Thanks for praying!
Topic: Prayer
Posted on behalf of Cindy:

Dear Praying Friends,

Thanks to all of you who lifted me up today while I traveled to a village for medical outreach. As often is the case in Nigeria, things are not exactly as they seem. Yes, children have died in this village. But the actually number is closer to three in the last three months. (Still a lot in a village of 180 people.) This was one of the poorest villages I have ever been to. Most of their health problems (and the cause of these recent deaths) are the result of their lack of clean water supply. We are at the end of the dry season and the rains are late in coming. The stream this village depends on for water is completely dry. The people go to the stream, dig a hole and then drink the water they find there. This same water is used for drinking, washing, and by the animals in the area. The people do not boil or filter their water in any way.

Though we did not find the situation to be as it was described we accomplished much today. God’s Word will not return void and His plans are not always our plans. We were able to give the entire community (including the pastor and the village chief) a very practical lesson on how to strain and boil their water. All this was done with a woman sitting at the front of the group with a 6 week old infant in her arms that was just recovering from the gastrointestinal illness that another child died of earlier in the week. We were able to emphasize the cause of these illnesses is the water they drink. We were also able to teach them never to give water to small babies (a very common practice.)

The closest primary health care center to this village is a 2 hour walk. I did not see a car in the village. This village is in need of basic health care. Although we had not planned to hold a general clinic, we decided to see as many people as we could. We saw at least 85. We treated the problems we could and prayed with many. I think the people were greatly encouraged and felt the care of the Lord. Some we saw were Christians, some Muslims and some pagans.

I was able to share with the pastor and encourage him. I also taught him how to use the EVANGACUBE (a cube with pictures telling the Gospel story) to share the Gospel with his Muslim neighbors. I left it with him and he was excited to begin using it.

Please continue to pray for the people we shared with today. They are in a desperate situation. Please pray for rain. Pray that those who do not know Jesus will be drawn to Him after seeing this practical demonstration of His love for them. Pray for the pastor as he follows up on those we saw today. Pray for the many children I saw with malnutrition and diarrhea (a very serious combination.) Pray that our teaching about clean water will be followed. But above all, pray that God’s name will be Glorified in this place.

Thank you again for standing with me and the team!

In Him,

Cindy

Urgent Prayer Request
Topic: Prayer
Posted on behalf of Cindy:

Dear Praying Friends,

I will be making an emergency trip to a village about 2 hours from Jos tomorrow. Several Nigerian members of a Challenge Cinema team have been working in this area showing evangelistic films for the past few days. They return to Jos and reported in one of the villages where they went 18 children had died in the last one week. These outreach workers have no medical experience so they did not know what the sickness was that killed these children. They reported that the people are overwhelmed with grief and the local pastor wept almost the entire two days they were in his village. The local people are convinced that this is the result of evil spirits and have begun looking for the witch that is responsible. This village is made up of Christians, Muslims and pagans.

I have been asked to travel with a small team to assess the situation and see if I can determine what illness is involved. I will travel with a Nigerian pastor and some of our outreach workers. I have asked our Community Health Department to send a Nigerian doctor with me and they are working on finding someone to come along.

Please pray for this outreach.

1. Pray for wisdom that we would be able to figure out what illness has caused these deaths.
   
2. Pray for the team as we minister to this devastated community.
   
3. Pray for wisdom as we face spiritual warfare.
   
4. Pray that we will be able to get the medicines, or vaccinations we need to treat other sick children in the area.
   
5. Pray that we will have the resources we need to bring sick children to the hospital in Jos for treatment.
   
6. Pray for physical strength and safety for the team.
   

It is times like this that I feel like Esther, that maybe God has brought me to Nigeria for “such a time as this”. Please stand with me in this time of crisis, that God’s name will be Glorified.

In Him,

Cindy

New Newsletters Posted
Topic: Website
I know this is very delayed, and my apologies, but the three latest newsletters are now on the website.

Newsletters Posted
Topic: Website
The last two newsletters, including this latest one from August, are available on the website now.

February and April Newsletters
Topic: Website
I forgot to post awhile back about the February newsletter, so I'll do it now while I'm posting about the April one. Both are now available on the website at www.anthisfamily.com.

November Newsletter
Topic: Mission
The November newsletter is now available on the website.

October Newsletters
Topic: Mission
Both October newsletters are now available on the website.

Prayer Meeting
Topic: Prayer
You are very much invited to the Anthis Prayer meeting, at our house (David and Ruth Mason) on 1723 Beacon Cove Court, Katy. Tel. no. is 281 599 0357. We meet this Thursday 26th at 7:45pm until 9:15pm.

Snacks and drinks provided - newcomers always welcome - feel free to call for directions - although we are close to the Fry and Highland Knolls intersection if you are looking for us on a map.

