Home is where the Heart is........

Home…..

I only have three weeks left here in Togo and I’m realizing that I’m going to miss this temporary home of mine. My translators, co-workers, roommates, and some patients have shared some of our highest and lowest points together and have become a small family because of it. When you cry, laugh, and dance with each other (African style of course) it feels like home. There are certainly reasons I’m looking forward to going back to Michigan, but all of these people here whom I love will be missed greatly.

Challenges on board….

Life here in Togo is certainly not always easy, and my body has taken quite a beating with the heat. Even right now I’m lying in bed covered in an itchy heat rash that deprived me of almost all sleep last night. The hospital is still at times confusing and the language barrier with even the translators can be taxing. The other night I had a patient who only spoke a special tribal language, so in order to communicate we had to use three people. I spoke in English to my translator telling him what to say, he then spoke to a family member of another patient who knew the tribal language, and the family member then spoke to my patient in his language….whew. You have to get creative around here at times! A few days ago I had an English speaking patient so I was able to sit and chat with him for a long time….it reminded me of doing nursing at home. All of us nurses joke about possibly forgetting to talk to the patients when we go home and just using crazy gestures instead…J

People here on the ship come and go. I had my first friend leave on Sunday and then my bunk mate left on Monday. You find that you just have to enjoy the time you have with them and pray for them when they’ve gone. We all tell each other….. “we’ll catch up one day, and who knows, maybe that day will be in heaven.”  It’s amazing to see how the Lord is working in each person’s life and how similar or different it is from my own!

Prayer : here are a few things I’d really appreciate prayer for.

     My friend Emanuel left on Sunday to help prepare things in the next country Mercy Ships will sail to. This will be six months of hard travel, translation, and communication with government officials. He was telling me how tired he was last year when he did this and I promised to pray that the Lord would strengthen Him and give him wisdom as he goes! Also, be praying that the next country would see Jesus and the gospel of His love expressed through this team going ahead of the rest of us.

   Also, pray for the patients we have here. There are some who have infections in their wounds that are making it difficult to heal. There are some patients who are here with illnesses that have made them outcasts in their homes and villages. Pray that Jesus who is our healer would work in the lives of each person and that they would come to know this Savior who can heal not only our physical bodies but our hearts and souls as well if we ask Him to! Would they come to know “peace that passes all understand” (Philippians 4:7) which can only be found in Him, regardless of our circumstances!

  I love you all and will see some of you very soon.

Because of Him

Beth

Adorable baby girl I got to hold!

playing with patients in the Hope Center! The Hope Center is a place where patients stay when they still have to have dressings changed on their surgical sites but aren't really needing enough care to stay in the hospital on the ship.

This picture was taken by a two year old who loved the camera!

This girl gave me the biggest hugs....loved it!

The mother of the little girl I'm hugging!

More beautiful faces!

Both of these girls are my roommates! The one on the left was my bunkmate who left Monday...I miss that girl!



This is Emanuel! He was the first person I met on the ship and just left Sunday. Our talks were so encouraging...and he's hilarious too!



nine in a Taxi......TIA(this is Africa)! Gotta love it!

Chris took this pic of us shoved in the taxi.....you get to know each other really well that's for sure ;p



This is right outside of my room where we all congregate to talk about the day and get online!



Another walk today right after it rained....it was muddy for sure!

Some of the locals saw Andrew and I walking down the middle of the road that was wall to wall traffic and super muddy...so they did the african thing and told us to jump in the back of their truck! fun times!

motos behind us in the truck!

Loving the break from mud but had to get out a few mins later because the traffic just wasn't moving...oh well it was fun for a time!