Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Linda's Very Bad, No Good, Terrible Day(s)

Sometimes when you are having a really bad day, it is good to hear about someone else and suddenly yours doesn't seem so very bad.  I've been in touch with Linda over the past couple of days as these events have been unfolding.  The only reason I haven't written you about it all sooner was that it was constantly changing and now we feel like we can fill you in.  So, for those of you who pray for us regularly -- please keep it up, we need that.  We can't always fill you in as things are going on, but you can pretty much be sure there's always something going on in our lives -- we need your prayers!!

The start of her bad days was the arrival of a family at the HOH towards the end of last week.  You can see the mom and her 4 children here in this picture:
The arrival of this family was not a problem, it was the circumstances that brought them to us.  The little girl in the pink outfit has TB and needs extended treatment.  The mom had recently been through a terrible physical beating by the man they had been living with and needed care, and they were all in general poor health after having spent the previous couple of nights just living on the streets.  The entire family begs for a living except for the older boy who hangs out in the market and carries loads of merchandise for people making a pittance for his efforts.

In order to start the TB treatment for the little girl Linda let them all come to the HOH so the mom and child could get care.  It seemed like a win-win situation for everyone -- at least from our perspective.  We could care for all of them at once, they could catch their breath and have the chance to have a safe place to stay for a while.  But, we have learned long ago, our perspective often isn't in line with those who come to our home.  Everyday was a struggle for Linda to keep them at the HOH.  They were making no money being there, and the pull of begging on the streets was just too great.  After several days of arguing, Linda was finally able to convince the mom to leave the little girl who needed the treatment along with one of the older brothers to be with her.  With that the mom and other children returned to the streets.  

This arrangement didn't last long.  Sunday afternoon the kids ran away from the HOH. Linda sent our older boys out with the vehicle to try and find them, but they were not successful.  Monday, Linda sent them out again with no success.  As you can imagine, everyone was upset and worried - but none more than Linda, she felt so bad.  Finally, this morning when she sent the boys out again they found the children back out on the streets.  They also located the mom and made sure they were all reunited again.  The little girl will have to get her TB treatment on an out-patient basis which isn't ideal, but our only option at this point.

If this was the only thing to go wrong on Sunday/Monday for Linda that'd be bad enough, but in the midst of trying to locate the run away children.  Our young lady Stephanie who is expecting her first child got a terrible allergic reaction to something and was rushed to the hospital.  She has been really sick with elevated blood pressure since Sunday, and is just now this afternoon getting back to normal.

While this was going on, Jumalia came back with Lyse who was again pale and listless.  Her blood count was down to 4 and she needed transfusions.  Here she is:
It took most of the day yesterday to get the transfusions arranged and done.  The doctors suspect she also has an infection so they are watching her closely.

On top of all of this, Oliana (our diabetic/siliac young lady) is once again sick and unable to get out of bed.  This time she has come down with malaria and is receiving treatment which is a really tough thing in and of itself never mind having malaria with it!

And the glue holding everyone sane at this moment is Linda and boy could she use your prayers!!

Thank you for supporting us in this way and please continue to pray for our financial needs as we bring hope in it's many forms to the children, youth and sometimes even families who come to our home.

Saturday, April 02, 2016

Prayer needed again

Good Morning!  We hope you are doing well and enjoyed a wonderful Easter season.  At the HOH it was a great week, it is always one of our favorites during the year.  

This year as usual we put on a week long conference with meetings each evening.  Various pastors, speakers and singing groups from our local community churches came and participated in the services.  Each night we had a packed yard as hundreds of children, young people and even adults from our community came to sing, and hear God's Word.  

Here are some pictures:
 The musicians
 The Praise and Worship team
 Those who came
A young boy's singing group from a local church

We are so pleased for the privilege of sharing the Good News of Jesus with those in our local community and so thankful for all of our young people who worked so hard to put this on.  Linda had nothing but praise for all of the HOH youth as they really helped her out to pull this off.

Now it is back to school and life as normal! But as life gets back to normal we need to once again ask you for prayer for little Lyse and her parents.  She did fairly well these past couple of weeks but she is now starting to fail again.  Her blood count has gotten dangerously low.  She received one blood transfusion this past week and one again yesterday.  They think she will need more today.  This is such a difficult time for Jumalia, her husband Andly and the HOH family.  Please keep them in your prayers during these difficult days.

We appreciate you all for your prayers, financial support and the many other ways you lift up this ministry.  Blessings on each one of you!