Every other week the ship has a firedrill. Everyone on the ship has to go out on the dock and be accounted for. If you are a night shift worker you get a sign for your door excusing you from having to go out because it is smack in the middle of the day when you are sleeping. This was a very good drill. I now know that if there is a real fire on the ship the alarms and announcements will definitely wake me up in the middle of my sleep. Actually, I didn't mind being woken up because I just finished by 3rd night shift. I was working for six days in a row, and now I am off for 4 days!!
I really liked working the night shift. It was much less busy. When I came on shift last night, all the patients were watching a soccer game between Manchester and Chelsea England. A few crew members had come to watch with the patients as well. Everyone was riled up.
I was reminded last night of the verse in Matthew 11:5 "the blind receive sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them." Last night I had three patients, ages 8, 11, and 12 who are here for cataract surgery. The 11year old girl could only really see colors and had to be led around by her mother. I am so excited for her that she can have this surgery to restore her vision. It saddens me, however, because I am sure there are many more children in Liberia with this problem that aren't getting help. Many patients have leg wounds from old gunshot wounds or poor healing ulcers. Others have had broken bones that healed incorrectly. Through surgery and physical therapy they are being helped to walk again. "...the poor have the gospel preached to them."--Dennis (one of our translators) was telling the patients the gospel last night before bed, and he was singing with them, and praying with them. I am seeing wholistic care at this hospital. We use modern technology (not quit as modern as at home) and medicine to treat these patients, but we also pray for these patients to heal. One of the patients was praying the other night that God work through the medicine to help him heal.
On another note, my thoughts about Europeans was somewhat incorrect. They are not all tall and skinny just because of good genetics, good eating habits, and smoking lots of cigarettes. They actually work out really hard!!! I went to an aerobics class on Monday led by the crew Doctors wife. They are from Germany (Wolfgang and Andrea). Andrea is the nicest woman, but does she mean business! I have not sweated that much in a long time. Then Wednesday I went to aerobics again and this time it was a British video. My calfs were so sore from Mondays workout that I had a hard time keeping up with the "star jumps" (jumping jacks in american English). I laughed a few times at the British humor in the video, but I think the humor was actually corny, because the brits in the room weren't laughing with me. I think it was the accent and facial expressions that made it funny to me. I probably won't be able to make it to an aerobics class for another week or two which is ok because I need some recovery time.
I have been here for 2 weeks now. Things are good. I am learning so much and am thankful for this experience.
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2 comments:
Lynnel,
That is an awesome message to hear, thank you. It is an inspiration to see the message of the Bible lived out. I shared a link to your blog with some people at work (hope that's cool).
When Matt and I were in Germany we noticed how fit everyone appeared, and many people were dressed as if they were about to go on a hike (which they probably were, come to think of it). But English people? The Londoners I saw "jogging" (and I use that term loosely) through Hyde Park had the strangest posture: limp wrists, kind of skipping, an expression of mild surprise on their faces.
Lots of love,
Becky
well here we try again hello lynnel it was so nice to see waynes face light up when you called wed. i think he realy misses you its really nice to read your blog every day and keep up with what your doing im learning more about computers than i ever thought possible. so is wayne but as you can see we need a lot more help maybe by july we'll be experts haha sure looking forward to going to the cottage again this year now that you know how to let go of the ski rope remember how tired you were. well got to go because this took about one hour to do with one finger. keep up the great work your doing love and miss you shelley
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