Easter in Nigeria

The Easter weekend is a full four days with Friday and Monday as national holidays. What a time of celebration! We went with Lucy and Moses (and Prince, of course, or we can't go anywhere!) to Lucy's and Moses' mass, area-wide church meetings in the "Civic Center" on Friday evening. I was so discouraged because I had thought my Nigerian English comprehension had improved but I only understood about half of what the pastor said. It was encouraging, in a strange sort of way, to learn that Lucy and the others had a difficult time, too. The sound system wasn't too good. This is soooooooooo often the case. During the closing hymn, "It Is Well with My Soul," the power went off and things actually sounded better. Everyone kept singing acapella, with drum beats and trumpets keeping us together. Cell phones came out of pockets everywhere and the little flashlight features came on -- voila! a candlelight service!

In their denomination, women must wear headcoverings, so, I used a scarf that Joey had brought me from a missions trip to Cambodia and our gang called me an A-free-kan woe-man. Jim wants me to wear it more often -- no way, too hot!! Anyway, the service was ok but not something we really want to repeat.

So, Easter morning, we went to a different church, yet again. Nope, we knew very soon that this would not be a repeater for us, either. Our visiting weekends are about done and then we'll settle in, soon, somewhere. But it is exciting to see what God is doing around the area. We see many patterns and rituals that make us question, once again, our own patterns and rituals. No matter the denomination, tongues speaking occurs -- some very publicly, some very privately. No matter the denomination, dancing happens, not the typical "white folk" swaying, I mean all out, serious dancing. So, I'm slowly starting to move around more. At home I feel very free to dance that way, but it just doesn't seem right seeing an old white lady dancing like these limber Nigerian gals. Jim just stands and closes his eyes in worship and never sees that others are dancing. It's definitely not his style and that's a-ok.

Other patterns we see everywhere are: the leader shouts "In Jesus' name" and the folks respond "Amen!" and this continues, back and forth, a lot. When the leader shouts "Praise the Lord" the group responds with "Hallelujah" and that seems to usually occur when there's a pause in the speaker's thoughts or a pause as they wait for a musician or some such thing. During prayer time, everyone prays out loud -- it's very powerful to be a part of. Some of the churches guide us in our topic of prayer -- praying for our repentance, praying for our family, praying for the church, praying for the nation, ...

Offering is more of an act of worship in many of the churches here -- more so than is often the case in the U.S. Each one lifts his/her envelope with the tithe/offering and prays aloud before the ushers pass the bags. Sometimes people file up to the front with it. Sometimes there is more than one offering -- a bit offensive for us foreigners, that some of the places are allllllllllllways asking for money. That is probably our greatest struggle. We are tired of being treated with special honor because of our white skin -- which is spelled m-o-n-e-y. Every church wants us to sit in the front, meet with the pastor, give them our address and phone number, etc. Prince, who is the group's skeptic, thinks it's all about money. Lucy and I think that often it is just a genuine "welcome" and heartfelt appreciation. (with the full awareness that if we settle in, we'll probably be good for some sizable, by Nigerian standards, gifts!!)

We remain a bit concerned because some of the pastors are millionaires and we don't want our money going into their pockets. Many are honest millionaires in that they don't take a large salary from the church but they have many in the congregations who lavish them with gifts. For instance, if a pastor has prayed over a man's wife for healing and the woman is healed, then that man will bring baskets of food, financial gifts, etc., in appreciation. Prince knows of pastors who have received MANY brand new cars as gifts and, always the skeptic, he thinks the giver is doing it out of more than gratitude -- it's gratitude mixed with trying to buy more blessings from God/this pastor. Because the background of most of these people includes signs and wonders from evil spirits, cults, etc., they carry a bit of that mindset of "keep the gods happy" into their Christianity. Yes, it's a bit confusing. And then throw into the mix the poverty and desire to receive material blessings -- well, it's ripe for the "buying off God" philosophies!!

So, we still see this polarization of materialism versus legalism. Of course, the churches that grow the fastest have the materialistic emphasis while the holiness churches struggle with low numbers and are a bit over-the-top in their piety! Here's an example of the phenomen that might help you see what I mean -- one week, a church we were in announced that the next Sunday was "key holder" Sunday. When "key holder" Sunday rolled around, the church was PACKED and the energy was high. The music was frenetic, to say the least. By the time the speaker got up, the people were psyched! Cut to the end of the service -- the ushers passed out a key holder to each person. Some folks came to multiple services to get more key holders, a problem the pastor addressed in his message. Then, for about 20 minutes, everyone was guided through prayers that they shouted and begged of God, kneeling, weeping, etc. -- they were asking God to give them a key for their key holder by the end of this year, specifically, a key to a new house, apartment, or car. They left believing that God would give them a key, indeed.

This lead to quite the discussion, later, with Prince and Lucy. P and L both said that God gives us keys by giving us jobs and the strength to work. Prince said, "I've never seen a house fall down from heaven, have you, Lucy?" So, we talked through the many ways that God does, indeed, work miracles in providing gifts to us through others -- prompting someone to bring something to us, guiding someone to send money in the mail, helping someone return borrowed money, etc. Anyway, all of these experiences cause us to re-think our theology, that's for sure!!

Lastly, I'll tell you about last night. What a deal! A concert at a church that included -- rappers, dancers, children's groups, contemporary soloists that were fantastic, traditional warbling-voiced soloists, instrumentals, and ... even a choir singing excerpts from Handel!! (I fought back the tears!) The strange, but fun, feature was a comedian reminiscent of Mark Lowery. He mocked the traditions of these churches, like "God is telling me that He has a message for someone sitting in a white chair" -- there are 1500 white chairs and nothing else in the whole place. Or " some of you young men have pains in your stomach, put your hand over your stomach, now remove it, is the pain still there? God is telling you ... (giant pause) ... you are hungry -- eat something!" The people were roaring with laughter and hooting and hollering. Interesting!

Prince about has a Chris Tomlin CD memorized, we listen to it in the car so much. He loves "Your Grace is Enough" -- that's way cool!

Thus endeth the post-Easter ramblings!
Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!

Sights on the streets

The streets weren't as packed as usual due to the holiday weekend. So we could travel more steadily, more easily getting photos. But realize, this is about 1/10 of the typical amount of vehicles and pedestrians.












