Throughout the Day

We began each day during the work week at 7:00 am. All hospital employees crammed into the administration buildings conference room. Promptly at 7:00 a.m. someone would begin signing a song.... "Tue a lay o cure tay la vi"..... boisterous singing would commence. The official work day in Impfondo begins at this time, and what a gift to take the time to begin the work day in this manner.

After a song or two, an employee reads a chapter from the Bible. While we were there we read from Judges, Daniel, Genesis, Revelation... They read the scripture in French, and when a word was pronounced incorrectly everyone, okay maybe not everyone, but a handful of people would correct the pronunciation. It was very important to everyone that the scripture was read properly.

After the reading, Dr.Harvey, Dr.Fuka, Pastor Eyvonne, or Pastor Jean-Pierre gave a lesson on what we can take from this. Then there was time for questions. Marie -Rose, an amazing woman who I need to write more about, ALWAYS had a question, and really good questions. You know when you can tell that someone wants to learn, really really wants to learn, that they apply not only their time, and effort, but their mind too... that is Marie-Rose. I always appreciated her questions because they challenged me to think deeper and wider, to question what the message is in the passage.

After questions, prayer, and then the medical staff would stay while the rest of the employees (guards, maintence, custodial, and administrative) would move on to their work duties. The medical staff stayed and the night shift nursing staff reported on the current status of the patients. All of this was done in Frangala (French and Lingala). Sometimes Sean translated for me by writing, or Ginny would translate. By the end of our time there, I could "catch" the general jist of most things.

After morning report, Sean rounded on patients with Dr.Harvey, Dr. Fuka, or himself depending on the day. It felt natural after a while to openly pray with each patient, or pray for the patients collectivly in each building. When asked the patients shared their concerns, and it was remarkable what a touch, smile, or prayer (even if done in English) meant to the individual.When I first met this young girl, she NEVER smiled. She had a very uncomfortable rash over her entire body, creating swelling in her lymph nodes, and feeling itchy all over her body. After spending a few moments with her for a couple days in a row, she would give me a shy smile when I walked by, then I couldn't resist but to come and just be with her. I prayed for her and her family (her younger sister was in the hospital as well with malnutrition). I love this young girl... she just needed a little encouragment to allow her joy to shine.... even still (it's small here in this picture... but I'm certainly happy! ) Sean examining a new baby, after taking her C-section. Even the smallest interest, touch, care, words, smile, can make such a difference. Even here, being home in Indiana, what can our smiles do, maybe alot, if we let it be used... and I hope to.

A guard walked through the hospital grounds ringing a bell at 9:45 every morning calling for paitents and family members to come to chaple at 10:00. Around 10:05 you can hear a resounding sound of joyful songs again, and the beat of the passionate playing of the drum.

I write all of this in greater detail because after reflecting since being away from this daily routine, I realized that we were living "church" each day. Church isn't just the thing you go to on Sunday, or the people that make up the infrastructure, church is so much greater than that. My church is how I live out and experience LOVE, God's love, through each day. Doesn't mean it is always pretty, always easy, always nice and fuzzy.... but always real. These people were real, and I was challenged to seek the face of God each day in so many different ways. Through beginning the day with praise, teaching, and questions. Through seeing faces of pain, hunger, hurt, and still reaching the inner most joy of the people in the hospital. Through thankfulness of what is offered to me... Church is greater than I imagine... When I hear a bell... what is it calling me for?

H.E.L.P. me with an abortion...

Stop worrying right now... I am not asking for your help with an abortion!
This is an email that I received this weekend from Ginny and Jean-Pierre, who are 2 missionaries at Hospital Evangelique Le Pioneer (H.E.L.P.) , the hospital where Sean I were in the Republic of Congo. I know that abortion can be a personal and passionate topic, but thought this real and very recent happening is a really neat testament to God's Love for his children regardless of what you may believe...

So much can be uncertain, I can be worried, hopeless feelings are not uncommon for me to feel for sad or difficult situations, weather they be my own situations, someone who I loves situation, a strangers situation that I heard of or saw....where so much can seem uncertain, recently I have been reminded more and more that God does not give up on me. He wants me so badly... and no matter what... absolutely NO MATTER WHAT, he is there. He is more that there.... he offers so much to me...even when I don't understand why life is what it is at the time... this one little part of one woman's life was another reminder to me... of how much he wants me, and how much he wants to give me. I am not in the same situation as this woman, but I appreciate her circumstances....I am thankful for Delphine and her passion for loving others (if you haven't see her picture I uploaded one... she has one of the best smiles and laughs ever!)

