We decided to add a little fun to our Christmas Party this year and asked the kids to create a Christmas Photo Booth for us. For some reason there weren’t many Christmas props but everyone still had fun with it. Lenny passed the “Mantle” to Pete as we transition into the new year and prepare for our move to JOS. We ate some Jollof Rice and heard some great contributions from the staff. We are so blessed to get to spend Christmas with these amazing Egbeites.
Change a cherry pie to a blueberry pie. Now that would be a miracle! But that’s exactly what we are trying to do. We need this pie above to change from red to blue.
We are giving thanks to you who donated on #GivingTuesday. It seems the day was a huge and unexpected success and started a huge momentum shift towards a delicious blueberry pie. You all gave so generously for us to continue God’s work here in Nigeria. A total of $9,600 was raised in one day! You all are amazing! We wanted to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for this huge boost of encouragement.
This is equal to nearly one quarter of our total “one-time” need of $40,000.
If you missed #GivingTuesday, that’s ok. You can still join our team and support the ministries we are involved with here in Nigeria. Please click here NIGERIA To make an end of the year, tax deductible donation.
No matter the amount, if it seems to small to you, please consider giving anyways.
We will update you regularly on the progress and as you see this pie turn from cherry pie to blueberry pie, you will be encouraged that you had something to do with it, no matter the amount.
If you are wanting to become partners with us for a longer period of time, you can also join our monthly support network. Not only does it take “one-time” funds to get setup in ministry and move to another city within Nigeria, but it also takes monthly support to allow us to stay and continue the work here. If you feel you could help us on a monthly basis, please click here MONTHLY to sign up for that.
Once again, we would like to thank all of you have supported us over the last 3 ½ years. We literally couldn’t have done it without you! We thank you for your unwavering support along the way. We pray you have been as blessed by supporting us as we are doing ministries here in Nigeria. I pray that through our communications, you have been able to see God working through us to disciple, bless, and encourage the people of Egbe and Nigeria as a whole.
Recently one of our C.A.R.E. Africa caretakers, Gift, had a baby. She called me when she arrived at the hospital. Within 15 minutes she called again to tell me that she had the baby. I rushed down to the hospital and there she was sitting up in a chair with the baby next to her already dressed in some clothes. In a total of 30 minutes, she had a baby naturally. The baby was dressed, she was out of labor and delivery, in the ward at her bed, sitting in a chair making phone calls, and all ready to go home.
I was in complete shock and awe because when I had my two children, both of my labors lasted over a day. I had an epidural so I could handle the pain and I pushed for hours. My recovery was another day with pain pills and ibuprofen brought to me every so many hours, food delivered to me three times a day, the baby taken so I could rest, air conditioned room, and a comfy remote controlled bed. I am so weak!
When it was time for Gift to go home there was some confusion on her bill and I had to go down to the hospital during dinnertime to make sure she could go home. I immediately was inconvenienced as I was trying to enjoy dinner with my family. Then as I am trying to get out the door my seamstress stops by to drop a new outfit and a Chief from the town drives up to give me paperwork on a school that C.A.R.E. Africa is about to lease. Uggghhh……. I finally got to the hospital, flustered of course, and see Gift. She has her new daughter on the breast and 3 large bags all ready to go. I looked at everything and said, “Gift, how are you planning on getting home?” She looked at me like I was stupid and said “Okada” (the motorcycle taxi that everyone uses to get around). Really!!!! How was she going to get this new born baby and three large bags down to the road, hail an Okada and then get on the motorcycle with all this stuff and the baby.
I of course didn’t let her do this and got a car to take her home. I have no doubt Gift would have managed without me just fine. Nigerian women are so strong in dealing with what they endure on a daily basis just by living life. Not to mention what the deal with in this male dominated culture and poverty stricken environment amazes me. They are so strong and I am so weak.
Ngozi, Our C.A.R.E. baby seeing her new baby sister for the first time.
I looked at my self and thought about how I stomped down to the hospital perturbed my dinner was interrupted and that my seamstress and the Chief delayed me. I think about how I constantly worry I am too fat, how I complain about my kids messes and what they leave laying around or how I am so hot in this harmattan season that I can barely function every day. It amazes me that after living in Africa for 3.5 years I am still so weak. I think I already knew this but today God is showing me that I am always going to be weak. He is the only one that can make me strong and I have to find satisfaction in him and not in my surroundings. Pray for me as I continue to find strength and satisfaction in my Father in heaven.
Meet Mosun. If you have ever visited the Spring of Life HIV/AIDS Center in Egbe, you would have gone and prayed with Mosun. She is an HIV patient that has been on ARV therapy for 5 years now. She is doing great, but unfortunately the sickness left her blind in both eyes. She has two small children, Faith and Eniope. They are currently enrolled in C.A.R.E. Africa and sponsored by Rick and Martha Bradford, two SIM missionaries in Egbe.
