Road Trip Again - Please Pray!

I knew that this day would come, but I have been dreading it, in some ways avoiding thinking about it.  You see, it is the day we head to Kigali, Rwanda to take Kelly to the airport.  

We have had a fantastic time with her over the past weeks.  It began with her arrival in Dar es Salaam after her missions trip in Rwanda and Uganda.  Then a short vacation to the island of Zanzibar.  After 4 days of total relaxation, we did the long drive across Tanzania to our new home here in Kigoma.  Kelly has helped us (once again) unpack and set up our house – to become a home.  She is a hard worker, has an eye for things, and is an encourager.  She's learned some Swahili over the weeks as well.  It has been blessed days to have her here for the summer. Every single day has been wonderful – I really mean that.  We savor our days with our kids.  Sally told Kelly the other day, 'why can't you remain small?'

This is one of the hardest things that missionary families face – saying good byes.  It is hard on all of us.  It will be a long series of flights for Kelly to get back to Detroit.  At least Sally and I will have each other as we drive back.  These drives are usually kind of quiet.  Tears are shed, and memories flood our minds.  I'm not trying to be dramatic, just sharing the truth.

When we say goodbye at the Kigali Airport, we won't see Kelly again till her graduation, May 2012.  The last time we saw our daughter Megan was August of last year.  I was blessed to see Adam in July of last year when I went to the USA for a medical meeting.  Sally hasn't seen him since May 2010.  This is really hard…

Our lives continue on by the grace of God.  Ours lives on one continent, and our kids lives on another.  We miss out on events in their lives, and they miss our presence.  We are so grateful for email, and for Skype.  We are thankful that we now can do video skype, but nothing can compare to a hug, sitting together drinking coffee, listening to what has been happening in their lives, seeing the excitement of new discoveries, offering advice, sharing what God has been doing in each of our lives.  We miss that one-on-one contact.  This is really hard.  I'm struggling holding back the tears as I write this, sitting in my chair in the living room, while Kelly does her toes and Sally is packing her things.  I know this is our last night together with Kelly in our home.

We knew about this when we began our life of missions service back in 1995.  Thought it would get easier as the years have gone by, but it has only gotten harder.  Sally and I are so thankful for our families back in Michigan and Ohio, how they have made sure our kids have a 'home' in the USA as well.  They have been a huge blessing to our kids, and to us.

So I ask, if you would, pray for us.

• Pray for safety as we drive to Rwanda and back.  About 220 miles of the road tomorrow is dirt, really bad, dusty, and dangerous.  The remainder  of the road that we will travel on in Tanzania and Rwanda is paved.  We never take it for granted that we will have a safe journey.  Pray for safety in my driving, in the other drivers, for our truck to not break down.
• Pray for Kelly as will make her long journey of connecting flights to get her to Detroit.  Pray that she will have kind seat mates, safety in flight, peace and comfort in her heart as she leaves us, and opportunities to share her love of Jesus with others that she meets along the way. Thanks Sherri for picking her up!
• Pray for Sally and I as we make the long and lonely drive back to Kigoma.  Pray we will experience the grace of God and the comfort of the Holy Spirit as we grieve sending Kelly back to the USA.  God has always been faithful and we know in our minds that he will be faithful again.  
• We thank God for the amazing support system we have that provides us with a great vehicle to make this journey (Toyota 4WD).  Thank you SBC churches for your giving each and every week that makes it possible for us to be here, serving Tanzanians in the name of Jesus Christ.  Providing compassionate Christ-centered care and hope.  All for His glory.
• Pray that Kelly has a sweet time of re-uniting with her aunts and uncles and grandparents and cousins and friends.
• This is hard…

Daily by His grace,

Larry and Sally

The Sting of Death; The Comfort of God's Promises

I knew it would happen eventually.  Practicing medicine in a developing country inevitably involves death.  The overall condition of people's lives is much poorer than in the USA for example.  There are many more diseases that are still present, like rheumatic heart disease, typhoid, and TB.  You may recall from my last post about a boy I was treating for complications of rheumatic heart disease and something more.  We decided that he likely had extra-pulmonary TB (TB outside of the lungs) and started him on treatment.  It was touch and go Friday and Saturday.  He died early this morning, 1AM our time Sunday.

