Nigeria 2014 (this might be a little long...)

Well, it has definitely taken a while for me to get around to writing this post. After returning to the U.S., the next couple of weeks were filled with moving houses, a weekend away, a retreat, and a trip back to Oklahoma. Needless to say, it has taken me a little while to step back, take a breath, and begin to sort through exactly what all happened in Nigeria. The events of our final day there also added to the prolonging of this process.

In a typical day: 

• We would spend the morning working at the Egbe E.C.W.A Hospital assisting in the  Samaritan's Purse Revitalization Project . We organized and painted a large supply room, prepared houses for incoming missionaries, and inventoried large shipping containers. This allowed for some quality bonding time for our team. 
• In the afternoon, we would go up to the HELP Care Center to be with the kids. The Care Center is home to 39 children (10 girls and 29 boys). Our main focus was getting to know the kids and building discipleship-like relationships with them. We also worked with the kids on their math and reading skills through tutoring times (sometimes twice a day). 
• Each Wednesday, we split the younger kids into two different age groups and taught a lesson. The lessons focussed on different truths about who God is in regards to His love for us as orphans.  
• Each Thursday, we went to the hospital to help one of the missionaries prepare bags of food to pass out to patients and their families. When we delivered them in each of the hospital wards, we prayed over patients and one of our team members would sing a "special number."
• Each Sunday, we loaded up the Care Center bus with all 39 kids and missionaries to go to church at the Chapel of Blessing. This included much dancing and singing (even dancing down the aisle to place our offering in the basket at the front!). 

The Chapel of Blessing

Now for a couple stories...

The first story begins with Dupe, a slightly shy, but energetic 8 year old girl. Dupe and I formed a friendship early on in the first week. Throughout the three weeks she rarely left my side. One evening Dupe runs over to me. She looks at me and says “your legs”—motioning at my crossed legs as she waits patiently for me to uncross them. She then proceeds to crawl up into my lap. Then, she looks at me and wraps her arms around my neck as she snuggles up under my chin, and there she stays for a few minutes. I felt a love for her that I’ve never felt before as I wrapped my arms around her small frame. In that moment, I felt like the Lord spoke, And this is how I feel about you. I love when you crawl up on my lap to just sit in my presence. I love to love you my child. That’s when I realized that the Lord wanted to give me a glimpse of his heart as a Father.

Dupe

One morning during my time with the Lord, I began reading in John 14, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” As I was reading this I began to actually feel a glimpse of his heart for his children. I felt pretty strongly that he wanted me to share this truth with one of the girls. Later that day, I ended up sitting with Titi (an intermediate girl). I had never really talked with Titi, but I could feel the Lord’s hand in our conversation, so I asked her if I could share something that I had been thinking about recently. I shared the truth that God is the perfect Father and how he cares for us as his children. In his house, we find a real sense of security and safety—a sense of belonging that we were made for. When I finished sharing with Titi, she turned to me and said, “Oh, I really really like that story!”

Titi

I would have to say my favorite part of the trip was going to the hospital each week to pray for patients and their families. Before the trip, I had felt that the Lord asked me to pray for confidence. I had no idea what that would look like, but I prayed nonetheless. However, it became clear in each of our visits to the hospital wards. At times it felt like I was just opening my mouth and the Lord provided the words. He revealed to me that my prayers really could have power and authority over sickness and discouragement. I became alive during these times because I felt as if I was truly partnering with what the Lord wanted to convey to the patients and their families. He grew me in confidence in order to be more effective for his purpose. It was times likes these and several others that affected me deeply.

And then the accident...
I woke up Monday morning (the day of our departure) with swollen eyes marked by the large amount of tears shed the night before. Sunday was spent rejoicing over friendships, yet mourning over our soon departure. That morning, I remember being very decided that I was no where near ready to leave. We all piled in the missionary van that would carry us for 6-7 hours to the airport, where we would wait another 6 hours to board our plane. The roads in Nigeria are filled with potholes, so the driver too his time  articulately maneuvering in between. However, about an hour and a half into our trip we gained speed on a short stretch of road that was rather smooth as we entered a village. Jenni, our team leader, noticed that our van was approaching a parked car slightly off to the shoulder as we travelled at approximately 50-60mph. The instance she realized the driver did not see the parked van, she yelled out the driver's name and hit his shoulder. Seconds later we slammed into the back of the parked van and our whole team was thrown from our seats. Nigerians fled to the scene as they started aiding the team out of the smoking vehicle and making arrangements to get us to the nearby clinic. Luckily, our team was not too severely injured. After a few team members got stitched up and a new van was retrieved from Egbe, truly by the grace of God, we made it to the airport with only 20 minutes to spare.

