West Virginia

Ok - here we are in WV. In Morgantown - a beautiful city. But the time we have to explore is very small. I managed to plan for much of our time here so that we spend little time actually in the city (including a week of camp for Drew in Wisconsin - see above photo)! Which has been okay since the apartment we have is quite small. It works, but I miss floor space for the boys. We did manage to get downtown today to enjoy Kid's day. This was a lot of fun - free activities and games. If you have ever seen You've Got Mail, it reminded me a lot of the scene when Tom Hanks takes the two kids to the fall festival on the streets of New York. On top of that, we got to speak French with an Aftrican mom who was in line behind us for the sno-cones. She was from Burkina Faso and her husband is currently in Togo. Too fun.

And I should mention that Andy's class is going well. He is enjoying the class - learning lots end hearing many inspiring stories. We've also made some friends with folks who have been in some really amazing places...and who are going to some really amazing places. There is even a family here who has been studying French in Quebec. Great to see boys Drew's age speaking French! This is what we are hoping for ourselves by the end of next year.

And our fundraising updates?
Monthly support: 81%
Outgoing support: 105%
And just today we got clearance to get our plane tickets. So we go ahead with our plans, stepping out in faith that the rest of the support will come in. Thank you to all who have given this past month. Our extra in the outgoing support is a great thing to have.

We hope you are all enjoying your summers! Plenty of sun to be had.
In Christ,
Cari

ps. No, the photo is not of WV. It is of Albertville where we plan to be in 6 weeks!

Update #3 - Cheers!

I'm keeping this short because life is FULL right now! We've just had the big moving sale - the house feels empty, but not empty enough as we still need to sift through stuff to get down to our three bags per person. Move out day is just around the corner.

Update on fundraising:
Monthly support: 75%
Outgoing Support: 90%

We continue to feel blessed by those who give. We are applying for our French visas even though we can't buy our tickets until we get our support in. We are moving ahead in faith that all will come in as needed. I was at a homeschool conference last week and got to chat with other missionaries there. Based on others' experiences, our support has come in much quicker than average! Makes me want to be a cheerleader for those who have signed up - "Our team is great! We've got spirit, yes we do!" So thank you, supporters. We are truly grateful!
Cari

ps. Mom got to help with the boys when I was at the conference - boy did they love that! We even helped her celebrate her birthday with a key lime pie.

Fundraising update #2

We are in May. We are three months away from leaving for France. I am starting to feel the excitement and anxiety rise! To be honest, life is so very busy that I have precious little time to worry about this big move we are about to make. Living in the moment - for better or for worse - is something I am good at. But it does not change the fact that we need our support to be in before we can leave. Where are we at?

Monthly support - 71%
Outgoing Support - 86%

It is looking very good, but we are not done, yet. We still have many who have told us they will support us but who have not yet turned in any pledge or gift. And we are waiting to hear from our home church about support. We know they want to, but how much they can give is still being worked out. So please keep praying.

Oh - and an update on the house - it is sold. We moved up the closing date and it is officially not ours anymore. We are moving out on June 13th. The more people we tell about the selling of the house, the more we realize just how rare it is to sell a house so quickly. We are very thankful as it has freed us up to work on other things. Sometimes I think God spoils us, but don't tell Him I told you that:)

We hope you have all enjoyed a good Easter and a wonderful Mother's Day.
Cari

Andy and Tony's trip to South Africa

This is Andy's wrap up from his most recent trip to South Africa. And yes, he brought Tony. They were part of a team that included three other kids, so it was not as crazy as it may sound! This trip is in partnership with ACM (Africa Christian Ministry), lead by Isiah and Mercy Mafu in eSikawini, South Africa.

Dear friends and family -

We have been home from South Africa 10 days now. I jumped straight into 10 days of call and haven't had much time to think! This morning was my first day off and I was sitting on the back porch enjoying the quiet, the sun, and our Philip Yancey book about Grace. CS Lewis once said it is the one belief unique to Christianity. What is so amazing about it? A Father who swallows his pride and filled with compassion RUNS to the son who hated him, humiliated him, wished he were dead (I want my inheritance now, thank you), not even giving his son a chance to speak before expressing his joy at the son's return. What had the son done to earn or deserve that kind of return? Nothing. Our God loves us with amazing grace. It was nice to have a morning to just sit and think about that......

Thank you for your prayers and support. Tony and I had a wonderful trip. He was amazing, so well behaved. And I surely needed his company and his infectious laugh as we dealt with typical "hiccups" along the way. (Delayed flight out of Greensboro, overnight stay and up at 0430 -- broken clutch and a 5 hour tow and van replacement). I was reminded many times by Tony or through Tony that when I lose my temper it is usually because I am too stressed or anxious or hurried to show grace. How often does our loving Father lose His temper with us? Tony was "SO EXCITED" to see the animals at the game park -- smart mommy packed some Diego binoculars that he treasured just for that purpose. He laughed and squealed in the waves and tumbled and rolled down the sand dunes at the beach. He whispered "I love you" at night even though deep down his heart still ached for his mom back home. Frisbee, piggy-back rides, tag, climbing trees. We spent more time together during this trip than ever before and I will always treasure it.

