“Ruth! Ruth! Boaz chuu claang!”

My neighbor, Bpuu Sey, had been running errands with Boaz. As they pulled up to our house, Boaz started to have serious chest pain and numbness on his left side. He told Bpuu Sey to run and get me.

For about a week, Boaz had been having strange symptoms—numb fingers on his left hand, an episode of “seeing stars,” sleeplessness and acid reflux, all very unusual things for him. The night before the big episode, I started to search online to see if any of these things were related. I found a health website that said these symptoms were all precursors to a heart attack. Boaz’s father died of a heart attack when he was only 29, so this has always been a concern for us. But we had no idea what preventative steps to take, other than eating healthily, which we were already doing.

When I heard Bpuu Sey’s words, I sprang into action. I ran down the stairs and found Boaz in agony. He told me how much he loved me, and then he asked me to get some cayenne pepper, a natural remedy that may help with heart attacks. Running, stumbling, praying, I flew up the stairs and brought the cayenne pepper back to Boaz, and he swallowed a large amount of it.

We decide to drive to the local hospital. I started to back out and promptly got our car stuck in the mud. So we jumped into our friend’s vehicle. I was trying to keep my cool and drive as fast as I could safely, dodging cows, dogs and motorbikes.

At the hospital, my language skills were tested severely as I rushed around, trying to get somebody to see my husband. The staff acted as if they couldn’t care less, taking their time and chatting with friends on the phone. We kept asking for nitroglycerin, but they finally told us they didn’t have any.

Boaz was still conscious, but the numbness was starting to spread to his head and the rest of his body. I called my teammate, Ruby Clay. Hearing a familiar voice, I started to break down. The phone cut off before I was able to say much. The Clays were in the capital city as their daughter had just had an emergency appendectomy a week earlier. How I wished they were here! I felt so alone, yet I knew the Lord was with me.

We decided to drive Boaz four hours to the capital city. First I drove to the clinic of a local doctor friend. He had some nitroglycerin, which he gave me even though I had no money with me. Then I drove the medicine back to Boaz, and we headed back to our house to pick up our children and a few bags. Boaz seemed to be getting worse.

By this time, our friend Bpuu Sok had gotten a team together and pulled our car out of the mud. How grateful I was that I didn’t have to worry about that right then. We packed up the kids and a few things and moved Boaz to our car. Bpuu Sok decided to come with us as we took off for the capital.

As we traveled, Boaz started to recover. Less panicked now, we sent Bpuu Sok back home in a taxi, but we decided to continue on and get Boaz checked out at the hospital. Driving along, trying to figure out what had happened, I looked up and saw the most beautiful sight! There was a raincloud ahead of us, and the sun shining behind it tinged its edges with fiery rainbow colors. I started to cry, realizing that the Lord was indeed with us and watching out for us. How grateful I was that my husband was still alive! How thankful I was to God for helping us through such a terrifying situation.

This was by far the most trying experience I’ve ever had. I felt alone—a foreigner in a strange country. But I also felt very supported by the local community. They did everything they could to take care of us. Even though I felt like breaking down, God gave me inner strength and peace that was beyond me. And He sent me a rainbow—the sign of His faithfulness.

The hospital in the capital did a wonderful job, checking Boaz over thoroughly. We were very relieved to find out that it was not a heart problem at all, but a nervous system issue. Boaz continued to have these episodes for about a month before we finally figured out they were caused by a mineral deficiency related to a giardia infection.

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