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A t

:/ 13

i

Gregory

Hannah

August 1990

ABOUT

LIFE

AND DEATH

One day while

I

was

in

Lodwar

buying

supplies

a

man

came to our

house

and t ol d Debb ie

tha t

his wife

was sick. I t

d idn t s eem

all t ha t differ

ent from

a

hundred

other cases of peo

ple

that

come to

our

house every day.

The

woman was pregnant, due to have

the baby

any

day; she had

pain

and

los t a lot

of

blood

three

days before.

DAN

DEBBIE

BADER

P.O. Box

38

Lodwar, Kenya

AFRICA

Tu r k a n a

Tr ibesman

CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY FELLOWSHIP Prayer Newsletter

She lived

across

the river

which

Nakaale

clinic

building the first

permanent

building

happened to be flowing those days, so m

this valley

we couldn t go

get her with

the truck.

Debbie told them to

bring

her to our side of the river and we'd

take

her to a hospital

in

Lodwar (three hours one way over some rough country,

the

same place I had gone andwas

coming back from that very day).

The people here

aren t too

wild about going to the hospital in Lodwar. Many

times

people have gone there and died alone. They must have dawdled quite a bit, waiting to

see if she d get better or if the

baby

would come, because they didn t bring her until a day

and

a

ha l f

l a t e r .

When

we

saw

the

man s

wife,

she

didn t

look all

that

sick;

she

was

even able

t o wa lk

around. But what

they

told

us

soxmded very

serious,

and

we wanted

to

take

her to

Lod

w r

The

men talked

about i t for a while, deciding to

wait

again ti ll morning. They

wouldn t

budge.

Later

we

found out

they wanted to

consult some

old

men who threw

sandals for

divination. From throwing

the

sandals,

they decided that

if

she went

to Lodwar

she would

die on

the way.

The next morning they

refused to

let

her go.

What a dilemma We

went

to pray with the woman again

that

morning

only

to

find her

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breathing

her

last. I actually

watched someone die

.

someone

who

could have

recovered in differ

ent

circumstances. My heart ached

for

days.

A few weeks later my Turkana

brother, Lodeiya, came sa3ring

his

wife,

Kanuay

was very

sick

after

hav

ing her baby. She lost a lo t of blood

during the delivery. Luckily Bob

Chapman (our

Christian

Missionary

Fellowship co-worker and team doc

tor)

was

coming the

next

day for his

regular monthly

mobile clinic. He

gave her a

sho t o f

iron and some oth

er

medicines,

but said

she

was

in

very

serious

condition.

He

said the

chances

were

likely Kanua

wouldn t

make

the

rough

trip

to

Lodwar

where a

blood

t ransfus ion could

make al l the

difference

(i f

they

could

even

find a donor with the right

blood type). It didn t matter anyway,

the family didn t

want

her

to go.

This time the situation was espe

cially personal since she was my

brother s wife. We

wen t

out to see

Kanua

twice a day to pray

with

her

and

check

on

her medicine, but

she

just

wasn t

gett ing any bet ter.

It

looked like everyone already had giv

en her up for

dead

and were just

waiting

fo r

it to happen. Kanua her

self seemed

to

have given

up;

she

had absolutely no interest in the

baby who

was being given goat s

milk

since

Kanua wasn t nursing.

Debbie

started

taking

food

out

to

an u a e ac h t im e

we

wen t

and

t h a t

seemed to help a little.

What

seemed to help the most was

Deb

bie's interest in her:

One

day she

took a bracelet for the

baby and

one

of her necklaces

for Kanua as

gifts.

She gave the baby gift,

then

before

Debbie

could give the necklace

to

Ka

nua

she said,

Where s

mineV

Queen

Hannah sitting

on

he r

throne,

Dan s

ekechalong.

Does she look like

a

little

Turkana,

or

what ?

Hannah

and

ou r

friend,

Pele,

supervising

some work

on our new house at Kangarisay.

Our

closest neighbors,

the

family of

Anapa.

We

praised

God

Begging was

a

sme sign this Turkana wanted to

live.

From then

on

she

steadily

got

better. It s a

much

better

feeling

to

help

save a Hfe than to helplessly

watch

on e s nuf fe d

out

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From these two examples, pulled from many such experiences, you can rejoicewith us

in the permanent clinic buildingwe ve just finished. We re staffing it with a nurse and

providing

the

medicines for one year, after which the government agreed to take over.

