John's Newsletter Archives 2010
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           January 2010   February 2010   March 2010  April 2010  May 2010   June 2010  July 2010 

January 2010
	Greetings to my sponsoring churches! It's a little late for me to say Happy Christmas, but I pray that Christmas will live in your hearts all year long. I was in Vellore for Christmas – worshiping with my English speaking Lutheran community and having dinner with fellow missionaries from the UK. This will be the sixth Christmas dinner I've had in their home. Before Christmas I went to Christmas programs and parties and celebrations of all sorts in hospital departments and schools and our Sneha Deepam hospice as well. We had secret Christmas friends at the hospice and mine was an older priest who is blind and staying in the one of the hospice guest rooms. I got him a talking clock and the hooded sweatshirt that he wanted. My Christmas friend gave me a can of Diet Pepsi, four chocolate bars and a nice picture frame.
	I was the Chief Guest at the Sneha Deepam School Christmas Program and as such, was escorted to the dias by an honor guard of four young girls and the principal. The program was very nice and although the PA system was not good, the emcee had some good jokes. Here's one - why did the king plant trees at the side of the road? If he planted them down the middle of the road, it would make passage difficult! I told the story of the shoemaker who had been promised that Jesus would visit him on Christmas Day. While he was waiting for Jesus that day, three people in need came to him and he helped them. In the evening, God told him that the three people in need had been appearances of Christ. I said that the shoemaker was my Grandpa Joe which was using a little "speaker's license" - Grandpa Joe was a shoemaker and so the shoemaker could have been my grandfather. Later that day we had a gift exchange and a group blood donation to the hordes of mosquitos! I read in the paper that on any given day, mosquitoes drain 100 liters of blood from people in Madurai alone! Madurai is another city in Tamil Nadu with a population of about one million.
	Because Christians make up a small portion of the population, Christmas isn't as big a deal in India as some of the Hindu or even Muslim holidays. At Christian Medical College, we certainly do celebrate Christmas! Christmas cakes are popular, the Tamil candlelight service is traditionally on the 26th of December; Santa is generally called "Father Christmas" and
wears a red suit and Santa mask (making him a bit whiter in color) and gloves; Christmas parties are big in the hospital and biryani (made with mutton or chicken, rice, veggies, and spices) is king. On Christmas morning, there was a beautiful Kolam just outside my door. It must have been drawn by Rani who is a housekeeper at the Palliative Care Study Center. The Kolam is a wonderful tradition of chalk or rice powder drawings done all over India every morning, especially during holidays and special days. If you'd like to learn more about the Kolam tradition, visit www.tamilnation.org/culture/kolam.htm
	Just a few weeks ago I visited one of the Tsunami affected areas where the ELCA GM helped build 92 new homes for those who lost them on that fateful day. I got to participate in turning over the keys and papers. It was nice to turn the houses over to the families. These are people who often lost everything in the Tsunami, so a clear deed and a nice little house are life-changing. I got to turn over and bless one house.
	I got a notice a few days ago that I've been given the honor of being a 2010 ELNEC-International Award Winner. The best part is that they are sending me a costly book as a prize - the latest Palliative Care Nursing Textbook
	Recently I met a Telugu Brahmin Astrologer who told me that I would not only live to the ripe old age of 85 but that life was going to be good so it looks to be a busy and wonderful year ahead - a year in which I will need your prayers. Best wishes for a blessed New Year. Peace and Love, John


February, 2010
     The day after Christmas I awoke to find my door decorated for my feast day which is also Father Johnny's feast day. The sisters and staff had a party for me with flowers, cake, chai, and a present. For many people, feast days are a bigger deal than birthdays. Since my birthday is a national holiday - August 15th is India's Independence Day - it's always a big day for everyone!
     Then there was the Palliative Care Christmas party. I dressed in dhoti and jubah which is a very Indian look while the Indian chaplains were in suits and ties. The dinner menu was a nice mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian with ice cream for dessert. That was the end of the Christmas celebrations which began early in December.