I learned of his death when Sally and Kelly and I went to the ward after the church service.  We were met by his mom.  She told me he had died.  I was shocked.  I was sure he was going to get better, but he was really sick.  He is the first of my patients here at Kigoma Baptist Hospital to die.  I know he will not be the last.  I remember vividly to this day the first patient who died when I first began treating hospital patients in Mbarara.  In one week in Mbarara, I had more patients die than I had in 8 years of practice before.  Of course I had been practicing Preventive Medicine Aerospace, but even so, it was shocking.  By the way, it wasn't that I wasn't a good doctor, it was that the diseases back in 1996 were so severe and the patient's conditions were so bad to begin with.  I recall coming back to the ward the day after losing 2 patients and stopping at the door way.  I prayed "Lord God, please I ask you to help me not to become accustomed to death, not to become hardened to the pain and suffering, but also, Lord, I need help!"  God has been faithful to help me over the years to remain with compassion for the sick and their families.

After learning that her son had died, we prayed for her and then we returned home.  I called up Pastor Jackson and asked him what we as a part of Azamio Baptist Church could do.  He asked that I pick him up and we would go to the hospital.  The challenge was this mother had come from the village, 35 kilometers (21 miles) with just her sick son, and had forgotten her cell phone.  Her husband was on a journey to a town several hours away.  We decided that with the help of some of the church members and another pastor we would take her and her son's body back to the village.  After he died, his body was washed and wrapped in a sheet.  Then he was wrapped in another piece of cloth.  Four men sat in the middle seat with his body across their laps.  4 women sat in the back of the truck on the bench seats.  Pastor Jackson sat up front with me.  We stopped just outside of town at a market so a special white sheet could be bought to be used to wrap his body prior to being buried.  The church members contributed to pay for it.  We made the 1hr 15 min drive to the village of Kaseke.  20 km on paved, then 11 km on reasonable dirt road, and the last 4 km on a single track path to the village.

We went as far as we could with the truck and then the men carried his body to the family home, about 200 yards further.  Fortunately someone had been able to reach some family members and there were about 30 people waiting (not sure who all were but some were family and others were people from the village).  His body was placed in the house where it will lay until tomorrow morning when he will be buried.  His father will be back tomorrow morning.  The rest of today and tonight, people will offer their 'poleni' (like condolences) to the family and some will remain and sing throughout the night.  The pastor from Darajani Baptist Church in Ujiji stayed and will help to conduct the service tomorrow and then his body will be buried.  Gadson's mom, father, and 7 remaining brothers and sisters will be comforted by family and friends from the village.

Before we left the family and the village of Kaseke, Pastor Jackson shared some words of encouragement.  You see, just over a week ago, when he went to visit Gadson and his mom at his bedside on the ward, they both made a decision to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  The grace and mercy of God are so amazing.  I didn't know until today, on the drive to the hospital, that last Sunday, Gadson and his mom had gone to Azamio Baptist Church to give testimony of their decision before the church.  (We had gone to a different Baptist church last week).  Pastor Jackson told me how that both Gadson and his mom shared that they were happy to know that had received salvation through believing in Jesus Christ.  As a part of that church service, the members took up a special offering to help them as they had come from so far.  Twenty one miles to us Americans is nothing at all.  We might go that far just to go out to eat.  But for this family, it was incredibly costly to get to the hospital.  The generosity of the church family at Azamio was wonderful.

It is always hard to know what to say, and what not to say in the face of death.  Both Pastor Jackson and I shared a few words of encouragement to Gadson's mother.  Pastor Jackson voiced a prayer, and then we came back to Ujiji/Kigoma.