Even though

this

clinic took a lot of time to build, we expect

it

to actually save time in

the

long run and relieve xis of a great burden, not to mention

the

help

it

will be for

the

Turka-

n

PRAYER

*In the last newsletter we asked you to pray every day for certain things. Weknow,by

your letters, that many of you have labored

in

prayer on our behalfall these months even

without knowing fhe results ofthose prayers. Weapologize for not reporting sooner; the

only excuse being

that

it

has

probably been

the

most difficult six months of

our

lives.

Without your prayers I m

sure

we would never

have

made it .

Let me first teUyou about the prayers

that

were clearly answered. Even though it s

not nomadic, a churchhas begun to meethere inKangarisay. There is a small groupof

more or less permanent families here which swell to quite a large population during cer

tain times of the year. All of the Turkana missionaries came and joined in a two-day cele

bration for over a himdred Turkana men, culminating on Simday morning

in

a church ser

vice

Since then, we vebeen averaging about sixty peopleeach Sunday. Twenty ofthose are

usually men.

The

services

are

exciting, and everybody really enjoys them. Tliis is not

something

brandnew. Ralphand

Cheri

Brune

former CMF

teammates,

originally

start

edfhis church

before fhey

had to

go back

to the States

for medical reasons. We

just

got

it

going again.

All

this

assumes

I m

in the area. If I m gone, very fewif anymeet; so you can

see

there s a long way to go. Even then it s only

the

beginning. A

permanent

church like

this

one only meetsthe needsofa

few

people in a smallarea. Themajority ofthe people need

a church

that

is

more mobile to fit

their

nomadic lifestyle. But at least we ve made a first

step

with

our church

here

at

Kangarisay

and

for

that

we praise

Gk d.

Keep pra3dng

*We asked for nothing less

than

a miracle

in the

area oflanguage learning; I believe

God

granted

that miracle.

It s

exciting to converse at a much higher level all of a sudden.

Now instead of talking like a five-year-old I feel more like a ten-year-old. Obviously, I

want to progress

beyond

this level, so I d appreciate

your continued

prayers

in

this sJl-

important area.

*We asked you

to pray

for rain

God answered that one also.

He

sent the rains a

month

early,

and

they were plentifiil. Unfortimately, the rain came the very day a major

diviner was prajdng for it , too. Sometimes I get the feeling

that

Grod is arranging a con

frontation

with

that

diviner, who also

happens

to

be my

fiiend.

Whether

it s

tomorrow or

two years from

now

I

don t

Imow; but I m afraid it s going to revolve around the rain. We ll

see where God leads. Please keep praying.

*The people have been quick to accept us here

at

Kangarisay. We

are

developing some

good relationships, God has answered your prayers in

that.

But

the

most

important

thing

I asked you to

pray

for was God helping me to be out in the villages a lot. With all my

heart

I

want

to be out

there

with people talking and sharing almost every day, but it just

hasn t been humanly possible. I don t believe it

was

a lack of willpower or desire. There

was just

too much to do with a large men s course

to prepare

for, a church

to

ge t

started,

a

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T hi s i s w hy the last si x m on th s h av e b ee n so difficult . We ve been so busy that we r e worn

to a fr az zl e, yet I haven t been

able

to do th e

on e

thing I

wanted more

than

anything.

Please pray

fervently

that G od w il l

help

me g et ou t

more

into

the

villages as

I know

He

also wants

I d

like to s ha re t he following p r ay e r w i th you.

I t

came in th e

mail

f ro m o ne

of

my old

est

and

best friends Greg Lokie, in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Greg

deserves a

lo t

of

th e

credit

for

th e spiritual life I have today. He s still h elping me

because

this prayer came at a time I

needed

i t

very much;

and

still

do.

God

G r a n t

m e

wisdom

discernment fo r m y d ay s . . .

to cast of f t h a t

which profits

nothing

a nd purs ue

just weights

an d measures

unconsumed

by the trivial

yet

never

passing over

th e

small only

because

of

apparent

insignificance.

-

T e a c h m e

you r wa y s

ways unapplauded, unrewarded,

under

attack,

u n kn ow n t o the scheming pursuits

of

men

wh o know nothing of prayer-

who

care nothing

for th e l ikes of us. Lord.

B e a r w i th me

Sovereign.

I m dizzy with it

all-

giddy, trying to

maintain

balance,

to walk upright

to preserve Your valor;

falling so short, falling so fast.

Teach

m e

the

wisdom from

above

your l ove .

Tea ch me

D an a nd

D e b b i e

Bade r

8 / 9 0

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