Tambukeni Mwane 1

Subject: from Zambia
Date: 25-Mar-00 at 02:11
From: Luampa Hospital, 1106104


REMEMBER, ALL EMAIL TO SIDNEY WU SHOULD BE SENT TO luampahospital@compuserve.com
WITH 'FOR SIDNEY WU' IN THE SUBJECT LINE. THANKS!!!


Tambukeni Mwane (Greetings) from Zambia!

How are all of you doing? Thank you so much for all your prayers on my behalf. Life out here, as you may well imagine, is quite different from what I'm used to, but it also turns out that life is quite different from what I expected, too.

The hospital, despite its real staffing needs, gets along just fine without me. In fact, in some ways I feel like more of a hindrance than a help, mostly because of my gross unfamiliarity with the health problems of this area. I have seen so many different diseases resulting indirectly from poor economy that I have wished several times that I could fall asleep, wake up in my comfortable American bed, and forget that this place with its problems, even exists. Malaria, bilharzia/schistosomiasis, HIV, absesses everywhere imaginable, malnutrition, and tuberculosis are seen at alarmingly high rates. The hospital operates in such a high conservationalist mode, it would be inconceivable to the regular US hospital-worker: dirty gloves, sponges, and linens are washed and reused. I wish I'd thought to bring more medical supplies with me. I've even seen a renal cell carcinoma/nephrectomy, and a massive rectal prolapse. (Nonmedical types may look these things up if you dare.)

Anyways, I'm learning a lot, & I'm hoping that God'll allow me more and more responsibility as the short 2 months elapse.

Coming here to Luampa for only these last few days so far has caused me to think & pray more abt. how blessed a life I've had. I think about my parents and the type of life they lived just one generation ago in just barely-industrializing Taiwan, let along my grandparents in their own time. I've come to respect even more (as I sit in a place where there are safe, large living structures, clean running water, electricity for a few hours a day, and biweekly access to satellite phone/email), the early missionaries like David Livingstone to Africa, Hudson Taylor to China, and George L. MacKay to Taiwan. What they had to deal with for the sake of the cross!!! How can I sit here complaining about what I have to deal with, while they keenly understood both the great honor of being God's ambassadors and the great sacrifices of relationships and comfort needed for their specific callings? I thank God for His faithfulness in calling those men and their families, that I can see even some of my own ancestors in the Kingdom one day. I've also been thanking God for the world I'm living in, that should He call me to international missions as a career, the miracles of modern transportation and communication have made the world effectively a much "smaller" place.

Spiritually speaking (just as with the medical side of things as I described above), I am learning much more than I could ever help any other. Cultural and linguistic barriers are very real, although some do speak fair English. I'm trying to learn some Bunda -- the language probably most widely spoken (60+% of the people nearby) and the language I used at the start of this letter -- though I've already made the fool of myself when I called the language "Bandu." Additionally, Zambia is officially a "Christian nation," though like in the US and many other western nations, Christianity for many here is merely a cultural construct without the Biblical relationship God desires. There are certainly many opportunities for the Gospe; pray for wisdom and boldness to share it in love. Pray also for more laborers (perhaps yourselves!) as there are great spiritual needs here and worldwide, as you know.

Again, I want to thank you (Njakandelelako mwane!) for your prayers on my behalf. I trust you may glean from this letter how else you may pray for me (compassion, diligence, humility). Also, please pray for my health (asthma), which has started up again and has been very mild. Please, please, please let me know how I may pray for you also.


In His Great Hands, Sidney Stephen Wu

PS:
Dad & Mom: how are you doing? I hope Dad is home safely. Mom, did you give that envelope to Mrs. Wu @ church for me?

Men's group: Please pray also for the thinking associated with being home alone, and also for my housing arrangements when I return to the States.

EFC: I'm praying for the convalescent home visits.

Anneta: Thanks so much for taking care of the album, and for the email help.

Luke: there's a PT here!!!

Dr. Elder: Hope & pray you are doing well!

Johnny: thanks for writing. You may tell your parents I'm alive and well. Did you know I'm staying at Loma Linda U for the next 4 years for my residency training problem?

Cory & Tom: Where'd you match, Tom? Have you guys been able to talk lately?

GOD BLESS!!!!!