lyle and Michelle Update

Please continue to really bathe Michelle and Lyle in Prayer.


Please pray boldly for:

Michelle's eye to heal

a great prognosis and for all to see God.

That Lyle and Michelle would be able to stay in PNG

Wisdom and discernment as they seek the Lord in this seemingly impossible situation.

Pray as Daniel looking to the Lord for an answer!



Until Every Child Knows,

Big Jim

Matt. 19:14

James 1:27

- Hide quoted text -







On Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 7:39 AM, lyle_vanklompenberg wrote:



Dear friends,



Today was Michelle’s 2nd day of physiotherapy at the rehabilitation center at the hospital, and she was able to meet with an occupational therapist and a rehabilitation doctor. She started off with the occupational therapist, and it was tremendously encouraging to see all of the things that Michelle CAN do that are potentially problems for folks that have had strokes. David, the occupational therapist, did numerous tests of Michelle’s vision, perception skills, fine motor skills, and different thinking skills. Most of the tests Michelle scored extremely well, and all of the limitations the therapist saw were things we were aware of. He was very optimistic about Michelle’s prospects of having significant recovery on a number of these current limitations. Next, Michelle was with the physiotherapist who ran her through some exercises to help her walking and balance based on her session with Michelle on Friday. All that went quite well, and Michelle was even able to jog a little bit in the hallway.



The last person we met with at the end of our morning was the rehabilitation doctor. As had been the case in each of our meetings with doctors recently, this resulted in another twist. This doctor’s opinion was that it was foolish for Michelle to even do the amount of walking we had been doing around town here. While we thought we were doing a good thing to work on Michelle’s walking skills (and were seeing some good improvement), we evidently were doing something the doctor did not think was wise. Everyone had told us the first month after the stroke was so key, and this was the time to retrain your brain to pick up for cells that died during the stroke. The rehabilitation doctor said he would definitely not suggest Michelle go anywhere for a couple weeks. He much preferred that she be admitted to their rehabilitation unit for two weeks to allow more time to pass from the time of her stroke and to give them the ability to allow her to heal but to also channel her activities just to the rehabilitation activities they guided. We left the doctor after an hour long meeting with the idea we are supposed to tell them tomorrow what we are going to do – go back to PNG against his advice or be admitted to the rehabilitation unit of the hospital here.



Needless to say, this was actually much more difficult than what we were braced to hear today. The thought of just staying down here and being away from our kids for a total of a month seems terrible to both of us. We have kicked around many ideas and haven’t decided what to do. We have had some gracious offers by friends to come be with Michelle and allow me to return to the kids soon. We have had offers by friends to bring our kids down to us. All of the options have some huge down sides – having our family apart, the massive costs, logistics of places to stay with the kids, etc. Please pray with us as we try to sort something out in the next little while. Please continue to pray for Michelle – both for her medical condition and also for the difficulty of being down here away from her family and about to be back in the hospital. Today involved a lot of tears. While there are no certainties of whether Michelle would stroke again or not, the doctor feels the next couple weeks are imperative to allow her brain to heal and to get past the riskiest time. I know I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I brought her back to PNG, and she had a stroke in the next couple weeks.



If you haven’t picked it up yet, we are really struggling right now to decide exactly what to do. While we both feel there is not much else we can do but to follow the doctor’s suggestion for Michelle to be admitted to the rehabilitation unit (probably tomorrow), we are battling a lot of emotions about us being away from our kids, me not being by Michelle’s side, etc. We are not expecting anyone to write back with a simple solution, but we wanted to update you on where we are at and ask for your prayers as we sort through this additional turn of events. While we are looking at an additional two weeks now, we worry that date could also get pushed back as our other potential departure dates were.



Thank you all for the amazing prayer and financial support to us through all of this!!



Love,

Lyle for Michelle too

Kay's Kamp

“Can we stay another week?” begged one of our 8 yr old kampers. It was Saturday morning and he, along with several others, didn't want to go home! Gee, I can’t understand why- they had leftovers for breakfast! Mac & Cheese, hot dogs & hamburgers and everyone’s favorite - Ice Cream!!!

