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.

Gideon and Daddy

Owl calls

Yesterday Gideon was fussy in the evening. I took him outside and he calmed down somewhat when he felt the cool air on his face. He enjoyed looking at the trees and flowers as I walked around. But his fussiness broke out again as I walked back toward the house. Then we heard an owl. Gideon stopped fussing. The owl called a second time. This time Gideon stretched his neck and turned to look toward the sound. His breathing slowed way down and his arms went limp as he fixed his gaze toward the owl. About a minute after the owl stopped hooting, Gideon became fussy again.

Gideon

Dressed and ready for the day!

Concordances

God has enabled us to get some French concordances. I've been wishing
for these for years now. Finally, we have some, and we are excited.

At our last Bible school survey training in Kelo, we taught the people
how to use concordances. They were amazed and quite excited to not only
be able to see a concordance, but to be able to use it. Several people
said that the class on how to use a concordance was one of their
favorite parts of the whole week.