Ernie's
Newsletter
November 2008
Printable Version [A4 .PDF]
October 2008 [A4 .PDF]
September 2008 [A4 .PDF]
Dear friends and supporters,
Once again I write my India Newsletter from Auckland where I am presently recuperating from my recent bout of Dengue Fever. Once again I want to say “thank you very much” - to all who prayed and to all who sent messages of encouragement. God has not only heard your prayers and graciously answered them in my life, but He has again used all the encouragement and help that I got from so many to remind me of the wonderful privilege that it is to be a member of God’s family. As I thank you I also thank the Lord for you!
My last news was sent to you on 6 October from Guindy, just a couple of days after my release from hospital and a couple of days after my daughter
Joanne arrived to care for me.
By the time I got back to Guindy my blood platelet level had risen to 98,000 and my main symptom was weariness/tiredness. A few days of fairly constant rest and much sleeping saw me feeling well enough to start thinking about returning to New Zealand, and Joanne and I left Chennai to fly back to Auckland on 16 October, arriving here about midnight on 17 November. We saw the hand of the Lord even in the travel arrangements – Joanne was hopeful of being back in Auckland for the 20th to be at her place of work (a large medical practice in Browns Bay on Auckland’s North Shore) to be involved in a fairly major and important changeover of their computer system which she had been involved in the preparations for, but when we contacted our travel agent in Auckland on 10 October she indicated that there were no seats available on the airline we both had tickets for until after the 22nd. At her suggestion we were waitlisted for the 16th and 17th and by God’s grace she was able to tell us on the Monday that two seats had become available on Thursday the 16th. This reminds me that God‘s Hand can be seen in the more minor details and activities of life as well as the major ones.
Since my return I have consulted my doctor here who arranged for blood tests to be carried out. These showed that my platelet count had risen to 159,000, so the medication that the hospital gave to me stimulate production of platelets and my body’s natural activities have brought me back into the “normal” range (150,000 to 400,000). I am hoping that further rest will bring the levels even higher and nearer the top end of the normal range.
A number of folk have asked me
what platelets are – they are the components in the blood which cause clotting of the blood to stop bleeding
from injuries etc, and the very low level that my count reached whilst I was in hospital caused concern about bleeding, both internal and external. The nursing staff kept a very close eye on me for both types and for a time would not even let me brush my teeth for fear of making my gums bleed. I have also been asked what the platelets have to do with Dengue Fever – one of the doctors who were looking after me gave me the following description, in laymen’s terms, of the connection...
“The white cells in the blood, which are the ones that fight infection, latch on to a dengue virus cell and
'wrestle' it onto a platelet. When the body senses a foreign cell on a platelet,"
he said "it 'bombs' the platelet to destroy the invader but as it does so, it also destroys the platelet!” Thus, when my fever was at its worst my body was working overtime with white cells to destroy the dengue virus cells but for every dengue virus cell it destroyed it also destroyed a platelet and a white cell!!
God’s design of the human body is incredible, as is the knowledge that He has given mankind and in particular the medical profession, to know what to do in times of crisis. I am of course very grateful for all of those factors!!
The good news about my latest bout of dengue is that the doctors tell me that there are four strains of Dengue Fever, and that the body develops a lifelong immunity to the strains by which it has been infected. The bout I had in September 2006 was the second most serious and the bout I have just had was the third most serious, so I am now immune to half of them! The bad news is that the fourth and worst strain can be very serious indeed– so
I will be taking the advice of many and will be trying to avoid India in August and September which is the beginning of the wet season and is when the infestation of the specific mosquito that carries Dengue (and Malaria) is at its worst in Chennai.
My plans for the future are that God willing I will remain in Auckland until the 10th January when I will return to Chennai. I will remain there until my present visa expires (mid February) and then I will return to Auckland once again. At that stage I will move back into my own home in New Lynn and will be based in Auckland in future. I will retain my responsibility for leadership of the India field and will travel to India a number of times each year during the next 2 to 3 years at least.
This is part of the
Long Term Strategic Plan which we put in place earlier this year to move towards the Mission becoming completely indigenous, with Indian leadership ultimately taking full responsibility for and control of the activities of the Mission. Our
Mission Manager, M.M. Immanuel is taking this responsibility while I am in Auckland at present and will ultimately be, as his title suggests – the India Manager and leader of the Mission in India.
Please pray for wisdom and patience and confidence for Immanuel and for his wife Rani as they take this responsibility. My recent illness has brought forward by a few months the time when he has to lead without my involvement, but
I have come back to New Zealand with complete peace that things at Guindy are in good, capable hands.