Within what seems like the blink of an eye, Kay’s dream of a camp for kids with cancer, became a reality on August 8-15, 2009. We had eleven kids ranging in age from 5 to 17; most of whom had never been to an overnight camp, because most summer camps aren’t equipped to handle children with cancer or kids in remission who are still dealing with the side effects of the disease and its treatment. In the “ZOO”, our loving name for the infirmary, two Pediatric MDs, a Nurse Practitioner and 27 nurses did rotating shifts 24/7 and made sure each kamper received medications and TLC whenever needed! Funny, everyone in the ZOO wore an animal hat and a T-shirt that said “ZOO Keeper” - go figure!

When the parents said their goodbyes on Sunday, the kampers set off to make memory boxes to fill with all the treasures they would make or receive during the week. That evening we had a “Dream World” activity - let’s just say it involved eating hanging graham crackers, kampers washing faces and brushing the teeth of their counselors along with a visit from the tooth fairy and the Dream Master who only allows good dreams at kamp - he carried his blankie and cuddly bear! So, that night, each kamper received a cuddly bear to sleep with too!

Every day consisted of several activities; arts and crafts, sports and games, archery, camping skills, music, fishing, daily newsletter along with special events each afternoon; like a Swamp Trek, a very fun and very wet activity (there was also jello and instant potatoes involved.) We Tye-Dyed T-shirts, made sand art, dream catchers and scrapbooks. Now, we also had a waterslide - it was long, bumpy and a blast! The water power was complements of the Clayton Fire Company who kept the slide (and all of us) cool and wet! It was a huge treat when they invited the kampers to take a ride in the big red truck!

Our evening activities were the best! The Delaware Aerospace Foundation brought the “star lab” to kamp along with telescopes for each kamper to assemble - it was awesome! Volunteers from Pro Physical therapy came out Tuesday night to host a carnival with cotton candy, snow cones and a national champion Yo-yo performer that wowed the crowd with his remarkable talents. And what would the evening be without karaoke (Oh my!! Let’s just say we had many talented, brave, silly performers!) Wednesday we were scheduled to sleep out under the stars and watch a movie, but with the threat of thunder storms, we moved inside. No problem - with the help of the Wilmington University's Women's Volleyball team, the PJ contest was hilarious, the popcorn was yummy, the movie, Aladdin, was a perfect choice. We even had some brave kampers who decided to roughed it for the night in the tents we set up in the gym! The Kamp dance on Thursday night was great! Everyone dressed up, some more than others - let’s just say Superman, Tinkerbelle and Snow White showed up. The strobe light was flashing as DJ played everything from the Macarena, line dances, chicken dance and even the hokie-pokie! We danced until dawn! (Not really, more like until curfew, around 9:30.) Our campfire Friday night was blazing and each cabin group performed a skit, several involving silly string and jello filled balloons (yes, more jello!) We roasted marshmallows to make s'mores, roasted wieners and chicken nuggets too! Ever had a cocktail wiener with chocolate sauce?? Hey, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!!!

Check out the kamp website at www.kayskamp.org to read the WBOC TV & WDEL Radio interviews and The Smyrna/Clayton SunTimes article. There are pictures and short interviews with some of our kampers.

Thank you to everyone who prayed for us before, during and after Kamp week! God is amazing and Kaylyn is surely smiling!

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Phil. 4:13

Go Kamp!

Not Going Home Yet/ Update on Michelle

Dear friends,




First the good news – in our doctor’s appointment today, the doctor looked at the results of the MRI/MRA done last night to see if there was need to be concerned about the blood vessel in her brain that seemed to still be spasming when the first MRI was done last week. While he did not think the vessel was necessarily back to normal, he had less concern that anything would happen with it. Part of the comfort he had about it was the passage of time without any major problems. With each week that passes from the time Michelle originally had her stroke, the doctor said he would be more and more confident that Michelle wouldn’t be having another stroke.



Now the news we were not wanting – we are not able to fly home yet tomorrow. After looking at the MRI/MRA results, hearing from Michelle on the status of her symptoms, and seeing some of the limitations Michelle has noticed more since being out of the hospital, the doctor thought Michelle would benefit greatly from spending some time in a rehabilitation unit with occupational therapists. We are still waiting to hear from them on how long Michelle would need to do it, whether she would need to be inpatient or could be outpatient, etc., so we don’t have firm plans yet. I will have to say we were absolutely crushed to think of spending longer before we get to go home to the kids. They are being loved to death, but I think we are struggling more without them than they are without us. We asked a lot of questions about how much this occupational therapy would be able to accomplish and whether it could wait until later, but everyone was pretty emphatic that the closer to the time of the stroke the therapy is done the better. It didn’t make it any easier to deal with. We also wished we could have been working on this more intense therapy this past week instead of waiting until now to go that route.



