Prayer Room

The other day I wrote a little about the 72-hour prayer room we set up for the nurses. We weren't sure how many people would want to participate, but every slot was full, and the hospital was covered in prayer for 72 hours straight! It was refreshing to come together like that and remember why we're here, doing what we're doing. It was also very unifying - everyone did more than just pray, we all left behind notes and verses and encouragement for the people who would come after us. Last night, when the 72 hours were up, we all got together outside on Deck 7 for a tea party to share our experiences from the past few days. I managed to take a few pictures before they had to take everything down and turn the area back into the storage room it was before.

sign-up sheet, with every slot filled

pictures of patients, surrounded by sticky-notes of prayers and verses

communion was set up the whole time

we are His hands and feet

prayers for people all over the world

tea party :)

72 hours

Thank you everyone for your encouragement and prayers! This week has been better I think, although busy.

Several of us on the wards have felt discouragement the past few weeks, so we've decided to do a 72-hour prayer room for the nurses. We've set up a corner of E ward (which is currently used for storage, rather than patients) as a prayer room, and all the nurses who want to participate have signed up for hour-long slots. It's our goal to cover the hospital in constant prayer for a solid 72 hours. Please join us in praying for our patients, their family members, and all the hospital staff. Everyone needs refreshment and to refocus on God and the real reason we are here. I got up early this morning for the 7:00 time slot, and as soon as I went in and sat down, I could feel such a sense of peace and God's presence. He is in this place, and He is with us. May I never forget that, no matter how burnt-out or frustrated or tired or discouraged I feel.

"And He has said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong."
~2 Corinthians 12:9-10

prison ministry

Saturday I went with a group of 16 or 17 women from the ship to visit the women's prison in Freetown. The prison ministry alternates every other week between the women's and men's prisons. I really didn't know what to expect, but we all had a good time! We did a Bible lesson, sang some praise songs with the inmates, and then worked on crafts/activity pages and just spent time with them for a couple of hours. It was fun getting to know the inmates, even though we couldn't understand each other very well. The women I sat with enjoyed making fun of my miserable attempts at speaking Krio. ;-) I'm not sure exactly what the inmates were in prison for, but we were told that it's often for debt or financial issues. One of the ladies was trying to explain to my friend Rachael why she was there, but because of the language barrier she couldn't find the right words. Rachael told her "It doesn't matter, I'll be your friend anyway" and the lady almost started crying.

Traffic was terrible on the way back to the ship on Saturday - we drove down lots of little streets full of pot-holes for about an hour and a half. I think that during all the bouncing up and down I injured my neck, because for the past 3 days my neck has been hurting more and more and getting really stiff. Right now I can barely turn my head, and I've had a throbbing headache all day. Please, please pray for it to get better soon! My shift on the ward was hard to handle today, with energetic kids climbing up my legs and squealing in my ears - I just kept getting tenser and tenser until I took a break, ran down the hall to my cabin and cried for about 10 minutes. Then I had a cup of tea and was able to get through the rest of my shift. But I've called in sick for tomorrow, and will probably go to the crew clinic in the morning. I'd really appreciate your prayers right now.

prayer updates

Thank you to those who prayed about the O2! They must have fixed the problem, because surgeries went as scheduled today. We sent 6 patients to the OR from my ward today - I work in D Ward, which is the Maxillo-facial unit, or "max/fax."

I'd appreciate prayers for good health. Over 400 crew members living quite literally on top of each other turns this place into a petri dish, and I've come down with a cold that's been going around.

still adjusting

Hello everyone. Yes, I'm still alive. Sorry I haven't blogged recently. It's been a very busy week, and the times that my schedule's not packed, I'm completely worn out. Last Tuesday and Wednesday were full of meetings and paperwork, Thursday and Friday were my orientation shifts on the ward. Saturday I took a day to read, rest, and work on paperwork.

Sunday I was going stir-crazy after not having been off the ship all week, so I went for a walk in Freetown with some new friends. The streets are very busy, dirty, and crowded, but it was good to get out and stretch my legs. We saw the famous Cotton Tree (google it) in the center of town, and a church nearby that was established in 1808. I was thankful for the people I went out with, because at one point one of them grabbed my arm and yanked me out of the way of a car, which passed by within a couple of inches of me. We walked through the craft market, but it was emptier than usual, so I'm told, it being Sunday.

Some first impressions of work on the ward: every change of shift the nurses all pray together, for each other and for the patients. When taking a patient to surgery the ward nurse and OR nurse both pray with him beforehand. We sing songs with our patients in the middle of the day, show movies, and take them outside on Deck 7 to get some fresh air at 3 pm. While people in the western culture value individuality and privacy and would hate to even be in a shared room, the Sierra Leoneans are all about community and being in each other's lives, and having them all in the same room (ward) isn't a problem at all. When I go to work at home I usually hit the ground running as soon as I clock in, and have a million things to do all day long. Here we might have a few meds to give, tube feedings and dressing changes to do, but there is much more time available to develop relationships and spend time with our patients.

That's it for now. I'll try to post again soon. One difficulty we encountered today was a problem with the air compressors on the ship, resulting in no oxygen supply in the operating room, thus no surgeries today. Pray that the problem is resolved quickly. Thanks friends!

current prayer needs

As Sunday quickly approaches, I have many things to pray about, and would like prayer for. Two big ones come to mind:

First, pray for everything to go smoothly with my travel. That I'll pack everything I need, but be concise. That I won't lose my passport, money, or any of my travel documents. That my luggage will all arrive to the same place I do (lots of people lose their luggage, so I'm preparing for that possibility). That I'll find where I need to go in the airports and flights won't be delayed to the point of missing other flights. And above all, that I will represent Christ to the people I travel with, and make the most of every opportunity for the gospel (Col. 4:5-6).

