Amanda's a Good Neighbor!

Amanda McMillan, my sister-in-law, just won an award as a finalist for the 2005 Good Neighbor Gardener sponsored by Scotts.
Amanda served "... as the liaison between the Westmoreland County Food Bank and the 4-H program" and she "...challenged 4-H members to donate their extra fruits and vegetables to the County Food Bank and participate in the Food Bank’s gleaning program by helping to harvest produce at local farms. "
Last year she, along with a team of 4-H clubs, donated 3,261 pounds to a food bank in their community.
There is a short article about this on Scotts website at http://www.scotts.com/index.cfm/event/Article.Detail/documentId/731a812467be05397697e6322d8d635e.
Way to go Amanda! We're proud of you! (see photo of Amanda)

Macha Hospital

A waiting room at the hospital Abby works at here in Macha

Get your 25 cents worth!

An area that has taken some getting used to here in Zambia is the currency. When we got to Lusaka, Zambia, the exchange rate was around 4,900 Qwacha to 1 US Dollar. It is sometimes hard to get my mind around that! In this picture, Abby is holding up the equivelant of a little less then 25 cents (US). The initial thought is that everything would be much cheaper here, but that is not necessarily the case, even with food items. This 25 cents would not buy you very much! (maybe a piece of hard candy)| 

Less then two weeks!

Its so hard to believe! We're going home in less then 2 weeks. It's funny, I remember arriving in Nairobi thinking, "I can't believe I'm actually in AFRICA". Now, in only a little less then 4 months, it feels so normal to be here, that I can't believe that I'll be heading back to the US!
Abby and I have been discussing the idea of culture-shock. It is strange to think about, but we have not experienced any culture shock that we can think of. AIM, the missionary organization that we went through, told us that everybody goes through culture shock of some sort... but like I said, we can't figure out when we did. We have also been wondering if we will experience the "reverse" culture shock upon returning to the states. I don't know if only being in a place for 4 months qualifies someone for this, but we do feel at home here. Does anybody have experience with this? Abby did experience reverse culture shock when she returned from Cote D'Iviore, West Africa as a young teen. She had lived there for 4 years, and in France for a year before that. She also went to the local French schools, so she was really immersed into the culture. It took her quite a while to adjust back to the US. I should have her write about her experience!

We are excited to go home, especially to see family and friends again, but it feels strange, and I know that I'm going to miss Macha, and we already dearly miss Kijabe.
God is good though! He will take care of us, and it is always exciting to know that, while He always takes care of us, He doesn't always let us know what is around the corner and is NEVER boring!

An ant hill - think it's big enough? 

No description needed! 

Another view from the boiling pot. You can see Victoria falls in the distance. 

Victoria Falls

Here is my wife standing in front of the "boiling pot".

Victoria Falls!

We had a great time at Victoria Falls - one of the seven natural wonders of the world! It was good for Abby and I to get away and travel for a few days, and Victoria Falls are as spectacular as advertised!
We left on Monday morning (4:55am) to Choma in a pickup truck (I got to ride in the covered bed for 2 hours on a very bumpy dirt road!). We arrived around 7ish in choma, and got together with another group of missionaries who were traveling to Zimbabwe for a retreat. Since their route went right through Livingstone, we got to tag along for a free ride with fun people! We arrived in Livingstone at 10am, and were dropped off at our little backpackers lodge, called Jolly Boy's. We spent Monday recovering, walking around town, taking care of errands (a trip to any town is an occasion!), and eating yummy food!

On Tuesday, we spent most of the day at the falls. It was an incredible sight! There are 3 paths you can take, one takes you directly to the bridge that runs right in front of the falls, another takes you around a ridge that overlooks the gorge and the falls from a distance, and a third that runs between these and takes you into the gorge itself to the "boiling pot" a little ways from the base of the falls. We started with the boiling pot. It was quite a hike! Rather steep and very rocky at times. We loved it, but it was at some points difficult, especially going back up! We were glad we did not try to end the day on that path! It takes you through a rain forest, which is only there because of the incredible plum of mist from the falls, to a rocky spot next to the river below the falls.

Next we walked along the ridge path, which was also beautiful, and ran across a troup of female baboons and their babies. They were very tamed, and would walk right by you close enough to touch. Very cool! The views from the ridge were, of course, amazing!

