Kevin

The phone rang at 8:03 am on Sunday morning. We were just getting ready to leave for the first of 5 Sunday School classes that we have on Sunday. It was Ruth (You may have read about her in earlier blogs, and about her father, Felix and his glasses, too.). She was distraught and I couldn't understand exactly what she was saying, so I passed the phone to Luz. Luz was talking and listening, and I was hearing (in Spanish of course) "What? How? How? Okay, we are coming!" So our first Sunday School class was scheduled to start at 8:30 am, but this was an emergency!
At about 8:22, we stopped at the corner of Ruth's street. We had to walk two blocks to her cuarto (Most people here don't have houses; they rent a room, usually about 12x12 for their entire family. This is especially true for young families). All we knew was that Kevin, Ruth's husband, was sick.
We were just ready to enter her "yard", when Ruth came running toward us from the house of her mother-in-law. She fell into Luz's arms and began sobbing. For about 5 minutes we stood there trying to comfort a very distraught wife.
When she was able to gain her composure, Ruth began telling us the story of what had happened in the last week.
The previous Sunday, Kevin had gone to play soccer in the afternoon. At one point in the game, he collided with another player in the game and broke his collarbone. They went to the hospital and had x-rays. They found out from the x-rays that not only was it broken, but it was out of position, so if he didn't do anything, it would heal badly. So they thought they would begin treating that.
Well, the next day, there was a red spot on his leg, and it hurt, but they just thought it was a bruise from the collision, and so he ignored it. The next day, however, the red spot had spread, and the pain was excruciating. So, being the good jungle family that they are, they went to the local witch doctor on Wednesday, who mixed up a mud paste and put on it. The mud didn't help, and so he cleaned that off and cut open a toad and put on it. Well, you guessed it...that didn't help either. So, he cleaned that off and mixed up an herbal water and heated it up and made a compress to put on the leg. That made it lots worse, not to mention that all this invited Satan in to work. So they went home and waited.
Kevin continued to get worse. On Thursday, he was in so much pain that he wrote a good-bye letter on the back of a receipt asking Ruth to take care of their little girl, Estrella (almost 2), and that he was sorry for anything he had done that was bad, but he needed to end his life because the pain was so bad. Fortunately, Ruth found the note before he could follow through, and he continued to get worse over the following days and was too weak to follow through.
So after Ruth told us all this, we entered into one of the most troubling scenes of my life. Had I not known him before, I would have thought that Kevin was a severely handicapped individual that was at the point of death. It is true. He was at the point of death, but I know Kevin. He is a normal, active, vibrant, 24 year old young man. Here, we walked into the room and Kevin lay on the bed with his eyes rolled into his head. His mouth was partially open, and his breathing was in short gasps. His head was twisted to one side, and Ruth had laid a Bible on his chest. He was not the Kevin we know!
Ruth showed us his leg. What had been a red spot on his lower, inner thigh, had spread to his ankle and waist. His leg was nearly doubled in size. We immediately told her he needed to go to the hospital, which is only 7 blocks from the house. But, they didn't want to take him to the hospital because they didn't have any money to pay. That is one thing about living here. I don't know if it is the Third World or just Peru, but if you don't pay first, they don't treat; Even in an emergency like this!
We called Hermano Jose, the leader from the central church who is helping us in Yarinacocha. He said he would come and help them get Kevin to the hospital.
Luz and I prayed with Ruth over Kevin, and a few minutes later, Estrella came in and before I could stop her, she touched Kevin's leg. He began to scream, (again in Spanish) "No, my little girl! My leg is hurt! My leg is hurt! Please, my little girl!" Up until that point, he had been semi-conscious. Now, he was wide awake and in tons of pain. But, it gave Luz a chance to really talk to him and tell him that Jose was on the way to take him to the hospital, as well as pray with him. He wanted to say the sinner's prayer, so Luz began to pray, and as Kevin was praying and repeating her words, his voice began to get stronger and stronger. When they finished praying, Luz prayed for him again. Then he asked for some water, which he hadn't had anything to eat or drink for a long time because of his unconscious state. As we left, Kevin was smiling and thanking us for coming and helping him. He was a totally different person than when we came in. So we left with the promise that Hermano Jose was on his way.
Luz went on to Jhon Hocking Weeks to lead the second and third Sunday Schools, and I went to the church in Yarina for the fourth class.
Later in the day, Jose called and said that Kevin was being treated at the hospital, but that the infection was so bad the doctors were debating taking his leg. They were just waiting to see how he responded to the medicine.
The next time we saw Kevin was on Tuesday afternoon at visiting hours. He continues to be in pain, but his spirit and life are changed. His leg actually looks worse, with a black area and blisters where the infection originally started, but he is thankful to be alive. And the doctors say that it will take time and medicine, but that his leg should be fine. We are planning to go and see him again on Saturday, after we help with a grilled chicken dinner to raise money to pay his bill.

Continue to pray for Kevin, Ruth, Estrella and their extended family. This experience has been an opportunity for us to minister to the family more, and it has been a tool to help anchor their faith in Jesus Christ. There will be no more witch doctors for this family. Their faith is in Jesus!