It's been a long day.  I grieve over the death of this young boy, only 12, but looked about 8.  I grieve for his parents and his brothers and sisters.  But I also rejoice in the promises of God that when as a believer in Jesus Christ, our time on this earth is over, we will instantly be in the presence of Jesus Christ.  God promises that as I write this, Gadson is enjoying the wonderful presence of his Savior.  And his family is being comforted by the Holy Spirit, by the Word of God, and by friends.

Please pray for Gadson's family.  For safety for his dad as he cuts short his trip and returns home to bury his son.  For his brothers and sisters as they grieve his death.  For his mom who comforted him day and night at his bedside in the hospital.   For those attending the grieving time tonight and the burial service tomorrow to clearly hear the gospel message.

I ask that you continue to pray for me as I endeavor to provide compassionate Christ-centered care to the people of Kigoma/Ujiji.  My one desire is that Jesus Christ be glorified in all that I do and say.  That people clearly see the love of Jesus demonstrated in our actions, and hear of the hope of Jesus when they come to Kigoma Baptist Hospital.

All for His glory…

It's all about perspective.

Two of the Inpatient Wards

This weekend I did my share of complaining and whining.  We went about 70 hours without power because the power company had no fuel for their diesel generators.  We live in a part of Tanzania that is completely dependent on the diesel generators as we are not part of the national power grid.  Our food in the freezer thawed as well as the fridge/freezer, but didn't spoil.  The weather was hot.  I complained. 

Of course, there were those reminders from God, like when I remembered the passage in the book of Philippians about being thankful in all situations; and Jesus' words about how he has given us his peace, and his joy…but still, some of us like to complain, and whine a bit too.

But we had food, we had water, we had a great house to live in with a beach, our daughter Kelly is still with us (she's on summer break), we are healthy, we have the Word of God, we've known and experience daily his saving Grace…as I said, It's about perspective.

"Serving Kigoma in the name of Jesus Christ"

Then today, I was really reminded of how good I really have it.  It doesn't at all sound fair, but this is what I experienced today at the hospital.  After our morning worship time and our clinical meeting, I went to do rounds on the ward.  We only have 6 patients on the ward (we can handle about 36 right now).    I carefully reviewed each patient (3 adults and 3 kids) and discussed what was next in their treatment.  A lady with a stroke that showed all the signs of impending death; infant recovering from malaria and dehydration; lady with acute pneumonia on a chronic one; a child with severe diarrhea and dehydration; elderly lady with a huge poorly working heart; a youth with cerebral malaria.  Each suffering the consequences of serious illnesses – and I was whining about no power…God forgive me for my pettiness.

After ward rounds I went to OPD (Out Patient Department).  What really shook me, brought me back to 'reality' was the 9 year old boy who was struggling to breath because of his heart disease.  He likely has rheumatic heart disease, a consequence of an infection that then turned into a autoimmune disease (were his body mistakenly attacks itself – in his case, his heart).  His mom shared his history of having gotten worse over the past months, but especially in the past few days.  I carefully listened and then examined him.  He was breathing faster than normal, and had a distended belly.  His heart was very big, noisy from a valve dysfunction, and his liver and spleen were enlarged from back pressure from his heart.  He has a 'shida ya moyo' - a problem of the heart that leads to lung, liver, spleen, kidney and other problems.  I finished my exam and explained to the mom that we needed to admit him to the ward.  When he heard it, he tried to hide the tears that came…and to think that last night I was whining that 'it's hot, I can't sleep good.'

I thank God that we have medications to help this acute problem, although he is likely past the stage where heart valve surgery would help him.  After OPD I went to check on him before heading home.  Got an oxygen concentrator for him (a machine that scrubs oxygen from the air to help him) and made sure he had gotten his first meds.  He was a little bit better, and was smiling this time when I saw him.  He and his mom had already been visited by Pastor Jack, our hospital chaplain.

I drove home in my air conditioned truck to our home on the lake, with electricity, and food, and water, and Sally and Kelly.  My heart is working fine physically, but it hurts a bit for this little boy.  I prayed for him tonight and will see him again in the morning early.   And to think I was whining about 'stuff.'

Take a moment to thank God for all you have, and for what He has done.

