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Many graves
By Mark Crouch
A mountain range lies north of Kudjip station, just across the highlands' only serviceable road. Beyond the mountains sits a valley filled with tropical jungle and people living in one of the most remote parts of the globe. The name of this area is the Jimi valley.
Three weeks ago, Beron made the trip from her home in the Jimi to the local aid post for a routine checkup before her delivery. An incredibly astute nurse, probably working in one of the most remote clinics in the world, palpated (touched) her abdomen and thought that Beron might have twins and they might not be in a good position. He or she suggested Beron come to Kudjip.
Beron and her husband made the journey over a couple of days, and walked into our labor ward where I met them. It turns out Beron had twins and neither of them were in a position to deliver vaginally. I kept her on the ward, gave her vitamins and administered steroid injections to mature her baby's lungs. Two weeks later, I performed a Cesarean section on Beron and presented her and her husband with two healthy twin boys. Thanks to the efforts of one nurse dedicated to working in the Jimi, Beron's family is safe and whole. (Photo left: Beron and her twins Mark and Luke)
About a week ago, a young lady living in the Jimi, and expecting her first baby, went to the local aid post with contractions. After several hours, her water broke, but the baby wouldn't come out. She pushed and pushed but could not deliver her baby. In fact, not until three days later, after pushing with her body's contractions for almost 72 hours, could she hire a car to bring her to Kudjip hospital. Her name is Kum.
At the time Kum arrived in Kudjip, I sat in reflective prayer during a Monday morning chapel devotion. I enjoyed the message shared by one of our staff members but a nurse from the Obstetrics ward summoned me out. Fighting back my frustration (our obstetric service interrupts me nearly every hour during my day), I went and discovered a very pleasant young woman on the delivery bed - but nearly fell over from the smell.
Kum forced a weak smile as I entered, but her abdomen was locked into a strong contraction creating pain. A baby's head was lodged in her pelvis, but there was no heartbeat and the ultrasound confirmed that the baby died, probably one or two days prior.
After stabilizing Kum with intravenous fluids and antibiotics, I applied a vacuum extractor to the baby's head, but could not relieve the obstruction of her labor. Kum needed a Cesarean. Dr. Kevin Kerrigan, a selfless surgeon volunteering from the US, performed her surgery and delivered her deceased baby. Kum went back to the ward, surrounded by women with their own healthy babies, to recover from her operation. But now she leaks urine, meaning she has probably developed one of the most isolating conditions in the world, a fistula.
Lately, my heart has been breaking for the people of the Jimi. Nearly every day I see women with obstetric complications - bleeding, infection, malaria, prolonged labors, high blood pressures. But when the nurse tells me, "Doctor, she is from the Jimi" - my heart sinks.
I think of Lavinah, whose baby's arm presented in her birth canal during labor, then died while it took her two days to come to the hospital as her mother suffered from septic shock. I think of Mana, whose first twin died after being born in the Jimi, and whose second (also deceased) twin wouldn't deliver until I was able to resuscitate her with a blood transfusion and apply a vacuum to the baby. I think of other patients who arrive too late - with metastatic breast cancers, heart and kidney failure, advanced cervical cancer, or osteomyelitis (infection of the bone) needing amputations. And I wonder what could have been if they had access to care where they lived, or if they could make it through the jungle to see us sooner.
In short, I think of the graves in the Jimi - many unnecessarily filled by the babies, children and parents of that remote area. Some graves whose occupants I will never know about and never even have a chance to help. Some whose occupants I know ... but knew too late.
As difficult as I find it, dealing with the problems of the Jimi, I know that my emotional struggle is nothing compared to that of its people. I weep over the babies I can't save. But their mothers spend a few days recovering and then make the long trek back over the same path through the mountains to their bush houses of grass and sticks. They return to their husbands, who may or may not blame them for losing a child, and have to resume tending their gardens to have enough food to eat or sell or trade.
Where will their hope come from? Are they condemned to an existence full of suffering and death?
How many more graves will they dig?
Mana and Kum's babies died before they ever had a chance to hold them. Beron's babies both survived and she is recovering well from her surgery. A long time ago I gave up trying to figure out why things happen like that here in Papua New Guinea. Certainly I still wonder, and I still get frustrated. But I choose to look into the face of the suffering here every day not because I know why, but because I believe that God gave me the skills and knowledge I have for a specific reason. I table my tears, because I have more work to do as I walk the ward. And though I struggle to prevent my patients' suffering from paralyzing me, I know that I can only help the next one if I keep it together.
