Week 3:The time is now

My heart is heavy with thoughts as I write to you today. This week was full of so many new things. Although this week has been full of so many joys, fun stories interesting cultural tid-bits and fascinating little anecdotes that I could write about for pages and pages, my heart is set on writing to you only a quick sketch of these so that I might spend the last part of my time with you pouring out my heart and trying to process through all that the Lord has been teaching me, that you also may be blessed by the things happening here in Nigeria.

The week started with really fun things. On Saturday of last week we (Allison, Tim, Dan, Rachel and two of the young singles from another compound Jaime and Joseph, and then our driver, Michael and his family of wife and three kids and then of course, me) took a day to a place called “Yankari Game Resort” which is a place about three hours drive outside of Jos where you can go and take a little safari and swim in the natural springs which is actually clean and void of any nasty living organism, unlike most of the water here in Nigeria. =) We all had a blast relaxing for the day and entertained ourselves (and most of the other Nigerians who were at the springs) with trying to climb up the face of the rock wall that the springs come from.
Another awesome part of our day was the safari. I was blessed with an elephant!! I know this seems like a large and somewhat dangerous blessing, but here is the short story. Because it is rainy season, there is a ton of shrubbery and over-grown trees so it makes it much more difficult to see animals. For some reason though, my heart was set on seeing elephants on the safari; everyone kept telling me we wouldn’t see them and to not get my hopes up. Well, my hopes were already up and so I began praying. I know it seems like a silly prayer, but God takes delights in our pleasures when they are pure, so I figured He might grant me my request. Well, I was so confident that God would not disappointment me, that I began telling everyone to keep a keen eye out for elephants. They were all making fun of me and teasing me, but I told them, “You just wait, God will bring me my elephant, you will see!” SURE ENOUGH, about an hour into our safari there on the road right in front of us stood an elephant!!!! I was so excited! There were also more off to the side of the road, so we got to see a total of about 5 elephants! Everyone was thrilled and even the safari guides were really happy we got to see them and said it was very rare for visitors to see elephants like that on the road this season. Then everyone began asking me to pray that we would see a lion. I had to just laugh and say, “No, no, God brought me my elephant and I am completely satisfied with that.” =)

The next day was church and we went to a traditional Hausa service with one of the SIM drivers. We all wore our traditional Nigerian outfits which was really fun and we felt like we fit in a little better, but I’m pretty sure everyone could have still been able to pick out the visitors even if we weren’t made to sit in the front row. =) The service was awesome. It was so fun to get to watch the people in their familiar tongue and style praise the Lord and listen to His word. The music was AMAZING! The preaching was intense, REALLY loud and emphatic. The tithing was confusing (they take about 5 different offerings and we never knew which was what). And the people were so welcoming. After the service, Audu, the man who took us, walked us over to his house and he encouraged us and thanked us for coming. With a little question asking on our part, we then all sat and listened as he unfolded the testimony of the church and how he had started it and how the Lord was blessing the church. It was an amazing story and I felt so privileged and encouraged to be able to be a part of that body of believers even for a short time.

Monday began with working in ICU. The nurses were really nice to be able to work with and welcomed the help we were offering. Nursing is different here. I have not quite figured out why except that I can only say that the nurse does not interact with the patient and the family as much as one might in the U.S.A. The only really specific thing that I can examine throughout my week is that the nurse here spends most of his or her time caring for the patient physically instead of socially, psychologically or spiritually. However, perhaps because of the ICU setting and the nature of the patient’s conditions the environment simply lent itself to this type of observation. And yet, from all that I have seen so far, and even now having a day in pediatrics, it seems as though nursing is much more to care physically for the patient and to make sure business is in order so that when the Doctor comes, he or she can talk with the patient and the family and have the interaction, the teaching and the relationship.

Regardless, nursing is not that much different when it comes to the physical aspect of patient care. The ICU nurses were very quick and accurate and excellent in their work. They are well equipped with technology that many would be surprised that a hospital in Nigeria would have, and yet there are many things that are lacking or broken that they all wish they had. We took vital signs every 2 hours on the patients because they were stable and measured urine output every hour. Allison and I learned how to document and took over performing this task as well as aiding with the bed baths and the routine care. We also learned their IV bag care and techniques and flow rates. There are 4 beds in ICU and most of the patients that were on the ward were CHI (Closed Head Injuries) and unconscious from RTAs (Road Traffic Accidents). The nurses enjoyed talking with us and asking us about nursing in the U.S. and wanted to know how things were here compared to there. There was also another student nurse in the ICU and it was really fun to get to know her and to talk to her about her training and her life.

