The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

The good, the bad, and the ugly! This sums up our Sunday! Well, things started out with a bang with Rusty making multiple “runs” to the bathroom. Might I add that both ends were going most of the night! He slept all day, and I will watch him for a few days for dehydration. He was able to go to Camp Eggers for the Sunday evening service with the team! That was a great experience for all of us. We saw our service men and women at their best! They were worshiping and praising God and there was a cross section of Americana present.

Yesterday, we went to the Aschiana School. There are about 460 children who attend in double sessions. They come from the poorest of the poor and many of them are orphans or may live with one parent and extended family members. They are required to sell products in the market, or on the side of the dusty roads in Kabul, in order to provide food for their families. School is difficult for them since part of their day has to be in the marketplace. We had a great time with the kids! I thought we were going to be kicked out of school, or sent to the principal’s office after Nichole started corrupting the girl’s classes! She had them singing, dancing and yelling at the top of their lungs! I’ve really had to watch this team! They are extreme and passionate about this trip and it has been a constant blast being with them. I hope their attitudes will permanently rub off on me! I am double their ages but we have had a great time of fellowship together! At Aschiana, we interviewed two students and they told us about their school, and what they needed just to function, like paper, pencils, drawing paper, etc. We’ll give you a better idea of their needs when we get home.

One of the neatest parts for me was meeting the cook for the school, and seeing what he was preparing for lunch that day. We stepped in to a concrete room with smoke stained walls, and for our standards, we saw very old equipment and poor sanitary conditions. Despite all of that, the potato’s cooked in tomato sauce and fried rice smelled delicious. He gave me an apricot that was juicy and so sweet, I wished for another! That will be their Sunday dinner! As a side note, I am so blessed that Hopeful Hearts has agreed to totally fund the hot lunch program for this school for one year! They also provide winter coats and shoes for each child as a special project in Afghanistan! Hopeful Heart’s ministry is primarily focused on orphans and children at risk in Ukraine, but they have seen serious needs in India and Afghanistan and have extended a cold cup of water to those in need!

After eating a good lunch at the guesthouse, we visited Maywand Hospital and toured several wards where people were being treated for skin diseases. We saw one little boy, probably 10 or 11 years old that had severe ulcers and open sores on both ankles and feet. He was filthy, alone, and obviously suffering. I wanted to give him a cool bath and dress his wounds. It was so hot! I will always wonder what happened to him. Does he have a family, will he loose his feet, what will he go through in this life? I wish I could share with him the great hope that I have.

To end a busy day, we worshiped on base, as I have mentioned. To lift up the name of Jesus among believers was the ultimate way to end the day! The sermon was about the blood sacrifice that God has used throughout history. How important covenants are in our lives and how seriously God looks upon covenants with man. The closing remarks were about the ultimate blood sacrifice that Jesus offered for all of us! How can we repay Him? It’s not possible. Just receive it, and spread His love and good works throughout a fallen world!

We prepared for the Vine live Comcast and Jason spent a lot of time creating a broadcasting studio out of one of the guest rooms. Phone calls back and forth, sound checks with the cell phone instead of a microphone, and technical difficulties all came in to place, and finally, there was a picture of Daniel Dabney!!!!! All at once, the ugly erupted! Mark has had the stomach plague passed on to him from Rusty! Not a baton that he wanted to pass to any of us! After several hours of misery and endless trips to the bathroom, we headed for Cure Hospital. Nothing will stay down, including medicine! We were treated very nicely, even though everyone had to get up from bed and get dressed! A shot for nausea, and we’re on our way back home. Our driver and cook have also been disturbed at 1:00a.m. to make the trip with us, but they are so loving and concerned about the health and safety of our team that their loss of sleep didn’t seem to matter to them. I am personally thankful for Cure Hospital and their dedication to Afghanistan, and our wonderful staff.

We are back now, and have an hour or so to rest before the live interview with the Vine. We are all pumped up! It will be so good to see friends and share a little about our trip! We have prayer concerns which we will share with everyone: IDP Camp, prayer support for the U.S. Government and the funds that are pouring into Afghanistan for relief, aid and development, health for our team, Basic Health Clinics and their needs for medicines and equipment, U.S. military soldiers safety, and their families back home, and the people of Afghanistan and their country’s future!

The experience with the Vine was more than we expected! It was so exciting to see friends and family! Thanks for your love and prayers for our team!

All is quiet in the house tonight! What little time we have left to sleep! Probably only a couple of hours! No more runs to Cure Hospital! We experienced some good things today, some bad things, and some very ugly things. The bad and ugly were the work of Satan and man’s sinful nature. The good and perfect things were from our Father, and we are praising Him for His love and protection, for another day in Afghanistan.

Looking forward to seeing all of you and sharing our awesome trip!

Blessings to you and yours,

Bob Drane