Saying goodbye to a patient

I am working on A ward as I write this update. It's a quiet night. We have 7 patients between the two of us, me and my coworker. I miss the last VVF patient that left yesterday. She had been here for over a month, getting dressing changes a few times a day. Since she came, her english has improved quite a bit. I had the chance to be her nurse on and off while she's been here and had a few opportunities to pray with her. She had a VVF repair, and was still leaking after the surgery and has an open wound that will take a while to heal. She is older, in her early 60's I would guess. She had started to get tearful and wanting to go home. After all, a modern hospital ship is not her normal environment nad too far for her loved ones to come and see her. Fortunately, one of the nurses realized after praying with her, that she lives in the same town that has a clinic where a few midwives were trained on VVF care. They came to the mercy ship and learned from the nurses here. So she finally got to go home and have the medical care that she needs. Praise God! We can only do so much and then we have to step back and remember that it is God who said He will look after the orphans and the widows.

As I was giving her a hug goodbye and telling her how I will miss her, she wrapped her arms right around me and we prayed. And I realized in a new and deeper way how important relationships are. Even if they are short. That God is pleased when we share our lives with one another and give of ourselves even when it would be easier to stand back at a distance and not be vulnerable. That is still a little stretching for me. To love with Gods love and that holds nothing back. Please pray for her, that her wound will heal without complication, that she will have all the supplies she needs, and that God will send people to watch over her.

A trip to the hotel...

Hi! Things have been going pretty well. This past weekend, I worked 12 hour day shifts on the ward. We spent a lot of time talking and getting to know the patients, it was good. I was tired by Monday, though, and rested most of the day. Yesterday, I went to the market, bought some fabric to have a sun dress made at the tailors. I forget how exausting it is to go out into Liberia. Fun, but tiring. Its a city of a think 1 million people, after all, it is the capital city of Liberia, and there are more jobs in the city. So there are plenty-plenty people everywhere, its loud, lots of horns honking, music blaring, young men hollaring at us their affections. My favorite from yesterday was, "Hello, how are you? Fine? I looove you." another one, "Hi, I want to marry you". After some shopping, we walked up the hill and there is a big hotel that was really nice and beautiful before the war, and during the war it was ruined, but the structure of the building is still there, so we went up and had a tour of it. Here are a few pictures from the hotel. I guess it is now owned by the Libyan government, there was 2 security gaurds there, supposedly to keep people from living in the building and to show the visitors the grounds. We talked to a few people who live in the surrounding houses, who lived there during the war. Below is a picture of the hotel on the hill- its a view from the mercy ship.

A few views from the top floor of the hotel:

These other tall buildings were also damaged during the war.

Unfortunately, its not appropriate to take pictures up close within the city of houses, people, ect. So this is a small taste of Liberia from 8 stories up. :) Looking at some of the destruction of the war, I'm reminded of a quote by a teenage boy in a video we watched on the ship called "Sliding Liberia", he said, (and I'm paraphrasing) "when I was a boy, I thought the rebels were animals or monsters of the forest, I didn't realize they were human beings because of the terrible things they were doing. I didn't think people would do those things to each other!"

I am thankful the war is over in Liberia, and that they are in a rebuilding season. I'm glad I never lived through that.

This week I had the opportunity to go visit the Mission of Charity, an international organization started by Mother Theresa, to care for those who are critically/terminally ill. They have a children's ward, a women's ward and a mens ward. They have varying illnesses such as HIV/AIDS, TB, or other debilitating stuff. They are given medicines to treat symptoms, ect. I went to the women's ward, and we had a time of singing Liberian worship music, some of the women ended with dancing, too. I cannot tell you what it is like to see women who are terminally ill and in a room with 14 other women all day singing and praising G0d. Singing things like, "I worship you, Papa, Thank you, O papa", "If you see me singing, if you see me clapping, if you see me dancing, it is the favor of God". They are not praising God because of their circumstance, but because of who God is. Then a short discussion on asking god to give us pure hearts, and trusting Jesus with the sins in our hearts, that he will take them away and give us a new heart like His.

Then we did a craft with them with that mesh plastic type thing that you put the yarn on- I don't know what you call it! But we did cross shaped design. At first I was a little intimidated -What do you do or say to these women? But soon I was helping a few of them with their crafts. One lady (a teenager) said she needed help, that she was unable to sew it because she had a bad wrist. She was coughing pretty bad, looked really thin, and had a respiratory rate of 45 (sorry, the nurse in me had to count). So after sitting with her and not talking to much for about 45 minutes, she showed me a picture of her son, one year old. She said his father died, and the baby was with her mother. She missed him. In that small sentence is a world of pain for her.