We were in the ICU Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday for half a day and then Friday. Wednesday afternoon we went out to a camp called ECWA (Evangelical Church of West Africa) Camp Youth Alive (ECYA) (Everything is abbreviated here if you haven’t noticed yet. =) haha). Allison and I were last-minute asked to be the camp nurses for this ECYA camp that is going to take place the 2nd through the 7th of August. It is a camp for kids 12-15 and the leaders training was from Wednesday of this week to Sunday. WELL, since we had already scheduled to be in ICU at Evangel and it was last minute and we are not going to be counselors, we asked if we could just go out for a night and a day of the staff training, that way we would only miss one day at Evangel. The camp staff training was fun, but it was a little uncomfortable at first because we were not really sure what we were doing and felt like we did not know anything! BUT the Lord helped us work through some of our insecurities and really encouraged us through the relationships we began to build with the staff. They were so fun and so energetic to praise the Lord! Each had such a dear heart for the Lord and it was so neat to get to see brothers and sisters serving the Lord with their talents and their hearts for kids. They also sang beautifully! We would be sitting after dinner and all of a sudden someone would say “Let’s sing a song of praise!” and someone would start singing and they ALL know the song and they ALL sing really loud and really beautifully and start harmonizing and clapping to complex African rhythms. It made my heart so happy, but more importantly I know it made God’s heart happy as He sat and listened to the beautiful music coming from the hearts of His children.

Friday was a difficult day back at ICU. I do not know why it was difficult, either because it should have been or because I am still trying to understand what it is that I think and feel. I sat down Saturday morning to try and sort my thoughts and this is what I wrote:

“As I gently closed the eye lid, I began searching for answers on the man’s still face; hoping, wishing, that somehow his earthly corpse could give me an idea of what his spirit might now be encountering. I stood and watched as the doctor told the daughter and her mother in law that their loved one had passed away and listened to the wailing and the crying. The daughter began to shout to the sky, “Jehovah! Where shall I run? The Lord is my strength, to whom shall I run! I have no mother and now I have no father!”
We had just a half an hour before taken his vital signs and they were relatively normal. But the nurse had noticed his breathing was more like gasping and had asked us to take them again quickly to see if his status had changed. His blood pressure had dropped some, but other than that it was only that he was gasping. Then all of a sudden he went from 24 respirations a minute to gasping for air only every 10 seconds or so. The nurse was trying to get oxygen on him and the doctor who had been called was there as well. We were all running around getting things for the doctor and the other nurse, trying to maintain the oxygen supply for the man who had now stopped breathing. They tried for about 10 minutes everything they could, but it was over.

It was the first patient that I have seen die, but I am sure it will not be the last. I know that the profession I am going into, especially if I would want to work in an ER setting or overseas in this type of setting, requires me to be able to cope with death on a regular basis. I know that the Lord is the giver and taker of life and I am confident that He knew that it was this man’s time to be taken from this world. It does make you think though, “What will my death be like?” and more importantly, “How will I chose to live my life before I get to my death bed?”

I have chosen. I chose to live my life as an offering to Christ Jesus my Lord because He deserves any glory and honor that each breath or each step I take could bring Him. I only pray that my every breath and every step can bring Him enough, for He is a mighty God and deserves so much more than I can bring.”

We went back to the camp to stay one more night and to finish it out with the staff Saturday night because we felt that it would be best and we were asked to do so. I was dreading going back out because I was not sure if I had enough energy to be with so many people, but the Lord is so faithful and knows exactly what we need every day. Saturday night we were greeted by open arms and hugs and the staff saying “OH you are back! WE missed you!” which was so encouraging! I realized that it was exactly what I needed, to build relationships with them and to be lifted up by fellow believers. They were even more open with me when we were there the second time and I got to have really cool conversations and interactions with the girls. (And I have now definitely been asked multiple times if I want to marry a Nigerian man...=) haha...including by a 35 year old man at the hospital... GOSH I need to stop forgetting to wear my fake wedding ring! haha!)

