Greetings
from the dusty trails of Ivuna! The trails upon which tread man and
beast, of which you can never be quite sure which you'll meet next.
Maybe it'll be the goats, scampering playfully as they scrounge for any
remnant of food left from rainy season; or the grunting, groaning,
disgusting, nosy pigs. Maybe it'll be the cows lumbering by, the
menacing look of the bulls only heightened by the set of horns
protruding grandly from their head, or the rooster, crowing with all
it's stately dignity. Most importantly tho', these trails are trudged
by the beautiful people of Ivuna, and these people have names, problems,
families, joys, sorrows, and souls. Which, of course, is why I'm
here.
The
other night we were discussing how easy it is to look on all the
negativity around us, and allow ourselves to be drawn into that. We
easily dwell on the sadness, the pain, and the wickedness of the culture
and people around us, and forget to rejoice in God through it all. At
times, we momentarily forget that if it wouldn't be for these needs and
wickedness, there would be no need to be here in Ivuna. It's very hard
for me to know how to allow my heart to be broken with the things that
break the heart of God, yet at the same time to walk in JOY, knowing
that I am a child of God. How can I carry the burden of the lost souls
around me and intercede on their behalf, yet not allow myself to be
dragged down with that same burden? How can I most claim the reality of
"casting all my cares upon Him", yet not become disconnected with the
needs I see all around me? I am learning some very intricate lessons in
all of this these days, and long to learn it in a much deeper way.
The
drama of sin escalates and diminishes around us on a regular basis, yet
sometimes the escalation phase seems incredibly strong. The last while
has seemed very much that way, as we watch dear friends of ours make
decisions that seems so incredibly wrong to us. I watch it all unfold:
the unfaithfulness in marriage, the wife beating, the drunkness, the
neglect of children... There are times that I wonder if it's really
worth the pain of loving people. Am I really making a difference? Is
it actually worth it? Does it matter? Emotionally, I flip flop back
and forth between righteous indignation, to sheer anger as I see human
beings mistreating other human beings- especially family members. I
remember the verse in Isaiah 45 where the Lord has promised "treasures
of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places.." I wonder
despairingly whether or not there are treasures to be found here.
And
then God, in all His loving tenderness and faithfulness, redirects my
gaze off the world around me and back onto His face, and I am reminded
afresh that I was not made to carry this burden alone. I am reminded
that these are HIS people, and it's His Spirit that needs to work in
their hearts- I need to do my part, but He has power unlimited to give
me the grace to walk in joy, even in the midst of everything. I came
across this song in our song book a few weeks ago, and the words really
put into writing what my heart cry is:
Give me the childlike, praying love which longs to build Thy house again;
Thy love, let it my heart o'er-power, let it my ransomed soul devour.
I would the precious time redeem and longer life for this alone-
To spend and to be spent for them who have not yet my Savior known;
Fully on these my mission prove and only breathe to breathe Thy love.
My talents, gifts, and graces, Lord, into Thy blessed hands receive-
And let me live to preach Thy word and let me to Thy glory live,
My every sacred moment spend in publishing the sinner's friend.
Enlarge, inflame, and fill my heart with boundless charity divine,
So shall I all my strength excel and love them with a zeal like Thine,
And lead them to Thine open side, the sheep for whom the Shepherd died." -Charles Wesley
Sunday,
the 24th, was a relaxing day for me- kept that way on purpose after a
very busy week, and looking ahead to another busy week. It was about
7:45 that evening, and we were all sitting around in various stages of
alertness, trying hard to concentrate on an English message that Tim had
on his computer. In the distance, I heard the sound of approaching
motorcycles. My ears immediately perked up, as something in my gut
feeling just knew they were headed my way. Sure enough, a hurried stop
outside the house and a frantic 'hodi' at the door, and this nurse and
her interpreter headed off into the dark night. We scurried across the
village, transporting my very badly burned 3 year old patient to the
clinic, where with the light of Tim's powerful flashlight, I began
assessing the situation and cleaning him up. I trimmed sheet after
sheet of skin off his small, shivering body and marveled afresh at how
much damage the hot pombe can do to a small, helpless child. Justin
barely struggled as I cleaned and bandaged his body- estimating him to
be about 70% burned. About an hour after their arrival, I had him
bandaged to be the best of my ability, and I was able to step back and
take notice of the crowd that had gathered. 3 motorcycles were parked
outside, and probably 9 people were crowded in, watching my every move
and groaning audibly as I plodded away on the poor child. Anyways, to
make a long story short, we ended up transporting them to the government
clinic where people sometimes stay the night, and got him settled in
there. We went out and bought at IV kit and NS for the poor child, and
the government clinic nurse whom we had aroused out of her house
inserted it. (A note to my nurse friends: don't judge me! I have yet
to insert an IV on skin so black, and at night and in such a dire case
as this. I would have given it my best shot if I would have had no other
choice, but was so thankful that the other woman was available!:) It
was almost midnight until we finally returned to our house and crashed
for a few precious hours of sleep. We were up again before dawn broke
the next morning, running out to stendi to find a lorry to take my
little patient and 2 women out to town. I cringed as I looked at the
incredibly FULL lorry that came through, and watched them lift the poor,
poor child all the way to the top. It made me rethink my "sending burn
patients out" theory. I felt very much like they would have a much
better chance with me and my some what crude set up here rather then
having to spend hours on a lorry on a rough ride to town. I've not heard
how he's been doing now, and often wonder. We gave them Trudy's phone
number, in hopes that they would contact us.
