Answered Prayers

Ten million thanks for all your prayers. I am back to 100% health and holding all my lovely babies again (make sure to check out the side column to see photos). I took a weeks worth of antibiotics and the infection/pain in my arm is gone! Praise God! The medical crew took an emotional blow with the death of Baby Greg, but we are all hanging together and have an even greater sense of unity and support for each other now. We are all very sad at the loss of Baby Greg, but encouraged to know that Baby Greg is with Jesus. Please continue to pray for his mama. After trialing the 12 hour shifts for a month on the ward, the decision was made to return to 8 hour shifts. I am thankful for this decision as the 12 hour shifts were very draining for me and my fellow nurses. I thank God for the arrival and projected arrival of more ward nurses. Many of you may have heard, but if you have not, my mom will be joining me here in Africa to serve on the Mercy Ship for 1 month. My mom will be working as a ward nurse too! She is scheduled to arrive at the end of August and will be staying through October 4th. Pray for her travel preparations. Thanks again! I love all of you! God bless!

No Longer Ours to Hold

..."Jesus wept." John 11:35...

...We also weep...

...Baby Greg is no longer ours to hold...

...He is with his Papa now...

The Curse

There was family strife, the details are not clear, but harsh hateful words were said. Her mama died, or left, either way, Mama was gone. The new girlfriend came and wanted nothing to do with the previous women's children. The children were abandoned, their father hardened his heart and chose to fulfill the desires of his new women over his commitment to his children. Time passed and his heart softened. He decided to give the children some money for school fees. Meanwhile, the eldest daughter, hurt and looking for the love only a father can give, sought comfort from her boyfriend. She became pregnant. Her father, in a fit of anger and rage, shouted, "may you never hold a child, may your children never live!" Because of his own daughter's "ungratefulness" for his money, this papa cursed his daughter, wishing she would never know the love of a child. Baby Greg's mama sits at the edge of her son's hospital bed, on the Mercy Ship. Years later, with the words of her father's curse still replaying in her mind, she cannot help but fear for Greg's life. She has already lost two small babies and now Greg is barely hanging on. But how can this be, because "the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." 1 John 4:4 Why would this be happening? Isn't God in control? Baby Greg has come to the ship of "hope and healing..." Where is his healing? Why does Greg struggle so much? Why does Greg's oxygen level suddenly drop and why does he become restless any time people pray over him? We do not understand, but one thing we do know is, "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Ephesians 6:12

Update on Jitta Bug

Dear friends and family. Thank you for you praying for OUR patients. Late update, but good news! Jitta Bug went home weeks ago. She is truly a miracle baby! She healed beautifully! I have posted some photos of her in the left column. Thanks for your prayers. I could feel your prayers as I cared for Jitta. Many of you know, my nursing speciality is NOT pediatrics. I love babies, and especially the African babies, as you can tell from my writing and photos, but my nursing expertise is NOT children. I studied pediatric nursing in school and I am trained to safely care for children, but it is not normally my thing. Ill, cranky, precious little weak ones scare the daylights out of me! I love them so much it hurts me to watch them suffer. But, once again, in Africa, things are different. I care for children on a regular basis now. If we have pediatric nurses working, we assign them the young patients, but we do not always have pediatric nurses around. I am becoming accustomed to caring for children and I actually love it. Your prayers are being answered in many ways. My African babies and I send our love!

When Will the White Girl Visit Again?

