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Sunday the Gardener

Posted: October 26, 2014 by Patrice Miles in Egbe, People of Egbe

His name is Sunday – the Gardener. You will know him when you come to visit Egbe because he wears bright floral pants. You can see him as he walks throughout the compound mowing the lawn – his bright pants distinguishing him from the other workers. He has a kind face and when he smiles his teeth stand out pearly white against his dark skin. When visitors come to visit, he introduces himself as “Small Trouble” and smiles. In many ways, Sunday has been small trouble for a long time. Although extremely loyal, he had a bad temper and would not take orders from his Nigerian managers. He had issues getting along with his fellow workers and would pick fights.
Each morning, the workers and missionaries would gather for workshop devotions. Sunday joined and for many weeks would just listen to them teach. They talked about Jesus and how He wants us to live. One day, Sunday started to ask random questions. “Who is Eve?” “Why do they say, ‘I am not my brother’s keeper?” At first the Ogas (bosses) thought maybe Sunday was asking questions to get attention or to show how he knew more than the rest. His questions were often random and off topic and when he would raise his hand everyone thought, “Oh – here goes Sunday again.”

One morning, Sunday raised his hand. “Yes, Sunday?” was the response with the anticipation of yet another off topic question. “How do you become a Christian?” The missionaries perceived that he was sincere and took him to the side and were able to introduce him to the Lord! While they were talking with Sunday another man came and wanted to know the Lord as well. Two workshop Salvations – Praise God!

Since then, “Small Trouble” has changed. He doesn’t cause trouble; he doesn’t try to fight – his attitude to those around him reflects the faith in his heart. It’s been night and day difference. He used to rake leaves at 5 AM outside of the compound houses – if you’ve been to Egbe you might have been woken up by our friend. Now instead of raking at 5 AM, he goes to church each morning.

Sunday is illiterate, so giving him a Bible would not help to disciple him. The missionaries decided to give him a megavoice solar powered device that had the Bible on it in his own language. He can press a button and hear the Word of God wherever he goes. Sunday carries it with him almost everywhere and listens to it constantly. When he’s on break or working, he will listen to it. When he’s coming to the house to get fuel for a machine, he listens to it. When he’s mowing the lawn and probably can’t hear anything, he’s listening to it.
God’s Word is making a difference in the life of this new believer. Maybe when you come you will recognize him not only by his flowered pants but by the faith in his heart and the device reading him God’s Word in his pocket.

This was written by a short term missionary for Megavoice. This story happened before my family arrived. Now Sunday is known as Baba Bingo because he is our dog, Bingo, daddy. When Bingo was a puppy he would follow Sunday every morning at 5:30am until devotions at 8am to rake all the leaves and remove the rubbish. Everywhere you saw Sunday you would see our puppy Bingo. Sunday not only walks with the Lord but he takes care of his children and his wife that live in another town. With the little salary he makes at the hospital he sends his children to school and puts food on the table for his family. He stays in Egbe because that is where the work is and he is loved by many.

C.A.R.E. Africa

Posted: October 17, 2014 by Patrice Miles in Egbe, Miles In Missions, Patrice Miles, Prayer

What is C.A.R.E. Africa? Children At Risk Empowered! When I arrived in Egbe over a year ago, I immediately fell in love with the women in the Guesthouse kitchen. These amazing women, who are now my best friends, always carried a smile and joy in their hearts. Their stories however, would not bring a smile to your face or joy to your heart. Most of them are abandoned mothers who have been abused in one form or another. Their stories are a re-occurring theme I have found with women in Egbe.

This love for my girls in the kitchen and their children put a burden on my heart for abandoned mothers. How could I help empower them? How could I help them to walk closer with the Lord? How could I help and not hurt their situation so they can send their children to school and put food in their mouths. I was overwhelmed with the amount of women and children I came in contact with that have been abandoned in Egbe. I just couldn’t stand by and watch. “God help me to help them!” I prayed for many months. I became frustrated when my desires to help were not met with a clear plan from God. Why was he not helping me to help them. I prayed for God to bring someone to me to help. I needed a local person to this culture that shared the same vision. Someone that could be trusted and that was known in the community. Nothing happened and no one came for months. I continued to pray and he finally answered my prayer with Emmanuel Salako. (Emma)

Emma and I met when we first arrived in Egbe in 2013. He shortly left for school and I heard from him every now and then through phone calls and Facebook. When he returned he came to greet us but only Lenny was home. Lenny asked him how school had been and Emma began to share his vision for orphans and widows in Egbe. Lenny said “Wait! My wife has to hear this.” Once I arrived home I could not believe what I was hearing. Emma’s vision was inline with everything I had journaled and written down for the past 6 months. There were so many similarities that it gave me goose bumps. We agreed to start slow and small and see what God would do.

