The Joanna Report

Well happily I can report that Joanna is now receiving her treatment. The branch here in Ecuador and the one in Columbia stepped in and brought the medicine for her - isn't that wonderful. It will be a really good witness for the hospital nurses and doctors who have been so mean to the family.
Of course any donations received will still be put to good use as without the father, Homero, working - they still have to live. So a big thank you to you who have already donated - I know it is appreciated.

I will keep you posted as to Joanna's progress - let's hope it is all good news.

Vegemite Par-tay!

Please Please Help!

The Morocho Family with a little friend from the congregation on the far left

We have just come back from the hospital visiting Joanna (well actually we only saw her from the window, but we visited with her parents). Things are looking very grim for the little chica and we feel very powerless. She has been hemorrhaging and the doctors are giving her parents real grief about the blood issue. Joanna herself has made a stand and said she does not want to go against Jehovahs law. They are being so mean that they will not get the medicine for her chemotherapy at the discounted price (not quite sure what that was, possibly the $300 I was first told). Anyway it is now $650 a pop and she needs 15 treatments. The Hospital Liason Committee has been able to arrange to get the medicine from Columbia at $400 so they will fly a brother up there to get it as soon as the money is arranged. We have very little more that we can give so would like to be able to give help from our brothers and sisters across the pacific. Every little bit will help! If you would like to donate - please contact my sister Ann and she will give you details. I know Nancy and Homero would thank you from the bottom of their hearts. Of course we are one large family in Jehovahs organization and when one member hurts, we all do. I have to say this about this couple, they are facing real tragedy and they are only quite new in the truth but their faith is strong and they have great fortitude. The peace of Jehovah certainly is with them.

It was quite draining being at the hospital and again very frustrating when the words we wanted to say would not come out right. However I know that they appreciated just having our support - just being there was what was important.

Sad News @ The Meeting Tonight

Tonight it was announced that this little girl, Joanna, has just been diagnosed with Leukemia! We are very sad as she is one of the kids that takes an interest in us and always talks to me at the meetings. The brothers asked for contributions towards her treatment because she needs chemotherapy every other day and each session costs $300. A small fortune for this family or probably 90% of the people here. Oh how we wish we were millionaires!

I had a thought in the night that maybe some of you in Kiwiland might like to donate something to our little sisters treatment. If so there are ways and means - just let me know. Plenty of people around the country have our email address or you could get in touch with anyone in the Bethlehem Congo. It would be awesome to let Joanna's parents know they have friends all the way over in NZ and they are thinking of them too.

A Message for Alice & Terry

Who would have thought...

Mark gave his first talk in espanol last night. It was the number 4 talk and he was assigned to the 3rd school. Funnily enough he didn't know he had it until Monday so it was a scramble to get it together and practiced (apparently no one thought it would be important for him to know). Doug kindly went through what Mark put together and changed everything around so that the audience would understand it - so thankfully he was able to do that for Mark. Excuse the sound quality of the short clip I did for you - the back school is not insulated very well and so you hear the front school very well, if not better than the speaker you want to listen to. Anyway Mark did very well - I hope they give him some more soon, it is a good learning tool.
By the way we got a nice letter at the meeting too last night - we officially have pioneer numbers - wahoo, bring it on!

A message for Becky!

Today I found out that it is all worth it. All the sore feet, all the frustration with the language, all the missing my kids, family and friends back home, all the drenchings we get when the sky suddenly opens up and all the times when I thought I would never be able to do this - it is all worth it when you find someone genuinely interested.

As some of you may know Becky and I have had some great talks with Susie the Peruvian girl. Well as some of you may also know, Becky is recuperating from the major operation she had yesterday on her neck so I had to go on my own. Well not quite on my own - I took an local sister with me but basically I had to do most of the talking. Becky would have been proud of me I am sure. We had another lovely brief study and we talked about the meetings with her also. She would like to come! Then as we were about to get up and go she asked if she could phone her friend (the one that took her book a couple of weeks ago) and would we wait till she got there- which of course we did. The friend, Maribelle, came from her work so it took a bit of time for her to get there on the bus but when she did, we were able to study with her too for about 20 minutes. We made arrangements to go back to her on Saturday. Maribelle's main question was - who is god? So of course - chapter one has been the perfect place for us to start with her. Of course I came away just about floating and as I said all the hardships we have gone through in the last 7 months don't mean a thing anymore!