Finally made it home last night about 12:30 AM. It was a long, long journey. I about did not make it out of D.C. last night, I received THE last ticket. They had overbooked by 7 seats. Jai Mashi Di, as they say in Urdu/Punjabi. This means Praise The Lord!
It’s good to wake up this morning with Derek hugging me. I missed that the most I believe! Have a good day! lb
As much as I hate to leave, the time has come yet again. These trips would be much more emotionally manageable if my family were with me. But, each time I come, I see the work of God more and more. I know some people are totally against us coming here, and I must admit at times I wonder “what am I thinking”, but when I get here, it truly feels like I belong here. We will see if this is where God wants to keep us. It is him and him alone that can provide that answer.
These last 3 days have been hopping. Meetings after meetings, and it seems to be non-stop! That’s typical the last few days I am here. I have had some sadness here, and I have had some emotional highs. It’s funny, my days here are really not that much different at home. You settle into a routine and then you leave, just when things get to be rolling along.
Thanks for all your prayers. Mine and Wendy’s life has really been up and down the last year (along with the children’s) and we really want to get settled. We will know more in the next month or two in regards to what our future plans will be for Pakistan. Selfishly, I would like to return. But, we want to do God’s will. Please pray he guides us.
Well, I am off to 1 last meeting. I will be leaving about 10 o’clock Punjab time. It will be good to hug my family!
Salaam,
lb
Okay, I must apologize to my sister. I have given her grief for the last 20 years about the dangers of riding a motorcycle. Personally, I never have seen the reason why anyone would want to ride on the back of a motorcycle. They are very dangerous, I know that. Well, I was invited to a hospital employee’s home for ( I mentioned this in the earlier post), and I needed a way to get there. His house is VERY hard to get to and a vehicle would have been impossible. So I called my buddy, and he came and picked me up on his motorbike. It was cool riding on the back of the bike. The roads were pretty rough. But, with my black hair and my Chawal Kameez (Pakistani Clothes), I looked Pakistani riding down the street. Today was cool!
Well, I really hate that I am missing all of that ice and snow you guys seem to be getting. It is about 64-65 degrees today, sunny, LOUD, and dusty. Aaaahhhh, the life on the Punjab. I am not sure which one is worse right now. Well, enjoy the snow and ice, but make sure it all gone by Thursday so I can land in Charlotte!
My little diabetic kid in ICU is doing a little better. He is not responsive yet, but he did look a little better to me today. I went in on my day off today to check on him. His family was gathered around him and I prayed with them. Poor little fellow.
I woke up a little late this morning, I enjoyed the sleep. I have really not been able to catch up on my lack of sleep since I have been here. I hate complaining about lack of sleep, knowing everything Wendy is doing these days. Be home soon honey!
Tried to cook homemade pancakes today. I looked on the internet and found the ingredients that I knew I had. I let the cook off this weekend, stupid me, and so I have to cook for myself all weekend. The pancakes turned out ok, but I am not sure I used the right flour. There were 2 types and I eeny-meeny-miney-moe’d it to choose. They were a little “bouncey/rubbery” but not tooooo bad. Sol seemed to like it. Anyway, don’t worry I did get some food to eat this morning.
My plan for this afternoon is to go to a guy’s home who works at the hospital with me. I think he might be setting me up to ask me for some money, boy is he going to be surprised 
I have been to his house before, but not officially invited. I just kind of ended up there with another guy and realized he lived in the neighborhood. I am supposed to be riding a motorbike over there, we’ll see… The mission staff here doesn’t like for me to ride on motorbikes while I am here, they thinks it’s dangerous. Which I must admit it does have it’s dangers, but God will protect me.
Thanks for all the prayers guys! Looking forward to Thursday… Getting in late, but getting in
Salaam,
Len
This week has been a particularly difficult week. My heart breaks for The Blanks family! Through this though, their incredible strength and courage is nothing short of amazing and an incredible testament to me. Brian and Sarah were at our house last year for a small group cookout. I still vividly remember the great time we had and how full of life he was that day. My prayer for them is that God comfort them, give them perfect peace and know that they are loved by all of us around them.
Yesterday we were doing rounds in the ICU and there was a very young kid (maybe a little older than Derek) who is in our ICU. He has Type 1 Diabetes and is in a diabetic coma (or semi coma) right now. It seems that his parents took him to a village quack because the quack said they could “cure” his diabetes. So they removed his insulin for a few days, “treated” him, and he went into Diabetic shock. He spent a few days in the Civil Hospital (I call it a Death Mill), and then they have come here for care. The little boy looks so small laying in this big hospital bed. The family is VERY poor and they delayed coming to us because we charge a fee for care. Fortunately, we have some money in our charity account and we are able to help them, financially, through this difficult time. It is through Hospital Supporters in America that we are able to fund this Charity account. If you would like to find out how to donate to the hospital, or maybe we can set you up on a $20 per month continuous draft, please let me know. Wendy and I give regularly back to the hospital when we can. I hope my work here will make this place a little better when I leave, than when I arrived.
