Hello everyone, and thank you for your ongoing support and patience as we got settled into Nigeria. We arrived at 4:30 in the morning on August 8th. From there, we were picked up by another missionary and a driver from the school. It was a 6 hour drive to the school from the international airport in the Country's capital which was my, Nathan's, first dose of Nigeria the country. Heather couldn't have been more excited to be back!
It was quite the rocky adjustment since we had 7 days of quarantining (staying in our house) as required by Nigerian immigration then a week of 24 hour curfew (staying in our compound walls) as instated by the city of Jos after some violence took place. During this initial week of quarantine Nathan did not have much to do unfortunately, but Heather got to teach online through Zoom during our quarantine week while living less than a quarter mile from her actual classroom. Once our week of quarantine was over, Heather got a chance to actually see and begin using her classroom, the same one her mother taught in during Heather's time growing up here and attending Hillcrest school. She finally got to start teaching in-person on August 23rd for three days before another incident happened and we went through another few days of 24 hour curfew. We resumed in-person school again on August 31st and were able to finish the week of school without getting shut down again. Please pray for the situation in Jos as a lot of families have been affected by the violence that has taken place. |
Our home on the school campus is part of an old building converted into a residence about a decade ago. For most of Heather's childhood years at Hillcrest, our part of the building was the school nurse's office (referred to here as the dispensary). We have a two bedroom unit, one bedroom of which will be used as an office to handle technical issues in, as well as schooling once we can find a desk. The home came pre-furnished and had a moderately stocked kitchen as well. There weren't too many things that we needed to purchase to finish stocking it up. That was a huge weight off our shoulders since we couldn't go out during our first week due to a quarantine rule in place from the federal government. This was a blessing in disguise though, as we ended up meeting quite a few of the other faculty on campus when they brought us dinner each night that week (since we couldn't go grocery shopping). We are blessed with some wonderful and very helpful neighbors who are able to assist and advise us on our first steps here.
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We had quite a journey as well initially trying to get settled here, to open a bank account or register a phone number/SIM card here you need an identifying number, which you need to travel to various offices around town to register for. Unfortunately, due to the troubles in the area for a couple weeks, we were unable to leave the Hillcrest compound to get any of these taken care and only just started the process this last week. It will still be another week or two before we are actually able to complete these processes, but hopefully we should have a local phone number and bank account soon.
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Speaking of food, Nathan has also had a chance to try some of the local foods and cook with them as well. Pretty much anywhere you go in the city, you can find small stalls on the side of the road selling incredibly fresh vegetables, normally picked that morning as well as other small household items. Using this has been great for us, as we are eating a lot more fresh vegetables in our meals here. The only downside to them being fresh picked is that they are not washed or sanitized like produce in the States is, so we have to thoroughly wash and sanitize our own food to prevent being sick.
We are also able to buy fresh meats while still on the compound, which is very helpful since we don't have a vehicle to get around in reliably yet. |
Heather's first couple months of teaching have been great. She was able to learn names fairly quickly even though she teaches half the school at this point and is loving building relationships with her students and teaching them about music! She loves how natural it feels to incorporate the faith by reminding students on a regular basis who gave them their voices and musical abilities and giving them the opportunity to praise God with their voices for all of the things He has done for them (particularly His grace right now since our school theme of the year is "Grace Upon Grace").
While Heather was teaching, Nathan has been getting used to the local technology and how he can best assist in that, mainly assisting in repairing and upkeep of school technology along with helping a couple of local people repair some personal electronics. He is also starting helping Global Lutheran Outreach update and maintain their website and other technology.
Four weeks into our time here, Heather is finally getting the chance to start decorating the classroom and make it feel a bit more homey. The curfews and general avoidance of the down town area of Jos delayed her purchasing fabric to put up on the bulletin boards, but one of her very sweet colleagues took her out yesterday (Sept 7th) to get that taken care of.
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In the recent weeks, we have also had a chance to go out and walk around the immediate area surrounding the campus. Every inch of ground not taken up by shops and buildings has some sort of green, abundant plant-life growing, and a lot of it is cultivated for fruits and vegetables with a lot of houses maintaining some sort of small garden. So far, I have seen about a dozen types of vegetables, corn stalks everywhere and large banana trees growing in numerous places.