I hope you get a little something out of this little event that happened 1/2 way around the world, just a few short days ago....

She came asking for an abortion. At 10 weeks the father decided he didn’t want this girl anymore nor his child she was carrying. So, since he didn’t want her, she didn’t want this pregnancy either. ..... No big deal, just get rid of it for me. As you know, this hospital doesn’t believe in killing unwanted babies and when she fell into the hands of Delphine, one of our midwives, she was kindly asked a few questions: Why don’t you want it? Do you know the physical and spiritual consequences of carrying through with this? She didn’t seem to care or want to change her opinion until--- Delphine asked her this one: Do you know what your baby looks like right now? As she showed her an 8 week old fetus in a little bottle, the woman started crying uncontrollably. Delphine let her cry and went on to explain that God loved her, and wanted to stay by her side and help her through this pregnancy; that she needed Him and He was ready to forgive her for wanting to kill an extraordinary, intricately made person. Did she want to pray and ask forgiveness and accept Jesus Christ into her heart and life? Delphine opened her Bible and showed her many verses then let her pray and then prayed for her and with her. At the end this young woman dried her face and tears accepting God’s forgiveness and said that she did not want to kill her baby and wanted God to help her. What a wonderful story of an unborn baby God saved from death. Please pray that she will come here to church or to another Evangelical church here in Impfondo and that she will grow in her new faith in Jesus Christ.

Every week people come to the chapel and listen to the Gospel and every week we are thrilled to see people come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Last Monday after Siko preached, 13 people raised their hand to receive Jesus; Tuesday of this week 9 stayed behind to pray with Jean-Pierre after he preached. Wednesday, after one of our Bible school students preached, 9 stayed behind to pray and once again yesterday when Siko took the chapel, 6 wanted to confess their sins and receive Eternal Life. A few weeks ago a boy came to the chapel while waiting to see the doctor for an ulcer on his foot. That day he made peace with His Maker. Still being an in-patient, he comes regularly to the chapel. Please pray for Donald as well as all the others who have accepted the Lord. Pray that they will find a good church and continue growing in faith.

“Pray for me (all the missionaries here) that God will open a door to preach so that I (we) can announce the mystery of Christ... And speak clearly as I (we) should.” Col. 4:3,4. We need your prayers. Thank you for being a part of the ministry here at H.E.L.P.

For Dr. Joe Harvey and all the team here at the first Christian hospital in the Republic of Congo: H.E.L.P. Ginny and Jean-Pierre Vandevoorde

... And because of this... who knows how this woman, and her child, others and Donald may impact the Kingdom...! I have also attached a picture of Donald... he is an awesome young man who hurt his ankle playing soccer 5 months ago, and traveled across the country, from Pointe Noir, to Impfondo to reach his Grandmother for help since she is his only family. He had the WORST ulcer on his ankle that I could ever imagine... even still his smile is fantastic, and the joy in his heart is infectious... and even more so now according to Ginny! (and his foot continues to heal now that he is receiving proper treatment) :)
Donald = "world leader", who knows what kind of leader this young man will be, now that he knows where his inner joy comes from...

Thanks for "listening" to me... it is an honor to share what is happening in peoples lives... and this is what I am continuing to learn... God wants us, and I feel so honored that he wants me... and I want to keep learning how to ask of him... there is so much to receive...!

Love to each of you for real....!

Faces of Impfondo: Pictures

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Don't want to Fade...

Yes we are still here, and I often go to the blog page wanting to post, but for some reason the past 2 weeks I haven't been able to "squeeze" much out of my heart onto the keyboard. It is really good to be home, but at the same time I really miss our new friends in Impfondo.

I keep wanting to remember, and wanting to hear the sounds, see the faces, feel the heat (crazy I know but it's true!) You know your childhood dog; after their life of love, slobber, fun, and cuddling they move on to be with their creator (I'm convinced that animals go to Heaven). And after a few months, you start to forget the way your dog smelled, the particulars of their face, they way their bark sounded, and you quit opening to door slowly where they used to ALWAYS lay. And then you feel a little sad that you can't remember those things as well...as clearly.... at least that has happened to me before. I have pictures up of Tobby, my childhood dog so I can remember him. I guess this is what I fear of our time in the Republic of Congo. I don't want to forget, I don't want it to fade, I want it to be fresh and clear, there is so much that I want to reflect on so I don't forget, so I don't let the opportunity to grow from the experience on a reflection level pass by. But I find it difficult to bring myself to sit, and do that. I know I will, and I think writing this out is a good step in that direction.