Look closely -- that's a wheelbarrow being pulled by an okada (motorcycle). We've also seen passengers carrying long planks, metal beams, dead goats, ...






OK, this one isn't actually on the streets. We were having a little fun on Prince's motorcycle -- okada. Jim's company won't allow us on such things on the streets so we could only ride in the camp. It was still fun!

Lucy's Day

Lucy Sunday Umoren;
local name: Ndifreke, meaning "I shall never forget" (ND for short!)

Thursday was Lucy's birthday. She's now 26. It turned out to be a spendid day for her in oh-so many ways. Early in the morning her fiance arrived at her maid's quarters. Tuesday, he had been a total jerk (details, I will leave to your imagination) and she had broken up with him. After kneeling in front of her for four hours, weeping and begging for mercy, she forgave him. He truly is a sweetheart as he requested to speak with Jim and me to beg our forgiveness as well -- for hurting Lucy. So her day began much better than I had thought it might.

I let her have the TV on all day (something I can't stand) and she could watch whatever she wanted as she worked. OK, a whole day of Nigerian soaps is a bit much so I don't thinkI'll be making that offer again anytime soon! I had Lucy's wrapped gifts out for her to see all day. She kept squeezing the packaging and giggling! She said the wrapping was so beautiful that it didn't matter if the box just had a brick inside, it still made her soooooooo happy!

We added some people to the dinner plans so I added beef filet to the prawns and we were off and running with dinner preparations. I'd never used a rice cooker before but the facilities office delivered one to me a week ago (I hadn't requested it and am still waiting for what I did request but they said they thought I'd like this) so I'm now hooked on cooking rice in a rice cooker -- no burning, always done to perfection, and it stays warm for hours without getting sticky. I'm sure some of you are familiar with one. I told an Indonesian friend that I was afraid to try it and she just laughed and said that she's afraid to cook rice on the stove but that it's impossible to fail with a rice cooker. Indeed!

Everyone tried and most ate a lot of the guacamole and pita bread "chips." I told them that the guac was Nigerian food. "Huh?" they questioned. Well, all of the ingredients came from Nigeria, so .... They didn't buy that argument.

I wouldn't let Lucy help with anything -- I told her she was my Madame for a day. She kept giggling and offering to help. When Jim thanked God for the food, he prayed especially for Lucy. That meant a lot to her. Everyone actually loved the dinner and Prince said, "now, THIS is food, Momma!" Carrot sticks, not something they'd seen before, were a great hit and disappeared quickly. And Prince and Moses loved the baguettes with mustard -- a French delight. During dinner we were playing Nigerian music -- until Jim just couldn't handle the volume anymore. Everyone laughed when "Master" turned it off.

After dinner, I had a "special" hat for Lucy -- a clown birthday hat (something she never had as a child). So, as she moved to the "sitting room," we would say living room, I gave noise makers and balloons to her friends -- 'sounded like the last ten seconds of a tied basketball game around this place!! Lucy was so appreciative of her gifts -- what fun.

Finally, I brought out shortbread (I had found out that she reaaaallly likes it and didn't know you could bake it yourself) with one candle that sang "happy birthday to you!" Believe it or not, she refused to blow it out because of the melody still playing so we listened to that silly little music box for 15 - 20 minutes until the flame burned out and the battery died. She danced next to it the entire time. And when she left for the night, she asked if she could please keep the little stump that remained. Amazing!!

Before we wrapped up, we had Lucy teach us some Christian songs in her dialect -- Ekwiabo. What fun! And then Moses prayed over Lucy and the evening was complete! She's still floating with the love she felt on Thursday!!

Around town and at home

These pictures are taken from inside the "golf course/country club" looking out. Now, this course was rather feable, but it's amazing how great it was to just walk around in something so open. The "members only" restrooms weren't fit for anyone, member or not. The greens weren't very and the grass needed weeding something fierce. Yet, with all of those negatives, these folks were staring inside with such curiosity and wonder. It made us feel amazingly grateful.









A typical scene along the roadside in the "country."








Jim is flying into a village near the ocean via some sort of small amphibious (is that the word?) plane tomorrow morning. I'm sure it will prove to be quite an adventure!

I got these three pictures loaded on in just one hour -- that's progress! Of course, I'd tried three other times earlier today.

Our search for a church where we truly want to plant our roots and get involved is proving to be disappointing. Sunday, we tried to get to two churches. We missed one completely and completely wished we'd missed the other one. I realize that sounds a bit harsh, but ... legalistic is not a strong enough word to describe this one. Women not only wear head coverings, they can't wear jewelry or makeup, and they must have their ankles and wrists covered (in addition to everything else.) I felt like a true infidel!!

Materialism or legalism, that seems to be the options thus far. But this weekend we'll visit two other churches -- one is Lucy's church. Actually, we'll be at the Civic Center with all of the parishes in her denomination in this region on Friday evening. And then on Sunday we're going to a church that Prince has been confident we'd like all along. He warned us of his concerns about the church that disappointed us so much. I told him that next time we'd listen to him. But we want to be careful not to be too critical. Certainly, the people in each of these churches are dear. But we'll be here a while and so we need to find something we can fully support.

Prince and Lucy and I went to the river beach yesterday. We were out because we'd gone to the fruits market and as we were driving (better stated -- sitting in traffic) I said something about the river. Lucy seemed so interested in going there that Prince turned around and we headed to a beach. Lucy's lived here 6 years and had not been to a river -- and the place is filled with rivers. She was utterly delighted with the canoes and fishermen -- hadn't seen anything like it since she was 5 years old. As Prince later told me, Lucy is such a country girl that she can't imagine just heading out and seeing something. The only parts of the city she's seen is what she can trek to and even that is limited to only the places she has to go. She's never seen the ocean and it's about 45 minutes in crazy traffic. She's never been on a plane, of course. She's never seen a salt and pepper shaker before ours'.

Lucy's birthday is Thursday and I'm fixing her a birthday dinner -- guacamole with pita bread (we mix our trans-continental cuisine, here, out of necessity!), prawns, rice (cooked in our new rice cooker), veggie salad, and shortbread with pineapple and pawpaw slushies. Prince will join us, too. We've got a few little gifts and some fun birthday hats, a birthday banner, and a candle that sings "Happy Birthday!" I'm tempted to do more for her but she's never had a dinner, a party, ... nothing. So, I don't want to overdo it! We'll play this great Nigerian game that we bought -- Lucy says she grew up playing it in the dirt under a tree.

