On the Edge: A Young Girl’s Life Saved

On the Edge: A Young Girl’s Life Saved

Janine LeGrand is a SAMS Missionary serving in Uganda. Read about her medical ministry and how she assisted a young girl who was in urgent need of medical help.

How many times do we feel like we are on the edge? How many times have you said, “I can’t take on one more task at work, or one more thing on my plate at home”? Even King David felt drained and had times of suffering.

How many times do we feel like we are on the edge? How many times have you said, “I can’t take on one more task at work, or one more thing on my plate at home”? Even King David felt drained and had times of suffering, but he looked to the Lord for restoration. “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit” (Psalm 51:12 ESV).

As Janine LeGrand worked in the short-term medical clinic in Masindi-Kitara, Uganda a young girl not thought to be older than two years old was brought into the clinic. The young girl, Cathy*, was severely malnourished and dehydrated. “She was so malnourished when she came to us that the clinic team was not sure she would have lived through the weekend,” said Janine. So, Janine and others at the clinic who partnered with One World Health, treated Cathy who suffered from diarrhea, but the main problem was she needed to be fed. Janine made her own version of plumpy-nut, a government distributed nutritional supplement made of nuts, powdered milk, and vitamins.

“My staff showed a lot of love. We arranged transportation for Cathy and her family. We provided as much care as we could. My partner, Jimmy would even go to visit the family home and care for Cathy,” said Janine. Soon it was discovered that Cathy’s mother was thought to have passed away and she was under the care of a sick grandmother who was unable to care for her, and before that by other family members who were unable to provide.

If her dehydration and malnutrition wasn’t enough, while treating Janine discovered a severe burn on Cathy. “This burn is actually what saved Cathy’s life,” said Janine, “because we were able to get her into the Masindi hospital for treatment. If it was not for that, I have no doubt Cathy would not have made it. She was on the edge and just too malnourished.” Janine explains that today Cathy is in the process of being under new care. By the grace of God, she has been physically restored after receiving the help she needed thanks to Janine and the team at the Masindi-Kitara. Cathy’s miraculous recovery reminds us of God’s grace. He can restore us from physical, spiritual, or emotional suffering we face no matter how close to the edge we may be.

To give to Janine LeGrand, visit her missionary page. On behave of Janine, SAMS is thankful for your prayers, sending, and support of Janine, and other missionaries so they may carry out the work the Lord has sent them into the field to do.
By the grace of God, Cathy (pictured above with a clinic team member) has been physically restored after receiving the help she needed thanks to Janine and the team at the Masindi-Kitara.
Sarah Norris

Writer and Communications Specialist, SAMS-USA

Last Prayer Mail

Dear friends,

This coming week, a chapter is closing on our lives at this end, and I plan on this being the final prayer mail related to our mission work. Of course, we could always use your prayers in the times ahead as you happen to think of us.

The following is based on my final note to people involved in the distance learning program, sent Saturday:

Distance learning update for Saturday, 24 September 2016: 

Good day!  
1) This is planned as my last weekly distance learning update before my attention will be focused in other ministry directions, with a few exceptions. Aside from individualized emails, for any future distance learning updates please look to the announcement section of the distance learning Web site. 
1a) As one of my remaining connections, I am currently revising the Christian Doctrine/Christian Theology course to be a Christian Doctrine/Christian Theology course with an Anglican perspective, instead of an additional course focusing specifically on Anglican Doctrine/Anglican Theology. It may be finished in a few weeks.
1b) When I have finished that project, another of my remaining connections that I am planning will be to work with the Main Administrator to turn the current notes and slides from the individual courses into Kindle-based documents that can be downloaded from the Internet. 
2) One of our students is nearing the very end of the final course in the program.  
3) These courses will be open for the rest of 2016. Beginning in 2017, I plan to be the Benefactor of the course Web site, to keep it open for all of 2017 and for as much as I can beyond, but I won’t know for sure how this will work until January 2017. 
4) Three people have stepped up as my replacements in the following capacities:
Main Administrator. 
Curriculum Design Director.
Dean of the Faculty.
This has been a full week in other aspects of ministry and in family life as well. 