I followed my African friend down the narrow dirt path. We worked our way farther and farther from the busy market. We followed the tiny path and weaved our way through the village passing pieces of cardboard and tin pieced together; the local houses. I passed scrawny chickens picking at the dirt, tons of chocolate-skin-colored kids playing soccer in the road, and haphazardly observed naked little ones bathing in their plastic buckets. I looked around and noticed men urinating on the side of houses, women cooking over open fires, hair being braided, and children playing. I was off the beaten path, out of the city, and headed to the village of PO PO Beach. Everyone I passed stared at me. Few people in Africa are accustomed to seeing white people, especially where I was now walking. My friend told me I was entering the ghetto, or "crossing the tracks" into "the OTHER side of town." Not that the place I was going was dangerous, but it was remote, not where most white people go. I was in the part of town where white is the color your t-shirt used to be; not a skin color. The stares continued, but instead of keeping my eyes toward the ground, I made eye contact with the people and as soon as I smiled and waved, the cold hard stares broke into huge toothless grins. After rounding one last corner and traversing another muddy pool of stagnate water; we had arrived at our destination. We were at the humble home of Emmanuel, one of the day workers from the ship. Emmanuel and his wife quickly stood from the two plastic lawn chairs they were sitting in, welcomed us, and insisted we sit. They then took their place on the dirt next to us. Reluctant to take a chair from one older than myself, but not wanting to offend my host, I sat on Emmanuel's prised piece of furniture. There were children playing in the dirt across from me. They giggled and quickly looked away as we made eye contact. An elderly women was cooking corn on the cob on a grill, over an open fire. A man walked past carrying gallons of water on his head. The entire village appeared to be going about their business, but they were all very aware of my presence. I then spotted two sets of root beer brown eyes peering at me from behind a tree. I smiled... they ran... it became a game. They would sneak up behind the tree, then the metal post, then closer until I saw them... and they would run away laughing. The crowd playing the game grew. Each time they ran away, they would bring a new young friend. It seemed as if they were almost daring each other to reach the white girl, but they would always run away. I stuck my tongue out at them and winked, they almost fell over with laughter and they ran away again. The game carried on for at least 30 minutes. Eventually, they ran off giggling, snickering, and sticking their tongues out at me. Around the corner from where I was sitting, I could see a group of people assembled in a somber manner. I was told the group had just returned from a funeral. The woman in the center of the group had just buried her husband. I watched in silence, observing the intense mourning of the widow and her family and the strong cultural ties of relations that brought many in the community to visit and just sit with the family. A man carrying a beautiful baby girl walked past where I was sitting. My African friend could not help but notice the way my eyes sparkled when the wee baby came closer. He observed my interest in the baby and called the stranger over and asked if I could the child. Next thing I knew, the child was thrust into my arms and I was privileged to hold that precious baby girl for the next hour as her dad sat behind a tree content as could be even though a strange white girl was holding his baby. After an hour of visiting with Emmanuel and his wife Margret; Margret excused herself to do house work and Emmanuel sent his children to fetch water. I offered to help. The Africans laughed at me, wondering how I could possibly help. I said I would try. My friends said I did not need to help, but they were not going to stop me. I jumped up, grabbed one of the 25 gallon buckets from Emmanuel's children, and I followed them 1/2 mile to the water pump. I mean how hard could it really be to carry water? If the 7-year-olds can do it, I should be able to, right? We reached the pump and started filling the buckets, they filled fast and it was soon time to carry them back. My tour guide promptly lifted the bucket onto her head and was ready to go. I attempted to lift mine, but before I got it off the ground, I saw my African friends behind the nearest building. They quickly came to my side and insisted that they should carry the water. Wanting the real African experience in everything, I heaved the bucket, with help, onto my head, and soaked myself because the cap was not on tight. I balanced the bucket for about 30 seconds and finally admitted my weakness. I do not know how they carry things that are so heavy and odd shaped. I guess my head is not flat enough. With the help of the guys, we made it back to the village with the water. I am going to have to practice a lot more before I am village material! While we were gone, Margret had started washing clothes. She was working so hard, my heart went out to her. I wanted to help lighten her work load for just one day if I could. She had a large basin filled with water. She would put soap on each item of clothing, get it wet, and scrub it on a wash board. I decided to try and help. Margret showed me the basic process involved in washing each item and I went for it. She laughed so hard, watching me try to scrub her clothes. I would not give up, I was determined to get this task and skill down. You rest the washboard on your knees. Then steady it with your hands, by pushing down on the board with your hands and forward on the board with your knees, all while scrubbing the item of clothing in your hands as hard and you can. If it sounds complicated, it is! We are talking an old metal wash board like in the movies. I never was coordinated enough to scrub with both hands. I had to steady the board with one hand and scrub with the other. I wanted to finish the entire load of laundry for Margret, but between the laughter and soap suds that were soaking my pants, I had to turn the task back over to the pro. But, not before everyone in the village saw me and had a good laugh. I sat back down, wet and exhausted. All too soon, the time came for us to return to the ship. I said goodbye to my new friends and assured them I would visit again. A few days later, I ran into Emmanuel on the ship, he said all the neighbors wanted to know when the white girl would visit again. Keep checking the blog to see if the white girl visited again...

