Christmas is a fulfillment of the promises of God

December 2023

 

Wishing you, our friends and family a Merry Christmas!  It has been a year of travels, all of us growing older (and wiser), dealing with challenges with Warren’s eyesight, and of “staying the course” with burdens that come with being the only medical missionaries at Nyankunde Hospital.  We choose to hang onto hope for eastern Congo and for the Church in this area.  We pray for the Lord to call other people to work in rural parts of DRC.

 

Warren provides much needed surgical services at Nyankunde Hospital.  He always seems to receive very challenging cases and does not give up.  He has initiated an ultrasound learning program between our sister hospitals in eastern DRC.  He dares to dream that bedside ultrasound will become part of daily patient diagnosis and care.  I, Lindsey, continue to serve as a pediatrician, caring for critically ill children often with malnutrition and infectious diseases.  My heart is moved by the needs in surrounding villages and a desire to work boldly across tribal lines. Rural life provides hobbies like processing cocoa beans into chocolate and raising rabbits.  Emmanuel is growing up in Africa in the village where he was born.  He enjoys reading Greek mythology and loves all animals.  Rural life provides hobbies like processing cocoa beans and raising rabbits.  We plan to be in the North Carolina this spring for Emmanuel to complete third grade with his classmates at Grace Academy.  

 

At Christmas we are reminded anew of the promises of God and His incredible love for us, in our broken condition, our broken world.  From the very beginning of time God had a promise to redeem His people from their sin and brokenness by entering into it Himself.  It seems that God wanted us to see all these  promises fulfilled in His Son.  Jesus would be born in Bethlehem of a virgin and would be called Immanuel (Micah 5:2, Isaiah 7:14).  Jesus would be born as a descendent of Abraham, and called out of Egypt (Numbers 24:17; Hosea 11:1).  He would be born into a time with incredible human suffering in Ramah and establish a new kingdom to “reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever” (Jeremiah 31:15; Isaiah 9:6-7).  Jesus fulfilled these (and many other) prophesies perfectly and proved His trustworthiness!  We can be assured that His promises for us are good.

 

We appreciate your friendship and support, your prayers for us.  It is a lovely thought that we are never alone, that we are seen and loved by God through each other.  Let us pray for our brothers and sisters in Israel and Gaza, in Ukraine, and all those who need a breakthrough and peace this side of heaven. 

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

 

Lindsey, Warren, & Emmanuel Cooper

 

 

-Here is an additional link to Epistle where you can sign up to receive updates by email:  

https://coopers-congo.epistle.org/subscribe

 

 

-To learn more about our ministry with Christian Health Service Corps or join our team:  

https://www.healthservicecorps.org/staff/dr-warren-and-dr-lindsey-cooper/

  

 

Why did God choose lowly shepherds to share the news of Jesus' birth?

December 17, 2023

Shepherds.  This year my mind has been trying to wrap my head around why God revealed the birth of the baby Jesus first to these humble, lowly individuals.  Why not someone more important or influential?  They were nobodies, outcasts of society, although everyone needed the lambs they raised for the sacrifice.  Was it just because they were out in their fields and would have noticed the sky?  Or was there was something in the heart of God, in His nature, that was drawn to share the news of His Son with them?  It was like God Himself wanted to call all His closest friends and tell them about this miracle.  After all Jesus Himself said that He was the good shepherd.  God understands shepherds, their sense of responsibility and watch care over these vulnerable animals, because He Himself is one.  If you were a chef and you came up with the most amazing preparation of lemon meringue pie, wouldn’t you call your likeminded friends to enjoy it with you? 

 

God may have shared the news first with the them because He is a shepherd, but another truth is that God valued leadership of shepherds.  Many of the Old Testament leaders who were shepherds.  Abraham, Moses, Jacob, Elisha, David, and others were shepherds before they were leaders (patriarchs, Prophet, King)!  It was an important and necessary livelihood, but it was not a glamorous one to live with animals.  David was selected as the next king when he was but a small shepherd boy.  Even from a young age David must have learned about being responsible for other living things, to watch out for the weak and to keep the flock together.  The qualities of leadership from being a shepherd are oftentimes overlooked.  He wanted the shepherds to have an important role in sharing this news with people of all societal classes.  If the news came to the shepherds, it must be news for all people.  It seems that God has always had his eyes on these people, beginning with Abraham the Father of many nations.

