I, for one, know that I am certainly guilty of trying to place God in a compartment that I can somehow fit my finite mind around. My poor little brain wants to figure everything out in a way that makes sense, and I'm reminded {again} that this is a type of unbelief and totally uncalled for in one who wants more then anything to be recklessly abandoned to this God of the Universe. I'm so human and the big ME just gets in the way so often. I feel tired, or stressed, or misunderstood, or emotional, or overwhelmed. I focus on the mountains in my life and whine to myself that I'll never get over them... I'll never know Swahili fluently and be brave enough to really communicate. Or, when my brain gets weary of spending day after day working with patients and their many ailments- then the clinic can really begin to look like a insurmountable mountain. Today I'm reminded of the beautiful promises "I will lift up my eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and earth".
In my last update I wrote about the dust and the longing for rain. 2 weeks ago, on a Sunday evening much like this one...we got rain! It was not just a few sprinkles either, it was torrents of rain. Water pouring from the sky and running down the trails. We were all together eating supper together when the glorious sound swept across the tin roof and our supper items were abandoned in the delight of singing in the rain. That night we waded home in the pouring rain, wading through ankle deep streams and not caring at all at how soaked we were getting. It rained delightfully again on Monday, but that was the end of the rain spell. After a few days the dust began building up again and with the addition of humidity, the days have seemed even hotter. But yesterday beautiful lightening and glorious thunder ripped through the valley once again, and so we watch for rain to come again soon.
With the rain and the threat of more coming in the near future, our village has turned into a flurry of activity as roofs are repaired or entirely redone. Many people weren't prepared for those two rain falls and experienced some cold, wet nights. Houses are being quickly erected as the building season is soon over and we look forward to rain and everyone being busy in their farms.
Clinic has been very busy. They come in streams, filling my little waiting room and one by one coming back to share their ailments and problems with the mzungu (white) nurse whom they are SURE can help them. The nurse stretches her brain- asking questions and analyzing physical symptoms and all the while desperately trying to understand as much Swahili as she can. She wrack's her brain over the challenging symptoms that point to something beyond the scope of practice here and sometimes finally has to tell them that she can't help them. Other times she quickly finds the complaints to line up to a fairly common disease or illness and can give some direction on a cure. Yes, this nurse finds herself almost constantly pulled and stretched w.a.y. far out of her comfort zone and at times wonders whatEVER ailed her to think she could do this.
I enjoy my "hands-on" patients much more then just my diagnosing ones, as I feel like I can actually do something. Things like prenatals and wound/burn care...speaking of which, I have two rather interesting bandage patients right now, both of whom I've been working with for some time. The one came to me in July or August with 3 of his fingers on his left hand black and completely dried up. It was gangrene like I had never seen before- no smell, no pus- nothing but dried out, black skin pulled tight over bone. Over the process of time, he asked us if we'd be willing to help him financially be able to go out to the Ifisi hospital and get those fingers amputated, which we did. Now, he's been back for a number of weeks and I've been working at healing off the amputated stumps. It's been a lot of fun to watch them healing nicely, but most of all we share the gospel and pray that he will be attracted to Jesus through our lives and testimony. Our goal in helping these people physically is to give them a reason to believe that Jesus truly is real! My other patient is an older gentleman who was brought to me a number of weeks ago by a good friend of ours. His wound was on the foot, and a good 1/3 of the top of his foot was one open, raw mess. Upon closer inspection, I realized that his big toe had completely died and was causing the *incredibly* foul smell that went everywhere this poor man went. While they collected money to take him to town to have that toe amputated (after he asked if I would just be able to cut it off :-o), I continued to treat the wound. Last week he returned after the amputation and I'm working at healing it off completely. It's going to take quite awhile yet, but I've been so encouraged by the healing I've been seeing taking place.
A delightful part of life lately is that mangoes are now in season! It's truly a miracle after having very little fresh produce unless we went to town, and to now have mangoes by the ox cart load pulling into kilabuni. We got some to can and when all of us get together and pitch in, we have a lot of fun and get work done fast!
Last Saturday we decided to take off clinic and go to Itumbula to visit our Maasai friends. One of them just had a baby and since Trudy is soon going to be leaving on furlough, she really wanted a chance to see the baby. Teresa, Trudy, and I headed out on pikipiki's, but mine soon strung a leak in the back tire, so I ended up sitting by the road under a tree while the other one took Teresa and Trudy on. They ended up completely laid over in a mud hole, I later found out, but thankfully escaped with only minor scratches. Once I joined them, we walked about 15 minutes further into the bush where we spent a delightful few hours with our friends. It was so fun to see them again and enjoy the new baby as well as the rest of the children. We stopped by another patient of mine on the way home and greeted them- definitely a worthwhile day!
