Sunday, February 5, 2012
A refreshing weekend in Guinea
The last two days have been good for rest, study, and time to get to know the folks at Hope who God is using mightily. Saturday and Sunday mornings began with rounds on the Inpatient Ward. This has allowed me to get to know these pts more personally as we educate them concerning the healing process and share laughter together as they begin to accept my presence here as their physician. Saturday included a short trip to Lola, a nearby town, to visit a young couple with 3 small children who recently were led by God to relocate here in order to translate the Bible into one of the local dialects. Sunday allowed for a chance to worship at the church in the local village of N'Zao. The children's choir was outstanding and the drums were LOUD! It was awesome to watch people worship the Lord without concern for what others might think. A couple was presented before the church who had recently converted from Islam and had been forced to move to N'Zao because of persecution in their home town. The leaders of the church exhorted the congregation to support this couple with prayer, money, food, or whatever resources they had. My friend, Jairus, the anesthetist, gave the message from Matt 14 about Christ and Peter walking on the water. It was a powerful message, and a great example of how leaders in the church must be willing to teach.
I hope this afternoon to have time to "go shopping" in the warehouse in order to identify available resources for repair of a femur fx. I have had contact with one of my ortho colleagues in The Dalles, who has provided me with valuable advice and encouragement. We hope to do the repair on Wed of this week, giving this young man ample time to heal from his amputation. This week poses to be a challenging and busy week-- which is my personal preference.
It is 90 degrees and dry here, much like July in The Dalles, and I am continually grateful for the fan in my room which allows for a comfortable environment to study and sleep. Stephen and Lori Albright are my host family while here. Stephen is the Hope administrator. Lori has been feeding me well and assures that all is well. Pray for this couple and their daughter, Hannah, that God will provide strength, health, and wisdom each day.
Again, I'm indebted to all of you who have been so kind to send notes of encouragement and uphold me and the Hope Staff in regular prayer. This would be a much different experience without your support. God bless, Jeff
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Well, I sent you a message this afternoon and now it's 10 p.m. and my message disappeared. I'm certainly not blog savy yet either. What a great weekend...rest, worship, enjoying people. I would have loved to hear the children's choir. We think we still have the cassette tape of the Haitian people singing in their church service in the '80's...sweet memories. I hope your "shopping" in the warehouse was successful too.:) As you enter a new week, please know that we will be praying. May the Lord will give you compassion, wisdom, skill, and steady hands. I'm reminded that as the Creator of life, God has made every "body" you will touch this week, and He has the "Hands of the Healer". Simply trusting Jesus. Love, Mom
ReplyDeleteHey Mom, Yeah, the singing style here is reminiscent of our time in Haiti. "Shopping" in the warehouse was fairly successful, but will do a little more research today when the warehouse manager is present. I do feel refreshed this am. Just got done Skypeing Jen and the older two boys--also a good way to start a week. This will be a challenging week surgically, but as you have stated, The Creator of all is willing to go beside us if we are willing to ask. This has been a peaceful experience, despite the challenges. Thx for your faithful prayers and encouraging notes. Have a great day. Love ya both, Jeff
ReplyDeleteOh man good buddy I wish I could go and listen to that choir sing. I am getting a lump in my throat just thinking about the holy spirit moving through those little kiddos with the beautiful voice. Church was great yesterday, pastor Doug did a wonderful job describing the Church, Membership, and baptism at a rather simple level. I think he will be delving more into it in the next couple weeks. Super bowl sucked, the team I wanted to win didn't, and the game was boring. The most exciting play was a 38 yard catch down the sideline. Seriously...that was it. Very boring. The commercials were OK, there was a few good ones. The most entertaining part was the halftime show and Madonna and her enterouge (spelling??) with all her lip singing. Other then that the wings were awesome, you missed out there, but I will probably have a few left still by the time you get home:)
ReplyDeleteCertainly wasn't the same without you and the fam over to watch, but that is OK< we will make it up later.
I am glad your internet is back up, I was getting worried bc you hadn't written for a few days. I like to hear how your doing. Well, I have to scream into the ear of my Hard of Hearing patient, I am losing my voice on this patient, she's killing me. But, I am helping her and that is "hands and feet" baby.
Good luck on that femur, I will be praying that the picture above the OR is correct, and that Jesus will be next to you guiding your hands on that case.
Good Luck, God Bless, Miss you
Your BIC, Ryan
Hey man! I'm glad church went well there as well. We are well overdue for some refresher courses concerning all the areas you listed. I'm glad Doug is willing to teach those topics. It will be valuable instruction for many.
DeleteHad an insane day here. Saw 12 new consults and did two cases on a day when we aren't supposed to do surgery. I also inherited a pt with a tib/fib fx today, and will be seeing a broken wrist pt on Friday. Unbelievably frenetic pace-- it was awesome! It will be cool to actually do a real general surgery case here soon. It's all been ortho, and gynecology for the most part. Now I know what it means to be a true general surgeon.
Thx for the love and encouragement, it definitely is timely. Say hi to Linds and the girls. Matty