Tomorrow, Prince and I are going to get started on writing his stories. We'll start with what the elders told him about when the first white missionaries came to his village. He warned me that it's a bloody story but he wants to start there. This guy is such a great story-teller. He used to drive a bus/van for the engineers headed out to the rigs. So, he hung around with other drivers waiting for their next orders. And during those times, he did what he does so well -- he entertained them with stories. Those drivers are begging him to come back so I told him he'd better plan on visiting them once a week.
Here's the story teller in action! Notice Jim's trousered knee, below -- he's getting a relaxing break from his rigorous work!
Don't forget that you can always double click on any photo you'd like to enlarge for a better view!! Enjoy!

Images and imaginations

It's actually Saturday, the 8th, but because I got one photo loaded on Thursday, it shows that date. Internet difficulties and lack of time require that I leave these as is. If you want to see the pictures and there are only boxes, click the box and the picture should appear. I'll try to fix it when I have another two hours!! The above pics are from around the camp. The igret bird is high up in a palm tree. They are beautiful birds who especially love to hang around when the grass is freshly cut. These images took about two hours to load so I'll leave the rest to your imagination as I fill you in on some stories -- ever so quickly, of course!

Briefly, Prince's father's memorial service -- 2 days of feasting at his father's house. Prince was responsible for all of the food, etc. He rented 300 plastic chairs. His siblings helped with expenses, fortunately. At the end of it all, he still owed the village elders a goat in honor of his father. He didn't have the money and promised them he would deliver the goat as soon as possible. They were not happy but accepted his promise. Well, a man unknown to Prince arrived at the house and apologized to Prince that he couldn't get to the village earlier. He explained that he loved and respected Prince's father and that he wanted to present a gift -- yep, over near the road was a huge goat. So, the elders danced for joy that the duty had been fulfilled and all debts were settled. Before Prince left the village on Tuesday, the elders told him that if he marries and returns to the village to live in the next 5 years, they want to confer on him a chieftancy title. This is quite an honor. Already Prince is regarded as a source of wisdom for the villagers. He has sat with the elders on and off for years and has learned the entire history of the village. And he has great discernment. He says that when the first man arrived at his home to ask Prince for advice, Prince was only 17.

Ubadire Timothy Nwaogwugwu -- that's Prince's name. His father always called him "Prince!"
So, this guy has amazing stories -- if he hadn't learned, first hand, the fear of God if he lies, I'd think he was "shining us on" -- an expression I've told him about. But, we believe he's sincere and just a very stubborn adventurer -- including surviving in a small boat on the open seas for 2 weeks, without food and water for a few days. He says that they looked like dead men when they arrived on the shores of Equatorial Guinea. They frightened the local children away!

So, anyway, starting on Monday, I'm going to sit at my laptop and type while he talks. I told him we've got at least two books, here -- one about his life thus far and one about his village history. Lucy's had a hard time getting work done this week because Prince is such a fascinating story-teller!! Anyway, thanks, Linda for the idea. I'll get a draft finished and then start looking for a publisher, I think. I showed Prince a book about an American woman living in Lagos in the 60s and told him that people love this kind of stuff. None of the village history is recorded but it's all logged in Prince's brain!

The Mango Tree Fellowship (my name for the Friday gathering of workers for worship and teaching from noon to one) -- about 25 guys this time. One gal finally joined us, too. I don't know why more of the maids don't join us -- I couldn't even get Lucy to go. She likes to go back to her quarters during lunch break. Most of the maids live on the camp and most of the men live off of the camp -- maybe that's the difference -- the guys don't have anything else to do during lunch. Anyway, it was a great time. The preaching was the best I've heard in Nigeria. The teacher was the foreman of all of the workers. We are going to visit his church this Sunday. So much of the emphasis, here, is on gaining material wealth. It has disturbed us a bit -- 'seems like a "come to Jesus and he will make you a Big Man!" approach. So, it was refreshing to hear Freedom, the teacher, say "don't chase after miracles, chase after righteousness!! God is a God of miracles but, most importantly, He wants your whole heart!"

I had to have a straight talk with Christian yesterday. I'd been hearing reports that he lies and many of the residents won't buy produce from him. Well, it seems that he lied to me about his age. He says he didn't know is age -- which is entirely possible in the village, but he was born here in the city, so..... I'm skeptical. I told him that I can't work with someone who lies to me, that I didn't want to make a quick decision, that I needed to pray and think, but that I was very disturbed (a common word, here) and would not buy anything from him while I thought about it. (I don't need any ve-ge-tables, long "a," right now because we're eating out 4 days in a row due to a golf tournament in which we are guests -- they're recruiting future golfers and Jim's clubs are in the sea shipment.) He's very long-faced.

Speaking of the sea shipment. It's here in the port!! They are promising us that we'll have it in 3 weeks -- that's about 2 months earlier than typical so ... we'll see. But, in the meantime, they have Jim's passport. And mine is still in Abuja, awaiting a residency visa. So, we can't go anywhere fast. But we do have photocopies for emergency.

OK, gotta run! (Actually, strolling is the Nigerian way!) We're off to the golf tournament. Jim is working such long hours, this will be a welcome break!

Friendly Faces

I've got so many photos I'd love to share -- time only permits me to load a few at a time.
Here's Jim with Prince and our car -- all three are certainly good lookin', don't you think???





One of the resident girls.











Three drivers. Everyone poses whenever they see me walking about with my camera. I do think I'm going to have to take most floral photos on Sundays (when few workers are around) or I'll use up all of my ink and photo paper printing copies for all of the dear people who ask me to take their photo!!



Another child living on the camp.

