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New Post from Titi

Posted: October 5, 2018 by Patrice Miles in Nigeria, People of Egbe, Prayer, Titi

Another beautiful post by Titi.

It is so easy to get caught up with the rushing river of time and go with the flow, when this happens it gets harder for us to see God in the little things. This is what has happened to me in the past few weeks, there is a lot I have to get done and my work just keeps piling up. People around me can testify to the fact that the time I spend talking and catching up with them has reduced. But even with all these God revealed himself to me in areas I never expected: like in my friend Maddy, who gave me a frame of the map of Nigeria so I would not miss home too much, or Marty who continues to be ridiculous and funny on days I’m feeling low, or even Grace who is steady and reminds me to continue to grow in Christ…

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How it all began…..

Posted: August 9, 2018 by Patrice Miles in C.A.R.E. Africa, Egbe, Egbe Nigeria, Jos Nigeria, Miles In Missions, Missionaries, Nigeria, Orphans, Patrice Miles, People of Egbe, Prayer, SIM

How it all began….

It was September 2017 and the Global Leadership Summit in Jos was going strong. C.A.R.E. Africa CEO, Emma and I listened to speaker after speaker with growing enthusiasm. I don’t remember the speaker but I do remember the impact of what was shared….“think big and don’t ask HOW just say WOW!” Emma and I looked at each other and said “We really need to start a school!” I immediately wanted to say but “HOW” and Emma reminded me of the speaker and said “WOW” Yup that is how it all started!!

We had no clue where to start but I knew a missionary, Marybeth Oyebade, who had successfully started several schools in Jos, Nigeria. Marybeth maintained standards unlike any other Nigerian school I had seen before. The curriculum had some Western influence. School fees were kept comparable to other schools but the teacher to child ratio was lower. Teachers, parents and students were held to a higher standard than normal. No cheating allowed. Failing students were not promoted to the next grade. Integrity was integral to the foundational values of the school. All of these things seemed like a dream come true! The icing on the cake was when I asked Marybeth to help me take her school to Egbe and she said YES!

I immediately reached out to my Business Coach, Scott Beebe with Business on Purpose https://www.mybusinessonpurpose.com. He helped C.A.R.E. Africa get out of our chaos a few years ago by providing vision, mission, policies, procedures and so much more. When I told him what I was wanting to do he simply asked “Hey you want me to fly to Nigeria and help you with this joint venture?” God is so good!

A few weeks later Scott Bebee, Emma, Tofunmi, Marybeth along with husband Bayo Oyebade and I were all sitting at a desk putting together a joint venture. Scott not only helped us with the legal issues but also helped us with a timeline, org charts, job descriptions and much more. Scott’s time with us was such a blessing and God knew we needed this to jump-start our school.

DSC_0484 (2) Since then it has definitely been a learning process. Marybeth and I continue to trust the people God is putting in front of us to catapult this school to its opening Sept 10, 2018. I could write an entire story about all the miracles that have occurred along the way but I will just share a few. With Marybeth’s blessing, one of her staff members has volunteered to leave the comfort of Jos and move to Egbe for a year to provide consultation and mentorship to our new C.A.R.E. Africa school staff. Other miracles include the qualified teachers God has provided that are full of joy; the U.S. mission team who just happened to be teachers and knew exactly how to decorate classrooms; curriculum getting delivered just in the nick of time AND some unexpected donations that allowed us to buy a few more needed supplies.

As with anything good, some spiritual attacks are to be expected. These attacks have been exhausting but we are persevering. We are in our last leg of this race and your help is needed! Please be in serious prayer for the $15,000 U.S. Embassy grant we have applied for to be approved. This $15,000 grant would allow us to finish the schoolrooms and pay teacher salaries for the first year since there will be no income coming from the school in year one. Please add the U.S. embassy grant request to your prayer list! I hope to hear something by month’s end.

This school promises a bright future for the C.A.R.E. Africa kids and the community of Egbe. We covet your prayers and if you would like to financially support our C.A.R.E. Africa school all donations can be sent to https://give.icareafrica.org/careafrica/careschool

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So Many Opportunities

Posted: August 2, 2018 by Patrice Miles in AWANA, C.A.R.E. Africa, Egbe, Egbe Hosptial, Egbe Nigeria, HIV, Medical Missions, Miles In Missions, Mission Trip, Mission Trips, Missionaries, Nigeria, Orphans, People of Egbe, Prayer, SIM, Spring Of Life, Volunteers

This is a great prayer letter that Carmen Marflak sent out. She is currently serving at Egbe Hospital for one month. This is her 5th time to Egbe Hospital. She makes a great observation that there is so many opportunities to serve in Egbe. Medical being the biggest need but anyone can come on a mission trip or serve short or long term and find a place to be God’s hands and feet because there is ministry going on all over the Egbe community. For more information about all the opportunities to serve email jos.sta@sim.org or visit www.egbehospital.com .

