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Friday, June 21, 2013

Urgent Prayer Request Part 2

My heart breaks to write these kinds of messages.

This past week has been one of emotional ups and downs. I have spent 4 of the last 7 days in African hospitals. You know this is my least favorite place to be. I HATE hospitals in Africa but what I hate even more is having to be there with a loved one.


Many of you will remember my dear Bessie. She is the nurse who selflessly dedicated herself to helping me care for Elliott. She stayed in the house with us and accompanied me to Yaounde for his treatment because I don't speak French. Last week she woke up in excruciating pain and her right leg numb. We took her to the hospital on Friday morning and discovered what we thought was abnormalities with both of her kidneys. On Monday we traveled to Douala to a more sophisticated hospital with better equipment to take a better look. Ironically, we were back at the same place that did Elliott's MRI. (There is only 1 working machine in the country) It was surreal to walk through those doors and see many of the same faces I saw a year ago. Walking into the room with the MRI machine literally took my breath away. My mind immediately flashed back to the day we brought Elliott into this same room with the very same technicians. Bessie was there by my side to offer support and help in any way needed. On Monday, the roles were reversed and she was the patient and I was supposed to be giving moral support.

My mind raced. I switched back and forth from prayers and asking the tech a million questions. My heart was broken. I never thought I would be inside that room again and especially not with Bessie. At some point I switched to an attitude of gratefulness. When walking through Elliott's journey, I never had an idea that I would need to go back to Douala for treatment for anyone. However, Because of his journey, we were able to get quality care quickly for Bessie in an emergency. I would have never known where to go or what to do if I didn't have experience. This is one more way that I am choosing to believe that Elliott's life is making a difference long past his time here on earth. I am also choosing to walk in faith and gratefulness.

Since my original message, Bessie has received 6 ultrasounds, 2 MRI's and a CT Scan with contrast. In an incredible outpouring of God's favor one of her MRI's and her CT Scan were done for FREE! THIS IS A HUGE BLESSING AND VIRTUALLY UNHEARD OF HERE IN CAMEROON. Patients are not seen without first paying everything up front. We have been very blessed with the quality of her care and Doctor's who are concerned and working for her good. This is also rare in Cameroon. Many Doctor's don't try to find answers, they send you on your way with a prescription for pain pills and that is that. I'm so grateful that this isn't the case right now. We have discovered that she has 2 gallstones, 3 Fibroids, a mass in her right kidney that is blocking her uretur and causing her kidney to be enlarged, her left kidney seems to be fine and there is another problem with her right kidney that they have yet to identify. The Radiologist is working diligently to give us a proper diagnosis and we are to return to Douala on Monday to hopefully get the final diagnosis. They have told us that if they can't figure it out, she will need to be sent to Europe for a diagnosis and treatment.

We DESPERATELY NEED YOUR PRAYERS. Bessie is in pain but she is in good spirits. We also need your financial help. We have spent about $1200.00 so far and we are spending $100 per day for transportation each time we travel to Douala.(3 times this week alone and we are headed back on Monday)  At this point I can't begin to estimate what her medical expenses will be. I have to trust that as God lays it on your heart to give, we will have what we need. Many of you have asked about my financial needs for Kenya and for coming back to the US this summer. I would ask that you defer any gift you were making for these trips to help cover Bessie's medical costs. Though I want to make both of these journeys, I will not until we know that Bessie is ok. At this juncture she needs an advocate, a big support system and friends.

Any gift that you can give will be helpful. You can donate online at http://hisbodyministries.blogspot.com. All donations are 100% tax deductible and you will be helping to save a life! Thanks so much to you who have already given to make the first MRI possible!

Thank you for all of your support for me, our ministry and the people of Cameroon that I have come to know and love.

Please continue to pray for Bessie, her family and for me that I keep my head on straight and stay focused during this time. I'll send out updates as I have more info!

Friday, June 14, 2013

Urgent Prayer Request and Financial need


  • Urgent Prayer Request and Financial need!

    I have spent the entire day in 2 hospitals with the nurse who moved in to help us take care of Elliott and has continued to live with us for all of our mental health purposes.