 

Fulfillment of prophesy is another aspect why God chose shepherds to see the Christ child.  God fulfills His promises to His people-both in small and big things.  Micah 4:8 speaks to shepherds being a “watchtower of the flock, O stronghold of the Daughter of Zion.”  To the shepherds it is promised that “The former dominion will be restored to you, kingship will come to the Daughter of Jerusalem.”  Out of Bethlehem…will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from old, from ancient times (Micah 5:2).  It is very likely that the angels appeared to not just any shepherd, but Levitical shepherds who watched over animals destined for temple sacrifice.  It is thought that the shepherds in the nativity narrative were watching their flocks on a plain north of Bethlehem in a place called Migdal Eder.  Did they know that they would be part of the fulfillment of this prophesy in Micah?  It is unlikely they would have heard the words of the prophesy read in the temple due to their uncleanliness.  Did they understand what Savior meant?  This might have made sense because they knew their sinfulness and need for an atoning sacrifice.  Imagine the JOY they must have felt to feel valued with such AMAZING NEWS that a Savior was born for them, lowly, lonely shepherds!  God Himself saw them and called them like valued members of a family to see the Christ child.  What a beautiful image!

 

The Savior of the world came in a way we would not expect and to people we would not have chosen.  The shepherds would have understood that all they really had to offer was themselves, not money or status.  They were in a position to humbly receive the Christ child.  We are told that they believed, glorified, and praised God.  That is a testimony that would have been interesting to hear.

 

Christmas in Africa is always more contemplative somehow.  I have never thought very much about these humble characters, the shepherds.  I LOVE that God chose them as worthy to share this news with!  I can imagine their joy to be entrusted with this news.  I hope this will inspire you to consider these humble shepherds and see that the Good News is for all people.

For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep...I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd my flock with justice." Ezekiel 34: 11-12; 16.

Blessed Advent!

Lindsey

 

 

Peanut Harvest

November 17, 2023

 

This week we are harvesting peanuts and rebuilding a chicken coop.  I am starting to think about what I will cook for Thanksgiving next week, to include peanuts...I want to cook plants that are harvested locally.  For those of you who have never harvested peanuts, it is a lot of work!  Peanuts are also known as “groundnuts” so they grow underground.  To harvest this crop one needs to pull up every plant in the garden (weed and crop alike) to isolate the peanuts.  Then you have to remove every peanut from the underground vine.  This is where children in this area get involved…eating and separating the nuts from the mother plant.  People sit under trees for hours, laughing and singing as they separate the peanuts from the mother plants.  An abundance of rain results in the peanut pods sprouting and developing root systems.  It is important to harvest peanuts at the right time before this happens.

 

Peanuts are an essential crop in central Africa.  They can be ground into a protein-rich paste/oil which is added to many vegetables like cooked spinach and squash leaves.  Peanuts can be preserved for several months between harvests.  They preserve just about the length of time (3-6months) before the next harvest is available.  I love how God created this plant to be preserved for just the right amount of time.

 

There is a beautiful older woman who brings me vegetables every few days who I affectionately call Tate, which means Grandmother.  She noticed that we were starting our peanut harvest and asked for a handful of fresh peanuts as she was leaving.  I brought her a handful of g-nuts in their shell which she received with a huge grin on her face, saying she would grill them with salt with her dinner that evening.  

 

I love that we can live close to the land and appreciate how God provides for us.  I love how Emmanuel can learn about plants in his studies and then go outside and practice what he has learned.  Our very lives depend on plants and their production.  I feel a thankfulness to my Creator as I participate in the harvest and processing of grain.  

 

Ecclesiastes 11: 4-6 speaks to the necessity of being diligent to work, to plant, whatever the weather and to leave the harvest up to God.  I can relate to this here in Congo where people plant fields in several places to increase their chances of success.  Then they work diligently and pray for rain.

“Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.  As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you can not understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.  Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.”

Blessings from Nyankunde and Happy Thanksgiving!

Lindsey for the Coopers

Miracles and Faithfulness in the Small Things

November 5, 2023. 