     One of our team members came down with chikungunya - an illness caused by a rare but nasty virus spread by mosquitoes that causes a fever lasting a few days followed by pain that travels from joint to joint and goes on for weeks, even months, and sometime years.
     I had a brief illness and I found out how well the staff and the doctors at Christian Medical College take care of their patients. They had me feeling better in time for a small New Year's celebration with cake and singing and a Bible fortune. Mine was "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth." New Year's Day I was off to a beach hotel on the southeast coast for a couple of days before going on to do a presentation on palliative care in a center in Trivandrum. Some of the students there were from Iowa!
     Then I was back to Chennai to meet Jamie, a young nurse from Minnesota who is my sister Melinda's niece. She came to India on a sort of working vacation to learn more about India and the medical care here. She has done this before in Africa and finds it very rewarding. She got to know our staff at Sneha Deepam and worked with them and was invited to shop with them and
go to their homes to celebrate Pongal - a sort of harvest festival. She visited the school at Sneha Deepam and taught the kids kickball. She went on home visits with the CMC Palliative Care Team and went to a Hindu wedding with one of the team members. She bought a beautiful red saree and looked stunning in it.

     In mid-January, I attended a Comprehensive Rural Health Program in Jamkhed. I was in a group of twelve that included doctors and nurses and clergy and a teacher - all related to Global Health Ministries. This program has developed strong village health workers and have decreased infant mortality from the 1970 level of 190 per 1000 to about 20! They have eliminated most water borne diseases and just plain have a healthier population. They have a training center that has become the place to go for community health training. They have a lot of foreign visitors - many from the US and Australia. They have done an amazing job and have demonstrated how much can be done with preventative medicine.
     Daily power cuts are a way of life here, but it is a problem when they happen during our Sunday worship service. I got a battery for the keyboard so we could have music, but we have to remember to keep the battery charged. And then there is the problem of keeping a fan going on the pastor who is preaching. Pastors here are chided when their sermon is too short, and it's
hard to keep preaching when you are melting!
     As I write this, I am on another trip - this time to the north. I'll go to the states of Jharkhand and Assam, spending about three days at Mohulpahari Hospital and three days at Parkijuli Hospital, and then to Delhi where I will do four different presentations - two for nurses, one for
clergy, and one for a mixed group of people from different faiths. Please keep me in your prayers as I travel, and please pray for those receiving hospice care here and where you live. Thanks you for your continued support. 

March 2010
    Greetings to my sponsoring congregations. When I left you last time I was about to set off to Calcutta and points beyond. Before I left, Dr. Sarah from Delhi stopped by the office with some sweets from Delhi. I made sure we ate them right away because the last time she brought sweets, the box got put away - for safety - and by the time anyone remembered they were there, they had gone all green! Also, before I went, I went to Chennai for a meeting to plan a new association to help the 35 Lutheran missions throughout India. We hoped to start by getting some details and statistics - a data base of sorts - and then some evaluation visits will be done by teams.
    After a night in Calcutta, I was off to Mohulpahari. My first morning there was the first time I skipped a morning bath in a long time. The water choices were cold and colder! I had to wash my hair as it was off in all directions, and afterwards my brain was either very awake or frozen! This is one place I visit where there is no geyser ( British English - pronounced geezer - a water heating system) and no hot water is available by hand, pot, or fire, until well after the time I would normally bathe. I guess evening baths will be the thing here!
    The next day was a national holiday - Republic Day - and I went to the flag raising ceremony which included some nice patriotic music from students and staff and well as a dance. Then it was sports day. The next day I went to a wedding reception. One of the Santali tribal customs has the mothers of the wedding party wiping the faces of their children and giving them water and sweets. Then the mothers do the same for the new members of the family. All feel welcomed and nourished by parents and in-laws alike.
    Then it was back to Calcutta and I was lucky to get there! I missed the train I was supposed to be on because I was caught up in a traffic jam - stuck behind 500 trucks for more than two hours. I missed my train but caught another to Calcutta which was two hours late itself and I got a lot of work done on the train ride. That's when I wrote the letters to all of you about my 2010 Home Assignment!
