Because I Can't Say It Better

Sometime, someone else says exactly what you feel.  Sometimes, they put it in a song.  At this time in the Guinea field service Matt Redman's song "Never Once" puts all of my feeling into words.

All dressed up for Easter Service on the Ship.
We are so thankful to live in a community of believers that
worships together.  I (Gretchen) was able to worship
the Risen Lord with dance...and the brunch after
was amazing!

Standing on this mountaintop
Looking just how far we’ve come
Knowing that for every step
You are with us.

At Lazare's Orphanage, Ansumane uses the 'Simply the Story'
Bible teaching method with the children every week.
It is such a blessing to worship with these
lovely children and watch as they absorb scripture.  

Kneeling on this battle ground
Seeing just how much You’ve done
Knowing every victory
Was Your power in us

We will not forget and never miss
ACID BUGS!

Scars and struggles on the way
But with joy our hearts can say
Yes, our hearts can say

I will miss all of the sweet kids at Lazare's Orphanage

Never once did we ever walk alone
Never once did You leave us on our own
You are faithful, God, You are faithful

Dental outreach in Conakry Prison.  God is everywhere.

Kneeling on this battle ground

Seeing just how much You’ve done
Knowing every victory
Was Your power in us

Mark and I earned our 1st DNF (did  not finish) in a 1/2 marathon. 
Guinea 1/ Bullock's 0

Scars and struggles on the way

But with joy our hearts can say
Yes, our hearts can say

Pascale, Henri, & Mark saying goodbye.
Ten months working together.  

Never once did we ever walk alone
Never once did You leave us on our own
You are faithful, God, You are faithful
You are faithful, God, You are faithful

Saying goodbye is never easy.

Scars and struggles on the way
But with joy our hearts can say
Never once did we ever walk alone
Carried by Your constant grace
Held within Your perfect peace
Never once, no, we never walk alone














Never once did we ever walk alone
Never once did You leave us on our own
You are faithful, God, You are faithful

My (Gretchen's) highlight of the field service.
Watching Dorcas play soccer with her walker.
10 months ago this sweet little girl couldn't even sit up.

Every step we are breathing in Your grace
Evermore we’ll be breathing out Your praise
You are faithful, God, You are faithful
You are faithful, God, You are faithful

You are faithful, God, You are faithful
You are faithful, God, You are faithful

Upcountry Mission: Faces of Kissinae:

First, I would like to apologize for how slowly these posts are coming.  With our internet connection on the ship it can take up to an hour to upload one picture and then sometimes something goes wrong and the upload fails, generally at the end of the hour. 

In this post I was would like to show some of the people we encountered.

Some Kissinae village kids

We always had a crowd hanging around camp.  They were nice enough to pose for a photo with us.

Jon Erickson, a local missionary from Ziricoya, Guinea.  Jon set up everything for this mission.

The Cluckie's run a guesthouse we stopped at outside Faranah.

Theirno's Transformation

This is a follow up from a previous post called "The Pain of Change" from Friday, September 14, 2012

I know this may not look, at first glance, like a major transformation, but this is Thierno.  Thierno can now breath and speak, which are things that he was incapable of when I first saw him at screening back in September.  Even more than that is the transformation I see in his eyes.  If you go back to my original post you will see a man without hope but here is see a man who can now bring hope to others.  Being new to Mercy Ships, I didn't even realize what was possible. 

Thierno recently came to our community meeting to thank the crew for his surgery.  A nurse introduced him by saying that "transformed people transform nations."  I have come to believe that this is the Gospel.  Jesus came to transform people to transform the nations.  What is now possible for this man when just a few months ago survival seemed impossible.

Impossible Prayers

A few weeks ago, we read the story of the feeding of the 5,000 in The Jesus Storybook Bible.  There were several parts that resonated with me and this one part in particular brought me to tears. 

"Well, Jesus did many miracles like this.  Things people thought couldn't happen, that weren't natural.  But it was the most natural thing in all the world.  It was what God had been doing from the beginning, of course.  Taking nothing and making it everything.  Taking emptiness and filling it up. Taking the darkness and making it light."

This weekend I got the opportunity to take all the boys to the orphanage while Mark was preparing for the interior screening/dental mission.  When  I told them that they would be going with me there was a bit of whining, but then Jacob said the most awesome thing.  "Mommy, wouldn't it be great if when we got there they told us that all of the children had found mommies and daddies?"  I responded, "that would be a miracle!"  Jacob replied, "That is what I am going to ask God to do."  It didn't happen, but instead of being disappointed Jacob said, "Maybe next week!"

