Christmas update

Everything has been going well here recently. The fighting has stopped and things are gradually getting back to normal. There is currently a 7pm - 6am curfew. We are hoping the curfew will be lifted soon or at least increased to 9pm and then we will actually be able to go out at night!

Due to the recent violent events in Jos, many people have lost their homes and lots of mosques, churches and businesses have been burnt down. I am living on a CRC compound (Christian Reformed Church). CRC received funding and organised relief aid such as food, water, clothes, blankets etc. Some Mission Africa staff have also been involved with this and I had the opportunity of assisting with some of the relief work. It was a rewarding, but humbling experience. We talked and prayed with some of the victims at a Nigerian ministry called "Almanah Rescue Mission". Hearing the stories of victims was heart-breaking, it definately has made me a lot more thankful for what I have. One woman I spoke with is a widow who is HIV positive, she has 8 children and she lost her home during the crisis. She is now a refugee, desperately trying to provide for her children and find somewhere to live. Although it was difficult hearing these stories, it was great to see these victims walk away with a smile and the food we were providing.

I finished work on Thursday, which ended with a kids party and of course, Father Christmas paid us a visit! We had only been back to school a week, due to the crisis. We are now off for 3 weeks!

Quite a few people have been asking me how I will be spending Christmas. I am moving to another CRC compound, where all the other Mission Africa staff live. As a mission, we are spending Christmas day together, so I'm looking forward to that but I am going to miss everyone at home. I'm finding it very strange celebrating Christmas with warm weather!

Prayer requests:

• Please pray that the peace will remain in Jos.


• Pray for all the victims of the crisis who are now without a home over this Christmas period.


• Please continue to pray for my health and safety.

I wish you all a very happy Christmas.

Yours in Christ,

Lynsey

Pray for Jos

I just thought I would send a message to you all to stop anyone panicking. You may have heard about the trouble between Christians and Muslims in Jos over the last few days. Things have now calmed down. I have been safely stuck on our compound over the last few days, although yesterday we were allowed to visit people on another mission compound. That’s as far as we are allowed to go for now! We are blessed to live on such a safe compound with a great Missionary community. This time allowed us to get to know each other better. Thankfully I haven’t been in any real danger. We have only heard the fighting in the distance and seen smoke in the distance.

Prayer requests:

I would ask you to pray for all the families that have lost loved ones and all the people that have lost their homes. There are now around 30,000 refugees and around 400 people that have been killed. As a compound, we are currently trying to gather some supplies to help the refugees.

Please pray for the families of children at Open Doors that have been affected and also a couple of Uncles have been affected. On that note, Open Doors will be closed until next Wednesday.

Please pray for peace and reconciliation.

Thanks,

Lynsey

P.S Thanks to all those that have been sending me encouraging comments. I really appreciate it! :)

SANNU! YA YA KIKI?

Ok, first of all, the title of this blog means “Hello! How are you?” It’s in ‘Hausa’, the local language, which I am currently trying to learn. I’m picking it up slowly but I know the most important phrases such as “ I don’t understand”. I might be starting Hausa lessons tomorrow.


Work has been going really well. I’m enjoying working with the kids in the speech therapy department and I’m learning a lot at the same time. Since I began working at Open Doors, I have already seen great improvements in the speech of some of the children I work with, which is very encouraging. I am now getting more involved at the school and recently started to lead worship at the kid’s devotions in the afternoons. I do this along with a Nigerian member of staff and some of the kids. Today I had a great experience at school. I carried a bucket of water on my head like a Nigerian woman!!! Check out the picture! My next task is to actually to get the water from the well.


I went back to Gyero Care Centre on Saturday to spend some time with the boys. I had things to do in the morning, so unfortunately I couldn’t stay at Gyero for very long but I am going back next week.


Since I last wrote to my blog, there has been another answer to prayer. I said that I wanted to go to EMS a couple of afternoons a week (It’s a school for Nigerian missionary kids). There is a great need there but I am not allowed to travel there alone due to safety reasons. A guy called Emmanuel, who is also out here with ‘Mission Africa’ just arrived a week ago. He has offered to go to EMS with me. He will do sports with half of the kids while I teach music, help with choir etc. Emmanuel had been waiting a long time for his Visa, so we are thankful to God that he has now arrived, so many people have been praying. I just found out tonight that Micah has got his Visa, so he is travelling to Nigeria on Saturday. He will be working at Open Doors and apparently he is also willing to go to EMS with me to help with music. There are over 100 kids there so it's great that I am going to have so much help. Thank you to all those that have been praying.


More prayer points:

• Please pray for my health. I have already had a throat infection. I have recovered now but please pray that God would keep me strong so that I can fight any allergies and infections.



• There are going to be a lot of changes in our house soon. Two girls leave on the 2nd December and then two more leave mid December, leaving just 2 of us until February. It’s not going to be easy seeing people leaving, because I have been used to being on teams before, where you arrive and leave together, so please pray for this over these next few weeks.
  

Thanks,

Sai anjima, (Goodbye for now)

Lynsey

Reunited!

