Feeding the 5000 (Or What Seemed Like 5000)

Hi Everyone,

Talking and sharing about the Education Center's Dedication/Celebration is going to take several blogs. What a day we had!!! We wanted a special day for all the children of the village so we planned an almost "carnival" type atmosphere for the day. It was "guesstamated" that about 65% of the entire village turned up for the dedication. The ten children above were the children picked to be our first students for the Education Center's tutoring program. They were so proud and excited to be the center's "first". In the picture above, Theresa, our B2B staff member will be the lead teacher and Esther is the Nigerian woman on the left back row in the picture. Remember that wedding Crist and I went to a couple of months ago? Well, Esther was the bride and now lives in the village and has a degree in education. She will be teaching the second class. There are two classrooms at the center.

We cooked for 200 (having no real idea how many would show up). We had rice joloff (rice, tomatoes, diced up green beans, carrots and peas) and some beef chunks that were cooked at the ministry center and transported to the celebration. As we saw the crowds beginning to arrive we began praying for the Lord to multiply the food and He did. We were able to serve all the children (344 children) which was our main concern. As we realized we couldn't feed the entire crowd, we limited it to just the kids. The Chairman of the village came to help cut the ribbons for the center and gave a very heartfelt and gracious speech to all. Theresa then introduced the ten students and a few more people gave little speeches (with an interpreter) and then the ribbons were cut and the celebrations began!!

I'll share more on the next blog about some of the things we had going that day. The picture below is of two of our work team members that came here from Wyoming. They are Jeremiah and Jo Jo and they were married three months ago but waited for their honeymoon. They wanted it to be serving with B2B in Nigeria. What a great couple they are and we're so excited they wanted to start their life together with all of us here at B2B. God bless you both!!!

Chat with you all soon!

In-joy,

Eileen and Crist