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Yoruba Lessons

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

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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What’s Going on in Egbe?

Posted: July 1, 2014 by Lenny in Egbe, Egbe Hosptial, Egbe Nigeria

What’s going on in Egbe?

The new guard house at “Gate C” is under construction and about to get its roof. This will be the “first impression” of our hospital as people drive from the main town square of Egbe. It is the main access point for the nursing school, hospital staff, residents, and visitors. This guard house will serve as the nearing end of our large scale project of over 1800 feet of concrete block that makes up the new hospital wall.

The new CSR (Central Supply Room) is getting a major makeover and expansion for much needed space and organization of hospital supplies and surgical instruments. This was where our old pharmacy was located and is directly under our OR (operating room). As the CSR is being renovated, things like plumbing and electrical upgrades for the OR are being conducted as well.

Maternity and Women’s wards are getting ready for a much needed makeover as well. The building is in need of large scale plumbing repairs, window/door repairs, bathroom upgrades, and a major painting facelift.

All of the lettering has been added to the buildings making for a professional and appealing look.

Missionary housing upgrades include two houses currently under construction. Houses 8 & 9 are in various stages now and we are doing our best to have house 8 finalized before the arrival of Rick and Martha Bradford in August. House 9 needed an entire new roof structure because it was eaten by termites. We were able to salvage the old metal roofing and reuse it on the new wood framing.

Resident Doctor’s housing upgrades include houses 15 & 17 almost complete. Another great transformation on these two houses. Both houses had to have new roof framing and metal installed, gutting of kitchens and baths, new cabinets, tile, and painting throughout. House 16 will also be upgraded in the very near future as well.

Dr Carter and his wife Anne joined us two weeks ago. There history at Egbe goes back many years. Dr Carter is here for one month to complete as many surgeries as possible. Anne has been helping in the warehouse organizing medical supplies. She is also one of the best bakers around. Upcoming Blog to follow soon on their story.

ECWA Hospital Egbe recently received its West African College of Physicians Accreditation

We are preparing housing for Katie and Nick Riddle who will arrive in July along with Dana Iglesias. Katie will be the MK teacher at the compound while Nick helps at the hospital. Dana is our new family physician. All of these wonderful people will be coming to Egbe for two years.

Please continue to pray for the work going on here. It may seem silly sometimes to pray for construction projects, but truly it is for God’s glory. Which each new upgrade, it helps this hospital save more lives, which allows the doctors to share the good news of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ to many people.

Egbe Kids

Posted: May 24, 2014 by Patrice Miles in Egbe, Egbe Nigeria, People of Egbe

“Egbe Kids, My name is Ava. I live in Washington. My favorite sport to do is gymnastics. I just turned 10 my birthday is April 30th. I love doing math. We can email eachother. These stuffed animals are very special to me so take good care of them.”

This sweet note and a box of Ava’s favorite stuffed animals came on the last container to Egbe. She had asked that the Egbe Kids be given these stuffed animals that were her favorite. Cason and Jolie had a blast handing these gifts to kids at the hospital, kids in the town, their friends and kids of workers we knew. The smiles on the children’s faces was precious, and the joy these animals brought was felt.

It warms my heart to know that a little girl all the way in Washington was willing to give up so much for children she knows have so little. How can we all be like Ava and give up just a few of our favorite things to help people who have so little? I cannot imagine if every person that is reading this blog gave up one if their favorite things this week and gave that item, or money that would have been spent on it, away to someone less fortunate. What Joy that would bring to so many.

Matthew 25:40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

As you drink your Starbucks this week, dine at your favorite restaurant, turn on the light switch, take a warm shower, get your nails done, have your hair done, wash your car, eat a Krispie Kreme doughnut (my own affliction:), think of your one favorite thing and give it to someone else. If you are considering giving money away in place of your favorite item….here are a a few options to click on of people I know personally that you could bring Joy to this week.

