Sadness

I am so full of sadness right now. I have dry and fresh tears on my face.
We were visited by a thirty-seven year old local lady who is not well. From
her symptoms and descriptions, she has hepatitis or AIDs or both. We have
counseled with her what she can do starting immediately for herself
(lifestyle improvements that will assist her liver and immune system) we
have prayed for her and will continue to pray for her. We have advised her
to go to the hospital and be tested to determine exactly what is wrong
before we assist her further. She said she has been to the doctor before
but the medicine didn't help her.
It is so sad to know that there are so many people in this country with so
many diseases that are so horrendous and so many are preventable. She has
six children. She is a person. So many times illnesses are statistics, but
these are people, real people with families, dreams, joys and pains. These
are all God's children, most of whom are being held captive by the enemy of
souls through wrong choices and circumstances.
This is going to be the hardest job of my life, being here, I think.
Helping people is wonderful and painful all at the same time.
So what to do now? I am very anxious for our container to arrive so that we
have all of our stuff so we can set up shop and be more effective. I am so
thankful that we have some posters with pictures that we picked up in Dar es
Salaam, so I could explain to the lady about her liver and why her eyes were
yellow and her skin was so itchy, etc. But we will have more tools when the
container arrives. We will have our supplies. My greatest supply is from
Jesus. I don't have to wait until the container arrives for This! He will
guide us through each of the cases that are brought to our door.
I talked to a local regarding AIDS and people's attitude and why it is so
bad here. It was heartbreaking. God's ways are perfect and they protect us
from so many diseases and heartaches. So much of the AIDS would never
spread if we were following God's loving rules of conduct. The devil is so
bad. I look forward to Heaven so much. While we wait and do our best to
hasten the day of our departure to Heaven, we will work to ease and prevent
as much suffering as possible.
Please pray for us to have wisdom, language skills, supplies, skills and
ability to meet each case as it arrives.
God is faithful. I am glad we are here. I pray that we do exactly as God
will have us in each situation. It sure is good for the prayer life, being
here and having people come to us for help. It doesn't matter how much we
know, if we do it apart from Jesus, we are not doing it right. I praise His
Name for His Goodness and Character. He will do marvelous things here. I
know He wants to. May we be found faithful every moment of the day.
Thank you for your prayers.