Multiplication of Black Soybeans

November 5, 2023

God can take what little we have and make much of it for His glory.  He wants us to offer our limited resources…like the widowed woman who poured a small amount of oil into many borrowed containers in 2 Kings 4.  She needed to pay her debts after her husband’s death in order to keep her children.  The miracle happened when she responded in faith to Elisha’s challenge and asked for help from her neighbors.  "Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don't ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side." Everyone became a witness to the miracle that Elisha declared for her.  The feeding of the 4000 and 5000 is very similar in that Jesus asks for their contribution and participation before He performs the miracle.  He wants us to notice the change and be part of the multiplication of the resource.

Even in our own lives (and garden) we see how God can take a small and seemingly insignificant thing and multiply it.  A recent example is our farming of black soybeans.  We had a bumper crop a few years back that we had to abandon due to insecurity.  It was very sad.  We were left with two small shoots and a few beans.  After several harvests, in an attempt to produce enough seeds, we now have enough to plant a plot of land again!  This is kind of what the Lord does when we give Him what we have.  He makes much more of it which results in fruitfulness. 

Why do I share this?  God is ready to work miracles in our lives, in the small, ordinary things.  He wants us to bring our needs to Him, use what we have, and do more than we could imagine.  What area of your lives do you need to see God work?  Take the first step by letting Him know your needs, ask for help, and the use whatever resources you have.

We appreciate your prayers for us as we get settled into life and ministry in Eastern DRC.

-Join us in giving thanks for a recent visit by a partner who supports our malnutrition programs. We have seen God multiply blessings through these programs to support the vulnerable in our community.

-Thank Him for the survival of a woman and child who survived a birth complication last weekend.

-Pray for on-going discipleship of the medical staff here in Nyankunde.

-Pray for medical needs of rural peoples in our region, access to safe surgery and birth assistance.

God bless you!

Lindsey for the Coopers

Speaking of small things, here is a small baby born yesterday.  Please pray for her.

 

5-Day Trip Back to Africa

October 25th, 2023

 

 

Back in Africa after a 5-day journey!  Travel simply takes a lot of patience and endurance.  We flew to Uganda (a night), drove across the country to the western border of Lake Albert (another night), crossed the lake to Bunia (a night), and finally to our home.  One of the big factors in travel is simply the fact that it is safest to travel by day.  It is good to be back in our African home.  

 

Our time in the US what full of blessings!  We made new friends, connected with old friends, attended/spoke at a medical conference inn Florida, follow-up for Warren’s eyes, and took a trip to Disneyworld!  We were able to stay with Warren’s cousin Joe and his family in Florida for several days.  Emmanuel was able to attend his school at Grace Academy for 3 weeks, have a sleep-over with a friend, go tubing on the lake, and just be a kid in North Carolina in the fall.   I enjoyed buying roasted chicken in the grocery to my heart’s content…broccoli and all of our favorites.  Somehow we squeezed in work on the house, while I did swimming work-outs and spread mulch.  We acquired/advised on medical equipment to bring back to Congo.  Our bags and hearts were full at the end of the month.  God has been abundantly good to us.

 

Sometimes it surprises me what is difficult coming back into this context.  I have lived 25% of my life here…it is familiar and I feel at home.  But you come back to happy but hungry pets, an empty pantry, and lots of sick kids.  People wait for you to come back to resume programs.  There are many needs…and I see suffering through new eyes.  I think, “wow children really do live difficult lives here.”  One needs to pull together reports on nutrition programs and make plans for the immediate future.  One needs to start home-schooling right away.  One needs to buy food, figure out what is in the garden, defrost the freezer.  There is always the question of how do I get something from here to there.  What is current price of corn of soy?  How can we accomplish the milling of grain?  There is a lot to do in the ‘slow-paced’ village.  It feels like we are farming several things, always processing a crop and preparing another.

 

Then things settle down a bit and a routine resumes.  We prioritize things and take care of things one by one.  We are thankful that Emmanuel does well with these transitions.  We are so thankful that he feels like he belongs in both places.  What a rich childhood-understanding and speaking two foreign languages, and having friends across cultures.

 

Medical Work

We share Emmanuel’s schooling responsibilities which means we both work less.  This seems to work out all right and concentrates our work days.  Today Warren helped maternity deal with two ectopic pregnancies.  He used a technique called “auto-transfusion” to drain blood that had accumulated in the abdomen and give it back to the patient.  It can be life-saving in an environment like this where blood donors may not be immediately available.  My morning was spent working with a new nutritionist on classification of malnutrition and how to evaluate progress.  The pediatric wards are getting a little facelift and new coat of paint.  I have a patient who desperately needs a mitral valve replacement and struggles with daily activities.  