The trip was another success by many standards. We were able to hold most of our planned clinics - 5 in all. We saw around 1,000 patients including a record 419 kids on pediatric day. We handed out pain medications, vitamins, glasses, and every patient was prayed for. We shared the gospel at every clinic. No one got hurt. The vans made it up and down the mountain. The elephant we upset decided not to crunch or roll our van. The biggest impact for me was seeing the ACM ministry grow and multiply through the years. What started as an after school Bible Club in the Mafus garage so many years ago is now reaching 1000+ kids. Some of these kids are now adults like Sabelo who are evangelizing teens in the area through Impilo. This past weekend they held an outreach at a local high school and expected over a thousand teens - Sabelo preached on God's love. I have so enjoyed watching the youth grow up in the ACM ministry and have been challenged by the Mafus commitment to Jesus and sharing the gospel. I will always remember Mercy's motto "You can sleep when you're dead" (followed by her unique, spirit-lifting, and sometimes mischeivious whole body laughter). Cari and I are both looking forward to our time in Chad and wondering about a children's ministry like that where we will be staying. We have always enjoyed being involved in youth ministry and wonder if God will continue providing opportunities for it in the future.

So thank you for not just this year but 5 great years participating in these South Africa trips. We pray you will live and walk and work and talk and grow in the knowledge of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our God who sees us from a long way off and has compassion on us and RUNS to us, though we haven't earned it and don't deserve it, and sometimes don't understand it. Grace and peace be with you always.

Siyabonga kakulu.
Sala hathle.

Andrew and Tony (and Cari and Drew) Robertson

From our most recent newsletter:

A basic question: Where are you from? But not an easy one to answer. Andy and I have different places where we grew up, different places where we have lived as a family and now we even have a different country entering our list. Where is our home?
In preparation for this move, I (Cari) read the book Third Culture Kids. It discusses certain values and struggles that many kids share who grow up in a culture different from their parents’ home culture. This will be true for Drew and Tony. One of these shared values is a new definition of home. Instead of home being a house or even a place, it is defined by the people with whom they live. This is true for us as Christians.
In our youth group last weekend, we read from Revelation 21. The New Jerusalem is a place where God dwells with His people. By definition, our future “home” is with God. It is less about where and more about with whom. Wow. With God. What an amazing home to have promised to us! And as we head to West Virginia, France and eventually Chad, we can truly say “there’s no place like home”, because God goes with us. We are so glad we will always be at home.

If you are not receiving our newsletter and would like to, please let us know! We can send it via mail or email.

Could our house actually be sold????

As you already know, we are in an economic downtime. When it comes to housing, the market is for the buyer. So when we put our house on the market, we knew that it could take some time. We also knew it could be still ours when we plan to leave this summer. What would we do? Cross that bridge when we got to it. As we prepared to leave for Minnesota/Wisconsin, I worked hard to get the house ready. Andy and our friend Abi helped. The boys, not so much. But I felt that getting it ready for showings while we were out of it for 2 weeks would be very wise. Just the thought of not having to get it ready each time someone wanted to see it...very appealing. But would anybody want to see it? I am still in MN. The house has been on the market two weeks. We have had three showings. Not bad. But here is the really good part. One of those who came to look at the house has given us an offer. Can this really be true? Looks like there will be a family enjoying our house when we leave this summer to move into our new one. God is so good. We certainly don't deserve it. Thank you for your prayers. As far as support, it continues to grow. We are at 40%.
Cari

Fundraising update

Well - here we are in March and we are now up to 35% support raised for our annual expenses and 21% raised for our outgoing expenses. Wow! Thank you to everyone who has given. We have also been able to meet with two churches in Michigan where people overwhelmed us with their support and compassion for the people of Chad. We are continuing to meet and talk with churches and add daily to our list people to contact. Now if only I could get on track with my French studies as well as teaching the boys some basic French!

We are headed back to Chad - this time for a good long stay!

Just in case any readers of this did not know, we have decided to move to Chad. We are still in the fundraising and friendraising stage, but it will be here before we know it! This summer Andy is taking a class on tropical medicine and by August we hope to be travelling to France for language lessons. If languages comes to us as quickly (or as slowly) as we think, we will back in Chad during the summer of 2012. We will be anxious by then to see those we met again. Feel free to contact us for more information about our preparations. We hope to use the blog as a way to keep folks updated on our progress.

So here is our first update:
We have 26% of our yearly expenses pledged!
We have 14% of our outgoing expenses (language school and moving expenses) collected!
We have already felt overwhelmed by peoples' generosity.
We still have several courses to finish including Biblical studies and home schooling. We still need to get our house ready and placed on the market for selling.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers!
Cari

Photos!

It would have been nice to have gotten photos attached when we were updating our letters from Chad, but since we didn't, I am going to attach some here to this new post. Hope you enjoy seeing a little of what we saw this summer!

Move Against the Fear

Why Africa? Why Chad? Take a look at this video that Africa Inland Mission put together. We think it's pretty powerful. We Americans are pretty clueless when it comes to understanding what life is like in central Africa.

http://www.aimint.org/usa/videos/move_against_the_fear.html

(Cut and paste it in your web browser - my link feature is not working)

Final post on Chad

Nos amies, Thurs. Aug. 26th

Thank you for your support and encouragement and prayers. We arrived home safely late Monday night (Tuesday am?) in Greensboro and Andy’s brother, Jim, was at the airport to greet us (the boys were thankful that they could finally fall asleep and not worry about us waking them up for one more trek through an airport!). We are now trying to adjust to life back in the US – grass! Warm showers! Air conditioning! Bills! I still do dishes barefoot, but I can’t help worrying what’s going to crawl over my foot!

Both the boys started school on Wednesday. Drew’s school had forgotten to place him in a class (small miscommunication somewhere) but was quick to assign him to Mrs. Bobbitt after Cari called to confirm. It meant he didn’t have his name sticker on the door (are we in the right place?), his desk wasn’t prepared, and they had to put a folder together, but Drew didn’t mind. He said the teacher gave him lots of special attention and he also didn’t have an apple to “drop” so he couldn’t get in trouble! Tony LOVED his first day of school.