A part of me saw the infection control risk- yes, 15 women in the same room, some have TB, in the US we'd all be screaming and calling the health department. Where are the fitted masks and negative pressure room!? I think of all the fomites for those TB droplets. And then I see the people in the beds, the individuals who smile and sing and hope of heaven. I see them in a room with their friends. They are clean, they have shelter, they have food. Jesus many times reached out to the lepers, who everyone else was afraid to touch. He was not afraid.

Then in the afternoon on Wednesday, I went to observe a surgery in the OR. It was an eight year old with a tumor about the size of a clementine orange in her parotid glad. It was wrapped up in her facial nerve, so the surgery went pretty long. It was neat though to watch. I won't go into detail for the sake of the squeemish. At the end, the doctor thought it was probably malignant by the looks of it but they will send it for testing. A lot of times, if they do find burketts lymphoma (frequent childhood cancer) here, they can send the kid to a local hospital and mercy ships pays for the chemotherapy which is 80-90% effective. That was encouraging to hear.

Samaritans Purse came and visited yesterday, they ate dinner with us and we gave them a tour of the ship. Then they stayed for church, it was so fun. The hospital wards here have been pretty busy. So today, I plan on resting and watching some of the office-Season 3 :) It's waffle day at Starbucks.

Pictures from my weekend in Roberts Port, Liberia

A cozy ride...

Below you see one of the more broken bridges

We fit 6 people and a taxi driver in a taxi for 3 hours... it was bonding time for sure. We caught a ride back from Roberts Port with people serving with Samaritans Purse, and their vehicle broke down, it was fun times. Hopefully they will come and visit us on the ship this week. Notice the rainbow in the picture above :) Overall, it was really nice to get off the ship for a night, and be outdoors.

Beautiful Liberian Sunset from the ship

Psalm 19

The Message Bible -a poetic modern translation of the Bible

1God's glory is on tour in the skies, God--craft on exhibit across the horizon.
2Madame Day holds classes every morning,Professor Night lectures each evening.
3Their words aren't heard,their voices aren't recorded,
4But their silence fills the earth:unspoken truth is spoken everywhere.
God makes a huge domefor the sun--a superdome!
5The morning sun's a new husbandleaping from his honeymoon bed,The daybreaking sun an athleteracing to the tape.
6That's how God's Word vaults across the skiesfrom sunrise to sunset,Melting ice, scorching deserts,warming hearts to faith.
7The revelation of GOD is wholeand pulls our lives together.The signposts of GOD are clear and point out the right road.
8The life--maps of GOD are right,showing the way to joy.The directions of GOD are plain and easy on the eyes.
9GOD's reputation is twenty-four-carat gold,with a lifetime guarantee.The decisions of GOD are accurate down to the nth degree.
10God's Word is better than a diamond,better than a diamond set between emeralds.You'll like it better than strawberries in spring,better than red, ripe strawberries.
11There's more: God's Word warns us of danger and directs us to hidden treasure.
12Otherwise how will we find our way?Or know when we play the fool?
13Clean the slate, God, so we can start the day fresh! Keep me from stupid sins,from thinking I can take over your work;Then I can start this day sun-washed,scrubbed clean of the grime of sin.
14These are the words in my mouth;these are what I chew on and pray.Accept them when I place them on the morning altar,O God, my Altar-Rock,God, Priest-of-My-Altar.

A great day

Today I went to visit a friend that I met. He lives at his house in Liberia, but works on the ship as a medical translator. His name is Dennis -below in the light blue shirt. He wants to be a doctor and is training to work on Mercy ships as a crew member. He took us to his house to visit his family. They live about 20 minutes from the ship. His father is blind, which I did not know, but they were so nice to us. It was such an amazing opportunity to go with him through the community. People didn't look at us as much as strangers, but because he took us there, we were so welcomed! He brought out chairs for us and we sat outside and we were welcomed "African Style", with cola nut and spices and salt. Wow was it spicy! But I felt so warmly welcomed!

All the neighborhood kids gathered around and they were laughing at me :) I said hi to one little girl, and she screamed and ran away. A few of the other girls kept giggling when we looked at them. It was funny. I love being here! I love going to visit my friends in Liberia.

They sent us home with so much wonderful fruit. Avacados, things like baby mango's, coconut, cucumber, oranges and lemons. This one says, Welcome to Liberia, our home... on the other side it says "The joy of the Lord shall be your strength". How this family blessed us, they do not know.

Random pictures