 

 

Visitors

We have had more visitors recently which is always a blessing.  It hasn’t always been easy being the only full-time medical missionaries here, but we accept this.  This is a place that we care about and feels worth investing in.  We are hopeful that the security situation will continue to improve.  All of our health centers are open and there is more movement of patients.  

 

Prayer

Our hearts break for the suffering happening in the Middle East on all sides.  Israel is at war with Hamas and many Israelis and Palestinians have died already.  We pray for those who are suffering and we pray for control of this territory again.  It seems like the world is so troubled these days.  Maybe the world has always been troubled.  Lord have mercy.

 

-Pray for us as we continue to adjust to life back in Congo.  Pray that we would represent Jesus Christ in word and deed.

-Pray for upcoming visitors this next week who are coming to see our programs that support women and children.

 

Lindsey

Fall 2023 Newsletter

 

Emmanuel's 9th Birthday

August 2023

Emmanuel, you are so loved! Emmanuel is compassionate and creative, smart, and loving. We are grateful to God for giving him to us. We celebrated his 9th birthday this week. It seems like yesterday that he born here in Nyankunde and now he is 9! What a blessing it was to have missionary friends visit and the company of his Congolese friends. What a rich life he is living here in Ituri...learning about fixing things, climbing trees, learning French, taking care of animals, and making things like mahogany toilet seats!

The day before his birthday he came down with malaria, poor guy. Emmanuel wanted to have a party anyways, so we did. He wanted a coconut cake...coconuts we have plenty of but less egg whites and other things required in coconut cake. So we settled for making a candle hidden in a coconut and fresh coconut shavings. It was memorable.

Emmanuel is finishing up his malaria cure and even gave himself his own Artusinate injection (with assistance of course)! Somehow it feels better to have a little control over what is happening. He is a brave boy!

We are trying out Epistle as a new web platform for ministry updates: https://coopers-congo.epistle.org/subscribe us know what you think and sign up to receive updates at the frequency of your choice. We will continue to maintain this blog site as well.

Stay tuned for our biannual ministry update coming soon and news of upcoming travels in September!

The Coopers

My Worldview is Always Changing

July 30, 2023

 

Greetings from eastern DRC!  Thank you for the many e-mails, prayers, and support for Warren as he recovers from uveitis.  This has been a challenge for us, but we have known the faithfulness of God in part because of your prayers.  This will be a meandering of reflections and stories from Lindsey’s perspective.

 

Worldview

A conversation I had this last week sparked my attention towards the idea of worldview.  As the dialogue concerned the health of women and children in our province and how to best assist vulnerable populations, I realized how much my experience here has changed my view of the world.  I mentioned a pregnant woman who weighs 70lbs in an isolated, neighboring community.  There was silence on the other end to the line.  The question was, “What is the best way to promote women’s health and nutrition in situation of conflict?”  What a complex question.  The problem is multifactorial, but comes down to not being able to farm enough land.  Also there may be a lack of a man (or extended family) to help her around the house.  In the hospital, I find myself gravitating more towards the need for counsel for the whole family to make needed changes.  Educational programs are not bad in themselves, but by themselves are unlikely to lead to lasting change.  People need on-going relationships that can help them in their daily lives.

 

What is worldview and why does it matter?  I like this definition:  “A worldview is a collection of attitudes, values, stories and expectations about the world around us, which inform our every thought and action.  Worldview is expressed in ethics, religion, philosophy, scientific beliefs (!), and so on.”  Sire et al, 2004

 

Living in Congo continues to shape me.  Relationships are the fabric of society here, and I would say everywhere.  Strong relationships are the basis of health and progress, in childhood and into adulthood.  Young children need to develop strong bonds of attachment with their parents.  When attachment is missing, children lack confidence to advance in life, in academics and personal relationships.  They are more likely to drop out of school, etc.  When I see malnourished children in the hospital it is usually because of broken family relationships-things like divorce, substance abuse, absent fathers.  These are difficult things to solve and require much prayer for God to intervene.  However, I do have an opportunity to bring the family together and talk about things that they can do to improve the health of their child.  