I am proud to announce C.A.R.E. Africa to you today. Together Emma and I are God’s hands and feet in Egbe. We meet weekly together to explore new opportunities to spread God’s word through empowering needy women and children. We currently have a bead making program that meets on Saturdays. Women come for a 30 minute devotion and then learn the trade of bead making and best business practices. We also have a home care program for orphans. Through a scholarship to school, weekly accountability, tutoring and mentoring of the entire family orphans are able to remain in the home of a family member. Through discipleship and education we are empowering God’s children in Egbe. As we venture down uncharted territory we need your prayers. Please click C.A.R.E. to email me (Patrice) to become one of our prayer partners. We need your prayers for wisdom, local leaders to join us and finances. You can also follow us on our new Facebook page at www.facebook.com/careafrica.

You might be a Missionairy in Africa if…….

Posted: October 11, 2014 by Patrice Miles in Egbe, Miles In Missions, Missionaries, Nigeria

You might be a Missionairy in Africa if….
1. you know how to pop mango worms out of your dog.
2. your shirts smell like BO and you don’t care becuase you smell like everyone else.
3. you go weeks without shaving your legs, armpits or facial hair.
4. your kids ask nonchalantly if the nail boys are going to kill you as you are stopped on the side of the road getting harassed.
5. you feed your dogs chicken bones daily.
6. you have to tell your kids friends not to sh_t in your front yard.
7. you carry a role of toilet paper, hand sanitizer and bug spray in your purse everywhere you go.
8. your child and his friends carry a machete wherever they go.
9. everyone’s legs in the family look like they have visited an acupuncturist from all the mosquito bites.
10. your guard asks if he can eat your cats.
11. your 8 year old daughter receives marriage proposals everywhere she goes.
12. you blow dry your hair next to your generator, as that is the only source of electricity.
13. you are excited to receive chickens, goats, fruits and vegetables as gifts.
14. you de worm your kids along with your dogs.
15. you hear the “f” word from the church pulpit.
16. you smell something burning and you don’t jump up to see what it is.
17. you can’t stand other missionaries.
18. you reuse water bottles and ziploc bags at least 10 times.
19. you stop taking anti-malaria medicine.
20. your amazon prime has at least 20 plus shipping addresses in it.
21. you eat processed foods and get sick.
22. you make Ebola jokes when someone has a fever.
23. you tell your kids before they go to bed to brush their teeth and wash their feet.
24. you hear screaming at night and don’t worry becuase it is just the local church night vigil.
25. you can fit your entire family on a motorcycle.

Back to Normal…… Sort Of

Posted: October 4, 2014 by Lenny in Egbe, Egbe Hosptial, Lenny Miles, Miles In Missions, Missionaries, Prayer

Since returning back home to Nigeria from our three week break, a few things have changed. Most significantly for myself, I have been asked to take the role of Construction Manager. This has happened for several reasons; –The role just fits me better. With my past experiences in building new homes and other construction experiences, this is where God can use me most. –We had to say goodbye to our friend and Samaritans Purse Construction Manager, William King. William had served two and a half years in this role, but he is moving on to another part of Africa. –New missionary Rick Bradford and his wife, Martha, arrived less than six weeks ago. Rick has become the new Maintenance Supervisor, filling my vacant role. He has extensive maintenance experience with a large steel company in Canada.

So, along with change come new challenges. Work has gotten much more demanding for me. I feel the pressure coming from all around. Some of it is brought on by myself, but other things are external forces that seem to weigh me down. The pressure of running a multi-million dollar project, accounting, ordering, directing, and managing, all the while trying to make sure no one is stealing or cheating, is exhausting! The thoughts of, “I’ve got to do all of this myself!”, has really started to creep into my thinking.