I don't ask God why these things happen. I ask that He would send more and more people like Beron's nurse into the Jimi to care for the neglected people living there. Slowly, I believe that those living there can receive what they need. Until then, I pray that I would have strength to save those I can, the heart to comfort those I cannot, and the endurance to do both every day in spite of the numerous mothers and babies who are dying there.[Mark Crouch is a missionary doctor at the Kudjip Nazarene Hospital in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. Reprinted with permission from his blog.]
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Video: Thaddeus' Story
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Thaddeus followed in his father's footsteps, living a life of crime that eventually landed him in prison. After his release and transformation, Thaddeus began serving at Bethany, Oklahoma, First Church of the Nazarene.
Nazarene Stories
"Resurrections: Thaddeus' Story" is featured in Nazarene Stories -- the online continuation of the previous Global Mission DVD. Nazarene Stories is a production of Global Communications, a department of the General Church of the Nazarene. This was video was produced for Nazarene Stories by Grace & Peace Magazine, a publication of the USA/Canada Region.
To subscribe to future issues of this video storytelling magazine, visit www.nazarene.org /stories.
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| Photo essay: Salomon and the baby chicks
By Timothy Eby
 Salomon is one of our young leaders who has been with us for five years in Senegal. He started in ministry in Dakar but we felt he needed to start his own ministry in the south of Senegal where he is from. He will be one of the first two students graduating from our Nazarene Theological Institute program this coming year. He is a young pastor with a lot of potential. We are praying that God will use him to develop the work in the south of Senegal
After more than one year of planning and preparation, Saloman's chicken project is finally a reality. It took us 16 hours on the road from Dakar to Kolda, crossing Gambia and the ferry across the Gambian river. One hundred and fifty chicks sat on the laps of the three guys in the air conditioned cab to help them survive the long trip.
The chicken coop looks really great and hopefully in the near future this project will be housing 500 chickens for market. Jonathan Galang Kroeze and Brittany Kroeze were instrumental in getting the solar tower up and functional. The chicken yard has lights and security and a power source for the well to pump to a reservoir above.
Our only disappointment was that the well we drilled to 50 meters last month filled back with sand to the 30-meter level. After all our efforts to get sustainable pumping water to the surface, we had to give up and plan another trip to re-drill the borehole so it will open the water source deep in the earth.
Pray for Salomon and his project that it will succeed and support the work of the church in the south of Senegal. We still need support for this project to install an irrigations system for the gardens and to purchase more chickens.
The chickens are two days old.
Loading up the feed for the chickens.
The completed chicken houses with three separate bays for different levels of chickens. We hope to have a pig project in the same area in the near future.
Jonathan Galang Kroeze and Brittany Kroeze test the new submergible pump that is operating well off of our solar panels.
The solar tower power station for the water pump and security lights for the chicken farm.
[ Timothy R. Eby and his wife Michelle have served in Senegal and the Africa West Field (AWF) since November 2006. Tim serves as the assistant to the field strategy coordinator for West Africa in charge of church growth and development. He also serves as the district superintendent for the Senegal District, partnership coordinator and Work & Witnesscoordinator for AWF. Read more about then in Engage.]
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Slogans that awakened the Church: Option or Command?
By Howard Culbertson
 "The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed" -- J. Hudson Taylor
In the mid-19th Century, Hudson Taylor said something obvious: Matthew 28:19-20 is not simply one item on a list of suggested activities. Those verses are the “Great Commission”--a label popularized by Taylor himself--and they are a clear command:Make disciples among all nations!
Taylor’s declaration reflects his missionary experience in China. Not long after arriving in Shanghai, he realized that while foreign missionaries were becoming common in China’s coastal cities, most places further inland remained untouched by the Gospel.
Taylor was passionate about obeying the Great Commission and thus seeing that all of China was evangelized. He eventually had to start his own missionary-sending agency in order to get missionaries deployed in the unreached inland areas of China.
We live in an age of options. We have a a choice of denominations. We have options for Bible cover colors. We have options as to which Bible translation we use. We can choose Bibles with or without study notes. We do not, however, have an option when it comes to fulfilling the Great Commission through our praying, giving, mobilizing, sending and going. Obedient blievers cannot consider evangelizing all the people groups of the world to be optional. When we make Jesus Lord, we sign on to obey His every command.
No obedient believer can say, “World evangelism? That is not my thing.” Grammatically, the Great Commission -- whether it be Matthew 28:19-20 or Mark 16:15 or Acts 1:8 -- is an imperative. It is an order from our Lord.