 

After a pastoral counseling session with a mother and father of a malnourished child, the pastor turned to me and said something like, “Let’s give the father peanuts to plant.  This will encourage him to do something small to help his child.  We can visit him and see how things are progressing and work on this relationship.”  What wisdom!  This will be a wonderful way to stay connected to this family and may afford us opportunities to encourage their faith.  

 

What am I trying to say?  Simply that living cross-culturally, having cross-cultural relationships has enriched my life and challenged me to think differently to resolve problems.  

 

The Simple Things in Life

Recently I found myself ecstatic to discover an abandoned toilet seat!  We needed a new one and these are not easy to come by.  It is hard to find one the right size and that is well made.  In the USA I would simply go out to Lowes and buy a new one, giving it little thought.  People rarely have toilets here, simply latrines.  Well we took that toilet seat and installed it, only to discover that it wasn’t quite the right size.  My husband then suggested that we should have a mahogany toilet seat custom made.  This is what we did and here is the beginnings of our new toilet seat.  Stay tuned as it gets installed and goes into use.

                                                 

A Special Patient 

A women greeted me at the hospital the other day with a big smile on her face.  She was radiant with joy!  I couldn’t place how I knew her, but she knew me.  I simply welcomed her in Swahili and said that I was so happy to see her.  Warren informed me later that this was the woman who came to Nyankunde Hospital with an upper gastrointestinal bleed late in the evening with the hope of life-saving care.  It was a desperate attempt to save her life.  She underwent endoscopy to stop the vessels that were bleeding.  She received several units of blood and made it through the night.  A blood clot in her abdominal venous system was found and thought to be the cause of the on-going bleeding.  After many units of blood she ended up with a splenectomy as a last effort to save her life.  She survived and was able to return home to her husband and children.

 

The day she greeted me on the sidewalk was the day of her medical follow-up.  Warren asked her how she was feeling and she broke down in tears of thankfulness.  We learned that she had basically said goodbye to her children before coming to our hospital, thinking that she was unlikely to survive.  She was so grateful to God and to our hospital for working to save her life and re-unite her with her family.  

 

It is cases like hers that inspire us to advance in our medical knowledge.  Warren had not encountered a case like hers previously that required a splenectomy.  He is more likely to look for blood clots in the future in patients that continue to bleed.  The future of our patients is in God’s hands, but He does ask us to be courageous.  

                                   

Growing up Cross-Culturally

Emmanuel is growing up in a very rich environment.  He is learning where food comes from shelling peanuts with this neighbor friends.  He enjoys making things with his hands like chairs, treehouses, and life-size play airplanes.  Emmanuel is learning Swahili and Congolese dance like the rumba.  He knows local pop artists and has figured out how to play Swahili songs on Alexa.  He likes sugar cane and understands that candy is made from this plant.  He is creative with what he has.  He watches his friends “soccer moves” and imitates what he sees.  He notices the needs of others and offers to give clothing to those in need.  He knows that he is different, but he feels like he belongs.  We were a bit uncertain as to how he would adapt to not having English speaking friends in the village, but he has adapted very well.

  

Preparing for a US Visit

We are planning a visit back in the US in September for a few weeks.  Warren has been asked to speak at a conference for Samaritan’s Purse.  I will be joining him on one of the talks called “Medical Missions in a Conflict Setting-experiences from eastern DRC.”  We have been working on this talk for a couple of weeks.  It is difficult to know how to share our experiences with others…even how our Biblical worldview has been shaped by living in this place.  There is a need for courageous witness in many parts of the world.  Paul knew this.  He saw idolatry, the effects of false teaching, witchcraft, and even just wrong beliefs about God loving all people.  Paul knew that a Gospel witness was critical and found ways to continue encouraging the church through letters from prison or by sending others to bring encouragement (sometimes reproach).  We are living through a time when many people are asking if the Church is still relevant to their lives.  Does God see them?  Does He care?  The Church is struggling here.  We are listening for how God wants to use us here.  We hope to be able to share some of the burden we feel for communities in eastern Congo at this conference, from a health and spiritual perspective.  This a public health poster that is framed in our hospital, entitled "Health facilities save lives!  Don't attack them!  Protect them!"  

                              

 

We plan to be mostly in North Carolina this September.  We would love to connect with you!  Send us a message.  Thank you for your interest in our lives.  

 

We appreciate prayers for:

-Lasting peace in our region of Ituri Province and for more freedom of movement.

-On-going Gospel witness of Nyankunde Hospital.

