Miles In Missions

Archive for the ‘Miles In Missions’ Category

1 Year Furlough

Posted: August 9, 2014 by Patrice Miles in Lenny Miles, Miles In Missions, Patrice Miles, SIM

Soon my family and I will be heading out on our one year furlough. Four months ago when my husband started planning this, I wasn’t that excited. I love Egbe so much that I didn’t feel like all the work to plan and leave was worth it.

Traveling out of Egbe isn’t so easy. The first battle is planning your trip through limited internet access, blocked websites and emails because we live in Nigeria and bad phone service. Once that is planned then you have to book tickets trying to use points so we can travel for close to Free. Then plan your 8hr drive to the airport that will be an exhausting venture for our family. Both Lenny and I have roles and duties in Egbe that have to be delegated out to other Missionaries and national staff. We have to plan for the care of our dogs, cats, house, yard etc. and pack our entire family for different climates than we are used to. Sometimes you need a furlough just from planning your furlough…haha!

After all this planning we are less than two weeks from our furlough and I am so glad my husband made us do it. We are exhausted from the past year of work. Just in the past two months alone we have prepared 5 new missionary houses, oriented 6 new Missionaires to Egbe living, hosted over 24 volunteers, moved into the new OPD, moved CSR, put a facelift on maternity, built a new guardhouse and gate and I am forgetting so much more as the past two months is a blur. Needless to say our family needs this time together on furlough. So why do I feel so guilty for taking it?

As I think about the comfort and rest that this furlough will give my family, I also think of so many I leave behind that can barely afford to buy food and water. How do I not feel guilty? When our supporters see our pictures on Facebook and wonder if we are using their hard earned money to play abroad, how do I enjoy my time away? These are the thoughts and feelings I battle with as we prepare to leave.

Mark 6:31 Then because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them. “Come with me by yourselves to a quite place and get some rest” This verse reminded me that even Jesus and his disciples needed to get away from their ministry to rest. We all need rest. So many of us go go go no matter what country we live in. When we finally sit down we feel guilty because there is still so much work to do. I have come to the conclusion that I am good to no one without rest. When you burn the candle at both ends it burns out so much quicker. When you live were you work you have to leave to find rest.

We are excited to find rest in Europe in less than two weeks. I hope you will enjoy our pictures on Facebook as we find rest in multiple SIM guesthouses. I pray you will celebrate with us as we get to spend time alone with God and our children as we re-energize for another year in Egbe!

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Posted: August 5, 2014 by Lenny in Egbe Hosptial, Egbe Nigeria, Lenny Miles, Miles In Missions, Nigeria

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. The unexpected realities of working at a mission hospital…….

When preparing for our new lives as missionaries over a year ago, I had never put much thought into the fact that we would be serving at a health care facility. Having never worked in a medical field before, I wasn’t really prepared for the sights, sounds, and smells of all that comes with it. This blog piece is about those new and interesting things that I’ve learned in the past year of living here.

First the Good. Wow, praise God for the miracles that do happen! I have been around many patients with hopeless diagnoses and have gotten to see those ailments get cared for and healed. This is very up lifting and it shows the power of God working through his servants here on the ground. Hearing the surgeon come out of surgery and tell us all that the patient will make it when the case could have went one way or the other on the operating table, is very, very encouraging. Also, when a patient that had a particular “rough case” gets to go home and is smiling from ear to ear, it is very rewarding for us here serving in this capacity!

Next, the bad. Lets face it, death is not pretty. Sometimes it can be welcomed for the elderly family member that has been suffering for a long time. However, generally death is not welcomed and no-one really ever wants to say good-bye. One of the most sobering and impactful things for myself is seeing death up close and a little too personal.

Several cases come to mind as I write this, but I want to tell you particularly about a 20 (+/-) year old man that came in with major chest trauma. I remember there was yelling and commotion at our gate so I went to investigate. This is usually the case with most road accidents because someone is usually irate at the other party. The young man was just being wheeled out from our x-ray unit. I stood on the side of the walkway and could see the mans lifeless eyes as they wheeled him by. It hit me like a ton of bricks. An alive an energetic man just a few minutes before, was now dead and had died while they were taking x-rays of his chest. The story is that this man was a “tree cutter” and with this job, they load large logs onto the back of dump trucks. He happened to be standing between two trucks when one backed up and crushed him at chest level. So very sad.

Lastly, the ugly. Well, lets just say that sanitation is not the utmost priority here. During times of maintaining equipment its very common to open up a panel and find dried blood and other unrecognizable things inside. Next, the morgue at the hospital is not a place that I frequent. I’ve been there a total of two times in a year just to maintain several air conditioners. The smell of death and decay is something I will never forget, although I would like to.

Also, the reality of amputations has hit home. The doctors might explain that a person has to have an extremity taken off due to gangrene or a severe injury and I wonder where that body part goes. Well, lets not go there at all! There are no garbage trucks, no biomedical waste trucks, or anything else that comes to this hospital. These things simply do not exist here and all of our waste is contained within our 33 acre compound.

Our revitalization team here is doing everything in our power to improve the conditions I described. Most comes from educating the staff, doctors and nurses. Other things such as improved morgue facilities to care for our dead and an incinerator to take care of the biomedical waste, comes from us the maintenance and construction crews. Please pray for God’s continued blessing on this project through financial partners, wise missionaries, and our Nigerian counterparts to bring this hospital up to its full potential.

