I love it when we get busy.. we have 20 beautiful kids here today and 14 in Baguio. That feeling, when i arrive here in the morning and theres a rush of kids to my legs, hugging, squeezing and longing for some loving.. Mum, Ny, Mama, Ate.. Whatever they call me my heart still skips a beat! No favorites here we tell them and yet, somehow each of us find our hearts strangely drawn to some more than others. But everyone is someones favorite. Everyone gets a cuddle. Everyone gets a big squeeze!
At the minute we have an influx of big boys.. I slipped over here the other night to tuck them in and the happiness in our wee blue room was tangable. 5 handsome faces smiling back at me. I asked the newest boy Jake “how are you sweetheart?” “im happy po” he said.. and you know what? He is!
haaaaaaaaaay, i know i need to come home to fundraise but sometimes i hate being so far away. I am far from my husband, my two oldest kids and all my team.. Today its really hard because i am far away from melanie, melrose and wee cedric when i know that they are so sick. Melanies just finally had surgery this morning to open her mouth. Imagine, almost 3 years for this moment and i am miles away.. Haaay… Shes in ICU right now and Mariza just text to say she has a high fever and chills. It must be terrible for her mum to watch her suffer but i pray that it will all be worth it when her sounds and words start flowing and she can finally eat. Shes such a treasure to us. So glad we never gave up on her…
Now isnt it this way too with God? Sometimes we feel so far away from Him and yet, He’s right there.. He also never gives up on us. Todays one of those days i need to remember that!
What a week we had last week. One day in particular was such a disaster. That morning i met with the mother of one of our ex patients. This mum had been with us for all the months her son stayed at CRU so we had got to know her very well. Her son had come to us dying and had gone home in great health but with ADHD. He is super hyper and she has quite a hard time running after him constantly. Anyway, in 2008 she was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was devastating. The family are so poor. The dad drives a tricycle (public transportation here in the philippines) and earns around $6 a day. There was no way they could afford the cycles of chemotherapy which amounted to around $500 per cycle. She needed 6 cycles. She worked so hard going around the politicians asking for help. She asked the lottery, the mayor and every foundation she could find. She managed to get all the chemo she needed. It was horrific for her though. Every round she underwent she had to bring Dominic with her and he is so hyper. The dad was out driving the tricycle so they would eat that day. Such hardship but she overcame.
She began to feel pain in her hips at the start of this year and so we advised her to get a scan. Sure enough the cancer was back but this time it was in her bones. What news to give someone. It was terrible. We had to tell her but somehow try to encourage her to find help again and we offered to help take care of Dominic for her while she fights this.She needs your prayers..
The day got worse.. That morning the pregnant mum of our 11 year old patient suddenly went into labor and had to leave her daughter in the pedia ward to go downstairs to the delivery room. She gave birth to a healthy baby boy. It should have been a happy day but that night, at around 8pm, her precious daughter Alexis died upstairs on the ward. So heartbreaking… A few minutes later our other little 4 day old baby boy Benjamin also died.. He had been born at home and the midwife had not given the vitamin K injection. He began to vomit blood. His death could have been prevented.
That is one of the worst days we’ve had in a long time..
The next day though we heard a miraculous testimony that filled our hearts with hope again..
A few weeks before this we had been ministering in Benguet General Hospital. We had prayed that day for many patients but one in particular touched our hearts. His name was Renniel and he was 1 year old. He had a fever for almost a month and had been in a coma for 10 days and no one knew the cause for sure. He hadn’t had a ctscan as the family could not afford it. So Doctors where at a loss to know what was wrong for sure. We looked at the mum and granny. They looked so hopeless and sad. We prayed for Renniel and we asked God to heal him. In fact i think we prayed about 3 times. We kept being drawn back to him.
So, a week later when Marissa, Grace and the team went back to the hospital the mum came to find them. She was so excited. She said that about 5 minutes after we left Renniel woke up!! Its a miracle she said. She knew the minute he opened his eyes that God had healed him. Everyone was astounded and amazed.
Miracles still happen. God hasn’t changed!!
The call does cost and many times we as missionaries suffer for this call. We too get sick, our kids get sick all because we are in so much contact with germs and illness but God protects us and I believe we are healthy the majority of the time because His hand is upon us. We struggle financially. Many of my staff are qualified and could be earning so much more if they practiced their professions outside but they choose to serve God with their talents and they are happy to receive whatever we can afford to pay them. If you are interested in supporting them as native missionaries please see that section in this web site.
Despite the costs, the call is always worth it. We only have one life, and for me that’s one big opportunity to serve God in. I realize that not everyone is called to serve fulltime for a lifetime call but I also know that many are called and only few answer. I contemplated recently the verse that obedience is better than sacrifice. If we are called to do a short-term missions trip or be a home support worker then that’s what we ought to do. If we are called to be a life call missionary then that’s what we better do. But we need to know the difference and we need to be sure of what our calling is. The sacrificial 3 week trip to Africa to help the poor or the ‘I’ll pray for you from home’ won’t cut it with God if He has told you to do something’ different. Know your calling and walk in it. Then you will be a blessing to those you want to help. Your life will be blessed; your family will be blessed. Blessing follows obedience.
Keep us in your prayers as we continue to serve God here with these children and their families. We need the protection of the Lord everyday to cover us and we need your support. HHM is really a team effort as you’ll gather from this site. We are all in this together!
Surprise Delivery 18/02/10
In olongapo its been a busy week. We had a minor drama at the end of last week. A mother (whose 2 children already are under our care) came to us and said she was 39 weeks pregnant and ready to deliver any day. The problem is she has to walk from their mountain home to the nearest town. That’s a 3 hours hike and this is baby number 10 so there is no way she would have made it on time. So i offered to bring her to our local hospital and have her induced that day so her and the baby wouldn’t be in danger. Apparently with baby number 10 the womb often ruptures.. So, we set off and by that night she was in labor. By the next morning she was still only 3 cm’s. I had been there all night but had to leave to go to manila 30mins later so as i left i passed by her mother in law to update her on the mums progress.. She asked me if the baby had survived. I was slightly surprised and asked what she meant. She went on to explain that the baby actually wasn’t due until May!! I couldn’t believe it. It was too late to do anything. We’d already induced labor!
A few hours later little baby boy was born. He was small and thin, weighing only 1.5kilos and looking like a 30/31 week baby. We couldn’t believe it and cant understand why she did that but we are thankful that wee baby James was able to breathe alone and didn’t need to be ventilated. He is still in the incubator now so can you pray that he will get stronger and that we will know what to do with him. The mum and dad can’t afford to feed him and honestly they have enough problems feeding the ones they have! We need the wisdom of God to know where James should grow up.. Right people, right place.. (yes by the way, we helped her to be ligated now.. no more babies!)
The Big Day 23/02/10
Today’s the big day… its the first time that the Baguio team will have the opportunity to do evangelism at Benguet General Hospital. The Director there is so kind and accommodating. We have borrowed ’supermanny’ the mascot from our Olongapo team and also some puppets. We really need to get our own up here but its expensive.
Our plan today is to sing, dance and have wonderful puppet shows. Jenny will be heading it up today and although we’re all a little nervous we are more excited! Isn’t it great to get to share the gospel and our Hope with kids who are suffering so much. Our prayer is that the parents and children will feel Him today and His care for them…
I’ll let you know later how it went!