March 2021 - What God's are you worshiping?

 

Students are back on campus!  Although the university is predominantly sticking with online instruction this year, quite a few students have returned to live on campus. Many have come because they don’t have internet at home or it isn’t reliable, others just want to be away from family, and some have practical classes held in person. Whatever the reason, it is great to be able to feel somewhat back to normal. 

Since South Africa has dropped back down to level 1 lockdown, we have started hosting a Bible study again at my house and the Gestrings are having a home church at their house on Sundays.

For our first Bible study of the year, we looked at Joshua 24:14-27.  Jeramiah instructs Israel to put away the gods of their fathers and the gods of the people around them and serve the Lord alone.  They were to be witnesses to each other of their commitment to serve the Lord and set up memorials to remember in the future.  These are such wise words, even if our “gods” look a bit different today. 

At the end of last year, we did a study based on the book “Gods at War” by Kyle Idleman.  He asks some key questions to help identify “gods” we are serving/worshiping in our lives that often take precedence practically, if not consciously, over the Lord.

• ·       What can you not imagine losing?
• ·       What causes your biggest disappointments?
• ·       What do you daydream about?
• ·       How do you spend your time and money?
• ·       What do you complain about the most?
• ·       What do you make financial sacrifices for?
• ·       Where do you run for comfort?

Our answers to these questions help us realize what is most important in our lives.  Where our time, money, and passion go, there lie our gods (or hopefully God!).  The study looked at 5 common gods who battle with the Lord in our hearts for our worship: pleasure, love, money, power, and self.

The beginning of a new phase of life (like a new year at university) is the perfect time to reflect on these questions, make changes if needed, and set up memorial stones to help us remember our decisions and commitments.

Jan 2021 - South African Surprises

 While speaking with my parents on the phone recently, I suddenly shrieked, dropped the phone, and started frantically smacking a 3-inch red centipede (poisonous) crawling across my living room floor. After disposing of the centipede and explaining the incident to my parents, my mom mentioned that the experience would be a good story for a prayer letter.  So, I thought to share a few short stories with you that are not “big” enough on their own to warrant a prayer letter.

To follow on with another insect story, there have been several crickets recently who have managed to find their way into my house.  There nothing like drifting off to sleep only to have a cricket start up just a few feet away jerking you back to awareness.  They are so loud! Sometimes, if they are in a different room, I can manage to ignore it, but when there are in the bedroom there is no options but to get up and start a midnight cricket hunt.  Of course, once you turn the lights on they stop making noise, so tracking them down is quite a challenge. 

This summer has been quite wet with over 400mm so far (15 inches).  You can often tell when a storm is coming because the wind will very suddenly start whipping through like crazy.  After 5-10 minutes it dies down and the rain hits.  Although we do sometimes have nice gentle rain, it usually pours with 2+ inches coming down in 30 minutes to an hour.  Then its over and the weather clears.  I love the rain, but it is quite deafening on my metal roof.

A few weeks ago, I heard someone yelling on the road that runs behind my house by the back gate of the university.  It seemed different than the normal noise of people walking down the road, so I went to look (keep in mind this is a small road with nothing on it for a kilometer or so other than the university gate).  There was a police unit marching back and forth and performing maneuvers!  March down ten steps, about face, march another few steps, right turn, etc with a drill sergeant barking out orders the whole time. After half and hour or so they loaded up in vans and disappeared. Weird!

One fun occurrence this summer is a pair of southern masked weavers who have been nesting in a tree in my yard.  The male weaves several houses and then the female choses her favorite for the nest.  They raised one family in Nov and now he is weaving new nests so they must be going to raise another set of chicks. I can sit for hours watching him weave the nests from grass.

Since it is time to renew my visa, I’ve been gathering the paperwork I need, getting the chest x-rays (to show I don’t have tuberculosis), etc. One of the quirky things about South Africa is the need for stamps (think rubber stamps with the date) to make documents official. All the copies of my passport, bank statements, etc. must stamped to prove they are “true reproductions of the original documents”.  It is a bit like what a notary would do in the USA. This is generally done at the police station and there is always at least a short line of people waiting.  I had to laugh this time when I realized the police never even asked to see the original documents, they just stamped and signed anything put before them.  The need for official stamps on everything reminds me of the American Revolution and the British stamp act that started it.  At least here, I don’t have to pay for the stamps with anything other than my time.