Lastly, we walked to the bridge that ran directly in front of the falls. Its hard to really describe how incredibly wet you become as you walk across! On the other side is a small island along which a trail runs the length of the Zambian side of the falls... it was like walking under water falls at times and at other times just a gentle mist. It felt very nice after the first hike! The power of the falls was incredible and it was aweinspiring to look down the falls and not see the bottom. David Livingstone, the missionary explorer, saw these falls (long after local Africans had described them as "the smoke that thunders") and was struck by God's handiwork.

We finished our day by walking above the falls and found ourselves on a small rock just 15 feet from where the water rushes over the top of the falls into its great depth below. It was scarier to see the pictures afterwards and realize how close we were to that power!

We enjoyed some lovely restaurants - lots of seafood, a sunset on the Zambezi river, and even some icecream (Abby's special treat!). We were quite impressed with our cheap youth hostel lodging that was clean, safe, nice, and relaxing. Finally, the journey back demands some mention - we were told that a bus would leave for Choma at 10:00am, we decided to check at 9:00am to see when the next bus was leaving. At 9:15 we were snagged by a guy who wanted us to ride his bus. "What time does it leave?" "At 9 hours" "But it's already past 9 hours..." blank look. "Get on! Get on!" We paid our fee and got on a mostly empty bus... and waited... and waited... the bus can't leave until it's full. So we waited. We finally pulled out at 10:45 with a bus that was a little TOO full. We glanced at the time and were a little nervous. There is ONE bus from Choma to Macha that leaves at "14" (i.e. 2:00pm) - and that bus leaves on time!! But, after several police stops delaying us further, we made it in time to get a seat on the bus to Macha, albeit beneath sacks and jugs of something. Thank you Lord!

Now Abby works the next ten days straight including, of course, several calls. Pray for her as she works and learns! Josh is busy arranging for life Post-Africa and we are anticipating a BUSY time in May and June before we settle in Massachusetts!

This is my beautiful wife looking at the water! Macha Zambia makes for beautiful walks! (and so does my wife) 

This is the water next to the damn about 1.5 - 2 km's from our house 

Off to Livingstone & Victoria Falls!

Tomorrow morning at 4:55 am we leave for Livingstone and the Victoria Falls! We're very excited! We're hiching a ride with a group from Macha who are passing through the town for a retreat, and then will take a bus back to Macha on Wednesday. We'll let you know how it goes then!
The actual name of Victoria Falls is Mosi-oa-Tunya’, which means "the Smoke that Thunders".

On Call in Africa

Last night my wife, who is a medical student (graduating May 15th!), had a tough night while on call. I thought that some who might not have received the email might find it interesting so I've pasted her email below. I'm glad I don't have call!


Dear friends,

I am writing this letter after a night of call... a long and difficult night of call. It's a very good experience for me as I am in charge of the entire hospital. I do have a back-up but it is expected that I will not call him unless a surgery needs to be done or a C-section. So, it's me and my books at night agonizing over the patients. All the admissions, all the patients doing poorly on the wards, all the lab results, all the non-urgent patients who stop in. It's very stressful, challenging, and a growing experience!

Last night's call was particularly busy, but perhaps you'd like to imagine what call means...
I start the evening by rounding in all the wards, signing all the results that have come back, seeing all the patients with problems. I review two newborns with spina bifida, a febrile child, a lady whose arm cast may be too tight. Then, I go home and wait for the knock at the door. It comes and sure enough there are the hospital night-watchman and the compound's night-watchman at my door to escort me to the hospital. Torches (i.e. flashlights) in hand, we make our way to the hospital. In the brilliant starlight, I pray during the ten minute walk, pray for wisdom, courage, knowledge, and clarity of mind. The first patient is a 37 year woman, "B.I.D." - Brought In Dead. The nurses are already gloving up to prepare the body to move to the mortuary as I check and double check for signs of life. I need to declare death and write an official note. I want to convey my sympathy to the family but cannot communicate beyond, "I'm sorry."

I walk home. I have just climbed into bed to close my eyes when the watchmen come again. "There is another patient." This patient is a patient that I have seen in outpatient clinic two days ago. She has unusual findings on pelvic ultrasound but that is not her complaint tonight. Tonight she complains of headache and she is hyperventilating. The nurse chases the entourage of people out of the room to talk to the patient. "She's the third wife. I wonder if they had an argument or something..." Good thinking because the patient's complaints do not measure up to a hospital admission but she is acting ill... Nervously admit her to women's ward wondering after a careful history and exam if I am missing something.