The doctor also asked our plans for things long-term and shared with us his perspective. Bottom line, he is not able to give us any percentages or guarantees about how likely Michelle is to have another migraine or stroke, but he is strongly encouraging us to consider returning to the US even before we are scheduled to in June. We have talked and prayed a lot about things…what is prudent medically without losing sight of the fact that God is completely in control and able to sustain us no matter where we would be.



For now, we have cancelled our tickets yet again. We are hoping the rehabilitation unit is able to fit Michelle in tomorrow and then to be treated as an outpatient for part of next week. We probably don’t know that is feasible yet. Please pray these plans come together, for healing for Michelle, and that we will be able to get home soon. While we know it isn’t really feasible to have the kids here with all that is going on and these days away are not that big of a deal if they help Michelle’s prognosis for years to come, I think being away from our kids is the hardest part for both Michelle and I of being here.



Thanks for standing with us through this entire ordeal. There certainly are a lot of curve balls and unanticipated changes along the way. We pray we will be able to maintain a good testimony through it all.



Love,

Lyle & Michelle

Update on Michelle and Little Grace

Got this update on little Grace. Was being treated forCerebral Malaria. Thank you Jesus.

Just wanted you all to know that we got a call from Michael this morning. Grace is being discharged from the haus sik today. She will have a follow up appt. next Tues., but she is doing much better now. Praise the Lord! Thank you all for praying!

Until Every Child Knows,
Big Jim
Matt. 19:14
James 1:27

From Lyle on Michelle, thank you for your continued prayers.

On Thu, Aug 20, 2009 at 12:32 AM, lyle_vanklompenberg wrote:

Dear friends,



I just stepped away from the hospital for a little bit, so I thought I would take this opportunity to send out an update on how Michelle has been since I wrote yesterday. Yesterday evening, Michelle stated to feel very, very uncomfortable with her back again (close to her shoulder blade). They ended up giving her some medication to calm that down. In addition, they gave her a sleeping pill for last night, and she was able to sleep pretty well throughout the night. The nurses have felt badly for Michelle being in the loud room she is in with the three other ladies, and they have indicated she will be getting moved to a private or semi-private room in about an hour. That was a huge encouragement.



Last night, the doctor came in and had a conversation with us to sort out what we will do going forward. The fact that the transesophagial electrocardiogram (or something like that, which they just call the “TOE”) cannot take place until Friday morning is meaning that we will need to delay our flights home, which had been scheduled for Friday. In talking to the neurologist more, he indicated that he would really like to get another CT scan done of Michelle with contrast next week to ensure that the artery in her brain that he thought may still be in spasm has calmed down before he sends us back to PNG. Otherwise, he would be nervous that she could restroke again. Since she just had her MRI done a couple days ago, he felt it would make most sense to wait for this new CT scan until Wednesday or Thursday of next week. That would then mean we would need to plan to return home next Friday. While not excited about the idea of being away from home and our precious kids for another week, we are planning to comply with what the doctor feels is most prudent. The up side to this is that we will be around longer for the neurologist to try a few different medications to help some of her symptoms, and she will also be able to have daily physiotherapy appointments.



This morning, Michelle had her first physio appointment, and it went really well. They worked some on her shoulder/back area and were able to help Michelle get much more comfortable raising her left arm. They plan to do more of that each weekday until we leave. Hopefully this will be a help in getting a lot of those uncomfortable feelings out of her back.



Just before noon, Michelle had an appointment with a neuro-ophthalmologist, Dr. Anthony Pane. This guy seemed really sharp and has written three books, one of which he wrote with a doctor from John Hopkins University that is who he would consider the top neuro-opthalmologist in the world. At the appointment, they determined her eyes are very healthy. They also checked how well she can see in her peripheral with her eyes pointed straight ahead (using something called a “Field test” or something – we don’t speak fluent Australian English yet J). What the test showed is that Michelle has lost all of her vision in the upper left quadrant in each eye and a significant portion of her vision on her lower left quadrant. This was extremely difficult to hear and brought out a lot of emotion, as the thought of being able to drive, to work as a nurse, etc. all started to seem in doubt. The doctor reassured her that a number of people are able to train their body to just scan the eyes differently than in the past and feel that after 6 months or a year have significant improvement in their functionality of seeing even if the computer test would not show much difference in actual ability of the eyes to see. He suggested to do a similar test in a number of months to see if there is any improvement, but he doesn’t expect much. We will pray for real improvement in her eyes, as we know a Master Healer that is able to give sight that the top doctors cannot. J



Thanks for praying with us and going through all this with us. It has been a very emotional, difficult time. Hearing back from many of you and knowing others of you and all that a number of you have gone through yourselves, we feel like this trial is not nearly as great as some of you have had to go through. Knowing the health battles others have had and their insights that bring encouragement makes us pray that Michelle will be even better at encouraging others that are struggling in the future as she has this experience to draw from. We love you all and cherish your ongoing prayers!