Posts Out Of Order & My Health

Make sure to scroll down the blog page to a blog about Off Ship Ministry Sites. Again, things are out of order on my page. I am working as fast as I can to update you on my life here. Please pray for my health at this time as well. Many of you know I had an incredibly bad infection on my arm related to my vaccines for this trip before I came. I have recovered extremely well from that infection, but on Saturday I started to get pain in my arm in the same area where that infection had previously been. I had a high fever and decided to go to the doctor before it got worse. They drew my blood last night and started me on antibiotics again. We are not sure what is going on, but they gave me tonight off. I am supposed to work night shifts Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, so pray for my quick recovery, that nothing serious is going on, and that I will not be scared. Because I tend to get "small, small" concerned when I get sick because I don't want it to be anything serious. Thanks a million. I love all of you so much!

I AM OKAY

Dear friends and family, I apologize for the length of time it has taken me to blog again. I am totally fine, but entirely busy. The change to 12 hour shifts has left me exhausted after each shift and I go directly to bed most nights. On my days off, I have been having adventure after adventure and I have not had the time to write about my ministry and experiences before another one begins. I will work to catch you up on all the things God has been doing here in Africa. If I wasn't such a perfectionist, I could journal faster, but I like to think things through before I write and publish my thoughts. More news coming soon. Thanks again for all your love, prayers, and support.

Baby Greg

It's 3:30 AM, almost everyone is asleep. On the far side of the ward I hear the rhythmic breathing of the exhausted patients. Many have traveled days to reach the hospital ship. They have finally had their life changing surgeries and although they may be experiencing pain, they do not stir because their mental, emotional, and spiritual exhaustion from living in a war torn country have trumped their physical pain. They are out for the night. On the opposite side of the ward, I hear the constant bleeping of the oxygen saturation monitor, the low hum of the ventilator, the bubbling of the humidifier, and the shush of the oxygen tank. Amidst all the noise coming from medical equipment, there is an audible gurgling, hiccuping, and gasping for air that come from five month old baby Greg. Baby Greg rests like a limp rag doll on his bed staring at his humble mobile. His baby mobile made of cris-crossed tongue depressors, string, and tiny beanie babies, sways back and forth above his fragile body. Baby Greg is struggling to live. He is so small. His operation was completed June 16th, but Baby Greg is not healing. Baby Greg's cystic hygroma, (a sac like structure full of fluid and white blood cells) was removed. The grapefruit like mass that stuck out from his neck is gone, but Baby Greg struggles to survive. The Mercy Ship doctors knew if the mass on Greg's neck continued to grow, he would soon suffocate. Medical knowledge told us to operate, but Greg is so small and frail. His breathing is worse now than before. He struggles for every breath. He was intubated in the intensive care unit and made small improvements, but now the progress has ceased. He is not getting better. He has to wear 100% oxygen almost all the time. Without the oxygen, Baby Greg would die. Baby Greg does not have the strength to eat and breath simultaneously. Thus, we put a feeding tube in his tiny belly. Our Baby Greg is handsome and precious, but we do not know what to do. We are limited in our intervention because of lack of supplies and our location. We could attempt to make an airway (trach) in his neck, but the risk of infection is too great and the reality is the Mercy Ship will not be in Liberia forever. Our hearts ache and our heads hurt. We wonder what we have done. Each day the patients and nurses gather in prayer for Baby Greg.... We need a miracle.... We have obeyed God's call to come help the poor, but this... one is never prepared for.... And it would be just too much if the humble mobile above Greg's bed stopped swaying.... PRAY...

