Operating Room in Casa George

04 Mar 2016

During meal times, if Amy isn't feeling well, someone sits with her while the rest eat.  Last night, as I sat with Amy and she chatted about how much her head hurt and how nauseated she was, I heard a crash/thud and a yell, "Dad!  Uncle Lyle fell on the floor and his head is bleeding!"  Lyle has been victim of Montezuma's revenge for the last day and a half and it made him so light-headed he passed out at supper, fell on the floor and cut open his forehead.  Luckily, I still have all the needed equipment for minor surgery in my pharmacy, so the George Family OR team (Sarah and Ben held lights, Paul handed me equipment and Mia sat with Amy) got to work and patched him up.  Our couch has seen a lot of surgeries.  I used especially large needles as payback for all the mean things Lyle did to me from when we were kids. 

Amy is doing better today and even ate a bit of breakfast.  But she is still having lots of pain and is pretty confused most of the time.  Please pray that her pain subsides.

Bad Night

03 Mar 2016

Amy had a horrible night last night.  Lots of face pain and threw up multiple times.  It makes it tricky to try to guess if I should give her medicines again, or assume that she absorbed the medicine during the time it was in her stomach.

Yesterday I went with my brother to visit the medical school.  Amy said that she wants her body donated to science (I've always loved her practicality:  She said she didn't want some grave that might be thousands of miles from her kids that they'd feel obligated to visit.) and since the local medical school was nice enough 15 years ago to revalidate our medical licenses (something we were told over and over was about impossible to get done) we felt they should be the recipients.  They were very appreciative and said that no one ever does that here.  They have to buy unclaimed cadavers from the local morgue.  

Tuesday lunch

01 Mar 2016

Today, some women from church came to make Amy one of her favorite dishes, causa.  It is a dish of layered mashed potatoes and vegetables with avocados and tuna.  It's quite good.  Amy sat in the rocking chair in the kitchen while they worked, which she enjoyed.  

Ben isn't pictured because he went out to a cebichería (fish restaurant) with friends for the last day of summer vacation.  School begins tomorrow.  They are not thrilled by this.

Amy has had less headaches, but she is getting weaker, especially on her left side (as expected, since the tumor is on the right side).  We had to carry her to this fine meal, but she was able to walk upstairs to her bedroom to sleep afterwards.

Never a Bad Day for a Run

28 Feb 2016

I always say, "There's never a bad day for a run in Arequipa."  That's because the temperatures are mild all year round and we live in a desert, so it rarely rains.  But when it does rain, the city infrastructure is unprepared for it and this last week it rained and washed out some pipelines leaving us, ironically, without water.  Today is the Arequipa marathon.  It really didn't work for me to run even the 10K with Amy's condition, but since Lyle was here and awake at 6:30 am, I went for a run on one of my regular routes.  When I came home, I couldn't take a shower, because there is a water cut and our backup tank was empty!  Luckily, the Peats, missionaries from England, live nearby and said a phrase we've heard a lot lately, "If there is anything we can do, let us know."  They have their own well, and graciously allowed us to shower at their house.  Good thing since we have church tonight!  Amy has felt better today than yesterday, and plans on going to church tonight.  The nice shower probably has contributed positively to that!

Here are the leaders of the Arequipa Marathon at the 30K point near our house.  Hope they got a shower when they were done.

Positive findings about mission activity

28 Feb 2016

Yes !

Finally someone has taken the time and put all his energy into finding out the truth of the matter !

Missionaries, in particular, Anglo-Saxon Protestant (and theologically evangelical ) missionaries, have majorly contributed to the development and the democratisation of former colonial countries.

 

Read this article : Surprising Discovery about missionaries

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2014/january-february/world-missionaries-made.html?share=EniP5LFADsq7VHhltKZmQiYAyV2f82tL

 

It corroborates what I had heard years ago in Australia explaining how missionaries contributed to recording Aboriginal language and culture before it got lost in the westernisation of Aboriginal population. Their efforts to speak the language and to understand the mentality in order to explain Christianity meant that much valuable research was done.

 

Another interesting text : One Blood , by Dr. John Harris, Ed  Albatross Books

(I have a second hand copy for sale if anyone is interested !)

 

Notice when reading the article, that the researcher, Woodberry, refers to the lesser, frankly negative influence of French mission work in French colonies. I can corroborate that information from my understanding of the French culture and history.

Vist from Lyle George

27 Feb 2016

My brother Lyle came to visit today.  It has been raining so much here in Arequipa, many of the flights have been cancelled.   Since most years it doesn't rain, it has been deemed an unnecessary expense to install the instruments needed at the airport to allow planes to land in fog or rain.  So I was glad when I woke up at 5 am to see completely clear skies for the first time in a week and I knew his flight would come in.  It is great to have my big brother here!

Lyle and I howl at each other when we see each other for the first time in a while.  I think he scared the woman in pink.

Amy's had a worse day today.  More headaches and more pain pills.

'Hole!'

