Many of you have read about Wotak and the way this elderly chief was part of our life until his death. His family has been on our heart ever since we met him. His children's hearts are hard to spiritual things and his daughter in law who used to come to church regularly is not allowed to attend any church functions.
I expect it will take at least a month to heal. In the meantime (since she comes from a village several hours away), I have set her up with some beadwork. The income she gets from this Gumuz beadwork is helping her buy food and clothing. But even greater it is keeping her busy while she waits for this wound to heal. I am hoping that in a week's time, Eygadu can being cleaning and bandaging her own wound once a day. Cleanliness does not come natural for these people mostly because of the lack of water available to them.
I believe that the Lord brings women (and men) like this to our front door for a reason. Pray that God would use this slow physical healing to also draw her to himself through our family and through the Gumuz she meets here in Gesses.
Then, yesterday afternoon, during my Bible study time with the Gumuz women leaders, Dado (the cousin of Eygadu with whom she is staying) came weeping to our door. We went outside to find that her 7 year old daughter had fallen from a tree and landed on her face and arm. The arm seemed to be broken and her nose and mouth badly swollen but it was a miracle she was alive. The height of the tree was great but the wild fruit at the top was enticing.
In all cases of accidents, Satan gets a lot of credit and I was so pleased to hear the Gumuz women leaders exclaim that God had surely saved this girl from greater harm! It may seem like a small thing but truly when God is praised, it is obviously a work of the Holy Spirit.
Pray for Dado. She is the daughter of Wotak and I know she is living in great fear. Several months ago, I treated her baby for a severe burn on the face (which has healed well), then a week ago, she brought her cousin with the large leg wound, and now her daughter has a broken arm. Pray that these accidents would not push her away from the Lord but rather that they would draw her into relationship with Him. Pray for a breakthrough in this family!!
The past week, I have been treating Wotak's niece who came with a leg wound that was left unattended too long. After getting some advice from several professionals, I believe that the wound has flesh growing on it called "proud flesh". Basically, the body responded by growing excessive amounts of scar tissue so the entire wound is raised about 1/2 inch. The first couple of days were spent cleaning the wound and getting it to a place where it could resume healing.
Each morning and each late afternoon, Eygadu comes to my front door so that the wound can be washed and re-bandaged. The healing is extremely slow but I am happy to say that there is just enough healing that has taken place, that it is worth persevering through. (I am talking about 2 mm of healing on each side.) It would apparently be best to actually cut this proud flesh away but I am not comfortable with that procedure and I know Eygadu would refuse it. I did scrape off some bad flesh though with a clean blade. I expect it will take at least a month to heal. In the meantime (since she comes from a village several hours away), I have set her up with some beadwork. The income she gets from this Gumuz beadwork is helping her buy food and clothing. But even greater it is keeping her busy while she waits for this wound to heal. I am hoping that in a week's time, Eygadu can being cleaning and bandaging her own wound once a day. Cleanliness does not come natural for these people mostly because of the lack of water available to them.
I believe that the Lord brings women (and men) like this to our front door for a reason. Pray that God would use this slow physical healing to also draw her to himself through our family and through the Gumuz she meets here in Gesses.
Then, yesterday afternoon, during my Bible study time with the Gumuz women leaders, Dado (the cousin of Eygadu with whom she is staying) came weeping to our door. We went outside to find that her 7 year old daughter had fallen from a tree and landed on her face and arm. The arm seemed to be broken and her nose and mouth badly swollen but it was a miracle she was alive. The height of the tree was great but the wild fruit at the top was enticing.
In all cases of accidents, Satan gets a lot of credit and I was so pleased to hear the Gumuz women leaders exclaim that God had surely saved this girl from greater harm! It may seem like a small thing but truly when God is praised, it is obviously a work of the Holy Spirit.
Pray for Dado. She is the daughter of Wotak and I know she is living in great fear. Several months ago, I treated her baby for a severe burn on the face (which has healed well), then a week ago, she brought her cousin with the large leg wound, and now her daughter has a broken arm. Pray that these accidents would not push her away from the Lord but rather that they would draw her into relationship with Him. Pray for a breakthrough in this family!!
