"A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor."         Proverbs 22:9

Hermine

          Please pray for Hermine. For some time now, Hermine has not slept well at night. Hermine wakes up in the night in intense pain. The caregivers told us that she possibly has appendicitis. Therefore, we spent one day going to different doctors to get their opinions. Out of the two doctors we visited, both had the same opinion. Each doctor said that Hermine needed an appendectomy, sooner than later. Needless to say, Stacy and I were not happy with the outcome of the day, and both of us were leery of the diagnoses. Maybe some of you can remember when we took Elisa to have her appendix removed.
We decided that we should visit a third and final doctor before making a final decision. We decided that if the third doctor had the same opinion we would go ahead and have Hermine’s appendix removed.
          The third doctor we visited is an ex-patriot that we are familiar with in the capital city of Antananarivo. After four long hours and many different tests including a blood workup (which neither of the other two doctors requested) the doctor finally called us into his office to hear the test results. Hermine’s blood work was all-normal and there was no sign of elevated white blood cells, which is an indicator of appendicitis. The doctor thinks that the pain Hermine is experiencing is stress related, and he has given Hermine some medicine to lessen the stress. Please pray for Hermine.

Andry

          Several years ago, a vehicle that jumped a curb in city center struck Andry and two of our young Christian adults. The doctors say that Andry is having problems with his kidneys because of the accident. They are giving him medication on a daily basis. Andry is currently on a strict diet and is not allowed to eat salt because of his medication. There are times, however, that Andry sneaks salt and is very sick as a result. Recently, we had to take Andry to the doctor because he was vomiting blood on a regular basis. I threatened to remove all salt from the Betikara building if the caregivers could not keep a closer watch on what Andry was eating.
          Since that time, Andry is better, but he needs our continued prayers. We are not sure that there is enough medical knowledge in Madagascar to help Andry. We do know that there is a waiting list for people to be on dialysis if that is what Andry needs in the future. There is one machine in all of Madagascar to serve the demand. Recently, there was a death at the American School where Stacy teaches, because a family was too late in getting together the needed funds to help a family member go to India for dialysis. Please pray that Andry will not need dialysis, but even more, pray that we can get a correct diagnosis on his condition.

New Caregivers

          As of March 4, 2007, Betikara has two new caregivers for the Lambs. A married couple started working in order to help Rivo and Fano care for the 34 Lambs that we presently serve at Betikara. Solofo and Tiana come to Betikara with one child, a 6-year-old daughter that is also named Tiana. All three members of the family are starting to settle into a routine. Your prayers are needed to help us reach this young family spiritually. 

Tsilavana

          We still have one little lamb who doesn’t have a sponsor.  His name is MBOLANOMENJANAHARY Tiana Tsilavina Joel and he’s 11 years old.  He was born on December 22, 1995.  He’s a sweet boy and could use a special friend.
 

  Indiana Church of Christ 
  225 East Pike Rd. 
  Indiana, PA  15701 

“He who is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward him for what he has done.” 
                           Proverbs 19:17