Some Things Accomplished With the Team

Hi Everyone,

"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up." Eccle. 4:9-10

All last week we had a work team from the states for 7 days and we all were busy doing ministry here and there. These next two or three blogs will show some of the things that were accomplished when they were here. One of the things we did was we all went to the village doctor "bearing gifts" and prayed for each of the patients. There were nine patients and we brought each patient a live chicken, some oil and a bag of rice. Each patient's family usually stays with him/her and does their cooking etc., and usually finances are very low for the village patients, so even this small gift of food was greatly appreciated and received. The picture above right is of a man with a broken leg and that is his wife. They never had their picture taken before, so Crist is going to get a 3x5 picture for each of the patients of the pictures that were taken.
The two men in the picture (above left) are a father and son. The father two days before had been admitted because of an achoba accident and he had a broken leg and the next day his almost adult son was coming to visit his father, when the achoba he was on also had an accident and he broke his leg so he was admitted into the same room with his dad. I wish the wife/mother was in the picture. This family was Christian and she was just praising the Lord that her husband and son were both going to be okay. I went to give this woman a big hug and she just clung to me and the two of us just stood there hugging, feeling God's presence in a mighty way. It was a special moment for me.

The team broke into groups of two and went into the rooms, giving the gift of food and then praying for each patient. Within a minute or so of our arrival at the compound, probably twenty or so children of all ages were there - so we took pictures with the children and played with them for a while before leaving. The man to the left has been there for almost a month and two or so weeks ago, he asked Crist if there was any way we could get him reading glasses. He loves to read his Bible and other books, but his eyesight was poor. I remembered that I had brought with me a pair of reading glasses from Wal-Mart with a fairly strong lens and I wasn't using them so we brought them a week or so ago for him. When we arrived last week, he had the glasses on and he was reading and he had the biggest smile on his face. How gracious of the Lord to remind us of those glasses. It was a wonderful afternoon and I think the entire team was blessed by their time with the patients. For some, it was out of their comfort zone, to be sure - but the joy they received will only strengthen their walks of faith.

One other day, we went to Gidan Bege, which is a ministry that helps widows by teaching them to sew. People can go there and pick out fabric and have a garment made or buy items that are already made (pot holders, purses, table runners, etc.). Several in the team were measured and had outfits made which were picked up four days later. We like to support this ministry and be an encouragement to the women. The very first picture up above shows four women, but in fact, there are probably 20 sewing machines and women working there each day. It's a fun place to visit as the women are talking and laughing together as they work.

Next time I'll share some more of what we did last week.

In-joy,

Eileen and Crist