The ball of yarn sat on the shelf, taunting me each time I passed. I had
started a piece of knitting months ago and would usually pull it out for
something to do with my hands as I sat on the porch with visitors, but with
my recent loss of muscle strength I hadn’t exactly been looking for extra
work. Then one day I grabbed it to take outside with me while I watched the
kids. “It’s just knitting,” I thought. “Even old ladies can knit,” I
thought. “How tiring could it possibly be?” I thought. “I’m sure I can still
knit,” I thought.
I lasted for about 10 minutes before the muscles in my right arm were
burning like I had been snipping tin in Dwight Schrute’s Gym for Muscles. So
I went inside and put that yarn where it couldn’t taunt me anymore and made
a mental note to compliment the next old lady that I see knitting on her
fine muscle tone.
We have been back in the tribe for three weeks now, and we have four weeks
remaining before we fly to town and get ready to return to the US. We have a
place to stay and a vehicle all lined up, and I have an appointment with a
neurologist for a week after we arrive. Thank you for praying for us – you
can praise God that many of your prayers about the logistics of our stay
have been given already! I have also stopped a medication (unrelated to any
of these current health issues), and that has given me back quite a bit of
energy, which has been very nice. My other symptoms are continuing to get
worse slowly, so I am happy that we will soon be hunting down some answers
again.
Meanwhile, the kids are having a blast being back at home with their best
friends, and we have been encouraged by spending time with the church again
and seeing our friends whom we have missed. We are teaching through the
Scriptures about taking communion and will soon be celebrating that together
for the first time! Chris was able to complete his Romans and Ephesians
projects and get those books printed and ready for distribution, and he is
making good progress on 1 Corinthians during these weeks we have in the
bush. Our team office project finally happened, so the guys are enjoying a
nice roomy place in which they can work together and hold all the community
meetings, and I am enjoying using Chris’ old office for a school room!
I do get discouraged sometimes – it has been harder than I thought it would
be for me to adjust to doing so little to “contribute” to the ministry – and
sometimes it makes me sad to remember that (unless we can find a cure) I
will never be able to hike to my friend’s villages to visit them in their
homes again. I find myself thinking, “Oh! My friend’s new house is done! I
should go see it!” And then I remember that I can’t. But then I am reminded
to thank God that I can still get around in my own house and yard, and that
I am still able to take care of my family, and that we have coworkers who
can be the mobile force on the team, and that the church building is right
in our village so I can still see everybody twice a week, and that people
are growing in their faith and others are being saved for the first time,
and the list goes on and on.
So we will trust that this trial will produce patience and perseverance, and
we will wait for God’s leading as we move ahead, and I will keep telling Pal
women not to be sorry for me, because this body was not made to last forever
and, in the grand scheme of things, I will have everything I need even if
both my legs fall off tomorrow.
We look forward to seeing many of you again soon and sharing how God
continues to answer your prayers!