Please pray for this little kid in the ICU. Right now they think he has some brain swelling… The healing through God for these people, especially the vulnerable ones like these children, are a huge testimony for The Kingdom of Christ.
I wish I had a dollar for every time someone told me that we can’t change these people. You are wasting your time, these people hate us, you don’t need to be over there. But it’s the “you can’t change them” that gets to me. Who said I wanted to change them? I can’t change them, and honestly I am not going to try. Only, and I mean ONLY God can change them. My plea and prayer to God is that I make this place a little better today, than when I arrived yesterday. Help me support someone emotionally and spiritually, so that THEY can go out and make a difference. I firmly believe in this culture, that “you have to teach a man to fish, NOT give him fish”.
So the blog today has a threefold message: I don’t completely understand: 1. Why does death come in such random ways? 2. Why a child has to suffer because the parents are ignorant? 3. Why we as adults don’t open up more for God to work in others, not try to dissuade them from being successful?
I think we are all guilty of the numbers 2 and 3 at some point in our lives…. God Be With Us Always.
Below is a picture of the DKA kid… Can I request that you say a quick prayer for his healing…
Thanks Ya’ll!!!!
In His Service,
Len
So all of you found out that I figured out how to post pictures on my blog. It is great.. Now I can post some of the things I talk about… Hopefully giving you some amazing pictures!!!
I will post some today as you see below. I really don’t have a great deal to write about these last few days. Things have settled into a slight routine here. I have started going around to all the wards for about 1 hour a day. I interview some patients and their families. I am trying to start a survey of patients/families so that we can work on improving our weaknesses in the hospital. We interview the families, then we pray with them. It is a nice thing to do and a great testimony we can give.
Please take time to look at the pictures from the hospital and around the city. Please continue to pray for this hospital. We have a great capacity to serve this population.
Thanks be to God!!
If you don’t get the publication LoveLines from World Witness, you really should. I am going to be writing a feature article (I hope) about a special man named Gypsy, in March.
I am attaching a photo of Gypsy, and if I can get some energy tomorrow, I will try to write a little bit about Gypsy.. He has an amazing story!
This is just a quick post and a prayer!
“Dear God, we come before you today with broken and sad hearts. We hurt for our brother who is losing his battle with cancer, that he has fought so valiantly against these last few years. We hurt because 36 year old husbands, fathers and sons are not supposed to die so soon. We aren’t supposed to die until we are old, but God your will is stronger than our suppositions. Please be with Sarah, as she has to watch her life go down a road she never planned for. Give her strength, courage and peace to face the future. Brian has been strong, yet Sarah is going to need to rely on you to be stronger. Please let us as her Christian Friends, surround them with love, support and give us the ability to fulfill their needs. God be with the Blanks family and if we can, allow us to take some of their pain for them. Thank you for your son Jesus Christ, with him we have eternal life, which reminds us that death is the beginning, NOT the end. It’s in all this we lift it up through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen”.
Many of us are sometimes placed in positions where you wonder “How did I get here and How do I get out!”… Usually it happens when you are in a conversation with someone you feel inadequate to help them.
I do not claim to be a counselor. Heck, I feel like my life is at times going 100 mph and I can’t do a thing to slow it down. Kind of like organized Chaos at times. I can’t even counsel myself. But anyway, one of my volleyball guys came over tonight to talk. Over the last 6 months, I have noticed that he has lost a ton of weight and he is very withdrawn! I could tell he was having some depression, yet I didn’t know the extent. Well, it appears the extent is great. He has such a generous and loving heart, and he always has a smile on his face. He has such concern for his family right now that he has convinced himself that he is more of a burden on them, than a son. You see, this economy that we are dealing with in America is bad, but here it is TERRIBLE. We at least have a government willing to help via unemployment benefits, food stamps, etc… These people have NOTHING! I really mean nothing. If they don’t work or if they can’t find work, they simply don’t eat.
Anyway, this fellow is taking all of this to heart and it is eating him alive. Plus, I think he has his eye on a girl, and she is rejecting his friendship. He is taking that hard. Also, he wants to travel abroad to study, and his family cannot afford it. He is very smart, but I think he is just a victim of circumstance.
We talked for a good while tonight. I don’t know if he felt better or not, but I know I gave him a good pep talk. I wanted him to help me at the hospital anyway, so he will work with me some over the next few days. I need someone with me who can speak Urdu and translate from English. I hope giving him a job to do will help his mental attitude about himself.
Also, I wish I could coordinate helping him get into a school in America. Anyone want to host a nice Pakistani boy? Maybe get him in Winthrop? USC-L? USC?? God will provide the answers and the way for him, if it’s his will.
So, what do you say when you are so much more “supplied” than someone like this. What do you say????