We are very grateful to all of you for making this trip possible. We have seen and heard and done some incredible things over the past 7 weeks. We very much have it in our hearts to go back and help our Chadian brothers and sisters in Christ in the near future. The needs of the developing world and especially the countries in the “10-40 window” are incredible. We are working with the AIM office in New York to figure out our next steps.

Treasured memories:
God’s protection from injury from the camel crash.
God protecting and healing Pam Propst.
Having the Chadian church leaders come and pray with us and for us just after arriving in Bebalem when Cari and the boys were really sick.
Encouragement and comfort from all of you and the team during times of suffering (after the accident and while the family was sick).
Andy’s medical experience in a very resource-poor hospital (rounding in the dark by flashlight, morning devotions by kerosene lantern, lack of oxygen and IV fluids, running out of steroids and seizure medications, 2 and even 3 patients per bed)
Andy struggling with discouragement because so many patients were dying, knowing they could have recovered with better care/supplies.
Cari teaching English to 20-30 school kids (with many others leaning in windows and doors trying to participate!).
Drew running off to the soccer/basketball/tennis court with a passel of laughing Chadian kids shouting over his shoulder, “I’m going to play soccer with my friends, ok?”
Tony sitting in a mud puddle drinking “chocolate milk” while Andy tries to remember how to treat Amoebic dysentery.
Friday afternoons when Drew and Tony and Cari visited the kids and families in the pediatric ward, singing, passing out stickers, and blowing bubbles.
Tony blowing bubbles for the goats.
Snakes, rats, and scorpions!
Praying with and for the hospital chaplains just before leaving Bebalem.
Returning to N’Djamena and going to the “Ice cream store”!
Birthday party/Dinner with the entire AIM team in N’Djamena (minus Dr. Ann) the night before leaving.
A lovely overnight stay in London - The Tower of London, London Bridge, double decker buses, “The Tube” (London underground), trains, SLEEP! Pizza, Cadbury chocolate, Trafalgar Square, strolling down Gracechurch Street (“Aunt and Uncle (Brogan) would gladly take you with them to Gracechurch Street after Christmas. And why would you have (us) go to London, dear Lizzie? Oh, no reason, a change of scene and society perhaps.”)
Realizing what it means to live and serve in the 4th poorest country in the world.
Seeing God at work in yet another place and country and culture so very different from ours here in the US. God is an amazingly big God, and his love for us is beyond understanding!

We continue to pray for you – that you continue to hear the Good Shepherd’s voice calling your name, that you follow Him with your whole heart and mind and strength, and that you grow in grace and the fear of the Lord all of your days. We hope we will have a chance to share more with you in person SOON. And if anyone is planning a vacation near Chad in the next couple years, we would love to be able to host you for a few days, weeks, or even months!

Thanks again for being so important to us.
In the Shadow of the Almighty ----- Cari, Andy, Drew, and Tony Robertson

Update on Jotom

I hadn't realized until a friend, Tonya, mentioned it to me, that I had not given an update on Jotom - the boy with the leg sores. Well, the morning of our departure, he showed up at my door with his mom! He had gone to his mom's and had convinced her to come back with him. Well, this made everything easier. I was able to send the information with them to the clinic to ensure he got the care he needed. And just before we got into the car to leave, he returned with his mom to show his newly "dressed" legs. I had a chance to explain (through interpretor) how important it was that he follow up and that Claire was going to stand in for me to make sure the bill got paid. It was a gift from God to be able to see him before we left. And you can't tell from the picture, but he has the most wonderful smile! Thank you for your prayers!
Cari

Home again!

August 24th
Hello friends and family! Thank you for your prayers. We have made it safely home (no hold-ups or changes on the itinerary!) and I am typing this on my computer where I can access email on our hotmail account once again. Thank you sooooo much for all your prayers for our summer and our return home. It has been an incredible trip and we could not have done it as we have without your support behind us. God has been good - we will hopefully get out a "report" on just how good sometime soon! In the meantime, know that we are very grateful for all of you and are hoping that the summer has been a rich and rewarding one for you, too.

In Christ,
Cari

Preparing for Home

Tues. Aug. 17th

Nos amies,

Believe it or not, we are beginning the long trek home tomorrow. We leave for Mondou in the afternoon. We will be staying in a guest house there for the evening to avoid the possibility of a rain delay (rain delays on the dirt road from Bebalem to Mondou might cause us to miss the bus - very possible, they drop barricades across the road if it's too muddy!). So Thursday morning, we board a bus once again, headed north to N'Djamena. This time we all appear to be healthy and we have far fewer items, so we are trusting the going will be smooth (not that stray camels are thinking much about the quantity of our luggage...). We spend Thursday and Friday nights in N'Djamena giving us another chance to meet with the Propsts and AIM folk in that area. Finally, we begin our flights home at 1am Sunday morning, stopping in Tripoli, then London (where we get to spend the night!!!!) then Atlanta and Greensboro Monday evening. Please be in prayer - seems like our travels have been especially rough this summer.

