Day 14: Well done Cait!

Wednesday mornings are staff meetings at Faith Alive. Today Shegan shared a devotional about how God speaks to each person individually through the Bible followed by announcements from every department. Wrapping up the business side of things they presented the Person of the Month award for the person who others have noticed living out God’s intentions for the Clinic. They gave it to Dr. Kanu who from what little time I have been able to spend with him seems like the best candidate for anything related to loving people and working hard.

 

            I was sent down to the pharmacy for the morning to do some more pill counting and prescription writing. It’s a great environment to work in with friendly coworkers and the added blessing of having a television, which keeps me up-to-date with Nigerian politics, media, and hip-hop culture. I got into the zone and ended up counting out seven bottles of medicine between conversation and my own thoughts. Isaiah came over with a huge smile to tell me I was doing a wonderful job, one of the fastest pharmacists he had ever seen! I was so proud of myself! I beamed and asked for another task when his face got serious. “Cait! You are working too hard. You need to take a break. Now.” He handed me my purse and scooted me out the door. American and Nigerian work ethics are worlds apart. I took that extra half-hour of free time to enjoy my lunch and take a nap before heading back.

 

            I stopped by the Faith Alive sewing shop to say Hi to the women there and get measured by Blessing. She is making me two traditional outfits from the fabric I bought at the marketplace. She claims she already knows what will flatter my features the most so I guess it will be a surprise what they turn out to be!

 

            Joshua had told me earlier that he wanted to set my laptop up to the network so I went upstairs to his office before going back to the pharmacy. He got me onto the server without a problem, but I couldn’t log in to anything. What seemed like a simple problem ended up taking two hours to make right. So I guess working hard in the pharmacy this morning made up for the lack of my presence in the afternoon. Taking my functioning computer (followed by a thousand Thank Yous!) back to Biana’s office I was surprised to see Dr. Chris there. He told me he had been looking for me because he had something for me to do. I felt honored that there was a task he thought I would be good for. He is giving a message to a large group of university students on Saturday about being able to do ministry in any type of work setting. I told him I would love to help him out with his sermon and presentation, it would be great to finally hear him speak. “You’re not understanding,” he told me, “I want YOU to give the message.” So just like that I was signed up to give an hour-long message to a group of peers I have never met in a place I have never been. Let’s start collecting some thoughts, Miss Baird, God is making you fly.