ADVENT, a time of anticipation, of waiting with hope

December 4, 2024

   

 

ADVENT, a time of anticipation, of waiting with hope.  Christmas is a busy time, but we are also forced to slow down by Advent traditions of singing hymns and Scripture meditation.  We try to incorporate these spiritual elements in our daily lives, but Advent beckons our hearts in a special way with so many beautiful traditions.  Together with Emmanuel we are examining the visits of the angels, the importance of every character in the Christmas narrative, and their receptiveness to the work of God in their lives.  Like the anticipation of gazing on the face of a long-awaited baby, we wait for an opportunity to meet the Christ child. This is prophetic of the second coming of Jesus also. 

“O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, 

O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem;  

Come and behold him born the King of angels; 

O come, let us adore him, O come, let us adore him, 

O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.”  

Let us wait with expectation and purpose in our daily lives, this Advent, but all year long.

Soccer Lessons

Emmanuel has been taking individualized soccer lessons with a local man who knows the game and is good at teaching it.  It has been very encouraging to watch them.  In a funny way, I am learning lots of life lessons as I listen to his feedback.  “Keep your eye on the ball!  Look up!”  “Fast feet, keep moving!” ”Anticipate what is coming next (the pass)!”  “Look for the pass.”  Sometimes I think we don’t have our head in the game of life and we need a reminder to keep our eyes on the goal.  Keep moving forward, don’t get discouraged or let your guard down.  It’s not to say that every moment of life has the intensity of a soccer game…sometimes it is like a solo walk in the woods.  But we are meant to keep moving, to keep pursuing what is important.  Make small attenable goals and keep them.  We are meant to live with intention and make the most of every moment-Carpe Diem.  But the Bible goes a step further as to WHY we should seize the day.  It says in Ephesians 5: 15-16, “Be very careful, then, how you live-not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”  

Cross-Cultural Humor

Sometimes I forget to share the everyday moments that bring a smile to my face.  Maybe it is a sign that we have been here for a few years already, but I think I am able to appreciate subtle local humor.  Some of the Swahili gets lost on me, but the essence of what is funny in this culture I am able to “get.”  A few weeks back I was preparing to discharge one of our malnutrition kids and the topic of follow-up came up.  She was from an outlying rural area.  I said that I wanted her to follow-up in 4 weeks.  She looked at me with a smile on her face and said in all seriousness, “How will I know when 4 weeks have passed?”  Everyone in the room erupted into laughter at the honesty of her question.  But seriously, when you don’t have a calendar or smart watch, +/-literacy-how do you keep track of time?  I have told people to collect stones or make marks on a piece of paper.  This time I said, “Is there a church in your village?”  She said, “Yes.”  To which I replied, “Go to church for 4 weeks in a row and then come back to see me.”  Again more laughter and smiles.  Everyone seemed in agreement that this was a workable plan.  The next day then as she was packing up her things to walk home, everyone applauded as she left with big smiles all around.  I said, “See you in 4 weeks!”

There is joy and humor in the subtleties of life!  

Our PetsThere is a lot of drama at our house everyday, mostly between the dogs, cats, parrot, and bunnies.  The cats tease the dogs, the dogs chase the cats (and anything that moves), the parrot thinks he is “BIG stuff” and tries to nip the dog on the nose…and we have to keep the male rabbits far from each other or they fight mercilessly.  Each animal needs their own personal space in which to live peacefully!  I am not sure if all dogs have such a strong prey drive or just ours?  It seems like animals in the US are somewhat more domesticated than out here in central Africa.  Now if you mix in the arrival of a wild animal (or a bunch of ants) and our animals go crazy. Today a forest cobra upset the apple cart when it came for a visit!  Shortly after its' arrival, it met its' demise. Let’s hope the dogs don’t get mix with any cobras!

Warren is always busy with projects around the house which everyone appreciates.  He made (with a little help from me) some beautifully engraved chairs with the first part of Psalm 121 on them.  This Psalm has always been a theme  verse for us out here, so it was a natural choice!  We put the beginning part on one chair and the continuation on the other.  Perhaps it will become a conversation piece in our house-pictures to follow.  

Psalm 121

A song of ascents.

1 

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

    where does my help come from?

2 

My help comes from the Lord,

    the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 

He will not let your foot slip—

    he who watches over you will not slumber;

4 

indeed, he who watches over Israel

    will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 

The Lord watches over you—

    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

6 

the sun will not harm you by day,

    nor the moon by night.

7 

The Lord will keep you from all harm—

    he will watch over your life;

8 

the Lord will watch over your coming and going

    both now and forevermore.

