New Pictures
Topic: Website
New pictures have been posted on the website: www.anthisfamily.com. Go check them out!

BSF in Nigeria
Topic: Family
Posted on behalf of Cindy:

I have been blessed to continue in Bible Study Fellowship here in Nigeria. Abby will attend with me and she is the only non-Nigerian child in the program. We had our first study this week and it was awesome. Abby did very well in her class and enjoys having her own school to go to like big brother and sister. My group is made up of awesome Nigerian Christian women who love the Lord and struggle with the same things I struggle with. I love how a relationship with the Lord bridges many cultural barriers. I am praying that God will teach me more of Himself and Nigerian culture through this time of Bible study.

While the study format is the same as BSF at home the surroundings are some what different! My discussion group meets outside the Church under a Mango tree. We were interrupted as we started by a group of stray dogs that decided to rest in the shade under the tree. Once they settled, we began. We had to speak up because the electricity in the church went out and a man came out to start the generator that happened to be in a shed by our Mango tree. Several chickens made there way across the court yard during our study and some goats were tied up near by. But we opened the awesome Word of God that is the same regardless of where you read it.

Language and Culture
Topic: Language & Culture
Posted on behalf of Cindy:

We have started our language training and I must say it is very humbling to have my 5 and 6 year old neighbors correcting my speaking. This week as I sat outside in our yard with all the children from the neighborhood practicing saying the names of different fruit that I had learned in the market, a little Nigerian girl asked me an interesting question. She asked me how many children did I have, and how many children had died. Two of her siblings had died because they had "sick hearts." Infant sibling mortality was a presumption to her, and to many children around the world. "I have three children, and they are all alive." Then pointing to Abigail, our youngest child, she said to me "you didn't birth her did you?" I was not sure what she meant so I asked her to say it again. She said, "the little one, you did not birth her." She was definitely referring to Abby who was running away from a little boy of about 1&1/2 years who had already successfully kissed her on the cheek. I said, "of course I birthed her, I am her mother." The little girl thought for a while and said, "she doesn't look like you, she has white hair." I explained that she was still my daughter even though she has different hair than I do. The girl was not convinced, but pointed to Allison and said that she was sure I had birthed Allison! Since I was there for all three of my children's births I said, "I can promise you I birthed them all!"

Abby and Friends
Topic: Family

Dinner and Weevils
Topic: Family
Posted on behalf of Joel:

We had a really nice Nigerian dinner last night. The kids did quite well overall. Austin did a great job of being polite and eating a good portion of his pounded yam, egusi stew (stew with greens, salt, oils, and other stuff that is eaten with the pounded yam), and chicken (it is an honor to be served meat). Allie was polite but didn't eat a lot until orange slices and bananas were brought out for dessert. Abbie put her hands in everything and didn't fuss. All the kids are starting to learn how to sit and listen to adult conversation, which is a vital skill here. We heard about the exciting bush medical evangelism that Dr. Ushe has been involved with for the last 10 years. It is in the mountainous remote region near Cameroon - a 14 hr rough drive from Jos. He was lead to this area through an area Fulani leader who came to Evangel hospital as a patient 10 years ago. The Fulani are an Islamic nomadic cattle herding tribe that has remained quite unreached over the last 100 years. However, Dr. Ushe's work has been blessed and fruitful. The Fulani speak neither English nor Hausa, but it may be possible for Joel or Cindy to go out on one of these outreaches in the future.

Now it's off to the market to try to buy flour and sugar. We have learned many different way to keep the weevils out of one's flour, but none of them sound appealing. However, since weevils don't sound appealing we will be experimenting with various approaches.

Spiritual Lessons
Topic: Family
Posted on behalf of the Anthis family:

Our verse for our first month in Nigeria:

Joshua 1:9. "Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go." That is the song that Austin and Allison performed (complete with hand-motions and animation) repeatedly for the customs officials in the Kano airport at 1am on the night we arrived in Nigeria. And that was just the word from the Lord that Cindy and I needed at that point, and since then as well.