I went to visit the boys at Gyero on Saturday. The last time I went, there were not many boys around and I only saw a few that I knew. I spent the whole day there, just hanging out with the boys, playing football, Volleyball, drawing and playing games. I got to talk to lots of the boys that I already know from before. It was great to spend time with them all again. I am going to try to visit them every other Saturday. I think it's important to keep in contact with them.

Gyero has changed so much, but for the better. They are split into family groups and live in separate houses, in separate compounds. It's better for the boys, because Gyero now feels more like a home to them. You can check out the pictures, and if you have been to Nigeria before, I'm sure you will recognise a few faces :).

Work so far and answered prayer :)

I have been here for just over 2 weeks now. Everything is going great! I love working at Open Doors. This week I got more involved and took a few 1-1 therapy sessions and helped take group therapy. Today was a bit stressful, I was on my own and kind of thrown in at the deep end. Uncle Japeth, who I am working with was off due to a family bereavement, so I may be on my own on Monday too. It is good experience for me but it's only my 2nd week at the school. I think I coped quite well though and got quite a lot done with the kids but it wasn't easy. I am hoping to help lead the kids praise at the devotions in the afternoon with Uncle Japeth who also plays the guitar, and one of the kids who is really good at singing. He has a problem with his speech when he talks but no problems when he sings, which is amazing, so he's the Nigerian Gareth Gates!

Thank you for all the prayers so far, I really do appreciate it. Since writing my previous post, I have found a church! For those of you that know Nigeria, I am going to the Bishara 2 (ECWA). I went there the first year I came out to Nigeria. I went last Sunday with my housemates. I had been talking to them about this church but couldn't remember the name. One of the girls in our house had heard about the church and wanted to try it. It turned out to be the church I had been talking about and the service was fantastic. The singing was great and very lively and the sermon was also great and I got a lot out of it. Normally in Nigeria the preaching is a bit dodgy or they use about 10 different passages for the one sermon, which don't actually connect in anyway. So, I am very happy that I have found a church to go to and it was only my 2nd Sunday. I truely believe it was God answering prayer and leading me to that church.

Attached are some more pictures of the beautiful kids I am working with.

THE FIRST WEEK

I began working at Open Doors on Monday. On the first day I was given a tour of the school and shown all the different departments (Vocational training, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech Therapy, the sensory room and I was taken into each class to be introduced to everyone.) I received a warm welcome from all the staff and kids. The kids are great. They have a range of individual needs. Most of them have delayed speech, Cerebral Palsy, Autism or Down’s syndrome.

For the full 6 months, I am going to be working in the Speech Therapy Department alongside Uncle Japeth, who is a Nigerian Speech Therapist. Even though I have only been working here for a few days, I know I am going to love it at Open Doors. This week I have just been assisting in different therapy classes but next week I will be getting more involved and possibly taking a few of my own classes towards the end of next week. I have also been shown how to assess a child and have already done this with a new pupil who started at the school the same day as me J. The methods we are using involve a lot of the things that I learnt on my course. I think I might actually be appreciating my Linguistics degree. I never thought I would say that! I am definitely going to learn loads here!

There has been a slight change of plan. I went to a City Ministries meeting (the street kid’s ministry that run all the Care Centres). They were saying that there is not enough help at EMS, a school for Nigerian Missionary kids, which is also under their ministry. So, I have volunteered myself to work there a couple of afternoons a week, to do some musical stuff with the kids and minister to them through bible study and generally spend some time with them. This is instead of Gyero, but I will still visit there when I get a chance to. There are currently lots of volunteers at Gyero. I need to go where I am needed and where God can use me.

Prayer points:

• Please pray that I will get settled into a church here


• The Nigerian way of disciplining children is a lot different to home. This is something I know I am going to struggle with and I have already witnessed it. When I see a child being hit, or worse, I am not allowed to say anything. Please pray that God will help me during these times.

The Internet doesn’t always work here so I am not sure how often I will get to update my blog, but I will try. Just keep checking! Thanks.

Lynsey

In Nigeria at last

Well my Visa finally arrived last week and after a very bumpy flight I arrived in Nigeria yesterday (30th) at around 4:30am. We then travelled by bus to Jos, the City I will be working in.

This week is a public holiday and today was Independance day, so I am not doing a lot yet but I begin work at Open Doors Special Needs School on Monday, so I am really looking forward to that. In the meantime, I am just getting to know the girls I am living with. There are 6 girls in our house altogether - 3 from Canada, 1 from England and another girl from Northern Ireland! They are all really nice and so far we are all getting along well.

A lot of people have been asking about the food here, well so far I am being looked after really well. Last night we went to a Restaurant down the road from our compound. We were able to have Pizza and chips, which was actually quite nice and tonight I was out for dinner at a Missionaries house. I can assure you it will not always be like this! Last night was really to welcome me here.

Tomorrow I will be going to a meeting for the Ministry I am working with out here and on Saturday I am going to visit the Care Centre I worked in last summer. I am looking forward to seeing all the boys again.

It is definately great to be back in this amazing country! Thanks for all the prayers about my Visa and thanks for checking out my blog. I will write again soon.

Yours in Christ,


Lynsey

Visa

Thanks to everyone who has been praying for the whole Visa situation. I was told that it should be arriving in a few days time and that I will hopefully be leaving for Nigeria on the 29th September. Please pray that this happens!