Azimio Baptist Church (ABC)

We had a great day of worship with the believers at ABC.  Last week, Pastor Jackson came by the house to introduce himself and invite us to worship with them.  Besides pastoring his flock, he also leads the morning worship time at the Kigoma Baptist Hospital Monday through Friday.  He prays with the staff and also with patients.  He has a passion to serve like a chaplain there.

He began the work at ABC back in 1998 where they met in the bamboo walled church building (in the distance behind the brick church).  Later, with help from various people, they were able to build the structure that they presently worship in.  Pastor Jackson and his wife Esther live about 100 yards from the church in the town of Ujiji.  (The church is called ABC because it is located in the area of Ujiji called Azimio). 

Ujiji is a town of somewhere in the range of 150,000 people.  It is said that it is >95% Muslim.  Ujiji is famous for a few things including being the starting point of the slave trade route which reached to Dar es Salaam.  It is also famous for the time in which Dr. Livingston was found by the reporter who is said to have said “Dr. Livingstone, I presume.”

We had a refreshing time of praising God through songs.  ABC has a choir that led some of the worship songs, but it was nice to see others in the congregation leading as well.  We were about 40 adults/youth and 20 kids.  It was really nice to see about 20 youth there, probably a 80/20 ratio of guys/gilrs.  After several songs,  we then heard a sermon on the truth that the Kingdom of God has come.  That we need to be about the work of inviting others to come to Jesus, to be doing the will of God every day, not just Sundays, to be overcoming the temptations of Satan and the world, and to live lives that follow Christ.  It was a challenging message.  After the message, there was a time of prayer for those who were sick, with each person prayed over by the pastor.  Finally, a closing song and prayer.  It was truly a wonderful day of worship.

Oh yeah, last Monday, we did get our container turned around by a crane at the port.  With the help of 6 stong guys together with Sally, Kelly and I, we got it unloaded in about 4 hours.  We’ve spent the week re-assembling, arranging, cleaning, etc. to get our home set up.  I think by the end of this next week, it will be looking pretty good.

Thanks for your prayers and support.  We are truly blessed to be here.  Tomorrow morning (Monday) we’ll be heading over to the morning hospital worship time to introduce ourselves and let them know I will begin working the following week.  I’ll post more this week.

Daily by His grace…

Our Plans, God's Plans.

Well, most days we think that we have things 'under control.'  And interesting idea and a bit arrogant to be quite truthful.  I was reminded of that today.  After traveling 1,500 km from Dar es Salaam to Kigoma, our container of personal goods arrived at our house.  This was the container of our things that we packed with the help of our MAF friends in Lesotho last January.  

We were really excited to see the truck arrive and for it to make its way down our rather steep drive to the side of the house.  Our plans were all in place.  Unbeknownst to us, the container got loaded on the truck with the doors facing forward against the front wall of the truck.  Apparently this is done to protect the contents from thieves that will jump on the back of the truck when it is going slowly up a hill and then proceed to cut the locks and open the doors and steal things while the truck is moving!

We were completely surprised to see it loaded that way, as we have no way to turn it around at our house – it weighs 9 tons!  The driver and his helper were apologetic but really they just delivered it.  After giving thanks to God for their safe journey (4 days) and the safe arrival of the container, I told them that even though we were surprised and disappointed, that God knew all along that this was going to occur.  That if we would just continue to trust Him, he would show himself to be faithful as always. At least that has been our experience in our walk with God.  He is faithful, and his plans are always best.

Well, I had an idea to go to the Port Authority as the Tanzania rail ends here and they do some shipping from here.  They have a 50 ton stationary crane that they use to off load rail cars.  They don't work today but tomorrow morning we will go there with the truck/container and pay to have them pick up the container, turn it around, and put it back on the truck.  Then back to the house to begin the unloading.  Then the work really begins.

I would ask you to pray that the crane works, that we have favor with the staff there as we have to get permission for them to lift the container, that they won't over charge us, and that no one gets hurt in the process.  Also pray that no one gets hurt unloading the container.  It has a lot of heavy stuff, and it has to be lifted down from the back of the truck.  There are no ramps and no lifts here.  I plan to hire 6 guys to help us.