Living

I'm finding it increasingly more difficult to find the balance between living in the midst of all of these stories and writing about the living! I don't know how the days pass so quickly but they certainly do. Updates:
1. Lucy is at about 80% health and steadily improving. She is amazingly grateful. Humbling, indeed.
2. Prince leaves this afternoon for his father's memorial service. Yesterday, Prince brought Jim back from meetings at about 2:00 p.m. Jim forgot that he was going to call me if he wasn't coming home for lunch. Well, of course this was the day that I got the best-ever head of leaf lettuce. It was fresh, crisp, and good-sized -- rare in these parts. Christian (the produce guy) was so proud of it! So, in celebration, I had fixed a huge salad for lunch -- shredded fresh ginger root and fresh lime juice was the dressing -- using what I have is a fun adventure! So, when Jim walked in with Prince (Jim was just going to say "hi" before he went back to his office) Jim saw the table set and the salad bowl filled and said, "big ogologo wahaala!" -- ogologo is a word for "tall man" and wahaala is "problem" -- I doubt they're ever put together in that way so Lucy and Prince burst into laughter. Anyway, Jim was full from his lunch meeting, Lucy was too sick to eat, and Prince had not eaten so I said, "Prince, please sit down and eat lunch with me! Lucy can eat a cracker." Prince took one look at the salad, turned to me with a funny smirk and asked "Is this food?" He certainly has had most of the ingredients before but never together and never without rice or gare -- they eat high carb, heavy food. Prince was a trooper and ate a plate-full of salad. But we had a lot of laughs over lunch. Like -- he said that if his mother had given him this food for breakfast when he was a boy he would have told his friends that he had not had breakfast! So, I explained that Nigerian men are not alone is this belief and that Jim used to call salads "chick food" but now he's well trained. More laughter. When Jim brought out Salad Cream, a sweeter version of Miracle Whip, Prince began to actually enjoy the salad!!
3. Names around here continue to amaze me! I went to a fellowship, yesterday, of Christian workers and the names included -- God's Time, Gospel, and Praise. But imagine this, an Indonesian man told us that he had been with another company guy and they'd met a Nigerian man and asked him his name. He said, "God knows," and the friend of the guy we were talking with kept saying things like -- "I'm glad God knows, but I don't know it. Please tell me what your name is!!" Reminded Jim and me of the "Who's on first?" routine! (His name IS God Knows.)
4. Our first Bible Study for couples started small. The night didn't work for some folks. So we'll try another night and see what happens. But we still had a great time of cross-cultural fellowship over our Bibles and in prayer. Listening to another person pray in a language I don't speak is, somehow, quite meaningful! God is amazing!
5. I attended a Friday fellowship yesterday. It's one hour of worship (our clapping hands are the only instruments), prayer, and a short teaching with Christian workers on the camp. I was told, "meet us under the mango tree." After figuring out which tree that would be, I got there late and was still early! Usually there are 15 - 20 people but this Friday the camp was abuzz with work because two new families arrive today. So it was about 7 black guys and one white woman. But I loved it! I almost wept just hearing these guys pray -- crying out to God with such gratitude for their health and their ability to work and then begging God for the salvation of others around them and for the rescue of this nation. They were so thrilled that I was there; I told them that I plan on being there every week that I'm here and that I will try to bring others with me. Jim can't attend, though he would love to, because he has meetings (which we now know include lunch!) on Fridays.
6. Last night at a party with residents I had a great visit with a French guy who's married to a Nigerian woman. They've been here 10 years and are soon to be transferred. He said that he's looking forward to living in another country but that he somehow feels, deep down, that he'll never find a place quite like this. We had a great visit about politics, the census, the upcoming election in 07, the future of the nation, etc. Totally intriguing!
7. After Prince gets back from the memorial services, I'll tell you more about the whole thing. It's really quite a lot of pressure on him as the first issue male -- paying for food for the feasts with the whole village, buying gifts for the village in honor of his father -- two days of music, dancing, and memories. Whew, it's gonna be a heavy time, I believe. Just thinking about Prince, makes me grin -- he's told me so many stories already -- like the way he was fascinated with cars at a young age. His father could tell. So, they had an old, cheap car and his father was afraid that Prince would try to drive it sometime. So, the dad put the only key on a chain around his neck to keep it safe. One time he handed the key to Prince to go to the car and retrieve something. Prince quickly grabbed the stuff, made an impression of the key in a damp bar of soap, and returned to the house. Then, he saved money for a verrrrrrrrry long time and paid a blacksmith to make a key. He waited until his father left one day to another village (without the car) and his mother had trekked to a farm to work. Yep, he successfully drove the car ... until a co-worker of his mother saw him, told his mom, ... big trouble from Momma! BUT his father had forgotten something, returned home, saw that the car was missing, reported it to the police, ... yep! Big wahaala! The punishment Prince received was equal to child abuse in the U.S. It definitely taught him something, but the wrong something. He learned that he could endure anything up to death. So, he took the car again about a month later, and then again, ... which lead to his career, beginning at the age of 17, as a driver. The money he spent supporting his father, mother, siblings, siblings' education, etc. caused his father to long-ago forgive him for his naughtiness!
I'll have more pictures posted by tomorrow, I hope.
I'm tellin' you, I love this place!

Always something!

We can be confident that there's always a new learning opportunity around here!
Here's a quick overview of recent events:
1. The Census was extended through Monday evening. Crazily disorganized -- the news changed regularly on what the schedule was going to be. For most people, the word-of-mouth system didn't work so well. Even in my small world, I'm aware of many people who didn't even get counted. So, the results are -- an inaccurate count, loss of wages, heavy loss of money for companies that had to sit on their jobs until today, frustrated people, but many happy folks who had a holiday and got to enjoy their families. Boy, was the traffic crazy today, though. Prince took me out to run errands and I do think the entire country was out running errands!!

2. First experience with malaria; Lucy got it. She'd been feeling sick on Saturday but I didn't know that because she got stuck off of the camp Friday night and couldn't get back due to the census. So, Monday morning she somehow got back though no movement was allowed. I could tell right away that she was not well. Eventually, I just let her go to her quarters and sleep. Today, she didn't show up for work and she couldn't phone me because she had no working phone. So, skipping the details -- I visited her this afternoon and she looked BAD! She said she'd had malaria once and this felt the same. Malaria kills -- always -- if it's not caught in time. Usually about a week after onset of symptoms its over. So, she said she was planning on trekking (that's walking a long distance) after dark (to avoid the heat of the day) to a clinic to get tested. She really doesn't like to ask for any help and she tries to maintain social boundaries.

