We were honored to get to tag along to a medical outreach to Oga on Christmas Day. We visited a few houses and invited people to a free medical clinic. They received testing for HIV, were seen by Dr Jen, met with a counselor to talk about their faith, given free drugs and other provisions. It was a long day but so rewarding.
I am sure everyone reading this blog has had life smack them in the face before. I know that I have. Sometimes it is my own stupidity and disobedience that brings on these trials, at other times it is just LIFE. We live in a broken and sinful world so we are going to experience disappointments, heartbreak, sadness, and much more.
Recently, three of our monthly donors have had life smack them in the face. One lost a job. Another is going through a disagreement. The last one has an amazing ministry and his large donor just backed out and left all the financial burden on him. I know God uses these trials and that they will refine all three of these supporters of ours. I know their walk with the Lord will grow stronger as they have to have faith that God is going to provide and heal the hurts.
These trials have a domino effect and affect our families monthly support by $1,500 a month deficit. We along with our 3 supporters will be putting all our faith in God to provide. I am excited to get to watch him work in our supporters lives and also in our own. Below you will see a wonderful infographic my husband created for this new monthly campaign. Please let God use you in Nigeria and become a monthly supporter of ours. Click Miles In Missions to sign up.
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.
“Are you crazy?” That is what I would say to Dr Duncan and her husband Mike if I didn’t know them. If I had heard about a woman who owns her own OBGYN practice and packs up her stuff for a month every year to take her vacation in Nigeria, a woman and her husband who give up a month of their life every year and actually pay to come and sweat in Egbe. I would say “They are crazy!”
I am honored to say I know Mike and Dr Christal Duncan and they aren’t crazy. They have served at Egbe Hospital every year since I arrived in August of 2013. Every time they come 
the hospital is filled with patients from all over Nigeria to see her. Women who thought they couldn’t have babies are healed, lives are changed through the gospel she shares, the hospital can pay its bills for another few months, all because Mike and Christal said “Yes”. Christal said “Yes” to giving up her Thanksgiving with family this year and came to do 54 surgeries and 200 consults. Mike said “Yes” and gave up his Thanksgiving with family this year to make a difference in construction and maintenance and baked us missionaries some really great pies!
I continue to be amazed at who and how God calls his workers to the field. Is he calling you? Just because the Miles family is moving to Northern Nigeria, doesn’t mean that Egbe Hospital doesn’t still need short and long term missionaries. Visit www.sim.org to see all the available opportunities for short and long term missionaries and say “Yes” to Egbe.
Critical areas of need or long and short term missionaries is Director of Administration, Missionary Kid Teacher, Office Manager, Guesthouse Manager, Dentist, Biomedical Tech, Optomologist and more
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.
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!
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!!
Compound living can be a bit of a struggle sometimes. So many different personalities inside concrete walls, working together, living together, eating together and playing together. Some days I could walk away from it all and live in seclusion in the town. Other days I feel so blessed to be a part of a community that all shares that same goal, to serve God in Egbe. I am blessed to serve alongside other missionaries that work hard and also play hard. Egbeites Unite!
I recently was flown to the U.S. for 3 days as a surprise to my mom for her retirement party. As I type this I am looking at my hands that are white and flaky from dry skin. In Nigeria the humidity is so high that my skin doesn’t ever suffer. Only 3 days in the US and my skin needs healing. If my skin reacts so quickly to the difference in locations how can I expect my brain, my heart and my emotions to not react too.
I live a life every day in Africa just trying to keep my head above water. God continues to show himself to me as I wake everyday having no clue what he has in store for me that day. I just take a step and watch him work. At the end of the day I am physically and emotionally exhausted. I rarely have time to think about anyone or anything outside of my bush life. When I get on Facebook or open my prayer journal I am reminded of a whole world back in the U.S.
I feel so two faced. I live a life in Nigeria in skirts, hair in a ponytail giving my every thing to the people of Egbe but always on guard for evil lurking at my door. As I step into the U.S. my hair comes down, the pants come on and I get in the rental car with the radio up and wind blowing. I know where I am going and I know I will get there and what to expect. I let my Nigerian guard down but I put up the U.S. guard.
The three days that I spend with family and friends was bittersweet. So many great things going on with everyone but also so many stories of heartbreak and suffering. It doesn’t matter if you live in a 10×10 mud hut in Africa or a 3000 sqft home in the U.S. everyone is suffering from something. Suffering from a hole in their heart that they try to fill with anything that they think will make them happy. That temporary happiness patches the hole but that band aide quickly wears off. John 15:9 says we are not meant for this world so nothing in it is going to fulfill us. Only our relationship with God can fill that hole until we reach our final destination where there will be no more heartbreak and suffering. I am ready are you?
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 