And how I feel now...
Arrival back in the U.S. was pretty difficult for me. As I said earlier, I was not ready to come home. I attempted to reject certain parts of the American culture, but that didn't last long. The Lord gave me a pretty strong wake-up call when I was at the retreat. I was spending the morning with him while processing through different parts of the trip. I realized that I was having a hard time adjusting back to our culture and being here mentally. I would say about 90% of me was still attached to Africa, which isn't completely helpful when trying to plan, pray about, and seek vision for everything happening here. But the Lord gently led me to John 21 where Jesus asks Peter a few questions. "Peter, do you love me?" "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." "Feed my lambs." As I was reading, I couldn't help but imagine the Lord asking me this question. I feel as if I would respond similarly to Peter in this situation, but then the Lord showed me that my heart was divided. His "lambs" are not only the precious friends I met in Nigeria, but the students of Texas A&M, co-workers, homegroup members...everyone in between. I am grateful for the discipline of the Lord, and I'm definitely excited about what this semester holds. I know I don't have to let go of a single thing that happened in Nigeria, but the Lord has placed me here for now. 

So here I'll be. 

This is our beautiful team dressed up for the high school graduation. This picture doesn't have to do with anything really--I just like our clothes. 

Photo Credit: Jenni O Photo

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Show and Tell

The last couple of weeks I've been reading through "The Story." Basically this book puts the Bible in chronological order and tells the Bible as a continuous story. The book has definitely helped me grasp a lot of things I didn't understand before and realize things I'd never thought of before. 

Reading through the story of Moses again has allowed me to notice new things. In particular, I never really realized how God's character plays a role in this story. God can often be seen as vengeful or angry in the Old Testament. However, when I read through the story again, I saw it--God's role as a Father. Take a second and think about the characteristics of a dad. Maybe protective, strong, providing, loving, or respectful came to mind. With these characteristics in mind, take a step back to your Kindergarten classroom...

The day has finally arrived! On most "Show and Tell" days, you would jump out of bed that morning searching frantically for your most prized  possession. Whether it was a teddy bear, Barbie, or a toy car---you know it meant the world to your five-year old self. You spent hours playing with it, and most likely, you carried it absolutely everywhere. However, this day is different. Today, you were asked to bring a parent to "Show and Tell" to share about their career choice. You decide to bring dad. As it grows close to that time, the teacher asked everyone to go to the carpet. Just as you are sitting down, your dad walks in the door. You jump up, scream, "Daddy!!" (much to your teacher's dismay), and run to meet his open arms. As a Kindergartener, you care little about the classmates you bumped into or the trail of objects you knocked over in this process. Only one thing was on your mind--getting to your daddy.

After your "bear hug," you drag him to the carpet to sit next to you. You can hardly contain your excitement---your face is beaming and your stomach fills with butterflies. You want everyone else to know how incredible your dad truly is because you are proud of him.

What would it be like to be proud of our heavenly Dad? I mean, there's quite a lot to be proud of. Replaying this memory in my mind made me start to wonder were the Hebrews proud of  Dad?

1) Dad comes to rescue them by sending Moses.

2) Dad shocks the Egyptians by sending 10 different plagues (each one pertaining to an Egyptian god just so the Egyptians could pray to their gods and not be saved from the plagues--ultimately, bringing God glory).

3) Dad parts a whole sea in two.

4) Dad leads His children through the night with a pillar of fire.

Really the list goes on and on as His story unfolds. Even reading through this story again, our Father has reminded me of his protective and fatherly nature he has with his children. That hasn't changed. He feels the same way about me as he did with Moses nearly 3500 years ago! He protects his children. He provides for his children. He loves his children.

I'm proud to call him my Father and proud to be called his daughter.  

link to book:

 http://www.thestory.com/home

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