all those precious prayer requests. 61 of those pieces of paper indicated they accepted Christ as the Lord and Savior that day we showed the film. Praise the Lord!

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The bulk of the requests were for them to pass their exams and to do well in school. There was an overall theme of a request for wisdom and knowledge to be “the head not tail” and to pray for their families. I also saw health issues, lack of money for school fees, spiritual attack, fears, theft, disobedience and general “life in abundance” requests. It was truly beautiful to see what the prayers needs are of children in this community. Our plan is to go back and speak to the children on a more intimate level. Now that we know their prayer needs we can have break out sessions and pray for their needs specifically.

DSC_0036As we continue with Reverend Fatoye and his outreach programs, I would love to know if anyone recommends any specific films for adolescent children?  Any activities that you have found beneficial to help grow and mentor adolescents? I also want to thank all of our supporters because you paid several of these students’ school fees. Two of the prayer requests we received were children praying for their school fees to be paid. If God is leading you to pay their school fees click School Fees to donate. Any amount will help them.

I also want to ask everyone to please pray for the children of Egbe. They face so many things everyday that American children will never even have to think about. Pray for their school to have good teachers, for them to understand what is being taught, for their family, for their health and for their walk with the Lord. Thanks for praying for the Children of Egbe.

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