Yesterday was awesome too! We had a Sunday morning service that the camp put on with a pastor they invited (who was actually one of the main chaplains from Evangel). It was SUCH a great sermon! He talked about the theme of the camp “maranatha” and how we should be eagerly awaiting the coming of our Lord Jesus. He said he was not going to debate when or how Christ would come again, but that we should be most focused on the fact that HE IS coming and that we should be living our lives with that promise in mind! It was so convicting! I want to live a life that manifests my eager anticipation for the return of Christ. I LONG for Christ to tell me “Well done good and faithful one” when I meet Him in the clouds! I don’t want to live a life that is complacent and satisfied with politically correct Christianity anymore. I’m convicted that I should not be quiet about the gospel just because I might offend someone. It is ETERNAL life we are talking about!!! My popularity and my own image is worth NOTHING and so why should I care what people think of me!? How convicted I was that I am not bold regarding the gospel of Christ.
In my study of Paul by Beth Moore called “To live is Christ” (Thank you Allison V. for introducing me to the study!!) I have been learning SOOOOOOO much! I have gained so much insight into the background of Paul and the surrounding early church. I read the story of Stephen yesterday and I was completely blown away. I want to be like Stephen; he was so Spirit filled that it was apparent in both his external and internal characteristics. I crave for a life that is so Spirit filled that I would be willing to DIE for the sake of Christ and that I would be even so Christ-focused that I would be able to forgive my murderers with my last breath! How awesome and how pleased was Christ that He even STOOD to welcome Stephen into the kingdom of heaven! It says “But he (Stephen) being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God..” (Acts 7:55). What an honor to get a standing ovation from the Lord Jesus Christ, and when Stephen was stoned to death and he finally entered the presence of the Lord in heaven I can only imagine Christ lifting Stephan up from his knees saying “Well done good and faithful one!!!”

The Lord has been revealing Himself to me in so many ways I am completely overwhelmed. I am so excited and burdened for my own people now. I love the Nigerian people. THEY ARE AMAZING! I would be happy living here the rest of my life and serving along side of them. And yet I know since the Lord is calling me back to the USA, back to California, back to Escondido and then back to school in Azusa, there is a huge ministry THERE for me to serve my own people, to tell my own people about the radical love of our radical Savior.

Time is short, friends. I have seen death as many of you have I’m sure. I went from watching a man breathing to searching for his pulse and finding nothing. I was also reminded that Christ’s return is soon, that it will come like a thief in the night, that it can come at any time. The question I have to continue to ask myself in light of these reflections and reminders is this: What am I doing with this moment that I have been given? and am I choosing to use every moment in order that Jesus Christ might get all the more glory and honor? The pastor that spoke on Sunday encouraged us to leave each other with the phrase “maranatha” which means something like “come, Jesus come!!” to remind ourselves that we are looking eagerly for the glorious return of our Savior and that it is coming soon! So let us not wait, let us be eager to use each moment we are given to glorify the name of Christ. Let us look forward to the promise that Christ WILL return and shall gather us and meet us in the clouds! The disciples lived with this promise in mind and the knowledge that life is but a vapor and it vanishes so quickly. They were BOLD in their talk and unashamed of the gospel of Christ and their numbers multiplied daily. Let us strive for the same boldness and eagerness so that we can have the biggest party in the clouds when Christ returns!

MARANATHA!
Alisha

PRAISES
-I have been healthy and feeling strong this week!!
-We made some really good relationships with the camp staff at camp
-The Lord has been teaching Allison and I so many things and has been so faithful in being our comfort and our strength through difficult times.

PRAYER
-Allison has a cold! I made her stay home from work today so she would feel better and not get the little babies sick... Pray she gets well quickly!
-Pray for the camp coming up: that the kids coming would be ready to hear the word of God and that we would have wisdom in how to treat the kids
-For the poor and sick of this world and specifically those in Nigeria and even more specifically those being served at Evangel.