Pastor Alabi continues to encourage Mosun through nutritional support, picking her up on Wednesdays for the caretaker meeting at C.A.R.E. Africa, and by delivering her ARV drugs. Through some recent donations that SOL has received, Pastor Alabi and I talked about how we could empower some of his patients. Mosun was top of the list. Pastor Alabi knew she had sold charcoal before. He was able to help her buy several large bags of charcoal, which she will break down, and sell in small quantities. She is very excited and grateful for this.
When I recently visited her to see how the charcoal business was going, she expressed her need for eye drops. Vision First is an eye drop that was subscribed for her. These drops she said have really helped with one of her eyes. It has allowed her a little bit of vision in the one eye. The costs is n4,000 for a two month supply. That is $50 a year for her eye drops. I wish she would make n4,000 from the charcoal sales, but she will only make about n400 per large bag she sells.
I am praying that someone out there reading this blog would like to buy Mosun a year supply of eye drops for Christmas. Please consider donating $50 as a one-time donation to Spring Of Life. You can put in the memo “eye drops” so we know it is for Mosun. Thanks so much!
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?”
We were shocked and then almost saddened to realize that our children are in fact growing up way too fast. We asked Cason, “Do you want to go to a real high school or continue in Egbe with homeschool curriculum?” He said, “I really want to go to a real school for high school.” Then we asked, “Do you want to go to college?” Once again he said, “Yes, and I want to study business!”
Living in this very rural setting, an education that will prepare our children for an American university is hard. We thank the children’s teacher, Katie, for all the amazing work and education she has provided for our children over the last three years. She felt undoubtedly that she could provide a high school education for Cason, but her resources in a one-bedroom house turned schoolhouse would be limited.
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.
One of Lenny’s Masterpieces
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.
We are planning our move for the middle of the year 2017. At that time we will have served for almost four years in Egbe. We feel like God has used us mightily and his kingdom has grown through the revitalization of the hospital, C.A.R.E. Africa, Spring of Life HIV/AIDS clinic and through our relationships with the many Nigerians we now call family.
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.
Please be in prayer on how you might be able to help our family continue to serve in Nigeria to grow HIS kingdom.
With love,
The Miles family
See below for pictures of our new home and Cason and Jolie’s new school.
Hi Patrice,
My name is Whitney Nesse. My cousin, Abby Anderson, gave me your contact information. I am helping with grade school programs at my church, Riverside in Hutchinson, MN, and we are looking for people to support during this upcoming school year. I proposed my idea to Abby and she thought you might have a need where you are working.
What we would like to do this school year with our students is set up a marketplace in our church with pictures of items (school supplies, bedding, small animals, meals, Bibles, etc.) for people in need. These pictures will be available for the price that a person in need would pay in their country. The students would then purchase these pictures and that money would go directly for that item to a person in need.
I would love to have a direct contact with someone like you so we could possibly Skype and send photos and letters between our students and those in your sphere that are in need. Is this something that you would be interested in? Our classes start up on September 14th, so this doesn’t leave a lot of time, but with God, anything is possible, right!?!?!?
Thanks for your time and I look forward to hearing from you,
Whitney
So of course I was interested!! See what they have created…..is this not the cutest thing you have ever seen? I love it when God shows off! No one can orchestrate anything like this but him. Thank you Riverside!!
Small Zipper Pouch $5 Large Patchwork Wallet $10
Do you have Christmas gifts you need for co-workers, teachers, neighbors, family or friends? Please consider C.A.R.E. Africa. Most gifts are under $10 and make a perfect small “thinking of you” gift. Check out the zipper pouches for $5, pot holders for $7, patch work large wallet $10, aprons $15, and adorable purses for $15. We can custom make anything for you and have it to the states by the second week in December. You can let us pick the fabric or tell us a color and we will make it. Empower a widow in Egbe and help send a child to school this Christmas by buying C.A.R.E Africa products. Email me at patrice.miles@sim.org to place your order.
You can also check out our Etsy store and see our current products already in the U.S. Visit https://www.etsy.com/people/CAREafrica
Pot Holders $7
Ankara Purse $15
Kampala Purse $15
Small Zipper Pouch $5
Ankara Apron $15
Kampala Apron $15
Kampala Apron $15
Through grace and forgiveness in Jesus Christ, the disarray we create with our choices and actions transforms into our testimony.
"Only those who give away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35)
my words sound better coming from my hands than my mouth,
A writer whose passion is to encourage others to live joyfully!
"Only those who give away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35)
"Only those who give away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35)
"Only those who give away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35)
"Only those who give away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35)
"Only those who give away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35)
"Only those who give away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35)
"Only those who give away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35)
"Only those who give away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35)
"Only those who give away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35)
"Only those who give away their lives for my sake and for the sake of the Good News will ever know what it means to really live.” (Mark 8:35)
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Patrice Miles
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Miles In Missions 