Well, I threw those crazy notions out and called Prince. He came back on the camp, got our car, picked me up, picked up Lucy, took her to the clinic and stayed with her during the waiting for the results. I stayed in the car because I knew if they saw a white woman, they'd charge double! She tested positive so Prince then drove to a pharmacy where they talked with a nurse and got the right meds.

The toughest part for Lucy was that I made her sit in my kitchen when we got back while I cooked her something to eat so that she wouldn't get sick when she took the meds. Another maid is going to stay with her tonight. She's got to take the meds during the night and for the next 3 days and then all should be well. She had no money and no one to help her get anywhere. So, it's easy to see how millions die of malaria each year. They are afraid to spend the money on a test, or they simply don't have the money nor the access to a test. Simple solutions aren't so simple, here. So, I'm thanking God for Lucy and for His protection over her.

3. Prince is another amazing guy! I'm in awe of the survival skills of these folks! He's 30, the eldest son (the first issue), and has put 3 brothers through the university while he's been driving bus, taxi, and now driving for Jim's company. His father died a year ago, yesterday, and the memorial service is this weekend. Yes, it's one year after the person's death. I'll write more about that, later. Anyway, Prince would love to have had a university education or to have gone to the U.S. for work but nothing has worked out so far. He's lost a bundle of money twice, trying to help out family members. But he keeps saying that He knows God will provide for his needs and that maybe he'll even get some extra blessings! I love visiting with him about politics, Nigerian traditions, etc. He's very bright, as is Lucy, but they've just never had the opportunities we take for granted in the U.S.

'gotta stop for now. Jim's here and we're fixing our first local crab, tonight, for dinner. Also, the power just went out -- fortunately my laptop has a battery and the phone lines are not effected! But it does complicate the dinner prep. Oh, it's back on already!!

More photos

View of the front door from the patio entrance.

















It's hard to tell, but these are tall trees.

Feeble photo attempts

This has been an all-morning project, with many failed attempts at loading photos. So, I'll be happy with these two successes for now and will try again, later. Here are two house photos, for the many of you who emailed requests for such things! For a larger view, just click the photo.


This view is from our dining area, into the sitting room, with the patio just beyond.






This is a closer view of the patio.

Census Nonsense

So, since Nigeria had their first "legal" election that didn't end in a military coup, this is their first attempt at a census. It's political, of course. Some think it's a valid attempt to account for everyone so that in the next election in February, the voting rosters won't get so corrupted. Others think it's a way of actually manipulating the names and locations of people so that certain states can get more power. All speculation -- all based upon distrust from many years of instability. Anyway, what we know is that this census-taking is crazy!!

First, it was supposed to begin on Tuesday across the whole nation and last through Saturday. That meant a lot of lost revenue, etc. so they altered that plan on Sunday and announced that it would be regionally organized and that our area would have the census this Friday and Saturday. (Of course, most of the people don't get news because they have no TV and the lack the extra cash to purchase a paper so the news is announced the good-ole-way -- word of mouth.) So, plans have been changing around here all week. First, the word was -- no movement all week. Then it was -- no movement Friday and Saturday. Then, Jim got two opposing emails late last night that lead us to total bewilderment. So, this morning, Lucy (who is staying at the maid's quarters all week just to avoid confusion and getting stuck off-camp) said that the census began this morning -- hearing it from a worker who snuck down the streets early.

Indeed, no contractors or workers who live off the camp have arrived, today. So, the census has begun. What does that mean? Well, everyone has to stay in their residence until a census-taker has counted their heads, filled out papers, and marked their thumb with permanent ink. Then, they are free to move if they carry their papers with them. Most of the average Nigerians have no address. And you thought "turn left at the big oak tree just past Pete's red barn" was bad. In the cities it's more like clusters of families, maybe 20 groups, all living in one area that has no address -- shanties attached or leaning on each other. In the villages it's just huts under trees that are accessible by river or by foot paths. Certainly, these areas have never been mapped. (In fact, getting a detailed map of the cities is even impossible.)

So, I figure that the officials already have a number in mind. To be accurate they should probably say that Nigeria's population is 250 million, plus or minus one hundred million. In the mean time, people are without income for three days -- a serious thing when you eat what you earn each day.

And about pictures. Many of you have emailed requests for more photos. I spent 2 hours on it already this morning to no avail. With dial-up, very slow dial-up that is, the ability to load photos goes in spurts but you never know it will it's a good spurt until you try. So, I will try again. Thanks for your patience!

Good things

We continue to feel grateful for our experiences here in Nigeria. Jim is enjoying his work, though the pressure is very high. I love the flexibility he has -- home for lunch very often, home to work on things on his laptop in the evenings. Right now, we are both sitting in the patio, each on our laptops, working under the inspiration of the trees, flowers, and gurgling fountain that provide our backdrop. (OK, with the occasional squawking of birds that are like crows with a priest's white collar.)

We'll eat at the clubhouse, tonight -- sitting out by the pool. We can eat a huge meal, each, for about $8 to $10 U.S. dollars. Then Jim will go back to his office to finalize his presentation for a meeting with clients tomorrow.

Tomorrow, Jim will walk to work (about a leisurely 3 minute stroll) and then meet our driver later in the morning for the drive to the client's office. Yes, that's another good, actually fantabulous thing -- we got our car and driver, provided by the company. When Jim doesn't need him, Prince, our driver, is available to take me anywhere I need to go. First, about the car and driver, then about where he took me today: the car is a brand new -- still-had-the-plastic-on-the-seats Honda Civic that is a beautiful metalic bronze-like mix between gray and tan. What is that color called? See, my English is fading! And Prince is a very experienced driver who has worked for Jim's company a long time and speaks English, Pidgen English, Yoruban, and French (from years of living in Cameroon and another French-speaking African country). He's a great asset -- describing all of what we see as we drive and throwing in a lot of politics as well! For instance, he predicts (as we've heard from others) that Nigeria will become 3 nations sometime fairly soon -- the Hausa in the north, the Igbo in the east (remember Biafra?), and the Yorubans in the west. We shall see -- unity is not a word to describe anything we see here, even inside the camp when I think about it.