Allison and I along our safari.. so fun!!The elephant that I prayed for right in front of our car!! (There were better pictures of the actual elephant, but I like this one because it shows how close the elephant really was to our car!) =) Thanks Lord! The water was so nice and clear and beautiful and warm! (The girl on the right is Jaime) =)

Attempting to climb the wall.. and getting shown up oh so badly by the Nigerians! =) My traditional Nigerian outfit that I wore to church!

Audu and the whole group of us in front of the church.

A group of the girls from the camp! They were all such sweet hearts!!

A few of the "Aunties" and an "Uncle" as they call them at camp. Yes, Im Auntie Alisha. =)

Renee (the SIM missionary that asked Allison and I to be the camp nurses) and I infront of our "Hut" at camp. Renee is such a doll!

Allison and I packed in the car with a few of the other staff leaders! At one point there were 18 of us in the van!

Week 2: Evangel

This week has been incredible; full of so many experiences, sights, thoughts, emotions, prayers and reflections. I feel as though I have not the skill to even begin to describe to you all that has gone on in these incredible full and short four first days working at Evangel! And yet the passion and burden to convey the experiences the Lord has given to me to all of you, my dear supporters, that I must try to calm my excited and racing heart just enough to put thoughts to words, and words to a page.

Let me begin with a few fun things that have been going on with Allison and I before I dive into what we have been doing at the hospital. Allison and I have been cooking!!! It has been really fun! Dan and Tim (the two med students from N. Ireland) and Allison and I have been trading off nights for dinners and Rachel has been helping both teams and joining us. I must say, the bar has been set high each night for both dinners and desserts and it has been fun to put on full meals. I DO have a MUCH greater respect however for you mothers and wives who cook every night all the time!! I am so tired after I work all day and then it takes so long here to cook that we have to start at least an hour and a half before we want to start eating! But we have all been having a ton of fun and Allison and I have been learning cooking creativity along the way! I think the Lord has also been teaching Allison and I the joys of the Nigerian way of putting people first before time and events because both of our watches all of a sudden broke within the first week of being here!! It has been a strange and somehow freeing phenomenon to never really know exactly what time it is. Thank God for a culture that puts people first. May we learn from them and implement that more into our lives from now on!

Ok, now on to hospital. The first day was short and full of getting introduced to the hospital and its way of operation. We met with the doctors for morning report at 7:30, where one of the residents or interns who has been on call all night lists the cases that have been admitted that night and the mortalities. Then all of the doctors, residents and interns begin to discuss the cases, with the consultants (who are the senior and residing doctors) and the consultants begin grilling the younger doctors about the cases and begin guiding them through critical thinking patterns. It seemed to me a harsh way of doing things, and yet I suppose public humiliation and public teaching allows one to remember what they learned much better and gives great incentive for wanting to know as much information and make informed and accurate decisions as possible. We then followed Dr. Ardill around on what they call ‘Ward Rounds’, which is when the doctors go around and visit each bedside of the patients whom they are interacting with (ie. Dr. Ardill as a surgeon goes around and sees all the surgical patients). We must have visited at least 30 patients and it took about 2 hours or so. It was really interesting to get to be introduced to each case and then to hear what they were doing or what they were going to do for each patient. The doctors work hard and are almost over worked but have an underlying passion and energy that is undeniable and that is so God-centered that it spills out into their words and their deeds.

Tuesday and Wednesday morning were busy days in the OR, or what they call the “Theatre”. We had some really good experiences!! Both Allison and I got to scrub into a surgery! I got to scrub in to a surgery on a 3 day old baby who had a myelomeningocele, which is birth defect where the back bone and spinal canal do not close before birth. I got to help hold instruments in place, clamp and even help Dr. Ardill with the stitching. It was amazing to watch Dr. Ardill at work and it is such a blessing to have him at Evangel because he is such a skilled surgeon and able to do almost anything that is set before him due to his many many years on the field and his gift of accuracy and critical thinking from the Lord. We watched a few other surgeries on both days, including a removal of a fat tumor (lipoma), an exploratory surgery on a man’s abdomen who was eventually believed to have Tuberculosis, and had the mycobacterium infectious in his abdomen. After we had watched a few surgeries and I got to help put an IV in, we helped with wound dressings. This was also held in the center room of the Theatre. I do not even know how to describe to you the intensity of these wounds that we were dressing! I am not going to describe the wounds because of the gruesomeness of the details I would have to include; however it was so mind altering for me to help bathe the wound or the burn of a small child or an adult. These people are so brave. Most get an IV pain medication just before we clean and dress their wounds, but some chose not to. The ones that do not are very brave and try to just bite their tongues and cringe but most have to scream because of the pain. Pain management is something I am still trying to figure out and some of the people I cannot comprehend how they cannot be unconscious with pain due to the severity of their wounds or the intensity of our cleaning them. As I was holding a screaming child’s hand today my heart broke for the pain this world must go through and how much more God’s heart must break when He watches his children suffer.

