GRACE BIBLE CHURCH

Ruth’s story: “Hi, my name is Ruth. I am 9 years old. Something unusual about me is that I have a brother and sister that were born at the same time as me. Being one of a set of triplets who are all still living is a lot of fun. We are almost famous in our small village of Kikongo because triplets are so unusual.

Just before last Christmas, I became sick with malaria. That happens pretty regularly here in Congo because we don’t have screens on our windows and doors, and we are outside a lot! But this time when my parents took me to our small hospital to get medicine, something went wrong.  I became even sicker and they told my parents that my kidneys had stopped working. Everyone in the village was very worried. I felt too badly to feel worried. The doctors told my parents that the only hope was for me to go to the hospital at Vanga.

Our village has a big grass airstrip, bigger than any soccer fields that the kids in our village play on. My brothers and sisters and I have often run to the airstrip to watch the MAF airplanes come and go. I never thought that I would ride in an airplane, but I was so sick that I wasn’t even excited about the airplane ride.”

Rod’s story:   “It started out as one of our normal flights that we do twice a week from Kinshasa to Kikongo, Bonga, and Vanga. The loading was very tight because we almost always have more than we can carry departing Kinshasa.  Also, we cannot take a full load from Kikongo, our first stop. I was slightly irritated that one of our passengers didn’t show at the last minute which required more calculations and deciding what extra freight might be able to fit. After takeoff, I was contacted by Glen, a missionary at Kikongo who said that they had a very sick girl that needed to be transferred to the large hospital at Vanga right away. I had to recalculate what I would drop off at Kikongo, and what I would pick up and how many seats were available in the airplane. It was going to be tight.”

The great news is that as we each, (the radio operator, Glenn, Rod, the doctors and nurses at Kikongo and Vanga), did our jobs, God made it all work together for the good of this little girl. She washealed at Vanga and Rod was able to fly her home healthy, in early January.

Thank you for being such an important part of this team through your prayers and giving so that we can be here at the right place and at the right time. Those words are for you too, “You saved a life!”