While our four college kids in the US were returning to school after enjoying their spring breaks together in MN with grandparents our spring break was just beginning.
We traveled four hours to Abuja, the capital of Nigeria for a three day stain in a hotel. It was wonderful to have unlimited water, power, and air conditioning in addition to a beautiful pool. We enjoyed the pool side each day for several hours and I was reminded that it only takes about ten minutes before I begin to burn in the sun here. We brought food from home for most of our meals but we did enjoy some great food as we tried new restaurants in the evenings.
The downside of our break was to return home from Abuja hot and tired from the long drive and find that we had a couple of leaky ground pipes which resulted in us loosing all of the water we had stored in our high tank (hundreds of gallons). That meant NO running water in the house and only a little in our two ground tanks. It was a 'welcome back to reality' moment. I fetched two buckets of water before dark to use in the house and we washed up a bit but no showers. Twenty-four hours later the plumber came and we now have water in our high tank once again but none in our ground tanks as we pumped it all to the high one. We are planning to have a tanker of water delivered tomorrow to fill all our tanks which should last us a month. The rains will hopefully come before we get low again and begin to give us some water in our well.
With both ground tanks empty it was a perfect time to clean them out good. They get VERY green and disgusting in this heat. So today it was Jacob's job to climb inside them and bucket out the little remaining water then scrub them down and finally rinse them with bleach water.
Since I last wrote we have seen Gud Luk (Good Luck) and he is doing very well. He was able to return home from the hospital a week ago to the joy of his parents and sisters and he continues to thrive.
I received an encouraging visit last week by a former student of mine from JETS, Jos ECWA Theological Seminary. He is now an ECWA, Evangelical Church of West Africa, missionary in a remote village to the north. He came to Jos with his wife and young son so she could deliver their new baby in a hospital. He needed assistance to buy medicine for his wife and also told me about his ministry. He said that my English class continues to be a blessing to him as he studies to do evangelism and preaching in his area and he will never forget what he learned in that class.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Wow, what a month February was!
We have not gotten city water since my last blog on January 28. We are pumping from our well but only 5 min. a day as it is very low and we are in major water conservation mode. But so far we are doing fine and praising the Lord for that as many around us have much less in reserve than us.
Our son, Isaac was sworn in as a US Marines and left for basic training on Feb. 17. However, two days later he was told he was being discharged because they found he had glaucoma. This was a real shock to him and to us. How do you comfort your child when you are thousands of miles and oceans apart? He is now back in MN where he is looking for a job and waiting on God's leading in where to go to school again in the fall. Many people were praying for him in the past two weeks as he processed all of this and he is doing great. He feels it was a good learning experience and he grew tremendously in his walk with the Lord.
We have also asked many people to pray for a three month old baby, Gud Luk. He is the nephew of our driver and has had a blocked intestine since birth. He finally became too sick to eat so they brought him to their doctor. He was admitted and put on an IV drip but was too weak to have surgery. After two weeks and many prayers he was finally a bit stronger so the surgery was done. He came through it and is gaining strength! We feel this was a true miracle as we saw him a few days before surgery and did not think he would live. We plan to go back to the hospital he is in and visit the family tomorrow and again pray with them.
Rick has done quality control training for the lab staff this week and plans to do more in the coming weeks. He is also trying to help with the plans for a new building for the lab.
We just had two short term missionaries from the US leave after a month of work here. We will welcome a medical student from Switzerland on Tuesday and one from the US later this month so I have been busy keeping the apartments cleaned and stocked with supplies. We often have them at our house on Saturday nights for pizza and a movie and they come by to use the Internet occasionally.
We have not gotten city water since my last blog on January 28. We are pumping from our well but only 5 min. a day as it is very low and we are in major water conservation mode. But so far we are doing fine and praising the Lord for that as many around us have much less in reserve than us.
Our son, Isaac was sworn in as a US Marines and left for basic training on Feb. 17. However, two days later he was told he was being discharged because they found he had glaucoma. This was a real shock to him and to us. How do you comfort your child when you are thousands of miles and oceans apart? He is now back in MN where he is looking for a job and waiting on God's leading in where to go to school again in the fall. Many people were praying for him in the past two weeks as he processed all of this and he is doing great. He feels it was a good learning experience and he grew tremendously in his walk with the Lord.
We have also asked many people to pray for a three month old baby, Gud Luk. He is the nephew of our driver and has had a blocked intestine since birth. He finally became too sick to eat so they brought him to their doctor. He was admitted and put on an IV drip but was too weak to have surgery. After two weeks and many prayers he was finally a bit stronger so the surgery was done. He came through it and is gaining strength! We feel this was a true miracle as we saw him a few days before surgery and did not think he would live. We plan to go back to the hospital he is in and visit the family tomorrow and again pray with them.
Rick has done quality control training for the lab staff this week and plans to do more in the coming weeks. He is also trying to help with the plans for a new building for the lab.
We just had two short term missionaries from the US leave after a month of work here. We will welcome a medical student from Switzerland on Tuesday and one from the US later this month so I have been busy keeping the apartments cleaned and stocked with supplies. We often have them at our house on Saturday nights for pizza and a movie and they come by to use the Internet occasionally.
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