    From Calcutta I flew to Guwahati and Dr. Iswary met me and drove me to Parkijuli where I always enjoy the food and fellowship because Dr. Iswary has his guests eat with him. His family is in Guwahati because his children are school aged and the schools in Guwahati are better. I spent most of the day in the Out Patient Department with Dr. Iswary seeing patients with him, and then we went to a wedding reception. It was Day 8 of the reception when the bride and groom come to the bride's home. After some food and socializing, we went back to the hospital and we worked on his prioritized needs list - my main reason for being there. His list is long as he is looking at building a new hospital that needs to be staffed and furnished. And Dr. Iswary was very happy to be hear that an orthopedic team from CMC (Christian Medical College) is coming soon. I can say, "I helped."
    My next destination was Delhi where I held classes with several groups. One class was for nurses who are new staff at St. Stephen's Hospital, one for senior staff nurses, one for clergy, and one for a mixed group of people from different faiths. All the classes went well. I was also able to meet with the Executive Secretary of CMAI (Christian Medical Association of India) and he happily accepted my offer of help - planning, teaching, and motivating their palliative care work. I think some very good things can happen! A few of those good things that were related to nursing were initiated immediately, so I will be having a meeting in Nagpur and one in Bangalore to do a presentation on getting palliative care content into the curriculum of nursing programs. CMAI has good connections with seminaries and that may be our way in there too. That will be the rather whirlwind four-day, three-city trip I'll be finishing about the time I send this - first to Delhi and then on to Nagpur and Bangalore. Opinions have been offer that I am crazy, but that has not daunted me! Tune in next month and I'll let you know how that trip went and if I was, in fact, crazy!
    I leave for my time in Liberia in early March, so please keep my journey in your prayers, and know that you are my fuel. Love, John

April 2010

    I spent the first few days of March getting ready to depart for Liberia, but before Africa, I had stops to make at trip to Jharkhand for a meeting of the Northern Evangelical Lutheran Church and one with the Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta. Necessary stops but since it meant I had to depart for my safari to Africa from Calcutta and Mumbai, it made packing a little more challenging. I was also trying to sort out some problems before I left India. Three doctors from the hospital in Padhar had agreed to go to Cameroon this summer to cover for a doctor there so he could be on home leave, like me. I have been trying to help them get their visas and this has proven to be a gigantic problem which I am still struggling with.
     The trip from Calcutta to Mumbai to Nairobi to Monrovia was a very long and exhausting one. The only real hitch was a security check in Mumbai where I was stopped after checking in and asked if I had anything metal in my checked luggage. I had to go into the bowels of the airport to open my bags and identify the items in them. The culprit turned out to be a battery charger with four AA batteries in it and ceramic water filter replacements. The small room where my bags were examined had A/C, but was swarming with mosquitoes! I could just feel the malaria!
     In Monrovia, I stayed at the Lutheran Church in Liberia's guesthouse which is now connected to the Monrovia power grid which meant a more consistent power supply. The schedule called for power a good part of the day and night which seemed to be a better deal than depending on an iffy generator, but nevertheless, there were frequent outages my first day there and I was glad I had a window in my bathroom so in theory, I wouldn't have to shower in the dark, but showering was a little tricky I didn't know the ins and outs of the water supply! There was no water when I wanted to bathe.  The next day the power supply was much better and I found that the water supply came on at 6:30 a.m., so I needed to fill a bucket the night before if I wanted to bathe earlier than that.
     While in Monrovia I met with Sister Barbara and Edna who are working with me on the Masters in Nursing Education program. This is actually moving forward and is going to happen! We have 17 students and the house that is being renovated for them to stay in is ready for work. I also went to the Cameroon Embassy to try and get my visa so I can go there and prepare the way for the doctors from India, but that did not go as well. The ambassador was helpful, but not enough so to just give me a visa. I am going to have to work a lot harder to get this visa sorted out.
