Dear Friends,
It has been a while since we last wrote. We are currently out in the village and there has been quite a lot going on. October 4th is the Saint day for Lajas and so there was a big fiesta. It is also during this time that the new leaders are selected for the following year, and so we were able to witness how this is done culturally. The police presence in the village kept drinking to a minimum and so for the most part there were very few incidents of fighting and such.
Today a helicopter flies in with a politician that represents the area, and they will be giving out food and blankets, hence there is an atmosphere of anticipation in the village as everyone awaits the arrival of the helicopter. A couple of hurricanes are moving up the west coast. Thankfully one has passed and will make landfall further north, the other looks like it could come close to threatening this area. The first mountain range would most likely break the storm up, but we could get some heavy rains and winds.
There have been a number of intense moments here. There hasn’t been a doctor or nurse present in the village and last week we had a family whose little boy had apparently been bitten by a scorpion. We were able to get into the clinic and it was looking like I might have to inject him with the anti-venom. The problem is that if you inject someone with scorpion anti-venom and it really wasn’t a scorpion that bit them, the anti-venom can kill them. Unfortunately the little boy was too little to know what bit him, but after a bunch of phone calls to a doctor in Durango and after much waiting and praying, it was decided to just wait and see if his symptoms would subside or grow worse. The family returned to their house with our assurances that if he got worse, we’d inject him or transport to a clinic two hours drive away. They returned at 12:30 at night worried that he was getting worse, but he quickly ate two bananas that Anne Marie gave him. We assured them that now most likely the worst of the affects of the venom have passed, and most likely he would be fine. Barry checked on the family the next morning and the little boy was running around like nothing had happened. We praise the Lord for his recovery and that we didn’t have to make the dangerous trip in the middle of the night. Heaven knows what counseling and psychiatric help he might’ve needed had I been the one to have to give him an intra-venous injection?
Another lady is lying in the clinic with bleeding on the brain and is in a serious condition. The family has asked our teams help, but she is too critical to move by land to Durango. The airstrip in Lajas is unusable, and we just found out that our plan cannot use the Milpillas airstrip as it is no longer registered. (To use it could risk the plane being confiscated.) The doctor has just arrived in the village and our prayer is that he can coordinate for the helicopter that comes, to fly her to Durango. Pray also for the doctor, he doesn’t not have a good rapport with the people and seems to disdain them and look down on them. They complain that he gets angry with them for their style of living, and many are afraid to to go to him. We would love for this guy to get saved and begin to value people as God does. Pray that his heart would soften towards the Tepehuan people. Often the doctor is the last person they will go to, much preferring the witchdoctors. The doctor being the way he is now makes matters worse and people wait till the last moment to get his help.
Joseph and Madeline are doing well in Durango in school, and are being well cared for by Wolfgang and Kelly. They have been doing some hiking and cliff scaling and are enjoying being able to be more involved in their sporting activities.
Sadly there has been no further news on Elsa and her whereabouts. Continue to pray for her release and safety. Pray also for Durango, violence has soared in the past year due to the drug war. Violence is reported daily in the news, but we are thankful for the Lord’s protection and haven’t personally witnessed nor been in the proximity of any of these sort of happenings. Out here in the mountains things are quite peaceful and we are enjoying our time with the people here.
We praise the Lord that our children’s passports have arrived and now we are waiting for Anne Marie’s “landed immigrant” visa to be granted and her passport returned. Pray also for a miracle to happen with our flight tickets. With the current economic situation, things are quite uncertain and prices are quite high. We’re trusting the Lord to be able to get a good deal on our families flights to Australia for furlough.
THE BIG PRAYER REQUEST IS FOR THE NEXT DENTAL CLINIC IN NOVEMBER. WITH THE MILPILLAS AIRSTRIP NO LONGER OPEN FOR OUR USE, IT WILL MEAN THAT ONE OF US HAS TO NOT ONLY DRIVE OUT TO LAJAS WITH THE DENTISTS, BUT ALSO RETURN THEM TO DURANGO BY ROAD, AND THEN DRIVE BACK OT TO LAJAS. THIS IS QUITE A LOT OF DRIVING AND VERY VERY TIRING AND SO WE ARE PRAYING THAT EITHER THE MILPILLAS AIRSTRIP WILL BE A POSSIBILITY AGAIN, OR EVEN BETTER, THAT THE LAJAS AIRSTRIP WOULD BE ABLE TO BE USED.
We thank you for your care for us and the work through your prayers and gifts.
For Jesus,
Andrew and Anne Marie
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October 2008 letter
