Ministry Blog
Hope for the Children of Sudan
Elephant Land - Blog 7
February 9, 2010
Greetings to you from Elephant Land! I’ve realized lately that sometimes we so take God’s gifts for granted. Where you live, rain is probably a nuisance, and a negative thing. But not here, not now. For weeks after Christmas, we had NO rain. The mud turned to dirt, and the dirt turned to dust and the dust turned to powder. In addition, the heat began to rise and rise (we don’t know the temp because we have no thermometer). But when we have to turn on the fan before 10:00 AM, it’s gonna be HOT. Some of the locals say it’s worse since many trees were uprooted, widening the roads. Many of them were quite large mango or teak trees, so there’s probably something to it. Anyway, as I said, the HEAT. Most days we have a lot of wind, too, but this wind was not cooling, it was hot wind. It blew dust, dirt and sand everywhere. Sandra has had a lot of work trying to keep our house clean. You can’t shut the windows, because it’s so hot. The finer dirt and dust come through the screens. We’ve even had some actual dust storms, two that lasted a short while, but were very violent, and one whole day that the dust blew steadily. When the first one hit, we were at the church compound in the payot (like an African gazebo). Even there, I had grit and dirt all over my body. When the second one came a week or so later, I ran for the car and made it just in time. Because of the grit and the heat, I had to start carrying a large bandanna in my purse/pocket to wipe the sweat and keep it from running into my eyes (when you’re wearing sunscreen, that really burns). Our household water, which is pumped into a huge, black plastic vat here at UMCOR, got hotter and hotter. Just when you wanted a cold shower, it was not to be found. I mustn’t whine too much, though, because for most people here, just finding drinking water every day is a major task.
Finally, last Monday night, the heat knocked me down. I had made popcorn for dinner in our small, hot kitchen, over a gas flame, the old-fashioned way: shaking it back and forth. I had to stop several times to wipe away sweat. I sat down for a while, but when I got up, I was very dizzy, the sweat was pouring off of me (like having a baby), and I got a bit nauseous. The next morning I looked it up in “Where There is No Doctor.” Yep, I had Heat Exhaustion (I think we used to call it Heat Stroke). I took another shower, then lay in bed for a while, and repeated the same later in the PM. I waited until about the hottest time—4:30 PM-- for the second shower. Then I stood in front of the fan for a few minutes. All the while I prayed, “Lord, do you think you could send us just a little shower, to cool this awful heat?” Running around in my head was that old song by the Sons of the Pioneers—do you remember it?
“All day I face the barren waste without a taste of water, Co-o-o-o-l, Water (water), Old Dan and I with throats burned dry and souls that cry for water (water, water),
Cool (water), clear (water) water (water).”
What a wonderful, giving Abba we have! On Wednesday PM the sky got dark an hour early, and it started to thunder. Before long, it started to rain! Not just a little shower, it was a rainy season downpour, that lasted almost an hour! I went out on our front porch and just watched and smelled that wonderful rain! It tamped down all the dust for most of a day. And of course, it cooled the heat to normal proportions. I went around singing, “God is so Good! God is so Good! God is so Good, He’s so Good to me!”
All of this has compelled me to take precautions with the heat: Now, to my hat and shades, I’ve added an umbrella when I’m in the sun. I also know that if I get too hot, I need to go and have a shower. I am so thankful here for our dependable (most of the time) water and electricity to run our fans. When we build our big house, we are going to build into one room an air conditioner. Especially in sickness, if you have cool air it makes the rest a bit more bearable. Some friends gave us money for that, and we definitely will do it.
As you probably know, Holston, through the Conference Foundation, has been raising money for bore holes. I finally found out the difference between a bore hole and a well. A bore hole is deeper, done with a machine. A well is hand-dug, and is not so deep. We are so excited that soon the money will be here and we’ll drill our first bore hole at the St. Catherine UMC in Kupera. It’s one of the places where the people have to go four miles to get water! Bishop Elias Taban from the Evangelical Presbyterian Church has the drilling company: Water Is Basic. I really like their policy: for the first year after they drill a bore hole, they require the people to give anyone the water freely. In the second year, if need be, they can charge a small fee—usually 1 lb. per jerry can---which is used for routine maintenance. I have been reflecting on the many Scriptures in which water plays a big part. Matthew 10:42 is the one I thought of first (Jesus talking), “And whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.” Pray that soon we will be starting that, obeying Jesus, and giving water to many of His little ones.
Animal update: since I wrote the blog about animals and birds, we have seen two new birds around here. There are some beautiful, blue herons that come into our compound every so often. And to the average-sized greenish/silver hawks, now we’ve added a bigger hawk, the size of an eagle. It’s body is mostly dark brown. Also, the black birds I told you about, I noticed that their wing tips are a kind of taupe—creamy beige that fades to the black. Did I mention the small, black and white striped bird? I’ve noticed that whether it’s the crows or the black birds, we only see 1 kind of bird at a time. They tend to hang together in flocks. It’s a lesson for the church: hang in there—together, for the sake of God’s Kingdom. Even Jesus noticed the birds. See you next time.
