Follow your promptings!

Wow, is all i can say.  It is amazing it is to me how God puts a small prompting inside and if you are obedient to that He will really put you to work.  I prayed today before we went to that little ‘village’ in the woods, that God would use us powerfully and He did!  ’  We packed up the car again not knowing what we would do or find, but with a goal in mind to just minister to the ‘people in the woods’ and in one hour, we had our hands full.   My goal is to be going a couple of times a week on our ‘down’ times if we can.   Jimmy and Amy went with us this time and took some sandwiches along with our toothbrushes and toothpaste and my medical supplies.   We didn’t make it too far in and we had all the work we could handle, we ran out of time and had to schedule some times to come back. 

 

We were very well received again and the placid memory of the first time we were there was again present .   I asked if anyone was ill in the community and over a period of about 30 minutes, there were enough people to treat .  There was one baby (one year old) with double ear infections and with what sounded like the start of an upper respiratory infection.  So, i am taking antibiotics to the mom later today.  Then as we were leaving, i noticed a woman whose face looked disfigured.  I stopped and asked her what happened to her face.  She said she had been beaten.  I asked her what else was hurting and she showed me her head.  There was dried blood throughout her hair and numerous open wounds from where she had been beaten.  Her face was full of scars and her right eye was destroyed from a previous beating she had received and had been hit in the eye by a bottle.  As we talked she said she was unable to see out of the other eye very well which kept her from getting a job.  Her eye filled with tears as she talked about her three children that she was unable to care for.  I told her we would meet with her again on Friday and bring her some clothes for them and i am going to just guess on a RX. for glasses and see if they help at all.  I also asked if anyone wanted to learn English (we took one of the girls from the house with us to interpret).  The group of women that were standing around got huge grins on their faces and all were very excited at the opportunity.  So, hopefully the teachers that are here can try and teach them some English.  We are going to schedule a time and see how that goes…. Can’t wait to see if that pans out… we will see… another excited opportunity!!! Pray, pray.

 

But one of the most significant interactions that came up was on my way out i saw a woman chasing after me.  She stopped me and told me she was two months pregnant with her first baby and she is HIV positive.  She said she is considering an abortion and her family is encouraging that as well.  I asked her what her CD4 count is and she said 234 (very low).  I wasn’t sure what to do other than to strongly discourage the abortion and told her of medications that are out there that can keep her healthy and the baby too.  It is possible for an HIV positive mom to deliver an HIV negative baby.  I could see hope in her eyes.  She said her boyfriend wants to keep the baby too.  We are going back this afternoon with mama to pray with her and to encourage her.  When mama heard of this woman she said ‘no, i can not allow her to do that… she will die from the abortion’.  So, we will be going at 1700 my time… She is scheduled on the 11^th to recheck her CD4 count and at that time she is supposed to decide if she wants the abortion or not.  Please pray for this woman and her gift from God.  I will keep you updated!! 

 

The boys were again amazing today.  They have such compassionate hearts.  They love to hand out toothbrushes and toothpaste and sandwiches.  As soon as we got back from the little town, james came to me and said ‘mom, quick, we have to go and buy a blanket so i can take it to them tonight, they said they are cold at night time…’ !  Way to go my son.  I can’t believe God gave me two boys with such wonderful spirits… Joseph just jumps right in and makes friends with the kids around and he sees the pain in their eyes and is moved to teas sometimes…. i am speechless when i watch them….. i am so blessed.  Thank you Lord.

 

For the fourth we grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and ate potato salad.  The kids made American flags and south African flags… it was a great time.  Sister ate a hotdog for the first time and said ‘if you aren’t going to eat your hotdog, i will’… J  so, she did!

 

Lots going on, keep the prayers coming!

We love you all,

Jennifer, Joseph and James.