Good Afternoon America!
As promised, the internet was down last night and I was unable to write. In tonight's installment of the team journal I'll catch you up from events over the last couple of days.
Both days have been spent at the clinic once again, with nearly the exact same routine as the first two. I believe I forgot to mention how many people we saw on Tuesday; our final count was 39 children, 87 adults with medical problems; 15 saw the dentist, and 150 saw the optometrists. Our numbers have been somewhat similar all four days.
Each morning we leave LJS at 8:00 and ride in the bus to the church. When we arrive, we set up our equipment and supplies for the day, just before a large group meeting. Each morning the people sing a song or two and then Raymond leads a morning devotional. While he gives the sermon in Swahili, we were told today that he spoke about the story of Mary and Martha. After the sermon, we return to our workstations and begin our day. Yesterday, Raymond requested that I bring the guitar to the church the next morning. Therefore, today, after the people sang one song, our team sang two songs for them. The songs of choice were "This is the Day that the Lord has Made" and "Jesus Loves Me." It was quite the elementary school flashback, but our team did well and we were well received.
Yesterday I had the opportunity to go and see Raymond's home. It was across the street from the church and up on the side of a hill. It took us less than ten minutes to walk to it, passing by other homes along the way. He has a nice home, where he and his wife live along with their two children and two nieces. His children's names are Happiness (Happi for short) and Emanuel. When we arrived at the house, Raymond started looking for the key that they hide under some rocks. Unfortunately, he couldn't seem to locate the key, so he had to call his wife from his cell phone to see if she had it, or if she would send one of the kids to come and find it. I laughed as I realized that this paralleled many American homes.
When we finally entered, we sat in his living area on his couch and talked for some time, and I had the opportunity to look through his scrapbook that Asbury made him when he visited Tulsa in 2004. Among other things, I saw the family pictures of the Millers, Daltons, and Lesters. I also saw the pictures of Raymond's experience of driving the Dalton's van; I wish I had been there to see that! He talked about how he was going to return to school in the Fall and how he would have to pay rent of $25 per month where he was, and he was worried about the funding for it. I experienced another reality check as I realized how this money was a great sum for him, as it is for everyone in Tanzania; yet for us it seems so small.
His home was by no means large for our standards, but it seemed nice compared to the other homes here. It was built on a solid concrete slab and had strong walls and a metal roof. The entire home was smaller than most one-bedroom apartments, but it works for their family. I noted that behind his home there was a small shed where he kept his goats. I asked him about them and he explained that he had six goats, and he was saving them so that he may buy school
uniforms for his children in the fall. All in all, I enjoyed the experience of visiting Raymond's home.
Our hearts pour out for these people as we continue to medically serve them. We've seen far too many cases to explain in a journal entry, but it's quite amazing to hear some of the stories. One man had a tumor growing on his shoulder blade that had been there for ten years and had been putting stress on his lower back for the past five years. We had one man that cut open his foot and tried to clean up the wound with battery acid; needless to say we had to send him to the hospital. We have noticed that when we ask a patient about malaria, we don't ask if they have had malaria, we ask when was the last time they had it.
Speaking of malaria, Linda, a nurse that lives at LJS, had it a couple of days ago (I mentioned her in the last entry; thank you for your prayers, she has fully healed). It amazes me the hearts of the missionaries who live here. For those missionaries who live here long term, we don't ask if they've had malaria, we ask when they last had malaria. Some of them have mentioned that they (only) get it about once a year; they say it causes flu-like symptoms, but there isn't much they can do to prevent it from affecting them. We were told that a family of six moved here and within 18 months, all of them had suffered from malaria at one point, and two of them had gotten it 3 times each. It's one thing to devote much of one's time to service; it's quite another to do it at the expense of one's health at times. The people here are not lukewarm about what they do; they truly are passionate for the African people and it is inspiring to absorb their attitudes and spirits. The Lord has truly blessed them with servants' hearts.
Last night we were able to attend the Wednesday night service that is held at the seminary. Along with many students, we sung hymns, listened to songs of praise by the choirs, listened to a sermon (in English), and received communion. We enjoyed the experience to worship alongside our Swahili speaking brothers and sisters in Christ.
My last topic of the day will concern our translators. Most of them are in their early 20s and live at the seminary. They have a variety of different aspirations for their lives; one is going to medical school in September, another is a Swahili teacher here at LJS, and another will be attending college soon. They have been so incredibly helpful this week; I can't describe it enough in this short space. Aside from translating for us, their attitudes have been very positive, never once complaining about being tired or hungry or anything else. They work hard and have been a joy to be around. Additionally, the cooks and all of the other people we have worked with have had similar attitudes and have been uplifting to our team.
As 8:00 local time approaches now, I must go to our nightly worship meeting. Please pray that we will have enough supplies tomorrow; the amount of drugs that remain is thin. The team is becoming slightly more tired, but grumbling is still rare. As a praise report, supplies seem to keep showing up like loaves and fish. As soon as we don't think we will have glasses for a patient, one pair seems to appear in the bottom of a bag. As another example, Scott Mays had a patient today that cut her foot open about a year ago, but it never fully healed. He gave her a bandage, but she wanted to run on it soon and would not be able to without a brace. He happened to bring along one foot brace on this trip, and it just so happened that it fit perfectly on the injured foot of his patient. Praise the Lord for the plans he had in store long before we came! Thank you once again for your continued prayers.
Ryan
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