Friday

Joyce
Sep 14, 2019
2 min read

Every day the volenteers are invited to have devotions at 8 am at Bill and Laura's house. They have been long term missionary here for 25 years. Bill is a great bible teacher, besides a busy surgeon. We also share all the prayer needs and spend some time praying together before we start our day.

Yesterday Bill was going to do a cleft lip surgery on a 14 year old boy. He said when they first came they had many adults needing the surgery, but now it's mostly little children. So this boy, with a 1 hour surgery will have a whole new look for his face!

We also prayed for a young teen, that had a baby, but couldn't go back home because there was sexual abuse in the home. A mom that not only delivered a still born baby but almost lost her life too. This was her 5th baby so she still has 4 young children at home. She is still not out of the woods. There is a little boy named Titus, who was burned so badly, it's a miracle he is alive, but in so much on going pain. We also prayed for a mom we saw yesterday who's first baby was a still birth, second baby healthy and now this pregnancy, something is seriously wrong. Except for a miracle she will loose this baby too.

So much heartbreak and serious problems. I'm not sure how to put all those emotions together and how do we help those less fortunate in the right way? To see that "new kitchen" at the orphanage. No sink, no counters, no stove, no fridge. But it's new and so nice, because this one has ventilation so the smoke from the indoor fire for cooking can go out. It has room for the children to come in and get their plates filled, and they are getting good food!

After a beautiful walk to the hospital I went to the labor room to find 2 mom's about to deliver. So Cynthia asked me to take over one of them and we did the birth together! It was a mom that had a still birth her first baby and now this was her 2nd. She was early although we didn't know how early, because it is common for due dates to be off here. But the baby cried right away and was about 5 lbs. She had a hard time breastfeeding and working a bit to breath after an hour though, so we moved her in the newborn unit and gave her a bit of help with oxygen and some extra attention.

Now with our labor room empty we were on a mission to go to town and find some baskets to organize things into. So 2 of the nurses and I went to "town"

We found a few baskets, some pads for moms, and a few other useful items by going to several stores.

I had said something about wanting apples and they thought I said pineapple so they brought me to a market!