It has been a ROUGH week...

No ambulance.  No hospital.  No helicopter.  Miles from the nearest road.  Hours, perhaps days away from help.  No rescuers are coming.  What would you do?

It has been a really rough week for our family.  Dan fell while rock climbing and fractured his femur.  Also, Janell has suffered from abrasions on her elbow, a sprained ankle, a fractured left femur, a compound fracture on her right tibia, a broken pelvis and some broken ribs from a hang gliding accident and from taking a fall on base.  

In actuality, we have been going through Wilderness Medicine training this week we have all been taking turns pretending to be victims of random accidents!!  The rest of our class has to figure out how to patch us up and keep us alive until we can be transferred to a clinic or medical facility.  We are being taught by a Doctor and professionally trained wilderness medics from SOLO who’ve said what we’ll be taught in these two weeks is exactly what they teach in college medicine courses worth 8 credits! 

Last night during our “hands on” practice scenario, I (Janell) was the  victim of a hang gliding accident and I had to act like I had a broken left femur and a compound fracture on my right tibia.  They used professional acting paint and mortician’s clay to make it look like a bone was actually poking out of my lower leg.  It looked so gross!  I ended up immobilized by two huge makeshift leg casts.

Caitlin was made up to look like a stick had impaled her arm. 

It has been challenging, but more because of the extensive material we are studying than injuries.  We are perfectly healthy, our brains are just full.  We have been studying between 9-10 hrs a day and in a couple days we will begin teaching what we have just learned down the street in Nsongwe village.  I know that this information is going to be incredibly helpful as we continue to spend time with people who live in more remote areas. 

Please pray for stamina for us and our kids.  For the first time in their lives, they are being cared for by a babysitter for 9-10 hours a day.  (Their sitter Concelia is the cute gal holding the fish in the blog below!)  This will only last the two weeks of the medical course, but it has been a challenging adjustment for all of us!  It is also getting warmer here and it is hard to absorb the massive amounts of information while in our outdoor classroom when it is over 100 degrees F.

We really do love this and are so grateful for the chance to learn this info.   This coming week, we’ll learn how to deal with snake bites, tropical diseases and much more. Thank you for your prayers for us!

Gone Fishing...

“You have come to give us a gift.  I am ready to receive it.  I will receive it, not with one hand, but with my two hands open!” 

Early Sunday morning, Dan and 20 other missionaries headed out in one of Overland’s big trucks for the 7+ hour drive into the Nyawa chiefdom.  The age range of participants was 1 yr old up to a couple in their late 60s.  The Nyawa chiefdom has been the primary ministry focus of a family in Overland for 3+ years and there are over 400 leaders being mentored.  Obviously there is a wonderful ministry presence, but it is a huge territory and there are still many who have never heard.

This particular area was targeted this time because of a catfish festival where loads of people come for miles to fish.  Dan and the team had to walk for several hours to reach the place where the people were.  (different fishing holes were “open” or legal to fish at each day)  The men generally used spears to try to stab the fish and the ladies used cone shaped baskets to try to trap the fish.  Many of our team jumped into the river to help them.  The people were thrilled we were there and our attempts to help were laughed at all day.  This was “life on life” ministry as we earned credibility by helping.

The kids and I caravanned with 15 other people out to the bush to join the group on Tuesday.  That night, some teammates showed the Jesus film near our campsite and about 80 people came to see.  The next morning, we walked about 10 minutes down the road where there were people cleaning fish and smoking them over the fire.  They were delighted to sit with us for hours to ask questions about what they saw on the Jesus Film.  The group I was sharing with said they don’t have access to a Bible and often when they go to church, there is no pastor to teach them.  They were so happy we were there and we had a wonderful time of encouraging them.

Later that afternoon, Dan watched the kids and freed me to join a team to walk to villages to share the love of Christ.  After walking over an hour in the hot African sun, we reached a small village of about 15 adults and a bunch of kids.  A young Overland missionary named Derek had rode his bicycle to this village a year ago and gave one of the men a Bible.  They were absolutely delighted to see us and said that Derek, and now our little group were the only visitors they can remember coming to visit.

The oldest man there stood up and declared loudly, “You have come to give us a gift.  I am ready to receive it.  I will receive it, not with one hand, but with my two hands open!”  Derek said, “If you have ever wondered if God has forgotten you, we are proof today of how much God loves you.  He has brought us from far far away to share with you the message of His great love for you.”  For the next 2 hours, we four missionaries took turns sharing about the fall of man, our great need for a Savior, the death of Christ, the Holy Spirit our helper, how to listen for God’s voice, and how to share what we have learned with others.  They were listening intently and soaking in every word.  When we asked if anyone wanted to receive Jesus as their Savior, every adult and a few of the kids prayed the salvation prayer.

To be honest, taking the kids into the bush wasn’t all that comfortable.  However, with a little sacrifice on our family’s part, we got to play a small part in an entire small village receiving salvation.  It was amazing and TOTALLY worth it.