     My journey to Phebe was uneventful and there were some nice decorations on the house to welcome me. My first morning there, I was sitting in a familiar place - the porch of House 11 - in a very familiar situation - the power went out. A generator problem. Thankfully, it was not a serious problem and the power was back on that evening. It runs from 7 p.m. until 7 a.m.. My first morning I couldn't use the shower because the tubing to the wand was leaking, so it was bucket bath time again. I had some tubing and was able to replace it, so that is fixed.
     I had a very warm welcome at the hospital, but the place is having serious financial problems and equipment-related problems. The network printers are not working and the copier in the business office is without a cartridge because they can't get one. The copy machine in my old office had been taken over by rats and they are not good housekeepers. The portable X-ray machine had been plugged into an outlet with the wrong voltage and was no longer working. The neighboring UN contingent's biomedical technician came to help - I'm hopeful. And the Internet connection is no longer working. I had hoped that could be fixed the first weekend I was there, but with the technical staff being in Nigeria, that proved to be a bigger problem than I hoped and it still is not fixed.  As they say in Liberia, "It isn't easy."
     My first Sunday worship service back at St. Luke's lasted 3 ½ hours! The first two hours were a "rally" which is a fund raising event. They need a roof for the church and really need the money. The people of Liberia seem to love the rallies but me, not so much! The service itself was wonderful with uplifting music and a good sermon. After that, I had a 2 ½ hour ride to Curran Hospital where I spent the rest of Sunday and the next day talking with Edna, the missionary there, some Lutheran volunteers from Canada and the new Medical Director at Curran. He is a retired doctor in his 70s who grew up five miles from the hospital and went to the Lutheran School at Curran. He came to a challenge and has done a good job of steadying the ship.
     There is much to be done and little to do it with, so I ask for your prayers to help with the work. Prayer is a very important tool in the work that needs to be done here! Peace, John

May 2010
    Hello from Phebe Hospital in Liberia. In my last letter, I told you that Phebe's portable X-ray machine was out of commission after being plugged into an outlet with the wrong voltage. Good news - it is now working again. We enlisted the aid of some expert advice from some technicians from the Bangladeshi camp and after 24 hours of charging, it is working once again. Now we just need some film - seems like it hasn't been available in country.  We haven't been as fortunate with the generators, the copy machines, the Internet connection, or the computers at the hospital. The generators won't generate, the copy machines were either out of toner or had become homes for rats, the Internet connection took weeks of calls and emails to Nigeria and Canada, and the hospital's computers are full of viruses. As I said last month, in Liberia, "It isn't easy."
     I made a lot of trips to Monrovia and a couple of those trips were totally without any A/C in the car. It is hot and it is humid, so I always looked forward to the car trips as a cool place to rest, but the repair for the car's A/C is too expensive for Phebe right now.  There were a lot of meetings in Monrovia - meetings with USAID people to get financial help, meetings with officials from Cameroon to try and get a visa to visit there, and interviews with prospective students for the new Masters of Nursing Education program which will be starting in the fall.  That program now has 17 students and we seem to be full speed ahead!  I am still trying to recruit nursing professors with PhDs - if you know someone - I'd love to be in contact with them.  It is such a wonderful opportunity!
     The Palm Sunday service at St. Luke's Lutheran Church where I worship is even better than the Easter service. This year I got to preach and I tried to emphasize the importance of every day of Holy Week - not just Palm Sunday and Easter. I must have gotten through to some people because attendance was up at all of the daily services during the week. On Maundy Thursday, Pastor Moses and I washed 100 pairs of feet. It was the nicest Maundy Thursday service I have ever attended or participated in. The Good Friday service included the seven last words of Jesus and it was good too. The Easter service was filled with music from the children, the Kpelle Choir, and the English Choir, Pastor Moses' passionate sermon, and ten baptisms.