Love,

Lyle

Michelle-Hospital Stay - Day 1

Hi everyone,

I know a number of you have been concerned for Michelle, and we have heard you are looking frequently for updates on how she is doing. I don’t have a tremendous amount to report, but I wanted to be sure to get something out at least today. It would be easier to send reports more frequently if it did not require finding an internet café in this new area of town where the hospital is and where the hotel is that I am staying now. We had been staying in the middle of the city, but I have found a room right around the corner of the hospital to cut down on the time and expense of getting rides back and forth.

Michelle had a fine night here in the hospital last night. She is in a room with three other patients (pretty talkative ones) and has not been able to sleep very well. That noise, combined with the nagging pain she has been experiencing in her left shoulder blade area have resulted in her feeling pretty tired and restless. Michelle had a CT scan on her chest area at 9 AM just to confirm that she did not have any issues with a blood clot in her lung. We have not seen the neurologist today to officially give us the results, but some other medical staff here have said that it came back clear. This afternoon, Michelle had a visit from a physical therapist, which was quite encouraging. She felt that the strength in Michelle’s legs and arms appear to be just as strong as her right side and that it is the sensations that she is having trouble with. They plan to bring her down to their gym in the hospital tomorrow to see if they can help with the spasms and pain she is having in her left shoulder blade area and to show her some exercises she could be doing to work on rehabilitating for her vision loss and tingling feelings on the left side. What was so encouraging was the optimism the therapist had about Michelle being able to get back much of what she has lost in her vision and feelings on the left side. Of course, they do not give any guarantees, but they have worked with other stroke sufferers that have had good results in the first month or two after their strokes. It is amazing how God has made our bodies with its ability to adapt and make up for what is lacking in other areas!

It has been pretty slow since the therapist left. The last major test Michelle has scheduled is a transesophogial echocardiogram (sp?), which is a test the doctor is using to ensure Michelle does not have a hole in her heart. Apparently, it has been found that some people that have problems with hemiplegic migraines and have had a stroke have had it result from a hole in their heart that has caused a clot. Michelle is not looking forward to the test, as it involves having an ultrasound being sent down your throat to look at your heart from the back side. Unfortunately, they have not been able to get that test scheduled yet, and they have suggested it may not be until Friday. We will talk to the doctor tonight, as we have had thoughts of going back to PNG still on Friday. We, of course, will do whatever the doctor feels is necessary for Michelle. If that test waits until Friday, that will leave us with just the physical therapist visit and an appointment with an ophthalmologist tomorrow.

Especially at the times Michelle is experiencing more discomfort and emotions, she really just wants to hold our kids. We know our friends in PNG are taking amazing care of them, and we get a daily report from one of the ladies doing the care. That has really been nice. We still are looking forward to when we know things are alright to get back home to the kids, and we hope that is Friday.

Thanks to the many, many of you that have sent encouraging notes and assurances of your prayers. Michelle was able to read through several of them today and was really touched.

Love to you all!
Lyle

Michelle in Hospital

Dear friends,

Since arriving here in Brisbane, our ability to communicate has been a little more difficult, but I am hoping to get this email out tonight to everyone if I can find an internet café open late that I can get some access from.

The MRI and doctor’s visit happened today pretty much as scheduled (just a little late). When we went into the doctor, he began our visit by opening up the MRI results and reading them. He was surprised to see that it definitely looks as if Michelle has had a stroke in conjunction with her migraine headache last week. That being the case, the doctor has decided to admit Michelle to monitor her and to do some testing. He feels one of the arteries in her brain may still be having spasms, and he wants her monitored to ensure she doesn’t have another stroke. They will also be doing some major tests on her heart, lungs, and the artery in her brain he is watching. Those all may be taking place tomorrow, so the doctor is hoping we will still be able to stick with our scheduled departure from here on Friday.