One of our favorite places off the compound so far are a grocery store called King's Bite which imports some British and Arabic goods normally not found in the country. There is also a small coffee shop/restaurant called Tin City that is run by a local ministry which has espresso drinks (a favorite of Nathan's). |
Jos is a large and bustling city, with tons of people everywhere, traffic also tends to be fairly heavy as most of the roads are two lanes, so you end up with some congestion in busy parts of town.
The buildings here are normally red mud bricks with some sort of tin or metal roof on top, which is a huge difference from America, sometimes they are covered in a plaster layer and painted but most of them are just the regular red brick. |
In response to the request of some of our friends, GLO now officially has a way that they can accept stock donations to our ministry support fund! Working through Thrivent, they can accept the stock, liquidate it and put all of the funds that come from that into our support account. Since you would be donating the stock to a not-for-profit corporation under section 501 c 3 of the Federal Tax code and not cashing out the stock yourself, you don't have to declare that stock as income or pay taxes on that donation at all.
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If you are interested in donating this way, please email [email protected] to get further information on how to do it.
Prayer Requests:
- Please pray for peace in Jos and comfort for those who have lost loved ones in the recent violence.
- Prayers of thanks for all of the incredibly helpful Hillcrest staff and other friends here in Jos who have helped make our transition go as smoothly as it could.
- Prayers of thanks for an incredible, supportive staff that Heather has been able to become a part of.
- Please pray that Heather's NIN comes in soon so that she can get a Nigerian SIM card and communicate much more easily.
- Please pray that Nathan continues to have a smooth transition into his new GLO tech support duties and other volunteer work.
- Prayers of thanks that we now have 95% of our support needed for our first year here in Nigeria.
- Please pray that we reach our full 100% and continue to raise what we need for our 2nd year out here before we come back to the U.S. for furlough.
- Please pray for Heather's family to find someone else who is able to move into the needed care taker role so that Heather's dad can start teaching again.
We are truly blessed to be in so many people's prayers during this process. Thank you so much for your continued prayers.
- Prayers of thanks for all of the incredibly helpful Hillcrest staff and other friends here in Jos who have helped make our transition go as smoothly as it could.
- Prayers of thanks for an incredible, supportive staff that Heather has been able to become a part of.
- Please pray that Heather's NIN comes in soon so that she can get a Nigerian SIM card and communicate much more easily.
- Please pray that Nathan continues to have a smooth transition into his new GLO tech support duties and other volunteer work.
- Prayers of thanks that we now have 95% of our support needed for our first year here in Nigeria.
- Please pray that we reach our full 100% and continue to raise what we need for our 2nd year out here before we come back to the U.S. for furlough.
- Please pray for Heather's family to find someone else who is able to move into the needed care taker role so that Heather's dad can start teaching again.
We are truly blessed to be in so many people's prayers during this process. Thank you so much for your continued prayers.
HOW TO SUPPORT US
To support the Pittmans’ ministry online, click here. One-time or automated contributions are available.
OR
Mail a check to:
Global Lutheran Outreach
6709 Ficus Dr.
Miramar, FL 33023
Put "Pittman" on the memo line of the check.
Global Lutheran Outreach is a not-for-profit corporation under section 501 c 3 of the Federal Tax code. Contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent permitted by the IRS.
OR
Mail a check to:
Global Lutheran Outreach
6709 Ficus Dr.
Miramar, FL 33023
Put "Pittman" on the memo line of the check.
Global Lutheran Outreach is a not-for-profit corporation under section 501 c 3 of the Federal Tax code. Contributions are tax deductible to the fullest extent permitted by the IRS.
Thrivent Choice Dollars® can help missionaries!
Are you a member of Thrivent Financial who's eligible to direct Choice Dollars®? Choice Dollars charitable grant funds can make a world of difference to our organization as we work together to send missionaries! Your Choice Dollars directed to Global Lutheran Outreach support missionaries who are underfunded or experience a temporary shortfall in funding.
Directing Choice Dollars is easy. Simply go to Thrivent.com/thriventchoice to learn more and find program terms and conditions. Or call 800-847-4836 and say "Thrivent Choice" after the prompt. If you have donated your choice dollars to GLO and would like them to be earmarked for us specifically, please email us at [email protected] with the amount that you have donated and express that you would like to donate them to us. We can forward your email to GLO, and they will get those funds out of the general GLO pot and sent to our support account. |