Thursday we did Ward Rounds again but it was similar to Monday. Thursday afternoon and Friday were similar with the wound cleanings and a few other skills including a few catheter insertions. Allison and I began to get a better feel for what to do during the cleanings and started to get more proficient at them. The two doctors really appreciated our help because they usually do the cleanings on their own, but it really is a two man job at least. So many of the wounds are from road traffic accidents or burns, and some are complications as a result of underlying disease, especially sickle cell anemia. It has been fun to get to see the same wound dressing patients for four days in a row. However, there is a part of me that feels sad each time the same child or a familiar face gets rolled through the door; it’s almost as if you have to wonder if these people will ever heal from these outrageous wounds. I suppose it has been only a short time and difficult wounds take a long time to heal.

Let me go back a little to Wednesday afternoon. Wednesday afternoon the five of us short term medical missionaries from this compound went with a team to a place in Jos called Gidan Bege (House of Hope). Gidan Bege is a ministry that takes in street boys and houses them for 6-9 months as a sort of transitional period to make sure the boys will stay in an institution. Many boys will run away from a place like an orphanage. The ministry has taken in so many boys and feeds them, gives them a place to stay and teaches them about the love of Jesus. One little boy that was there when we went on Wednesday had a scar on his neck, later I found out his story. At age 6 this little boy’s uncle had gotten ill and the family had blamed the little boy because of witch craft and other beliefs and so tried to kill him by hanging him. The grandmother had saved the little boy and taken him to Gidan Bege for fear of his life. These children are in desperate need of hope and they can find it here because of the dear people who have devoted their lives to sharing the gospel, love and their time to these boys. (In case you were wondering, there are not many street girls because girls in this society are very useful, girls can be used as another slave or servant in the house and so you do not see many street girls here, mostly boys)

Gidan Bege also has a ministry to widows in Jos. They have a free sewing area where the women can come and bring their cloth and sew either to make a living or to provide for their children or themselves. They provide a meal, a program sharing the gospel, and a free health clinic every Wednesday. Many of these women are in hopeless need of love, acceptance and community, not to mention health. We sat in the little clinic room and helped take blood pressures as the women filed in one by one to tell of their health problems and get their BP taken and then stood outside the window to get their bag of pills to last them till the next week. Over half of the women have high blood pressure and the clinic provides a basic diuretic to care for this seemingly uncontrolled health problem in this community. As a part of the clinic, the ministry also travels to another part of Jos called Blind town. Blind town is a part of Jos where a large community of (as you would guess) blind people have gathered. But there are not only blind people here but also all their children, many other poor people, all their kids and then also a community of non-infectious lepers and their kids. Blind town is actually a very large section of Jos and has its own chief and is its own sub-culture. The community is very poor and all the houses are very close to each other. Close and small houses, open sewage and narrow alleys create a maze you must make your way through in order to reach the house you wish to inquire upon. We played follow the leader through the maze in a team of 8 and visited about 6 or 7 different houses in one section of Blind town and another team did the same in a different part. Blind town is 99 percent Muslim and does not look on to intrusion with a friendly eye so only certain entrances are open to white people and to Gidan Bege’s medical ministry. The people are so grateful for the services and it was so mind changing to stand in the homes of these people and take their BP, talk with them, answer questions, hand them medication and then walk to another house and do a similar thing. There are children everywhere and they get so excited to see white people! They think it is the funniest thing ever and want to touch you, rub your skin, hold your hand, say “hello”, give you a high five, smile at you, laugh and have you smile back. Of course me, germaphobe Alisha, was at first slightly perturbed when I looked down at my sides and had 6 runny nosed and snotty kids with dirt and grime all over them and their hands rubbing my arms and holding on to my hand like no tomorrow. I realized that I had the potential to get annoyed with all the kids as well because as we would walk through the alleys they would make it almost impossible to walk at a normal pace in order to get done what we needed to on our medical mission, and on top of that, because the kids would slow us down and make large swarms around us other people would walk up to us and ask the Doctor in our group questions and ask for medication or for help with a problem. BUT, I was given a moment that I have never had before; I was given insight into the life of Jesus like I never have experienced before. As I was standing surrounded by kids and poor and hurting people limping up or walking blindly up to the mass of people along a dirty alley and asking for help I thought to myself “I bet you this is how Jesus felt a lot of the time; surrounded, smothered, needed desperately, heart aching, tired, incredibly in love with the people in front of him and longing to heal their hearts as well as their bodies.” It was so overwhelming. Praise God for sending His son Jesus Christ for man kind who was so frantically groping in the dark, and now blindly awaiting His touch of love and healing in their hearts that can come at anytime through the miraculous ways the Holy Spirit works in and through people’s lives. I pray that the Lord would use my hands and my feet to be those of Christ’s that I might bring love and healing in the name of Jesus to a world that is so desperately searching for healing.