Hope to see you Thursday!

God bless,

David Mason

August Newsletter
Topic: Website
The August newsletter is now available on the website under Newsletters. Also, the prayer requests page has been updated on the website.

Joel's August 2004 Medical Blog
Topic: Mission
It is amazing what one can see in just several days of ENT clinic in Jos, Nigeria. I have had a family practice resident from the Jos federal medical school (Jos University Teaching Hospital) doing an ENT rotation with me for the past two weeks, and we have both been learning a lot.

A young boy came to the clinic last week having aspirated a straight needle. The Chest x-ray revealed the pin in the right lung's lower lobe. (How do you like our xray "view box?")





With our only functional ventilating pediatric bronchoscope it was not possible to even visualize the pin, much less remove it. The only other option is to subject this boy to a very big open chest operation in a city without even one ventilator in an ICU. So I am following him for now - with more modern bronchoscopic equipment I might try to remove it again.

A beautiful two and a half year old girl returned to the clinic for followup regarding her profound hearing loss. She lost her hearing one year ago after being very sick with a high fever. Six months previously she was not able to cooperate enough to wear a hearing aid. But, praise God, now she was both cooperative and able to wear a hearing aid. Pray that she will now be able to hear enough to function in the hearing world.

A man came in with a large left neck mass, and a previous biopsy done months ago that was read as adenocarcinoma. The search for a primary (original site of the cancer) has not been revealing. I recommended he go to Ibadan (a 10-12 hour drive away) where they have CT imaging capabilities, as well as the ability to treat cancers with chemotherapy and radiation therapy (our only option in Jos is surgery). Additionally, there are pathologists at Ibadan who might be able to find that he actually has something other than adenocarcinoma. But he says he has no money to go anywhere else. He accepts God's will and begs us to do whatever we can.

A baby came to the clinic with an encephalocele (brain tissue that is herniating through a defect in the skull of the forehead) in need of repair. There are no neurosurgeons or plastic surgeons here in Jos. So the missionary general surgeon and I are trying to figure out the best plan of action for this child.

A sixty year old man came to the clinic with a history of a lifelong swelling of the left cheek that had become larger and more tender in the previous week. The man actually had a rare congenital abnormality called a First Branchial Cleft Cyst that had become infected. Once the infection is cleared up with medicines, then I will remove the cyst with surgery.

A man drove over 16 hours to come to see the ENT doctor regarding his advanced maxillary tumor. Remember, we have no CT or MRI imaging capabilities here in Jos. Is his tumor resectable? What kind of tumor is it? The only place in town to send pathologic specimens for examination is the local federal medical school called JUTH (Jos University Teaching Hospital). In a normal situation it takes at least 3 to 4 weeks for the pathology results to be returned after surgery (it usually takes only 2-3 days to get results in the US). But we are in no ordinary situation currently. JUTH has been on strike for the last two weeks. That means there is no where in Jos to take surgical specimens for pathology. I took a small biopsy of his tumor and sent the patient to Zaria, six hours away, in hopes that the university there was not also on strike and could give us a pathologic diagnosis before considering further treatment options.

The strike at JUTH has affected many other patients as well. A sick child came to our hospital last week and was admitted to the pediatric service with a possible lymphoma. I took the child to the OR to biopsy the lymph nodes in the neck. But again, there is no where to send the specimen in Jos for pathologic evaluation because of the strike. We asked the family to try to take it to the Kano University Teaching Hospital for evaluation. It is difficult to watch a child grow closer to death each day while you await a pathology report that may never come.

A man who was a victim of the Muslim Christian crisis several hours drive to the south of Jos in May 2004 was brought to our hospital last week from another hospital. His throat had been cut and he had been left to die. Some good Samaritan had rescued him and taken him to the bush hospital where he was nursed back to life. But he was not able to talk and was only able to breath through a very small hole in his neck that remained from his wound.

I took him to the operating room this week and gave him a larger hole in the lower neck to breathe through called a tracheostomy. I also explored his larynx (voice box) which was the area of his injury, and reconstructed it and closed the laryngocutaneous fistula (the small hole he had previously been breathing through). Pray that the Lord would restore his voice and his normal breathing passage. Pray also that the Lord would heal him emotionally and spiritually. He doesn't know if any of his family is still alive.

A man came to the clinic with an old poorly healed jaw fracture. I was able to use a set of donated specialized mandible fracture instruments and plates that I had just brought back from the States with me in order to properly treat his injury.

And there are many other patients who come to the ENT clinic at Evangel hospital with conditions that range from nasal allergies to laryngeal tumors, from chronically draining ear infections to nasal polyps, from hearing loss to hoarseness.... Please pray that the Lord would continue to use us to extend the healing ministry of Jesus Christ here in northern Nigeria.