25 Feb 2016

Today I stopped to be a good Samaritan and help the driver of the fire-extinguisher company van who had backed into a hole.  Why is there a hole like this in the street?  I won't pretend to know.  As I was unrolling my tow rope, five other guys came by and helped push him out.  I really liked how the paint job on the van fit the surroundings!

Amy had a pretty good day today.  She took one pain pill and ate well.

Is this work or not ?

25 Feb 2016

The question of work hours has often crossed my mind. How to define a working week for a missionary who doesn't have office hours, who is a pastor's wife and mother of three (albeit quite independent) children ?

I asked myself the question again as I headed out to our local Tuesday morning market. Ostensibly to do my weekly fruit and vegie shopping, to support the locals who work on the market and to buy local produce. This time I also had a coffee date with a friend I hadn't seen for a couple of months. We chose a newly opened local café which serves excellent coffee that they grind themselves and which they buy in a kind of Fair Trade and organically grown context. (BTW, these were the people who told me Aussies make the best coffee in the world !!)

So I answered my own question with "I'm combining work with pleasure" - housewife duties, support for my local country community and my version of friendship evangelism.

I left the house at 9:15 am and got home at midday ! It's not a big village and it's not a big market because it's Winter and only the locals buy at this market in Winter. No tourists, no steam train to bring them here, no weekend visitors (it's Tuesday, remember ...)

So why so long ?

Because you have to take the time to greet people. I found myself stopping every 10 metres to do the 'bises', the 3 pecks on the cheeks we give in this region as we meet people we know. And I asked about their health, their family, the latest news. We shared our sorrow at the recent tragic death of a couple killed in a car accident, commented on how many deaths there had been recently, talked about the morose economic climate, the death of the bee population, how warm this Winter has been and the prospects for the fruit season later on in the year ..... And here and there I put in a word about God - He knows why that couple died leaving 2 young children; He is in charge of the weather; man has forgotten he can't control everything and needs to remember God gave us the responsibility of caring for His creation. I was able to mention that there are a few activities linked to the World Day of Prayer (prepared by the Cuban  women this year) and give dates to invite certain people...

I was a visible presence in the community, representing our local Evangelical Church, known as the local pastor's wife, affirming my place in this corner of France inspite of the fact that I don't come from here. Affirming also my concerns for the local community, expressing what I hope is an intelligent faith, showing compassion as a Christian and the legitimacy of our faith in the God of Jesus Christ.

So yes, I did work Tuesday morning .... and I enjoyed that coffee with my friend and shopping for my family.

Pray for France

25 Feb 2016

Things have settled down in France since the dramatic events of 13th November, but there is a simmering of discontent, of insecurity. Suspicion quickly rises to the surface. The debate, common to many Western countries, around whether we should accept refugees and on what basis ? Should we accept M*lims since the threats come from I*lam ?

Christians are getting a break from suspicion and media negativity simply because these other threats have taken the place, but any sort of adhesion to a faith is seen as potentially dangerous because we could turn fanatic.

 

Interesting to read this extract from the Jeyachandran blog describing a big conference on Christian ministry in Universities:

       "It was also sad to hear that in countries in Europe that we’d consider peaceful and open to the gospel, the University administration treats evangelical groups with suspicion while being open to other religions. One administrator told a Christian group that he believed they were only growing because they used manipulation and coercion. For me this was encouragement to fully take advantage of the openness to the gospel we currently have in Peru."

 

http://www.missionshub.org/jeyachandran-family

Blog post from 15 Aug 2015

 

We, in France, were touched by the expressions of support and sympathy. We Christians were surprised to see the acceptation of the campaign #PrayforParis. Only recently people would have reacted negatively or condescending. A little embarassed also that much Western media attention was on France when equal, if not more shocking, killings were going on in Africa.

 

However, I use these events and the current atmosphere to ask to to Pray for France : the name of a prayer campaign which was launched in France 15 years ago. A well-documented daily calendar helps you to pray specifically for current concerns, even to standing firm against evil, and in a spirit of praise to the Almighty God. If you are comfortable with French you can download the material : 

http://www.objectiffrance.fr/

 

If not the American ministry Impact France has translated the material and you can find it :

http://www.prayforfrance.org/

https://www.facebook.com/prayforfrance/

 

The Lord has raised an army of pray-ers. We praise Him because He is taking care of France's spiritual health. Thank you for your part in it.

Breakfast not in Bed

24 Feb 2016

Most people think Breakfast in Bed is a great thing.  Currently, we are in the opposite opinion.  For the first time in 3 days Amy was feeling good enough to go downstairs and eat breakfast at the dining room table!  Maybe 'Waffle Wednesday' was the impetus she needed.  Her head didn't hurt much yesterday and when I offered some pain meds she said, "No.  I'm tough!"

We are blessed on our team here in Arequipa to have a married couple that used to work as nurses in hospice care in Germany before they came to Peru.  They have been a great help and support, bringing helpful chairs and cushions and bread and sitting with Amy when the rest of us went to church on Sunday.  We are so thankful for the Reuters and all of our team here.

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