My husband began to do a Bible study in a new area, with a group of people that were very, very poor. In fact, nearly everybody in this community, they were tenant farmers, and they were all sickly, very sickly. I often didn’t go travel with him, because if I took the children; they seemed to pick up everything: the impetigo, the lice, all the skin infections that were going around.
But he said, “There’s really a problem in this place, because all the women have serious headaches and fainting spells.” He described to me some of it. He said, “Would you go with me, next Sunday, out to this place?” So I found someone to stay with the children. I went with him.
We drove off the dirt road, off up the mountain a ways in our jeep; and finally came to a place where there were a few houses up on stilts. I remember getting up in this bamboo-floored house. I was sitting. The house wobbled every time somebody came in. We had about 40 people that started packing into this house. I was sitting on the side closest to the hill [laughs] because they had bamboo poles trying to pop it up. But it was swaying [laughs] as everybody came in.
As I started counting, there were about 40 little children sitting in the middle, and all the adults sitting around; in the room, packing in there. Every one of those children was sick. They had abscesses. It was just interesting to see how a whole community could be malnourished and sickly.
He began to tell the stories. He had arrived at the point in storying where he was telling the stories of who Jesus was. How Jesus loved the little children (that was one of the stories). How Jesus could heal the sick (and they were very interested in that because everybody was sick). How Jesus could cast out demons (and they were really interested in that because they had a couple of people in their village that were real problems that they felt were demon-possessed.).
But as he was telling these stories, an old woman kind of stepped over different people and came over and grabbed me by the sleeve and started pulling me and said, “Come quick. Come quick, in the back.” I got up. I followed her back into behind this bamboo wall, where the kitchen area was.
They have a dirt box, or they have their fire. Here, a woman had brought her child, this little boy. She said, “Look at this boy.” I looked at him. He was unconscious; and he looked to be probably about five years old. But realistically, he was probably eight or 9, maybe 10. She would shake him. He’d kind of revive. Then he’d pass out again.
I was just trying to figure out. I started looking at his fingers and looking at his eyes, underneath his lips. He was just white as a sheet. I said to her–his little heart was just pumping like crazy–I said, “What have you been feeding this child?” They kind of got quiet and looked around. Then they said, “Well, we’re just tenant farmers here, and the only thing we’re allowed to grow is cucumbers that they export to Japan.” I said, “So you’ve been eating cucumbers for the last several months?” That’s all that they had been eating.
So everybody had severe anemia. This child was in a state where the anemia was so bad, his liver was enlarged, his little heart was pumping as fast as it could to get whatever hemoglobin going…
Anyhow, he was in really bad shape. I had nothing. I didn’t have anything to give or to do or to help. The doctor, which was another hour drive into our little town. They can’t do blood transfusions. There’s nothing they could do to help him. Thinking about how you would even get this child into where he could get help.
But hadn’t we just been telling the stories of Jesus, who can heal the sick? I went back: “Would you and the pastors come quick and pray for him?” They stopped everything. The pastors that were with my husband, they came in the back kitchen. They said, “Do you have any oil?” There was no oil. They didn’t even have oil in this place to anoint him.
Somebody brought a little oil that is like the oil that they used for spiritism stuff. But we said, “No, no, no. We can’t use that. That’s not God’s way.” So they just put their hands on him and asked the Lord if he would send the Holy Spirit to be the oil.” They prayed over him and prayed for him to be healed. The little boy revived right there.
Everybody was going, “Oh, it’s a miracle! It’s a miracle!” But I was still doubting and kind of going, “Let’s take him in to see the doctor in town and see.” We took him into the town, and the doctor said, “He is still severely anemic. There’s really nothing you can do for him. He probably will not live. But I do have some vitamins.” The interesting thing was God healed him, and he did live. Many became followers of Jesus in that place.
