June 25, 2009

                I thought I’d send one last update before I am to fly home on Sunday, which is only three days away. My work at Transition House with the boys and uncles has continued to go pretty well, we really have to consider how things are going as being a blessing. In seeing the success of the Transition House farm, Uncle Alex and Elisha have really developed a growing desire to become involved with farming in order to become a more self sustaining ministry. Within June we have really been able to see what the boys are capable of when they have all the uncles leading by example to go and farm, instead of one or two leading by example and the rest leading in an opposite direction, and a few more hoes to get the work done. In about 8-10 hours of working, we have gotten about 1+ hectares (over 2 acres) of land tilled, using a shovel-like hoe, and planted with Achisheru (A bean. The English means “eat quietly”) and peanuts (which they call groundnuts in Africa). We are feeling pretty confident that we will be able to do more land next year with the proper preparations and amount of tools needed, since this year we’ve never had more than 5 hoes to be used at a time. So it seems very possible that we could plant double the land if we have 10-15 hoes next year. At this point we have three different places that we can be growing crops, one is Transition House, another is City Ministries property - which can be dry season farmed, and the other is property that ECWA is letting us farm for free.

                Besides crop farming we are also trying to experiment with raising small animals at Transition House. We started with two rabbits and later bought three more, but we have bred them, so there are now eighteen rabbits. It seems that this could be a good success between teaching boys to care for animals and having rabbits that can be eaten or sold. We are also talking about experimenting with raising fish, snails, and “Grass cutters” (bush rats that eat only vegetables and get to be near the size of a fox).

                I have been excited that I will be able to come home for a while, but in the past week or two I’ve started to feel a bit like I did before leaving home. As I struggled to say goodbye to my family to come here I am now struggling a bit with saying goodbye to the uncles and boys at Transition House. Last week I stayed overnight there four nights in a row, just wanting to cherish the last moments we have together before I leave. Thankfully, unlike when I came to Nigeria and had no one to look forward to seeing and many unknowns, I have my family, friends, church, and home to look forward to as I come home. So please pray for us as we say goodbye to each other.

By God’s grace I will be seeing you all soon!

Andrew

Prayer Requests

·         We are planning to experiment with planting some coffee next year. Pray that we peacefully come to a decision on how much to plant.

·         Pray for my health and safety during travel home. And pray for my transition back into my home culture.

·         Pray that I may be able to come back and continue in this work next year if that is what God wills. May His will be done.

·         Praise God for the way the uncles are uniting in their leadership toward this common goal of teaching the boys how to work hard and farm and help the ministry to become more self sustainable.