Saturday, January 8, 2011

Adventures in the Community

One of the pieces of advice that someone told me before I came here was to take some time away from the hospital to get out into the community. So I thought I would share a few stories of the people that I have had the opportunity to go and visit in their homes.

The first family I visited was a mother of a child that we treated in the hospital a little over a month ago for pneumonia. He had been sick, in and out of hospitals for several months. At our hospital he was treated and recovered well. Unfortunately, about 3 weeks after discharge he got sick again and this time they were not able to make it to the hospital before he died. When I found out about the news I was very sad for the family. I went with Charles, a chaplain that is at our hospital, to console and pray with the family. They were so gracious to us and their faith was astounding. The mother said that throughout all the times her little boy was in the hospital God taught her perserverance. Please pray with me for the family of Victor.

Mama and Baba Victor are on my left

Next I had the opportunity to go and preach in one of the staff's home churches about 2 hours away. We had a very nice time of fellowship with his family, pastor and friends. I stayed overnight for this one and I think I ate a full weeks worth of food in about 4 meals. They are very hospitable people. I had hoped to bring my whole family, but Vanessa was still feeling nauseous with the pregnancy. (If you are just finding this out, surprise! We first announced it at the end of our video Kapsowar Nativity Slideshow which we posted on youtube and linked on this blog.) Please pray for Killy's family and church, as well as Vanessa's nausea to go away.

Killy's Family at their home

The last community visit I went on was one that I have been wanting to do for a long time. I went to a village called Embobut. Now you have to understand that in our hospital some of the sickest, poorest people come from this village. Plus I was told that most of them are not Christians and there is a big problem with alcohol among them. So we planned a trip to take home a mother and her baby who was born premature here and did not have any money for discharge so she was just trapped at the hospital. Her husband had disappeared and no one from her family had come. With your support we were able to pay her bill and take her home. Well, turned out to be quite exciting. We first met with the chief of her village and talked about some of the issues they are facing. I was able to share with him some of my thoughts about their problems and included the gospel. I don't believe he was saved and he smelled of alcohol himself. Please pray for him to become a spiritual leader also for his community. Next we went to Tecla's home (my patient) and had a nice visit with her family, neighbors, etc. White people kind of draw a crowd there. We had fun passing out candy to the kids. Then I shared the gospel with them and asked for people that were ready to turn from sin and give their life to Jesus. We had quite a few young people and even the man that was introduced to me as the village elder. I told them the story of the 4 seeds except instead of birds I used chickens snatching up the seed since there were chickens eating corn all around us off the ground so pray with me that the seed that was planted there would fall on good soil. Finally, on the way home we came across Janeth who was in labor and in distress. The baby was not coming out in the right position so we put her in the car and drove the 1 & ½ hours back (with her making quite a few sounds in my passenger seat) and immediately did a c-section on her. Praise God that mom and baby are both doing well now. It is amazing to me that God sent us on this little trip and he had so many things in mind for us to do. Thanks for joining me in prayer for the people around us.

Meeting with Chief of Embobut

Giving out candy. Tecla is in the middle

Sharing the gospel. Village Elder in back