So, Prince took me, Lucy, and a friend from Brazil, Daniela, to the most local of all truly Nigerian markets -- Borokiri Market. The smells about knocked me out when we got out of the car to begin our adventure. I thought I was going to insult everyone staring at us by, right in front of them, vomiting on their trash piles. That's where the horrific smells were originating -- for the most part, at least. But I begged God to help me keep control and smiled, stopped inhaling, and moved forward. Next time we go there (and we will, for sure 'cuz we loved it!) I'm definitely taking my camera. This time I wanted my hands free for shopping.

We had already determined that we didn't want to buy any food items -- buying flour out of an open basket that hands have been in and birds have flown over, well, let's just say that I'm not turning any of that into a sheet of cookies! The fish were attracting flies more than people. The little snail-like seafood things were, well, stinky! OK, you get the point. No food was the best decision. So, we moved on to the area that had other products -- about a 20 minute stroll past vendors that were shouting "ogibo" (remember, the "g" is silent so it sounds like o-ee-bow) which means "white" or "white person." They shouted a whole lot of other things that we couldn't understand but Lucy assured us it was all nice! Sometimes they shouted out "African Woman" (but it's pronounced -- af-ree-kaan woa-maan) to Lucy. We were quite the oddity, Daniela and I, because this is not a typical shopping place for expats. In fact, we are the only 2 on the whole camp who would think of going to this market. We felt totally safe, which is the concern of the other women on the camp. We just, definitely, needed showers upon returning home and we definitely didn't drink anything -- even if it was in a bottle.

Anyway, this bargaining routine is getting to be fun! I got a clothes drying rack, one that I'd seen in the standard "super market" for 7500 naira. OK, drum role please -- I got it for 2000 naira. I'll admit it, Lucy was a huge help and Daniela needed one, too. So, after he got down to 2500 for one, I said that we needed two and we'd give him 4000 for both. When we started to walk away, he readily agreed! At another stand, I got 2 handmade baskets (woven from thin palm-tree strings) each for 150 naira. So much fun! 1 US dollar is exchanging for around 145 naira right now. Yep, that means a basket that is a large fruit basket size, handmade in the state just north of us, without flaws, for about a buck!

So, next time we go -- Daniela, Lucy, and I -- I'll take pictures. Lucy had such a blast -- even riding in the car was a total treat for her -- waving to workers as we drove out of the camp.

I'll write more about her, soon. I've learned so much about her difficult life. What a dear!

Before I close this out, a bit more news: I'm going to start teaching a children's Bible class and Jim and I will be starting a couples' Bible Study in the home of an Indonesian couple who are very sweet and so wanting to grow in their walk with Jesus.

So many good things, all from the Giver of all good things!

Sloggy Blog

The blog server has been having difficulties so if you are reading this, it's a good sign!!
I apologize for delays and will have a longer posting soon!

Of brooms and spiritual disciplines

Here are the tools of the trade for some of the men who are groundskeepers/gardeners. The brooms are charming -- made from dried grasses. Most come without the handles and then the worker just stoops over to sweep.

Here's Robert -- one of my favorite workers. He's very soft-spoken and shy. But when I address him each morning, he breaks into his charming grin!












These guys are amazing! They diligently do the same thing every day. The leaves fall from trees year-round so that means that every day they sweep the driveways -- same trees, just different leaves. The first time I expressed my dismay that they have to do the same thing over and over the response was, "But Madame, we know work is always here for us!" If they slack on their work even one day -- "big wahala!" (big problem!) How many years has Robert been sweeping the same roads, I wonder ...?

There's a spiritual lesson here, don't you think? While we're here on earth, we've got to apply the same diligence to our spiritual housecleaning! Same trees, different leaves!

Delight

Greetings from our patio! It's almost done. OK, actually, we have about 5 more things that they need to do -- one involves a major drip that's pooling up in the outer part of the patio. But, it feels like such great progress that I brought a rocker and side table out to have my quiet time here this morning. Wonderful! When Lucy arrived, she burst into laughter with "Madame cannot wait any more time!!" So, I was enjoying it so much that I brought the laptop out here, too. In Paris, we bought an extra long phone line so that I could be online out here. Marvelous!!!

And I'm listening to Chris Tomlin singing You Do All Things Well! Indeed, every perfect gift is from God. "You made it all. Said 'let there be.' And there was." Those lines and the lines from Indescribable go through my mind as I walk around the camp everyday. The variety in each tree, the uniqueness of each flower on each tree is truly indescribable and uncontainable. "Who imagined the sun and gives source to its light? Yet conceals it to bring us the coolness of night?... Awestruck, we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim, 'You are amazing, God!'" Each time I step outside, it is with a sense of anticipation in entering another new adventure. Trees that I thought weren't flowering trees suddenly are filled with little buds. New blossoms seemingly pop up over night. I was chatting with the gardeners about it yesterday and one came over to my house later, saying, "Madame, I want to show you a new flower!" We walked to the other side of the camp and he pointed with a huge grin toward an emerging blossom. Exquisite!

Every grin on every worker seems huge, I've realized, because on a dark face those white teeth just pop!!

So, today, John the Gardener (though he jokingly calls himself John the Baptist) is coming over with the rest of the new plants that he will be planting in the front of the house and around the outside of the patio. (The front entrance is UGLY -- 3 air conditioning units, some broken bricks, and gravel with some tiny struggling and neglected plants.) He already painted some cement pots and brought some great plants for them for inside the outer patio area. John is an older guy, walking with a slight shuffle and hunched over from years of kneeling in front of plants and dirt. What a dear man. I am bracing myself because I know he will occasionally ask for money or a gift because he "keeps Madame happy with her flowers." A small price to pay and certainly the guy can use a tip sometimes, oui? And tomorrow, Lucy's friend, an owner of a nursery, is bringing some potted indoor plants that I will purchase. Add to that, the little water fountain Jim bought me in Paris -- we will have ambience ready to burst! Anticipation is half of the delight!

Touches of spring in a late winter in Paris

More Parisien Pics

This one's for you, Susan!


















Students from Sorbonne protesting in the
middle of a major intersection.
Have you seen them on the news?

How do you say "oops" in French?

