Life the last 2 weeks: A brief update.

Just wanted to update you about the 4 major events of the last 2 weeks.

Luis Manhica: from the post previous to this, you know we almost lost our much loved Luis. Since then, Luis is home and we are all learning about diabetes and how to cope with it. Luis shared with me this week that the hardest part for him are the emotional high and lows and picking up on all the cues his body is now giving him. Please continue to pray for him.

The amazing, even miraculous news is this: while in the private hospital, we learned that his insulin shots were going to cost about $150 a month. while he does have a job and salary, this is just a massive amount to consider every month for the rest of his life. Through some further research, we have found that he, in fact, CAN get the insulin through the national health care system for much, much less every month. Please pray for us as we help him work through the details of all of this. Thanks to those who contributed to help MozOvos recuperate the cost of Luis' hospital stay. You will be blessed to know that the 2 local churches we started together with our interns have also taken up love offerings for Luis. This is a testimony to how much he is loved by all. If you would still like to contribute, there is still a need. Please see the information in the previous post.

Jonathan Edwards(the seminary student, not the famous preacher of long ago!): We welcomed Denver Seminary student, Jonathan to live and work with the interns as part of his needed field internship for his degree at Denver Seminary. Jonathan arrived the day before Luis was put in the hospital and fortunately for him, he is an adaptable, flexible, easy going young man! :) He sort of just jumped into our chaos and has done really well in this business of working at the egg farm, life together, church leadership, etc. He is a joy to have around!


Andrew and Stephen: God gave Lynne a gift in the form of an unusually inexpensive plane ticket to Kenya to spend time with Andrew and Stephen! The boys were on their mid-term break and we spent time together at the home of our Worldventure colleagues who always so graciously welcome us. We were able to continue time together back at school when classes started again. It's always a blessing to be with them, spend time with their friends and get to know the people who are a part of their every day lives. Just 4 more weeks until they will finish their school year. Then we will have a senior and and 8th grader. YIKES!

Island house: Just this week, we were able to start some small projects to get our house on Mozambique island ready to live in. This is something we have been hoping and praying for this last couple of years as we continue to take steps toward dividing our time between our internship ministry here in the south and beginning other projects in the north including MozOvos north and another project that we will soon be able to talk more about.

Thank you so much for you prayers and love for the Schmidt family. Oh! Another important event happened this month! June 4th marked 8 years of life in Mozambique. God has been so good to us!

How MozOvos saved a life

Early friday morning, we rushed the assistant director (Luis Manhiça) of the International Internship in Missioin to the hospital (Heart institute of Mozambique) with what we thought was an infection in the bloodstream induced by an abscessed tooth and root canal gone bad. When we got to the hospital Luis was unresponsive and his breathing, which had been labored, had all but stopped. He was immediately admitted to the hospital.

After a few days of constant care he is recovering slowly but has also been diagnosed with type I Diabetes. He is 27 years old and had no idea of the condition as it was a sudden onset. He lost almost 10-15 lbs within a 10 day period, complained of dry mouth with constant urination and need for water. The night before he became unresponsive, he complained that his fingers and toes were numb. By the time we realized something more and more sinister was at play he was on the verge of diabetic coma.

As we were not willing to risk his life we chose to take him to the same hospital where Rodger was treated for staph infection. We were not convinced that this was the right choice until others, including medical professionals and our Mozambican friends confirmed that had we taken him to the central hospital here in Maputo, he would have surely died just waiting to be treated.

We are so grateful for his recovery. However, he now faces a life time of insulin shots and diet modifications. We know that many people in the world suffer from diabetes and lead healthy and normal lives. This is comforting and we continue to pray for him as he recovers.

For many of you who have already been informed of this situation, we wish to thank you for your prayers for Luis during this time. He is a faithful servant and wise leader. We are trusting that this new development will only make him stronger in his faith, more compassionate in his leadership and even more passionate about the calling of God on his life.

Our choice to take him to the heart institute resulted in a $3000.00 hospital stay. We believe that our son Luis is worth every penny or, in our currency, centavo. We are also so thankful for the fact that MozOVos( our egg farm) exists as it was due to MozOvos that we had this kind of cash available to pay the bill (We must pay in advance before any treatment is offered). Many of you have prayed, sacrificed and given to make MozOvos a reality. Not only has this little business provided funds for the internship ministry but now, it can honestly say that Luis is alive and well in Mozambique because MozOvos exists. We praise the Lord for Luis, MozOvos, and all of you.

Though we are grateful that MozOvos was able to cover these costs in Luis' time of need, this expense is not part of the budget. If you would like to assist MozOvos in the care of Luis during this time we invite you to send a one time gift to the internship special project at WorldVenture (see address and account number below).

Please continue to pray for Luis as he faces a lifetime of insulin shots and dietary restrictions in a country where both are challenging at best.

WorldVenture

1501 W. Mineral Ave.

Littleton, Co. 80120

Att: Internship Special Project 6484-910

Blessings to all our family around the world.

Rodger and Lynne Schmidt