To emphasis this process of indigenisation, the name of the Mission will also be changed to Yesuway Jeevan Mission (Yesuway Jeevan is the English transcription of the Tamil words for “Jesus is Life”) and as well as its involvement with and continuing support of the evangelistic outreach and church planting carried out by the Advent Christian Conference of India and the Fellowship of Blessed Hope Churches, it will also be supporting a number of other existing Christian organisations which are involved in practical, social ministries with disadvantaged children and in the area of drug and alcohol addiction and HIV/AIDS. I hope to be able to give you full details of these new ministries in my next newsletter, but suffice to say at this stage that it will take the activities of what has been the American Advent Mission in India into exciting new areas of ministry in what we see as obedience to the Lord’s instructions and example to minister to the needy.
Along with these changes in India, the leadership of the ACGC World Outreach Department in Charlotte has asked me to accept responsibility for supervision and encouragement of the Advent Christian ministries in Thailand, Malaysia and Myanmar as well as India. So, from next year, based in Auckland, I will have the privilege of working with the brothers and sisters in these countries as they seek to serve the Lord and take the message of God’s love and eternal hope in Jesus Christ to their fellow countrymen. From time to time, as I travel to and from India, I will take the opportunity to visit these other countries and fellowship with the leaders and workers there. I would appreciate your prayers for wisdom and the ability to encourage them in their service for the Lord, and I will of course include details of the ministries in these countries in my Newsletters in future.
Just a few days before Joanne and I left Chennai, on the 12th October in fact, we had the privilege of attending the official opening and dedication of new facilities for the children’s hostel which has been operating for the last six years at the Guindy Advent Christian church, which is next door to the Mission compound. I have mentioned this hostel and the lovely children and the fellowship we have with them many times in previous newsletters of course.
This function was originally planned for Sunday 28th September but because I was in hospital at that time, the officers of the Conference decided to postpone it so that I could be present. They made that decision because they have done me and my family the honour of naming the new hostel in memory of my late wife - it is known as the
Grace Helen Schache Memorial Silver Fern Hostel – and they wanted me to be present at the opening. They could not have known that the later date they chose for the function was exactly 7 years to the day since Helen’s death and it was the actual time of her death, almost to the hour, when they asked me to speak at the function. It was also a blessing of course that Joanne was able to share with me the opportunity to be present at that very special occasion. God works in wonderful ways!!
The new hostel facilities have been built as the second floor of the Guindy Advent Christian School which is adjacent to the church, and they are much more spacious and suitable for the 150 children who are now accommodated in the hostel. The facilities include a small apartment for the Hostel warden and his family, who have until now lived off-site, as well as sufficient sleeping accommodation and bathroom and toilet facilities. For the first time in more than 100 years, the school/hostel and the church have a sewerage connection and a water connection!
The Mission has substantially assisted financially in getting the facilities completed and we have subsequently helped with the cost of sleeping mats and other essential equipment for the children. Although the new premises are much larger and much brighter, there is a way to go before they are fully equipped. This hostel is one of the eight ministry partners that Yesuway Jeevan Mission will be regularly supporting financially, and we look forward to working with the Advent Christian Conference to ensure that these precious children are well looked after and provided for. If you feel the Lord drawing you to assist these children, please contact me or Garry for details.
Can I ask you to bear my colleagues Rob and Lindsey Musick up in prayer as they seek the Lord’s will for them for their future ministry? You will remember that Lindsey and
Moriah, their Indian born daughter, had been home in the United States for some time and Rob was due to leave to join them a few days after I was admitted to hospital.
Rob very graciously, with Lindsey’s encouragement and approval, postponed his return to the US for a couple of weeks in order to be my “hospital companion” until Joanne arrived – I greatly appreciated both his sacrifice of time with his family and the very practical ways he cared for me and “organised” the hospital staff and such things as meals and medicines and clean clothes and countless other things. Rob and Lindsey are presently without employment and are looking for the Lord’s leading for the future and I know that they would value your prayers.
Finally, I thank you for praying for Rosemary – driver Raja’s wife
– who had Dengue Fever about the same time as I did. Rosemary is virtually fully recovered now and is able to attend to most of the things that an Indian mother and wife has to attend to.
Raja needs your prayers now please – he (like many, many other Indians)
has been diagnosed with diabetes and is having to make difficult changes in his diet and his exercise regime. The Indian diet, with all its carbohydrates, is apparently a major factor in the onset of diabetes and many of our pastors and church members suffer from this disease, many of them severely with some experiencing life threatening consequences.
Thank you once again for your love and care and support while I was ill. Thank you too for your partnership with us in the Lord’s work in India. May God bless you richly as you serve Him in this way.
Yours in His love,
Ernie
Ernie Schache | PO Box 3164 | Guindy | Chennai 600 032 | India
ACMissioNZ | PO Box 20438 | Glen Eden | Waitakere 0641 | New Zealand
