Homecoming!

March 12, 2023 

            

    

We made it back to Eastern DRC!  We have been in-country now for about 3 weeks.  It has been a huge blessing to re-connect with our friends and colleagues, and church family.  We had been missing our pets so much.  Our parrot Smeagol stayed on my shoulder for an entire afternoon and wanted to eat everything I was eating.  Birds are very social-it was heartwarming.  Our two dogs are in good health-our puppy has grown by leaps and bounds and our basenji appears to have “shrank.”  Emmanuel found his long lost chameleon in a bush in the yard-we are pretty convinced that it is the same one we set free 6months ago! We have found our village in a state of relative peace with some promising changes.

 

We are seeking the Lord regarding our next steps.  Coming here is like putting on an old pair of shoes. It feels like the same birds are greeting us.   We share fellowship with the same Congolese brothers and sisters that we been through difficult times with.  We are always learning how to trust Him daily, with our daily needs, for wisdom, for community, for confirmation of His plans.  

 

Two lives remembered 

Sometimes things happen in life that make us stop in our tracks.  I want to share something that happened this week in our village that has the power to bring people back to the church, to saving faith.  This happened in a context where tribe is “identity,” and almost the strongest influence in people’s life.  A young man of prayer in his 20s died of natural causes.  He was found in his house with his hand on his Bible and had written the verses from Ephesians: 4:1-7 .  He had no family or tribe here, and was displaced from his birthplace due to violence.  His parents are deceased.  He was a choir member of a church in the village and well loved by his church family.  This hit the church hard on many levels- a man without family connection, dying so young.  There was a delay as the church called people together to pray.  Meanwhile all the Brethren churches in the area came together and >1000 people came out to show love and support to him.  

 

This has been talked about widely in the area, namely the loving care shown to him and his memory.  His few extended family members came for the funeral expecting to need to contribute financially, but they found that everything had been taken care of.  It was shocking.  We have head that people are discussing returning to the Brethren Church.  People are stunned to see the love shown to this man, to see that his Christian family was his true family.  His Christian family was more binding than tribe.  

 

I have attended many funerals here and sometimes for displaced persons.  The hospital and local Brethren church puts together whatever resources are available for a proper burial.  But I have never seen something like this with so many people coming together to show love.

A long-time missionary, Dr. Ruth Dix, passed into heaven last week at the age of 88.  She spent much of her life here in this village and even in her later years she returned to come alongside the Congolese to rebuild the surgical work.  She and her husband Rich welcomed us into their home, to eat at their table.  Now this is our home and place of work.  We are grateful for her faithfulness to the Lord and His work that allows us to work here.   I opened my Swahili hymnal in church on Sunday and found her name “R Dix” inscribed in it.  Rest in peace, dearest sister.

   

“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.  O LORD, truly I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant; you have freed me from my chains.  I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the LORD.”  Psalm 116: 15-17

 

The young man who died this week was meditating on Ephesians 4 which says “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.  There is one body and one Spirit-just as you were called to one hope when you were called-one Lord, one father, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”  This is an exhortation for the Church in eastern Congo:  there is one true family and Father over all.

All that to say, God is not sleeping over this area.  Continue to pray for fruit from this young man’s life, for people to find their true identity as sons and daughters of the Living God.  Pray that the church would be united in love.

Lindsey

 

    

From Warren

It has been wonderful being back at Nyankunde. We still have lots of questions about the future, but it has felt like coming home.  

I’ve had the opportunity to deal with some very difficult and rewarding cases.  We have been seeing a lot of endoscopy cases.  We are the only facility in the area which is able to perform these procedures and we see many people who come in vomiting blood and near death.  It is gratifying to be able to do a (relatively) simple procedure and stop the bleeding.  Another recent procedure we performed was on an 11 year old boy who could not swallow because of a stricture of the esophagus. I was able to use a balloon dilator to open up the stricture so that he could eat and drink. His father was so happy when he left. We don’t practice medicine in order to be thanked, but it feels great to have such a happy and thankful family. 

Other challenges have been a baby with hypertrophy of the pylorus, on whom I was able to operate and essentially cure.  I’ve had skin grafts, a perforation of the stomach, and several difficult orthopedic and urologic cases. One particularly difficult case has been the treatment of a man who broke his neck and basically dislocated the cervical vertebrae. I was able to put him in cervical traction. It is a miracle that he did not die. These cases are an opportunity to tell patients about the love of God and the tender mercy that he has for us. 

So, I’ve been busy enough. Not too busy!  I’m not at the point in my life when I want to operate day and night.  I’ve got too many other things going on!  I’m also Emmanuel’s school teacher on Tuesday and Thursday and I want to feel like I have the time to do this.

Thank you to everyone who has prayed for us in this interesting and challenging transition. It feels like it has gone as well as possible.  We are taking things one step at a time and and we are trying to be open toward the calling that we have felt in this place.