The final countdown!!

Well here I am in Jos and I can hardly believe that I only have three weeks left before I head home on the 5^th September. In one way when I think of all I have been through and achieved in the past 5 and a bit months, it seems like I have been here for a long long time. But in another way time has just flown in, and when I think that in less than a month I’ll be at home again in Northern Ireland, sleeping in my own bed and drinking REAL Diet Coke (not Coke light ), I can’t get my head around it. Life here is amazing, and its only when I really stop and reflect on all of the small wonderful things about Nigeria, that I realise just how much I’m going to miss this beautiful African place.

The check points on the roads are just a normality now, and the soldiers enjoy having a bit of a joke around. I think I’m going to find it strange going to Tescos to buy my fruit and vegetables, when here all you have to do is walk to the end of the street to find a stall full of local produce! The thunderstorms recently have been really wild. Last week a lady we know lost the roof of her house, and trees were blown down over main roads. Sometimes the thunder is so loud that it shakes the windows of the house! 

Last week our friend Neil went home so we (Abi, Ally, our driver Mackagee and I) took him to the airport in Abuja. As a lovely wee treat we went shopping at the craft market, and gave ourselves a challenge to see how many things we can get dashed (given for free) ahaha. It was very successful. Then we went out for dinner to an AMAZING Indian restaurant called Wakkis. We decided to sit upstairs beside the railings, and we were all having a jolly good time until one of us (I won’t name them to save embarrassment) knocked her glass of sprite through the railings, and down on top of an Indian man’s head as he was waiting for his dinner to arrive. Oh my goodness did we laugh! It was so funny. We didn’t know what to say or do. The hotel we were staying in was amazing and we had air conditioning in the bedroom it was amazing. We also made good use of all the freebees in the bathroom haha. Even the shower cap!

So Neil left the following morning and we headed straight back to Jos. We had great fun with our driver Mackagee, who sang The Spice Girls and Abba with us the whole way home.

I still really love working at Open Doors Special Needs School. It’s challenging at times but definitely worth it. A Mission Africa summer team were in Jos a few weeks ago and helped me to start a project in painting the devotion room. It really needed done as the walls which were once white were now black grey brown cream. The team were happy to help and the room is now looking absolutely wonderful! 100000 times better. On a normal day at Open Doors, we start in the mornings at 8 by doing some singing with the kiddies and then maybe a bible story and ending with some prayers. It’s amazing to see how the children engage with it. Especially the singing. Some of the boys are great at drumming too! Aw it’s just so much fun. Then throughout the day I am in one of the classrooms helping out wherever I can. I have also been doing a girls bible study with some of the older girls in the reading clinic. I was really encouraged one day a few weeks ago when I asked them if they would like to share prayer points with me, and each of them gave at least one! I was so happy. I’m really going to miss the school and all of the children. I want to bring them all home!! Be prepared for that…haha.

The other thing I am doing once a week is teaching reading at the Widow’s ministry. It’s great. For the past couple of weeks now they have been splitting up into pairs and reading Bible stories together. I have also been giving them spelling tests which they love! Its funny how I remember in school how much spelling tests were dreaded, but the widows find it to be so much fun! They even hide their answers from each other so no one else can copy theirs!!

We are all having such an amazing time here, and it’s hard to believe we will be leaving in a few weeks’ time. Next week we are helping out at a kid’s camp in Jos so that should be great! It’s my birthday next week too so I’m not too sure how that will be spent. Now I can always say that I turned twenty in Africa! I think that’s pretty cool. So I’m really going to try and make the most of this last little while. I hope you are all having a great summer wherever you are <3

‘But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.’
- 2 Corinthians 2 v 14 – 16

Prayer points

Open Doors Special Needs School
The Widows Ministry
Continued peace in Jos and peace in the whole of Nigeria
That I can make the most of my last few weeks here
For my goodbyes not to be too devastating
Opportunities to tell people about Jesus

Thank you so much.

Month four?!!!

And all of a sudden I’m into month four! How did that happen? Time has just been flying by, especially the month of June. I can’t believe it is almost July how strange. Sooo much has happened I don’t know where to begin!