Visit to Off Ship Ministry Sites

A few weeks ago, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit and see first hand a number of the ministries Mercy Ships is involved with off ship. It was a privilege to physically travel into the village and bush to observe the outreach my fellow crew members are involved in. I did not realize the variety of programs our crew are involved with. The day trip was incredible and I was able to observe five of our different off ship crew groups in action.

TENEGAR MEDICAL CLINIC RESTORATION PROJECT Early in the morning we loaded the land rover and started our journey toward the remote village of Tenegar. Tenegar is about 1 hour from the ship providing traffic is okay and the roads are not flooded. Tenegar is one of the two locations, off ship, where Mercy Ships is focusing their energy. All the programs we are completing in Tenegar are being duplicated by other Mercy Ship crew members in the village of Royesville. We are working in Tenegar to fulfill a personal request of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the President of Liberia. Tenegar suffered incredible damage during the war. Their medical clinic was destroyed like many other buildings all over Liberia. President Sirleaf grew up outside of Tenegar and it was her personal wish and request that we restore that area, specifically the medical clinic. Therefore, our construction team is working with the men and people of Tenegar to rebuild their clinic. As with any of the ministries Mercy Ships is involved in, we wish to train and empower the local people, not just "do it for them". This is true with the construction project. Mercy Ships contacted the men from the area surrounding Tenegar and asked them to volunteer to build the clinic. We are teaching the local men valuable construction skills and also giving them ownership in the project. They will value the clinic far more after sweating and working for it. Mercy Ships provides all the materials and manages the project. One of my friends from Ghana, Charles Awagah is the project team leader along with another man named Karl. The men from the village volunteered for the first few weeks of the project and then once we knew they were committed to the project we decided to pay them for their work. We determined this was fair considering they need to provide for their families and when they are working on the clinic they are not making their normal living. The construction project is going well and the goal is to have it finished this fall. I am hoping to help paint at the clinic on one of my days off.

FOOD FOR LIFE-AGRICULTURE Another project we are working on is community farming in Tenegar. We are training and mentoring the local people to manage their local resources for increased food security. Marcel, a farmer from Holland is the project director. He is using his skills and knowledge about farming for God. He has developed a small scale modern farm and garden in Tenegar near the clinic. Up to this point, the primary crops grown by Africans are chili peppers, rice, bananas, corn, and casava. The land in Africa is lush, a farmer's "dream soil" and its potential has barely been touched. Marcel is teaching the local people about their potential for diet diversity and nutritional completeness. Marcel is currently growing watermelon, cantaloupe, corn, beans, casava, potatoes, peanuts, and some crops just for fun like marigolds. Marcel is determining what can successfully be grown here and the villagers are working alongside him. He is teaching the people important concepts such as resource conservation, the rotation of crops, and the destructive nature of "thrash and burn farming." Teaching in organic soil building techniques along with weed and pest control are also points in his lessons. Marcel has made some incredible garden planters with bamboo. He has designed a triangular bamboo structure with a compost pile in the center of it. The people can dispose of their waste. peels, and such in the compost pile and in return, the land is more tidy and the compost nourishes the roots of the crops grown around it. It is brilliant and so easy for any of the Africans to duplicate. For all my farming friends in Idaho, do you realize how valuable your knowledge is? You thought there was no place on the mission field for you. Want to come to Africa?

