The rain is tapping out a tune on our roof as I write. Abbi is tucked into bed, her curly hair falling over her face as she lays there. We've just had a fabulous dinner of Boerwors, a south African kielbasa meets chorizo tube meat thingy. Sounds weird, tastes good. We served it up with some eggs and tortillas, which you can actually get in the capital city. We probably should learn to make them, though. We ate our food with a great dip mix that my sister Katie sent us. Abbi loved it and kept saying "more spices, more spices!" She was also quick, as usual, to pray for uncle Casey at bed time.

This week has been a step forward for our family life here at Karanda. We're coming into full stride, I at the hospital and April with the HIV orphans and nursing students (at aerobics class, which she teaches). We're getting to know and love many of the locals, which is very satisfying. I've recently "taken over" the male ward. I use that term very loosely as Dr. Roland Stephens still rounds on the ward. I guess I just haven't seen as many wild surgical cases as he. Admittedly, I do like it when he is managing the post op laryngectomy, for instance. It's a tough ward, as one or two patients seem to die every night. Some are expected, others are not.

I've had the opportunity to talk to patients about the Gospel on the wards too. This involves slowing down a bit. But, sitting there surrounded by death watching the message of heaven collide with the stuff of earth is priceless. Watching a person's eyes as the message of the Gospel sinks in, I think I have seen some come from spiritual blindness into the light. I do not know their hearts, but some very close to death have actually come to life in those moments. Talking about God in this culture is not taboo. Indeed, these people are very in tune to spiritual realities. The idea of a spiritual realm is quite normal to these people. The ideas of an agnostic entertainment-centered culture, laced with political correctness would seem odd to most of these people.

In other news we're still learning a ton. Things I am starting to feel comfortable with include:

TB management and all things TB

HIV management and the slew of opportunistic infections/issues that arise in those patients

Malaria management

Really, really bad malaria management

Spinal Anesthesia

Ketamine sedation

various incisions and drainages

Suprapubic prostatectomies

VP shunts

Hysterectomies

Open reduction internal fixation of various long bones

Closed reduction of various fractures

hydrocele repair

amputations

wound care

skin grafting

I'm learing a lot about bowel surgery, thyroid surgery, and hernias as well.

There is a lot of other stuff we're learning on a daily basis as well. There's always a lot to learn.

The best part of working here, however, is the quality time spent together as a family, quality time spent with our friends, and growing in our relationships with the locals. Life this week has been deep and real in the ways I had hoped for when we left. More and more ministry is happening on the wards. This too, is one of the best parts of working here. Indeed, it is why we are here.

Some nice photos:

Huge thyroid we took out the other day.

Priceless photo of Abbi filling up rain buckets to fill her pool (mom and dad helped too!)

Surgery list from last wednesday

Luke 7:

Jesus Anointed by a Sinful Woman

³⁶ One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat.^{h]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[h]} ³⁷ When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. ³⁸ Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.

³⁹ When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”

⁴⁰ Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.”

“Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.

⁴¹ Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver^{i]" style="font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 0.5em; ">[i]} to one and 50 pieces to the other. ⁴² But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”

⁴³ Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”

“That’s right,” Jesus said. ⁴⁴ Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon,“Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵ You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶ You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.

⁴⁷ “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.” ⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

⁴⁹ The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?”

⁵⁰ And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”