In addition to the construction, our Family has been on the ground serving in Egbe for the longest, just 13 months. People many times look to us for answers to questions that we have no answers to. Our missionary community has grown leaps and bounds since we first arrived. In August of last year, there were only three other full time missionaries on ground, now there are 12 plus our family. This is great, but along with it comes its own challenges. We all live within a one and a half acre area, where we serve, live, work, and on most weekends eat together. Everyone has different demands, opinions, needs, and life experiences that can be challenging.

All of this is happening while we are trying to keep our families healthy and happy. We also hope that God is glorified through it all.

Wait… wait just a minute! This doesn’t sound right. Aren’t we taught as Christians that we should glorify God first, take care of our family second, and thirdly take care of work? Why is it that everyday I have this order reversed? Even while writing this blog, I have done the list backwards. Work first, family second, and then God. What is wrong with this picture? What does it all mean?

I don’t say all of these things to complain or seek sympathy, but just to simply say that we are all human. Some people seem to put missionaries on a “spiritual pedestal”, but in reality we are just like everyone else. We can all let our circumstances drive us. In the process, we can easily leave God out of it and try to control it ourselves. This isn’t God’s plan for our lives. He wants us to seek him first and then all else will fall in place. Including our families and work.

I was challenged by our small group here in Egbe to make sure that I am seeking God first. Truly it’s made a difference in a few days already. Things that I’ve wanted to get off of my to-do list are getting done, emails rolling off my fingertips, and other administrative stuff getting plowed through. Sometimes, even with a little time left over for fun! How can you allow God into your life to take away the weight of your to do’s? Seek him, ask him, and watch what he can do in your life. He loves you enough to take it from you!

Please continue to pray for our family. Dry season is approaching and the heat and dust can be extremely uncomfortable. This can add stress and irritability, so continue to pray for us to put God first through it all

Ebola in Nigeria

Posted: September 15, 2014 by Patrice Miles in Egbe, Egbe Hosptial, Egbe Nigeria, Miles In Missions, Missionaries, Nigeria, Prayer

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.

I 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!”

I 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

Blessing # 14

Posted: August 23, 2014 by Lenny in Egbe, Egbe Hosptial, Egbe Nigeria

One of the biggest blessings our compound gets to see is a container coming and being unloaded with much needed supplies for the reutilization of the hospital. Living and building “in the bush” of Africa has its challenges. Some of those challenges are being able to find quality construction materials, medical equipment, and other things that help make the missionaries lives more comfortable while serving here.

God has truly blessed this community, hospital, and its missionaries with an incredible support team in the US and Canada. They are dedicated to revitalization project just as much as every missionary living on the ground in Egbe. They are in constant communication with all the missionaries and ask, “What is needed?” Most of the time we answer this question and a few months later, whatever the request, it’s at our door step being offloaded from these containers. With every container comes hard work to unload it, but also comes the huge boost to morale. When each box, pallet, or shrink wrapped piece comes off, we say “Wow, look at that!” or “There that is!”

Also, each empty container is dropped off of the truck to be kept on our compound for temporary storage and we are in the process of making future plans to make small buildings with these containers in the future. These may become low-cost workshops or possibly store fronts for the hospital vendors. The possibilities with containers are truly amazing when you start to research their potential. One website I had found shown people with really nice houses made out of a few of these containers. Really creative!

The most recent container #14 had shown up on Sunday, August 17 at around 9:30 a.m. I wanted to capture the hard work and the organized “chaos” each container brings when unloading one. I placed a time lapse camera on the roof nearest our unloading dock to capture the entire process. The video shows a total of five hours worth of unloading and then removing the container off of the trailer. The camera took one picture every five seconds for a total of 2,900 pictures. These are played back at 25 frames per second. The five hours of work has been condensed down to two minutes of video. Enjoy to the end were we try to “offload” the container from the trailer. We tried to keep it upright just like all of the offloads before it, but….

Dog Food

Posted: July 26, 2014 by Patrice Miles in Egbe, Miles In Missions, Uncategorized

When 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. We 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.

A 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. Once 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.

Lately 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

A 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.”

Spiritual 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!

Yoruba Lessons

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

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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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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.

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