I am not going to lie; it has been pretty emotional this afternoon getting this news. The big fear of whether Michelle will ever get to the point of being able to see normally again and get away from the tingling feeling on her left side is very real. After some praying, some crying, and some reflection on truths in His Word, we have found ourselves very thankful that the results of the stroke were not worse. They certainly could have been. We are still praying for a full recovery for Michelle, and there hopefully will be some measurable improvement in her symptoms, but we know He will give us the strength for whatever He has planned for us. It is just sometimes hard to see what the plan is along the way.

Please be in prayer about the testing going on over the next few days…that they do not find any new problems. Please also be praying for Michelle’s symptoms to begin to subside as we get further from the date of the stroke. We miss our kids an awful lot and sure hope to be able to return to them on Friday!

Love to you all!
Lyle for Michelle too

Watching God Work in Zambia-Village of Hope

Greetings Prayer Warriors Around the World!

This coming Sunday, August 23rd, at 2:15 PM, our Zambia team will be giving a report at Grace E-Free Church. They meet at Calvary Baptist Church in Newark, near Burger King. Love to have you join us, feel free to contact me for directions. We also hope to have the directors of the Village of Hope, Ben and Kathleen Schwartz with us; they are here for their daughters wedding. In addition to meeting our team, you'll also see some great video and slides.

Today, as we continue our report on what God is doing in Zambia, we like to share with you a little about Zambia and more importantly the Village of Hope.
A few facts about Zambia:
The population is over 11 million of which over 11% are orphans, some reports suggest as many as 20% as the AIDS epidemic spreads.
Average Zambian makes about $1 a day
Zambia's Government has declared that they are a Christian Nation!
The money used is Kwacha. Rate when we were there 5,000k to $1. Was really neat taking 1,000,000k at a time out the the ATM, that is until we filled Kamau's van with gas, 240,000k (little over $5 gal). Small loaf of bread 3500k. Cost of living for us actually higher there than in the US.
In Africa, handicapped children are thought to have demons in them and witch doctors try to beat or burn them out, sometimes the child in killed; we abort them.
Men are told to have sex with a young girl and they will be cured of AIDS. We buy our children sexy outfits and tell them to "practice "safe" sex".
Very little protein available. Average Zambian eats 2 chickens a year; South Africans 20.
Very little violent crime
Open doors for ministry; pray for willing workers.
This is where the Lord led Benedict and Katleen Schwartz to plant the Village of Hope. Ben and Kathleen are from Harve de Grace, Md. Kathleen ran a music school and Ben owned his own business. They have 6 children; 2 adopted and have been active in Inner City Ministry, working with Special Needs folks and etc; special folks.

At an age when many of us are looking at retiring and fellowship; they left everything behind to work full time with AIDS orphans.
Ben is the CEO of the Village of Hope and Kathleen runs the school they have started for the children in addition to being our hostess and a million or so other duties.

They now live in the guest house at the Village which is always filled with folks. The only room they can call their own is their small bedroom. Electricity regularly goes out, little water pressure, up at 3 or 4 in the morning, ministering and sharing the love of Jesus all day long; my kind of folks!

On the way over, I reread the Autobiography of George Mueller. Ben and Kathleen follow his model of ministry. Dreamers, visionaries; looking to God for direction; boldly taking large steps of faith.
Many ministries look to foundations for help; they come to Ben asking to be a part; God.

This village is a great model for opening other facilities to minister to and love orphans anywhere in the world. A God sized vision; as complete and balanced as I've ever seen.

Their philosophy: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.- James 1:27

The Village is on 230 acres of land and their goal is to become self supporting. They grow a lot of their own food and are helping to start many micro businesses in the area currently providing employment opportunities for 183 people. They even make their own blocks for their buildings and a windmill was being installed when we left.

They have opened a small "Mini Mart" on the Great North Road with plans shortly to open a small restaurant and are building a chicken house which will house, I believe, 6,000 birds which they will be selling to Zambeef. looking to produce thier own egs also.

As the children grow older they will be given opportunities to work in these and other micro businesses they are starting.

They've started a small school for the children and burned off a large area just before we left where they are looking to build a school that will house 200 plus children.

There are plans for a clinic, soccer field and much more.

Did I mention the Village of Hope Church that now meets in the school?

Today the village, which is a true Village of Hope, houses 24 children, 8 to a house, each with a very Godly African House Mother.

