If your wife is careless, just buy some ducks

I heard a piece of advice today. It is traditional African advice passed
down from generations ago.

"If your wife gets careless in the home with her duties, you don't have
to confront her with her problems. Just raise some ducks. Her problems
will go away."

While that may sound funny and illogical, it is true. Follow this logic,
as explained to me by our guard Yague earlier today.

It all started with the question whether a Christian should raise
unclean animals such as pigs or ducks. After we discussed that for a
while, he told me why he plans to keep his ducks even though he recently
was baptized as a Christian.

If your wife is careless and leaves water or food she is preparing on
the ground, it is likely to get dirty as sand and dirt is kicked up when
people and animals walk by. If you buy a pair of ducks and raise them at
home, your wife will quickly learn that the ducks will spoil and soil
anything clean left on the ground level. The first time the duck eats
from or puts his muddy feet in the family bowl of sauce, her lesson will
be learned and she will put food and water up high, out of reach of the
animals. You don't even have to talk to her. She will automatically
correct her problem.

So there you have it. An interesting piece of advice. Yague says that he
has a good wife. She keeps all food and water up high on a table or
shelf. He plans to keep his ducks.

Though the advice might seem good to Chadians, I don't plan to get any
ducks. I have a very fine wife who knows how to manage a kitchen without
ducks.

Solar MP3 Player story

"Do you have any more of those little things? You know, those things
with the little solar panel and the Bible in Nangchere? Will Jonathan
ever get more?" These questions have been swirling around the
neighborhood for a long time now.

Earlier, when we were trying out these little solar-powered mp3 players
to see how they would work in this harsh environment, we had loaned one
to our guard. It had the books Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John spoken in
the local language. He had loaned it to one of our workers who took it
home to his family. Here is their story.

Although this worker is illiterate, he is a hard worker and intelligent.
His wife, of course, is illiterate as well. When he brought a portion of
the audio Bible in his native language home with him on the mp3 player,
he and his wife gathered around to listen.

The stories they heard amazed them. Some of the stories were familiar,
but full of life and details they had not known before. Other stories
were new. As his wife listened to one story in particular, she was
convicted by the Holy Spirit that she must go find her child and
apologize to her for something. She felt compelled to do so until she
made things right.

Later, this woman commented to our guard, "If we could have this in our
family every day, our family would be different. My husband would be a
better husband and I would be a better wife. When can we have one of these?"

It is true. God's Word is powerful and brings conviction of sin. We all
would be better off if we were to have the Word of God on our minds
throughout the day. We would be better people, through God's power.

Sweeper lady

Sweeper lady is what we call her. Her name is Martha, and she comes to
our house almost every day to haul water for us and to sweep our yard.
She is one of many single moms whose husbands have left on an
"adventure." We give her a little money for the help she gives us.

When we arrived in Chad again about a week ago, she greeted us with
smiles and was so glad to see us back again. Strangely, she shook my
hand with her left hand. That would normally be considered rude in this
culture. Looking toward her right hand, I saw that it was wrapped up in
a piece of cloth.

"What's the problem with your hand?" I asked. She unwrapped it to reveal
a very infected and swollen thumb.

"How long has it been this way?" I ask. "About two weeks," she replies.
"What have you done to treat it?" I ask. "I found $1.50 and went to the
market and they gave me an injection and some pills. Now I don't have
the money for another injection," she replies in a hopeless tone.

Now she will just wait. If her thumb gets better, that is nice. If it
gets worse, well, too bad. She may have to amputate the thumb or hand if
it gets bad enough. She feels there is nothing else to do but wait and see.

I told her that I would be willing to help her if she was willing to
follow instructions faithfully. I showed her how to do hot and cool
water therapy and then how to prepare and apply a charcoal poultice. I
instructed her to repeat the procedure five times a day. Then she went home.

A couple of days later when she returned to sweep our yard, I asked her
how her thumb was. She had a large grin on her face and said, "It's a
little better now." Clearly, the swelling had diminished and the
situation looked better.

"It is God's power that is healing your hand. You keep doing your part,
and I believe He will continue healing your hand," I said.

Gideon

Gideon has been a little sick since Sabbath. Doctors don't think it is
malaria, as the fever started only five days after we got here. We did
take him to get a malaria exam which was negative. Olan and Danae think
the fever is possibly connected with the pink-eye infection Gideon has
in his right eye. His fevers have been low, from 99.something to
100.something range. Melody just took the temp again and it was 101.2
(rectal). Some seem to think it is just a bug going around
(the "welcome to Africa" bug).

Anyway, I thought you would want to know so you can be praying. You can
pray that Gideon will go to sleep soon instead of cry and that the fever
will go away. We are treating his eye with some ointment.