Let me just close with what Jesus said, as I cannot summarize it any better. I was reminded of this passage today.
As Jesus was preaching to the people he said...
“But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do the things which I say? Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.” (Luke 6:46-49)

Let us be builders of solid houses as we follow the teachings of Jesus, the rock, no matter where we are or what we are doing in this life.

Blessings on each one of you! May you experience God in a new way today and feel His presence abundantly in your life!!
Thanks again for all your prayers!

Alisha

PRAISES
-The week at the hospital was very full and we were able to encourage the doctors as we worked along side them in their tasks.
-We have had really good fellowship with the other short term missionaries and other missionary families! Everyone is so loving and helpful!
-We have had safety on the roads, on the compound and in the markets!

PRAYERS
-Please pray for health for both Allison and I and me especially, I have been struggling a little but am currently feeling much stronger and I have been learning to depend fully on the strength of the Lord.
-Pray that the patients at Evangel will experience not only physical healing but also spiritual healing through the love of Christ shown to them by Allison and I and by the staff at Evangel.

-Pray for the poor and desperate in Nigeria and especially those in Blind Town.These are the white, nursing uniforms we wear when we are not wearing scrubs in the OR!

This was the child that had the myelomeningocele and the surgery I got to scrub in on.

This is Dr. Ardill at work and me assisting him!

This is what the child's back looked like post-surgery! Praise the Lord for good surgeons like Dr. Ardill, the child did not lose any sensory or motor function!

Allison and I in the "Theatre".
Allison and I doing a little time in the kitchen and showing off our meal.. =)

Taking the BP in the entrance or uncovered part of the home of a patients in Blind Town.

The alleys of Blind town.

The the swarm of kids at Blind Town.

Helping dress a burn victims wound who had 20 percent of his body burned in a car fire.

Week 1: Sannu! Greetings from Nigeria!

SANNU!!!!!!! (That means hello in Hausa!)

Wow, I do not even know where to begin. Let me start off by saying that words on a page are a cheap way of expressing my gratitude to the Lord and to all of you who are supporting Allison and I through prayer and encouragement and financial means. But, since it is the only way at this time of telling you how much I am thankful, let me say it the Nigerian way and say “Na gode”.

SO, to give a brief overview of the week, Monday and Tuesday we had safe and blessed travels with no problems at all. Thanks for all your prayers!! Our flights were comfortable and long, and we met fun people along our journey. *QUICK funny* Allison and I both took Nalgene bottles so that we could fill them up once we got through security. Well, after we got off the plane in Frankfurt and we were going through their security (which is MUCH less fast-paced and stressful than in America..) I was pulled aside. “Oh great.” I thought to myself. “Is dis your bag?” the security man asked in his German accent. “Yes it is.” I replied. “Open it”. So I opened it and he dug out the two water bottles that were half full of water!!! “Ooops! We forgot to dump them out on the plane!” I exclaimed. “Can you drink?” he asked. “Yes!” I said, “Or you can just pour them out...” “No, you must drink.” They wouldn’t let us pour them out!!! WE had to CHUG our bottles in front of security!!! hahahaha.. Allison and I were glad we were able to drink quickly so we didn’t hold up the line and they didn’t expect that we were trying to bring in poison or some other explosive chemical. BUT it was funny and they were all watching us as we chugged half a big bottle of water. =) Silly... we know not to do that again..

