Thanks be to God

A few people have asked me if I’ve experienced much culture shock since my arrival here in Nigeria. As I’m pretty laid back and seem to take things in stride, my answer to them has been “No.” Yesterday, however, I experienced culture shock—though not in the way you might expect. On our way back from a short traveling excursion (which I will detail later), we stopped at a big mall called Shoprite.  Walking into a mall that was enormous, clean, stocked, lacked odor, was absent of people staring and shouting “Oyibo!” was incredible. It was very nice and very western. The choice of foods to buy in the big grocery store was literally overwhelming to me. The really weird thing was that it seemed to be normal for everyone else walking the aisles.  Of course, three months ago, if I had walked through such a place, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought.  I just couldn’t figure out, given how I was feeling, how these shoppers could consider this mall “normal” AND the radically different world just outside “normal.” I’m still baffled. 

I’m afraid it’s been far too long since I’ve written a blog post and several goings-on of the past couple weeks may have escaped me. But I’ll give it a shot.

The last two weeks have been a huge gift from God.  The previous week, I had struggled quite a bit with the seemingly increasing monotony of life here and lack of meaningful interactions with people.  After discerning these struggles, I began praying every morning that God would grant me a real love for my students and co-workers, a joy in my teaching, and a passion for the mission that God has for me here.  God has been so gracious in granting these desires of my heart.  He has granted me so much joy that I can remain genuinely enthusiastic with my students throughout the day, that I can actually enjoy the moments that caused frustration before, that I feel so much more settled and at peace with the work that God has placed before me.  Praise the Lord.

Last week, I had several conversations with people about the different special needs of a few students in the preschool. There’s a child diagnosed with mild autism, a child with speech difficulties diagnosed as blockage in the ear canal, and a child with undiagnosed disabilities which to me resemble some sort of moderate autism.  Now, obviously these kids don’t have access to special services or accommodations, but the teachers definitely want to see them succeed.  Because of my minimal background knowledge, I was asked to observe the latter child to see what I thought could be done. Such observations and conversations really made me wish I was much more knowledgeable and capable of meeting these needs. They have again stirred my felt need to get further education in some area of disability service.  

I was given another unbelievable gift last week – a visit to a LEGIT coffee shop. Now in order to understand my excitement here, you have to realize that I’ve been primarily subject to Nescafe instant coffee with Peak powdered milk these past months—a drink which has fallen off the backside of the spectrum which contains a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte. You also need to understand that this little coffee shop had real, creamy and delicious cheesecake with blueberry topping—a delicacy that I dared not dream of before in Nigeria. I nearly started crying as I sat back in comfort with a Cappuccino in my hand a delightful dessert before me. “Praise His name, Hallelujah, ha ha ha.” 

This weekend has been a five day holiday due to midterm break here at ACA, thus affording us the opportunity to escape the compound for a couple days. Several of us jumped on the opportunity real quick. Katie, Gretchen and I, accompanied by Leah and Hadassah, as well as three lovely Nigerian ladies – Ethel, Blessing, and Goodness—made our way to Lagos (3-4 hrs. away) to spend a couple days at the beach. We stayed at a small resort called Hermitage. 

Though the hotel wasn’t the nicest thing ever, the private beach was SPECTACULAR. I’d never experienced such awesome waves—though the alarming number of jellyfish was a bit perplexing. We so enjoyed viewing the power of God manifested in the night sky filled with more stars than you could count, the raging ocean filled with bright sparks from the jellyfish, the beautiful crescent moon, and the dim lights from the nearby city reflecting into the water.  Sitting on the beach Friday night with a guitar, singing praises to the Creator of this beauty was an awesome and refreshing experience.  In the morning, we rose at six in the morning to view the sun rising over the water and the fisherman beginning to maneuver the waves in their small boats. We attempted to get a ride out into the ocean on one such boat but failed on account of the outrageous price that the Fisherman wanted to charge we seemingly rich and dumb Americans. Not this time buddy.  Anyhow, the beach trip was a wonderful and needed break from work and compound life.

Typical view while driving down the expressway.

The common roadside vendors, walking between, and causing congestion.

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And now onto that which is exciting me most at this very moment. I just came back from a brief planning meeting that has gotten my head reeling with excitement and anticipation. About a month ago, I mentioned to a couple people the idea of having a Luke 14 kind of dinner party here in the compound (following Jesus’ command to invite the poor, the crippled, the blind when you have a feast).  Eventually I talked to most folks in the compound about it and found that most were enthused about the prospect. So, we gathered today to seriously plan it out. It’s going to be awesome. We’re going to invite 60 or so folks nearby that an acquaintance of Karen’s ministers to every two weeks. The group is composed of children that are suffering from chronic pain and life threatening ailments (AIDS, tumors, etc.) along with their mothers.  These folks are very needy, in a lot of pain, and most are Muslim.  So, we’re gonna invite them in to our compound on November 20^th, feed them a delicious Nigerian feast, entertain them with music, games, horse rides, blow-up games, and crafts, and then send them away knowing that Jesus loves them.  I’m pumped out of my mind. How awesome to be able to serve Christ in such a real way—He who claims “Whatever you have done for the least of these, brothers of mine, you have done it unto me.”  If you would join me in prayer as we begin preparations for this “Celebration Feast,” I would so much appreciate it. I’ll definitely keep you updated as the event draws near.