From the Field
Updates from Luke Society Ministries
Orissa, India
Prayer Opens Doors to Community
Dr. Pushpa Rout and her husband, Prem, continue to seek out communities in which to deliver health care, but are facing opposition from the villagers because “they don’t believe in any unselfish noble service,” Pushpa wrote.
In one village, they saw a boy with a severe case of scabies. They offered the family medicine for the boy, “but the parents refused to take it as others remarked that we would have mixed something in the medicine to lure them to Christianity,” said Pushpa. “We are praying for the Lord’s time and ways to enter into this village to show His love and mercy to them.” Recently, after watching some of the villagers play football, the Rout’s team members helped the players by applying ointment and bandages to their abrasions. Now the village is becoming more open to the medical visits. “This is the way the Lord opens the door to spread His good news of salvation for His kingdom,” said Pushpa.
Olancho, Honduras
Inter-ethnic Meeting Opens Doors
The first inter-ethnic meeting between the Pech and Tolpan Indians was held recently at a Pech church. During the meeting, the two Indian groups compared their successes in education, health, agriculture and other areas.
Dr. Nestor Salavarria has been working with the Pech Indians specifically and is trying to gain the confidence of the Tolpans. And so he was encouraged to see the Pech facilitate the health topics at the meeting. “This made a good impression on the Tolpan, as they watched the former make every effort to teach what they had learned through our ministry,” said Dr. Salavarria. The Pech informed the Tolpan that because of the Luke Society community health workers, there are now five auxiliary Pech nurses who are contracted by the Public Health Office.
The Tolpan, in response to the success of health workers with the Pech, feel they are deficient in health care. They have a health center and a doctor in San Juan, “but he has a persistently poor relation with tribal council and ignores them in any decisions that are taken,” says Dr. Salavarria. They suggested that the Luke Society open another health center, which would be run by the health workers who are currently in training.
“Both ethnic groups expressed their frustration with agriculture due to the severe climate change in recent years, particularly the droughts,” said Dr. Salavarria. “They also mentioned that due to difficulties in access, it was hard to market their products, and they were affected by the ‘coyotes’ or intermediaries.” One of the sources for the Tolpan’s irrigation system has dried up, requiring them to look for a more productive source. The meeting continued with discussions on citizen insecurity, land ownership, geographic access, government and religion.
Gracias, Honduras
Medical Brigade Heals Soul Just in Time
During a medical brigade in the village of El Carmen, a man who was struggling to walk visited the brigade. In his attempt to see the doctors, the man stopped in the evangelistic area, where he heard the Gospel and received prayer for his sickness. Right there, he made a decision to follow Jesus Christ. “The evangelist report that he was crying and seemed to be repented and determined to follow Jesus,” said Luke Society director Carlos Mendoza.
The new Christian caught the eye of a North American, Dr. Brian Cote. Dr. Cote asked Carlos what could be done for the man. Carlos asked the man to visit the clinic within two weeks to schedule a scan test in a nearby city. “A couple days ago, I was reported that this young man passed away,” said Carlos. “I am sad because I did not have the opportunity to help him to make his test, but I am happy that in the right time of the Lord, we went to that village, assisted him and showed him love, compassion and also the way to heaven! I believe that [God] mobilized Americans and Hondurans in His right time to be channels of blessing to a soul that will last for eternity!”
Bugalaga, Papua
Tremendous Breakthrough in Village
Through the grace of God, Dr. Julius Surjadi is having a tremendous impact in Papua, Indonesia. In early February, 11 pastors and their wives came for training. “I started with the material talking about forgiveness, and we [were] surprised that all of them were hard to understand that concept,” said Julius. “If somebody [is] doing wrong to the other, to get the peace between them, he should pay something as pigs or even money until the other fellow can accept it. And if he doesn’t want to pay, the other fellow has a right even to kill him.” A long discussion followed the presentation of forgiveness. “And then, slowly but surely they want to accept it,” said Julius. “I asked them to write down on a paper the name of people who had hurt their heart, then we prayed together.” After confessing their unforgiveness, they burned the papers and sang songs.
The next session addressed the issue of family, which is another concept that is unfamiliar to the Papua people. Most of the couples were married through the traditional procedure of having the man pay the woman’s family for his wife. “We found out that even though all of the attendees were pastors, most of them had bad communication between their spouse and all of them had and even still beat their wives,” said Julius.
These two concepts of forgiveness and family were so much to digest, that the rest of the material for the training was saved for later. “We closed the training by asking them to make a new commitment between their spouse and let them read their commitment in front of all of us,” said Julius. Each man promised not to use harsh language against his wife. They also arranged time for prayer and encouragement for each other each month.
Yahya Enatapa, a pastor from Dabatadi, testified about the effect that the training had on his thoughts. He said, “Before I join in this training, I never shared my plans and finances to my wife and also I pretty recently beat my wife when I heard from other people that my wife has done a wrong thing. We never think that we, as a husband and wife, can be close friends. Now I repent from my sin and confess my false to my wife and promise not to beat her anymore.”
Yakobus Busipa, a pastor from Danggatadi said, “In this seminar, for the first time since we married in years, I say sorry to my wife.” These couples represent the first fruits of this type of training. “The teaching is something new for them,” said Julius. “It’s like a revolutionary life changing after we heard their testimonies, so it still need to be prayed that they are able to apply the teaching in their daily life.”
Pitesti, Romania
PMT Member Finds Sister in Christ
PMT members, Steve and Chris Sartori, had the opportunity to visit Drs. Augustin and Mihaela in March. Under God’s providence, Chris Sartori had an opportunity to witness to the staff psychologist, Speranza of the Dr. Luca clinic. The Holy Spirit had prepared Speranza’s heart, and she was open to the good news of Christ. She shared with Chris that many of her patients, the children of Pitesti, are victims of depression and hopelessness. It is our hope that she will integrate her new-found faith into her work as the ultimate remedy for her patients.