Give A Goat Foundation

Send the Riddles to Nigeria

Louisville Refugee Kids Kentucky Kingdom Passes (email Jennifer Emerson at refugeforrefugee.muhoza@gmail.com)

Egbe Hospital Project

Miles In Missions

People of Egbe: Ayo the Driver

Posted: April 9, 2014 by Patrice Miles in Egbe, Egbe Nigeria, People of Egbe

” Good afternoon Ma. Follow me.” Ayo directed. These were the first words I heard when exiting the airport on August 16th, 2013. Ayo, a large Nigerian man with an amazing smile on his face was waiting for us. With all our carts of luggage and two kids we quickly followed his lead through the crowd of people and parking lot. He loaded our bags gave us instruction on what to do and how to do it. I immediately fell in love with this gentle giant. His calm spirit but in control attitude made me relax.

Once in the car we headed to the guesthouse. Ayo navigated the roads professionally giving me all the confidence in him as a driver. I never will forget giggling in the back seat at Ayo as I would hear him talking to all the passengers on the road through his closed window. He still makes me laugh when he does this.

The next morning before starting our 8 hr trek to Egbe, Ayo handed our group a paper to read aloud from the Egbe team. It basically said Ayo is in charge. Don’t do anything unless he tells you to. If you get stopped for any reason keep your mouth shut and let Ayo handle everything. It was refreshing to know that Ayo was the man, but also a little concerning of what the Egbe team was trying to hint at.

After a few hours of getting to take in all the sites and passing through several police checkpoints with no problems….we hit the nail boys. I will never forget those 10 seconds. The car stopped…Ayo launched out the door…the gentle giant turned into the giant….. gave them a piece of his mind in Yuroba or Hausa (he knows both) and then jumped back in the car and we were off. I now call him my Night in Shining Armor.

Ayo was born and raised in Egbe. He left for Ziaria, Kaduna State, 34 years ago to take a job as an airplane mechanic. After 32 years there he retired and returned to Egbe. He is now our compounds driver and mechanic. He is a man of God and has been married to his beautiful wife for 26 years. He currently has 5 children. Mubo who is 24 years old and at Ziaria University, Tobe who is 22 and waiting for admission to university, Kola who is 19, Belumi who is 15 and Bolu who is 8. His family and Egbe hospital keep him busy enough but somehow he finds time to have a Kassava farm and work on his home he has recently built.

Ayo since then has driven us so many places in Nigeria. I always feel safe with him behind the wheel. His amazing laugh bringa a smile to my face everyday he greets me. He is one of the many Angels in Egbe our family gets to experience daily. He cares for my kids and has so much patience with my family for potty breaks, throw up breaks and more. When and if you come to visit Egbe…this is the face you will see waiting for you when you arrive.

Spiritual Fruit

Posted: March 30, 2014 by Patrice Miles in Egbe, Egbe Nigeria, Miles In Missions

In the past few months we have had many people ask us about the spiritual fruit that we have seen in Egbe. Everyone that is friends with us on Facebook or reads our blog knows our works and acts….but do they really see Gods kingdom growing through our ministry?

I am excited to say that over 564 patients in the hospital excepted Christ in 2013 As well as another 349 rededicated their lives to Christ. Now you might ask, did Miles in Missions directly have anything to do with these conversions? No, none of us ever do as God is the conductor and we are simply his instruments. Our roles in Egbe are supporting roles. Lenny is Maintenance Manager for this 33 acre hospital compound. I am the Volunteer Coordinator, Housing Compound Manager and Bookkeeper for the revitalization project. Without maintenance and construction of the hospital, there wouldn’t be a hospital for patients to come and hear about Christ. Without volunteers, housing for Missionaries and Nigerian Doctors there wouldn’t be anyone to talk to patients about Christ.

We struggle with our supporting roles everyday. We would love to be on the frontline with the Doctors, nurses, and chaplains watching them minister to the patients. We would love to actually be present when that patient says “Yes, I want Jesus in my life!” We have to look at ourselves though and question our desire for that. Is our desire to be on the front lines for our own satisfaction or truly to further Gods kingdom.

