Guinea screening - “The longest line I have ever seen”

Over the past few years I’ve called several different countries “home” and this year is no exception. For the next 10 months I will now be calling Guinea my home.

Sometimes when I close my eyes and think about where God has me, I need to open them just to make sure I am not dreaming.

If I rewind 10 years and think about what was on my bucket list, living in Africa was definitely not on it. Now, all I want to do is hold my bucket up to God and say “here you go, it’s not my bucket anymore”. 

 

Living such a life definitely has its challenges. Take our recent screening day for example.

It was so physically draining. Our day started at 4.30am and we finished seeing our last patient around 8.30pm. 

I have never seen so many people in one line.  

Over 3,500 people all lined up waiting to see if we could help them. 

Unless someone reminds you to have a drink of water and take a break then you honestly just forget to.

Then there is the emotional roller-coaster. So many ups and downs. One minute you are saying to mother you can help her child.

and the very next you are saying, “sorry we can’t”.

About half way through the day when things were getting very busy I was handed a 3yo girl who presented with a hypoxic brain injury who was incontinent; unable to move her arms and legs; couldn’t speak; and who was still being breast-fed – someone whom we couldn’t help.

Sometimes the bucket is very heavy. In these instances I am just glad that God is right there helping me hold it up.

One thing I have learned over the past few screenings is that we are limited in our understanding and our ability to help others, however God on the other hand, is not. Sometimes God chooses to use us in bringing healing through surgery; sometimes it is through us bringing truth into their lives by saying that they are not a curse.

And sometimes we don’t know what God is doing and during these times I trust that He is a lot smarter than I and that He knows what He is doing still has a way of reaching them.

Even after days like these I still say, “It’s not my bucket”.

God is good.

Finally back in Africa

It’s been a long journey but my feet are finally back on African ground,

And what an adventure it has been just getting to here. I am finally back to my home away from home :)

As part of the on boarding Mercy Ships program we went to a small village in Ghana called Pi Katanga where we helped build and teach in a school.

Some people say life is a journey, not a destination,

And to that I say Amen.

We definitely made the most of our journey traveling from Texas to Ghana.

We had a long layover in London, so we played “The Mercy Ships AMAZING RACE”

Rules:

No more than 4 in a team

Take a photo of your team completing each challenge

30 minutes to complete as many challenges as possible

Team with most challenges completed wins
  
The contestants:
 

The challenges:

1. Get dressed up in some sweet clothes

2. Find Joanne (we lost her in the airport)

3. Find one person from each continent (except Antarctica)

4. Take a group photo of more than 10 people

5. Dance in the middle of a group of strangers

Results:

Everyone put in a good effort. . .

But unfortunately there could only be one winner. . .

After our long journey from Texas, we finally made it to Ghana.

And after an equally long bus trip we finally finally made it to our small village, Pi Katanga.

This is where we spent the following two weeks helping to build part of a school.

We also help run a vacation bible school which was just awesome.

While I was living in our small village I realised something.

I was reminded that I was home again. It’s hard to explain but I feel so at home when living this kind of life. I count it as such a privilege that God has called me to be part of what He is doing in Africa.

I’m not sure exactly when I was reminded of this but I think it was sometime after the following events:

1. Sleeping in a small room with 5 awesome guys.

The bucket in the middle of the room was for the leaking roof.

We also had some uninvited guests that added to the full African experience. These included cockroaches, spiders and a scorpion that stung my mate Dave Ugai in the middle of our first night there.

Oh and we also had a bat that pooped on Dave Morgan’s bed every night.

2. Shoveling dirt for days and days

3. Playing soccer with the locals, which included the local goat and a flock of Guinea fowls.

4. Dancing with the locals

5. Playing games and having fun with all the little kids

6. Seeing a local African carry a sewing machine on his head

7. Sharing how God loves each and every one of us and how He has created us with a specific purpose in mind

8. Having my heart stolen away by all the little kids. They have so little but are so joyous.

 Sometimes I think these kids help me more than I ever help them.

So it was somewhere in the middle there that I was reminded of how I absolutely love this life.

I know that living a missionary life isn’t for everyone but I am so thankful that it is for me :)

So what’s next???

More fun and hard work (and yes they can go together). I am about to start the medical outreach with Mercy Ships in Guinea.

Our massive screening commences very soon. It is often one of the best and also toughest times, so if you could keep me in your prayers it would be much appreciated

God is good.