-Upcoming travels to the US in September.

-Wisdom in raising our son Emmanuel and teaching him about the Lord.

 

“Finally, brothers, good-bye.  Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace.  And the God of love and peace will be with you.  Greet one another with a holy kiss.  All the saints send their greetings.  May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”  2 Corinthians 13: 11-14

 

Lindsey

 

 

 

 

My left eye - an update.

We are back at Nyankunde!  

This is what has happened, in a nutshell.  We went to Vanga Hospital.  I got uveitis, a serious inflammation of the left eye.  Despite appropriate management my vision deteriorated rapidly.  After two weeks at Vanga we left for Kinshasa to receive more specialized care.  In Kinshasa I  benefitted from excellent care.  I saw a Congolese ophthalmologist and I have been treated by a team of American ophthalmologists who came on a surgical mission trip.  Despite the treatment, my vision was still very blurry.  The initial thought was that this was a result of clouding in my vitreous humor, the jelly which resides in the posterior part of the eye.  More evaluation revealed that I was rapidly developing a cataract.  This is a common complication of uveitis, and the consensus was that it would continue to get worse and eventually need surgery.  

So, if something is going to get worse and eventually need surgery, why not just do the surgery early?  There are plenty of reasons to wait, I think.  It’s better to let things settle down before doing an operation. I had plenty of reasonable people tell me to take a vacation, just stop doing surgery for a while, and relax.  Unfortunately, if I was going to be back at Nyankunde, I know that I’d end up doing surgery.  It was just a question of whether or not I could do it safely with one eye closed.  There was also the fog, which made me feel disoriented and irritable. 

Long story short, I ended up having cataract surgery in Kinshasa and I’m now on the mend!  My vision is not perfect, but it’s much better.  Glasses will help.

God has shown us his tender mercies during this time.  It this had happened to us in Eastern Congo, I don’t know what we would have done.  There are no specialists here and we could not have traveled without our passports (they are still in some office in Kinshasa).  We would not have had access to the specialized testing that we received there.  The presence of this eye team was such a blessing to us.  Did God somehow know that our trajectory was to intersect with theirs?  On the day before we traveled to Vanga, before I even knew a problem was developing, we “happened” to meet an ophthalmologist, who ended up being instrumental  in advising us and facilitating our ability to see the team of specialists.  There were so many things that happened that make us realize that God knew what was going on, and he had a good plan for us.  As a Christian, I believe this, but I also find myself occasionally thinking, “Maybe this particular situation slipped past him.”

In John 9, Jesus explains the purpose of it all, the reason for blindness and for restoration of sight.  It is simply “that the works of God should be made manifest in him.”  The same was true for Saul.  The same is true for me. I can testify to the works of God!

Of course, I would have just preferred to have avoided the whole ordeal. It has been destabilizing and disorienting. My abilities to perform basic tasks have deteriorated. Lindsey and Emmanuel were so great in Kinshasa, making sure I didn’t step in an open sewer or get hit by a car.  Its going to affect my ability to do surgery, and it’s going to make me go slower in many ways. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not great.  Some days I seem to see ok in the left eye, other days not so great.  I have a different tint in my eyes, like the seeing a cool white on one side, and warm white on the other.  Things will get better with time.  I’ve also been on steroids, which has not been much fun.  It has made me jittery and causes me to wake up at odd hours.

I am thankful for the CHOSEN eye team who treated me with such compassion and expertise.  I am also thankful for Lindsey and Emmanuel who put up with me when I was not easy to be around.  They dropped eye drops, reminded me to take my medicines, accompanied me on countless trips to appointments.  They tolerated my irritability, and occasionally told me it was time to snap out of it.  They sat in Kinshasa traffic with me.  Emmanuel was such a trooper. Every morning he would hold up fingers and make me count them.  I am so thankful and proud of them.

I am thankful also for the many who supported us in prayer.  We were overwhelmed by the outpouring of concern and love.  

What a miracle of God are these eyes of ours. I’ve taken plenty of them out, for various reasons.  Believe me, they don’t look like much.  There is a little ball, filled with goo. How astounding that they let in light, focus the beam, and show us what is outside.  Sitting here in Nyankunde I can see the beauty of the world.  At the hospital I see the suffering of my fellow man.  I see something of the glory of God, and in my heart, I feel grateful. 

Warren