I don't leave the hospital this time, but move to men's ward where a man is very ill. I had signed his lab results earlier in the evening and noted that his bone marrow was not producing sufficient blood cells of any type, which leaves him open to infection and open to anemia and even bleeding. I do what I can, but none of the oxygen condensers are working, so we cannot place the man on supplemental oxygen even though he desperately needs it. He is in shock - getting an IV placed is difficult. I call other nurses (there is only one on each ward at night) to help us. They are cheerful and helpful and we have a sense of collaboration in the middle of the night. They laugh at how busy my night is. We do not have the medicines that he should be put on. We do not have immediate access to blood for transfusion.

We work on the patient for hours - I sit in the nurses' station talking with the students and finally send a note to my back-up doctor to confirm my actions and see if there is something I'm missing. The patient does not look well. A note comes back 45 minutes later reassuring me and stating that the patient's prognosis is guarded anyway, so my efforts are heroic. I am satisfied with my decisions and walk home. On my way home at 2:00am, I hear a truck on the road... I pause... then continue home but sit up reading waiting for the knock summoning me to the hospital. The knock does not come, so I go to bed. At 6:00 I am called and I learn as I evaluate the patient that the nurses were being kind and had decided to wait until morning to call me. The patient has a severe pneumonia and I suspect HIV. I have learned to identify HIV positive patients as they walk into the room.

I am relieved that there were no obstetric emergencies as I am inadequately prepared to handle those on my own. The children's ward was also quiet - another successful night of keeping everyone that I could alive. Now to work again (yes, even on Saturday!)- hopefully I can slip out early to come back home and sleep!

We are headed to Victoria Falls on Monday until Wednesday. I am ready for a vacation and we are excited to see THE falls!

Prayer:
Safety on the roads
Drought and hunger

Praise:
Easy renewal of visas in Choma
A good rain on Sunday

Ok, just pressed "enter" when I didn't want to, sorry! To continue, the group of pictures is of Easter Sunday here in Macha, Zambia. There was a sunrise service (the pictures are all of that service and those walking/singing to that service), in which all the local women covered themselves with white sheets symbolizing Christ's raising from the dead. Unfortunately for my wife and my-self, this particular service was all in Tonga and we had no interpreter, but I heard the message was very good! After this service, they had a communion/foot washing service which started around 8:30am, and then the regular service, which began around 10 and lasted till about 12:00 or 12:30.
The main service was translated, so that was good for us!
 

This is a couple of photos I put together of Easter Sunday (yes, I 

Here is the rain we had last week!  

Martin Luthers fear of God

As I mentioned, about a week or so ago I finished reading a book about Martin Luther (“Here I Stand” by Roland H. Bainton, co. 1978), which I thoroughly enjoyed. This is really the first that I have read about Luther, so I can’t really critique his opinions of him, although I was happy that he included so much of Martin Luther’s own writing and correspondence (it seems a lot has survived!). Anyway, a constant theme for Martin Luther during his life was his fear of God. I mean that both the sense of reverence, and in the actual sense of “fear”. According to Bainton’s book, he was troubled almost his entire life, but mostly early on, especially in the monastery. It is exemplified when he is about to perform his first mass.
”At these words I was utterly stupefied and terror-stricken. I thought to myself, ‘with what tongue shall I address such Majesty, seeing that all men ought to tremble in the presence of even an earthly prince? Who am I, that I should lift up mine eyes or raise my hands to the divine Majesty? The angels surround him. At his nod the earth trembles. And shall I, a miserable little pygmy, say “I want this, I ask for that”? For I am dust and ashes and full of sin and I am speaking of the living, eternal, and the true God.”
This attitude is expressed over and over in the book. He took it to an almost absurd level when, while still in the monastery, he would confess “…frequently, often daily, and for as long as 6 hours on a single occasion.”! At one point, the individual to whom he was confessing (a priest and friend named Staupitz) exclaimed, “Look here…if you expect Christ to forgive you, come in with something to forgive –parricide, blasphemy, adultery—instead of all these peccadilloes.”
Luther’s “issues” became more and more troubling and debilitating until Staupitz eventually decided to make Luther take the position of “chair of Bible” at the university. This put Luther in an interesting position for one who was struggling as he was. “A young man on the verge of a nervous collapse over religious problems was to be commissioned as a teacher, preacher, and counselor to sick souls.”
It was from the study and expounding called for by this new position that Luther began to find some of the answers to his dilemmas, or at least the path’s to the answers (the development of Luther’s theology based on salvation through faith alone, and that even faith is a gift of God).
It is interesting to me that, even while in this state, he was almost always able to find confidence to stand firm on the convictions he gained about Christ, even at the point of death. The key was not that Luther found a confidence in him-self, but a confidence “outside” of himself.
This has been a theme that has been one my mind quite a lot of late. Many of those who are given as examples of “great” men and women of God, don’t see themselves as such, in fact, they just see they’re own unworthiness. This is very clear in the lives and writings of David and Paul. They were bold, yes and at times very confident of what they were about, and but they were bold and confident because they trusted in who God is and His greatness and sufficiency, not in the greatness or sufficiency of themselves. I’m just beginning to understand how important this type of humility is, and starting to wonder if we can really know God without first knowing how incredibly unworthy we are of Him. This shows His grace to us all the more amazing, and allows us to simply trust and have confidence and enjoy His greatness.
This is also scary, because my heart often does not feel the magnitude of who God is and my inadequacy before Him. It is my prayer that God will give me the grace to know this so that I can trust in Him at this level!