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this random potpourri of life in South Africa.  When you hear from me next, we will be well into the first term and I will be able to report on how our activities are going.  Please be praying, both for our final-year animal health rotations as well as our ministry activities, that we will be able to resume in a close to normal fashion.

Dec 2021 - Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!  Although it is a bit early, I’m always excited for Christmas and celebrating what it represents.  Yes, I’m one of those people who start playing Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving.  Thankfully, between my own rather impressive digital Christmas music collection (thanks to after Christmas sales at the Christian Book Store in years past) and Spotify’s somewhat more limited offerings, I’m set to enjoy the spirit of Christmas all month.

Last year I was blessed with quite a few cool, rainy days during December and I did a lot of Christmas cookie baking as well as stolon and such for my Church’s coffee hour.  Baking has been one of my favorite stress relief outlets since vet school and at the end of the year here, once the students have finished exams in November and gone home, it is perfect timing.

This year, unfortunately, I may not be able to do so much baking.  For one thing, it is shaping up to be a very hot summer. For another, we may not be finished with the students until Dec 18^th.  With all the delays due to Corona virus we have been really pushing to finish before the end of the year. The clinic was closed another 3 weeks during this second term due to staff and student cases, so our already tight plans have been further compressed.  To finish out the term, the students only had 1 week per rotation instead of two.  Please continue to keep the students in your prayers as they are expected to learn the same amount with less time to do so (both for theory and practical skills).

One of the extra stresses this year has been taking over the lecture portion of the final-year small animal course. Usually I just help with the clinical portions, but the lecturer in charge of the module resigned early this year and I volunteered to finish out the year.  This has meant putting together quite a few lectures and tests.  Imagine having only an hour to cover all the clinical aspect of dermatology (skin), urology (kidneys/bladder), emergencies, fluid therapy, etc.  Yikes!  It generally takes me 10-15 hours to put together each lecture and then another hour to record the audio for it.  I have much more sympathy for my old professors now. 

Thankfully, we have been having some student Bible studies again on campus.  We are meeting at my house in the garden where we can be socially distanced.  Many of our normal attendees are not back on campus, but for the ones that are, it is a blessing to meet in person again.   I have also been taking students to my church on Sunday mornings since the campus student churches, that many attend, are still closed.  My new seven-seater vehicle is already being put to good use!

Before I finish this letter, let me thank those of you who have supported me throughout the year, either with monthly support or one-time gifts.  You are the reason I’m still here and able to continue teaching and ministry activities. 

As the year finishes, please keep my ministry in mind for end-of-year giving as that can provide a good portion of my yearly support.  Also, CVM has an awesome Animal Impact Gift Guide (https://gifts.cvm.org/collections/all) that allows you to give a chicken or goat or such to someone in need (though CVM) in the name of your friends and family.   It can be the perfect gift for those people on your list who are hard to buy for. 

Enjoy the Christmas season, friends and family (as much as you are able during this difficult time), and never lose sight of Christ, the reason for the season.

Nov 2020 - Contagious diseases

 Parvo, distemper, and rabies, oh my!  The clinic has been bursting from the seams with very sick animals recently.  Thankfully, only one suspected case of rabies (and it may be distemper instead), but we are seeing 2-6 parvo puppies daily and 1-4 cases of distemper each week.  Whenever we experience a season change from winter to summer it seems the infectious diseases hit huge peaks.  This may the worst year I’ve seen for distemper.  It is gut wrenching to see so many poor dogs suffering and so many euthanized when vaccines are essentially 100% effective in preventing these diseases.

For those who are not familiar with these diseases, parvo is a virus that causes immunosuppression and destroys rapidly dividing cells of puppies like those lining the intestines.  This leads to severe vomiting and bloody diarrhea, intestinal pain, dehydration, secondary infections, and often death.  Even with hospitalization, many puppies do not survive.

Distemper virus affects all ages of dogs and generally causes mild signs initially including vomiting and diarrhea, coughing, and eye/nose discharge.  It generally progresses to gradual weight loss, twitching/seizures, and fading away to death.  We do not recommend treatment, but rather euthanasia, which is difficult for most owners to accept.

