Fall Newsletter from Nyankunde: Happy Thanksgiving!

October Birthday Celebrations

October 11, 2016

Greetings and happy fall from Nyankunde!  Our BIG news these past few weeks is that we have a new baby African grey parrot named Nebo.  Emmanuel is having lots of fun playing with him and learning how to feed him.  

True Religion

I was so encouraged by one of my Congolese brothers last week who works in partnership with the health center.  I shared previously about a young girl named Neema, age 3, with tuberculosis who is walking for the first time.  She was discharged from the hospital 2 weeks ago and has been followed by a community health worker on a regular basis.  We have been ensuring that the family has food to eat, a dry place to lay their heads, and are taking their medications.  This is truly a vulnerable family, a widow and her daughter who is severely visually impaired with her children.  They have essentially little to no resources. 

My Congolese brother has offered to share one of his fields for this family to cultivate, as well as room to build a modest dwelling.  It is so encouraging to see a national make this sacrifice for someone who can’t do anything to repay them.  It is the Lord who sees such actions and will bring blessings a 100-fold for our modest investments.  This is true religion, to share with those in need and to help widows in their distress.  This is quite possibly one of the greatest highlights of my time here at Nyankunde…to see a family get back on their feet and to see people love each other so deeply from the heart and in doing so, love Jesus.  If the world would really take this commandment seriously, so many problems would be solved. 

James 1:27 says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted from the world.”

Celebrating Birthdays

Just in time for our birthdays (yes, we share the same day) my husband has completed an amazing tree house in a nearby mango tree.  It is essentially a big deck up in a tree with shade underneath.  He even installed a table and light up in the tree for hosting treehouse meals. There will be a railing all the way around it to keep kids safe.  He is a bit of an engineer/architect and is able to see design in the world around him. I am so grateful for his gifts and industrious spirit to make everything just a little nicer around him.  We hosted a birthday party in our treehouse for six Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) missionaries who have birthdays within a week of one another.  It was a good excuse to celebrate fall as well with mango pie, pumpkin cake, and spicy chili!  I am finding that I do miss the seasons, especially the colors and cool nights of fall.  I received two guinea fowl for my birthday from Warren, now added to our collection of outdoor chickens.  It remains to be seen whether they will “fly the coop.”  This was truly a unique birthday gift!

Our family is headed to Uganda with one of the other doctors, for a few days of rest, enjoying nature, and to make some necessary purchases for the hospital.  It has been a busy season and the best way to get a break is to leave Nyankunde.  Stay tuned for the fun and exciting adventures, maybe some zebras and giraffes!

Prayers

-Pray for our short vacation in Uganda, that it would be restful and an encouraging time as a family.

-Please pray for peace in the Congo, as we are supposed to have an election for President on December 19^th.  There has been a lot of violence in Kinshasa, as the election proceedings have been far from planned.

-Pray for our son Emmanuel to make great progress in his language acquisition (English, Swahili, and French).

-Pray that we would meet the spiritual needs of our patients.

If you would like to be on our postal mailing list or receive a prayer card, please send us an email and we will be happy to be in touch:  warrenandlindsey@gmail.com.

Blessings,

Lindsey for the Coopers

Passionfruit Harvest in September

September 6, 2016

Joy and sorrow.

This past week our hearts have been heavy as we learned of the death of a close friend after a serious accident.  We have also lost many patients lately.  It is pause to consider what we are doing with our lives that really matters.  It gives joy to remember who our friend was, yet at the same time it brings sorrow.  We know she knew Jesus and that we will see her again. 

Passionfruit flower, a beauty

"Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.  Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked...Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come."  2 Corinthians 5:1-3; 5.

Indeed, we are travelers on a journey and this earth is only a temporary home.  We have an amazing life ahead of us.

Peace and pain. 

Furaha is a girl with diabetes that we have been managing for the last few years.  After a long struggle to manage her medical problems, she developed kidney failure.  We did all we could for her, but in the end I sent her home on palliative care with her family.  God can do miracles and sometimes he does, we will see.  As I spoke with the family who has suffered and given up so much for their daughter, they can’t imagine having done anything else.  Life is so valuable.  Even suffering has a way of bringing out love.  There is peace knowing we cared for her, even though it hurts.  The meaning of her name Furaha is "joy" in Swahili.