Blessed Stars and Rain!

Yesterday, we had a downpour! Its hard to imagine being this excited and happy about rain, but we are here! About 9-tenths in an hour, which is 4-5 tenths more then we had in all of march! It is very exciting, but a little late for the local maize harvest, which people who live here depend on. Please pray for this area as there is likely going to be some hunger here in the near future.
Today, there is not a cloud in the sky, and another beautiful thing shines through. The stars here (out "in the bush") as dazzling. You can see the milky way reach almost from one horizon to the next (not quite that far, but close) as it passes almost directly down the middle of the sky. It is an increadible site!
I LOVE GOD!!

Dear friends,

It is hot here in Zambia - the sun is strong and brilliant. It's only 90 degrees but it feels much hotter than that at midday. But it's neither too humid nor too dry so we're not complaining!

One of the missionary doctors killed a cobra on his back veranda the other night just to find an even larger one in it's place later the same night! Josh asked, "so how do you kill a cobra?" "Well, just get something long and hit it! Wear some glasses in case it spits so that you don't go blind..."

We also had to adjust to more insects here than in Kijabe. We had very little bugs there. Here we have to be very careful about ants problems in our kitchen, there are these funny flat spiders all over the house, little frogs come out at night asking to be stepped on, and there are little salamanders everywhere. We have a wonderful variety of birds but not much else in regards to wildlife. The most common animals are cows and donkeys wearing cowbells, chickens, ants (many different species), and the stray cats and dogs that you eye suspiciously on passing.

I am continuing to work primarily in pediatrics and outpatient department in addition to the operating theatre at least two days a week. I have become much more confident at applying casts, placing IV's, suturing, and cleaning wounds. I have become quite confident with doing spinal taps.

I am finally starting my last leg of research - I have administered the same questionnaire in Honduras and Kenya (translated) and have successfully acquired a translated copy of the questionnaire here and recruited some help with administration. Our goal is to start Monday and to get 100 questionnaires done in two weeks to give me time to work with the data before we leave. Pray!!

Josh finished a set of malaria data for the Malaria Research Institute after a frustrating week's delay when the laptop crashed. We are so thankful that we did not lose any important data or files!

We thoroughly enjoyed Easter here and have great recordings of church music to share when we get home! Zambian music is beautiful - everyone sings in rich four part harmony at full blast! It is not uncommon even to walk down the road and encounter a group of three women singing in perfect harmony as they walk along.

Our minds are beginning to think of our return to the States as it is only a month away. Before May we will spend a few days at Victoria Falls and a day in Choma next week to renew our visas.

Praise:
Computer fixed without losing files
Learning so much
Helpers for my study
Josh is making progress is his study of Greek
A lovely home here
Health
Good reports from home about a so far healthy little niece/nephew and pregnant sister!

Prayer:
Rain to relieve the drought
To be a blessing to missionaries and locals
To prepare for the States without detaching from this community
Wisdom in treating patients
Carefulness in treating patients - no overlooked details
Ministry for Josh
Receipt of necessary residency forms and info in time for deadlines

Thank you for your prayers and support!