Monday, the 16, started out with a full day of surgeries. All day long, I kept watching the clock because I knew we were not going to be finished in enough time for AWANA’s at C.A.R.E. Africa. There was a prayer in my heart all day, for the Lord to “speed up” the surgeon’s hands. Well, God answers prayer! We sent the last patient back to the ward at 3:30; I ran back to the guest house, took a 2 minute cold shower, put on street clothes, grabbed the salvation bracelets, and walked out the door as Emma was driving up to get me.

We had a great time at AWANA’s. There were not the 190+ kids there; there was only about 170 because it was raining and the roads and walking paths were very slick and muddy. The silence in the room was also a miracle. I walked in with the children laughing and talking, noisy!!!!!. Emma raised both his arms and said silence! You could have heard a pin drop. And they remained that way until I was finished telling the story of how Jesus died for our sins, makes us clean and whole inside, helps us to grow in our faith, and prepares a place for us in Heaven. It was an exhausting day, but so exciting and rewarding!

Every Tuesday at 2:30, Dr Jen (one of the SIM missionary doctors) leads a hospital Womens Bible Study. Change of shift here in Nigeria is 2:15. So several of the women from each of the departments come regularly to this Bible Study. For the last 3 months they have been going through the Book of John. Last week they were in chapter 12. So, fortunately, last week, those of us in the OR were finished by 2:30 and could actually make it to Bible Study. There were 14 of us last week. It is a pleasure to listen and answer their questions, and see the eyes light up when they grasp what God is trying to teach them. It is a joy to hear of their struggles and how God has answered prayers. It is also a real treat for me to build a relationship with the other women in the hospital, as well as the ones I work with every day in the OR.

These last 2 weeks in the OR have almost been overwhelming. My first day in the OR was the 11th and I have actually had 1 day off (Sunday, the 22). Tuesdays and Thursdays are supposed to be clinic/office day for Dr Fabruce, with no surgery scheduled on those days. So I am scheduled for lectures for the family practice residents, the Anesthesia trainees, and for the nursing students. But, even on those days, there have been so many emergent patients come through ER, that we have been working late into the evenings. Between all the trauma patients (motor bike accidents, walls collapsing on families, machete fights), the C/Sections, the appendectomies, perforated bowels and the snake bites, we have done very few elective/ scheduled procedures. On Monday, Wed, Friday, we normally start out with 3-4 scheduled procedures, but by the end of the day we have done between 5-7. All last week and this week, the only anesthesia providers have been Jummy and me. Evelyn is on maternity leave, Rebecca and Adeola are both on vacation. We have been getting a little weary by the time we finish the day. But God is good and gives us both a restful sleep at night. I am reminded of

Psalms 3:5 and 4:8, I will lie down and sleep, I wake again because the Lord sustains me.” And “In peace I will lie down and sleep for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety”

Last Wednesday, a team of mothers and their teen children (10 altogether) came from my home church (Live Oak Christian Church) in Bluffton, SC. They experienced a lot of flight cancellations, and lost luggage (the last of their luggage arrived last evening), but they have been serving over at C.A.R.E. Africa all week; painting the school, doing VBS, making home visits to the sponsored children, visiting the HIV clinic. It has been a joy to have company!!! I am usually alone in the guest house. I don’t get to see them much, because I am finished with breakfast and in the hospital before they get to the dining room. Many evenings, I have missed dinner because of late cases, but the times that we have shared together have been good; hearing what they have done, and the stories of the C.A.R.E. Africa children, helps me to realize that there is another world out there in Egbe, that I rarely get to see. Mission service here in Egbe entails a lot more than just the hospital; God’s Word, Love, and Compassionate service is being made known throughout the community by cooperating groups and missions. It is exciting to see how God works in other areas besides medicine!

Spiritual Attack

Posted: July 21, 2018 by Patrice Miles in C.A.R.E. Africa, Egbe, Egbe Nigeria, Jos Nigeria, Lenny Miles, Miles In Missions, Missionaries, Nigeria, Orphans, Patrice Miles, People of Egbe, Prayer, SIM

Since moving from village life in Egbe to city life in Jos – my life has become more comfortable. In Egbe I was on my knees daily just to make it through each day. I prayed about the heat, the workload, my husband’s constant bouts of malaria, the spiritual warfare, not too mention the constant prayers for CARE Africa . I needed and relied on God to show up every day. Life in Jos is still hard – it’s Nigeria – but it is easier than Egbe. I talk to God all the time but it isn’t the same yearning and deep need for Him like when we lived in Egbe.

