Just a Link

I wanted to pass on a link to a blog I think you all would enjoy.  Jordan and Rachael Thompson have been missionaries here for almost 3 years now.  They first came so that Rachael could be our high school teacher.  After an initial 2 years term, they felt that God was directing them to continue in service here.  Jordan is now Maintenance Director, and Rachael is teaching the elementary kids.  We love them a lot, and are happy that they are staying on.

The latest post on their blog is about my ward.  The pictures are all from the other side of the ward, where they were under the care of Dr. Imelda Asaigo, at the time the photos were taken, but you won't care.  They are just as cute as the kids I take care of!

This is the link!  Bookmark it, and enjoy all their stories.

AB

Our Little Sisters

Nazarene College of Nursing, here at Kudjip has a program called "Big Brothers, Big Sisters".  The idea is that a staff or missionary couple "adopts" a group of students for the duration of their time in nurse's training.  The sponsoring couple will provide social and recreational times, spiritual mentoring, and friendship.

Judy with Loritha, Elis, Edna and Lavina.  Lottie was not present.

After talking about it for several years, this year we signed up.  Part of our motivation was that a young family friend is now a student at the CON, and wanted to be in our group.  The email arrived, announcing that we have been assigned a group of 5 young ladies, 2 first-year, 1 second-year, and 2 third-year students.  They are a diverse group, representing vastly different parts of PNG (except that 2 come from here in the Wahgi Valley).  Two come from single-parent homes.  A couple of of them have parents who are professional, some are subsistence farmers.  They are all Christians, coming from different denominations.

We had our first get-together last Saturday evening.  They came for supper, we visited, each sharing about our families and backgrounds.  We watched a brief devotional video, then we prayed together.  We agreed that we'd meet once a month for now, but we might revise the plan as time goes on.  We think it will be a lot of fun to get to know a few of the students better.

AB

A Surprise Visit

At lunchtime one day last week, a lady came to our door carrying a little boy.  She hadn't been sure how to find our house, but came looking.  She knew what Judy looked like, but hadn't seen her for a few years, so when she saw Becky Morsch who is of similar height, hair color and length and skin color, she asked her if she were my wife.  Becky explained that she wasn't but agreed to show her the way to our house.

When we came out, she introduced herself, and explained that her little boy had been one of my talipes patients a couple of years ago.  Those of you who read this blog regularly know that I've been treating talipes (also called "clubfoot") for several years now, and have seen several blogs about it, like this, and this and this.

She explained that the Lord had directed her to come to Kudjip and say thank you to me for what I had done for her son.  So she had gotten up at 4 AM in order to make the trip from her home in the Jimi Valley (the next major valley to our north) to come to Kudjip.  As far as we know, after visiting with us, she turned around and traveled the 6 or 8 hours back home that same day.  She brought a bilum (string bag) that she had made as a gift, as well as a bag of freshly-picked oranges.

Her son is Raymond.  He'd had clubfoot on his right only.  I got him to take his shoe off, and had a little ad hoc clinic there on my front porch.  He has experienced a mild recurrence of the talipes, with the mid-foot turned in slightly, but not enough to ask her to come back to the Kudjip area for the several weeks that it would take to correct it at this point.  He can walk normally, can run, will be able to play rugby when he's older and will have a normal life.  My heart was touched as this mom's gratitude, and thankful that little Raymond is doing well.

AB

Surprise Message

Two great organizations that work together ("wok bung", as we would say in Pidgin) to support the work of Nazarene Hospital are Hands of Hope Northwest, in Nampa, Idaho, and Nazarene Hospital Foundation, in Medford, Oregon.  HofH has a great ministry gathering medical supplies that are useful to hospitals like ours.  NHF acquires a variety of supplies, medicines and equipment specifically for our hospital here.  They partner together--Todd at NHF orders supplies and equipment from HofH, and then includes them in the containers he ships to us.

Our daughter, Amy volunteered at HofH for several weeks a couple of years ago.  Apparently, one day she was packing a box that she knew was headed for Kudjip, and obviously thought of her mom.  Judy manages the medical store room here, and her responsibilities include receiving the containers of donated supplies that come, unloading them, then sorting, distributing and/or storing the supplies.  Amy knew that there was a good chance that her mother would handle the bag of suture that she was packing.

We got a container from NHF a few weeks ago (see story here), but it wasn't until several weeks later while unpacking a box from HofH, that Judy found this note.  What a sweet blessing, and reminder of Amy's love.

AB