Speaking of prayers - (moms, you may not want to read this part) we have had close encounters with both a viper and a scorpion this past week! The viper was a small black snake that was apparently trying to get in our kitchen - Tony pointed him out to me as we went outside the door. Thankfully, the door shut it out and I was able to grab Tony before he decided to poke it with a stick (what he does with anything interesting moving along the ground). The lady with her vegetables for sale just outside my door grabbed a stick and beat the snake to death (while shouting "Ne touches pas! Ne touches pas!). In gratefulness, I bought quite a bit from her that day! And just tonight, Andy noticed a tickling sensation on his toe while he was standing at the sink doing dishes. As he looked down, he noticed it was a scorpion crawling past his foot. Thankfully his quick movement back landed the creature on the floor without a sting. We got good photos of both. Andy says, "Five weeks and only one viper and one scorpion - that's not so bad!" (ok, so we're not counting the rats or mice..) But he was a little shaken up, and so was I.

The past couple days have been filled with preparing to go. African people in general believe in the good goodbye. That means taking our time and making sure everyone gets a chance to say what needs to be said. It has been very positive and rewarding. It is clear that God wanted us here this summer as we heard over and over again how encouraging our presence has been. It is a joy to be used by God to lift the spirits of our Christian brothers and sisters! Tonight the two hospital chaplains asked to visit so they could pray with us and for us. One of our requests concerned our return to America - continuing to listen to God despite the many distractions America offers. Andy read Mark 8:14-15 - the parable of the sower. It is easy for us to let the distractions of America choke out the word of God. So we pray as we head home to keep our eyes on God and our ears tuned to Him, no matter how crazy life gets!

One more story to share. A couple days ago, there was a young teen who was playing soccer with Drew when his foot was suddenly covered in blood. Drew called for me, as he tends to, so that I could do something about the blood. Well, when I had the boy raise his pant leg to see where the blood was coming from, I saw that he had a very large infected sore that had been irritated and was bleeding. I poured some water over it and washed the blood off the foot. I then headed to the house to ask Andy for some help since it was beyond my understanding. As Andy got ready to dress it with a clean bandage, he noticed another sore a little further up the leg - about 3 times the size. Claire, a nurse staying with Dr. Ann, asked the boy about other sores and we got to see two large sores on his other leg, too. Immediately I was struck by how impossible this seemed. How could such sores go untreated? Well, when a boy is living in Bebalem, but his mother lives with his stepfather in another town, and his father is dead, and he tends to wander, then sores go untreated. I thought I had found a man who could bring him to the clinic where I could help finance his care early this morning, but the boy took off early this morning to find his mother and the sores continue to fester. Arghhh. Please pray he returns. I am leaving some money with Claire with hopes that he does (it should cost less than $20 for complete care). If the sores get worse, he could become septic, the bone could become infected, many bad things may happen - this I know because Andy sees these patients. And sometimes it's too late.

Well, that's it for me today. We are excited to see all our friends and family soon - even as it is hard to leave - a place that was at first so hard to accept, that we now consider another piece of us. Dieu vous benie beaucoup. God bless you. And God bless Bebalem.

Cari

Dr. Ann is home!

11 August, Wednesday

Dr. Ann is back! She arrived yesterday with Claire, a nurse from the UK who is visiting Chad for 6 months. She wanted to get out of the capital and visit a rural hospital. Well, this is it!

Cari made dinner for them last night so they wouldn't have to worry themselves. Nice touch since it takes the propane fridges about 8 hours to cool down (and we had forgotten to light Ann's up earlier in the day). Cari made a cake that was absolutely delicious. Dr. Elizabeth stopped by to chat and pick up her mail -- so we had the entire missionary team here! It was a good time of fellowship at the Robertson half of the duplex.

We've actually been without Ann (16 days) more than with her (13 including today). It certainly is nice to have her back. I mentioned to Dr. Elizabeth that we'll be leaving in a week and she mentioned she was surprised - she was thinking I would be staying through Ann's 5 month furlough (starts in Oct). She even offered to write the letter of release to my administrator back in NC! When Ann leaves she will be the only doc until a new missionary arrives in February. There are 55 beds in peds and the ICU, plus equal sized maternity, medicine, and surgical wards and 7 private rooms. That's going to be hard work.

(Warning! Non-medical types should probably skip this paragraph! : ) ) Claire followed us around the ward today and I think it was a bit of a shock for her. (She works in a cardiopulmonary ICU ward back in the UK!) We entered the ICU to find only one second year student and a nurse's aide on duty (the head nurse, Fluoron, who's been such a great help the last four days didn't come in for work today and no one could reach him by phone). They were doing a pretty amazing job considering but with 16 patients in 13 beds (three beds with two kids), a post-op and a crash admission before we even got started it quickly became controlled chaos. The hypoglycemic seizing child still had sugars of 36 (normal 70-110). Claire did an amazing job helping get it back up to normal but we had to use needles and syringes out of my backpack (THANKS Northern Peds) so the family didn't have to walk to the outpatient pharmacy every 30 minutes. And we learned the hard way that the pharmacy had run out of Phenobarbital overnight so we had no IV long-acting seizure meds (they gave dad the tablets instead, but of course she's unconscious..arghhhhhh). It was nice having extra hands -- Dr. Ann and Claire -- there today because they called us to peds ward for a "sick baby" - a one month old with a HUGE abscess on her back, a heartrate of 210 (just a wee bit fast), fever, and grunting. We carried her into the ICU "tout de suite", then had to pause and quickly find someone to transfer so we would have a bed to place her on. The surgeon managed to drain the pus, and we cleared the bed next to our other septic one month old with necrotizing fasciitis of the entire left leg (who is still alive and has been with us a whole week, thanks only to God). I explained to Claire that we didn't have oxygen or suction, very few antibiotics, no maintenance IV solutions, and power for 4-5 hours on a good day (today happened to NOT be a good day - a holiday (except it wasn't, see below) - so we never got power). By the time we were done rounding on the 29 peds patients (including 7 severely malnourished kids, one of which wouldn't stop crying because he was still hungry after the enriched pooridge we provide (of all things to cry about) but whose parents couldn't afford to buy food for him..argghhhh) I think her eyes were glazed over and she was close to going into shock.

