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I don’t know when my charm started

Maybe it was the fact that I got so much attention when I was young

People in the palm of my hand

Toddlers at story time gathered round as 4 year old me read aloud in passionate voice

I know it got triggered one day

Concert in oxford park

Wanting to get near the bands

And mummy slips off

Alone

Into VIP area

Smoozes with the band Blue.

It was at that point

I realised

Charm

And a little bit of ignorance

Can get you anywhere

Fast forward to watching daytime tv

Resulting in X factor audition tickets

Turns out watching Maury (US version of Jeremy Kyle) can be valuable

Sweating hot in line

Seeing cameras in places

Hands on hips

Knowing eyes making contact

Cheeky Dallas morning news interview in place

pushing through crowds inside

mad dash for seat

close

but not close enough

push past the adolescent boys in Sperry’s and polo shirts

fire in my eyes

down the stairs to

Joanne

Just your average usher

Now

My new best friend

English charm

Patience my child

Center seats nearer the front

the hilarity of auditions

so much more vibrant than tv

the cutting yet true jabs of Simon

compliment Paula’s sweet sincerity

taping ends

crowd disperse

catch Simon heading towards audience

cat-like body traverses crowd

body in place

to shake hand

make brief polite conversation

“It’s nice to hear a familiar accent”

Charm

And a little bit of ignorance

(cheeky English accent)

Can get you anywhere

If you are willing to step out.

Imagine if I used my powers for good.

Adventure

There is never a dull moment in the Miller Household...
...And there is never a still moment when you are looking to follow Father God.

Our latest random journey takes us to...GHANA!!

In September 2008, Pais set up its first African nation in Accra, Ghana. The first team has three people, last year's team rose to ten; hopefully this years team will have more. The previous teams have seen incredible fruit, working in eight local schools, teaching hundreds weekly and bringing many into relationships with Father. They have also done outreaches, in partnership with the local church, into the nieighbouring poorer villages to bring supplies, medical aid and practically meet other needs.

The nation is led by Mawunyo Debrah, who was on Pais:USA 07/08 in Arlington at the same church as us. We both got to know her extremely well – she is a hardcore prayer warrior, often staying up through the night to pray for her teams, and is so faithful in all that she does. Though she has worked hard, the one area she has struggled in is long-term leadership to come alongside her. This upcoming year, everyone on the team will be new to Pais:Ghana, with only one person having done Pais previously (another familiar face – Carmen, who was on the team Steve led 08/09!). 

Previously, all of the Ghanaian missionaries had to travel to the UK to complete their Foundational Training. With such a large cost, this training excluded many of the apprentices from receiving the much needed training. This year, she has taken the bold step to provide the Foundational Training in Ghana, for her new teams. However, that is a large undertaking for her to complete by herself. 

Mawunyo’s need is simple – she needs help organizing and running Foundational Training.

With both of our experience on Pais, and with Steve’s specific expertise in running conferences and training apprentices, we both jumped at the opportunity to go out and practically help. 


Our need is simple - we need prayer and financial support. 


The rundown of our trip is as follows:

• Travel dates: September 3rd-September 15th, 2010 (yes, in less than a month's time!!)
• Trip cost: $4,300/£2,700 (this includes flight, visa, yellow fever vaccinations, malaria tablets, and a contingency fund - all food, transport, accommodation and activities are provided by Pais:Ghana)
• Role: Before - helping the planning of the conference (this has already begun)
• Role: During - delivering Pais training and supporting Mawunyo and the apprentices. 

We need to book our flights by Friday August 13th so that we can apply for our visas in time.

If you can help financially support us please contact us by email (sebrinamiller@gmail.com or stevemiller@paisproject.com) and let us know how much you are able to donate (so we can keep track of our current balance) and how you would like to pay (cash, US check, UK check, paypal or direct bank deposit for both our US & UK banks)

We know this is a very last-minute thing, but we really feel this is what God is calling us to do. For those of you who don’t know, Sebrina recently resigned from her role on Pais. She was offered a job with an adoption agency, but after three weeks of planning, visa issues meant that she was unable to take the role. This was extremely upsetting to us both, but we trusted that God was in control. Had the job gone ahead, we would not have both been able to do this trip, so we are seeing the blessing despite the storm. We are really excited for the impact that we can make on the teams and the blessing that we will be to Mawunyo. Please keep us and Pais:Ghana in our prayers.

Looking forward to hearing from you – please email us your thoughts and encouragements!!

Steve & Sebrina