Dear Family and Friends,
Greetings of peace, joy, and hope to you. I hope this letter finds you enjoying the acceptance and challenge of God’s love this holiday season.
A Revitalizing Visit
Molly Setmire, a dear friend and colleague from my teaching days at Irvine Intermediate, came to visit for 25 days during mid-September and early October. Molly was a terrific help, tutoring young children in Kroo Bay and reading with the Lighthouse teens. Braving the heat and lack of conveniences in Sierra Leone without a single complaint, Molly was a huge encouragement to me and the rest of our community here in Freetown as she radiated kindness and enthusiasm. We took a few days off and traveled to the historical city of Bo, and then to an island near the Liberian border where we saw monkeys and birds.
This was a wonderful eye-opening experience for me, as I had never been off the Freetown peninsula. Thanks Molly!
A Close Call
A couple weeks after Molly left I became very sick with stomach cramps, nausea, and exhaustion. Then I got a high fever. Later I started vomiting. After two-and-a-half weeks I ended up in a UN hospital where a dedicated and caring Jordanian troop treated me for malaria. My lab tests did not improve however. I was diagnosed with acute renal failure and medically evacuated to the United States. Mindy, my friend and WMF SL staff member, accompanied me to New Mexico where my family lives. I spent a couple more days in the university hospital there, recruiting students to come work with the poor as they curiously poked and prodded their first malaria patient. Together we witnessed your prayers being answered: my kidneys and liver began functioning again without medical assistance. “We ARE fearfully and wonderfully made!” (Psalm 139:14)
Now I am on the slow road to recovery. The doctors told me it would take about six to eight weeks before I start feeling perky again. Please continue to pray for me. I am very anemic and my kidneys, while working, are still struggling.
One to 3 million people needlessly die from malaria each year in the majority world because they do not enjoy the medical assistance money can buy. I am so thankful to be alive, yet I am saddened by this truth. In the hospital, Mindy graciously reminded me of one of my favorite Mother Teresa quotes, “I take what God gives me, but I give what he asks.”
Can I give what he asks? Yesterday I read John the Baptist calling people to change their greedy ways, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.” (Luke 3:11)
Will I ever have enough faith and trust in our Loving God to do that?
I push and yearn, hope and choose, that generous true way.
Lord, help my unbelief! Create in me a clean heart!
Prayer Points
1. Pray for wisdom, perseverance, health, and strength for the Word Made Flesh staff in Sierra Leone. They have some important decisions to make regarding housing and schooling for some of the Lighthouse youth. Pray for godly nurturing homes and teachers committed to their tasks.
2. Pray for inner healing for the Lighthouse teens and Grafton girls. Many continue to be plagued by nightmares and gripping memories of the atrocities they experienced during the war. Many also struggle to build trusting, respectful relationships with peers and adults. Some are experiencing learning difficulties, perhaps due to post-traumatic stress.
I will be in the United States through November and most of December. I hope to see many of you and am in the process of organizing some get-togethers to make that happen. Email is still the best way to contact me as I will be moving around. Please write and let me know how you are and what you are up to these days.
Love,
Cami Sigler