We spent some time trying to process the day - I'm still struggling with the poverty here myself. It is so much poorer than Togo, even, and I thought things were a struggle in Togo. We knew in our heads that Chad was the fourth poorest country in the world, but it is still a shock to see the reality of it here. I kept remembering Mother Theresa and her ministry with the lepers and the poor. She didn't provide any miraculous cures either. She just loved and had compassion. (No great things, just small things done with great love). So maybe we just need to BE here ("to suffer with our brothers and sisters in Christ" like the AIM video mentioned). I don't know. It's a little much to process.

And about the holiday, funny story. Today was supposed to be a National Holiday - Independence Day. No regular work, even hospital workers, the night shift stays on for the day, morning devotions cancelled, etc.. But apparently the President announced yesterday that the holiday was POSTPONED until January 11, 2011 - and that everyone should work as regularly scheduled. Well, since it was announced yesterday and no one around here has power let alone newspapers, radios or TVs, that caused a bit of confusion. Probably less than half of the staff showed up (maybe why Flouron didn't come in?). Rachel, our house help, didn't come in. And we never got morning generator power (similar to Sundays). So who knows? Interesting day.

As I've typed I've been listening to "Only Temporary" by Mercy Me, and it was a nice reminder. Let's fix our eyes on Jesus (not ourselves or our troubles), the author and perfecter of our faith, and the joy set before Him and us (up there, not down here) - Heb 12:2. "Let's hold unswervingly to the hope that we profess for he who promised is faithful - Heb 10:23." (Because hope will not disappoint - Rom5:5)

Some other highlights from the past week:

Aug 5 - David (da-VEED) has visited at 6am the last two days. We've (Cari?) decided not to accept visitors before 7am : ) and have started keeping the windows and doors closed at night. I still think of him as my Lazarus at the gate of the rich man, but I'm wondering if Lazarus also knocked on the door every morning? The traditionally VERY pediatric ICU currently has three adults, all pregnant ladies - when does Dr. Ann return?!?!

Aug 6 - Cari and the boys came to the ward to sing, blow bubbles, and hand out stickers again. Another very good time. Tons of laughter. A whole new set of patients and families who have never ever seen bubbles before...Wow. Very impressed with how Drew is handling this.

Aug 7 - Tony loves the bubble thing and decides to take it upon himself to go outside and blow bubbles for the goats. Very cute. Andy is invited to a celebration for the outgoing and incoming hospital chaplains - 2.5 hours and a feast after of rice, chicken, and tea. He also meets all the important local people including the chief of Bebalem, and is very embarrassed to be wearing sandals while everyone else is dressed to the 9s. Both chaplains have their families sing for everyone as part of the celebration. He prays God will protect his intestine and God answers. He is reminded of (and humbled by) the fact that the chaplain ALSO has to care for every patient in the hospital (and their families) and there is only one of them. Wow again.

Aug 8 - Boys sit through church. Good job Drew and Tony. Pouring rain with rivers off the tin roof so boys put on suits and go outside to play. Tons of puddles so we joke a little about "chocolate milk" (just one of the food items we've discussed missing).

Aug 9 - Cari finds Tony drinking muddy water outside. (Cari: "Tony, what are you doing?")(Tony: "Drinking chocolate milk." (duh, mom!)) Took some video of Cari singing with and teaching English to the kids at her afternoon class. Drew usually helps her. Today, afterwards, he sprints all the way home (followed by many of his soccer buddies laughing and playing), grabs the soccer ball, yells over his shoulder that he's off to the basketball/soccer/tennis court, and leaves, followed by the same crowd of soccer buddies. I think he's starting to feel more comfortable here.

Aug 10 - Dr. Ann and Claire arrive. Finally able to catch up on emails
thank you to everyone who wrote). One of them is a group email from Drew's Sunday school class. Very sweet. Very, very sweet.

Thank you to everyone who is for praying for us. We certainly have a lot to think and pray about. We are also praying for you (Ps 34) - that you are well and chasing hard after HIM (Ps 63:8). Don't let the thorns grow up and choke your faith! (Luk 8:14).

The Robertsons

A Post from Cari

Lafea! To ban wa? To ma jeah. Ri ga na wa? Rim da Cari. (Hello! How are you? I am well. What is your name? My name is Cari. - learning some Gyambai so I can teach English to class of 20 4-6 year olds who speak little French!)

Fri. Aug. 6th Well, here I am finally writing down some thoughts about this trip and I do so as the village's roaming disabled man sits on my front porch muttering broken songs and thoughts in his own language. Needless, to say, thinking coherently is a little difficult at present, especially with so much to sort through since I have written so little since we got here (which is my own fault as Andy would say - but with precious little electricity, use of the computer is a little crowded).

Sun. Aug. 8th And it is now two days later - didn't get much of a start before the family returned, electricity was off and life continued on. It has been rather difficult to be so separated from all of you - with Ann gone, we've gotten snippets of information texted (when we have phone service) to us through intermediaries who are accessing email in N'Djamena(8 hours away), but otherwise, we've had no direct email for three weeks now and our phone does not connect to the states as we had originally hoped it would. So please, know we are not trying to be so inaccessible - it's just what happens when the only other AIM missionary leaves for a short trip to
the capital and gets stuck there due to bad health and a broken car. "Be flexible", and so we have! It will be quite the shock when we finally get to catch up with everyone and find out just how much we've missed!

