field day

Today was field day. We are team yellow. To be exact, the Lightening Bolts!!

I was the team leader, and I tell you what, soooo much pressure!! Below is my team and one of the mom's who assisted me. It was a variety of 5th through 1st graders, including my own three. It was a fun day and in the end, we almost came in first!!! We were beat by the blue lambourghini's.....(sp?)

At the end of the day, the winners get to go down a waterslide first, then followed by the rest of the teams in order. Here are two girls (Gabi and my own Sarah) who were waiting their turn for the slide.This is my team in action!! They were great, but I am thankful it is done. This was sooo much better than the science projects, but still not as easy for me as coaching track. These little guys have a hard time listening. But they were spirited and very good at playing the events.

GOOOOOO TEAM LIGHTENING!!!!!

christmas catalog - chicken dinners

This past fall, Back 2 Back put out a Christmas catalog in which people could sponsor "gifts" in various ways in different areas of ministry within Back 2 Back. India, Nigeria and Mexico were all represented and one of the opportunities was a chicken dinner for those in need in Nigeria.

We have two people here from Riverview Church, Ryan and Sara, and yesterday they were able to be a part of handing out some of the chicken dinners that were bought from this catalog. Now, probably people picture a nice cooked chicken with cooked rice and beans and presented on a table for dinner. That is not quite how these dinners get done here, especially in the village where refrigeration is not an option. Here are some pictures to show it all unfolded.

Every person who received a chicken dinner received, one live chicken, bouillon cubes, 4 measures of beans and 3 measures of rice and one liter of oil. All the makings of a delicious chicken dinner (for at least two maybe three meals). For this moment, we chose to take the meals to the village doctor because he is the one who cares for those in the village (and sometimes outside the village as well), the orphan and all those in need in the Kisayhip area. Not only were meals given, but the staff and Ryan and Sara prayed for each patient there, for wisdom for the doctor and healing for the patients. It was good and right to care for those who were at the moment in even more need. They were grateful for each gesture and gift given.

Below is the village doctor's son, Moses (who is currently in school for medicine), with Ryan and John as afterward they all took him to a local pharmacy to purchase much needed medicine to better and further care for those who are under his dad's supervision. We are so grateful to all who helped make "care for today, hope for tomorrow" happen in this little village in Jos, Nigeria.

faces of nigeria

With all that is going on here in Jos, Nigeria Africa, I didn't want people to forget some of the faces of this land.

They are precious, each and every one of them.

They all have a purpose and God has a plan for all of them.

They all have the ability for hope, vision and a calling.

"Let the little children come..." Bible

"We are all like sheep..." Bible

Will you join with us in prayer for this land and over God's people?

Sunday's crisis

We have received a lot of emails from people who are concerned for our safety and the ministry of Back2Back since this past Sunday's crisis. Thank you all so much for your prayers and your emails and your concerns for our well being.

It was and always will be a tragedy when innocent people are killed and wounded in events that take place around Jos, Nigeria. These incidences are more than just religious crisis. It is a battle going on since many generations past, and it has many contributing factors, but a lot to do with land and wanting to "claim" it, no matter what the cost.

Will you join us in prayer as we continue to seek out the wisdom, wisdom that comes from above.

"And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5:2b-5

We trust that God's vision is larger and deeper than ours. We thank Him for opportunities to minister and serve the larger body. Thank you for all of you who have joined with us in the ministry of the orphan child.

mercy party

These are our friends Ibro and his wife Mercy. They had us over for a birthday party for her (she turned 35). It was so fun to be there and to celebrate her life with them. It is always a joy to be somewhere as a friend, verses a "ministry moment". Not that those are bad, but there is something special about being invited as friends. We are grateful for them both.There was some grilled goat offered with a spicy rub on it. Through time, I am beginning to enjoy spice a bit more and more. I think I am turning into my grandpa Hamilton. I remember when I was little thinking he put tons of pepper on everything. Anyway, I think living in Mexico and now here, a little bit of spice makes everything taste better. For me anyway, John wouldn't agree.
Below is a picture of Ibro and Mercy's two children. They have a girl who is a bit older than two and Mercy just gave birth to a new baby boy who is about 6 weeks old. Even though Zizza (the girl) has moments of learning to "love" on her brother, she definitely has other moments when the "love" is more genuine. We caught one of those moments below.
Aren't they cute!!!!

ice cream party and pizza

For Christmas, my parents gave all of their grandchildren $30.00 USD (16 of them). But, the gift itself was for them to see the joy in giving, so a letter was written to each of them about it and what they had to do was find a "cause" or a "need" other than their own life that could benefit from $15. They could keep the other $15 for themselves. After they gave their money to wherever they chose they then had to write a letter back to grandma and grandpa about where the money went, etc...

So, majority of my nieces and nephews proceeded, through time, to hand John and I $15 to go for an ice cream party for some children we work with. We were overwhelmed with the amount handed to us that there was enough for not only a ice cream party, but also a pizza party as well.

Yesterday afternoon, we took a children's home we work with (OLA) and took 12 of the children to a restaurant, called Summerland, for ice cream and pizza. When we arrived there I started finding out from the children one by one as they were ordering ice cream, they had NEVER eaten ice cream before. NEVER!!! They had NEVER been to a restaurant before. NEVER!! And they had never had pizza before. NEVER!! The manager who was running the ice cream parlor asked one of the girls who was 19 if she liked ice cream, she said she didn't know what it was and has never had it before. You should have seen the man's face, he was floored, from that point on, he was giving double the portions for half the price. It was a blessed day.

Emilee, she was telling us later she had to show the kids how to hold the pizza (with your hands) because they didn't know what to do with it. How cute!! In the end, they behaved quite well in the restaurant and ate all their food (we also ordered Jollof rice, just in case our great idea was a bust. I think they liked having it as an option). Afterwards, we took them to my kids school (Hillcrest) to play on the elementary playground. It was such a fun day. I hope it is one that is not quickly forgotten.

We are blessed for sure and Gus, our son, said to me near the end of the day, "they really had never had ice cream before" I think my whole family was overwhelmed with our own blessings and was reminded of how good we have it, even if it can seem that we are sacrificing.

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL MY NEICES AND NEPHEWS WHO DECIDED TO GIVE THESE CHILDREN SUCH A FUN AND ADVENTUROUS DAY. ALL WHO WERE THERE HAD SUCH A BLESSED TIME!!! WISH YOU COULD HAVE ALL BEEN HERE WITH US!!

track meet

Yesterday was one of the two track meets we are going to have this season. I have six runners (5 guys, 1 girl) and they ran their best times and I was proud of each and every one of them. These are just some pictures taken of the runners praying before the run, the starting line and the last one is I am not sure. I am sure I am giving some words of advice or wisdom.... hehehe

It is amazing the heat they run in. I remember running in the middle of the afternoon for my track meets, but I don't recall the afternoons getting in the 90's, but they do well. I guess it is just what you get used to.

I have convinced the team that running is mostly mental, so they will say often to me that "today is a strengthening of the mind exercise right, coach!!" It is always weird to here them say coach...
Anyway, track meet number one has come and gone. I am grateful. I am off to take a couple of group members that are here to OLA (one of the children's homes we minister alongside) and then take the kids for pizza and ice cream. Pictures to come....