Jonathan's TB, My Pregnancy with Jenny, Bill's Hepatitis, and a Devastating Tornado: Tales from the Mountaintops and Valleys Below #6

What to expect? The unexpected! But always expect God's love and provision and Presence in each and every event and encounter. God's Word was and is the Strength and Provision for our daily lives and gave us what we needed to do His will. Here is some material from my journal.

A month into this latest village stay, in early April, both Jonathan and I became quite ill. We had to return to Kathmandu where I was admitted to the hospital with amoebic dysentery for IV treatment both for me and to help protect the baby I was now carrying--yea--Jenny is on the way!!! We celebrated this Easter, rejoicing in His victory over death.

The biggest challenge for me was my hospital roommate, a lovely Indian lady who could not stop coughing. I found it hard not to be irritable in the middle of the night when I was jittery from little sleep, listening to her cough and cough. On the last night, when she was having a horrid bout of coughing, instead of lying in bed wondering if it would end, I got up and poured her a glass of water. Amazingly, the cough stopped and some sleep was had.

This sacrifice was not done in perfection, because of my own irritable nature. But God is working and I know He will perfect that which He has begun.

As soon as I was home from the hospital, Jonathan got sick again with another bad cough and congestion. This time they did an x-ray and found he had TB covering five percent of his lungs (we were glad it was not more). So we began a year's treatment of six pills a days. Can you imagine giving your almost-two year old six tablets a day? We tried everything from smashing them with peanut butter, to mixing with his food. It seems that illness was a normal part of life for us and that we were learning how to do warfare and to have people back "home" praying for us. In each case, the Lord came and healed us. Again from the journal:

Once we were feeling better, we decided to try one last visit to the village before monsoon season was again upon us. On our arrival, we were told that 7 people had died in the last 4 days in our village. By that evening I had a fever of 103 and all the signs of severe dysentery and no way to get to a hospital for IVs. My greatest fear was losing our new little one in the womb, but the Lord met us and strengthened me and so we continued our stay, even though it was several days before I could get out of bed and work. Bill was amazing with no complaint. He is a true and humble servant.

But then I got worse again and Jonathan was not well either, so we had to return to Kathmandu. They immediately put us in the hospital. Jonathan had a strain of typhoid and bacillary dysentery. There was so much illness in this country and health provision is often limited to emergencies. We angrazi (foreigners), had better access to good health care.

Jonathan got better more quickly than I did and went home while I followed the doctor's orders to "hang loose and it will eventually get better." It turned out I also had tapeworms from walking and mushing through the mud, in sandals, near our village.

We had amazing doctors in Kathmandu. The United Mission to Nepal sponsored the best hospital in the country, with doctors coming from many different countries coming to serve  at Shanta Bhawan ("Peaceful Home") Hospital. This hospital is no longer operating, but what a blessing it was to have while we were there. My physician, Dr. Mary Eldridge, from England, was amazing, as you will learn in the blogs ahead. Dr. Nietchke, from Germany, was the children's pediatrician and a very wise woman.

I marvel as I look back at the journal records, and how our Father sustained us and strengthened us. We decided to try one last village stay before monsoon. I wrote, "God must have marvelous things planned for the Tharus cuz Satan is working so very hard."

So what next? I have never seen a "natural disaster" before, until our return to the village this time... The day before our return to the village, "Our village was hit by a violent hailstorm and tornado. The mango grove by our house was nearly demolished, tearing up 100 foot trees by their roots. 3 people were killed and crops were ruined, livestock killed, and houses destroyed. The roof on our house was torn off and ruined. The roof over Jon's room was the worst hit and had we been there he could have been killed. His mattress was torn all over from the hail (cement tiles from our roof had landed in his crib and torn it to shreds. If we'd been there, he could have easily been killed). They say the hailstones were 8-10 inches round. Our screens and windows were broken. The mayor of our area (the Pradhan Pansch) called it a "desolation and if it had lasted 5 minutes more there would now be no people in our whole area." I wanted to cry. but He was giving us another chance to trust the all-sufficiency of His grace. Yet it hurt to see so much sorrow among our people.

Kissan's extended family is below. He is in the white shirt.

Kissan's mom and sister are in their home cooking a meal for us. Tharu houses were normally very dark inside and often smoky.

After arranging for a new thatch roof for our house, and helping the villagers with their own repairs, Bill left with Ross, another Wycliffe team member, to help bring food and money to help in the famine in their village. Jon and I returned to Kathmandu by air. From my journal:

On the plane today, I heard Bill's voice call out my name, as if in urgent need. Very strange. Committed to Him. All things done well. When Bill returned, he was exhausted and yellow. It turned out he had a bad case of hepatitis. He spent two weeks in the hospital regaining his strength. I was glad he was OK and going to get better, but I was exhausted from caring for Jonathan on my own. Plus Sita, our house helper, wasn't able to come for several days. Back to washing clothes by hand, doing all the cooking and cleaning, and chasing Jonathan while pregnant with Jenny!

It was so good to have Bill home! But he also brought his Indian roommate home from the hospital to stay with us indefinitely. This became a real challenge as he worshiped evil spirits and seemed to be taking advantage of us. What to do? Forgive and learn to praise the One who loves each of us. And we learning the power of the NAME of Jesus.

But we had another lesson to learn also. I had a relative back home in the US who didn't believe that we were going through all the things we wrote about. She wrote a letter that reached our director criticizing us and our situation, saying that we shouldn't have asked my mom to send things we couldn't obtain in Nepal and we should be able to manage without this kind of help.

Our director was very supportive and knew the needs and difficulties we faced--he had 5 kids of his own! What we learned, besides more forgiveness, is that we had to be careful of what we wrote to people. Some wanted to know the whole truth. And some just wanted to know the good stuff. So we learned to focus more on the goodness of God in every situation in our group letters.

I hope you are seeing the goodness of God n this blog as I write--in the midst of all the hard stuff. It comes with a thankful heart. There are so many stories not included here, yet ones that have formed our character and helped conform us to the image of Jesus. We give Him thanks and praise.