Andy has been good about putting down key things that have been happening on his emails. In general, we have a fairly uneventful routine here and there are no great medical stories that I can share. I have been fortunate enough to have three classes of students for whom I teach basic English Mon. - Thurs. afternoons. They range in age from 4 to 14 and they are beaucoup fun! Drew goes with me and helps by holding posters and maps,etc. Tony came once, but he had a tough time when I wouldn't let him own the chalkboard. I also have a few teenagers who come by in order to practice their English. Otherwise, I spend most of my time cooking and cleaning.

Thank you to those who have prayed for friends. I have befriended a young woman, Suzanne, who has been a big help to me and have also enjoyed a few conversations with Lina, a nurse, mother and wife to the hospital's pastoral leader. Andy has enjoyed time with Adolph, his translator, and has his own English student, Silas, who is a nurse at the hospital. And of course, there are a bevy of Chadian children who are at our house every day - Drew has found a few who are especially good at helping him fit in. He pretty much jumps outside any time they stop by, to play a little "futball". Tony plays, as well, but probably likes the animals the best. We watched with smiles as he went outside yesterday to blow bubbles for two goats eating in front of the house.

We have really appreciated your prayers - please keep praying! This has been the hardest trip we have ever been on - we are continually stretched in our knowledge and comfort levels. But we have also had opportunities to see how good God is. It was quite awhile ago that we were sick, but I wanted to share part of that experience with hopes it will encourage you, too. Just as I was beginning to get my own strength back, Drew was quite sick. He was struggling with high fevers (at one point was laughing at the kids who were playing in his room - no kids were there) and with vomiting and diarrhea. The latter was causing sharp pains in his
stomach. As I was helping him get comfortable he asked me why God wasn't making him better. Wasn't God strong enough to help him? I gave him the pat answer - "Of course God is strong enough, but maybe this time we just need to give the sickness time to get out of your body". As he groaned, inwardly I was praying, "God, please, heal Drew. Take away his pain and let him sleep. Do this and I know your Name will be honored. An eight year old boy will see that You are powerful and mighty! In the end, I know that Drew's character is more important than his sickness. But still I ask, please take away his pain and let him sleep." As I was praying this, I held my hands on his tummy. By the time I was done praying Drew was sleeping and I was weeping. I thanked God and went to bed. Later that night, Drew was awake again, crying out. I touched his tummy and prayed again. Again, he fell asleep. The next morning, he awoke and I found myself slowly reaching for his stomach. Part of me wondered, were the prayers really helping? Then Drew asked me, aren't you going to pray for me, mom? Silly, I know, but oh so good to be reminded, especially when I needed the Lord's presence more than ever. Being sick in Chad is NOT an easy thing! Especially when we do not usually get as sick as that. In all honesty, I even broke the new toilet seat they had given us. Thankfully, I had the toilet seat we brought from the states, so all was not lost! I know that these things can by used by Satan to discourage us from doing God's work. But it is still hard to remember that when you are in the midst of a camel accident or overwhelming sickness. I praise God for helping us through it all, for showing an eight-year-old His might and for never leaving our side.

I don't usually like to write long emails - I know how hard it is to find time to read them, but also wanted to speak a little from my perspective on our time so far. Not even sure when this will finally get sent as Ann is still not back in Bebalem. Hopefully it will be soon. And it won't be long before we are actually headed back home - just two weeks!

Here in Chad for the glory of God,

Cari

A week in review...

4 August, Wednesday


Wow, what a week (and a half) for expecting the unexpected! First, please
accept our apologies for not communicating for a while. We only have access
to email through Dr. Ann's phone and she's been delayed in the capital
(N'Djamena) for quite a while. She left Monday, July 26, was able to attend a couple
of important meetings, but the "quick fix" on her gas tank turned into a
week-plus ordeal, and on top of it all she got sick and needed some days to
recuperate. We've been managing ok, but haven't been able to communicate
with the "outside world"!

Some highlights from the journal:

Sunday, July 25. Boys struggled through church. It's in French, which
doesn't help. But to be honest, after 2 ½ hours I was struggling a little,
too. After a bit Cari took Tony outside for a walk. (Chadian children
under 12 don't seem to sit in church, so the fact that our boys are there is
a bit of an oddity, but no one has said anything to us yet. The older kids
sometimes linger at the doors and windows watching but the little ones just
play outside.) Did you guess what happened next? Yes, about 20 kids
swarmed around Cari and Tony. Cari led them to the Sunday school building
across the way and held an impromptu children's church.

Monday, July 26. Survived first day in the hospital without Dr. Ann.
Rounded on 14 "ICU" and 29 ward patients. Trying to figure out how I can be
of help when we don't run IVs, don't have oxygen (needs electricity), can't
give more than 1 or 2 doses of IV antibiotics (too expensive), and don't
place nasogastric tubes for nutrition (the parents refuse them because they
think it kills the child - never mind that the ones who really need it are
so malnourished they're half-dead before they come to us :( They don't
even use ibuprofen until after age 12 - Tylenol just doesn't cut it when
you're 1, shivering with malarial rigors and your fever is 104. I feel like much
of my teaching and experience is superfluous...Cari started teaching English
daily to about 20 kids in the Sunday school classroom (and about 20-30 kids
who hover at the windows and doors).