Screen Shot 2018-07-21 at 8.53.18 AM I recently read a book called God’s Smuggler. It is a true story of how a young, Dutchman by the name of Brother Andrew risked his life to bring faith and hope to believers behind the Iron Curtain. While reading the book I was continuously jealous of all the miracles Brother Andrew experienced. Some were as simple as a cake being provided for a meeting where he had no money to buy one. Others were big miracles like not getting checked at checkpoints where he had over 100 Bibles hidden in his car. I was so jealous and I felt if he experienced miracles in the 1930’s why can’t I experience God’s miracles in the 2018’s. I got on my knees and begged to see, hear, and experience God like Brother Andrew did. I begged God to “show up and show off” as I like to say.

When I asked God to make me like the God Smuggler, I was expecting great miracles and even greater blessings. Well, over the past month God has been showing up and showing off. I can’t begin to document in this blog all the great things He has done and is doing. What I forgot is that when God is doing a great work someone else is trying to disrupt that work – someone who wants to steal God’s glory. I don’t want to mention his name in case that gives him any power but we all know who he is. He prowls around like a Lion.

Staff final Pray for me, for my family, for my husband’s media ministry, for my CARE Africa staff and for our school that we are starting in Egbe. My family and CARE Africa staff have experienced some serious spiritual attacks such as health problems, computers crashing, uncontrollable emotions/ thoughts, missionaries leaving, different cultural problems and even serious and brutal killings only miles from our home. There is sin in this world and when God is visibly doing big works in your life – evil is going to want to try and conquer it. There is a battle going on that our small, small minds cannot even grasp. It is a battle for our minds and souls and we know we are the winner, but there is nothing that says we will not experience suffering.

There is a song I really like by Kari Jo that is called “Speak to Me”. If you listen to it and ask Him to speak to you He will. Be prepared to put your armor on because that prowling lion will begin to challenge you. I encourage you to beat the crap out of him with prayer when he comes to steal, rob and destroy. Pray and watch God “show up and show off”. It is a beautiful thing to see!

Would you consider becoming one of our prayer partners? Through these challenges so many have come alongside me and made me realize even more the importance of prayer to fight these battles. We currently have 214 of you out there praying when I send my requests. I would love for it to be 1000!! Click http://eepurl.com/DZf_D to receive our weekly prayer requests.

Sports Outreach

Posted: March 15, 2018 by Patrice Miles in C.A.R.E. Africa, Egbe, Egbe Nigeria, Fundraising, Miles In Missions, Nigeria, Orphans, People of Egbe, Prayer, SIM

We are excited to announce that our C.A.R.E. Sports Outreach program started last month! What you may not realize is that before co-founding C.A.R.E Africa, Emma was in sports ministry full time and became known in Egbe as “Coachi”. The Sports Outreach program has been a dream of Emma’s since starting C.A.R.E. Africa in 2014. One of our 2018 goals was to start going into the community to find the voiceless and exhausted instead of waiting for them to come to us. We felt that a Sports Outreach program would be a way we could accomplish this.

The Vessels

The C.A.R.E. Sports Outreach program is both local and national. Every Monday and Friday we have football practice with our Egbe team called “The Vessels”. After practice we have time for discipleship and encouragement with materials such as “Heart of the Champion”. We have also partnered with a local pastor in Egbe who will follow up with any of our youth who decide to accept Christ as their Savior. In addition to our sports program in Egbe, C.A.R.E. Africa will partner with churches in outlying towns such as Kabba, Mopa, Isanlu, Ayetoro, Odo Ere, Idofin and Ikole to conduct the Sports Outreach program. The Egbe team will then travel to play against a C.A.R.E. Africa Sports Outreach team in one of these towns. After each sporting event C.A.R.E. Africa will have a time of evangelism with the youth of that town. Depending on the location, we may be able to show a film and the Egbe team may stay overnight. The pastor of the local church we partner with in each of these towns will help disciple any new believers.

outreach6 Each quarter we also plan to host a competition between our Egbe team “The Vessels” and a team outside of and within Egbe that is not connected with the C.A.R.E. Africa Sports Outreach program. The Egbe community really loves sporting events and everyone in the town comes out to watch the game and the presentation of awards. C.A.R.E. Africa will use this time to share the gospel among those that have come to the competition.

We are really excited to see what God is going to do with the C.A.R.E. Africa Sports Outreach program. We do need help as the cost to run the program is about $3,000 a year (or $250 a month). This will cover equipment and transportation costs in addition to evangelism materials. Please consider sponsoring our Sports Outreach program by clicking http://bit.ly/sportsoutreach.