     I have also made a couple of trips to Zorzor and Curran, the Lutheran hospital there. The road is very bumpy, and once rainy season comes in earnest, it will only get worse. The hospital compound at Curran has power from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. during the work/school week and on the weekend, the electricity is on from 9-11 a.m. and then again from 6:30 p.m. until 11 p.m. I was there for the graduation of 31 students - all mid-wives. I also had time to relax with Edna, a nurse who has been there for almost six years. She always feeds me well when I visit, and we have spent many an evening solving the problems of the world.
     Phebe is finally online again and we are working on ridding the computers of viruses and getting their anti-virus programs updated to prevent the invasion of any more nasty bug. We have borrowed a generator to keep the power going while Phebe's generator was repaired and then another generator developed problems. I got one copy machine to work, but the other had been remodeled too extensively by the resident rats and that machine has been retired. Two steps back and two steps forward. It wasn't easy, and it will be some time before anything is easy for the people of Liberia.
     When you read this, I will be on my way back to Vellore, India, by way of Yaounde, Cameroon. My visa came through at the very last minute, so I was able to go there and do some logistics work for the three doctors from India who will be coming to the hospital there this summer. After a few days in Nairobi and a few in Yaounde, I will be back in India until my home leave this summer. I look forward to visiting the churches and meeting the people who have been supporting me with fund and with prayers. Until then, keep praying for me and for the people of Liberia and India. Prayer is an important tool in the work I try to do. Peace, John Lunn


June 2010
    I finished my days at Phebe Hospital in Liberia tying up loose ends - or at least trying to do so - like trying to help finishing up the details of a USAID grant that would help support the payroll at Phebe for a year, creating an automatic deduction form for the bank, checking on prices for chemicals to make IV solutions, trying to find spare parts, continuing to work on the Internet connection (yes, that became a problem again!), and emailing curriculum for nursing programs. The sad thing is, nothing goes smoothly and everything takes work. As the Liberians say, "It isn't easy."
     My flight from Liberia to Nairobi, Kenya, went smoothly and the car trip to the hospital where I was to stay was fine except for the part where traffic came to a halt behind a truck stuck in the mud just half a mile from hospital. They sent a car to the other side of the stuck truck and I was on my way. I stayed in the guest quarters of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary on the hospital campus - a congregation of Indian sisters who fed me well on Indian food which I had been missing.
     The next day I had a chance to meet a friend who also was in Kenya that week.  She is a fellow missionary from the Episcopal Church that I met in Liberia.  She's an agricultural specialist, now working in Southern Sudan. We met for a cup of tea and 90 minutes of catching up at a retreat she was attending nearby the hospital.  Then, I was on my way to Cameroon. My plane landed in the capital city of Yaoundé late evening and it would have been handy to have been able to speak French when I went through immigration! We (two Regional Reps and my Chicago boss) left by car the next morning for a two day drive to Ngaoundere and the hospital where the three doctors from India will be serving this summer. Cameroon is more developed than Liberia at least as far as roads and electricity. I met with the bishop of the Lutheran Church in Cameroon and the Bishop from South Dakota - their companion synod - who was there for a visit. And I met with the surgeon/missionary, Dr. Jim, and his wife who is a nurse. They are from South Carolina and he's retired Navy. I also met with the head of the Health Unit/Department of the Cameroon Lutheran Church and the palliative care team. There are a lot of traffic accidents - mostly from motorcycles - and so there is a lot of orthopedic work. I am hoping to find an orthopedic surgeon at CMC who would be willing to spend some time there teaching the residents. I went on surgical rounds with Dr. Jim, and then met up with the palliative care team - a nurse and a social worker. I was impressed with them, despite their limited formal training.
     I wanted to go on home visits with the palliative care team, but they go on motorcycles and I wanted no part of the crazy cyclists of Ngaoundere, so I arranged to borrow a car and  driver. We visited two older men who had suffered strokes. The first lived in a magnificent old house that was in a sad state of disrepair. I was able to help the team solve a couple of his pain related problems. The second man lived in a mud house. He was 72 years old and the father of 12 children, ages 3-30. He spent his days in a dark room on a mattress on the floor.  I suggested that a raised bed would help him be able to sit up and maybe get out of bed, but I'm not sure they had the money or even the interest. I got a feel for what the know and maybe I can help plan some future training. There are people from Global Health Ministries at the end of the summer so I hope I can help come up with a program of some sorts.
