Archive for the ‘Lenny Miles’ Category

Unanswered Questions

Posted: January 16, 2014 by Patrice Miles in Egbe, Egbe Nigeria, Lenny Miles, Miles In Missions, Nigeria, Patrice Miles
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300526_10151588761048808_824620772_nI 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.

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 1517811_10152091727568808_1075165954_oNigeria.

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 1543995_10100999457236778_536409240_ncoming 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.

793769_265576223593621_1259991415_o5. 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.

I am NEPAman!

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

TransformerThankfully 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.

TransformerThis 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.
Electric

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!

NEPA lightsWhen 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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