Thank-you for walking alongside us and being a part of the ministry of C.A.R.E. Africa.

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My Goal, My Dream, My Life

Posted: March 1, 2018 by Patrice Miles in C.A.R.E. Africa, Miles In Missions, Nigeria, Patrice Miles, People of Egbe, Prayer, SIM

titiandme

So many of you have been praying for Titi for some time now. I met Titi my first year in Egbe and I knew immediately she walked with the Lord because she just oozed it. I took interest in Titi and was intentional in getting to know her better. Over the past few years Titi has become a part of our family and now lives with us in Jos, Nigeria. Please be in prayer as we continue to seek God’s wisdom on college opportunities for Titi. Nearly 75% of college applicants in Nigeria fail to get admission due to limited openings. There are around 150 universities in Nigeria, with a capacity to carry 600,000 students. For a country with 180 million people,62% of them 24 or younger, that means about half of the college age population is underserved. I asked Titi to share her story with you in her own words. I pray you can “see” her heart.

My Goal, My Dream, My Life
By Titi Afolabi

When I was young I always wanted to be a doctor, I had no idea what kind of doctor I wanted to be but I loved to put on a white lab coat, sew up my teddy bear, Dickson, and pretend it was the real thing. I stuck with my dream growing up although I started realizing it was not going to be as easy as I thought and maybe a doctor was not what I really wanted to be.

My family consists of my two parents and four children of which I am the youngest. Being the youngest meant I had to fight for everything I wanted in life. My father sent us all to good secondary schools, but there was no way his salary could send all four of us to universities and still take care of the family. At some point I realized I could not wait for my siblings to finish their education before I had the chance to go to a university. I decided that if I wanted to go to university I would have to work and pay for it myself.

After three years of trying to gain admittance to different universities and not gaining admission, even after meeting the criteria, I started getting restless and kept asking God what he wanted me to do. I decided I needed to get a job and save money and that was when I came in contact with Patrice Miles and C.A.R.E Africa. C.A.R.E. Africa is a ministry that helps the voiceless and exhausted children and widows in Egbe, Nigeria. I was employed as a child mentor with the responsibility of mentoring forty children. That year was the best year of my life so far.

My time at C.A.R.E Africa developed me because for the first time in my eighteen years of life I was responsible for not only myself but also forty other people. It was amazing! I loved all the laughter, joy and problems that came with my job. Dealing with teenagers, their parents, friends and the environment they live in was not simple or easy, but the challenges only honed my skills and passion for the vulnerable.

I discovered who I really am and what I really wanted to be through my experience at C.A.R.E. Africa. For the first time, people looked to me for direction. I was apportioned duties and held accountable for my mentoring role. Eighteen children were within my age group, some of them found it hard to follow my instructions at first, but then I realized that I had to assume the role I was given and that regardless of how young I was, I could be a good example for them. After a few months they started to trust me and see me as someone they could come to regardless of how they felt.

I look back now and realize God held me back from gaining admission to university for a purpose, so I could understand and embrace who I really am. Now I am nineteen and I know with confidence what I want to be – a social worker. I want to be the voice for the neglected and voiceless, to be there for people who have been cast out by the community or society. I know it will take a lot of work but I am willing and ready. God chose me for a purpose and I am prepared to fulfill it. I will trust in Him to open doors and make my desire to attend university a reality.

C.A.R.E. Van has arrived!

Posted: February 20, 2018 by Patrice Miles in C.A.R.E. Africa, Egbe, Egbe Nigeria, Fundraising, Miles In Missions, Nigeria, Orphans, People of Egbe, Prayer, SIM

Screen Shot 2018-02-13 at 2.05.13 PM

We are so excited to announce that we have a C.A.R.E. Africa van!!

Our Bus Project was a huge success! The staff and children of C.A.R.E. Africa are extremely grateful to all of you who donated to the Bus Project to make our dream a reality.

Check out the video above to see Emma , CEO of C.A.R.E. Africa, commissioning our new vehicle.

We originally had high hopes of being able to get a big bus, however, after a lot of prayer and research a used bus was not recommended. In Nigeria all buses are used for transport of people or goods to and from the major cities. These buses are driven hard over pot holed roads and have not received the necessary maintenance to keep them in good driving condition. Any used bus we looked at in our price range was too sketchy. After prayer and input from knowledgeable people we decided purchasing a used bus was not a risk worth taking.

