Just when we think that things will get easier, that we’ve
got everything under control, something else happens reminding us that we are
not the ones in control, God is. We are feeling pretty tired because we have
had inpatients for most of the month of April and May. Getting up in the middle of the
night to give meds wears you down pretty quickly. Most of the patients have had
typhoid but we have had some cases of pneumonia as well. One older lady was
carried to our clinic. She had been sick for a long time and had called all her
children to her house because she thought she was about to die. Eventually
someone convinced her to come to the clinic. She actually recovered fairly
quickly and when she realized that she wasn’t going to die, she was full of
gratitude. She was hugging us and telling us that we were her children now. We
were a little embarrassed and surprised too. Most people who come to the clinic
seem indifferent. A lot of the time we have to convince them to take medicine
or they are angry because we want them to take medicine and they don’t want to
because it’s bitter. We’ve tried all sorts of tricks for getting children to
take medicine and hiding the medicine in crunchy peanut butter on a cracker
seems to work the best. Anyway, it was nice to have someone say thank you when
we were so tired. With everything going on here, we just have to lean on God’s strength
and not our own. And while it is challenging, we can see how God is growing our
faith and trust in Him.
We also
had our 1st patient die. While we have heard reports of deaths in
different villages, this was the first patient that we were involved with. A
family came with three children and all were very sick. They had been sick for
two weeks already and were just now coming for help. Chris assessed them and
got clearance to send them all to the hospital in the lowlands. They were too
sick for the care we could give them in the clinic, so we arranged for them to
be carried out. Unfortunately, the oldest girl died on the way down. Because
the others still needed to go to the hospital, one of the missionaries brought
the body back to our clinic and the church members buried her the next morning.
It was weird because there was no funeral, not even a family member there to
say goodbye. I’m still struggling with that a little bit, thinking of how
different a funeral would be in the states. But the good news is that this
little girl has hope. The next thing she sees will be Jesus Christ coming to
take her home to live with Him for eternity.
Other
than working in the clinic, in my spare time I’ve still been helping with
farming. For some reason I thought that once the rice was planted, the hard
part was done. But that’s not the case. Once the rice starts growing, the weeds
start growing too. So we have to go through the field and pull them up. I have
discovered that I really like weeding. Maybe it’s because I can see the results
of my hard work instantly. I was weeding the other day and I had a thought. The
farm is like our life and the rice is like the fruits of the spirit (love, joy,
peace, patience, etc.). When we spend time with Jesus every day, it is like
letting Jesus work on the farm of our life. He wants to plant these good things
in our life. But the weeds are like sin, selfishness springing up everywhere
trying to choke out all the fruit. It is not possible to grow rice with the
weeds, it won’t produce any fruit. Also, this weeding process is continual. I
can’t go and weed a whole farm in a few hours. Maybe I’ll finish a little
section, but to keep up with the weeds I have to spend time weeding every day.
It is the same with spending time with Jesus. If we only spend time with him
once in a while, the weeds get thicker and choke out our spiritual life. Only
by allowing Jesus to work in our life, by spending time with Him every day, can
our lives produce fruit.
We appreciate everyone who is praying for us. It really makes a difference! Thank you!
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