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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.

outreach7

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.

What’s Lenny up to?

Posted: February 6, 2018 by Lenny in Jos Nigeria, Lenny Miles, Miles In Missions, Mission Trip, Mission Trips, Missionaries, Nigeria, Patrice Miles, Prayer, SIM, Uncategorized, Volunteers

I’ve been busy that’s for sure…

I’ve created SIM Nigeria’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Vimeo accounts. I of course stay busy finding and putting content on these social media pages for maximum exposure. I’ve been to several local events to film or take pictures to publish on our media sites. I’ve recently revised and published two very important brochures that SIM Nigeria uses for recruitment of short term missionaries as well as medical missionaries.

Along with all of this, there has also been a lot of traveling for me over the past few months in order to get video of four Theological colleges where SIM missionaries can come to serve. One of the colleges is about a 14 hour drive away from where we live. Another college is three hours away and yet another is about six hours away. This last one being located almost to the most northern border of Nigeria. Each visit consisted of many interviews with educators, administrators, and students. After all of the travel, I’ve spent about 60 hours editing this one video. The purpose of this is to get people excited about the opportunities to serve with SIM Nigeria if they are a professor or educator. Click the picture to see the video.

This will be longest of a series of videos I will complete for theological education in Nigeria. The idea would be to provide shorter versions of this to get people excited and if they should want more information, then they can watch this longer seven minute video.

Overall, my role here with SIM Nigeria is being well received by our fellow missionaries, who’s excitement is growing as they see the potential of helping their ministries. Also, our administration is enthused about this becoming a huge recruitment tool for our field. Some of the biggest excitement is from our Nigerian church, ECWA. These brothers and sisters who are ministering all over Nigeria, see the potential to provide a huge tool for them to reach the lost.

Pray for me as my work load is not getting smaller, but rather bigger. Upcoming, I will be working on videos and materials for medical missions, youth ministries, ministering to those marginalized & vulnerable in our society, short-term missions, the persecuted church, indigenous missions, trauma healing ministries, and so much more! Also, pray for workers, as the harvest is plentiful.

Accidents Happen!

Posted: January 30, 2018 by Lenny in Jos Nigeria, Lenny Miles, Miles In Missions, Missionaries, Nigeria, Patrice Miles, Prayer

Wrecked CRV

On New Years Eve, one of former colleagues from Egbe was in Jos to visit. She said she wanted to meet one of her friends just down the road and said she would get a ride in a small taxi called a keke (kay-kay). Patrice said, “No way, just take our car and come back when your done.”

Unfortunately, she made it only about a half mile from the house before she was hit by another driver. The 4-way intersection is unmarked with any stop signs and it is unclear who truly has the right of way, even though our friend was on the larger

“main road”. Thankfully she is OK and had only some bruising and soreness on her left arm from the impact. We are relieved that the side airbag did deploy for her safety.

My Find in Abuja!

Our car suffered the worst. We deemed it a total loss and sold it for parts money. The good news is that SIM has a car insurance group and they are covering most all of the funds for replacement cost of that cars value. The only problem now was buying a car in Nigeria. The last car we bought, we bought from a missionary and we knew the history.

I had to take a short trip to Abuja to car shop and it was quite the experience. Most everything that I could look at had been wrecked and had terrible quality repair jobs. I was a little bummed that I couldn’t find something dependable until we came across the last car that I would l

ook at that day. A British embassy employee was selling her car and it was perfect and well maintained. It was $1,000 more than what the insurance company was giving us but we were just so grateful to even have found something.

Pray along with us that the deal goes through and that this new car will last us a very long time!

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.

Enjoy Psalms 143:8 The Message

Posted: January 12, 2018 by Patrice Miles in Patrice Miles, Prayer, SIM

Someone sent me this verse yesterday and I just had to share in case anyone else was needing to hear it too!

Psalms 143:8

A “Future Story” with C.A.R.E. Africa

Posted: January 10, 2018 by Patrice Miles in C.A.R.E. Africa, Nigeria, Orphans, Prayer, SIM

I am reading a book called “A Framework For Understanding Poverty”. The four things that move you out of poverty are employment, education, relationships, and a future story. C.A.R.E. Africa focuses on education and our programs allow us to build relationships with our kids so we can teach them about Jesus and their future story.

I recently was blessed to get to invest into two of our oldest C.A.R.E. kids, Michael and Toyin. Michael wants to join the Nigerian Army and is an amazing boy with goals and vision. He was brought to me almost four years ago by Shola who worked in our home. He was her neighbor and his mother was unable to pay school fees so he was just roaming about. I paid his school fees and a month later saw him walking in the town during school hours. I asked why he wasn’t in school and he told me his teachers were on strike b/c they hadn’t been paid in 6 months. I came to the conclusion that I couldn’t just pay school fees and think that itwould help children like Michael. I had to be involved in their lives. Michael is one of the reasons C.A.R.E. Africa was started.

Toyin is another amazing story. Click Toyin Story 1 and Toyin Story 2 to see past blogs on him.

I brought Michael and Toyin to Jos for some special lessons for their WAEC and JAMB testing. These test are equivalent to the SAT/ACT in the states. These two boys have shown great attitude and perseverance in their time with us at C.A.R.E. We wanted to invest in them so that they can be as prepared as possible for these exams.

I will have to say bringing these two boys out of the village for the first time and into the city was one of the funnest things I have ever done. They had their first ice cream, their first paved roads with paint on them, first traffic lights, their first tall building (taller than two stories), their first indoor market (grocery store), their first movie in a theatre, their first shopping mall, their first zoo with live animals, first pancakes and syrup, and so much more. Their minds were completely opened to how much God loves and values them but also to a whole world out there.

Please pray for these boys to do excellent on their WAEC/JAMB testing. Pray for us to find out how to get Michael into the Nigerian Army School and for the finances for his schooling. Pray for Toyin to discern his calling and make some big decisions on what he would like to pursue for higher education.

You are one of those…..

Posted: December 23, 2017 by Patrice Miles in Lenny Miles, Miles In Missions, Missionaries, Nigeria, Patrice Miles, Prayer, SIM

You are one of those….. “We couldn’t do this without you” people. You are one of those…. that shows up for us. You are one of those…. we lean on. You are one of those…. that allows us to do what we do in Nigeria.

You have housed us longer than is socially acceptable.
You have made meals for us or taken us out to eat.
You have licked envelopes for us.
You have sent encouraging emails and notes to us.
You have prayed for us.
You have raised early in the morning to go to the airport for us.
You have hefted 20, 50 lb. bags for us.
You have run to the store and shipped weird items to people coming to Nigeria for us.
You have loaded items on containers for us.
You have helped us with some piece of paperwork for a passport, taxes and or insurance.
You have slipped cash in our pocket.
You have mailed Christmas cards for us.
You have shared our story with others who now support us.
You have worked long hours at a CARE Africa booth for us.
You have raised money for us.
You have boarded a plane to come and visit us.
You have worked a job so you can quietly, faithfully make a donation to us.

You are the unsung heroes of the faith.

Goers get the praise, but senders are the saints. Without you, our kingdom work in Nigeria would deflate. You are the helium in our balloons, the gas in our engines, the sugar in our cookies. Goers know there would be no going without the sending.

You are one of those….. “We couldn’t do this without you” people. You understand our passion, you see our calling, and say, “Yes. I am here for you”. Chances are, we haven’t thanked you enough, not enough to reflect all that you mean to us, to our work.

We want to take this Christmas season to tell you that we are so thankful for all the big and small ways you support us. Truly, we could not be if it weren’t for you.

wishing you a merry

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