Did we mention that Austin no longer has his favorite SIM baseball cap. We found out days later that Austin had given it away to a man at the Kano airport on the night that we arrived in Nigeria. When we asked him why he gave his favorite hat away, he told us "the man asked me for it, and he said he really liked it." Hopefully, we all can remain generous with the bounty that the Lord has provided.

Abigail
Topic: Family
Posted on behalf of the Anthis family:

Abigail is amazingly adaptable and engaging and loving. All Nigerians seem to love kids. And our blond little Abigail is a big attraction at the market and everywhere she goes. Everyone greets her, touches her hair, and wants to shake her hand and hold her. She draws the line at being held, but is great with all the rest. She just turned two and her vocabulary is rapidly expanding, so she is also learning the Hausa greeting "Sanu." She is now wearing her local Nigerian sandals, and won't leave home without "my shoouuss." She just seems to have a way of bringing a smile to the face of everyone she meets.

Learned cultural fact of the day: don't throw away any match boxes, as all stool samples must be turned into the hospital in a matchbox; and since Abby has had an ongoing intestinal disturbance for over a week, this may be "news you can use."

Cultural News
Topic: Language & Culture
Posted on behalf of the Anthis family:

In cultural news: I (cindy) have decided not to learn to drive here for now. As I have a very hard time even keeping my eyes open when someone else in navigating the traffic, it is best I don't drive. The alternative to driving is public transport. I have been figuring out how to use this system of taxis and drop off points to get around town. It costs about 20 cents to go most places (the really far places are 40cents!) The cars are all small by American standards and before they will go any where they have to have 6 passengers (2 in the front with the driver and 4 crammed into the back). I have met some interesting people and have been amazed how much stuff you can ram into one small car (live chickens have to ride in the trunk!) I think using transport will help me when we get going in our language as most of the drivers don't speak English.

Family News
Topic: Family
Posted on behalf of the Anthis family:

Austin and Allison both seem to be doing great overall. The school is wonderful and the kids love it. They had spiritual emphasis this week. The theme was "I am the salt of the earth." They talked about ways to be salt. It seemed to have had an impact as Allison even got up early one morning and made every bed in the house announcing that "she is the salt of the earth!" I hope it is a long lasting lesson. I (Cindy) filled in leading a discipleship time for the 7th grade girls at Hillcrest. We talked from Esther about how we are blessed to be a blessing. Each girl shared how they have been blessed and how that could be used to bless others. This is quite an impressive group of girls from at least 5 different countries. One already feels called to be a missionary teacher in China. Each had a good idea of how they had been blessed. Please pray for these girls, several who board at the school and are separated from their families.

Surgeries This Week
Topic: Mission
Posted on behalf of the Anthis family:

Thanks to all who have been praying for Joel's surgeries this week. Two smaller cases on kids went well earlier this week. The one man from Niger with the huge maxillary/palatal tumor did not show up for his surgery on Weds, so time will tell if he returns or not. The young 25 yr old girl named Pasima from Niger did come for her surgery today. In summation, medically speaking, it was a difficult day. The tumor had eroded the majority of her anterior neck skin, but did not reveal itself to be unresectable until much later in the case. There is no such thing as a CT scan or MRI here to give advance warnings and guidance. The power went off during the surgery, as did the cautery machine and suction intermittently. This is all part of the reality of missionary medicine in most of the world, but knowing that doesn't make the transition any easier. We as physicians in America are accustomed to delivering the results that our patients expect - as I am used to and as it should be. So it was certainly discouraging to tell this young girl's mother that although we were able to remove a large part of the tumor, we had not cured her daughter, and there was no surgical cure available for her here in Nigeria. The patient and her mother both speak Hausa predominately, the language we will be studying starting next week. But for now it is frustrating trying to discuss complicated surgical details, and to try to discuss spiritual issues through a translator. Please continue to pray for Pasima's physical and spiritual condition.