How well the Church responds to the Great Commission will be a significant measure of how truly yielded it is to Jesus as Lord.[Howard Culbertson was professor of missions and world evangelism at Southern Nazarene University, in Bethany, Oklahoma, U.S for 25 years. Culbertson, who formerly served as a missionary in Italy and Haiti, has published numerous articles, books, and chapters in books on missions.]
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As the Ebola virus continues to grip areas of several West African countries, having killed more than 5,000 people since March and sickening more than 15,000 people, Nazarene churches and Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NCM) are responding with prayer, community sanitary efforts, food supplies and training.
Community sanitization
In Sierra Leone, one of the nations hit by the Ebola outbreak, churches in five areas were provided 60 tap buckets by NCM. A tap bucket is a large container with a lid, and a liquid dispenser at the bottom. The churches are filling the buckets with chlorinated water so that anyone who passes by can use them to wash their hands. The pastor or church leader gathers the people in the community to discuss Ebola prevention strategies and then invites them to use the tap buckets.
One pastor said, “We now have extra confidence to minister among the people and they really know we care about them.”
A pastor from Kissy describes the sense of community and well-being the tap bucket provides.
“Every morning when the church fills its bucket with chlorinated water … everyone in the community is welcomed and encouraged to wash their hands as they pass by. This has brought much joy to the people in the community; it is a way of ministering to them and letting them know that the church cares not only for their spiritual life but for their health also . . . the church has made its presence felt and the people are very much encouraged.”
Revival services
Pastors in Waterloo, Sierra Leone, organized a prayer revival as a way to confront the virus. Pastor Kanu said, “Fifty-five people gave their lives to Christ during the revival. Many testified that their spiritual life was strengthened. They felt empowered; their hope and courage was restored to go back and face the reality of the current situation.”
In Kissy, local churches engage in personal evangelism. Pastor Manna said, “As we go, we share the Word of God and let [our neighbors] know that in such times Jesus is the only hope. Our message has been greatly welcomed as it is very different from the message of fear.”
Many people have come to Christ, and are now in discipleship classes. Lives are being transformed.
When children in Lumley were no longer able to attend school because of Ebola, several pastors decided to reach out and minister to them. Pastor Marie said, “Our youth are very excited with this initiative. Many young people have come to the saving knowledge of Christ, and we are now planning to begin a discipleship class for them. Because of this outreach we are also experiencing growth in our churches. We are very grateful for what God is doing and we give Him all the glory.”
Food distribution
NCM is providing rice for local churches to distribute to people who are at risk of malnutrition in areas hit so hard by the Ebola virus that the local economy is suffering.
Prayer
In Sierra Leone, the government enforced a three-day shutdown, advising everyone to stay at home on a Friday through Sunday, so that authorities could go house and house and look for infected people. The news resulted in a spirit of gloominess and depression that seemed to descend over the nation. However, Nazarenes chose a different attitude.
Leaders urged congregations to use the three-day shut down as a time of fasting and prayer that God would eradicate Ebola from West Africa.
One leader said, “The Church of the Nazarene is a praying church, therefore we are not going to sit down and watch the enemy ravage our nation and those close to us, we are going to arise and say NO to the enemy – enough is enough! West Africa must be set free. We are going to arise and call upon the name of the Lord our God and we believe He will hear from heaven and forgive and heal our land. We are going to lay hold on the faithfulness of God and cry out to Him for deliverance from this plague.”
Children in a Nazarene-run orphanage in Togo, a West African country not affected by Ebola, decided to pray together for all the children who were sick, dying or living in fear and difficult conditions in Ebola-stricken areas.
Your gifts to Nazarene Compassionate Ministries will help local churches reach their communities with valuable educational materials, prevention supplies, and more.
You can watch and share the following video with your church, small group or other interested people to encourage them to join in supporting Nazarenes in Africa who are responding on the front lines of this devastating outbreak.
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Mientras que el virus del ébola continúa apoderándose de áreas en varios países de África occidental, cobrando más de 5 mil víctimas desde marzo y enfermando a más de 15 mil personas, las iglesias nazarenas y el Ministerio Nazareno de Compasión (MNC) se encuentran respondiendo mediante la oración, a través de esfuerzos de saneamiento comunitarios, y proveyendo abastecimiento alimenticio y capacitación.
La Iglesia del Nazareno del Campo África Oeste se encuentra proveyendo informes continuos en cuanto a cómo se están llevando a cabo los esfuerzos de respuesta (http://awfcon.org/ebola-crisis/).