I have left Ogugu. I was living in Ogugu with Will and Mel. Will left at the end of May, planned, but Mel got Malaria and therefore got flown home a month early, unplanned. It was all a bit surreal. The decision was made that we should bring her to Jos to hospital and then it was decided that she would be best going home to the UK. I was so sad because she became such a great friend to me and the thought of her going home was really hard to accept. Now she is back in England and as far as I know she’s feeling loads better so all is well J

As for me, I had a really difficult decision to make. Stay in Ogugu and be the only white person until July when the summer teams arrive, or come to Jos, start into new work half way through my trip and basically completely start everything over again? It wasn’t easy, but after much prayerful consideration I am staying in Jos!

I really do love it. I’m living with three girls, Ally, Abi and Bethan and they are so lovely. Maybe you know that initially I was supposed to be coming to Jos and not Ogugu, but after the crisis at Christmas time I went to Ogugu instead. It seems like God has turned everything completely full circle and it almost feels like he has wanted me in Jos all along. It was hard leaving Ogugu so suddenly with Mel, and I haven’t been back down since. Leaving behind friendships and not being able to finish the work I started there is the hardest thing to deal with, but it would have been too difficult to stay by myself.

 After almost a month of living out of one bag I got my room packed and sent up to Jos which was lovely! I’m completely settled in Jos now. Everyone here has been so welcoming to me and I have been working at Open Doors Special needs school. I absolutely love it. The most recent thing I have got involved with is teaching reading classes at the Widows ministry every Tuesday afternoon. Many of the widows due to lack of money or many other reasons didn’t receive teaching of a good standard or in some cases any schooling at all so can’t read or write, but they all want to read the English bible! Our prayer is that we can teach them enough that they can begin to read and understand the bible well. In terms of violence and fighting Jos has remained very peaceful so far. You do hear rumours of trouble here and there but as long as you stay away from the hot spots you are grand. The city is under tight security and there are military check points to pass through as you are driving on the roads. At first it’s a bit daunting when you are stopped by a big army man with a big gun, but as time gets on you get used to it! Pray that Jos stays lovely and peaceful and safe!

A few nights ago there was a MASSIVE thunderstorm. I can’t even describe how huge it was. The thunder was so loud that it shook the windows and the lightning lit up the sky as if it was daylight. Then all of a sudden massive forks of lightning bolted right down as if they were only a few metres away. It was really something else!! Luckily we were all cosy inside drinking tea and chatting the night away.

Okay so here’s something exciting! Obi John Mikel was in the same restaurant as us last week. In case you don’t know who he is, he plays for Chelsea FC! He was born and grew up in Jos!! It was all so so so exciting ha. We didn’t get to order for like half an hour because the waiters were fussing over him so much haha.

A few weeks ago we all went to a place called Sheri Hills its amazing. It’s a massive rock face. We only climbed up a tiny bit and sat on a big rock. We toasted marshmallows and sang worship songs. Looking around at the vastness it felt like we were in The Lion king on pride rock hahaha. We all shouted really loud and heard a massive echo in the distance it was class!

Aw Im just having such a good time. Nigeria is beautiful. God is teaching me so much and Im growing in Him every day. This experience has just made me realise how much I want to live to Glorify Him!

My first month!

I am SO sorry that I am now into my second month here in Nigeria and this is my first blog…I don’t even have an excuse since my evenings here are consumed with drinking coffee and watching One Tree Hill, two of our well treasured luxuries here in Ogugu. So I will try and cover all the main things that may slightly interest you about the time I have spent here so far.

It’s SO warm. Imagine being inside a volcano, beside an oven and a fire breathing dragon, eating a vindaloo curry. That is only a tiny fraction of how hot it is here. The only time we stop sweating is when we turn the generator on in the evening so we have electricity, which means we have the fans on. This is always a wonderful part of the day. Apparently rainy season begins soon, not sure how I’ll cope with that since there was a glimpse of thunder and lightning last week and I put my fingers in my ears and closed my eyes haha. So I thought I would start by talking about the weather, since that’s what people tend to talk about a lot in Northern Ireland haha.