OK, I'm having big trouble trying to load photos from Paris, today. I'll try again, later. Sytems are slow. (Not just the phone systems, of course, because we're back in Nigeria!! "go slow" is still the motto here!)
But my even greater "oops" was when I, in Paris, confused two similar, but different, words for "good." One, "bon," is used mainly for food as in "C'est tres bon!" for a great steak. Another, "bien," is used for describing how we're doing, like "I'm fine, thank you" --- "Je vais tres bien, merci!" So, when speaking to the attendants at the restrooms that you pay a fee to use, I said ... you guessed it ... "C'est bon!" I confirmed it today with the French teacher and with two French expats, here. It is as I feared -- I said that the toilet tasted good!
So, how do you say "a big oops" in French?

Paris Pics

Say "cheese!" If you look carefully, you can see the reflections of the shops across the little cobblestoned street and the folks strolling by this window!











The skies were mostly gray and the trees were barren, but the scenes were still filled with charm!


















It's so cold and windy!!




It's taking so long to get these photos added that I need to stop for now. I'll add more tomorrow, providing that I can get it to work!!

Happy Thots

So, I've been thinking of the talk about "happy" back in Nigeria. I guess the contrast is strong this week because it's grey and non-friendly here in Paris. (Though, I want to be careful to clarify that when we speak directly with the French, they are very cordial. It's just that this city is so jammed with strangers.)

Are optimists more happy, in general? Are followers of Jesus more happy, in general? Where's joy fit into the whole picture? I've been accused of being an optimist as though it's equivalent to being a dumb blonde (also an accusation that comes my way!) but I don't think optimism is airheaded denial of truth. In fact, when we consider the HOPE we have in Jesus, a LIFE with Him that has already begun, optimism is actually based on embracing the truth, not denying anything. (see Romans 5:1-5) Reality is that God has set eternity in our hearts. We are all spiritual beings, whether we choose to follow Jesus or choose to reject Him and the spiritual reality is much more real than the stuff we see around us that will someday disappear. So, following Jesus makes us reality-based optimists -- Truth gives us great hope!
Following that line of reasoning, I was intrigued by an article I recently read in Christianity Today by Sarah Pulliam.

"Evangelical Protestants are the happiest people in America. Or at least that's what they say. Evangelicals are 26 percent more likely to describe themselves as 'very happy' than Americans as a whole, according to a Pew Research Center survey released last month."

A deeper reading of the article makes one wonder about her opening statement, but it's thought-provoking at least. Who are those who describe themselves as "evangelicals" as opposed to other options (like "born again") and why only include evangelical protestants?
What do they mean by "happy?"

Christians in the early church didn't think happiness was very holy. Indeed, "happy" seems fairly shallow, conjuring up images of a slap-happy grin permently plastered on a face with otherwise dull eyes. So, maybe "contentment" is a better term? Contentment based upon gratitude and a thankfulness for all that we have. But how does that balance with a longing for more, spiritually? Longing to be closer to God. Not becoming complacent.

After all of this random wrestling, I've decided that:
I want to be happy in my countenance based on an inner joy and contentment,
I want to delight in all that is beautiful that God brings my way,
all while I still long for a deeper walk with my Lord,
all while I hold loosely to all things temporal.

Thus concludeth some simple, but happy, thoughts in the drizzling rain of Paris.

Bits of French Cuisine

The next time you're in Paris, head to the Left Bank at Rue de Sevres and Rue de Babylone. There you will find the oldest and first large department store, "grande magasin," I believe. Its a familiar name to those who have been on the west coast of the U.S. -- Bon Marche, something that is supposed to mean a market with good prices but I found it very expensive. For instance, 350 euros (1 euro = $1.19) for a peasant top that I would have loved to have bought for Karissa (we are happy to announce that Karissa is Brad's fiance -- yes, wedding bells August 19 of 2006)!!! I admired it on the hanger and walked away. Sorry, Karissa!

Anyway, I headed to Bon Marche because they have a good selection of yarn but I found something in addition to the yarn -- a great little cafe inside the store with an outdoor sitting area. The decor is all brights -- bright green, yellow, red, and pink with contoured/molded ultra-contemporary furnishings. But the food is what was amazing. The place is called "Delicubar -- Snack Chic" and boy-oh-boy, is it ever! The salads were offered by color. Yes, color! I had "salad tout verde" -- an all green salad with three types of leafies, peas in the pods, green beans, bean sprouts, brocolli, pistacios, with a pistacio balsamic vinagrette. Yum. A woman next to me had an all orange salad -- Jeri, you would love it -- carrots, mangos, papayas, ... you get the idea. Anyway -- what a great idea for those of you planning a fun spring luncheon!!!

You know the book, French Women Don't Get Fat, oui? Well, after "extensive research," I tend to agree! In all of the crowds, I've not seen anyone to characterize as FAT. I've seen a few plump folks, but they all look like tourists! With all of the walking we do around here, I guess the women can afford to eat chocolates, baguettes, pasteries, wine, cheese -- all of those nasties!! According to the book, they eat just enough to satisfy and don't fear leaving food on the plate. So far, every finished plate around us has been wiped clean with a piece of baguette so I question that reasoning for the slimness. But it can't just be the walking, or all of the treadmills in America would have accomplished something!?

More Nigerian Details

From my hotel room in Paris, Port D'Orleans area to be exact, I have time to catch you up on things that happened in NGA before we left.

We moved back into "our" house on Thursday -- that was ahead of schedule which, we've been told, was a first for the contractors on the camp! Jim emailed BB (remember, Big Boss) to let him know how pleased we were with their prompt responses and thorough work. The carpets were all yanked and beneath them the tile was in great shape. It took a lot of solvent for the workers to get the glue off the tiles (the carpet was like an indoor/outdoor thin stuff that had been glued on). Carpet in NGA is not a good idea due to all of the moisture. Lucy will be able to clean the tiles daily. She loves the tiles in the sitting room because they sparkle after she's cleaned them and she says it makes her pleased to look back and smile at her work when it looks so clean! 3 ACs work and the kitchen one is getting replaced soon. The cost to run this camp is amazing -- we have 7 ACs in our house, alone. And they're on almost non-stop, depending on power outages when the generators are getting worked on. The leaks in the bathroom have been solved after much tearing out of cement walls, replumbing, etc. And they fixed a lot of little things -- caulking around the tub, etc.