Saneamiento comunitario
En Sierra Leona, una de las naciones azotadas por la epidemia del ébola, las iglesias de cinco áreas recibieron 60 baldes de agua saneada por parte del MNC. Estos baldes son unos grandes contenedores que poseen una tapa en su parte superior, y un dispensador de líquido en la parte inferior. Las iglesias llenan los baldes con agua saneada mediante la adición de cloro, de modo que quien quiera que pase puede utilizarlos para lavarse las manos. El pastor o líder de la iglesia reúne a la gente de la comunidad para discutir estrategias de prevención ante el ébola, y luego los invita a utilizar los baldes de agua.
Un pastor dijo: “Ahora tenemos una confianza extra para ministrar a la gente en nuestro entorno, y ellos saben que nosotros nos preocupamos geuinamente por ellos”.
Un pastor de la localidad de Kissy describe el sentir de comunidad y bienestar que estos baldes proveen.
“Cada mañana, cuando la iglesia llena su balde con agua y cloro (...) todos los miembros de la comunidad son bienvenidos y se les anima a lavarse las manos al pasar. Esto ha traído mucha alegría a la gente de la comunidad; es una manera de ministrarles y de hacerles saber que la iglesia se preocupa no tan sólo por su vida espiritual, sino que también por su salud (...) La iglesia ha hecho sentir su presencia y a la gente se la ve muy animada”.
Servicios de avivamiento
Los pastores de Waterloo, Sierra Leona, oragnizaron un avivamiento de oración como manera de confrontar al virus. El pastor Kanu dijo: “Cincuenta y cinco personas entregaron sus vidas a Cristo durante el avivamiento. Muchos testificaron que su vida espiritual había sido fortalecida. Se sintieron llenos de poder; su esperanza y corage se vieron restaurados para poder volver y enfrentar la realidad de su actual situación”.
En Kissy, las iglesias locales se involucran en el evangelismo personal. El pastor Manna dijo: “Al retirarnos compartimos la Palabra de Dios y les damos a conocer a nuestros vecinos que en estos tiempos tan sólo Jesús es nuestra esperanza. Nuestro mensaje ha sido muy bien recibido ya que es muy diferente al mensaje de miedo”.
Muchas personas han entregado sus vidas a Cristo, y ahora se encuentran en clases de discipulado. Las vidas están siendo transformadas.
Cuando los niños en Lumley ya no podían concurrir a la escuela debido al ébola, varios pastores decidieron alcanzarlos y ministrarles. El pastor Marie dijo: “Nuestros jóvenes están muy emocionados en cuanto a esta iniciativa. Muchos jóvenes han llegado al conocimiento salvador de Cristo, y ahora estamos planificando una clase de discipulado para ellos. Debido a este esfuerzo también estamos experimentando un crecimiento dentro de nuestras iglesias. Estamos muy agradecidos por lo que Dios está haciendo y le damos toda la gloria”.
Distribución de alimentos
El MNC está proveyendo arroz a las iglesias locales para que sea distribuido entre las personas que se encuentran en riesgo de desnutrición dentro de áreas que han sido azotadas por el ébola con tanta fuerza que la economía sufre como consecuencia.
Oración
En Sierra Leona, el gobierno llevó a cabo un cese de actividades durante tres días, aconsejando a la gente que permaneciera en sus casas desde el viernes hasta el domingo, de modo que las autoridades pudieran ir de casa en casa en busca de personas infectadas. Las noticias generaron como resultado un espíritu de desasón y de depresión que parecía descender sobre toda la nación. Sin embargo, los nazarenos escogieron tomar una actitud diferente.
Los líderes les suplicaron a las congregaciones que utilizaran el cese de tres días para ayunar y orar para que Dios erradicara el ébola en África occidental.
Un líder dijo: “La Iglesia del Nazareno es una iglesia en oración; por lo tanto, no vamos a sentarnos y observar cómo el enemigo despedaza nuestra nación y ataca a nuestros compatriotas; nosotros nos vamos a poner de pie y a decirle NO al enemigo; ¡ya es suficiente! África occidental debe ser liberada. Nosotros vamos a levantarnos y a clamar al nombre del Señor nuestro Dios, y creemos que Él nos escuchará desde los cielos y perdonará y sanará a nuestra tierra. Vamos a sostenernos en la fidelidad de Dios y clamaremos a Él para ser liberados de esta plaga”.
Los niños en el orfanato nazareno en Togo (un país de África occidental afectado por el ébola) decidieron orar juntos por todos los niños del mundo que se encuentran enfermos, moribundos, o que viven con miedo y en condiciones difíciles dentro de áreas afectadas por el ébola.
Sus ofrendas al Ministerio Nazareno de Compasión ayudarán a las iglesias locales a alcanzar a sus comunidades llevándoles valiosos materiales educativos, abastecimientos para prevensión, y mucho más.
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