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.