Prayers: 
 
1) For guidance on the path ahead are appreciated, including a smooth transition, and also for people in Belize in the wake of my departure.  

2) For the transition of the Diocese of Belize Web site to the creation of a new one in due course.  

3) For the publication of the Spanish Prayer Book, scheduled for this month, but I have not heard anything about it. 

4) For the parishes and other matters that we are involved with. Julie continues as a hospital chaplain. I continue as an Interim Rector. Lydia continues as a student. 
And mission work? As you can see from the above, there is a small bit to do yet. In the near term, Julie and I both continue as Associate Missionaries with SAMS, probably for as long as we have a missionary connection of some sort with Belize, unless something changes.

My prayer for you, this week, is that you would be open to what the Holy Spirit is guiding you to do and say.
  
God bless you, in Jesus’ Name,
 
Fr. Shaw, and on behalf of Rev. Julie and Lydi

Things I miss about Uganda

Now, don’t get me wrong. It is absolutely fabulous to be in the US with my people. That is balm to my soul. The smooth, lit roads and snazzy internet speeds are only perks of being here. However, over the last few weeks that I’ve been here, I’ve realized that there are several things I miss about Uganda.

1. Full serve petrol stations. There is no such thing as self-pumping stations in Uganda. Not only is it a blessed convenience, it prevents one from entering the ZIP code from where she used to live vice where she officially lives (vice where she actually lives when here) while using her debit card to purchase gas. Truth.
2. Doreen. Let’s be honest. Domesticity isn’t hard, but I’m a wee bit out of practice. Doreen washes, irons, cleans, and generally takes care of me. I *can* do these things, truly, but it’s just so… daily. I’m horribly spoiled.
3. Being recognized. If you had told me five years ago that I would miss being recognized, I would have fallen apart laughing. Though it still freaks me out when a store clerk or Askari (security guard) at a mall addresses me by title (“nice day, Reverend”) when I’m *not* in my collar, I’m sufficiently acclimated to it that I’m surprised when no one in this country knows me.

Continue reading Things I miss about Uganda at Here I Am.

Photos from First Two Months in Bandung

We’ve been in Bandung since July 29th now, and we have our plates full with language learning. That’s our main task this year: get the language down well so that we can do the things God has prepared for us to do, both those we already have planned – teaching pastors Greek and Hebrew, pastoring a church – and those we can’t know yet, but which are all already known to God.

Here is a sort of medley of photos from the first two months, with captions. They’ll give you a flavor for what our life is like here.

Here’s a panorama shot of the IMLAC (Indonesian Multi-Language Acquisition Course) campus where we spend four hours every day working on Bahasa Indonesia with several different tutors.

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This shot is taken from the perspective of the ping pong table that Matt uses during our 20 minute break. As you can see, it’s a really lovely environment in which to study.

IMLAC has a sense of humor. Its classrooms are named after islands of Indonesia, and there is one called “Kalimantan” (Borneo). “Kali” also means “multiplied by” or “times” in arithmetic. So we get this label on the room:

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While driving in late August, we passed any number of roadside stands selling goats for the Idul Adha sacrifice (commemorating Ibrahim’s narrowly-averted sacrifice of Ismail):

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Here’s a typical view out our car’s windshield on the way to school. Our street is narrow, about 1.5 car widths across, so we have to “take turns” with other cars. But most traffic is not cars at all: motorcycles are ubiquitous in Bandung.

The number on the dashboard is our carpool pick-up number for Cahaya Bangsa Classical school, where Ezekiel is enrolled in 9th grade. He has probably made the best adjustment of any of our kids, which is a welcome surprise given how hard a time he had when we moved to the Philippines almost 4 years ago. He’s doing great in his classes and enjoying playing on the basketball team, where his height serves him well.