Yesterday, we decided to do the same thing, except this time we went a different direction out into the bush from Itumbula. This time it wasn't just Teresa, Trudy, and I, but Zack and Warren as well and we weren't in search of our Maasai tribal friends, but our Sukuma tribal friends. (Sukuma are cattle herders, and live out on the bush in order to have room for their cattle. They're a rich tribe.) Ever since I was involved with the Sukuma lady that we took to town with a transverse lying fetus in early July, I've been wanting to go visit them and it was finally happening! I was a bit nervous as we set out on foot in the general direction of some known Sukuma camps. I really had no idea where we were going, and no specific's on where these people actually lived. I felt a bit vulnerable, knowing that this was my idea and if the day turns out to be a flop and we're just led on a goose trail, then it was my fault and I had gotten everyone else involved. I prayed that God would direct us and lead us to the right place. As we walked upon several other Sukuma compounds, we asked if they knew the people we were looking for, and they kept pointing us on further, so I decided we must be in the right general area!
About 45 minutes into our walk out into the middle of nowhere, we came upon a large clearing with quite a few houses in a compound. As we walked toward the direction of their gate, I noticed a woman coming to meet us. Trudy was sure it was Sai {my patient from July}, but she had to get a bit closer before I actually realized that YES, it was her! And behind her came a crowd of very excited women and children. What an incredible welcome we got- hugs (which is a bit different then we Americans are used too- but just as special! It's an arms length hug with a corresponding "wah-oh" sound being vocalized by both people.) and more hugs. I immediately spotted the baby whom had caused the whole meeting, and snatched her up in my arms. Darling little girl she is, and way too cute. We were grandly ushered into a hot little room as the greetings continued. I was never quite able to figure out how and if the people were all related, but that really didn't matter. The children came in streams, standing there watching and grinning shyly when I acknowledged them and greeted. I noticed that none of the children responded to my traditional Swahili greeting, and later realized that they don't know Swahili. The adults laughed and smiled in a jolly fashion and proudly brought their babies for us to hold. We held babies and practiced kiSukuma greetings and learned more about their families and culture. They soon informed us that a goat was being butchered in honor of our visit, which felt so humbling as that is about the highest honor one can give their guests. This people group are a rich people, so it's not as much a sacrifice for them as it would be for our Sichela neighbors, but it's still humbling to accept such high blessings from them.
Hours passed. People meandered in and out, and sometimes we were left to ourselves which resulted in interesting, random conversations. Around 5:30, huge platters of rice and goat meat were delivered and boy did we dig in. By that time we were quite famished, and the food tasted absolutely amazing. I'm pretty sure it was the best goat I've ever eaten. After we finished, they packed up most of the leftover rice, as well as an uncooked goat thigh- hair, hoof and all- and packed it in the guys' backpack. We were escorted by most of the crew a good 10 minutes down the trail where long, drawn out goodbyes were processed. Pictures were snapped, hugs and handshakes given, promises made for more communication...and off we walked. I turned around one last time to wave a goodbye, and they all responded in unison. As we walked out to Itumbula, my heart was full. very full. It's amazing finding yourself so at home and so welcomed among a people as different from yourself as they are. It's incredible to feel connection, and to walk away with an incredible burden that they would find the TRUTH and that the truth would set them free. We were admiring the incredible cloud formations in the sky as we walked, and I made a comment about how that would be the absolute perfect cloud for Jesus to come back on. But then my thoughts went to my dear friends I had just left behind and realized that as badly as I want to go to Heaven, I don't want Jesus to come back until they've had the opportunity to know Him as well.
I feel at a low point in language learning right now. My current stage feels so confused and tough, as I understand so much of what is being said around me, but yet when I want to talk, I feel like Swahili is one humongous mixed-up conglomeration in my piddly little brain. I open my mouth and the wrong tense comes out. Or a word I can normally pronounce just fine when I'm practicing on my own becomes twisted and very ungracefully tumbles out and falls flat. I sigh and long for the day when I'm more fluent and have been making an effort to spend more time in study and reading. Which of course means that something else has to suffer- I don't get out to visit our neighbors much these days it seems, because til clinic hours are over, and the general house work is completed and I make time for language study...I find my days flying by at an unedifying rate of speed. Anyways, all that to say that I could really use prayer to keep pressing on.
And so, this concludes an update on my life. Please keep our mission team in your prayers as we face a lot of changes over the next few months with Tim and Sheryl and their family leaving on furlough in early January. Many changes and some rotating personnel will be keeping life interesting around here. I'm so thankful for my wonderful support team- I NEED y'all!
an ambassador for Christ, Kim
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