Anyway... everything else went really smoothly and customs and the airport in Abuja was really easy. We arrived with another family, who the man, Mr. Tait, is actually the SIM director of the country, so we sort of followed them because they knew what they were doing. We traveled to Jos on Wednesday morning on a four hour car ride and got to see the country just a little. IT was GREAT, especially riding with the Taits because they knew so much and were telling us so much information about the country and pointing out landmarks etc.

Now that we are in Jos, Allison and I have been bombarded with a million facts and lots of information in the last three days about SIM and the culture and what to do and what not to do etc. Its been kind of a crazy few days, but its been so good!

Yesterday we went to the market and got our cultural orientation. WOW talk about awesomely insane! Ok, so we bought some Nigerian material, some veggies, fruits and other groceries to get us started on our cooking. We also had to walk along the streets which are FULL of cars, people and motorcyle taxis.. and I mean FULL. You would not believe the number of people on the streets!! And NONE of the vehicles stop OR slow down for anyone or anything! so there takes on new meaning when you say, be careful crossing the streets. =) OH MY GOSH, I cant even explain how awesome it was to be right on the streets, crossing right in front of the cars, walking along all the market and being in the midst of the people. They are crazy drivers and especially the motorcycle taxi drivers. They are like ants EVERYWHERE and they have NO fear about diving in and out of people, cars and pot holes.

I definitely felt my color when I walked through the market. The people look at you when you walk by and some call you "Baturi" (Ba-too-ree) or "Oibo" (Oh-ee-bo). It is mostly in a friendly way and they are in general very nice and friendly people. They all want to greet you and say hello or “sannu”, in their language. There are only some men we have to ignore, but other than that Kauna, our orientator, said we could be friendly and should greet them back or else we would be considered rude. We have also been trying to learn other Hausa phrases so that we can greet people and respond back when they greet us. Most people speak Hausa and then the people who have been educated speak English and Hausa. There are many tribal languages though and so it ends up that many of the people here can speak three of four different languages.

We went to the tailor to get our dresses made and we should have our Nigerian dresses back in a week! =) I am so excited! On the way back, Kauna was running late so she decided to catch a taxi back to the headquarters and send us back to Evangel on our own. It was fun for Allison and I to be out on our own for the first time and we felt pretty confident as we darted across the streets between the cars and the motorcycles. Literally, they say if you wait for there to be a clear spot in the road, you will sleep there because the streets are never clear. So you just have to time it right and be smart about when to walk out in the middle of the road. We almost got the hang of it and we did well on our own.

The weather is really nice! It can get warm in the early to middle parts of the day but is just right in the later afternoon and evenings and has rained almost everyday for about an hour or so. When it rains, it rains HARD! It’s so nice! Sometimes we wake up to the rain during the night also. It is so green here and the plant life is beautiful this time of the year!

The missionary community is so welcoming and fun. We have been to many houses for dinners and lunches because they “take care of you” the first week you are here. Next week we will be on our own for cooking, but we are excited and nervous at the same time to take on that adventure. We played ultimate Frisbee today with a group of about 35 people at the high school for the missionary kids. It was a game organized by some Baptist girls who are here on 2 years terms and they were really sweet girls. There were families and young people from all over the city who are here for short or long term and who are here from all over the world. It was so fun to play and have fun with a community of believers who are here serving the Lord with a similar vision. (I’m proud to say my team won..) =). I am really looking forward to spending more time with the Baptist girls as they have now invited us to their functions such as worship on Wednesday nights etc. Allison and I have also been hanging out with Rachel, Dan and Tim in our spare time. Rachel is a medical student from New York who lives with a family here on the compound and Dan and Tim are two medical students from Northern Ireland who lived right next to us. It has been fun to get to know them. Last night we played cards with Dan and Tim and taught them Hand and Foot and had a great time enjoying their Northern-Irish ways: for example.... they say “It’s your go” instead of it’s your turn.... or they call chips “crisps” and things like that. =) The five of us will be hanging out quite a bit in our spare time I think because we are all medical so we are all here on the compound together and they are all really fun people.

