Friends and Family,
Praise the Lord we have finally had more than 30 mins of power a day, so I can write to you all! The past few days have been packed with many interesting adventures that I am excited to tell you about. The first of which is Gyero. We took Mary, our new orphaned girl out to Gyero on Friday and introduced her to the other girls. We played a few name game
s and hand games and although she didn't talk much she smiled and joined in. As I was playing with the girls I was trying to put myself into Mary's position, to be 9 years old, having just lost your mother and now these Bature (white people) are taking me away from any family I have known to live with 12 other girls I have never met in my life. I can't even imagine what that would be like. The two women, Mama Sate and Kaka (grandmother), who take care of the girls, are wonderful women of God. They have both given up better paying jobs, and lives with their families to live with and take care of the girls. I will post a few pictures of the girls, and one of Mary and I.
s and hand games and although she didn't talk much she smiled and joined in. As I was playing with the girls I was trying to put myself into Mary's position, to be 9 years old, having just lost your mother and now these Bature (white people) are taking me away from any family I have known to live with 12 other girls I have never met in my life. I can't even imagine what that would be like. The two women, Mama Sate and Kaka (grandmother), who take care of the girls, are wonderful women of God. They have both given up better paying jobs, and lives with their families to live with and take care of the girls. I will post a few pictures of the girls, and one of Mary and I.It was decided last week that every Tuesday night I will stay the night at Gyero with the girls for family time. During family time I will play a few games, a craft and lead a short devotional and Bible study to do with the girls. We will all eat dinner together and I will spend the night with the girls. I am really looking forward to having this opportunity to get to know the girls on a more individual level.
Along with everything that God is doing at Gyero, I have been able to experience the beginning of the Nigerian rainy season. Now for you Seattlites who think you have the rain down, and it's not a problem for you, think again . . . the rain here is NOTHING like I have ever seen. Last week it was actually hailing . . . everyday we have thunderstorms, we are actually about to have one as I write this Blog . . . I will take a video to post on the blog, it is something you must experience. :)
I have so many stories I wish to share with all of you, and not enough time, and I know this blog is already long, but I must share a few highlights from my day yesterday, because, as Nicky said it was a quintessential missionary day. The day began by going to a 3 hour church service in Gyero. The speaker switched back and forth between English, Hausa and singing during his sermon, so I couldn't tell you exactly what he was talking about. After having a spicy lunch of rice, beans and fish, I piled into the back of the Blazer with 7 other people for the bumpy ride down the dirt road. After dropping off our crew, we traveled around Jos visi
ting the families of the boys who will be reconciled later next month. The first house we came to brought me my first experience of Maltina. Any Nigerian would be furious to know that I HATE Maltina. Maltina, a soft drink which is supposed to contain many vitamins and be very good for your health tastes pretty much like drinking molasses. Sick. I sat in this house, drinking Maltina, not understanding a word that was said when I realized that I needed to go to the bathroom (big surprise). So I think to myself, well, you can hold it, we are going home after this house anyways . . . wrong. As the rains come we decide to leave the house, and upon arriving at our car realize that the battery is dead. Well, having my share of car problems, I popped the hood and checked to make sure the battery was still connected . . . it was . . . so i determined that we needed a jump from another car. While I am trying to sort out if there is another car we can jump our car from, one of the Nigerian men begins hitting the car battery with a rock. I was like oh crap . . . apparently he is a mechanic . . . So he tells Nicky to start the car and amazingly enough the car starts . . . go figure.
ting the families of the boys who will be reconciled later next month. The first house we came to brought me my first experience of Maltina. Any Nigerian would be furious to know that I HATE Maltina. Maltina, a soft drink which is supposed to contain many vitamins and be very good for your health tastes pretty much like drinking molasses. Sick. I sat in this house, drinking Maltina, not understanding a word that was said when I realized that I needed to go to the bathroom (big surprise). So I think to myself, well, you can hold it, we are going home after this house anyways . . . wrong. As the rains come we decide to leave the house, and upon arriving at our car realize that the battery is dead. Well, having my share of car problems, I popped the hood and checked to make sure the battery was still connected . . . it was . . . so i determined that we needed a jump from another car. While I am trying to sort out if there is another car we can jump our car from, one of the Nigerian men begins hitting the car battery with a rock. I was like oh crap . . . apparently he is a mechanic . . . So he tells Nicky to start the car and amazingly enough the car starts . . . go figure. To my bladder's disappointment I figure out that we are not going home we actually have another family to visit. So after driving down this dirt "road" we climb out of the car, hike a few rocks, jump a stream, and hike some more rocks to this house on the top of the hill. Let me remind you all of this was done, while having to pee, while wearing a long skirt, while wearing flip-flops and in the rain . . . Since this house was so far out of the way, I wa
s thinking that maybe I could just run behind one of these rocks and go to the bathroom quickly without anyone noticing . . . wrong. I am a Bature (white person) SO EVERYONE who lived on the hill was out watching us, so I could have gone to the bathroom, I would have just had quite the audience!
s thinking that maybe I could just run behind one of these rocks and go to the bathroom quickly without anyone noticing . . . wrong. I am a Bature (white person) SO EVERYONE who lived on the hill was out watching us, so I could have gone to the bathroom, I would have just had quite the audience!We visited with this second family in their house at the top of the hill for awhile . . . my bladder had to endure a mineral (coke), and we left just before the real rain hit. As we were driving the Pastor back to the Gyero junction it was raining so hard you couldn't see a thing out the windshield. Usually we drop the pastor at the junction and he grabs a motorbike taxi back to Gyero so that we don't have to drive down the dirt road, but in this rain the motor bikes were driving. We decide that the B
lazer can take the dirt road even in this rain if we were careful . . . (may I remind you that I still have to pee). We slide all the way down to road to Gyero, it was a miracle we didn't end up in a ditch. Finally we arrive at Gyero, and Nicky dropped me off at the girls compound so I could finally use the bathroom, my bladder was eternally grateful! . . .
lazer can take the dirt road even in this rain if we were careful . . . (may I remind you that I still have to pee). We slide all the way down to road to Gyero, it was a miracle we didn't end up in a ditch. Finally we arrive at Gyero, and Nicky dropped me off at the girls compound so I could finally use the bathroom, my bladder was eternally grateful! . . . Enough adventure for one day?!?! Oh no . . . So it starts raining even harder and lightening is flashing in all directions across the sky. By this point the entire road back to town has pretty much turned into a red river. Praise the Lord for Nicky's blazer otherwise we wouldn't have made it back. We were driving through puddles so big that the splash from the wheels covered the windshield! We prayed and laughed all the way back to town. When we finally made it back to the highway into town we thought we were safe. Wrong again . . . the highway had also flooded and therefore on coming traffic was actually driving IN OUR LANE!! Imagine if, south bound I-5 flooded and all the cars just decided to start driving south in the north bound lane . . . that is a good picture of what we experienced on our way home. It was crazy! We finally made it home safely, praise the Lord. Let me tell you, I was exhausted by the end of the day! It was an adventure!
I'm sorry for such a long post, but I just felt the need to share this crazy story! :) Please keep emailing me and letting me know how things are at home. I love reading your emails! You are all in my daily prayers and I am so thankful for the great community God has given me! I love you all!!
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