Alot of Death

Since our last update which I had trouble posting due to internet issues, we have had another death in our village.  This time it was a young man of around 17.  Brett was adopted so things are a little complicated.  It is a long story and we wondered if we could have done more to help him but we are not medical people though we do what we can.  Sunday they finally came to us and so Gerolf took him in.  He had to wait for the road to dry out some so that he could get out.  Brett died on the way.  The doctor talked to Jim on the phone and it appears that he had osteomilytis and sepsis.  Not sure we could have helped him even when they had first come to us about him being sick a few days before. When a young person dies, it is a huge event here.  We have never in all our years seen so many mourners come.  But nothing is for free.

Though the father is beside himself with grief, they have to keep track of who came, who brought what.  That was a job given to Gena.  Now Dile Kal, the father, will owe people.  So hard to watch their bondage and grief.  Dile Kal is a believer but very confused at this point.  They wanted to go back to a stream where Brett had been and they say a bush spirit entered him.  They wanted to sprinkle the blood of a chicken in the area, but due to time constraints that wasn’t done.

Brett died on Sunday and they brought his body back.  No preparation has been done to the body so you can imagine the smell in this hot climate and crowds of people raising the temperature.  They have been waiting on family members to arrive.  The mother (adopted) has yet to come but she should be here soon today and they will bury him tomorrow.  The grief and wailing are something that is very hard to watch.  The birth family were not happy with the adopted family but Gena was able to calm them down so all is ok so far.

When D’le died, Jim bought enough coffin materials for two.  So he had materials on hand to make a coffin for Brett.

Please pray that we would know how to help Dile Kal and our little church understand.  Though we do not understand ourselves why God would allow a young man in his prime to die like this, we can trust the One who gives life to us all.

Jim has not totally recovered his strength back after being so sick.  We came back to our hot water solar system not working for some reason.  Through many phone calls and trying various things, we still are not getting any hot water in the house.  Lots of hot water sitting up there on the roof but no water in the house.  So Jim is still having to fill our old tank by hose and light a fire, carry it in and we are using a bucket shower.

We were going to need to go out for a doctor’s visit but postponed it due to this death.  Now we have a massive landslide blocking our way out.  We are low on some supplies so are arranging a vehicle to come up and meet us at the landslide and will carry the things over.  The hardest will be the  55 gallon barrel of diesel so looks like they will put it in smaller containers. No telling when this landslide will be cleared.  The bulldozer is in the area but the driver is sick.

It is easy to be discouraged by all of these events and must admit that we have had our low points over this but we believe in the God who is I AM! So we press on.  Your prayers are much needed.

Landslide is at a curve in the road.  You can see the path over it.

Our truck at the beginning of the landslide.