  Impossible prayers frighten me.  Honestly, I very seldom pray them.  I am so acutely aware that that sometimes God's answer is "NO".  I don't like to hear "NO" because I know what "NO" feels like.  It feels like my still beating heart is being ripped out of my chest.   It feels like I am plummeting into a never ending pit.  I struggle to remember that the whole time I am being held by a loving Saviour.  I want to pray for the impossible.  I want to ask God to heal all the sick, give homes to all the orphans, to feed all the hungry...the list goes on and on.  I believe in a God who can do all these things, but I also know that we live in a fallen world and until Jesus Christ returns these prayers will not be answered "YES" for everyone.  This breaks my heart.  So for now I will continue to pray that God's will to be done, that people will respond to His call, and I hold fast to the knowledge that He knows what is in my heart.

Lunch time Conversations

So, this post is just silly.  It isn't profound or insightful.  Never-the-less, I must share excerpts from today's lunch conversation.

When God vanquishes Satan, that will be a day to celebrate!

More people have died from bee stings than shark attacks.

I want to have fun while I work on my spiritual life.

Thank you God for beef jerky and goldfish.

I'm going to go hunting with Papa and bring you back a big deer!

Can I have the head, Mommy?

I bet everything will taste like buffalo wings in Heaven.

I hope that your day is blessed with great conversations.  If it is not I have three little boys who would be happy to talk your ear off!

Upcountry Mission: Billy's Story

It took us 20 hours to go 750 km which is an average speed of 37.5 km/hour or 23 mph.  Given the state of the roads that is actually a good pace.  The village we stopped in was called Kissinae, which translated means "the New village".  The people are a forest people called the Kissi.  They are a fairly large  group that stretches into the northeastern part of Sierra Leon.  We setup our clinic at a brand new school that had recently been completed by a NGO.  The village had not yet had permission to use the school so the building was being used for the first time. 

We used one of the classrooms as a treatment room.

Camp was setup just across the road.

The people of Kissinae were extremely receptive and friendly.  The men of the village spent 3 days working on some of the worst parts of the road to the village so we would have an easier time getting there.  Probably the most suprising thing was that the village presented us with 3 bags of rice and a young male goat.






A village elder presents us with a goat.

So this is the story of Billy.    After being presented the goat was taken back to camp.  I wasn't able to catch up to him till lunch.  By that time the goat had already been given a name.  proper etiquette dictated that the goat be eaten so there was nothing to be done but make the best of young 'Billy'.  So...

Billy was our first patient screened and I would like to announce our first, successful Mercy Sheep's surgery.  Billy's problem was that he was a goat, specifically a young goat.  Rejected by his village it was only right and proper that we help poor Billy with his problem.  We put Billy in the capable hands of our culinary specialist, Ms. Lorinda.


Before

After

In the coming posts I will put up some pictures of the people of Kissinae and the surrounding area.  They were a really loving and beautiful people.  We were not able to find as many surgical patients for the ship as we would have hoped but there were plenty of people with dental needs.  Also, Kissinae does not have a local church like many of the villages around it.  So some of the local pastors under the leadership of the Pastor from Ouende-Keneama (local big town) used our trip as an opportunity to go door to door and speak with people.  They were hoping our activities would generate questions and interest in the Christian life.  I believe this is the true power of these types of missions.

Today We Took A Walk

In the states we would have lunch with Mark at least three times a week.  It is one of the small things I miss here in Africa.  So, since the boys had the day of school I thought we would take a picnic out to the dental clinic and have lunch with Mark.  It is about a one mile walk down a very busy and dusty street. 

We are in full on dry season so it is also very HOT.  Really, today it felt Texas HOT.  Jacob staid behind on the ship to help his friend celebrate his birthday so I only had Matthew and Caleb with me.  They were real troupers. When we arrived we realized I had the wrong time for lunch and we were a half an hour early. 

We took the opportunity to visit the school for the deaf next door to the dental clinic.  The newest Gateway group is doing some repairs, cleaning, and painting.  I was impressed how hard they were working after only being in Africa one night.  All the children at the school were excited to see Matthew and Caleb.  We must have shaken hands or hugged at least 50 children.  They also ruffled the boys hair.  For a moment I thought that they were going to get upset with all the attention.  It was a bit overwhelming, but the crush of the crowd soon subsided and we bought two cold cokes in glass bottles found a shady spot and waited for Mark to finish working. 

 We had a lovely lunch and it felt like a quicker walk home.  All-in-all it was a very nice day.  It was absolutely nothing like the lunches we had in the state...different but GOOD!