Second, please pray for my health. I woke up Sunday morning with a sore throat that still hasn't gone away, and I don't quite feel myself. I've been loading up on vitamin C, drinking lots of hot tea, and getting as much sleep as I can. I'd really like to be on the mend by the time I fly out. Also pray that I don't have any crazy side effects from the anti-malaria medicine I started taking last week. I'm on Larium, and common side effects are anxiety, agitation, horrible nightmares, and hallucinations. They say the longer you're on the medicine, the greater your chances of having some of these side effects, so this will be an on-going prayer for me as I continue to take it over the next 6 months. If I do go off the deep end from taking it, it won't be the end of the world; I can see the crew physician on-board and he can switch me over to Doxycycline if necessary.

Thank you so much for your prayers and encouragement!

Learning How to Pray

I have lots of pictures to post, from the costume party and my drive from Colorado to Nevada. However, I'm not on my own computer at the moment, so for now I'm just going to share something from my Bible reading/journaling today. It's kind of long, and scattered and random, but there are about 5 more pages of scattered, unwritten thoughts banging around in my head. Just wanted to share some of the ones I actually wrote down.

"When you pray, say: 'Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Give use each day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins, For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation'...So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." Luke 11:2-9

Jesus' disciples had asked Him how to pray, and that was his response. Here are some observations I made on it. Components, or guidelines, of prayer include:
-Acknowledging the holiness of God
-Hoping for His kingdom to be established
-Asking for what you need right now - daily bread, not weekly bread, or monthly, or yearly
-Asking for forgiveness - realizing your sinfulness and need for forgiveness
-Forgiving those who are indebted to you, or have wronged you
-Requesting help to avoid temptation, in order to prevent future sin
-Be persistent - in the ask, seek, and knock verse, my Bible had notes expanding on that, to say "keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking." He didn't say how long to keep asking - He just says (or implies) to not stop. "Somehow, I think he [Aslan] likes to be asked" (one of the Narnia books)
-A reminder that our heavenly Father loves to give good things to His children (vs 11-13)

How much my prayers would change if I followed these guidelines every time! I praise God through song at church, but seldom do I verbalize His holiness in my prayers. And I don't often think about His kingdom, or how I am to help establish it. Often my prayers mostly consist of requests, I'm sorry to say. The concept of asking only for what I need right now, today, is hard to grasp sometimes. I love security too much. I want to know that I'm taken care of today, and tomorrow, and next week, and next year. I think that while it's wise to think about and plan for the future, I often rely on my own plans more than I rely on God to take care of me from one day to the next. Asking Him only for what I need today would help me to focus on the moment, to live for whatever is happening right now, instead of always thinking about the future. I don't even know for certain if God is going to give me a tomorrow - all I know is that He's given me a today. Asking for forgiveness - I do include that one, but not on a regular basis. Although I know I am forgiven without even asking, sometimes if I don't adress my sins specifically before God, I end up dwelling on them and becoming overwhelmed with feelings of guilt, which then get in-between me and God. Forgiving everyone - now there's a tough one. "Love keeps no account of wrongs" (1 Cor. 13) - but I do, all the time. If I were to forgive people daily - either tell them or tell God, or both - I think I would end up with a much greater capacity to love. Anticipating future temptation, and realizing that I will need the Lord's help to avoid it, would definitely help. So many times I look at other people who have "sinned so greatly," and I think "what an idiot. I would never do something like that. I'm above such things." I forget that we are all sinners, and I am just as capable of doing hideous things as anybody else (not to mention my pride in thinking I'm better than anyone else). God promises not to let me encounter any temptation I am not equipped to deal with (1 Cor. 10:13), but if I don't even acknowledge that I'm capable of succumbing to temptation, then I'm just setting myself up for failure. Persistence is definitely something I struggle with. When I pray for someone and don't see any evidence of change, after awhile I often give up and stop praying altogether. I say, "what's the point? They're never going to change. They've resisted God for so long - what can He do about it?" How quickly I forget my God's power! He is the God who softened Pharaoh's heart, the God who holds this whole crazy world together, the God who used a brutul killer to write most of the New Testament and spread the gospel throughout Europe! I also forget His love. I forget that He is my Daddy, and he loves to give good things to His kids even more than my earthly Dad loves to take care of me. So...lots of thoughts about prayer. I'm going to try to change the way I pray. It'll take some time and persistence I think. We'll see how it goes.

Bravo to you if you actually read through this whole jumbled mess. :)

learning to breathe

"Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." ~1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

i've always loved these verses, but always found them challenging. i mean, think about it: "always," "without ceasing," "in everything." seems a little extreme and unattainable. the devo i read yesterday gave me a little different perspective on it. still challenging, but makes a little more sense.

"Our thinking about prayer, whether right or wrong, is based on our own mental conception of it. The correct concept is to think of prayer as the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts. Our blood flows and our breathing continues "without ceasing"; we are not even conscious of it, but it never stops. And we are not always conscious of Jesus keeping us in perfect oneness with God, but if we are obeying Him, He always is." ~Oswald Chambers