    She has problems with both kidneys and at least 1 Fibroid Tumor. We need to have an MRI on Monday to see what else is going on. She is likely going to have surgery but we are unsure at this time.
    We need to raise about $2500.00 immediately. The MRI is 700 and the transportation to Douala is 100.00 This is what we know we need for Monday. She is sure to have more tests and medication and the Doctors consultation fees. I want to try to have as much on hand as we can because the hospitals will not see you without paying upfront.

    I will also be sending an email update if I can get the email to open. It took more than 15 minutes just to get signed into FB. We are having problems city wide with internet right now.

    We are trusting God for a miracle in her case. Her right kidney had problems 10 years ago and she had an operation but we are not sure of what the surgeon did. This is looking like the same issue but worse.

    Any help you can give is appreciated. Please donate using the button at the top of this page.
     

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Kenya Update



God never ceases to amaze me and each time He does something spectacular, I’m left wondering why I’m so surprised. He is God after all. Sherri and I are just returning from a month in Kenya. We traveled to 5 different cities and experienced something phenomenal in all of them. I will attempt to share a few of the highlites.


We visited a Children’s Home/Orphanage that literally took my breath away. There were almost 500 children that were extremely well behaved, well disciplined and knew where they were going in life. Our first real encounter with the children was participating in their Intercessory Prayer time. The kids lead everything themselves. They didn’t have an adult coming to tell them it’s time to start, now do this or that… Nope, each child is led by the Holy Spirit and I was in awe. These kids worship with their entire being. They pour themselves out to God and each other in a way that I can’t describe to you with words. During our first prayer time with them, the tears ran freely down my face. (okay, if I’m 100% honest, tears ran down my face with pretty much every encounter them)They were tears of joy and I was humbled by the purity and the sincerity of the words coming out of the mouths of those sweet children. My heart kept saying, Surely the Presence of the Lord is in this place. These are children who truly love God and believe that He loves them and will do absolutely anything for them. It was so refreshing to experience the Presence of the Lord with little children. Tears are forming as I write this.
 In an incredible twist of almost everything I have seen in orphanages around the world, they also have an intense love the people who are caring for them. Foyer La Providence in Haiti is the only other place I have seen the children love their caretakers so intensely and you can see and feel the love as you walk around.
We were able talk with the directors, staff and older children who were very forthcoming about how things work there, how they finance the place with 500 children and they only have 78 of the kids sponsored.  We also got plenty of ideas for how we will run our own Children’s Home in the future. 
Maasai Land was my next favorite part. It was such a delight to go and worship with the Maasai people. I don’t speak Kiswahili but worshipping with them was surreal. This particular tribe has only been introduced to the Gospel since 1993. They are relatively new Christians but their hunger for the Lord and their love for Him is breathtaking. We sang, they danced and shared testimonies about what God has done for them. My heart was overwhelmed. When I was there 2 years ago, the Pastor told me that the greatest need they had was for the word of God.  This village of about 200 has only 4 people who can read and those same 4 can also speak English. They had a few Bibles in their language and the few people who could read would take turns sharing the word with the other villages throughout the week. I was able to find Kiswahili audio Bibles that are solar powered. (no electricity in the entire village – they are EXTREMELY remote) The smiles on the people’s faces when they saw the Bibles were priceless… The bigger smile on Pastor Zack’s face as they listened to the word in their language was even better. He walked around with the Bible listening and showing us around. A small group of people were gathered at the house we were visiting and they sat and listened in awe. What a blessing. I can’t describe it. My heart has memories of sitting under the trees with some of the ladies of the village sharing stories from the Bible with them and answering their questions. I can’t wait to get back and do it all over again!