Well I think that is it for now. I do not want to make these too long, then no one will read them and know how to be praying for us!! =) Thank you all for your constant support and prayers. Allison and I really do feel them and are so encouraged that you guys are behind us and supporting us here. WE could not do it without your support and we could DEFINITLY not do it without the strength of the Lord! I have been reminded time and time again that if I take my eyes off the Lord, I will sink into the waves, just as Peter did. The exciting thing is that I have stepped out of the boat and now I am in stormy waters and the only way I can stay afloat is by keeping my eyes fixed on Jesus. I KNOW I cannot do this and serve through my own strength, but I am clinging fast to the promise that “He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness’ Therefore MOST GLADLY I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)
Blessings on you all as you each serve wherever you have been placed.
Sai anjima!!! (See you later)
Alisha

PRAISES
-Safety in traveling and on the road
-Many welcoming missionaries and help from the many people here
-We got wireless internet finally set up in our apartment!!!! =)

PRAYERS
-Continued health
-Safety as we face the busy streets and the markets
-Wisdom and safety as we begin in the hospital on Monday
-Continued growth in relationships with other missionaries here

Allison and I in the plane.

Trying to entertain ourselves in the airport.

Finally we have arrived in Jos and this is the living room in our apartment!

Allison and I in our front yard.

Enjoying the scenery, its so green here!

The flowers are beautiful because it rains everyday!

The trash and compost pile is not so nice, but it works!

This is Kauna and I at the market. (Notice all the people and cars in the background!)

This was our first experience in a taxi, it gets really squished because they fit two people in the front and four in the back and then you have to tell them when you want to get out as they are driving!! It was pretty different!


This is the market! This is where we will be doing our shopping for the next 5 weeks.

The Beginning...

With just a few days left to spend in the USA before I embark on this amazing journey, my heart and head are beginning to feel a little jumbled with excitement, nervousness, happiness, wonder, fear, and anticipation. As most of you may know, I, along with my friend Allison Greene, will be traveling on Monday the 7th to Jos, Nigeria to spend 6 weeks helping out in a hospital and in surrounding areas with medical missions. As a nursing student, it's a dream to be told I will be able to learn how to deliver babies, suture up patients in the OR or work along ICU nurses in their daily care. But I have to stop and think to myself, "Why are you going, Alisha?"

Here is the thing: if I were just going to have a cool adventure or get another stamp in my passport or write a blog or to step foot on the African continent, that would be pretty self-centered of me. I want to be going for the sole reason to bring my Lord glory. Whatever that may look like,whether that is serving in the hospital, fellowshipping with and encouraging fellow believers, speaking with local women and learning from them or just being quiet and appreciating the stillness of my nights, I want to be giving God the glory because he is worthy. I hope and pray that the Lord teaches me more through this experience in Nigeria than I could ever imagine so that I can bring Him an increasing amount of glory through my life. Upon my return to America, I hope to bring with me new perspectives on certain aspects of life that are driven by what the Lord reveals to me through the opportunities He presents me with.

I am SO excited about what God is doing in my heart and my life this summer! I feel like the little child sitting at the edge of my seat just itching with anticipation raising my heart to God saying "Send me! Send me!" Well, He has sent me, now is my time.

I cannot wait to share what the Lord is teaching me and the experiences I am going through by means of this blog. I am also hoping to post praise and prayer requests weekly during my journey over there. Please join my team of senders and support me through writing me through email and comments back to me as I will have wireless Internet over there, and PLEASE be praying for me.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!

PRAISES
-All of Allison and my support is in fully!
-All of our traveling arrangements are ready to go!

PRAYER
-Our VISAS have not yet been approved!!!!!!!! They are supposed to be coming in tomorrow or Friday.. PLEASE PRAY the government won't be looking for bribes...
-Safety as we travel from San Diego to Jos, Nigeria taking us from Monday morning to Wednesday morning
-Health for both Allison and I as we travel and as we stay in Nigeria