Oasis Property Visit and Sunday Worship in the Village

We left for church early to visit the Oasis House and see progress on the water tower. Our adventure included a brief visit with the Filannis herding their livestock on the property. We were all decked out in our new Nigerian outfits for church and then out to eat. We show Sarah, Gus, Sami, Eileen and I, John and Corrie and their family and Eileen and I. The cattle look very different from what we see in the USA! And the steel posts for the cover over the block making machine were set by Jason and John on Friday.

No School Today

Today is a Muslim holiday so Sarah, Gus and Sami were off school.
SOOOO.... we spent the day shopping and working around the house installing a ceiling fan in the living room, a smoke/CO dectector, washing dishes, playing with the Wii and just plain relaxing. Gus is helping dad John. Sami & Gus are washing dishes. Corrie is slicing the largest pineabble I have ever seen. It was really sweet too.

More Photos

Shopping for Gifts

Right now we're about ready to sit down for lunch. It's 12:51pm here and 5:51a.m. in Texas. Today we went shopping for stuff to bring home. There are photos of the shops and their shop keepers and the lovely artistic crafts they sell. Really made here in Nigerian by artists who live here and make their living making these things.

Two other photos show "critters" for Reggie. One is a lizard on the back wall of the compound where we are staying with John and Corrie. The other is a spider waiting to take a shower with Sami Jane!

The man in the photo is Matthew who creates beautiful and unique table cloths with names on them and monogrammed napkins.

Another photo is of the many paintings available by local artists. I bought two.

Still another photo is of the roadside view as we traveled from shopping to home.

Busy and Fun Times

The internet is finally up and working better than ever. We ran 300 feet of new cable yesterday and an IT friend of John's help rework the connections and set up. We also added wiring for a 110V inverter circuit, an additional battery for the inverter system plus miscellaneous small projects around their living quarters. Watch for videos when we get home and are able to upload the big files.

We also made a trip to Our Lady of Apostles orphanage where we help babies, chatted with the children and I had an opportunity for the first time in fifty years to bring out my algebra skills. Boy was I surprised that I even remembered how to factor a simple binominal!

Yesterday was a baby shower for Evelyn, a friend of Emily Munifo's who is expected in the next ten days. There were gifts, which delighted Evelyn and a belly measuring contest using TP! It was a girl time!

Today I'm off to shop for a canning kettle to help Emily can tomato sauce and salsa whose ingredients are in abundance here.

New Day

No photos today and only a quick note. No power and internet for the last two days. Today we're sitting in the office at SSE office where we may access the inter.
I cooked supper last night. Chicken Tetrazinni..all loved it and had two helpings except for Gus who had three! Would love to hear from you, email is degucken@gmail.com

Sunday's Clippings

Today John and I had our hair cut by Atucum one of the young men who guard the house. He is in babering school learning the trade. Cutting batori's hair is a new experience for him. He did very well, the best hair cut I've ever had!

The Emperor's New Clothes

I want to thank all of you who have visited our blog and shared our adventure with us. Ihope my friend and collegue Paul M. from Donna has followed and the many others of you who enjoy connection throiugh the internet. Right now it is very warm in the hills of Jos (90+F). We had power for ten minutes yesterday and I am on line because son Joh is running the "gen" and Janson and Emily, their partners in ministry and close neighbors either have power or are running their "gen". You can follow both John and Corrie's blog as well as Jason and Emily's from our own blog. The photos today are of the new Nigerian outfits I had made at Gidon Bege, a ministry which teaches widows to sew and then sends them back to their village with a sewing machine to earn a living sewing.

I have two new outfits. I plan to save the white one for Easter Sunday at Donna, the light blue I'll wear to worship in the village church and at Donna.

Shara & Gus enjoy some quiet time playing favorite video ganes, too.

Yesterday's Photos

The Joy of Being Anglican

Eileen and I celebrated Ash Wednesday at St Andrews. The music was glorious and the worship and preaching (a sermon about fasting) direct and to the point The pastor Canon Joseph ___ was the celebrant. We were warmly greeted and received and welcomed! Granddaughter Sarah is on the porch of the church. Canon Joseph and his wife are with us in the photo. His sister is cousin to Archbishop Ben of Jos.

Another Baby in our Life

Today, Tuesday we took another new baby into our life. Payton Munafo came calling while mommy Emily went to a meeting. We also renewed friendship with Ibro Itapson, Of SSE and his daughter Itzi. I also caught the men's team working on the road gang spreading two of the seven very large mounds of dirt dumped to help fill in the roadway outside John and Corrie's house.

We also went shopping for a few groceries for only n16,775.00.

Monday A Day Off

Monday Eileen and I took a day off. I did not even leave the house. I read a couple of episodes from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, cooked supper for the family, a dish I called "Baked Burritos". I did discover the video clips will not upload from here. You may also notice the "Hit Counter" at the top of the page. It tells us how many, not who. Encouraging to see thjat since it was installed on Saturday by a IT guy from the men's group. We've had 79 hits as of this entry.

Sunday at the Village Church

Our Valentine's Day Sunday began at the village church. Our pastor exchanged pulpits with another church so our preacher of the day was from another church in the district. Once again the music was outstanding. Because I'm limited by internet connection I may not be able to upload full videos. I'll add them later when in Texas. Notice the entrance step to the church. The hand carved letters are "ECWA church". One lesson I have learned from this village parish is that they have created only the basic necessities for worship celebration.

Zoo Day with a Grand Celebration

Today the staff and mission team hosted children from one of the two orphanages in the area. Nine children from Our Lady of Apostle Catholic orphanage were our quests at the Jos Zoo and returned for a traditional feast of roast lamb, couscous and roast plantain. We were entertained by two hours of authentic tribal dancing. Our zoo visit included wandering camels, black cows, up close visit of a mama and papa lion, close enough that when she roared I got her spit on my face. Thank goodness for a very strong fence between us. She with papa and two cubs. We also watched a boa constrictor kill a live rabbit for its meal placed in the pit by a zoo worker.