Speaking of height, here I am with Pastor Henry S., assistant pastor at St. Paul’s. This photo was taken at the reception for the wedding of another pastor in the GAI, Raphael B. Being 6’3″ is not an advantage off the basketball court: I have hit my head on low lintels and doorframes many times over the past two months.

Here’s a wider view of the huge reception room at the Grand Pasundan hotel (Sora and fellow pastor’s wife Deborah G. are at the far right):

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This batik clergy shirt of mine has done duty for over a year now. I want to get some more made here, and we know a tailor who made the kids’ school uniforms for Cahaya Bangsa. But I’m shopping around for the right pattern. I liked this blue in one shop, but I’m hoping to find something even more colorful:

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We have spent more than one Sunday at each of the three GAI congregations – St. Paul’s, St. Peter’s, and St. John’s. This last is located on the campus of the military police barracks in nearby Cimahi, and is the smallest of the three congregations. They have given us a very warm welcome. I have preached through a translator twice (Ibu Ridha and her husband Pastor Denny K), and administered both sacraments in halting and mispronounced Bahasa Indonesia.

Baptizing the youngest member of St. John’s:

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Here are our boys receiving communion from me and Pastor Yacob:

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Our family is making an effort to get out of the city once a month or so, to escape the noise and pollution and traffic and decompress in a more beautiful environment – something we didn’t do often enough in the Philippines. Most recently, that meant a trip to nearby Lembang, about 45 minutes away from Bandung proper. We passed an awesome house on the way.

We went to Maribaya, where Sora and I had lunch and enjoyed the sound of the waterfalls while monkeys played in the trees beyond:

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Later, we took the kids to the hot springs, which were very relaxing.

So that’s a slice of life for us here in (and out of) Bandung.

We won’t pretend this isn’t a harder cultural adjustment for us than the Philippines was. For one, the stakes of language acquisition are much higher: without the Bahasa Indonesia, I won’t be able to help the GAI with pastoral training in the ancient languages or the Scriptures. It’s not like the Philippines, where most men with sufficient education to benefit from my instruction had sufficient English as well. Here, the language is make-or-break for our ministry. We’re working hard at it, but we need to find more ways to get out and about in the city and strike up conversations with Indonesian folks whom we haven’t met before. We appreciate your prayers for our family as we continue to live and study in Bandung, West Java.

Prayer Mail

Dear Friends,
This is our prayer mail for Monday, 19 September 2016. 

This is our penultimate prayermail/update. Next week will be our final week. 
This week has been another full week.

On the missions front:

Regarding the distance learning program with Belize, I have arranged for the program to continue via a Main Administrator for technical matters, a Course Design Director, and a Dean of the Faculty (coordinator of the faculty). I plan to continue in the roll of Benefactor for the time being, and continue as Director of the diocesan seminary until my replacement is named. One of the upcoming projects to be undertaken by the Course Design Director is a confirmation curriculum for the diocese, all things being the same.

The future Course Design Director completed a course this week, would complete the entire curriculum at the end of the current and final course that the person is taking. I plan my handoff of the remaining parts of the program to take place when this person has finished the final course, and soon. That means: some information will be passed along, some training to go, my being available for questions, and so forth.

I also made a recommendation for someone interested in Holy Orders (diaconate). 

This week in hindsight: phenomenal, and answered prayers for actually potentially expanding the program. To paraphrase what someone has said: I enabled the program to take off, and now it has wings. The timing was good for doing this. 
     
It was a full week in other aspects of ministry and in family life as well.

Prayers: 
1) Prayers for guidance on the path ahead are still appreciated, including a smooth transition, and also for people in Belize in the wake of my departure.  

2) For the transition of the Diocese of Belize Web site to the creation of a new one.  

3) For the publication of the Spanish Prayer Book, most likely this month. 

I continue to pray for you, every day.
  
God bless you,
Fr. Shaw, and on behalf of Rev. Julie.