The final part of our trip was bittersweet. We ended up extending our trip by a few weeks. There was another Missionary in another city 8 hours away that was in need of some serious help. She runs a rescue home for children rescued from sex slavery. After being up all night in prayer for her and the children, Sherri and I decided to make the trip to assist in any way that we could. Overwhelmed is the only word that I can use to describe how I felt when we were told some of the stories of the girls and some of the issues that the house mom’s had been working through. I had my own meltdown while we were there… These girls are mere children. The youngest was 9 years old and the oldest was 20. (the ones we met, I’m sure there are many ages out there.) Some of them had been on the streets since the tender age of 6. THIS IS NOT O.K. Many of them had been sold into prostitution by family members and they “worked” to provide food and shelter for themselves and their families. There are many reasons why these kids are “working girls” but none of the reasons are o.k.  Men and women from all over the world fly to this city just to be able to have cheap sex. (something like $.50 for an encounter) The fact that this can go on and the local government knows about it and turns a blind eye or even participates in it makes my stomach churn. While walking on the beach, attempting to talk to God, I was propositioned numerous times. Anger, despair and hopelessness filled me at times.
Even with all of the horrible stories and the realities of the situation of this city, those girls were precious. They were loving and giddy and happy to be in a home with their “Mama.” I use the quotes only because Mama B. isn’t their biological mother or even legal mother but she is and always will be their Mom. The work that God has done in them over the last year is nothing short of a miracle. The girls are learning who God is, who He says they are and that their bodies are temples of the most high. It was wonderful to hear the stories of how they learned about God and when they began to understand what it means to worship and how they pour their hearts out to God during their worship time. I hope I am around in a few years as they are sharing their testimonies all over the world and are working to stop sex slavery. They will all be used powerfully by the Lord I am so sure! Please be in prayer for these precious children and Mama B. who is working tirelessly to help these girls have a better future. Because this is a public blog, I am not sharing the city or any identifying info about the girls. I don’t want to provide any sicko’s out there who don’t already know about this horrible place the opportunity to hurt any more children. I also don’t have permission from Mama B. to share all the stories. In the long run, it doesn’t matter. God knows who they are and when you pray for Mama B. and her girls. He knows the needs. My personal selfish “need” is that I want to go back and help Mama B and the girls. Another friend of mine will be joining me in Cameroon in July and then will be heading to Kenya to help out. She had invited me to go with her several months ago and now the burden in me to help is overwhelming. I need to raise about $1,500 to make the trip back in July.  If you feel led to help, please message me or donate through the donate button at the top of the blog.
My time with God was surreal the entire visit in Kenya. He continued to reinforce who I am in Him and He gave me so many glances into my “assignments” for the future. More than anything this visit helped me to see who I am in Him and the call that He has placed on my life. It’s huge and overwhelming. There were many times, I felt like, God, I can’t do this. I felt like He was saying, no, you can’t but I can if you are willing to allow me to use you. I’m willing, but I would be lying if I didn’t say that it’s overwhelming. There are many times I look at the ideas that God gives me and the people that He has me helping and I’m like, Whoa, this is a whole lot. There is so much to be done and I’m just not sure… The good thing is I don’t have to do it alone. I have the Lord, I have people on the ground helping and I have all of YOU! I’m so thankful that He has made us partners on this journey and He has equipped all of us to do our part.
My heart is overwhelmed with the blessings of the Lord. This trip to Kenya has taught me so much about myself and how to do the assignments that God has given me much better. Thank you for being a part of this journey. Thank you for loving me and “my kids” around the world. Thank you for listening to the Lord and doing what He tells you. I was visiting with my girls in the orphanage in Cameroon tonight. One of them asked me, Auntie, how is that you are able to help us? My answer, there are many people around the world who love the Lord, they also love me and are kind enough to listen to my stories about you. Because they love the Lord and believe in what I do, they also love YOU. They are willing to sacrifice money and time to help because of LOVE. Her answer to me, I want to be one of those people Auntie. I love the Lord and I want to be able to show love to others too. Will you help me so that I can love too?
Never underestimate how YOUR love is making a difference all over the world. Your sacrifices of time to pray for me and my kids, taking the time to read this blog or email update, making a trip to the store to buy an item to donate or digging through your kids things they never use, giving financially or volunteering at a VBS is changing the lives of people you may never meet. People are coming to know Christ for who He really is. They are finding their identity in Him. Girls are stopping sex for pay and People are learning to love like God loves. This is how we will change nations and God’s Kingdom will come here on earth.
THANK YOU!