St. Simeon Skete, Taylorsville Kentucky USA

With St. Simeon, the God receiver, as our patron, the skete seeks to practice the ideals found in our Rule, The Thousand Day Nazareth. In simplicity and poverty, the skete embraces the struggle of inner life through the practice of the Prayer Rope.

See our website at www.nazarethhouseap.org

Donations should be addressed to: Nazareth House Apostolate, 185 Captains Cove Drive, Taylorsville, Kentucky 40071.

Important Notice: All writings, posts, graphics & photographs in this blog are the copyrighted property of (unless otherwise indicated) Nazareth House Media, a division of Nazareth House Apostolate and cannot be copied, printed or used without written permission from NHA Media, Taylorsville, KY.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Returning from Upper Province.

James recently traveled from Freetown to Kabala to join in on the NHA Kabala School closing for Summer Vacation. A celebration of one whole year inside a building! Awesome! In the next words, James describes his trip home to Freetown....

Words by James Mansaray:

Late Saturday evening after the Nazareth House Apostolate School - Kabala closing ceremony, party and fun time for the NHA kids, symptoms of fever and fatigue knocked me down. As usual, I struggled with it in silence till the whole session ended that evening. I tried to suppress it with Advil but this only lasted for a short while. At this time I was convinced that it could either be malaria or Typhoid. I tried the malaria pill that was available there at a chemist store in Kabala city but it was no good and things got worse with more pain all over my body, fever increased and signs of stomach disorder too. It was an on and off issue and I was so weak to drive home back in that manner. Mama Vicki insist that this is the reason we now need to teach Kadijah to drive.

Finally, I managed to scrounge up enough strength to drive on Thursday. Driving slowly and fighting the fever we made the journey home. It was at this slow pace few miles to Masiaka that I noticed the car swagging the other way. I slowed down and parked. To my surprise, I noticed a burst tyre . Kadijah was like............ what are we going to do? Do you know how to fix this? I had never done this before but somebody had to do something for my beautiful wife, daughters and little ROO! Being a Papa, head of the family, is a really hard job. We wished a car passing by could stop and help, busy, they were all in haste. Kadijah was tending to a throwing up sick kid that Sanu asked us to bring whilst I was busy digging in the boot. Pulling all the stuffs we loaded trying to find the wheel puller, jack and spare tyre. I was soaking wet, sweats pouring out all over me, making me to forget about signs of the malaria. I was wondering how I'd ever get this tyre fixed and how I'd ever get all those stuffs back in that tiny car trunk.

Then the work began and I was finding it very difficult - which way to start? Luckily for us, a man passing bye called Issa Sesay decided to help; asking for nothing. We both worked it out and we managed to fix it well. This was a miracle and I gave him some medication (sent from NHA) and promised to see him when ever I pass that way. We at NHA are always lucky to meet help even when we are in our deepest worries. God has shown this many many times and am sure His eyes glisten as He smiles over the work that we are doing for the poor. I am sure He also smiles over my bumbling with the tyre, He likes to make sure I keep my determination. ...and through His grace, I will keep going...