Rabies is a fatal disease primarily transmitted though saliva and causes irreversible brain damage and death.  Any unvaccinated animal with sudden onset, unexplained neurological changes (twitching, seizures, changes in behavior, aggression, etc) must legally be euthanized and tested for rabies.  This is because if humans are exposed and not treated in the initial stages, it is fatal to us as well.

Although it is good experience for the students to see these diseases and learn how to recognize them, I hate dealing with the pain and distress they cause for both man and beast.

On the human side of things, we have had two confirmed cases of Corona virus (one student and one staff member) in our department, as of the writing of this letter.  Our department head is concerned that the department will be forced to close if we have further cases.  This could mean the students (final-years) cannot finish the term and would need to return next year.  Please pray that this is not the case; that we can finish out the term and allow these students to graduate as planned. 

Please also pray for the many in South Africa who have lost their businesses and/or livelihood due to the lockdown.  Tourism accounts directly or indirectly for almost 9% of the GDP and 10% of jobs in South Africa, so the effect of the lockdown was severe.  Although the borders opened Oct 1st, it will likely be some time before international visitors are once again filling the cities and safari lodges of South Africa.

To close, I’ll leave you with a spot of South African beauty.  In September I was blessed to be able to travel to the west coast where the desert blooms once a year.  Many in the area said it was the best flower season for 20-40 years, so it was perfect timing!  To see more photos, or to see the photos in living color, visiting the Google photo album I set up - https://photos.app.goo.gl/oKXwhX1MYqZnoEuq7.

Sept 2021 - New Vehicle!

Spring is rapidly passing through Mahikeng and summer is soon to arrive.  Temperatures have been in the upper 70’s and low 80’s although still falling to the 40’s at night.  In Seattle we had a saying, “Enjoy the Washington summer; all 10 minutes of it.”  I feel like the same can be said for spring and fall here in Mahikeng.  I’ve already put away my extra blanket, warm bathrobe, hot water bottle, and long sleeve shirts. 

In the clinic, we have finished the first term and have started the second term.  Hopefully we will finish by the end of the year so it doesn’t drag on into next year.  Since we were unable to do traditional written and practical exams, I assigned 9 short assignments for the final-year student’s end of term evaluations in the small animal rotation.  It all sounded good until I realized that meant grading 500 essays and 1000 calculations in two weeks!

Thankfully, there is usually a bit of comic relief in reading the student’s answers.  One of my favorites was a radiographic (x-ray) description of a fracture (broken bone).  The image showed a comminuted fracture with lots of small pieces.  The student said it was “a y-shaped break causing the bones to look like corn flacks [sic]”.  Oh grief, I was wiping tears from my eyes after reading that one.

One exciting change since my last prayer letter is a new vehicle.  My little Honda Fit (Jazz) was reaching the end of its reliability and, after talking with CVM and my missions co-workers here, I decided to upgrade to a 7-seater vehicle.  This means when we take students on trips (both mission trips and vet related outreaches) I can bring more students along.  It also gives more options for taking students home after Bible studies (it isn’t safe for them to walk home after dark).  Although finding a 7-seater was a big challenge during COVID since I couldn’t travel to the big city, the Lord brought the perfect one just 45 minutes away.  It is a 2018 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and it is huge! 

Having driven very small cars for the past 15 years, driving a big SUV will take some getting used to.  I’m still very nervous driving it in parking lots and I don’t look forward to driving in cities.  However, it is a much safer vehicle both due to its size and its safety features.  Since road accident fatalities are a big problem in South Africa, safety is important.  I was just looking at statistics as I write this and there were 38,000 car accident deaths in the US last year and 14,000 here in South Africa.  Since our population is only 1/5^th  of the US we have double the amount of fatalities.  But add in the fact that only 5% of the people in my province even have a driver’s license (versus 2/3 in the US) and the numbers are even worse.  Probability of being in a fatal vehicle accident here is about 1 in 1,500 vehicles by my rough calculations. Yikes!

On the COVID front, South Africa has passed 10,000 deaths and, if the tests are accurate, we are 5^th in the world for the number of cases (>500,000).  There have been a few cases confirmed in students and staff here on campus, but not many at this point. Local leisure travel is now allowed so I got away for a week while marking all those end of year assignments.

What a blessing it is to be able to rest peacefully in the Lord during these difficult and uncertain times.  Thank you for your prayers over the last few months. 