     Then it was time to begin my journey back to India. The two day trip back to Yaoundé went well - I would have said smoothly, but it was often quite bumpy! The airport there in the capital is new and beautiful and mostly empty as there is more traffic in and out of another city called Douala. I had a night flight to Nairobi and then a night flight to India. It was good to be back in Vellore, but it is definitely summer here and very hot! I got home during a power cut, but once the power came back on, I could turn on the A/C and that was very welcome.
     The end of June, I will leave for the US and my home leave and I will see many of you during that time. Please keep me in your prayers - those prayers fuel my work! Peace, John.


July 2010
    When I wrote to you last, I was just back in India after my yearly time in Liberia. I got back in time for mango season which was great because I love mangoes! I also got back in time for some good and welcome rain which settled the dust and took a little humidity out of the hot air. Along with the rain came the power cuts - that happens more with the rain and related storms.
    I was back in India but still working on the Masters Program in Liberia. There were faculty questions to answer via email and forms to fill out and paperwork to take care of. But it is coming along well and I am very thankful for that. I also spent a lot of time trying to coordinate the satellite Internet service for Phebe Hospital in Liberia. There are constant problems with it, and a technician has to come from Monrovia which becomes expensive. I think the problem is finally solved. I certainly hope so!
    I also needed to meet with the doctors from Padhar Hospital who are going to Cameroon to fill in for their surgeon when he goes on home leave. They have been a little anxious about it and rightfully so! It is a very different experience for them.  I spent four hours with them answering questions, showing them pictures, and generally clarifying things for them. I think some of their fears were quelled because they seem very excited about going.
    On June 7th, I celebrated the 20th anniversary of my ordination. My sister sent me a photo taken that day and that brought back memories. The Palliative Care Team had tea and coconut cookies for me in the afternoon and we discovered that our nurse, Shakila, had graduated from nursing school 20 years ago in June and Dr. Reena who is head of the team has been a doctor for 20 years! The folks at Sneha Deepam had a celebratory meal for me that evening, so it was a very good day.
    I am working on a palliative care handbook for parish pastors - with the help of several of my colleagues - so that has been keeping me busy. It is meant to aid pastors who are ministering to dying parishioners by giving them a little more insight into the aim of palliative care and how they can work with the medical people to help the dying person attain comfort, both physical and spiritual.
    In past letters to you, I have mentioned the weekly Anointing Service that we have. I usually do it with my fellow pastor Grace, but when she was on leave, I was on my own for the very hot but well attended service. People of all faiths come to the anointing - patients and family and friends of patients at Christian Medical Center - and we are all hot! After one service, I found the Chaplaincy Office locked, so I had to go home in my cassock. I was a bit of an attraction while I was waiting for the car to pick me up - even more so than usual!
    The Medical Superintendent from Parkijuli asked me to come to Assam to help him decide on an X-ray machine and an ultrasound. We decided to meet in Guwahati, where I could get an air-conditioned room. I was a bit relieved because the guest room at the hospital often does not have electricity at night and the room doesn't have any windows - only doors! The hotel turned out to be nice and I enjoyed the A/C and appreciated the WiFi. I also met with the doctors and staff from the Palliative Care program in town and the staff of the hospice there. They asked me for some feedback on their handling of some difficult cases they had treated and I enjoyed trying to give some insight and suggestions. On the way back to Vellore, I made a stop in Kolkata to meet with the Missionaries of Charity - Mother Teresa's order - about the counseling training we will be doing with about 15 of their sisters who are either older or physically unable to do regular duties.
    Now I am getting ready for my trip to the US and my visits to many of you sponsoring churches. I look forward to meeting those whose prayers have helped me so much with my work. Keep those prayers coming - they are so important to me! Peace, John

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