God has called us to these supporting roles and we do get to see him working daily. The men Lenny works with in the workshop are predominately Christian. Just like in the US, this can mean so many things. The question is do they have a relationship with Christ? Through the men’s devotion every morning in the workshop they are able to explore this and talk about it openly. This year, in 2014, one man has accepted Christ in the workshop and in 2013, two men. Discipleship is the Spiritual Fruit that Lenny gets to be apart of. Look for BLOG coming soon on Samuel who accepted Christ this year.

The women I work with daily in the guesthouse are also Christian women. We get to explore our walk with Christ in morning devotions and together all grow closer to God. The culture here does not easily go deep or talk about emotions…not much different then some of the Bible studies I attended back home. Together with Gods help we are pouring into these Christians to help them understand his love, mercy and grace that is available to us all without having to do anything.

If You Build it They Will Come!

Posted: March 19, 2014 by Patrice Miles in Egbe Hosptial, Egbe Nigeria, Missionaries
Tags: Egbe, Egbe Hospital, Egbe Nigeria

Unanswered Questions

Posted: January 16, 2014 by Patrice Miles in Egbe, Egbe Nigeria, Lenny Miles, Miles In Missions, Nigeria, Patrice Miles

I will never forget my melt down on my Fathers deck a few weeks before leaving for Nigeria. The unanswered questions were starting to create anxiousness throughout my entire being. My Dad asked me, “Do you need your questions answered or do you just not trust that God knows what he is doing and will take care of you?” I had to really do a basement trip on this core issue and discovered I didn’t trust him. I had always taken care of myself. This time I couldn’t prepare, I couldn’t control, I couldn’t even envision what was coming because I had never even been to Egbe. Once I repented of this sin and handed it over to God a Peace came over me and the anxiousness went away. My white knuckled grip of everything familiar loosened and I am enjoying the ride. The funny thing was, once I said yes to him and walked through the door, all those unanswered question were answered.

Riyom Attack that we drove through about 30 minutes prior to the attack.

Some of my questions were;
1. Will we be safe, Nigeria has a lot of unrest?
2. Will my children have friends, there are no other families there?
3. Will Lenny and I be lonely, there is only 3 Missionaires there?
4. What will I (Patrice) do all day?
5. What will we eat and will we like it?

1. Will be safe? I continue to see Gods hedge of protection around us through snake encounters, whalla in the town, nail boys on the road and close encounters of unrest as we travel to and from the North. Our family is at peace about his protection here. We almost forget sometimes we are in Nigeria.

2. Will my children have friends? Haha…I laugh at this one. Everyday you can look out the window and see children trekking to my house. It amazes me how my kids have adjusted thier play to Nigerian style and have so much patience and grace for these kids. They love being teachers and showing the kids new things to do and play. They even have a “Nigerian Playground” as Cason calls it where they set up chairs and play make believe and ride bikes.

3. Will Lenny and I be lonely? God has blown us away with this one. See who is coming in this picture! We are so excited to introduce you to the Egbeites as they are calling themselves. In less than 6 months we will have a medical director, surgeon, hospital administrator, 2 nurses, family physician, elementary teacher, fire fighter, mait manager and a music teacher. Wow and I thought we would be lonely!

4. What will I, Patrice, do all day? Another one to laugh at as I was worried I was going to be bored. As compound manager, volunteer coordinator, guesthouse manager, school teacher, wife and friend….there is never a dull moment. I still ask that you pray for God to reveal ministry opportunities to me. We get glimpses here an there of how he is using us in the community but I know he has something more in store then the above job descriptions.

5. What will we eat and will we like it? I love, love, love Nigerian food. I miss our vegetables but Lenny and I love the food. Spicy red sauce with meat over rice and sprinkled with ground nuts, Jollof rice with chicken mixed with cabbage, tomato, cucumber and ranch dressing is like Nigerian Qudoba, Oh and pounded Yam with Egusi soup I cannot even explain the deliciousness and last but not least I dream of Duro’s sugar cookies that she makes….they are amazing! The kids….well what kid likes food unless it is coated in sugar. They eat but it’s the same as it was in the US….every meal is a battle…some things don’t change no matter where you live.