Clinic
varies so much from day to day. Some days are very busy, and other
days are much slower and relaxed. I'm so thankful for both types of
days. It's good to be busy and to feel the day fly by, but at other
times I just need a more relaxed pace. I've been dealing with all
manner of cases- burns, lots of prenatals, pregnancy tests, fevers, you
name it, I've probably tried to diagnose it.
I've
had several prenatal cases lately in which I found twins- which should
be a reason to rejoice, right? In this culture, it is not. I don't yet
fully understand all their superstitions and the spiritual aura that
surrounds twins, but it is very intense. They believe that twins
are conceived supernaturally, and are basically straight from the devil.
Rarely do both twins survive to adulthood here. We've used these
opportunities to encourage them that twins are a gift from God and are
something to be excited about! It's not "just that easy" to change the
minds of people who have been stuck in their "rut" of thinking for so
long, but we continue to try and to pray for much wisdom from God.
Our house:
We
are moved back in, and as each day passes, a little more gets cleaned
up or organized! It's a lovely house- much nicer then I expected to
live in here with the biggest blessing being the ceiling board which
really helps cut down on the heat building up under the tin roof. It
feels big and empty as Trudy and I are the only ones living in it at the
moment (and I'm still sleeping in my little hut across the path!), but
once the other girls return from furlough, I'm sure it won't feel quite
as empty! We're waiting for shelves and cupboards to be built for our
kitchen, so right now our pantry looks like partially organized
confusion. Hey, as long as we know where to find stuff, it'll do for
now, right?! :)
Tonight
while Trudy was putting together supper, I decided to work on cleaning
up our courtyard some more. We've gotten a lot done already, but
there's always more after a huge project like this. I started cleaning
up bricks that were lying around and raking together brush and junk that
found it's way on our property. Before long a crew neighbor children
in various shapes and sizes began showing up, and a few of them were
more then willing to pitch in and help! It was such a blessing to see
the dust fly (literally!) and watch yet another portion of the courtyard
become presentable.
Last
week, Trudy and I decided to rent piki's and ride out to Itumbula to
try to track down a tiny patient and her mama who had come to our clinic
the week before. She was having troubles nursing her baby and her
bottle was broken, so we gave her a new bottle and told her how to
enrich the milk so sweet little Anavesta would get more of the needed
nutrients. We weren't quite sure where they lived, but we set out in
hopes of meeting someone who would know who they were- and we did! We
were able to find little Anavesta and her mother and had a lovely visit
with them. They treated us like royalty- buying us sodas, and then
sending us off armed with gifts of food. It wasn't terribly fun to sit
on the uncomfortable 3 gallon bucket that didn't have a lid, but it WAS
fun to hold that tiny, darling child and get my fill of her
preciousness.
I
am currently struggling with the beginning of a severe head cold which
seems to have been passed to me from Teresa! I'm NOT impressed with the
sore throat, stuffy nose, cough, and headache combo, and ask for y'all
to pray that it passes quickly! It's very hard to be completely
available for those around you when you're feeling icky yourself. I'm
currently drinking some kind of funky tea with the addition of cayenne,
cinnamon, and honey to try to help the situation. At least it's
soothing my poor throat.
I need to sign off and get this overdue update on it's way. God be with you.
Kim
"With
all the resources of an infinite God available to them that ask, we
timidly beg for pennies when we could write checks for millions, and
strike a match when we could have the sun." Peter Marshall
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