The Anthis Family Adventures
Volume 5, Issue #2 joel.anthis@sim.org www.anthisfamily.com May, 2004
Anthis family summer 2003 Anthis family Easter 2004
Anthis Update
Dear Friends and Family,
Greetings from Nigeria in the name of our risen Lord, Jesus! We hope spring has come where you all are. We are now experiencing regular rains and the green of new life is all around us. We are grateful to all of you who make it possible for us to be here and to share the new life that is in Jesus with those God brings our way.
Cindy’s Corner
Austin continues to play soccer after school with his Nigerian friends who live on our hospital compound. Allison finally lost her first tooth. And Abigail loves to help her mommy in the kitchen or wherever she is.
Hausa Language & Cultural Acquisition
We are continuing our daily Hausa language study with our tutor. And we are slowly becoming accustomed to life in Nigeria. We want to share with you the top 5 ways we know we are feeling more at home here in Jos.
#5. We no longer make a move to roll up the windows of the car when we are behind a large truck putting out huge clouds of black smoke.
#4. We no longer notice a passing motorcycle whose passenger is carrying two live goats, a 50 kilogram bag of flour, and is “backing” a baby.
#3. Abby needs to have her baby tied to her back (“Back my baby”) before she can go outside to play.
#2. Austin and Allison celebrate the first rain of the season with all of our neighbor kids by playing and jumping and dancing in it!
And the #1 reason we know we are at home in Jos is Cindy now feels comfortable in a head tie that could double as a skyscraper!
Cindy in the “Skyscraper.”
Medical Rounds
Many of you know that part of the reason we felt called to Jos was that there is no ENT surgeon within a ten hour drive of Jos. There was no one doing hearing restoration surgery. We are thrilled that Joel has been able to begin this type of surgery in the last month. He has done several cases and has many more waiting to be done. The needs are truly overwhelming on a physical level. Additionally, he has had the privilege of helping one of his Muslim patients become a follower of Jesus. Please pray for this patient’s continued spiritual and physical healing.
Joel removing a stone from a small child’s lung. Joel doing hearing restoration surgery.
The highlight for Cindy in the last month was participating in an outreach to a Muslim village in a neighboring state. She traveled for three days with a team from the local Church we have been attending. The team included medical personnel, agricultural specialists, a music group, and a Gospel team. The team held medical clinics, gave agricultural seminars, made house calls and built relationships with the local people. It is the vision of our local Church in Jos to plant a Church in this village so this was the first of many such outreaches to the area.
The village is very poor. There is no primary health care available (the closest clinic is a 40 minute drive). There is no electricity, no clean water source and no health education. Many of the children Cindy saw were malnourished. Most had never had any vaccinations nor had they ever seen a doctor. Many were afraid of Cindy as they had never seen a person with white skin before. The clinic was a wonderful time of meeting real physical needs and building relationships for the Gospel. Several women that Cindy saw expressed interest in knowing more about Jesus. We concluded our time in the village by laying the cornerstone for the building that will be the Church we are praying God will plant.
Cindy with the village outreach team Cindy with kids and moms from the village
Prayer and Praise
Praises
- God’s faithfulness in establishing our ministry in Jos.
- God’s provision of the operative microscope necessary for Joel to do ear surgery.
- God’s powerful presence during Cindy’s recent village outreach.
Prayer Requests
- Pray for the patients we see in the hospital and in clinic, that God would bring them spiritual as well as physical healing.
- Pray for our safety and the safety of our co-workers as we have had two armed robberies in the mission community in the past month.
- Pray for the hospital medical outreach that Cindy will go on this weekend (May 6th-9th).
In Christ,
Joel and Cindy
Austin, Allison, and Abigail