A Post from Rusty

I (Rusty) have been sick this past week, sometimes I like getting sick, cause I makes me be quiet, and just rest. It is when I am quiet, that I am able to reflect and calm my mind. I just wanted to share something that I have been thinking a lot about this week.

A friend of our here in Thailand named Peter, recently found out that he has very serious health issues. The doctors here told him he should move back to the states to start a long battle with cancer. Peter has been a hero in my mind ever since I met him. He and his family have served over 25 years on the mission field. They have humbly held very important positions in various organizations over the years. Quickly they packed their things, and were ready to leave within the week. I got to spend about 5 minutes with Peter before he left. As I talked to him my eyes filled with tears, and I told him of the deep respect Lynette and I have for him. He is the kind of guy that is filled with Jesus. He is not in your face about it, very down to earth, but when you meet him you are attracted to him. His gentleness and the questions he asks you just make you crave more of his time.

He left me with this: 1 Peter 3:15

“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who ASKS you to give the reasons for the hope that you have. BUT do this with GENTLENESS and RESPECT.”

Peter went on to challenge me to really study this verse. He said if we all took this verse to heart daily, that our lives would be radically changed. God used Peter in my life this week. Please pray for Peter and his family as they walk thru this chapter together. We pray for wisdom for all those involved, and for God’s mighty hand to touch him with healing.

I would love to hear from others their thoughts on this verse….. it is so rich.

Apparently there is a bun in my oven.

Well, thought it was time to make an official announcement that we have a bun in the oven. I'm 14 weeks along and due December 16th. Here is a photo of Rusty, the night we took a pregnancy test at home....

One interesting story. Before we had taken the pregnancy test I was in a nearby village for clinic with Libby, and one of the Akha women (around 50 years old) came up to me and said, "Wow, you're pregnant!" I was taken completely off guard because I was two days late to get my period, but wasn't thinking that I was pregnant.

I asked my friend Ae why this women thought I was pregnant and she said, "Akha women can tell. They know by looking at the veins in your arms." So two days later I took a pregnancy test and sure enough it was positive. When I went back to the village to tell this women she wasn't surprised at all and looked at me like she was wondering why I had even bothered to tell her something she already knew. Weird.

More things we have learned about Akha Medicine

Here are some of the treatments we learned about during our last monthly training session on preventative healthcare with the leaders from the 12 villages our foundation works with...

We focused our teaching on Scabies, Diarrhea, Impetigo, and Allergies.

Akha Medicine...

• Treatment for Diarrhea-->Boil guava leaves and drink it as tea.
• If someone is puking AND has diarrhea, the Akha will put ashes in their water and drink OR put their fingernail clippings in water and drink it (the last one makes me nauseous).
• Treatment for Scabies--> Rub hot chili pepper flakes with salt on the itchy areas. This supposedly hurts a lot, but is known to help.
• Another treatment includes using a vegetable called, "A-jee bulu" that looks similar to a turnip. You crush up its seeds and rub it on the skin twice a day. (DO NOT eat the seeds however because they are extremely poisonous).
• Treatment of Impetigo--> There are two different plants they use to treat impetigo. The one they use around the ears is called, "Nay-me-ja" and the other plant they use to treat the crusts around the mouth is called, "A-loo ja-ba."
• Treatment for Itchy Skin--> Take Akha onions (similar to spring onions) and mix with charcoal scraped from the bottom on their cooking pots and rub on wherever the skin is itchy.
• Another treatment for itchy skin is to dig up rich, wet, soil deep under the ground and mix with honey come and rub on the skin.

Mobile Clinics....

(Meeju)

Mobile clinics have been the highlight of my time here lately, and I realized that I haven't shared much about them here on the blog.

Two weeks ago Libby and I went on a mobile clinic in Burma.  We woke up early and hitched a ride into town with some village friends in the back of their truck. Once in town we walked about a mile more to the bus station and took a bus, and then a songtaow the rest of the way to the border. Once we crossed the border we were met by our sweet Akha friend Meeju (who is 15 years old) who walked with us to her village. We ate a delicious Akha lunch with her family, and then saw about 15 of the villagers who had different health problems...infections, backaches, fevers, colds, allergies, rashes, broken bones that weren't healing well...etc. Meeju helped translate for us from Thai to Akha. It was such a special day to be in a small villlage and to be able to interact with these villagers who were so welcoming and thankful for the medicines we were able to leave with them. We left with bags full of vegetables to take home from Meeju's mother and grandma who walked us back to the Thai border. Many of the villagers use natural akha medicine because they are unable to afford to go to a hospital. In many cases this works well for them, but in others (broken bones) there can be some long term problems. Meeju and her cousin returned with us back to Thailand where they both live at youth hostels and study. We took the songtaew to the bus back to Chiang Rai where Rusty met us and took us home. We are looking forward to going back and visiting this village again in the next few months.

Yesterday we went on another mobile clinic to a village near the border of Laos and Burma to an Akha village that we had never been to before. One of the evangelists that works for Luka called us and asked if we would come because so many of the villagers were sick. We drove about 2.5 hours to this small Akha village where most of the villagers were without Thai ID cards making it too expensive for them to afford the local health care centers.  We saw 42 patients on a bamboo outdoor porch with a thatched roof. In this village we saw more disabled children then we have seen in other villages...a child who was 12 years old, but had the body of a 4 year old, another child without a spinal column who was also mentally handicapped, and others. We sent three patients to get chest x-rays who had symptoms of TB, and took another very sick little girl to the hospital with her mother on our way home from the clinic. We had such a nice time in this village and were so thankful for our Akha friends Blah, Yosu, and Allah who were helping us translate during the clinic as well. Riding home in the back of the pick up yesterday with the cool breeze and stars over head was one of those days when I felt really thankful to be alive, and grateful to be here with these people at this moment.

We have been meeting with other Akha staff and brainstorming ways to make mobile clinics more effective for the villages we visit as well as more sustainable over the long haul. One of the ways we are seeking to do this is to spend time at the start of each clinic doing teaching on different healthcare issues we see in the villages. Another way is the monthly preventative healthcare training sessions with the leaders of each village and a yearly seminar that is more in depth. Please pray for wisdom for us with all of this.