I am leaving Nigeria on Thursday. I can’t believe I only have 3 more days here. During my final week here I had to do a few different things that I didn’t get the chance to do earlier.
1. I managed to get all the souvenirs and gifts that I needed. I really like shopping here. It’s fun to see all the different items. Most of them are handmade which makes it even better! I did have to watch how much I was buying because I’m not going straight home from here and I have to pack light. I ended up making at least 5 or so trips down to the shops near the zoo. I know that means nothing to most of you. The zoo is about a 5-10 minute walk from my apartment. Near the zoo are some good shops to buy souvenirs. For various reasons, I walked down there a good bit in the last couple weeks. I started to get to know the shop owners. One of them said he wanted to give me a gift and let me pick out a card for free! Another lady really liked me coming into her shop. I think she liked the company. I wish I had more time here to get to know these people better.
2. For those of you who don’t know, I really enjoy hiking and exploring new areas. During my time here I was able to go on 4 hikes. Hiking here is much different from the hiking that I’m used to. I’m not sure I would even say I went “hiking”. I think exploring is probably a better word. It was fun to see new sights though. I went on one sunrise “hike” and saw a monkey!
3. Yesterday was my last church service here. I went to JETS (Jos Evangelical Theological Seminary) with the ladies who live in my compound. JETS was the church I went to my first Sunday here too. I ended up going there three times. I’m going to miss the worship here. It’s pretty awesome. After church I got to decide where we went for lunch. I chose Elysars. Elysars is probably the nicest restaurant in Jos. It’s a Lebanese/Chinese restaurant and it has a really nice atmosphere. It was a good lunch filled with hummus and other yummy food. I tried a drink called Fayrouz. It was basically a pineapple soda.
4. Yesterday was also my last Sunday dinner with Delight. Not sure if I’ve talked about Delight yet. Delight is a girl whose mother sells bean cakes and yam on the corner near my compound. She usually helps her mom in the afternoon after school. I think she’s about 16 years old. In Nigeria you don’t really ask ages though. I’ve had Delight over about three times for dinner on Sundays. She taught me how to make coconut rice and red stew. We have dinner together and then play games. She has really enjoyed playing skip-bo so we usually play that. Last night we were going to make coconut rice but the electricity went out. To make coconut rice you have to blend the coconut to get a coconut liquid. We were hoping that the electricity would come back on before she had to leave. So we went ahead and cracked the four coconuts. Cracking coconuts is quite a task. The shell is extremely hard. We had fun though. Electricity never came on. We had spaghetti instead. We played about four games of skip-bo too. Delight wanted to keep playing until she won. Too bad that never happened. I’ve enjoyed getting to know Delight. You can pray that she would be able to take her school exams this week. Her family doesn’t have the money to pay for exams and if she can’t take them she has to repeat the school year.
There is so much more I could say. I can’t believe how fast the time went. I remember when I got here people were saying that two months was too short. At the time, I didn’t believe them. I thought two months was a good amount of time to be living in a different culture on my own for the first time. Now I understand what they meant. Once I started to figure out my role here and become more involved in the community and make friends, time flew. But I am so thankful for the time I’ve had here.
God has taught me a lot about himself and myself. One main lesson He has taught me is that relationships take time. I think a lot of what He taught me I vaguely knew already but my time here made it hit home. In order to really get to know someone, you have to spend a lot of time with them. It takes time. In two short months it’s hard to create deep relationships. I’ve made good friendships, but I think I’m seeing how important long-term missions is. I’ve learned a lot more about missions. It has helped seeing what missions is like first-hand, on the field. I also strongly believe that wherever God has placed you is your mission field. It could be in Africa, Italy, North Carolina, etc. I feel a deeper conviction and longing to love others. I think loving others is one of the best ways for us to show Christ to them. I’m excited to process more of what God has been teaching me and share with you!
What’s next for me? I am heading to Italy! I am leaving Nigeria on Thursday and will get to Pisa, Lord willing, on Friday. I will be working on an organic farm through an organization called WWOOF. I will be there for one month and will be living with a family. They have one daughter who is 17 years old. Please pray for me!
Prayer Requests:
- Pray that the goodbyes here in Jos would go well.
- Pray that packing would go smoothly and I would know best what to leave behind.
- Pray for safe travels to Italy and that here would be no wahalla (problems).
- Pray for my time with this family and that I would be a good witness for Christ.
- Pray for the language barrier.
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