Following the heart of God, Rick and Lenore Brown traveled deep into the geographical heart of Africa. Their journey took weeks. There they established themselves to do language work in the district capital. It was no more than a large village of mud dwellings.It took months for mail to arrive. Literacy was low, so there were few letters to deliver. There were so few expatriates in the province that once when someone sent Rick a letter addressed only with “Richard” and the name of the province, the letter reached him. There were no paved roads, electricity, refrigeration, running water, phones or pharmacies.
During their first hot season in the area, when temperatures reached 41 to 43 degrees centigrade (107 to 110 Fahrenheit), Rick became seriously ill with hepatitis. He could not eat or drink and quickly became too ill to move on his own. The couple prayed for healing, but Rick’s condition continued to deteriorate. In such hot weather one can only survive two days without water. Rick had already spent two days losing fluids and finally he could retain nothing he drank. Lenore, who had been trained as a nurse, did the best she could to take care of him. But she lacked the supplies needed to administer fluids intravenously, and there was no way to evacuate Rick to a hospital. There was not even a radio to call for help.
As he lay in bed, Rick could see vultures lined up on the fence outside, patiently waiting.
Unknown to Rick and Lenore, a prayer group at his home church was meeting. They had not received word of his condition, as Rick and Lenore had no way, other than prayer, of communicating their need. This was just a regularly scheduled prayer meeting where the women of the church prayed for missionaries the church helped support. As the group was praying, one of the women told the others she sensed that either Rick or Lenore was seriously ill from contaminated food or water. The group took this seriously and prayed in earnest, then told the pastor, who asked the whole church to pray for the couple.
Knowing nothing of this prayer support, Rick had reached a point of resignation. He prayed: “Lord, if you want to take me, I am ready to go be with you. But what about my wife? How will this affect my mother? What about this work You prepared us for? Lord, Your will be done.”
Just then Rick felt the peace and comfort of the Lord encompassing him in a way he had never known. After a short time he suddenly felt fine. He was able to eat and drink without problems. His strength returned, but he followed the advice in his medical manual and stayed in bed until his skin and eyes were no longer yellow- — a period of about three weeks.
During this time he and Lenore wrote to his home church, asking if anyone had been praying for them on the day his recovery began and relating the story of his illness and healing. As it happened, a woman in the church prayer group wrote him at the same time, and their letters crossed in the mail.
A few months later the letter from home reached Rick and Lenore. It detailed, the strong sense of danger the prayer group had felt and the immediate and ongoing prayers on their behalf. “Please let us know how you are doing,” the woman wrote. Rick and Lenore could only imagine how the news of his miraculous recovery must have already encouraged the church.
As he continued to recover, Rick pondered how God had worked. God hadn’t instantly answered the prayers he and Lenore had uttered when he became ill, but He had relayed the need to the prayer team back home. Why? Because the ministry of Bible translation for this remote people group in Africa wasn’t “Rick and Lenore’s ministry.” It was the church’s ministry, the responsibility of the body of Christ. Rick realized as never before that as Bible translators, he and Lenore were part of a bigger team – as were their all-important prayer partners halfway around the world.
Source: SIL Africa Area
[Bible Translation, hardship, illness, answered prayer, church support, God’s timing, letters crossed]