Blessings on your Advent,

Lindsey for us

Prayer Requests

-Pray for leadership of our hospital as they negotiate staffing challenges. Pray for the right handling of a recent situation at the hospital that involved theft of some surgical instruments.  

-Pray for security of our region. At the holiday times, theft can become a problem.

-Pray for a young woman we know who is struggling with a personal issue.

-Pray that people would desire to know the Lord and love their neighbors.

-Pray for Emmanuel to feel encouraged in his soccer, studies and friendships.

-Pray for a documentary film project in the works, that it will come together and bring honor to God.  We are excited for what this will become. 

Cooper Fall Newsletter

A Month Full of Blessings

September 11, 2024

 

  

Wow, what a lovely and busy couple of weeks we have had, with visitors, and lots of activity!  I will try to give you a few snapshots of our lives.  It is a blessing to celebrate birthdays together with friends who feel like family.  Emmanuel celebrated his tenth birthday with our visiting doctor, Ashton, who was also born in Nyankunde.  It was a bit surreal for Ashton’s mother coming back to the very room where she labored and delivered.  She even recognized the dark green walls through the chipped paint!  We greeted the babies who were born this year on the same day with smiles all around.  We celebrated with games and coconut cake, and special friends as Emmanuel requested.  

 

Then there was the first day of homeschool and more cake to celebrate the start of 4th grade!  It was as if we didn’t miss a beat with St. Augustine, Pilgrim’s Progress, and poetry by Emily Dickinson.  Latin will keep us busy this year.  We hope it will help us all with our French.  Warren and I are thankful for the opportunity to share in Emmanuel's schooling.

Missionary Baby Born in Nyankunde.  

 

The big news around here was that Baby Elijah Stafford was born here in Nyankunde on August 4th! He is the Stafford's fourth child and is growing and doing well. It has been fun to watch him grow and look older with every passing day. I have realized that birthplace is very significant. We pray that this will be a very important part of his life, being born here. It is an honor to be part of their lives and serve here together.

Laparoscopic Surgery. 

 

Nyankunde Hospital is officially doing laparoscopic surgery as of the last month or so.  Warren and Dr. Peter have been seen working on their knot tying inside a box, simulating a patient.  Now that we have dependable electricity and all the needed equipment, we are able to offer basic operations like lap cholecystectomy, lap appendectomy, and diagnostic laparoscopy.  It is such an equipment-intensive surgical approach compared to open approaches, but the recovery is much shorter.  We are hopeful that this will give the hospital other sources of income and be something we can offer for teaching young doctors.

Dr. Ashton. 

 

We have been so blessed to have Dr. Ashton Kilgore join our medical team (and family) for the past 3 weeks. She is an emergency physician with expertise in ultrasound.  She spent a lot of time with each of the medical services, helping us with diagnosis and various interventions.  She worked with our training doctors giving them some skills and talking about basic medical topics.  It is a joy to see the next generation of doctors…it is my hope that they are all like Ashton.  We pray for her next steps as she considers the future.  Maybe We will celebrate other birthdays together.

Filming Project 

 

We welcomed a Canadian friend for a filming project last week.  It was quite a process to obtain a VISA to come to DRC that involved at least 10 signatures, provincial offices, a lawyer in Kinshasa, and a trip to Ottawa to pick up his documents…but he came and we are thankful.  For me it is always a blessing to collect stories and conduct interviews of nationals as I always learn something about their lives.  Congolese are very resilient people, but they have also suffered a lot.  Even our night watchman, Edmond, told us about how he decided to move to Nyankunde.  Difficult circumstances (extremists) in the Oicha area caused them to re-locate.  He says that he has always been well accepted here by all the tribes in the area and that this was one of the reasons motivating him to come.  We were also able to do an interview with a Japanese missionary, Katsuko, who has lived in DRC for 50 years, mostly in Nyankunde.  What a blessing it is to hear her encouragement to the next generation to love well, be faithful, and work to adapt to others.  We look forward to seeing what he comes up with!  Beautiful drone shots, nature photos, and maybe a few personal ones mixed in.  Thank you Artur for coming!

Hospital Challenges & Special Patients

These last months our province has been lacking in tuberculosis medications.  For the first time in 12 years I have seen children die of tuberculosis without treatment.  It is incredibly sad and morally defeating.  The medications are available again in our health zone and I am hopeful we will be able to treat children again.  Yet this should not happen in the 21st century, but health inequalities are a reality.

I have some really sweet patients with congenital heart disease.  I do the best I can to manage their heart failure so that they can live well.  Today I told the little boy that we were going to watch his heart show on TV and this was very interesting to him.  It is easier to accept a child not receiving cardiac surgery because it is not as available in this part of the world.  It is my hope that someday I will be able to refer children for heart surgery.