Wed. July 28. Baby died in front of me during ICU ward rounds. Stopped
breathing. Nothing to be done, no resuscitation bags, no oxygen, can't
intubate. We can give malaria treatment and a handful of antibiotics, but
basically the kids are left to try and tough it out...I might have offended
someone today -- wish I knew for sure. Greeted everyone in the peds office,
including a new guy, but then we gathered the two binders and the three
students and left for ward rounds. To do so we had to interrupt the new
guy, an older gentleman looking at one of the binders, but I didn't think
anything of it since we've been rounding the same way for a week now. He
lingered in the periphery as we started rounds and I started to sense
something might be amiss. Finally I introduced myself and asked his name
and it turns out he's one of the instructors at the nursing school,
definitely my senior, and not someone whose work I should be interrupting.
Ergh...Went to Wednesday night prayers with Adolph.

Thurs. July 29. Tough day for peds. Two patients died during rounds in ICU
this morning, one only 30 minutes after being admitted. 45 patients total.
Too many two year olds that weigh 8 ½ pounds. Families asking to go home
because they can't afford to stay but knowing that the child will only get
porridge once they leave (all the malnourished kids get fed "la lait"
(formula) and "la bouille" (protein-enriched porridge) 3-4 times a day while
admitted)....Called to OB during the night and couldn't help much because
Adolph wasn't there to interpret. God took care of the baby though and it
improved rather quickly. Can't wait til I learn French....Realized I'm the
only white guy for miles. Yikes! There are a few white ladies besides
Cari -- Dr. Ann (when she's here), Dr. Elizabeth, and a couple of Spanish
nuns that have a compassion ministry in the area.

Friday, July 30. 47 patients, including the saddest one I think I've ever
seen. Only 3 weeks old and the entire right neck was necrotic and draining
pus. Every girl gets her ears pierced shortly after birth, and as best I
can figure hers got infected either when they pierced it with a dirty needle
or when they tied a dirty string through the hole. Regardless, they've
waited FAR too long. Will try IV antibiotics and ask the surgeon to clean
it up....Cari and the boys brought bubbles and stickers to entertain the
pediatric ward. We sang a song and I shared how much Jesus loves children
(Luke 18 - unless we become like one ourselves!). Most of the kids were too
young to know what was going on but the parents (and aunts and uncles and
grandparents) loved it. We did the same briefly for the ICU. Afterwards
Adolph told me he had never seen bubbles before - Wow. This coming from a
guy who knows three languages (Gumbai, French, and English) and spent time
in Nigeria. So I have to figure none of the people had ever seen bubbles
before. Indeed, a few looked downright pessimistic at first....Some
encouragement from Lamentations 3 today - "I have hope..we are NOT
consumed." What a great passage of scripture....Friday night = stay up late night....

Sat. July 31. Family movie night. No popcorn but did I mention Cari makes
awesome doughnuts? And really good bread. It's no wonder the mice like it,
too. Word from the team in N"Djamena that Pam is doing better, finally, and
that Ann (and her car) are still sick and won't be returning right away.
The team seems close by texts and phone but they're still 7 hours by car....

Sun. Aug 1 (Is it August already?) Called up to the front (with all the
other elder men and a few women in the front rows) to hand out a certificate
to one of the youth choir members..in French. Fun..Found out that Adolph
can speak quite a bit of Arabic, also. That makes four languages (Gumbai,
French, English, and Arabic). Yet he is stuck here. There just aren't jobs
available, the uncle who promised last year to pay his way through nursing
school isn't going to anymore because his two kids (Adolph's cousins) now
want to go, and yet he could do very well in any graduate program.

Mon, Aug. 2 Encouraging quiet time in Luke 1 this morning. While Zechariah
was having his encounter with the angel "all the assembled worshippers were
praying outside.(v10)" I was reminded how important you all are to our
ministry here, that without your prayer support I don't think I would have
the courage to do this - the doubt and discouragement might get
overwhelming. So thank you for praying - not just for us, of course. God
desires mercy and acknowledgement more than all the sacrifices and offerings
we might give. (Actually, the way the passage reads, the prayers came
first, THEN the angel of the Lord appeared. I wonder if things would have
gone differently for Zechariah that day if the people hadn't first been
bathing his incense burning duties in prayer)....Found out the family of the
3-week old with the necrotic neck abcess/sepsis stopped the meds over the
weekend because they didn't have money. Ergh.

Tues, Aug 3. Journal says "Great day for the Robertsons". Hmm... During
morning quiet time someone was singing/shouting "Hosanna" at the top of his
lungs in English at the end of the road. Not the best pitch, tempo, or
sound quality, but hey - praise is praise, right?.........Rounded on 50+
patients without any students (taking exams) and only 1 nurse in each ward
(you heard me right - one nurse each in the ICU and peds ward!). 1st hour
in the dark as the generator was late to kick in. Amazingly, things went
very smooth and we were done before 2pm..Home for nap, Cari said boys had
GREAT morning playing together, building forts and chasing "bad
guys"...awakened from nap because Tony was bleeding on our bed (not
supposed to be there) having jumped and cracked his skull on the window (not
supposed to be jumping on the bed). Nurse Cari quick to apply pressure to a
decent sized laceration (about a half inch) over the right eyebrow, applied
the last of our Dermabond superglue with some steri-strips in lieu of
stitches. He was chasing bad guys within a couple hours so I don't think it
slowed him down too much, but that's twice now, makes you wonder when he'll
break his first bone...Played soccer with Drew and all the local kids,
sweated up a storm but it felt great..Boys in great mood, Cari cooking great
meals including chocolate chip cookies!, things seem to be going well, at
least for the moment ("pour le moment").

