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What’s New at School:
(Dovene and Hannah standing with the Mason who oversaw the cement pouring for the new basketball court)
A new basketball court for our students! We are so thrilled to finally have the basketball court concrete completed! This basketball court has been a couple years in the making and we are so thankful for our student sponsors that took up the challenge to complete it! There was a holiday giving while we were on furlough in the US at Creekside Church of Christ in Texas where families who sponsor students took up the challenge to complete the court. We are excited and look forward to many outreach opportunities through this court as well as a lot of great times for our students. Thanks so much to our Texas folks who gave generously for our kids to have an awesome place to play! We will have to follow up with many more photos of games and tournaments to come!
School is also going well this year. The students continue to excel and have great attitudes. Please pray that every opportunity they have to hear about Christ would take impact as well. Our middle school building continues to progress too. Currently we have finished the extra electrical work that was needing to be done too. Praise God for his provision!
(The awesome kids that will enjoy the new court! This was our school photo for the 2015-2016 year. We are growing by God’s grace!)
Medical Ministry Update:
The work at the clinic continues on. We are so thankful for a team of workers there who always help things to go smoothly. We have had some transition with staff these past few months that has made it a challenge but thankfully the Lord always provides people with hearts to serve.
(Sara and Brittany during a moment’s pause on a clinic day)
We are thankful for Brittany who continues working with us as she is a big help both at the clinic and running out to the villages with our staff to see patients.
This past month we assisted a patient for a surgery needed to remove a metal rod in her leg. She had a bad fracture originally from a motorcycle accident that required the rod to be placed but has now had infection from the rod. She was able to have the surgery completed successfully and has since returned back to Vogan where we continue some basic wound care of the surgical site at the clinic. Please pray for Rose as she is a teenager and an orphan. Pray that through the compassion of the mission and the Lord’s provision for her surgery that she will be open to listen to the great news of Christ. Please pray that she will give her life to Christ and see that she is loved and valued by Him.
(Mafille and Paul, two of our staff, providing wound care at the clinic)
We also seek opportunities each day to share and encourage others at the clinic. This past month we had some conversations with a patient named Fioto. He had a wound on his leg that at first he believed was caused by an injection given at a clinic. Although this does happen often here, that was obviously not the cause due to the location of the wound and where he said he received the injection. When he heard that was not the cause he became angry. He said then it must be a spiritual attack. He said someone has done this to him (cursed him to have this wound) and he will find out who they are and they will pay. We spoke with him some time, encouraging him and reminding him of how God is already healing this wound. We reminded him how holding on to anger does not help but usually only causes more struggle in our lives. I encouraged him to forgive and to remember that God can accomplish great things even through the darkest times in our lives, and that it is even in those times that He is drawing us closer to him. Fioto acknowledged God is healing him, and said he believes in God. Pray for him though, as many people worship idols can say this but believe that by worshiping idols they are somehow worshiping God too. Pray that as we continue to share with him he would be changed by encountering Christ’s love and power.
Abundant Water…A well in Kodje sponsored by IDES!
Another thing that has gone on this past month has been drilling a well on the land in Kodje. This is the area where we have the farming project and new outreach going on at. In this area there are only a few hand dug wells that always go dry in the dry season. The people have no clean water source and even sometimes no water source. They will walk to the next village over in attempt to try to find water during the dry season. IDES has partnered with us by providing a grant to drill a well in this area. We know this will be a blessing and a way to reach out to the community here.
In order to drill the well they actually had to drill twice. The first time they did not find sufficient water at all. The company had to come out and re-test again for another site. We continued praying, knowing that despite whatever tests may say our Father is the one who created all water and is our provider. The second time they drilled water just started shooting everywhere. They were able to find 6-8 times the amount that they did in the first site, and it should be able to provide water even in drought. We thank God for his blessings!
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