Psalm 55:22 “ Cast your burden on the LORD, And He shall sustain you;
He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.”
I found it interesting, when I came across this verse in Psalms, that it does not say
Cast your burden on the Lord and He will take it away. It says rather that He will sustain us.
Lamentations chapter 3 carries the same message and also gives further instruction for how to stay under the burden: (v.26) It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. (v.28) Let him sit alone and keep silent, because God has laid it on him. And what is our hope and our promise? Lamentations 3:22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. (v. 23) They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness (v.25) The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
We all have days when we feel we just can’t take one more minute of “it” – we can’t take one more day – we can’t take one more thing. Burdens and trials are not the exclusive territory of the missionary. Each of us must pass through trials in this life. May we continue to uphold one another in prayer during these times, may we have the patience to wait on the Lord, and may we take heart in the great promise that “Through the Lord’s mercies, WE ARE NOT CONSUMED.” Thank you for upholding us in prayer – it’s not just a helpful thing, it’s the main thing!
Education
As we are down to four teachers for the 8 classes, we have decided to run a three-hour morning session for Nursery 1-3 and Primary 1, take three-hour break, and then run a three-hour afternoon session for our Primary 2-5. While not ideal, through the dedication of the four teachers who remain with us, it is working for now. We are praying that this is a temporary situation and that our staffing needs will soon be met.
Praise God, work is progressing on the school building! The frame for the roof has been completed, and we have received a quotation for the roofing sheets. Once we are able to purchase and install those, the roof will be completed! Of course, the work doesn’t end there, the next step requires many things to be going on simultaneously – ceiling, plastering, electrical, and plumbing.
Earlier this month, a 5 year old boy with severe congenital deformities of the legs was brought to Ministry of Mercy. His family has been taking very good care of him, but they are interested in his being able to pursue his education. They plan to return to admit him next month. He is a charming little guy and seems quite bright. We look forward to his joining our family.
Visitors
The summer promises to be a busy time with visitors. Already we have five different trips scheduled (some individuals and some groups) for the months of June through August. Pray for travel logistics both to and within Nigeria, safety and health while they are here, and that through their time here the Word of the Lord will go forth.
Kids
Our sweet baby Anne who arrived in February and who we told you about in our last newsletter, truly was improving and gaining weight well. However, after a few weeks, it became clear that she had hydrocephalus. Her head continues to enlarge, and the intracranial pressure will most likely cause blindness and serious mental handicaps. The surgery to insert a shunt is not really available here, and even with such surgery 1 in 5 children who have a shunt die before age 7. Anne will probably only be with us for a few months to a few years. Pray that the love she is shown during her brief life may be a testimony to her family. Pray that she will not experience too much pain, but will rather feel the love of those caring for her.
We continue to struggle with certain undesirable behaviors in our children – stealing and lying being specific areas of concern. Please pray that we will have wisdom in disciplining these behaviors, as the idea of discipline is not just punishment but also training. Pray that God will convict their hearts; for we know that it is only through that that there will be sustainable change.
Daniel came rushing to pick me up with the car. There was a baby in trouble. A child from the village (between 1 and 2 years old) had been taken to a local health clinic because of high fever, convulsions, and restlessness. The clinic had given the boy a blood transfusion, after which he convulsed and then went limp. The health worker pronounced the boy dead (but offered to give the family a letter of referral to the hospital). The family saw no need to take a corpse to the hospital, so they backed the child and took a motorcycle back to the village with him. On the way, the aunt who was carrying him noticed that the child seemed to be breathing. That’s when they rushed him to MoM. The boy’s eyes were open, but he was unresponsive. He was still convulsing on the right side and seemed to have suffered some stroke damage to that side. His reflexes were weak if there at all. His lungs were congested. Hydrocortisone and Rocephin were administered as well as breathing treatments, and an IV drip was set. For hours there was no change. The boy seemed to be facing severe physical and mental impairments if he even lived. Late in the evening, the convulsions stopped and his reflexes improved. Over the next few days, the improvements were amazing. He now seems to have recovered normal functioning and is not even suffering any stroke damage. Time will tell if he has any lingering mental damage, but he appears to be okay at this point. Our God is an amazing physician!
The rainy season has begun, which means lots of runny noses and coughs and an increase in cases of malaria. Please be praying for the health of our children and staff and for strength and wisdom for Sabo, our health worker, as he handles each case.
In April, seven of our church members were baptized (5 of our children, one staff member, and one youth from the village) – Ruth Jonah, Yahaya Kadri, Joshua Alhassan, Freeman Edeh, Ele Ogwu, Ojonoka Attah, and Omajihofa (Ebune) Edeh. Praise the Lord for this public profession of faith and pray that they may be strengthened and encouraged in their walk with the Lord.
We currently have 7 families in various stages of the adoption process, but we recently ran into some hurdles which have seriously endangered the successful completion of these adoptions. Please be praying for doors to be opened and for us to have wisdom as we deal with various government officials and agencies both in the US and in Nigeria. Praise the Lord that He has cleared the way at the US Embassy. The embassy has even admitted they were wrong in not granting approval. Three families have not yet completed the Nigerian portion of the adoptions, and the hurdle on that side is that the Commissioner of Women Affairs and Social Development has said that she will not be signing any more adoptions since a document has been brought to her attention that says that foreign adoptions are forbidden by Nigerian law. If we can prove our case, she may sign them, but if not she will refuse. Please be in prayer with us on these sensitive issues.
Miscellaneous
So they said I needed a new roof. It turns out that it’s more of a renovation than that. The changes to the roof require some structural changes at the front of the building, and we are also taking the opportunity to do some masonry repairs on one of the walls and to rewire the house. The frame for the roof has been completed, and roofing sheets are supposed to be coming this week; the masonry work is well underway and the carpenters will hopefully be able to finish up their work this week as well. Then will come the rewiring and the ceiling work. Following that, it will be time to start repainting and putting the house back in order. We are so grateful to all who have contributed to help us have a dry roof over our heads.
On Thursday, May 6, the president of Nigeria Alhaji Musa Umar Yar’dua died and the vice president, Jonathan Goodluck was sworn into office. Goodluck had been serving as the acting president for some time due to the president’s illness. This does not create too many changes at the moment, but national elections are in May of 2011, so this has a great impact on that race.
Random funny mispronunciation by Tom: In his attempts to start using more Igala, Tom has confused the word for poop with the word for witch. He will try to tell my helper that the baby has pooped and she thinks he is insulting her by calling her a witch!
