The Grace Gardens ministry

Grace Gardens is a safe house for vulnerable women. Its where I spend time a few days a week, teaching a couple of the girls how to play the guitar, singing with the women, teaching worship songs, helping some girls learn how to read, generally spending time with these young women and sometimes even baking cinnamon rolls and muffins :-)

On a Wednesday and Friday I go on outreach into the Brothels in Jos, with a small team of both ex-pats and Nigerians .

Check out this video to see some pictures and video footage to give you a clearer idea of what this ministry is all about:

The Grace Gardens ministry - awareness video - video

Laminin

Today, one of the teachers at Open Doors showed me his profile picture on Facebook. To me, it looked like a cross. He asked me to look a little closer.... It looked like something scientific. It was actually a picture of Laminin, a major molecule of the human body. The shape of this molecule is a perfectly formed cross! How amazing is that!?

Paul writes in Colossians 1: 16 & 17 - "For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together."

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together! These molecules are what holds one cell of our bodies to the next cell. Without Laminins, we would literally fall apart!

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

Sunday's

Imagine waking up on a Sunday morning and the first thing you have to do is to pray that no church will be attacked and pray that God will watch over you as you worship Him in church that morning.

For everyone in Nigeria, especially in the North, this is reality – church has become one of the most unsafe places to go. Who knows when and where a church will next be bombed? Only God knows.

Even though there is fear of this happening and it’s always in the back of our minds, churches are still full every Sunday. The church I attend doesn’t even have enough seating for everyone, even though they already have 3 services. The church is very much alive!

As I drive to church on a Sunday morning, I pass many security checkpoints on the way. Many army and police officers patrol the streets each Sunday. Some of them are born again Christians who have to miss the services at their own churches in order to protect their fellow Christian brothers and sisters. Pray for the military as they serve God and His church in this way. A huge amount of responsibility falls on their shoulders.

No car is allowed anywhere near church buildings. We have to park far away and walk. Each church has members of the Boys’ Brigade on security by the church gates. They use a security scanner on each person before they go through the gates (This will sound crazy to people back home but it’s sadly become so necessary here). A lot of responsibility also falls on their shoulders. Many have already lost their lives in service.  They are on the front line.

It’s easy to be gripped with so much fear that we stay at home, and that would be a much safer option. After the bombing of the COCIN Headquarters church in March, I started ‘church hopping’ for a while, trying to find a ‘safer’, more secure place to worship, but I never settled in another church.  God led me to read Deuteronomy 31:6 which says; ‘Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” This verse hasn’t just come up once, it just seems to keep appearing, either by reading it, or hearing someone say it. God is reminding me that He is in control and that He goes before us. God is so much bigger than any terrorist group. We can’t stop going to church because of ‘them’.

Last weekend as I was anxiously praying about this whole situation, part of the chorus of ‘Our God’ by Chris Tomlin came into my head, bearing in mind, I haven’t heard this song in a long time! The words of the chorus are:

“And if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us, and if our God is with us, then what can stand against?”

Though it’s always at the back of my mind, I now feel a little more at peace about going to church and truly believe that the same God that protected Daniel in the lion’s Den when he refused to change his habits of worship, is the same God that will be protecting me and the many others that are continuing to go to church each Sunday, but we need to believe it, we need to trust Him!

Day to day

Mon: -

• Open Doors in the morning, working with children in Speech Therapy
• Aerobics class in the afternoon :-)

Tues: -

• Usually off in the morning, sometimes at Open Doors
• Gyero in the afternoon to do language therapy with Emmanuel (Emma)
  

Wed: -

• Outreach into the Brothels in the morning with the Grace Gardens team (I only started to go on outreach last week)
• Taking a kids choir in the afternoon
• Aerobics in the afternoon! (when Im feeling motivated!)
  

Thurs: -

• Open Doors in the morning
• Teaching English at the City Ministries Widows ministry in the afternoon.
• Every first Thursday of the month we have a CM meeting in the afternoon
  

Fri: -

• Working from home in the morning, or doing whatever needs done
• Bible study with short-termers in the afternoon (when we have short-termers around)
• Freitheim Friday! (Dinner at the house of an American family. Peter is in charge of City Ministries and the family kindly have everyone for dinner on Friday to thank us for our work during the week)
  

Sat: -

• It varies, but mostly relaxing or doing something fun.
• Once a month we have a Mission Africa prayer meeting on a Saturday morning
  

Sun: -

• Church in the morning
• Chilling in the afternoon. (Occasionally I go to Kagoro to visit the kids at the Gidan Bege there and spend some time with them, singing and giving guitar lessons.)

In Africa, you shouldn't really have a schedule because you are not likely to stick to it, you just take life as it comes, so some weeks are a bit different.

Mum and dads visit

Since my mum and dad told me they were going to come and visit, I had been anticipating their arrival for months and was so excited that I had their schedule organised for quite a while!

Mum at Gyero Care Centre

Having my parents visit was such a blessing and it really encouraged me to see their enthusiasm and their willingness to get involved. They were so free with everyone here and they didnt mind me keeping them so busy, they were eager to see everything and everyone!



Check out the Kaftan - Not sure he will be wearing this to Carnmoney!

It is already making a huge difference. Now when I talk about the different ministries, places, people, they have a greater understanding and know exactly what I am talking about. It also helps my mum and dad pray more effectively for all the places and people because they can picture it.


Mum and I at Gidan Bege, Kagoro, Kaduna State




Dad made a new friend at Open Doors :)

Thank you mum and dad for your sacrifice to come the whole way over to Nigeria! Thank you for trusting God and not being afraid to come here. Thank you for all you did and all that you are now doing to help ministries and people out here. Love you both lots and lots!

A white Christmas

If someone says "2 days!" to you in Nigeria, it means that they haven't seen you in quite a while, I'm so sorry its been so long since i last blogged!

I will be blogging a few posts to get you all up-to-date. Let me tell you about Christmas first:

So, back home we dream of a white Christmas, with snow flakes falling on the ground. Myself and a couple of friends - one from England and the other from America gave a whole village a white Christmas and it lasted for 1 whole week! - How? I hear you ask?...By us spending Christmas in their village! ;-)

Japheth, a very special friend, kindly invited the 3 of us to spend Christmas with his family. His village is called Kamwai, and it's in an area called Bokkos, in Plateau State.

Kamwai is beautiful! Its set in the valleys and its surroundings are stunning. Its such a peaceful part of the country!

We had such a special time in the village - We went on an adventure through the bush, made it across what the locals call "the monkey bridge" (put together with logs, reeds and planks of wood) It was quite the experience, but a great feeling when we made it to the other side! We went to a powerful Christmas Eve and Christmas day service in the village church, which consisted of a lot of dancing, especially during the offering! On Christmas day we ate a lot and then we did some exercise afterwards - TRIBAL DANCING! :-) This is what I had been looking forward to for weeks! We danced our way to the Chief of the villages house with the whole village community! We danced for around 2 hours! This was the most energetic Christmas day I have ever had! The Kakas (elderly women) managed to dance for a lot longer than that! We had a lot of fun dancing and probably could have kept going had it not been for the dust we were all inhaling, which was due to dust been kicked off the ground as so many were dancing. We had a true African Christmas. I LOVED my time there! I hope to be spending Easter in Kamwai!