We have the great honor of hosting a team from Simply the Story, a product of the God Story Project. They are spending 8 days with us, training and equipping both our pastors and leaders to be able to effectively share the gospel amongst illiterate people. By the end of the training we hope to have bible stories in our pockets so we become a walking, talking bible amongst the Dinka people.
We have had such an amazing outpouring of love on our family in the last 24 hours through encouragement and prayer. What a joy to know so many are standing in the gap and praying for our sweet princess Hannah.
She continues to have temperature fluctuations which is common in malaria. When her fever is high, she’s really not doing well, but when it is low she’s just taking it easy. Yesterday she hardly ate and the little she had eaten was vomited. Praise the Lord though, she did not vomit the malaria medication and despite not having any food, she seems stronger today and has managed to keep down some small food. She also has water diarrhea, which is common also with malaria and can quickly dehydrate you, so we are monitoring her fluid intake carefully.
Tonight, as I am sending this, she has requested to get out of bed and come to dinner. We are so thankful for these small signs of improvement. MAF offered to send a flight to divert today but we really felt a peace about waiting it out here even though we are in the middle of nowhere in the bush of Sudan. She is not quite 48 hours on the medication and once we pass that mark we should start to see some significant improvements. It has not helped to have such hot weather, it was easily over 120 F today, one of our hottest.
Please pray for our precious Hannah. Yesterday she was perfectly well but this morning she came with complaints of a headache and slight fever of 100 F (37.6 C). I tucked her in our bed and went to devotions but when I returned after thirty minutes her fever had spiked to 102.6 F (39.2 C). So we gave her fever reducer, a cold washcloth and fan. The obvious next step for us here in Sudan is always to test for malaria. So we performed two lab tests, a rapid paracheck and a blood slide. Both came back negative but three hours later her fever went even higher to 103.3 F (39.6 C). With all these precautions we should have seen some small improvements. Her head is pounding and she is weak. Dr. Tom pressed on her liver and spleen, both of which were tender and a sign of possible malaria. So we are going to treat her for malaria even though the tests came back negative, which can happen when the malaria is in the very early stages.
We are asking for intercessory prayer for our daughter. Something has invaded her body and compromised her health and we are asking our Lord if He would remove all traces of this sickness. Pray for her healing, for peace in our hearts and for the Lord to be glorified through this trial. We thank our Jesus for each one of you as you pray for us and pass this onto your prayer chains.
“Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.” Isaiah 58:8
We are thankful for the few opportunities we get to take a break and refresh and reflect on what the Lord is doing. This Easter we visited Rumbek, 100 miles away and spent the weekend relaxing and fellow-shipping with friends. It was a wonderful celebration of our Lord’s resurrection. Our children got to take part in an egg hunt, which is not easy to find in the bush of Sudan!! I think you’ll agree, Jed looks very happy with his basket full of blessings! The best part was getting to cool down in air-conditioned rooms and jumping in the swimming pool. The rains are late this year and the heat is simply unbearable. But we are now heading into the rainy season and the storms are rolling in!!
The Lord has made so many things for our enjoyment and pleasure. In Sudan it is sometimes hard to find the beauty, especially in the dry and dusty season. But this weekend, while we were in Rumbek, we were reminded of the Lord’s amazing creation. This is my new friend I made in Rumbek. She’s a 3 month old chimpanzee called Sara that was rescued and being returned to a sanctuary in Uganda. She was so cute in her nappy and when we got ready to leave she ran after me and clung to my leg….so cute!! And Billy is a mischievous deer that sneaks up behind you and try to butt you in the bottom when you’re not looking! Cheeky fella!!