I’m in a village called Ogugu, and it’s in Kogi state, which is in a country called Nigeria, and for the people who don’t even know what continent I am living in now, it’s called Africa. There are two other wonderful Mission Africa gappers here with me, called Mel and Will. They are both English but that’s ok because God loves us all the same. Mel and I live with a lovely lady called Asabe. She is Nigerian, from Jos, but works here in Ogugu for Mission Africa. Will lives next door in his own little house. We all get on really well; they have been so welcoming to me and made me feel really at home here.

One night a few weeks ago, Mel got up to go to the toilet at about 1.30am, and casually woke me with the sentence, ‘Lynz,I don’t mean to alarm you but there’s a small snake in the bathroom…I don’t know what to do…’ Can I just say, it wasn’t small at all. It was a snake and it was a decent enough size to scare us all silly. So we shut the bathroom door, and put a towel under the door to stop the snake from slithering out. We woke Asabe who has a MASSIVE snake phobia, and was no comfort in this situation at all. We woke Will, but he did not find the courage to try and kill the snake himself. So the next decision was to go to the Reverends house, which is next door to ours, and ask him to come and rescue us. Wearing nothing but his boxer shorts and carrying a machete (yes our Reverend-in boxer shorts, with a machete), came to the house, opened the bathroom door, the snake rapidly slithered towards the Rev, and the Rev swiftly whacked the snake with his machete until it no longer was a slithery snake.

Now I’ll tell you what work I have been doing here. My main work is with a programme called the Circle of Hope, which is a programme that works with many of the orphans here in Ogugu. Every week I visit the orphans in their schools and do bible studies with them and pray. On Saturdays we do ‘The Saturday Programme’ where the orphans come, sing songs, play games, do crafts and lots of other really fun activities. After the Saturday programme which is for the primary school orphans, we have a Circle of Hope choir for the secondary school orphans.  I’m really enjoying this work and it’s so great that the children here have these opportunities. All of the orphans that are on the Circle of Hope programme are sponsored mainly from the UK, so they are able to get their school fees paid and have food, and a little gift at Christmas etc. Many more sponsors are needed as there are so many orphans here that aren’t on the programme so when I return to the UK I will be asking you all to sponsor an orphan from Ogugu!

Mel has been running a Mums and toddlers group every Monday at 3, and I have been helping her with that since I arrived here. It’s for single mums, and it’s really chaotic, especially with all the toddlers and babies being noisy and cute, but mainly noisy. We do a bible study and craft. Sometimes we perform puppet shows which Mel and I enjoy seemingly more than the mums or the toddlers. Many of the mums weren’t able to stay at school once they had their babies, so aren’t that strong at reading or writing. So starting next week, I am going to begin doing a little English lesson with them. I am really praying that this will impact them greatly and I hope it is a success.

Another thing that I have been doing here is teaching drama lessons in a primary school called QIC. The lessons are going quite well, and I really enjoy teaching them, but some of the children are really naughty! Here in Ogugu the teachers don’t think twice about using the cane to scold the children, so it’s a real challenge to get them to settle whenever I am obviously not going to use the cane. I have been helping out Mel at a health clinic she does every other market day, and it’s really fun! Mel is training to be a doctor, so she advises many people at the clinic about their health and often gives them free medicine, as people here don’t really have money to buy such things. At clinic, Mel does the doctor things, and I write the files for her ha. It is really interesting work.

The latest thing I have done is join the church choir! It is really fun, and I will hopefully one day be as respected in the choir as Mel is, as she had a solo in church last week! There are other Mission Africa gappers in Jos, and next week they are travelling down here to Ogugu and staying for 3 weeks. The main work that we will all be doing together is going to be a week long Easter kid’s camp for over 100 children in a nearby village. It’s going to be great fun, and lovely to have more white people here with us, as I have only seen 2 other white people besides myself in the past month haha. Its great though and I’m really enjoying meeting lots of Nigerians and befriending them. There are always people from the village coming and going from the house which is really nice.

