Update on Rachida

You know something? It’s really hard to let you know about any prayer requests in advance. To say that such-and-such SHOULD be happening soon, even if it’s just a day or two away. And you know why? Because this is My Country, and things rarely go as planned. For example, I want to buy mozzarella cheese. But I’ve been to the grocery store at least 3 or 4 times and still don’t have any. Paying the electric bill took 3 tries. As did getting money out of the ATM. Things change quite regularly.

That’s the same thing that’s happened with Rachida’s eye surgery. Still no surgery. Actually, none in sight in the near future (no pun intended). I’m sorry that it’s taken me so long to give you an update, but I’ve been waiting to get a good update myself and then have been crazy busy lately. But what I think I know health-wise is this: she was in the hospital in the capital for an extended time. Getting some kind of IV. Then she had diarrhea and was vomiting. She was sent home and told to come back in 10 days (on the 28th). Then on Saturday night at 10pm I got an e-mail from Kadi (Rachida’s grandma), who said that Rachida is getting some kind of treatment that will make her tummy hurt and make her vomit, and it will last 4 months, but at the end of it there’s a possibility that she won’t have her eyes removed. Sounds like chemo to me, but I’m no expert. The good news is that Kadi called to let me know, and also to specifically ask me to ask YOU to pray for her. I don’t even know how to ask you to pray – that the chemo works and kills the cancer? That they decide to just do the surgery before it’s too late? That the doctors would have wisdom? That we who are there for them and trying to encourage and help them would have wisdom? That they’ll turn to Jesus through this? Please just pray as you feel God leading, and may He be glorified through whatever happens.

But there’s not just the physical aspect of this situation anymore. As I said above, Kadi (who is of another main world religion but is very interested in Jesus, so I’m not sure exactly which side of the fence she’s on currently) asked for prayer. Also, Fatoumata, Kadi’s sister and the only known believer in the family, went to the capital last weekend (as in the weekend that was a week ago, not the one that was yesterday) to share the gospel with the family and also visit them in this time of need. One of Rachida’s family members said that what she said was good, and that actually his friend had been by that afternoon to share the gospel with them as well. But he said that he couldn’t believe it and become a Christian because he’d lose his job if his uncle, who’s shop he’s in charge of, found out. Another family member said that she also thought it was true, but that she couldn’t believe because of family relationships. So God is touching their hearts and they are starting to soften, but there are still obstacles in the way. Pray that God would remove the obstacles or allow them to overcome them somehow so that they’d be willing to take the step of faith.

Well, there’s what I know. I’ll use this as the place where I’ll continue to post updates if I have any. But it may be a while now. Or maybe not. Who knows. Only God.