What We Miss From Home and What We Love About Egbe

Posted: November 7, 2013 by Patrice Miles in Egbe, Egbe Nigeria, Miles In Missions
Tags: Egbe Nigeria, Miles In Missions

Saturday we will have lived in Egbe, Nigeria for 3 months. I feel like we have lived here forever. Everything is so familiar now and comfortable. Our cross cultural teachers told us the honey moon stage ends around month 3-4. I am praying we will continue the honeymoon for years but I am realistic. We have all had a few emotions lately about missing home so I thought it would be fun to make a list of what we miss about home and what we love about Egbe.

Jolie
1.Miss Dori and Kokomo cuz they don’t bite. (Bingo our Nigerian puppy nibbles on her feet.)
2.Miss my cousins cuz they are really really fun.
3.Miss our home church cuz here it’s long and I don’t understand them. 4.Love how nice the people are here in Egbe. 5.Love our house b/c I thought it would be a bad one like the green one at the gate with the washing machines in it, but it’s not, it’s a good one!

Patrice
1. Miss family too. Loved living with my Dad and Minette the months before we left and the long conversations on their deck. Miss my moms hug when it had been a few weeks since I had seen her. 2.Miss celebrations. Every month was a birthday or cookout or get together. Miss the conversation with siblings and friends on what is going on in their lives. Miss the food, especially getting to bake the cakes and cookies. 3.Miss a delivery pizza & STARBUCKS! 4.Miss Southeast Christian Church. We get to hear the sermons but we miss out on the worship. I keep praying someone will lead them to record the worship too. 5.Love the Yoruba people and community. I have never seen so many friendly smiles and waves in my life. Everyone here wants to help us and love on us. 6.Love homeschooling. The flexibility and getting to find teachable moments in everything we do. I want to strangle Jolie at least 2x a week but I have loved getting to know how she ticks. 7.Love all the ministry opportunities everywhere we walk. Watching my kids lay hands on an HIV positive women and pray for her. Seeing them make friends with a boy who has been at the hospital with his mother for 3 weeks to making HELP cakes with orphans is something words cannot describe. 8.Love my home. I cannot begin to describe how grateful we are for the revitalization teams hard work on our home. I have to step out side the compound daily to remind myself I live in Africa. 9.Love all my new Nigerian friends from Shola to the girls at the guesthouse, the guards, workers and HELP center friends. They all take care of my family in so many ways.

Lenny 1. Miss the changing of the seasons. Fall temperatures and hunting season. 2.Miss family and friend parties like our Harvest Party. 3. Miss Lowes Home Center where you could get anything you needed for construction work at anytime. 4. Miss good roads with no gallops (pot holes). 5. Miss good Mexican food. 6. Love family machine (motorcycle) rides. Patrice and Jolie to town and Cason in the bush.

7. Love the much slower pace of life and my calendar not full every second of everyday. Giving the freedom to be spontaneous as everyday is an adventure. 8. Love seeing progress with the hospital and workshop guys

Cason 1. Miss holidays with family in particular Thanksgiving at my cousins house in Charlotte and Gatlinburg. 2. Miss Kripsie Kreme doughnuts and taking friends there after sleepovers.

3. Miss going to Poppy’s house and getting slushies with him.

4. Love all my friends and catching lizards with them even thought they end up killing half of them.

5. Love playing pingpong and the dogs at the orphanage.

6.Love my dog Bingo.

Mission Trips to Africa

Posted: November 4, 2013 by Patrice Miles in Egbe Nigeria, H.E.L.P., Miles In Missions, Mission Trips, Patrice Miles
Tags: Africa Mission Trips, Egbe, Egbe Hospital, Egbe Nigeria, Lenny Miles, Miles In Missions, Mission Trips, Nigeria, Patrice Miles, Samaritans Purse

A little over a year ago my life was changed by going on my first mission trip to Jamaica. It seemed that I heard God speaking so clearly when my cell phone was off, I had no Internet, and I had no agenda for the day. I write to you today because I am excited about the possibility of leading mission trips to Egbe, Nigeria. Having this opportunity to watch God work in peoples lives is so exciting!