Once the bus was no longer an option- the search was on for a passenger van. We were blessed to find this van in mint condition, direct off a shipping container in Lagos, Nigeria. It had never been driven on Nigerian roads before. Our fearless mechanic in Egbe, Ayo, looked at it and gave us the thumbs up. After negotiations we have made the purchase and she is already in Egbe, taking kids to and from the C.A.R.E. Africa Center.

Praise the Lord – our C.A.R.E. Africa children no longer have to ride motorcycles on the busy and bumpy federal road!!

Thank-you so much for blessing C.A.R.E. Africa with our new transportation!

AWANA Partnership

Posted: February 13, 2018 by Patrice Miles in AWANA, C.A.R.E. Africa, Egbe, Egbe Nigeria, Fundraising, Miles In Missions, Nigeria, Patrice Miles, People of Egbe, Prayer, SIM

AWANA Video

Do you participate in an AWANA program?
Do you know someone who does?
If so, please consider approaching the AWANA leadership and ask if they would be willing to partner with an AWANA in Egbe, Nigeria?

Our AWANA program in Egbe, Nigeria meets every Monday. The kids play sports followed by a biblical lesson and of course treats. We have over 200 kids that participate in AWANA. We distribute handouts at each meeting. The kids save every handout and bring them in little folders every Monday. I can only imagine these children getting them out at home and sharing them with their family members. God’s word is being spread through these handouts. The sweets are a special treat the children look forward to. It keeps them coming back to hear God’s word.

The handouts and treats are going to come to an end as we no longer have the funds to support these costs. We will continue the AWANA program, but funding is needed to print handouts and provide treats. We thought it would be so cool to find maybe two AWANA’s in the US that would partner with us at $25 a month each or $50 total. We could send letters, pictures and video back and forth between the AWANA’s. The kids on both sides of the ocean would be so blessed to see and hear from each other.

We of course are not limiting this to an AWANA program. If anyone is interested in helping us continue our AWANA program at the level we feel God has called us to please HELP. Click http://bit.ly/AWANAEgbe. If you know of an AWANA program that might be willing to team up with us please email me patrice.miles@sim.org.

Ayomide’s Home Visit

Posted: January 24, 2018 by Patrice Miles in C.A.R.E. Africa, Egbe, Egbe Nigeria, Fundraising, Miles In Missions, Missionaries, Nigeria, Orphans, Patrice Miles, People of Egbe, Prayer, SIM

Meet Ayomide, his grandma and his half brother. He currently is enrolled at C.A.R.E. Africa and needs a sponsor. Click the picture above to watch this video to see our home visit with is family.

All new intakes at C.A.R.E. Africa receive a home visit after their application interview in the office. This allows us to see the environment they live in. We can then determine if the child is being cared for appropriately and if there are any environmental issues like sanitation that need to be addressed for the health of the child. We are also able to ask more questions to see if the families story is the same as when we did the initial interview in the office. Overall the home visit is verifying with our own eyes that the child and the caregiver are truly vulnerable and exhausted and need C.A.R.E. Africa’s help.

If you are interested in sponsoring Ayomide please email me at patrice.miles@sim.org or click http://bit.ly/CAREAFRICA. Sponsorship is $35 a month but any amount you can help with would be greatly appreciated.

December Egbe Visit

Posted: December 13, 2017 by Patrice Miles in AWANA, C.A.R.E. Africa, Egbe, Miles In Missions, Mission Trip, Missionaries, Nigeria, Orphans, Patrice Miles, People of Egbe, Prayer, SIM, Volunteers

This was my second visit to Egbe since moving to Jos. I was so impressed with my team and how great they are doing. We were very busy of course meeting with various community leaders, interviewing new children for our programs and also preparing for Christmas. Check out some of the photos of my trip!

Baba and his wife our chief encourager! He comes to the CARE center a few times a month and prays with my staff and encourages them,

Writing to their penpals in the states.

Last AWANA of the year.

Home Visit to a new intake.

New Intake Visit

CARE staff

Christmas Cards for the sponsors.

December Birthdays

Last CARE Africa Child Celebration of the month. They all received a package of clothes, jollof rice, drinks, and candy.

Secretary Cecilia……accounting, accounting, accounting, accounting!

My babies

Clothing Donation

Clothing packages for the kids.

Caregiver check ups.

Donation from the states for the caregivers.

Someone gave the money they would have given for teacher appreciation gifts to us for food for our caregivers and the kids. They will be putting this picture in each card for the teacher letting them know what their gift went towards.

Gifts from sponsors

Caregiver presentation of the CARE Africa fabric for all events.

Dinner under the moon with Chief Doyin and his wife. Chief continues to support us with wise counsel as he is known by the Ilegbe of Egbe as the Egbe Encyclopedia.