Several more houses are being built as more children are expected. Most likely when we return next August, there will be 100 or more children there.

They are raised in the African Culture as Africans but with a huge difference. Their lives are saturated with God's Word and the love of Jesus. They live very simply, no AC, hot water, washing machines and etc.

In the mornings, the children meet in a central location where they sing and pray.

Everything is shared, even chores! Very structured life filled with love and care.

There is a children's home in Livingston that is closing and some of those children will be coming to the Village.

Pastor Greg and I had the privilege of meeting a group of village elders and leaders who had come to see the work. These are men who have lost children and grandchildren to this horrible epidemic. They were overwhelmed with what they saw and so thankful for a place that they could feel safe in sending their children who they could no longer care for. Children from these villages will be arriving shortly also.

Recently a Zambian family donated 500+ acres of land in another part of Zambia to open another Village.

While with a Zimbabwe refugee farmer, he shared that he had some land he wouldn't be using this season, "what would you like me to grow for the children.".

God is working in a very special way here; truly, Holy Ground.

Next blog update you'll meet the Hamelryck family who arrived the day before us and are now living their with their 10 children, the cargo container and you'll met some of the children.

Please continue to pray for our children in Zambia and around the world.

Until Every Child Knows
Big Jim
Matt. 19:14
James 1:27

Update on Michelle

Hi everyone,

Since I last wrote, Michelle has had another day with no improvement at all to note. The vision and tingling on her left side have certainly not gotten any better, and it actually seems like the tingling is making Michelle more uncomfortable more often. Her balance is still poor, so while she has the strength to get up more, having a tingling left foot and leg, not being able to see well on her left side, and the imbalance have still made it difficult for her to move around much on her own. With this trend continuing of days stringing together with no real change in these symptoms long after the headache itself is gone, our conversations with our doctor here have made it evident we should go. Having the definitive answers that can only be provided by an MRI will be a great help in sorting out what medications would be of help to Michelle in her recovery. Our doctor here has indicated there is a chance that Michelle did even experience a stroke in the course of her migraine episode, and the MRI will be conclusive about that.

We have flights scheduled to fly out from Goroka tomorrow morning at about 9:30 AM and then leaving the capital of Port Moresby for Brisbane, Australia at 2 PM. I am a little nervous about my flight reservations, especially the first one, as it was made on the phone with a less-than-professional airlines representative. Plus, there is always concern about the national airlines just canceling some of their flights. As it is scheduled, we will avoid having to spend a night in Port Moresby. After our day of travel tomorrow, we are scheduled for an MRI first thing Tuesday morning in Brisbane. We are then to see the neurologist there on Tuesday afternoon to go over the results. Lord-willing, we will have some answers by the end of the day Tuesday. If that all goes well and nothing of concern is found, we will see if we can move up our tickets to come home. Otherwise, we are scheduled to fly back on Friday, August 21st.

This is certainly an unexpected trip and expense, but we feel confident this is the right thing to do after much prayer, consultations with others, and hearing from our doctor here that he would be doing the same thing if he was in our position. As you all have been so faithful to do these last few days, we would appreciate your continued prayers for our trip, the neurological testing, wisdom for the doctors, and for our sweet little kids we will have to be away from for a few days. Our kids will be staying in our house, as some friends of ours (the Hughes) have agreed to come up and stay in our house to take care of the kids. That will allow them to sleep in their own beds and have a little less disruption to their schedules. We have so many other friends here on the center already stepping in bringing treats, bringing meals, offering to watch the kids, bringing us to the airport, and on and on. It is great to be a part of the body both here and worldwide. We cherish your prayers and thank you all for the prayers you have all been offering up on our behalf!

Love, Lyle for the family

Watching God Work in Zambia-1

Greetings Prayer Warriors Around the World,
Had no Internet in Zambia, but it was an amazing trip and over the next several days, my prayer is to be able to send you some updates about the camps we did, the work at Village of Hope, introduce you to some of our children there and future plans to minister to the children of Zambia as we watch God work as only He can.

As we start on this Adventure of Faith, I'd like to share a personal testimony; something the Lord reminded me of as I was walking with our children to their school one morning.

In January of 2003, a trip to Liberia in West Africa was planned, going with Rev. Ralph and Justine Lampkins and Pastor Bob Green, the Associate Pastor of my home church. My part would be doing Kidz Klubs with the children at Maggie Lampkins Institute and in some local villages. This was to be my first visit to Africa. We had also raised the funds to bring Lula and her girls here to America to be reunited with their husband/dad, David, who was here in America and could not go back.

