Wednesday, November 11, 2015

It's been quite the week and something keeps urging me to share it with you.
A week ago Isaac started a fever, sore throat and headache. Joshua started complaining of tummy troubles and Evan had a runny nose and cough. Around the same time, I noticed a bug bite on my thumb and as it continued to get worse, I realized it must have been some kind of spider bite. It got so red, swollen and infected that I ended up having to go on antibiotics just to get it to start calming down!

Meanwhile Eli and I were still trying to stay committed to teaching out in the camps on Thursday and Saturday. On Thursday our teammate (who is also a nurse) agreed to stay with the kids so Eli and I could go out to Gendrassa. On Saturday I had to stay home and sadly as Eli and a group of folks were going out for Bible studies in 2 different Ingassana camps, they experienced car troubles. One Bible study took place that day but Eli had to come back to get another vehicle to tow the "sick" truck so he never made it out to the other camp. That was disappointing.

On Sunday we'd been looking forward to joining the 1st church service in a brand new church in the furthest Ingassana camp. But Sunday morning the kids were still sick so I stayed home with them and Eli took the motorcycle out for the special church service. I was disappointed I missed it but thankful Eli could go.

Tuesday is the day Eli goes out to Kaya, the furthest camp, and again, he showed up to drive the pickup out and discovered it had a flat tire. Thankfully he was able to fix it but it delayed him an hour and a half. As I type this, it doesn't sound like much, but to be honest it's been pretty discouraging for us. It feels like there have been so many "road blocks" and complications as we try to persevere in going out to teach the Bible in the camps. We recognize we are on the front lines and Satan isn't happy about people hearing about Jesus and turning to Him. He is going to do everything he can to try to stop us. And he is.
 
Will you please pray for us? We are feeling worn and discouraged. Poor Eli is very tired and his body is wearing down. This coming week he will start a 2 week Discipleship seminar and he will be teaching all day, five days a week for two weeks. So the intensity is about to go up another notch. We can't do it without the Lord's special strength and power. Your prayers fuel us.

3 comments:

Becky said...

You're in my prayers! It's exhausting when kids are sick and things break down over and over. May you find joy in the unexpected one on one time with your boys and may Eli find the strength needed for these next weeks from our loving Father!

Unknown said...

We're praying for you all. Thanks for sharing. Love the Mathesons.

Megan Manne said...

I am praying for you all, Bethany! Thank you so much for sharing so that we know more specifically how to pray about all that you're facing. Love you!!!

Why does sickness like to hang around so long???

Only a few days after returning from our trip to Kenya, Judah started spiking high fevers. We took him to our clinic here in town for blood ...