basic health care

Imagine your little 1 1/2 year old baby was having a seizure - but you didn't know what a seizure was. 
  She is unresponsive, her eyes are rolled back in her head and her lips are blue and it been at least 5 minutes but those minutes feel like hours.  You have no idea why.  She was fine and alive and vibrant yesterday.   But now you are holding her and you just know she is on the brink of death.   

Sunday morning we got a call to come quickly and check on a little sick girl.   We entered to find the parents and grandparents all crying.  I was afraid the child was already dead - they were so sad.  When they explained the symptoms I was actually relieved.   A seizure or possible epilepsy.   To those who didn't know what was happening they were in the grip of fear. I prayed over the little girl and the family members.   I was able to photocopy some pages for them from a medical book and assure them that their little girl would be her same old self in an hour or two.   Just being there with them and knowing what was happening seemed to calm them.   I am not a nurse or a doctor.  But I can give share some basic knowledge with them.

Saturday morning we had a similar situation with a little 4 year old who cracked her head pretty hard on a door.    Her mother was sure that the bang on her head had done damage to the cleft palate surgery she had had in the past.  She wanted us to drive her a several hour drive to a small clinic with a nurse.  But after seeing the child it appeared that the mother was over worried.   So I sat with the family and shared the little info I know about basic health care like putting triple antiboitic on a wound and giving some ibuprofen for the pain and swelling and that  seemed to calm everyone.  The next day she was just fine.  

It reminds me how giving just a glass of water in the name of God can be for his service.  In this case all I gave is a bit of knowledge that is actually common knowledge in our culture - but God can use it to cast out fear in these people's hearts.  

January

Things have been going well. We've started with Sunday morning church here in Chiltepin. Dennis is teaching on Revelation. Each week we get a better attendance as people are getting back from visiting their relatives over the holidays. 

We've also decided to met with just the believers that are getting the most persecution - those that have stopped growing cash crops. We will meet with them on Thursday nights and teach through Romans. They really need encouragement and a sense of belonging as a group and that is what we hope for. 

We as a family are adjusting better than we expected. We thank you for your prayers. 

We do have water even though it's only a little. With a lot of conserving - we have enough to live here. Praise God. Thank you for remembering us in your prayers.