Sickness

So we are a month in to our time back in Uganda and our house hold has been whacked with a serious case of sickness.

Agnes has done some damage to her back, she has a compressed spine, where her vertebrae are compressed against each other pinching the nerves. This has caused her serious pain, often her back will lock up and then she is totally immobile.
The doctor is a bit concerned about it because if it gets any worse she may need surgery on her back.
So we have gotten a new orthopedic mattress for Aggie to sleep on, anything to try and help the situation.

Last Saturday night I started experiencing a strong fever and headache, so after a sleepless night I went to the hospital and got tested positive for malaria.
It has really knocked me around a lot, especially because I had a bad case of the flu to go along with it.

We have been pretty miserable actually, and it has been a struggle to take care of each other and also to take care of Ethan.

Aggie cannot lift Ethan up out of his bed to feed him during the night, so I have had to be doing it. But this is happening while I am shivering and sweating and almost passing out from an incredibly strong fever.

It has been a few days now, and although my fever has reduced and the headaches are gone, my throat has been so sore. It has gotten to the point where I can't eat or even drink water because it is too painful to swallow.
So back to the hospital this morning, and sure enough I have a strong infection in my tonsils/throat.
So more medication and more rest. But at least the malaria is gone.

Please pray for us as we are struggling to do our work here at the moment, we both feel totally immobile at times.
Thankfully Agnes' brother and our maid Zaina have been helping to take care of Ethan, which has relieved us a bit.

Otherwise we are just waiting for our strength to come back to us so we can continue our work.
We continue to run devotions and classes, as well as discipleship for the young people here.

We have started taking youth (mainly from the Village of Hope) in pairs of two's, to come and share dinner with us every week.
We often do all our work through programs and set classes, but I have always been convicted of the idea of bringing the young people into our house, to share a meal with us so they can see how Aggie, myself and Ethan operate as a family.
We feel like this is an important aspect of discipleship. And the Christian virtue of hospitality is something not to be missed and forgotten.
We hope we can also be an example to the young people on how a family can love each other and sit together around the dinner table and share a meal and pray together and read the scriptures together (you would be surprised how much this is lacking in families and marriages here)
I think inviting young people into our homes, to help them grow, and to try our best to be a good example for them, will hopefully have a positive impact on them.

We have also been enjoying our car, as I said in my last post, it certainly makes life much easier here (especially when we are sick and need so many doctors visits)

There is not too much more to write about for now, and I feel my medication kicking in which means I will need to lie down soon.

Please keep us in your prayers.

God bless