Update - November 27th
Rachel’s situation looks more sober at present. X-rays indicate that her jaw has major fractures which could not be treated at the hospital where she received her preliminary treatment. Her primary care-giver misunderstood the doctor’s follow-up instructions thus we lost several precious days. It’s enough to make you weep. We are scrambling to get her the correct medical care when precious time has been lost. Please pray!
Rachel’s situation looks more sober at present. X-rays indicate that her jaw has major fractures which could not be treated at the hospital where she received her preliminary treatment. Her primary care-giver misunderstood the doctor’s follow-up instructions thus we lost several precious days. It’s enough to make you weep. We are scrambling to get her the correct medical care when precious time has been lost. Please pray!
You may well recall her; we call her Rachel but her Muslim name is Aïssé. She lives at our Bible School with Pastor Yaarou Simon; her uncle and my teaching colleague. She and her uncle are the only two Christians in the wide extended Mɔslɛm Wassangari family. We see Rachel daily and pray for her frequently: her family is ever-pressing for a Mɔslɛm marriage, contrary to her will.
Tragedy struck our beautiful Rachel in a way none of us expected. On crossing a stone bridge into a Christian school complex, her motorcycle came too close to a damaged part of the bridge (due to an 18-wheeler crashing into it last year-and never paying for repairs) and her front wheel slid down into a deep cement trench. She fell suddenly face-first even though she was going very slowly. Part of the motorcycle crashed on her as well. A young man carried her in his arms to our nearby Christian hospital. No one thought she would survive and she was in the OR for hours.
Tragedy struck our beautiful Rachel in a way none of us expected. On crossing a stone bridge into a Christian school complex, her motorcycle came too close to a damaged part of the bridge (due to an 18-wheeler crashing into it last year-and never paying for repairs) and her front wheel slid down into a deep cement trench. She fell suddenly face-first even though she was going very slowly. Part of the motorcycle crashed on her as well. A young man carried her in his arms to our nearby Christian hospital. No one thought she would survive and she was in the OR for hours.
Can God bring good out of tragedy? The surgeons labored long to restore her face and local Christians rallied in prayer and compassion. She regained consciousness and her eyes are very swollen but thankfully undamaged. Her mouth and lower jaw suffered the worst; many of her teeth are broken. Yet, in his grace, the other hospital patients marvel at how Christians responded to her. Every hour friends, family, pastors and evangelists come to greet, pray and read her Scripture. Every hour Simon’s wife, or Simon, is at her side, tenderly helping her drink food or medicine. ‘Why?’ the many others patients ask Pastor Simon, ‘do our Mɔslɛm imams and our medicine men never come do this to us?’ Simon, always eager to preach, proclaimed the love of Christ to the whole ward and two Mɔslɛm patients such testimony has them deeply touched to follow Christ.
After I had prayed in Baatonu over Rachel at her bedside yesterday evening, one lady called me over to her very ill 12-year old boy: ‘My father’, she said (thinking I was Catholic priest), ‘please pray for my son too.’ Pastor Yaarou and I did while the whole room of patients and family watched and listened.
Then again, Rachel’s Mɔslɛm uncle appeared and he even joined us with his hands in supplication as three of us prayed over Rachel latter that night in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Out of tragedy comes hope.
We are very thankful that Rachel’s life was spared but the road toward her full health will be a long one. We need help in two ways: first, your prayers to God for full facial restoration. Second, while we have found enough charitable money to cover the hospital costs, we need help to cover long-term restorative dental work –if that is even available in Benin- and to replace her uncle’s totaled motorcycle (in a world without insurance). One day we want to show you a picture of Rachel again; fully restored, and looking radiant as a bride in a Christian wedding.
Tenderly in Christ, Benjamin & Christine
After I had prayed in Baatonu over Rachel at her bedside yesterday evening, one lady called me over to her very ill 12-year old boy: ‘My father’, she said (thinking I was Catholic priest), ‘please pray for my son too.’ Pastor Yaarou and I did while the whole room of patients and family watched and listened.
Then again, Rachel’s Mɔslɛm uncle appeared and he even joined us with his hands in supplication as three of us prayed over Rachel latter that night in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Out of tragedy comes hope.
We are very thankful that Rachel’s life was spared but the road toward her full health will be a long one. We need help in two ways: first, your prayers to God for full facial restoration. Second, while we have found enough charitable money to cover the hospital costs, we need help to cover long-term restorative dental work –if that is even available in Benin- and to replace her uncle’s totaled motorcycle (in a world without insurance). One day we want to show you a picture of Rachel again; fully restored, and looking radiant as a bride in a Christian wedding.
Tenderly in Christ, Benjamin & Christine
RSS Feed