"There's a better way, guys!" is something I find myself thinking often. One of the problems is that each worker just does exactly what he's told and doesn't initiate a lot of individual thinking. So, if he's supposed to paint the ceiling, he doesn't think about what that might do to the tiles on the floor, the furniture they moved into the bathroom when they were pulling carpet in the bedroom, the bathroom door, etc. So, we had to ask someone else to get the paint off of the afore mentioned items. And paint is still to be found everywhere it was not meant to be. That's representative of the style of work in general.

Lucy to the rescue -- she and I have talked about the whole workers'-style enough that she knows what "Madame" wants and this week, while we're gone, she is taking on a bunch of projects -- cleaning paint off is just the beginning. She's washing down the walls and shelves in the closets because the moldly smell permeated the wood (the closets are actually like built-in wardrobes). She's washing and ironing every curtain -- also retaining some of the odors. She's washing the couches and chairs as best she can. She's deep cleaning the bathrooms -- especially the grout/caulk stuff that can grow mold faster than you can sneeze. I anticipate that she will be beaming when we return and she shows us all that she's done. I told her that my son, Brad, would call her a tank -- and that's a compliment. So we laughed on that one because we agreed that most women wouldn't appreciate being described as a tank but she understood the meaning!

Because Lucy had been cleaning both houses and personally carried multitudes of loads of breakables and clothes back to the house herself because she didn't trust the workers (especially after the glass in the frame broke on the first little move) -- we treated her to lunch at the clubhouse. She was honored and embarrassed at the same time. She'd never been in it. I'm confident she's never eaten in any real restaurant because she didn't know about the bread plate, the extra silver, etc. She cautiously watched our every move and mimicked us. She giggled at the idea of being served by workers who live in the same maids quarters as she does. The whole thing was bizarre. She'd never experienced one-way mirrored windows and the clubhouse has one entire wall of them along the pool. She'd seen the outside from far away and knew she couldn't see in so imagine her shock when she found that you could see out. When she asked me about it, I described to her how funny it is when men walk by the windows outside and use them as a mirror to tuck in shirts and fix their hair -- another great time of laughter from Lucy!!!

We left on Friday evening, feeling very grateful for all that has been done to make our house a pleasant place to live. The 2 guys heading up the project are from India and one of them struggles with English. I think he'd done some preparation when he proudly said to me with a bow -- "It is a pleasure to work on Madame's house. Our job is to make you happy. Madame is such a positive lady (he struggled with the word 'positive' so I know he'd looked it up or asked another one who speaks his language) that it brings us great joy to work for you. Whatever you need -- new furniture, something built, something fixed -- we are neighbors so please ask any one of us. When you are happy, we are happy." And then he said something about because I'm always happy, they are always happy and laughed!!!

These are all such lovable people! It's weird, but, I really enjoy hanging out with the workers more than the residents -- the gardeners, Christian (the produce guy), the drivers, etc. So many of them love Jesus and it's just great to visit with them. They have so little yet they have such joy. Whereas the residents have so much but just think about what they don't have that they're used to!! I'm getting more opportunities to encourage the residents, though. One gal wanted some counsel about her marriage of six years. She's a recording artist in Indonesia and she's put her life on hold for her husbands' career. We'll talk more, I'm sure. Another gal, one of the French women, wants me to teach her boys about Christianity. She's agnostic but wants them exposed to all beliefs. She's proud of being tolerant of all faiths. And she's very tolerant of Islam. But she doesn't see how very biased her view of Christianity is!!! (and her view of Bush, Houstonians -- she lived in Houston for 4 years, U.S., etc.)

What great adventures await us upon our return to Nigeria!!!

Never a dull moment!

So, the other expats say we should leave Nigeria every couple of months just to survive living there. Mmmm. If the experience at the airport was typical, which they say it was, then getting out is much worse than staying!!! Basically -- everyone helping wants a bribe, that includes the paid staff of the airport; it's hot and filled with all sorts of odors, body being minor; the passengers, mainly men, get a bit uptight and drunk while they wait to board; and the whole event from leaving camp to boarding the plane takes about 4 hours. But now that we're in Paris, mais oui, it is worth the hassle!

Mosquitos are to be taken very seriously. We must take our Malarone tablets while we are gone and we have to have malaria curative treatments with us at all times because the incubation period is one week to 60 days after a bite. Well, Air France takes those little critters quite seriously -- they "fogged" the plane after we were all aboard, walking up and down the aisles while spraying a mist on us all. They assured us that it is environmentally safe ...! Strange to feel like we were contaminated!

We've been in Paris 2 days and I have about 1/3 of my shopping list completed. There are so many basics that are just not available in Nigeria so we brought 3 empty suitcases with us to Paris. Truly, it's not the cheapest place but we've taken advantage of some benefits to visitors and have saved some money thus far. We're getting things like -- a good bed pillow (we packed one in our sea shipment but that may not arrive for another 5 months!), umbrellas, hand soap, hand towels, candles, ... We'll get some food items before we leave.

The two foods I'm missing the most are -- plain ole steak and Chipotle!! OK, so Chipotle's success hasn't reached Paris, yet. But we did have a decent steak -- tres bon! I'm working on figuring out how to make Mexican food in Nigeria -- some of the ingredients are available and certainly I can learn to make tortillas so we're hopeful!

Our waiter last night was terrific -- he gave mini French lessons throughout the evening. True, he was a bit of a flirt; I was glad Jim was there, especially when he offered dessert -- "coffee, tea, or me!" followed by a quick "just kidding" directed toward Jim. He's so friendly, many of the French are. But, oh my, try walking down the sidewalk -- it's survival of the fittest and we're clearly not very fit. And the Louvre was filled with people who were in the "every man for himself" mode -- he who hesitates is lost, for sure! Jim and I were forever being separated in the crowd. We are constantly comparing the culture here to our recent experiences in Nigeria. The Nigerians win in the "friendly" category!

It's strange how we're missing our new friends in Nigeria. We've been there such a short time but it was becoming familiar, which counts for a lot!! Of course, we're missing all of you and think of you, pray for you, and speak of you, often. I have access to a very good email set up, here -- we just paid for a week's worth of use. So, feel free to add comments here or email me.

I'll post more photos when we're back in NGA.