One of the women, who we know well, is called Aunty Faith, and she has invited us to her wedding at the end of April. We are going to be wearing outfits made from native cloth, and it is going to be a massive celebration over two days. We can’t wait for it!

Sorry I have written so much, I was just making up for a month of no information given! I hope you are all enjoying life wherever you are reading this from. I’m having a great time here, though I do miss everyone at home so please keep in touch because I love getting messages and hearing from you all. Please keep praying for Nigeria and all the work that is going on here. We can’t do it without God’s strength so thank you for all your prayers thus far!

Until next time, goodbye and God Bless from sunny sunny Africaaaa ♥

The Update :)

Hello everyone! I thought it was about time I updated my blog again with everything that has been happening over the past few months. A lot has happened and changed. The first thing that I should probably say is that I am no longer going to Jos. Over Christmas time a lot of trouble broke out in the City of Jos and I became very frightened at the thought of being near the trouble. The conflict is between Christians and Muslims, and it caused much disruptment and sorrow in Jos in December/January.

The trouble has calmed down greatly now, however after much prayer and thought, I am now going to a little village in Nigeria called Ogugu. Apart from the fact that it has a very funny sounding name , the fact that it will be very hot and humid, and the fact that I will have only 4 hours of electricity a day, I don't know very much about it at all. What I do know though, is that I am very content at the thought of going there and I really do feel that God has placed it on my heart to go.

Hopefully during my time in Ogugu I will be able to do work in local orphanages and churches. The main thing that I will have the opportunity to do when Im there is teach! I am very excited about this. Although I dont have a qualification in teaching I am told that whatever I can offer will be greatly received! I am honestly so excited to go out there and just bring the hope of Jesus to everyone that I meet. I just know it is going to be a wonderful six months.

Another thing that I must mention is that I have raised my fundraising target of £3750!!! Thank you so much everyone who contributed so generously and came to my fundraisers because without your help I would have been rather stuck. However I really do give all the glory to God for this because as soon as I put my Faith in Him to provide, the money just began to come and come. It has definitely been an answer to prayer and one of the things that has confirmed to me that I really am meant to go to Nigeria.

I am still waiting for my visa to come so as I can leave very soon. So I really do need your prayers for that please as I feel that I am ready to go. I do know though that whenever I go the time will be right because God's timing is perfect.

A few things that I would really appreciate you all to pray for right now would be the following things-

• That God would continue to bless Mission Africa and everybody who works for them , both on the mission field and in the office.
• For Jos and the whole of Nigeria. Pray for peace and barriers to be broken and for God to break in.
• For my visa to arrive next week, as well as Bethan and Ally's visas, so we can all travel out together.
• My fear of flying, that I would be ok on the flight to Heathrow by myself (yes I really am scared)
• For my goodbyes to not be absolutely horrific.
• For God to use me and guide me over the next 6 months in accordance with His will and perfect plan for my life!

Thank you for reading my update! I shall try and keep this blog as up to date as possible while I am away. I am sooo humbled and thankful for everyone who has supported me and my decision to go to Nigeria. I am a very lucky person indeed.

Its starting to seem real...

Hello everyoneee. So if you are reading this I'm sure you will know by now that I am going away to Nigeria for 6 months from February until August 2011. I am going with an organisation called Mission Africa, to live in a city called Jos. My main role will be working with a school called Open Doors Special Education Centre. It is a school for children with learning handicaps that cannot benefit from a regular school. When I'm there I will be helping out in whatever way I can, and most of all I'll be trying to bring the name of Jesus to everyone I meet during my time there. Other things I will be hopefully getting involved in are working with street kids, and attending a local church regularly taking part in every aspect of it that I can.

The reason I am going is solely to respond to Gods call on my life. I feel that Nigeria is where God wants me to be next year, so I am very excited as well as terrified to take this step of Faith in travelling over there and seeing what lies ahead.

I just really ask for your prayers and support over these next few months as I prepare for this adventure. And for those who have already been so supportive and kind, honestly thank you so much because it means so much to me.

'As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you'
John 20v21.

Me and my gappers, Alethea, Will, Bethan and Neil.