Strength To Walk Again

I was reminded again this past week that we care for patients so that they can tell others of the goodness of God.  As patients are healed they bear witness to others, and God receives the glory.  So many times in the New Testament Jesus heals and the result is many people praising God, not simply the one healed.  My jaw dropped recently when one of my patients walked into the pediatrics ward for a clinic follow-up.  Delphin was hardly able to walk in April due to tuberculosis affecting multiple bones in his body.  After many arduous surgical drainages and lots of pain, the infection seemed to be under control enough to go home.  I had his story translated into Swahili and told the family to share the good news with their friend and family. 

Wbat a great kid!

What joy to see him walk with a smile on his face!  The purpose of this visit was to see if he should start the academic year.  I gave a wholehearted “YES!”

One of my other patients stood for the first time last week.  Neema is a 3year old who has been struggling for months with the neurologic complications of tuberculosis.  She has been all smiles these past few weeks, able to sit independently and swallow food.  Just as we were watching Neema stand, we asked, “Can she walk?” Her mother said “No.” I think Neema heard us.  In an instant, she walked towards the door, holding onto the bed.  It was as if she wanted to show us what she could do!  What joy!!!  Neema means "grace" in Swahili.

Not apple picking, but passionfruit picking

I have been reminded to treasure Emmanuel this past week!  It keeps me going when work is difficult to know that I can come home and play with him.  He is growing so fast and is really such a sweet little boy.  He is learning to communicate his wants and needs, so there is far less frustration on his part.  I am learning patience as we ignore the occasional tantrum and focus on the good things he is doing. 

Birthday celebration with Emmanuel's aunties

He was very interested in the video of a certain "baby" (himself!)

We took a fun trip together to buy passionfruit on Sunday.  We may not have apples in Congo, but we do have an abundance of passionfruit.  This is my new favorite fall activity.  Emmanuel was really excited to load the fruit in the car.  He wanted to help washing the fruit.  At one point we filled the bathtub full of fruit and warm water and put him in it!   We bought $12 worth of fruit and have over 15L of concentrate to make >60L of juice!  I do miss the temperate seasons here in Africa…so it is perfect to have little things to remind me what time of year it is back home.

We look forward to your emails and responses to our blog.  It helps us to feel connected to the rest of the world.  If you haven't dropped us a line recently, we hope you will do so.

Blessings and love,

Lindsey (for the Coopers)

I

Emmanuel, the Birthday Boy

August 28, 2016

Emmanuel’s Birthday

It has been a busy week in the Cooper household!  The BIG news is that Emmanuel turned 2!  Where has the time gone?  There are lots of kids pictures in this blog, as an aside or an apology?!  He ate his birthday candle and fed his cupcakes to the dog (not just one, but two)!  We have been practicing singing “Happy Birthday” for months now.  I think he was a little surprised when everyone seemed to be singing around him.  He liked blowing on his celebratory party streamer.  It is so much fun to see him growing and developing every day, learning new words.  Both Warren and I would like him to replace his repetitive “What’s that?” with another phrase.  I love little boy hugs and kisses and spending time in the afternoon with him.  Now that he is two years old, he prefers his stroller less.  The other day he ran all the way down to the airstrip with us and Cocoa, instead of riding in his stroller.

"Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from

him.  Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth."  Psalm 127:3-4  Children are truly a gift.  We are so grateful that the Lord has given Emmanuel to us.  We are reminded on birthdays to celebrate his life and dedicate the way we raise him to the Lord.

A Special Visitor

In addition we have had a special visitor with us this week, an American internal medicine/pediatrics ICU doctor named Nicole. 