All that to say, I am thankful that God is in control and I am not…

Be blessed,

Larry

Blocked roads and beautiful sunsets

It is a comfort to know that God is in control of all things.  As I sit here writing this update, I am viewing an incredible sunset over Lake Tanganyika.  It is our 3rd sunset to watch and it is incredible.  God is so good!

We arrived Wednesday evening after a long 22 hours of driving over two days.  The last 350 km of road (I use that term loosely) was sand and dust.  Probably half of the time it was only one lane that was useable.  In spite of that, we made it without one problem.  God is so good!

We arrived to find the Millers here working hard with some guys doing the final repairs on the house.  We are so thankful for the two weeks of hard work they did to get the house ready for us.  As I write this, they should be back in Dar es Salaam.  The night we arrived, we were blessed to have some time of fellowship with other like-minded folks working in this area.  It was a blessing.  God is so good!

Blocked roads…yep.  Found out from the driver of the container truck that another truck broke its axel and has completely blocked the road – that dusty dirt one.  He still has about 250 km to go so will spend the night with the truck, and God willing, the other truck will be moved to clear the road and he will reach here some time tomorrow.  God is so good! (This one is hard to say but it is TRUE.)  I am challenged once again by the Apostle Paul and by James as they write to remind us to give thanks in EVERY thing and that these things serve a greater purpose of God.  God willing, we will unpack the container on Monday.

We thank you for your prayers for our safety in travel.  We had a few 'close calls' along the way with a kid running out in front of our truck, and nearly hitting deep holes in the side of the road.  

Tomorrow morning we will worship in Azimio.  We look forward to that.  Thanks for praying.  God is so good!

Daily by His grace…

Almost Home! 930 miles to go...

Back from a restful 4 days on the island of Zanzibar.  Kelly (our youngest daugher) arrived from her missions trip in Rwanda/Uganda and we went to the island.  She'll spend the rest of her summer break with us.

Tomorrow morning, 5:30AM, Sally, Kelly and I head out from Dar es Salaam toward the far West.  We have a little over 1,500km (930 miles) of African roads to travel to reach Kigoma.  I tried to point out our trail on the map.

For over a week now, our house has been being repaired by David and Dorthy Miller and their daughter Cheryl.  We are so thankful for the hard work the Miller's have been doing to get our place ready for us to arrive.  God willing we will arrive on Wednesday (July 6th) before dark.  

Our container of household goods hopefully will be on the road tomorrow from Dar and get there maybe by Friday.  Then the fun begins with unpacking it off the back of the truck as there is no crane in Kigoma big enough to lift it off the truck.

Our path will take us through the middle of Tanzania over a variety of terrains.  For those who have never driven in E. Africa, imagine driving on a two-lane American country road, but with semi-trailers, other trucks of various sizes, busses, taxis, cars, bicycles, cows, goats and people, all sharing the road.  That's what we'll be doing for the next two days.  We expect to have two full days of about 11 hours each of driving.

We are excited about finally getting to Kigoma to begin the ministry that God has called us to there.   We really ask for your prayers for:

• Safety and alertness as we drive, and that our truck will function well.
• Safety of other drivers that we meet along the way. Remember it's 1,500km of two way roads.
• That our container of our 'things' will be able to be loaded tomorrow and arrive safely in Kigoma
• Safety for the Miller family as they head back to Dar es Salaam on Thursday.
• I know that's a lot of requests for safety but the reality is that driving these roads is dangerous.
• That we will enjoy the grace and peace of Christ as we drive.  
• It will be a time to talk with Kelly to get all of her news from the last 10 months.  We also have some great pod-casts from some of my favorite teachers (Piper and Keller) and some fun 'News from Lake Wobegon'

Not sure what the internet situation will be when we arrive there, but we'll post some pics and update as soon as we can.

Daily by His grace,

Larry and Sally and Kelly