It is amazing to me how a "trip" doesn't stop when you come home. Our minds, spirits, hearts, and bodies are so interconnected. The more I learn, the more I experience, the more I like God. He is so creative, so inventive, so beyond me... I love it. Juvenile as that sounds, it's true.

So don't go away... we want to share more... we want to upload more pictures... keep checking... I promise I'll be back with more!

Tikay la malamu! May you stay well! Spring is on the way!

Butter

It is wonderful to be back home, and at the same time, very difficult to be away from our friends in Impfondo. It is such a gift to have wonderful friends on all parts of the world. The world is so big, and at the same time so so so small... (very profound... I know). But truly... this experience has shown us how God loves through his children. Thank you to those of you who have loved us so well through thoughts, prayers, and action! Our journey home was a bittersweet one, but it made it even sweeter to walk into our apartment with balloons coming out of every corner of our home, and groceries so we didn't have to shop right away! We even had balloons in the fridge, washer, dryer, oven, in between clothes in the closet, and in the toilet! Thank you Thank you Thank you!

Fun Fact #12: In the groceries that were purchased for us was butter... and I couldn't belive it when we saw that it was the exact same type of butter we ate in Impfondo! We couldn't get butter in Impfondo, so whenver someone was traveling from Brazaville back to Impfondo, we would ask for Butter and Cheese... and the butter we had was from France.... Good ol' Trader Joe's carries the exact same kind! When my Dad picked out that butter, he had no idea, but God did! It was a nice little gift...

Weather... 35 degrees, rain

Obviously not Impfondo! We are now back in Indiana. Our travels went well. The flight to Paris was pretty uneventful. We had a 6 hr layover in Paris, just enough time to take a train into the city. We went to Notre Dame which was beautiful and walked around the city. We got into Paris at 6am, so it was still pretty early when we got off the train. It was nice because there were not a lot of people around and it was a very peaceful morning. But, cold! We both just had a long sleeve shirt on and really could have used a winter jacket! Since our camera is kind of broken, we found a place to buy a disposable camera and took lots of pictures. Before getting back on the plane, we stopped at a little cafe, and got coffee and croissants, and warmed up a little! We loved our little stopover in Paris and hope to spend a little more time there someday.

Our flight back to Chicago was good. We were both very tired, but did not have much success sleeping on the planes, so we watched several movies (Slumdog Millionaire, the Dark Knight, Four Christmases) to pass the time. In Chicago, we made it through customs fine and all of our luggage was there! Candice's parents and brothers were there to warmly welcome us back. After many hours of travelling and not sleeping, we made it back to Indianapolis late Saturday night and we were greeted by Ginger, Lilly, and Buddy! Buddy was very excited to see us and welcomed us with lots of tail wagging and kisses.

So, we are back to Indy. We slept for a while last night and are feeling a little more rested today. Thank you to everyone who was thinking about us during our travels. We miss Impfondo and send warm greetings (even though it's a little colder here) to all our friends there! You are continually in our thoughts and prayers and look forward till when we get to see you again. As we transition back, we'll put up some more posts, so check back!

Kenda Malamu!

Go Well!  That is what we are hearing from all of our friends here in Impfondo! We are preparing to leave this morning (Wednesday) and head to Brazzaville.  Our plan is to be in Brazzaville for Wednesday and Thursday night and then Friday evening our Air France flight departs. 

We have had an amazing time here, and it is very difficult to leave.  The friendships we have forged here are such a gift.  Because it is difficult to leave, we recognize the value of being here!  I am so thankful for the opportunity, and someday hope to come back!  

Don't be alarmed if you don't hear from us on the blog until we return home, because of the traveling it will be difficult to find Internet access. We would appreciate your prayers for travel safety, getting through customs smoothly and that we would stay at peace and alert with what is going on around us!  (Traveling here can be a little crazy!) But we made it here fine, we will make it back fine!  

We appreacite you all and look forward to sharing more with you!