Dear Friends of Eyecare To The Needy;
Another week has gone by, and opportunities and challenges have come as is typical in a third world country. Steve travelled with 2 other doctors on a 5 hour journey to the southern part of Zimbabwe. The area of Neshura has had no eye services for several years, and many patients had been screened for cataract surgery. They were brought to the hospital by small buses and cars, and Steve and his team performed surgery on 25 cataracts, as well as treating about another 60 patients.
Steve’s housing was fairly spartan: a hot bucket of water was delivered to his room door early in the morning for bathing, and the food served was all African fare (a little hard on his western stomach). However, the morning after the operations, the patients were rejoicing and singing because of their new eyesight. What a privilege to have a part in the restoration of eyesight! Steve was able to share the Good News also with several nurses and patients during the time at Neshura.
Steve also gave a lecture to the medical students at the Faculty of Medicine at the NUST medical school. He also led a Bible study with 7 young men at our house in Bulawayo. A burning question that the young men asked was “ How do you find purpose in life?….” Steve was able to point to Psalm 139 and Romans 12 to help them to understand that purpose comes from a dynamic relationship with Jesus. He used his own faith experience as an example of finding purpose in life.
Jane has been busy here as well. She and several pastors met to work on locating and following up with many students who attended the tennis clinics while our tennis coaches and players were here. There were over 315 responses by students who committed their lives to Christ, and the work now is to provide places of worship and discipleship for them to grow in their faith.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers. We had a break in to our house several weeks ago – nothing was stolen, and the thief ran away when we woke up to sounds in the house. Our next door neighbor also had the same incident a couple of nights ago. Things are quite desperate here We will replace our old burglar bars with new and stronger bars. We continue to pray for safety every night, and ‘He who watches over Israel watches over us”.
Thank you for continuing to uplift us in your prayers.
Steve and Jane Beaty
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