In December, 2002, there was an infection in my leg. The doctor assured me there was no need to worry, gave me medicines and told me to stay off the leg for a few weeks and it would be fine.

But then, a flesh eating bacteria got into the leg. I was rushed to the hospital where they did surgery on my calf, filleting the muscle and much more; the bacteria had done a lot of damage. They weren't sure if I would survive and the surgeon shared afterwards, when (if) I was stronger, they would probably have to amputate the foot. They were giving me synthetic morphine just to get me to sit up and put the leg down; would just pass out from pain otherwise.

As that was clearing up and after they closed the leg up, another infection hit me, more hospital visits and this time they were considering cutting the leg off at the knee the next day if it didn't clear up. Again through prayer and the grace of God, it cleared up.

Then, gangrene set in the toe. I was told best case, I'd lose all my toes, maybe have to "amp" half the foot. Again, as folks prayed, "only" lost the big toe.

Seven months had now passed and I was told, due to the damage to the leg and lack of balance, I'd most likely have to walk with a cane and would be very limited in what I could do. Basically, sitting around with my leg elevated and walking to the van to go out. That was the case for awhile and when the leg gets real bad, I still do have the cane, but that is rare. Walking is limited but can do for few days at a time here and there.

Was also told my days of missionary travel were over. This long travel would be too much for me (can be challenging) and it was just too physically dangerous in other parts of the world for me with the leg. Any infection could kill me. Being from India, my doctor especially warned against going there.

Needless to say, the Liberia trip was postponed. Later wrote an article for our church newsletter, "The most successful missions trip I never took".

On July 23rd, we left for Zambia; this past Thursday,August 6th. I returned from my 17th trip since the leg went bad; my 9th international trip, not to mention the various ministries in this area the Lord has allowed me to be involved in.

For nothing is impossible with God."- Luke 1:37

Each morning as the orphans at the Village of Hope would meet as a group and sing praises the the Lord and pray, we'd join them and walk with them to the Village of Hope School, maybe 1/4 to 3/8th of a mile away, carrying one or more on our shoulders, walking and singing praises to Jesus.

Thank you Jesus for allowing me this Holy Privilege of working with these precious children here and around the world. Help us to never take our health or lives for granted to to always have an attitude of thankfulness as we press forward to the goal sharing Your love with all we meet, always looking for opportunities to minister. In the name of Jesus, I pray for many more opportunities to minister. Amen.

On the way over, I reread the autobiography of George Mueller. The Village of Hope is run by a modern day George Mueller, Benedict's doctrine is simple, James 1:27, Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

In our next update, you'll hear more about the work here and the vision Ben and his team have, a God sized vision, we'll introduce you to some of the folks here and of course to our orphans, who you will absolutely fall in love with.

Being Africa we also have a few snake stories, as spring is starting and they are coming out. There is a shortcut you can take coming back from the school, but only in the mornings when it is cool. It's called the python path. There also is a pond in front of the school where they are raising fish. The African name for the pond is "where the lions gather to drink". Did I mention the green mamba they killed by the cargo container we had unloaded?

We were told to expect maybe 200 children in the various day camps we would be doing, so I planned for 250 just in case. As we prepared for our second camp at a local village school, which consisted of a small office and four classrooms with a small yard, we walked there and I asked the Principal/Director how many children we could expect. "all the children want to come (Morning and afternoon sessions), we have 291 children registered." This wasn't counting our children from the Village of hope or our workers children. No stores to buy from, OK Lord, little help needed here. Need some loaves and fishes.

When we get to the camp stories, we'll share with you just how the Lord did it and the many Godincidences that happened as we watched God work in Zambia.

Did I mention the children had never seen balloons? When we returned to the school to say good-bye to the children and talk about next year. All the balloons were hanging on the ceiling of the principles office; little drummer boy balloons. All for now.

Yes, we are planning on returning in early August of 2010 to do Bible Camps in two villages where the team ministers and help to empower the church and help to develop children and teen ministry there.

Please continue to pray fervently for our children in Zambia. It's through prayer that we can go on. As I shared with our kids in Kidz Klubs this past Sunday, because they prayed, I'm able to walk with and love our children in Zambia.

Live radically for Jesus all.

Until Every Child Knows,
Big Jim
Matt. 19:14
James 1:27