Thank you for your interest in our lives and ministry.  We appreciate your prayers.  We have been encouraged, despite the everyday challenges.  The Lord continues to sustain and encourage us.

-Pray that our hospital would be a place of healing and encounter with the Lord.

-Pray for upcoming visitors to work with our anesthetists 

-Pray for our school year, for Emmanuel to grow academically and spiritually.  Pray for development of his Congolese friendships.  Many of his friends are beginning to study in the city.

-Pray for continued work on the hospital video project. Pray that it would honor the Lord and move people to pray for this part of the world..

Lindsey for us

If I can stop one heart from breaking, 

I shall not live in vain;

If I can ease one life the aching,

Or cool one pain,

Or help one fainting robin

Unto his nest again,

I shall not live in vain.

Emily Dickinson

Power!!!

July 2024

Electricity. You are probably taking it for granted right now. You flip that switch and the light comes on. It’s kind of amazing, but we see it as part of normal life. 

At Nyankunde we do not take it for granted. We are totally off-grid, in fact there is no grid. We have to generate our own electricity in some way. We do this through solar power or generators. Solar power is incredible, but it’s a challenge. You have to get the system working just right. If you happen to be in the rainy season, as we are now, it’s difficult. No photons, no electrons. That’s the simple math that we’re up against. Generators are also a pain. They are expensive to run, fuel is hard to get, they require maintenance, they wear out. Plus they’re noisy. Also you don’t feel great about the whole carbon footprint thing. 

The challenge of electricity is difficult at home. At the hospital, it is devastating. Sterilizing instruments, performing surgery and giving oxygen are all things that require electricity. The most important thing is simply light. Ever tried examining a patient, putting in an IV or sewing up an episiotomy by candle light, or the light of a cell phone? I have, and it’s not fun. So this is where we’ve been at the hospital for several years. We would occasionally buy lead-acid batteries, but they get tired after a few years. We found ourselves running the generator more frequently, but this was a huge expense for the hospital. Diesel fuel is around 6$ a gallon. 

The difficult part of the equation was that Samaritans Purse had purchased for us a solar power system with 60 panels and Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries. Unfortunately the wrong inverters had been sent and the system lay dormant for around 5 years. I had despaired that the system would ever be up at running. For several years I looked at 60 solar panels on the roof and felt sad that they had not produced one bit of useable electrical power.

God has his own time and his own way. He knew that in July 2024, the pieces would fall into place. Our long-awaited container arrived with the new inverters. A visit from our friend Dr. Bob Spencer (Cardiologist and all-round fixit man) would lay the groundwork for our team of electricians to come. Bob and I spent several weeks pulling wire, changing wiring, installing inverters, charging batteries, refurbishing the oxygen system, fixing autoclaves, installing equipment, moving generators and so many other things I can’t remember. I am handy in my own amateurish way, but I quickly reach the limits of what I can do. Bob brings a level of expertise and experience which brought us to the next level. Without his help we would not have been able to finish. 

Dave Bucklin and Peter Schmitz were on site for about a week. They completed the final stages of wiring, installed the oxygen system in the ICU and sorted through the complicated settings necessary to throw the final switch and make the transition to the new system. In all it was a long, hard month. I did very little patient care, thanks to the presence of Dr. Peter Stafford running the surgical department. Most nights I came home exhausted, after too much sun, too much heavy lifting and too much time in precarious places. Dave was down for the count for a couple days with a stomach bug, but he kept on going. 

The result of all the effort was that we have switched over to a solar power system with a huge capacity. We have a newish generator that is more suited to our needs. We have a new oxygen system in the OR and a refurbished oxygen system in the ICU. We have working autoclaves. With the new system we have not lost power one time. It has been an amazing, incredible blessing. There are already patients who would have died for lack of oxygen in the ICU, who have survived. According to Lindsey there are 3-4 babies who have survived because of this system.  

This project has been a shot in the arm for the hospital. I believe that it is improving our standard of care. It will represent a huge saving in diesel fuel alone. There is also a tremendous level of satisfaction knowing that we are using the energy of the sun to run the hospital. The system is also connected to the internet and there is an app on my phone which tells me how much energy we are using, what state the batteries are in and many other details that most people wouldn’t be interested in. I’ve been glued to this app and I just can’t get over it. 

God’s timing works better than mine. I’m learning a bit of patience. Congo is a good place to learn that you can’t just make things happen by sheer will and frantic effort. At this time we have the incredible joy of electrical power. The hospital has many a flaw and many a need, but for the past two weeks, when I’ve flipped the switch, the lights have turned on and that is a good reason to thank God. We also thank the many faithful servants at Samaritan’s Purse, who had gave generously of time and resources to make this happen.

Warren