Currently, Samaritans Purse is the main contributor to U.S. visitors in Egbe. These volunteers come every two weeks with construction skills that they use to help the revitalization project. In addition to the construction project, we now have the desire to start hosting large teams to do ministry inside and outside of the hospital walls.

I know running large teams every month could be stressful on myself, but I envision so many benefits from it as well. The opportunity to see U.S. lives changed by a new outlook on life, ministries in Egbe helped, people’s eyes opened to the hospital and its needs would be tremendously gratifying. I see all the benefits, but am in prayer to see if it is Gods will. Does he want this? I will be spending a lot of time putting it all together. Things like forms, schedules, costs, ministry options, etc. still need to be created. I will be dependent on God’s help to put all the pieces together because I cannot make this happen on my own. I feel like a little girl who is showing her Daddy a picture that she has drawn and then waiting for him to tell her how beautiful it is while putting it on the fridge.

I have high expectations of myself and admittedly, I can sometimes take on too much. I am sure there are many of you reading this that understand my pain. God has saved me from myself many times by not giving me what I want. I am thankful for that when I look back and see how he saved me from something that would have overwhelmed me or not worked out, but in that moment it was hard to be thankful. His will is always better than mine and it may or may not include my desire to see U.S. teams meet the beautiful people of Egbe. I am just going to have to wait and see. Lets all together watch and see what he does….. lets watch him show up and show off however that looks! How about you? Are you excited to see God show up and show off in your life no matter how that looks? If you have any interest in coming on a mission trip to Africa to serve the people of Egbe, no matter what your skill set is, click Egbe to email me.

I am NEPAman!

Posted: November 1, 2013 by Lenny in Egbe, Egbe Hosptial, Egbe Nigeria, Lenny Miles, Miles In Missions

I am NEPAman! Sounds sort of like something from the 1980’s sci-fi movie Robocop where he says in a muffled human/computer voice, “I am Robocop”. Well, nothing so glorious for me in the last couple of days, just trying to get the electrical grid up and running on the hospital. NEPA is the national power company for all of Nigeria. I’m not sure of what the acronym stands for exactly, but I’ve thought of a good one for now…. Never Electrical Power Anywhere.

The problem started more than seven weeks ago where a part of the transformer that supplies power to the hospital “blew up”. It was determined that the repair would be around 80,000 Naira ($500 US). After 7 weeks of inaction, the Hospital and surrounding community decided to come up with the money so NEPA would fix the transformer.

Thankfully the hospital is blessed to have a large generator to power the full compound. However, due to the high cost of fuel, the generator is only ran from 11am-1pm Monday-Friday. All non-emergency surgeries have to be scheduled during these times, back up batteries charged, phones charged, computers charged, etc. etc. Anything of importance has to be crammed into two hours. Anything beyond that, like an emergency surgery has to be ran off of a small generator similar to one that you might have at your own home.

This is an expensive problem to have and the constant need for fuel is a challenge in itself. Two times a week I have my maintenance foreman Moses load up a van and he has to go purchase 210 liters (roughly 100 gallons) of fuel just to keep the small generators throughout the hospital going. Our family is affected by this as well, we use around 10,000 Naira ($70 US) of fuel a week. All of this said, I have not explained the most costly part of this, the high cost of life. With no power, a person dependent on an oxygen concentrator or a baby in an incubator face a huge challenge to stay alive.

When NEPA had finally shown up to fix the problem, I got a moment of relief. But that soon faded as they showed up with no tools, no ladders, no ability to really fix anything. With the blessings of the Revitalization project at this hospital, we were able to “help” them get their job done. Most recently we’ve used wrenches, pipe fittings, epoxy, ladders, trucks, and our John Deere tractor to aide them in the swapping out of a transformer. The last two days have been spent with them to get this done and I am glad to say that the hard work has paid off. The power is on!

When our red and green lights are on in our house, we are really excited. Not because we are celebrating an early Christmas, but because we are celebrating the fact that the power is on!

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