To God's Glory,

Abby and Josh

The Greatness of God and the Fear of the Lord

Something that has been on my mind a lot lately is the idea of the greatness of God, and our US/Western inability to comprehend a truly “great” God without elevating ourselves to the same level. It is my feeling that we need to have true humility, and see God for what He is, “GREATER” than us. We need to view him as greater then us in “essence”, not just in position. What our US, western culture tends to do is view God has we would our president, as the “first among equals.” Sure, we give the president praise and some honor… but his essence, or personhood is considered equal to us. That is why we can also criticize him and make fun of him. We might give him extra protection, but we would not bow to him. We might say that he in the “position” that gives him the authority to, for example, declare war, but his “personhood” does not. In fact, we take pride in the fact that his power comes from the people, from “us”.
I feel that our love of this value, as true as it is amongst fellow human beings, has tainted our understanding of God. Our view of God has fallen from seeing a being truly greater then us by the simple fact of His existing as Himself… (“I am who I am” – Exodus 3:14) to a God that gain’s His authority from us. We have lost a real sense of “fear” of God, and replaced it with love for a human-centered, wish granting, toothless god who is more concerned with the comforts of humanity then himself. If you were to ask a random person on the street what to them defines the greatness of God, my guess is the vast majority of people (in the US anyway) would say it is His mercy, love, kindness, etc. In fact, I have often heard it said by people that a great God would not send people to hell, and even that they could not believe in such a God.
Aside from the fact that our desire for God to be a certain way has nothing to do with who God actually is or His existence, I think this is very telling about the self-centered attitudes, lack of humility, and quest for comfort in our culture.

I’ve been thinking about this topic lately after reading a book on the life of Martin Luther. (“Here I Stand” by Roland H. Bainton, co. 1978). I was struck by the incredible sense of awe he had for God. Even when struggling with the goodness of God, there was always a sense of his own smallness before God. There was always a sense that he could not ever “condemn” God. He realized that whatever God was, He was. There was nothing that Martin Luther could do to change that. Martin at times took this attitude to such extremes as to lead to deep depression about his own unworthiness, but the point is that He had a sense of the magnitude of who God was. God had “weight” in his life, as John Piper might say. (Actually, John Piper has a good sermon on a similar topic called, “Behold the kindness and the severity of God” - http://www.desiringgod.org/library/sermons/92/062192.html) It was this weight that gave him the conviction to stand firm in-spite of the criticism and danger to his life that he faced.

I feel that Biblically, God shows His greatness not only in his mercy, kindness, grace and forgiveness, but also in the greatness of his wrath and demand for worship. The “weight” in the “weightiness” of God’s mercy is due to the fact that God truly and righteously demands our worship. The seriousness of NOT worshiping God with all of our heart, soul, mind, emotions, etc., is what makes the mercy He gives so amazing. This concept is given a lot of lip service when it stands alone, but shows no weight in many of our lives. We don’t live as if we really “deserve” to go to hell.

We need to come to God with the sense of utter depravity… of utter loss. We need to feel as if we are just “dust and ashes” compared to Him. This is where we can begin to truly know Him… for WHO HE IS. “The fear of the Lord

If we cannot begin to search for God with a righteous fear of Him… we will never find or know Him.

Proverbs 1:7
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The fear of the Lord is the BEGINNING. Without it, we will find only what we want to find, and continue searching for our own comfort. I don’t think that we were created to seek our own comfort… or our own anything. We were meant to forget about ourselves and rest in God. When we become disciples of Jesus, we follow Him in His purposes; we should not follow Him because he follows ours (again, sounds a lot like the presidential campaign… does the candidate represent our concerns?). We don’t elect God, He elects usJ. Yes, God died to redeem us and to save us, but let’s not make the mistake of thinking that He is “about” us.

Isaiah 43:21
I, I am He
who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,
and I will not remember your sins.

The irony of all this is that the more we can understand our true relationship to God… the smaller – the more insignificant we understand ourselves to be next to God, the more joy, faith (without which we cannot please God), and rest we can find in Him and leads us to greater significance in our insignificance. We become part of something MUCH greater then ourselves.
It also makes so much more potent the fact that we can “boldly” approach the throne of God! The more we understand our lowliness compared to God, the more amazing that is!
This should be more then just lip service. If this is the beginning of knowledge, then it should filter down into every part of our lives and our theologies of God. He is not the first among equals, He is the first, the most Holy, and I humbly rejoice that He has adopted me, a dirty, rotten sinner, to be his SON! There can be no pride or boasting in this… only that God is great. (Romans 15:17-18; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; 1 Corinthians 3:18-23;)
Glory to God!

Just a quick note. I noticed that CNN has a "quick-poll" on their website asking the question, "Do you have a personal computer in your home". I thought this was an interesting poll-question for a website! (Selection bias?) I know its not intended to be scientific, but I'm not sure how much it can tell us. Interestingly, 4% answered "no".
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/04/01/cnn25.top.technology/index.html