April 16th, 2008 - ZQC

I had not seen my patient ZQC for nearly two years and had heard little news of her during that time.  She is a 40 year old woman of the Yi ethnic minority group. She has one of the most debilitating cases of rheumatoid arthritis that I have ever seen.  About a month ago, one of the Yi believers told me she had seen ZQC and felt that she might not have much longer to live.  She had been completely bedridden for several months and had lost a great deal of weight.  Could I make a trip to her village, about 8 hrs away, and visit her for what might be the last time?

As I pondered when I could get away for such a visit, her husband, who had been pressured by his family to let her die so he could get remarried, decided to bring her down to stay in our rehab center. On seeing her again my first impression was that the bright eyes and eager smile were unchanged.  There were other changes, however, that made my heart sink.  I noticed her hands were frozen and deformed and caked with grime. She had lost several teeth and she was emaciated.  Her weight was 36 kg, down 10 kg from two years ago. She could hardly move any part of her body.  What had happened?

It turns out that she had fallen ill with some kind of respiratory infection last November.  With no one really taking care of her, she went for a period of 7-8 days without eating. Then her arthritis flared.  She felt sure she was going to go home to the Lord but He told her, “Your work isn’t done yet.”  She rallied and began to eat again.

In the Rehab center, she is eating heartily and her pain is decreasing after starting a number of medications for her arthritis.  Her joints are still frozen and she still can barely sit up but she is slowly gaining some movement of her large joints.  Amazingly, when I am with her, I do not feel that I am with a suffering, debilitated patient.  Her joy is as real as is her faith and love.  At her bedside, there is a steady stream of visitors who have come to spend time with her.

A Bouyei man named WB, is a leprosy patient who has been completely cleared of the leprosy bacilli but suffers terrible after-effects of the neurological damage.  This week he came back with severe pain in his hands and legs, combined with numbness.  He has also lost sensation in his cornea, leading to a severe corneal abrasion. On this visit I could see he was really down.  He has never told his wife the real cause of his many symptoms (the stigma is too great).  I have tried to share the Gospel with him in the past but never felt he had a real openness to the truth.   This time his heart was much softer.  He told me how when he worked in the province last year he made a special effort to take the long way to work every day so he could pass by a church building with a cross on it.  Though he never went in, he felt a familiarity with it that was comforting to him.  This past Sunday he went to church and had a long talk with ZQC, the arthritis patient.  Yesterday he returned to his home 3 hours away after obtaining a 3 month supply of medicine from the local leprosy specialist at the city hospital. 

April 5 was a day of great joy.  12 new Bouyei believers: 8 adults and 4 children were baptized! The baptism was preceded by lunch and followed by Communion. 

Now there are about 8-10 Bouyei adults at the little Bouyei fellowship every week along with some of their children.  The truth of God’s word is being taught and they experience worship and prayer with a regular body of believers.