August 27, 2007

 

Dear family and friends:

 

A lot has happened in the past two months. . . .as usual!  Our days are often filled with both sadness and joy.

 

At least one new patient per day is being diagnosed as HIV positive at the clinic. While some are high risk patients, many are from prominent Christian families active in the church and government. Some are from remote villages accessible only by helicopter or walking for days. Ages have ranged from babies, kids aged 14 to 16, all the way into the 50’s.  This disease has had a serious impact on our staff and church leadership. Only two weeks ago, the husband of one of our nurses died of AIDS. They had been married only four months, and thankfully his wife is still HIV-negative. As usual, only a few people know the real cause of his death. His wife and several others of our staff were in the midst of an HIV course for counseling and treatment when this happened.

 

  In the background of this photo, is a 16 year old girl who is dying from a fatal disease.

  Her father is on her left. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, long hours are again a part of my life, but Grace and Claire are getting used to it.  We are currently at a stage in the ministry when we need to discuss expansion of the work. Each day, our building is completely filled with patients, and our ability to help patients is limited by a lack of staff. Please pray that we will find other missionary nurses and doctors to join the work here. The joyful side of this is that we are never short of ministry opportunities and each day we see patients blessed physically and spiritually at the clinic.

 

One of the good things that has happened to our community is that the Wamena school has two new single teachers!   And we are waiting for the third one to close on her house in Oklahoma before coming out.   Valerie teaches Grades 1-3, Lynn (when she gets here) will teach Grades 4-5, and Katherine is teaching Grades 6-8.   There are 22 students at the school.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Claire with her teacher, Valerie on the second day of school

 

Thank you for your committed prayers and support!

 

Kim (for Grace and Claire)

 

If you’d like to begin or continue supporting this ministry, you can mark your donations

Project 37707

 

and send to:

CrossWorld, PO Box 306, Bala-Cynwyd, PA 19006