July 2021 - Lockdown Continues

 Lockdown continues here in South Africa, but it is being slowly being reduced despite exponential growth in the cases of COVID 19.  At the time I write this email, the number of cases has surpassed 50,000 (up 2,500 since yesterday) and we have not started to see a flattening of the curve yet.

During the current lockdown stage 3 (of five stages) all stores are now open for business and alcohol can be purchased for a few hours each day.  Cigarette sales are still banned. Travel between provinces is not allowed other than in a few cases where a permit is required.  Churches have been allowed to reopen as long as there are no more than 50 people, temperatures are checked, masks are worn, and a register is kept.

Here on campus, a percentage of students have been allowed to return (max 33% according to government regulations) and this includes our final year students in Animal Health because they need to finish their practical rotations.  Students in other years will not be returning until January at the earliest and teaching is to continue online next term.

Due to the interruption of the term during lockdown, the university is extending this term by a month and starting term 2 five weeks late.  At this point there is no news as to when term 2 will end (Dec? or carried over into next year?).  At least we have hard plans now and can start moving forward with students in the clinic.

Ministry activity will unfortunately be very limited for the rest of the year.  I’m hoping that when the lockdown moves down to stage 2 I will be able to gather with a few students here on campus for Bible studies in an outdoor setting.  There are a few of our Acts 29 and Bible study students who are still living on campus as their homes are in other countries and they were not able to get out of South Africa before lockdown started.  It would also be wonderful to pull in some of the final-year Animal Health students into the Bible study or have one separately for any who are interested.

In the meantime, I’m keeping busy with guitar practice, learning French with Rosetta Stone, baking (trying lots of sourdough recipes with the starter I’ve recently started), gardening, reading, crocheting, walking around campus, bird watching, and loving on my cats.

Please continue to pray for the students:

• ·       That those who are returning to campus will be safe while traveling back to campus
• ·       That those who are not returning will be able to access the internet adequately for online learning
• ·       That our witnessing students will have the courage to share with their friends and families at home and as lockdown eases further, perhaps start local Bible studies.
• ·       For God’s peace and comfort for those who have lost loved ones to COVID 19

May 2020 - Lockdown!

Hello from lockdown!  Although we may be out of lockdown by the time you receive this letter, while I write this we have just finished the second of three weeks of national lockdown.  Unfortunately, from what I hear, a large percentage of the population isn’t really staying at home so I suspect things will go on for quite a while. 

Although South Africa is nowhere near being a third world country, there are still around 15 million people here without running water in their homes to wash hands.  Many villages only have a few water taps that everyone uses.  How do you effectively lockdown in those situations?  And huge numbers of households share outhouses.  You cannot stay isolated in your house if there is no toilet in it!   

The lockdown started about mid-term here at the university.  Starting next week, they are hoping to resume classes online, but at this point there is still doubt about all students having reasonable internet access.  Most homes in the villages and townships don’t have wired or wireless internet access. The university has been attempting to work out a deal with cell phone services to allow access to the university’s websites for free so that students can use their phones without needing to buy data. Hopefully that can be finalized before we start again. 

The first rotation group of the year back in February

I’ve converted the last missed test into multiple choice and short answer questions that can be randomly chosen for each student through an online platform.  The final lectures in my module still need to be recorded and uploaded for students to listen to and watch.  We can handle the lecture side of things online, but the practical, hands-on rotations for the final-year students may be a complete loss. 

The clinic has been slow, with limited hours and limited staff.  Yesterday though, I assisted one of our new grads with a double enterotomy and gastrotomy (took stuff out that was blocking the intestines and the stomach).  We removed a bunch of bones and this very strange grey putty like material that had packed up to block the intestines.  I have no idea what that dog ate!  Next week is my rotation in the clinic so we will see what comes in.

Please keep the students in your prayers.  Both those in the animal health program that I teach and those who participate in our Bible studies and witnessing training.  Pray that the Lord would be their foundation and strength so that they do not live with a spirit of fear during these difficult times, but with His love and power and a sound mind. Pray that they will be lights shining in the darkness offering peace and hope to those around them.

For myself, I am safe and healthy with plenty of food, a lovely garden, and two feline companions.  Thank you for all for your prayers and emails.