WATER FOR LIFE-WATER & SANITATION PROJECT Next time you use your indoor toilet, flush it, wash your hands, or get a drink from the kitchen sink; thank God. Not everyone has the luxury of clean water. Clean water is vital. Many illnesses and infections stem from infected water sources. Mercy Ships is working to reduce the incidence of water related diseases by building new wells and deepening current wells. Many people in Africa walk miles to find water. The water they find is not clean, they have to cook over an open fire, so rarely will they take the time to boil their water and let it cool just to get a drink. Mercy Ships is hand digging new wells. The wells are approximately 40 feet deep. This is hard work and scary as Paul, from England and the project leader describes. "Being in a 40 foot pitch dark hole is freaky!" This is a huge project! Again Mercy Ships is encouraging the members from the community to work alongside us. At times this can be very frustrating as Paul explained. He travels to the well sites each day from the ship and at times finds no one there to work. The day I visited one of the well sites, all the men in the village had disappeared. Only women and children remained, no one new where the men went. As much as Paul and our well diggers were willing to do all the work that day, it defeats the purpose of our work. We are working on teaching the men how to dig and care for their wells so they will be able to maintain them once we leave. Some of our wells have hand pumps, but we are working on creating a system with a rope and bucket, but in which the rope stays sanitary. The wells with pumps are incredibly handy, but not when a small part breaks and the people do not know how to fix it. They then return to walking miles and miles to dirty water sources. The part that breaks most often on the hand pumps is a small belt that costs about $5 USD to replace, but even that is too expensive for the villagers. Therefore, we are not only digging new wells in Tenegar, but we are rehabilitating wells dug by other None Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that are no longer functioning because of small broken parts. We are also working on deepening six wells in the area. Many NGOs come in to these villages, quickly dig wells and leave. They are getting money for each well they dig, so the quality of the well is not always their highest priority. A lot of the wells we come across have been dug during the rainy season. The water table is higher at this time, which means you hit water faster, but the wells dry up in dry season because they have not been dug deep enough. We are coming back to these wells and deepening them.

Another aspect of our Water for Life project is working on building latrines for over 50 different homes. One of the first outhouses or toilets we are building is at the local school to serve as a model for students and community members, so they learn what to do with it. Using a toilet and not going to the bathroom on the side of the road seems like common sense and basic knowledge to us, but not here. We are teaching the people to dispose of their human waste in designated areas so they stay healthier and do not infect their water supply.

STRATEGIC HEALTH INITIATIVES-COMMUNITY HEALTH EDUCATION One main focus of Mercy Ships is to bring health and healing to Liberia. I am working on the ship taking care of people who are already ill. It is a great and rewarding job to help in their healing process, but how much better would it be if the people did not have to get sick? A number of our team members are working in Tenegar with the goal of training 50 people the basics of disease prevention and health promotion principles. We conduct weekly training sessions with chosen, respected people from the small communities surrounding Tenegar and they go home to their village and share the information they have learned. We are teaching about topics such as clean water and waste systems, HIV/AIDS, malaria prevention, hand washing, food safety, first aid, basic hygiene and maternal and child health. By teaching a small number of people who teach others, we are hoping the message on how to stay healthy will spread throughout.

LIBERIA SMILES- DENTAL SERVICES

My dentist has a sign in his office that says "if you ignore your teeth; they'll go away." That is the truth. I look at many toothless smiles here in Liberia. People here do not have basic health care let alone dental care. I have cared for many patients here with intense mouth and facial infections that began because of cavities and tooth infections that were never taken care of. That is why our dental team is here. The local hospital has loaned a wing of their hospital to the Mercy Ships dental team. We are providing basic dental education and treatments such as restorations, extractions, and cleanings. We are currently going into the schools teaching children about oral hygiene and working to train at least two Liberian nationals with the skills to be dental assistants and dental hygiene instructors. Maybe I will have the chance to revive my Spanish tooth brushing rap and use it to teach Liberians how to brush their teeth.

FINAL THOUGHTS The trip to Tenegar was amazing and it was encouraging to see everything God is doing through His people. It does not matter what skill you have or if you think you don't have any skills at all. God does incredible things with willing people. The only ability God is look for is availability. Build that house, pour that cement, plant that crop, feed those cows, plunge that toilet, teach those children, answer that phone, type that letter, or deliver the mail.... Let God use you, in this day, in His special way!