The funny thing is that it took her 4 days to travel 500km from central Congo to our village in eastern Congo, by air.  It literally would have been faster to travel to and from Europe than to travel in country.  It is wonderful to have a new friend and colleague!  Our residents were able to hear about her area of research on the pathophysiology behind cerebral malaria/meningitis.  It is just crazy that we don’t really understand why some people die from the complications of cerebral malaria and others survive.  Her visit was such a blessing to us.  It is really beautiful to see how God can accomplish amazing things through people who are open to His will.  It was an encouragement to me personally to be able to see cases together and feel like I am providing good care to people.  We look forward to meeting the rest of her family someday and exploring ways that we can collaborate and encourage each other. 

Our medical staff with Dr. Nicole

Sports Team from California

We were blessed to host an evangelistic sports team from California at the end of July.  This is their fourth trip to Nyankunde to meet and encourage the youth.  The youth gathered in the morning to study the Word of God and be encouraged through Scripture.  In the afternoon they then taught each

Mek and Emmanuel are buddies

Sports team from California (plus Sheryl)

other and played sports.  They have maintained relationships with the youth over the past 6 years or so and know their stories.  Many of them have received scholarships to study at Christian universities, with the prerequisite that they return to work/teach in their home village.  This really is a highlight of the summer for many of the youth.  They develop leadership skills and close relationships with one another.  We housed the team in the guesthouse and organized their meals and life needs.  It is an honor to serve in this way.

The theme of their two weeks here was to “Racheter le temps” or “Buy back the time”, or in the words of Ephesians 5: 15:  “Be very careful, then, how you live-not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”  It is a very convicting question of how we use our time.  Are we making the most of our time to love others?

“You are what you eat!”

Have you ever heard the old adage “You are what you eat”?  People definitely have a good grasp on this concept, maybe better than we Americans do.  Food is perhaps the most widely discussed topic!  It is almost a personal question when you ask someone, “What did you eat today?”  What you are really asking is more than the food they actually ate.  You are asking for a little window into their world, their social support, knowing what they are planting in their fields (whether successful or not).  I have grown to enjoy the interaction of asking my Mamas which foods they are preparing for their children.  The most common plate here is foo-foo (cassava root) and fish with perhaps a cooked form of spinach on the side.  Whenever I get this food history I say, “He is a true Congolese kid!”

Often there is a partial understanding (or complete misunderstanding) about nutritional concepts, and   It is fascinating.  As Americans we have a lot of beliefs around food too.  When you are sick, don’t you need to eat chicken noodle soup?  If you have been sick, don’t you need to replenish your Vitamin C?  Maybe chamomile tea with honey for sleep?  During pregnancy women seem to require chocolate and ice cream.  You get the idea.

a lot of beliefs.

In Congo when you are sick you need to start with vegetable soup too.  I am told that carrots are necessary to eat when you are sick to strengthen your eyesight.  New moms need to eat squash leaves and beans to keep a good milk supply.  When you are anemic you need to eat more green vegetables.  It is true that green vegetables are rich in iron and can help with anemia, but the response is not immediate like everybody here thinks. 

There are some funny beliefs like drinking a red soda called Mirinda helping with anemia.  It is true that Mirinda will keep up your blood sugar though during a malaria crisis.  I think somehow the color of foods is more significant to people.

It is true that after weeks of an unhealthy diet lacking in protein, one begins to show external signs of swelling, lack of energy, etc.  A diet lacking in iron eventually leads of anemia, weakness and fatigue.  A diet high in fat/sugar is quickly seen in added weight and an increased waistline.  These are obvious things maybe, but often we don’t analyze the things that we eat.  We all need more fruit and vegetables, less processed foods.  So we are to some degree what we eat.

Prayer Requests

Please pray for Alili, a young boy that Warren wrote about a few weeks ago.  He is back in the hospital with respiratory difficulties and a mass pushing on his trachea.  Just minutes ago Warren was called into the hospital to do an emergency tracheotomy.  He almost died.  Pray for wisdom in knowing how to treat him.  He is such a special soul.

Pray for us as we continue to build our ministry support team.  If you are interested in being involved with our ministry we would love to hear from you.

Pray for new ways to invest in the hospital staff and various ministries.

Pray that we would represent Christ well in our words, deeds, and relationships.

Blessings,

Lindsey

The kid pile-up

...right before he fell over