Through all of this, God has shown me many things in my heart to love on people more and truly appreciate my family. As we all know, life if very fragile and it can be taken away at any moment. Love God, love your family, and love your neighbor as yourself. These things are the most important acts we get to chose to do everyday.

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!

Yoruba Lessons

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

beville75

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…

View original post 205 more words

“We are coming!”

Posted: May 19, 2014 by Patrice Miles in Egbe, Miles In Missions, Mission Trips, Volunteers

“We are coming!” This was the email I received over 3 month ago from our friends and Miles in Missions supporters, Stephen and Diana Beville. I thought after I gave them the costs and details of the journey they would say that they were mistaken and couldn’t come. $3,000 in plane tickets, $850 for accommodations and transportation to Egbe, VISA’s, shots, 16 hours in plane travel, 8 hours in vehicle travel and you have to stay for 2 weeks. Diana said,” I don’t know how we will come up with the money, get time off from work and I am so nervous I am shaking but we are saying, Yes! We feel God is calling us to come and serve in Egbe.” I screamed to Lenny the news and then cried as I had always thought no one would ever come and visit us in the bush.

When the Beville’s said YES we all had no clue what God had planned. We just knew he wanted them here. Weeks before their arrival he started to give us little glimpses of what he wanted them here for. First it was clear that I needed some Louisville lovins. Since Abby’s departure at the end of March I have been very lonely. I knew God knew I needed a woman from Louisville to lift my Spirits and help me push forward until more female missionaries arrive.

God’s plan continued to unfold one week before the Beville’s arrival. Our medical director asked if the Beville’s could help move the pharmacy to its new location. I of course said yes. We could easily install shelving, clean the new location and move all the drugs. He then asked if Stephen would be comfortable with viewing the pharmacy policy and procedures and seeing what changes needed to be made to make it more efficient. I told the MD that Stephen had never worked in a pharmacy before so I didn’t know if he would be comfortable with that, but I would ask. When Stephen arrived I shared the MD’s desires with him and he said, “Oh that’s no problem. I used to work in a pharmacy and my Dad is a pharmacist.” I couldn’t do anything but laugh as God has such a sense of humor.

Overall, their time here has ministered to our family, the hospital, the staff and the community. Our family needed to hear some of that familiar Louisville swang. The hospital needed help with the pharmacy move, Dr’s Library Facelift, server and Internet issues. A few of the staff and their grandchildren benefited from Diana’s computer and cooking classes. The community will benefit from the changes they have helped make for years to come. Thank you to the Beville’s for saying YES! Thank you to their family that re arranged their lives to watch their children. Thank you to everyone that supported them financially and prayerfully on this journey to Egbe! Thank you to everyone that contributed to the 7 suitcase of clothes and other goodies. To view more of their pictures in Egbe click Beville.

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.

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.

Nail Boys

Posted: December 10, 2013 by Patrice Miles in Miles In Missions, Nigeria, Patrice Miles

My excitement rose as I boarded our new bus with reclining seats to head to my new favorite place, Shoprite in Illorin. After Thanksgiving week without my US family I was needing something fun to do. My list was complete of everything I would be purchasing. Comfort foods from home like chips, lunch meat, hamburger, doughnuts and so much more. We started our 2 hour journey with gallops (potholes) galore. Swaying from one side of the bus to the other anticipating the better roads ahead and then there they were…. Nail boys. Nail boys specialize in creating eight-foot lengths of 4 x 4s studded with spikes. They set up roadblocks in order to collect “taxes” from hapless travelers. No big deal, we had the paperwork to show we had paid our dues for the year.

“Nice new bus”, was the first words out of the leaders mouth when we stopped. After our driver talked to him in Yoruba for several minutes I could tell by his tone that things weren’t going well. Seems we were missing a paper and the cost was #28,000 ($170 US). Were we missing a paper, maybe….but did it cost #28,000?…NO! Oh and guess what….you cannot turn around and go home or go forward to Illorin until you pay. Lets just say that this ended the honeymoon stage they talked about in our cross cultural training for me.

Ayo our driver was amazing. We all started making calls for someone to rescue us. The network was horrible were we were positioned so every caller barely understood us and we barely understood them. The entire team back at the hospital was on the phone with Cheifs of Egbe, Chairmens, and all other influential people they could call. After four hours of sitting in the bus on the side of the road in the bush, someone got a hold of the nail boys boss and our fee was reduced to #5000. By this time it was too late to go to Illorin and we were all exhausted, so we returned home.

During this adventure I was never scared, just frustrated. I have seen God cancel my plans many times. I have always felt he was protecting me from something so much bigger than my current obstacle. I have never had a problem resting in the truth that His ways are not my ways. Where I struggled, was the fact that this is my life now. My life is different now, not right, not wrong just different. My relationships with people are different now, not right, not wrong, just different. My food is so different now, not right, not wrong just different (I think some nutritionalists might disagree..HAHA)

During my mourning of everything familiar the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said “Patrice…don’t forget about me…I’m not different. I am the same today and tomorrow as I was yesterday. I am the same in the US and in Nigeria. My relationship with you has not changed. I still love you and have a plan for your life.” This truth hit me hard and tears filled my eyes. I was sad that God was the only thing familiar to me now, but also comforted by his words. He is all I need and in Nigeria I am truly learning the meaning of that! He is right, he is not wrong and he is not different, he is God. He is all you need! I pray you can find rest in that today with me.

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.

SIM Missionairies

Egbe Moments

Follow Blog via Email

Facebook Page

Authors

Recent Posts

Blog Stats

Blogs We Follow