amy0b87982ac418
bluewatergigi
dbeville
Patrice Miles
Lenny
August 2013
This past Sunday morning, Patrice and I sat on the back porch of our home in Egbe and discussed what we are thankful for. We both were very thankful for what the Egbe Hospital Revitalization Project provided for us when we arrived into Nigeria in 2013. Most missionaries have to raise one time support for cars, kitchen appliances, house furnishings, generators and more. All of these things were provided for us in Egbe and it made our transition to the field so easy and stress free.
Now that we are moving to JOS, we will have to leave all this behind. We will have to purchase everything for our new home. We realize that we are asking for God to perform a miracle. Most missionaries would go back to their home country and spend 3-4 months visiting supporters to raise this kind of support. It would cost our family almost $7,000 round trip to fly to the U.S. We just don’t feel like this is being a wise steward of the resources God has given us. We do plan to come back for home assignment, but not until summer of 2018, after Cason and Jolie complete their first year of school.
This brings up another area that Patrice and I are very thankful. We are thankful to all of you who have supported us in so many ways over the last three plus years! You have supported us by prayer, by financial support, by sending us much needed items (excluding all the candy and pop tarts!), while others have helped heavily with C.A.R.E. Africa in sponsorship.
We need you and more partners to come alongside us in a huge way. Our “one-time” support seems large to us, but we know that God will provide. Please pray how you may be able to contribute to our work in Nigeria with an end of year one time contribution or joining us as a monthly supporter.
Maybe you can be creative before the end of the year and “sponsor” a room of our house or one of the kids school fees with your church group or family members this holiday season. Please remember that all giving is tax deductible. Click on Miles In Missions to donate.
Our One Time Support Needs are below;
Two cars – $15,000 (Includes the over the boarder customs fees and taxes for purchase in Benin)
Generator and Inverter Battery/Solar Power System – $3,000
Cason and Jolie school fees – $10,000 total per year
Tents are not an option! Beds, dresser drawers, mattresses, and cabinetry repairs for closets are needed in all three bedrooms. $500 per bedroom.
Additional furniture for dining room, family room and office – $2,000
Repairs on the home we are moving in to – $2,000
Equipment for ministry – $6,000
Kitchen and Laundry Appliances – $2,500
About four months ago we were posed with the question, “What do you think Cason should do for high school?”
Since then, we have been in prayer and seeking guidance through SIM leadership for what should our next steps look like to accommodate a high schooler. We visited Jos, Nigeria recently and went to look at Hillcrest School. The school has a deep history for many missionaries in this region that we have grown to call family. We are glad to announce that our children will be attending school there starting August of 2017. Cason will enter as freshman for 9th grade and Jolie will enter middle school as a 6th grader. They are both very excited about this, but are of course sad about saying goodbye to their Egbe friends.
So what does this mean for the whole family? It means that we have a large transition ahead of us. We will be moving from Egbe to Jos where we will resettle at another SIM station. SIM Nigeria has recently appointed a new director and with him comes a grander vision to reach 75+ million least reached people in northern Nigeria. Our family feels God is calling us to move closer to the north and live in Jos to assist with this new vision.
Patrice will continue to manage the C.A.R.E. Africa and Spring of Life HIV/AIDS Project in Egbe. She will travel back and forth between Egbe and Jos many times a years utilizing the resources of a number of other ministries in Jos to grow these two ministries in Egbe. She is very excited to now be able to dedicate her full time to these two ministries, helping to grow them and make them more sustainable in the future.
This move will be costly, but we trust God will provide for all our needs. We were blessed to be able to borrow furniture, cars, generators and appliances loaned to us in Egbe from the hospital project itself. However, in Jos we will be required to buy all of these items. Plus we will now be responsible for full school tuitions for Cason and Jolie.
Might sound like a great book idea, huh? However, there really is no book that can entirely prepare you for missions… However, you can do missions if you are a dummy!
The wife, a great nurse in real life, knew from conversations with the medical team on the ground that she would be a great fit to teach the nursing staff on many subjects. She thought, “What if I could teach CPR? Do you have any training dummies?” We told her no and she went on a “mission” to find dummies all on her own. On the surface finding dummies around you might seem like an easy task, but for her dummies were suddenly in short supply. Asking and searching for months, she had no luck. Finally, the miracle dummies appeared. Just a few days before her trip to Egbe, the Louisville Fire Department called her and said, “Come and pick up these 24 dummies. Our training people just brought us 24 brand new ones and we have to get rid of the old ones.” 
The husband and wife couldn’t believe their ears. They felt like shouting in celebration and grabbing the woman to hug her! But they thought it might cause a huge scene in the airport. 
The wife has completed CPR training with many of the nurses in the hospital and the trainees have gotten certificates proving their education. She even had time to train a few nurses to be trainers themselves. Leaving the dummies, literature, and dvd programming for them to use in the future. The hospital will now always have dummies around. How wonderful!
A few days ago there was a blog from us about the spiritual fruit in Egbe. There was one man that was mentioned that has given his life to Christ in 2014. He works in the workshop and his name is Samuel Ariyo. He is in his early 20’s, working in our general labor force (very hard work). Admittedly, when I first met Samuel I was a little stand-offish. He was rough, tough, and had an almost permanent scowl on his face. I remember saying to myself, “that boy is so angry that his face is always distorted”. So much so that it was in an evil fashion. I hated thinking these things of him, but it was the truth at the time. 
He received this award for going above and beyond his normal duties during a time when there was no electric on the compound for two months. 
Miles In Missions 