I have three days to blog about! Goodness! Well, in a nutshell, these have been the events of the past few days:
On Monday morning, I went down to the hospital warehouse with Meladee. We sorted more medical supplies and spent a lot of time making deliveries to the eye clinic, surgery and apro (another storage facility that circulates the medical supplies). As far as jungle creatures go, the most interesting one I saw down at the warehouse was a rather large lizard…about a foot long with an orange and white striped tail! After dropping more donated books and supplies off in the OR, I met with Keir for my next task. Keir had me program in the different user accounts into the new x-ray machine computer. After creating all the different accounts, I ran to the surgical residents’ library to sort out some books and then I headed up the hill to type up the list.
Talked to Joanna about my laundry problem in the afternoon. My washer smells and my clothes have white fuzzies on them, so we got scared that I had a rat’s nest somewhere in my washing machine. I don’t know if its good news or bad news, but it turns out there is no rat’s nest in my machine. So the source of the fuzzies and stench remains a mystery.
Later in the afternoon, I had the Thelander kids for lessons. On Monday, we finished up all our art projects and made birthday cards for Meladee (another missionary on the station).
Birthday cards for Meladee:
At 5ish, Alexia came over for an English lesson. Alexia is a highschool student and has a beautiful voice. After talking a while, we sang some worship songs together. It was cool to get to know a younger Gabonese girl. She gave me a lot of insights into Gabonese culture and some of the spiritual struggles here. Hopefully I’ll get to see her again before I leave!
Monday night was Omlette Night for Lisa and I. We stuffed our omlettes with salami, tomato, mushrooms, cheese and every good thing we could find. Another success! Then we made my favorite jungle dessert: banana smoothies.
Banana smoothies with Lisa:
Tuesday morning started off with devotions with the hospital staff at 7:30am. Then, I went on rounds with the surgeons. Keir and Anatole did an incredible procedure on a poor little boy who had a dislocated elbow. The poor kid had the elbow dislocated for weeks or even months, so it was stuck out of place. Keir and Anatole proceeded to do a very frustrating and difficult surgery which involved clearing out the joints and trying to manipulate the elbow back into its proper position. It was very difficult and only time will tell how much better the boy’s arm is. I’m praying that he heals completely! The procedure was rather long (compared to most of the procedures at Bongolo) and lasted over five hours.
Elbow surgery:
I couldn’t stay in the OR any longer because I had to go into the village, Lebamba, to do a little grocery shopping. After we got back from town, Lisa, Rachael & I had “Taco Tuesday” at my place. Making tacos in the jungle, is quite a different experience. There is no nearby grocery store and readymade tortillas, so we made our own tortillas and cooked up some ground beef that I bought in town…low and behold, we managed to make jungle tacos!!! We handmade ice cream and made our own hot apple caramel sauce from scratch…delicious. Taco Tuesday was a pretty exhausting process, so we didn’t last that long and I went to bed pretty early.
Handmade tortillas with Lisa & Rachael:
Today was quite the adventure. I went down to the hospital at 8am to drop some boxes off by housing close to the hospital called the “Good Samaritan.” In Africa, we normally burn our garbage, but I know that the women at the Good Samaritan housing are very poor and like to use cardboard boxes for mattresses and other uses. So, Joanna and I piled up her car with boxes and I unloaded them at the Good Samaritan housing. Within five minutes, there were quite a few Mamas walking towards the boxes.
I spent from about 8am-11am organizing the “depot du bloc” (OR storeroom). Rachael joined me at 9:30am. We actually were able to find a home for everything that needed to be put away. Next week, we’d like to refine the organization a bit…organization is a HUGE problem in Gabon because the Gabonese (on the whole) do not keep up organization or understand the point of an organizational system. This makes it very hard for the hospital staff to find what they need or even know they have it.
I was supposed to meet Alexia at 11:30am for English and to sing a little together, but she never showed up…plans always change in Africa ;- )
At 1pm, the kids (Sarah & Luke) and I began our baking extravaganza. Meladee’s birthday is coming up this weekend and the Thelanders and I will be gone (read further for that), so we wanted to celebrate Meladee’s birthday with her. We also made some for Mama Dinah, Papa Jacques and Baby Samuel (he just came home from the hospital today!). We made MILLIONS (literally) of chocolate cupcakes and frosting. Sarah and Luke are great assistants…the three of us did quite a bit of test-tasting along the way, though ;-)
Baking Team:
After delivering our cupcakes, I came home, attacked the dishes (otherwise I will have an influx of ants). Tonight I am packing for Panga!!! Tomorrow through Monday the Thelanders, Rachael and I will be heading to Panga which is six hours further into the middle of nowhere…no internet access, so don’t expect another blog post until Monday night or Tuesday night.
On a more serious note, in an effort to read through the Bible chronologically, I started reading Genesis a few days ago. Yesterday, I read Genesis 7 and today I read Genesis 8. There is really something to be learned from Noah. Besides the fact that he was righteous in a time and era were others were not, Noah obeyed God without hesitation when God asked him to build the ark. Furthermore, Noah TRUSTED God to take care of the DETAILS like bringing two of every kind of animal to the ark. Noah didn't waste time asking God how everything was going to play out or how the animals would come, Noah got right to HIS task (building the ark) and left the details to God. So many times, we as human beings try and micromanage details that are beyond our control and concern. We have to learn to leave details to God and trust him completely...In Genesis 8, the Bible talks about Noah sending out a dove to see if water was still all over the earth or if there was dry land. He had to do this more than once and it shows that Noah learned to trust God's TIMING. He did not get out of the ark until God showed him it was time. So, not only should we trust God with details but we should also trust his perfect timing...In the context of missions Gabon, this is huge. I'm learning from just observing those around me and personal experiences that so many times on the mission field, we have no idea how or when things will pan out, so trust in God is essential. He knows best. He has taken care of the details and his timing is perfect.
No comments:
Post a Comment