Wed. Aug. 4. Started a list of all the restaurants we're going to visit
when we get home so Cari won't have to cook..Dr. Ann may not be back for
another 4 or 5 days. Yikes..

Sorry that was so long-and sorry we haven't been in touch like we've been
hoping.

Please continue to pray that we don't get discouraged, that we love the
people here the way God loves the people here, that the boys continue to
adjust well and make friends, that we remain healthy, that Dr. Ann and Pam
will heal up soon, and that whatever we do we do for the glory of our God
and risen Savior. And we will pray the same for YOU.

Thank you again and again for holding us up before the Lord.

Your partners in the great commission, serving in Chad,

The Robertsons

Update from Dr. Ann - hard to be sick in Chad!!!!

Had a long (well,13mins.) call from Cari and Andy yesterday. They continue to
do well. Cari is enjoying the teaching still and getting to know the
children. Apparently Drew is going along with her to help so that is good.
Andy is very grateful for Adolphe who is translating for him and doing so
very well, apparently. Life continues very busy for him with many sick
children. He said that recently they had a quiet day on paediatric ward with
only about 20 patients but on "intensive care"- our higher dependency unit -
there were two children in several of the 13 beds. So I am very glad that he
is there.
I am not yet back there. My car was only ready Thursday but I had
a relapse on Thursday and was only ready for bed. Today have been out to the
shops nearby for the first time. John, our leader, wants me to look at some
finance things with Pam on Monday so I hope to go down Tuesday. So it was
really brilliant that Andy and Cari are there. Otherwise many more children
would have died. (Sadly many die despite our best endeavours because they
come too late). Elisabeth the other doctor has responsibilities at the
nursing school with exams so can't possibly cover everything. I am only
sorry that I cannot be there to help. But God knows all about that.
Yesterday I was reading Ps 27. 14 Wait on the Lord, be strong and let your
heart take courage; wait on the Lord. No doubt Andy and Cari are sometimes
frustrated that I cannot be there earlier with all their emails if nothing
else! (not that they have ever expressed it but it would only be natural)
and I am certainly impatient to get back but recognising that God knows
better (and I am not really strong enough for the trip and getting back into
work immediately after), I am trying to learn to be patient! Pray for us all
in that.
Pray for the nursing school. The theory exams were last week but last time I
heard (Thursday), the government evaluators for the practical exams were not
organised to come despite Elisabeth speaking to the necessary authorities
ages ago. She had been promised they would come this week but then the
promise was retracted. As these are final exams for the 3rd year students,
they are very important. A nurse who trained in another private school
finally did his exams 8 months after the end of his course but that was a
school with many, many more students than ours. It is very discouraging for
Elisabeth and even for us all when such things happen. On 20th August, there
should be entrance exams for private nursing schools including ours. these
are now organised by government for the first time and there is a degree of
uncertainty about how they will run and even if they will take place the
date given. It is important that they do happen so that there will be
students to start the first year in October. Last year the exam never
happened and so there is no first year this year with consequent effects on
the school finances and hospital staffing (which will last for 3 years, of
course).
Lots of news there. Thanks for your prayers and for encouraging Andy and
Cari and boys to come.
Love in Christ,
Ann

Still sending news through Debbie!

Aug. 5th

I know you were expecting to hear from Andy and Cari by now.. but Ann is
still here in N'Djamena with her car not fixed (Africa..) and her health
not good.. they thought malaria.. and are doing more blood work today.
So.. Andy and Cari and kids are still in Bebalem working and holding
down the fort down there!
The lads got off well to UK.. and Ann's body got weaker and weaker over
the weekend.
So.. Cari wrote this morning with the following quote for you all to
pray! Thanks!
"Let her know we are still doing well and are still waiting for Ann to
come back. Prayer requests: for her, Ann, to get well and to have her
car get fixed, for Pam to continue to heal, for Drew to like food, for the boys
to enjoy each other, for Andy for wisdom and stamina at hospital. Thanks!"
She wrote a second email when I asked about teaching English.. with this
reply..
"English classes are great fun! I am finally learning kids names"

I assume there would be lots of kids as it is a Chadian school.. :) No
limit on the numbers. :)
I hope your team does pray hard. Ann is very weak. Pam is getting
stronger but still needs two naps a day and two other rest times... in
between trying to take back more of the responsibilities of her life and
ministry here. Krista, her daughter, flew home Sunday.. and Joanne,
Pam's mother, arrives tomorrow night! So this has been a week of trying
things out. She's tired.. but gradually getting more energy.
We also have another volunteer here as of Saturday (and another mouth to
feed so Joanne is coming at a good time). His name is Frank and he'll be
doing carpentry work for the school and the two staff homes. Pray his
month here is a blessing and that it doesn't add too much to both Pam's
and John's plates here in N'Dj!
Thank you for praying

News through Dr. Ann

Aug. 4th

Just wanted to let you know why you haven't heard from Andy and Cari in a
little while. I came away to Ndjamena on Monday 26th July for various
meetings and bringing the volunteers up. The theory was that I would have a
new tank put on my vehicle and return Saturday. BUT!! the car was not ready
and is still not ready. I fell sick on Sunday and am still not very mobile.
But I am in sms touch with them. They seem to be doing okay although
obviously sms does not give any room for detail. Don't know if she said but
Cari was to start teaching English at the church "summer school" on the
Monday I left. She was to be teaching various levels and when I spoke to her
once, she said it went well. I know she was glad to get out doing something.
Andy is kept busy with children at the hospital, some very sick. His
interpreter seems to be working out well, thankfully.
Think that is all for now. Hope to get back there in a few days.
Best wishes
Ann