Tomorrow is the big day...SCREENING DAY...The day when we expect to see around 3000-5000 patients from all over Togo, Ghana, and possibly Benin...The patients come from near and far hoping that we will be able to help them....From the group of patients we see and screen tomorrow, we plan our surgery schedule for our entire stay in Togo. Almost the entire crew from the ship will be on site at a local stadium here in Lomé, Togo, tomorrow, February 1st, to ensure the screening day process is a success! We are running around like crazy getting together all the final details for the big day tomorrow...I just returned from the stadium a few hours ago after an afternoon of setting up things for the big day.
Our security team is already at the stadium and will be all night along with two nurses who are helping assess patients that are already starting to line up (more than 12 hours before the actual triage/screening begins). We have just made over 1000 peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for lunches tomorrow. We are grabbing our water bottles, sunscreen, scrubs, pens, pencils, & hoping to soon hit the hay. The big day starts at 0330 tomorrow morning. It's time to pray for screening day! The need in front of us is always greater than the help we can offer & this year I am in charge of the team that tells patients "yes" or "no." No small task... It's time to pray for screening day!
*Pray for God to receive ALL THE GLORY...It's time to pray for screening day!
*Pray for the right patients to come to us- pray that those we cannot help stay away & that those who have divine appointments with Mercy Ships show up...It's time to pray for screening day!
*Pray against fear- Pray that the patients that have had to hide in the shadows all their life because of fear or rejection & ridicule related to their medical problems...come to us. Pray that the patients in their villages that may be afraid to come because of curses or lies that witchdoctors have told them about us or "white people" will have the courage to come...Pray for those of us who were at screening last year in Sierra Leone, where a riot broke out, will not fear the events of tomorrow...Our history in Togo has shown us that there tends to be a more aggressive spirit in many people we come across in Togo than in other countries...It's time to pray for screening day!
*Pray for health-There has been a recent spread of the stomach flu & bellies that go "fast-fast" (African term for diarrhea) here. The screening team is dropping like flies & we need all hands available to help with (screening, security, food, registration, history taking, vitals, the pharmacy, data entry, lab, x-ray, cleaning crew, children's ministry, translation, prayer team, water team, emergency medical team, communications/photos, drivers, and much more tomorrow)...We are a body....all part of the team...& we need all our team members...It's time to pray for screening day!
*Pray for Brussels...there is some sort of strike situation going on there that is influencing the arrivals & departures of our crew. Some of our crew members that we are eagerly waiting for have been delayed because their flights were through Brussels...we need our team! It's time to pray for screening day!
*Pray that I can go to sleep now & trust God with our screening day!!!