Aids

Aids becomes real when you hold her hand
Aids becomes real when you feel the bones beneath her skin
Aids becomes real when you smell the sores rotting on her neck
Aids becomes real when you see her 4 smiling children and her sick husband
Aids become real…
God becomes real as you pray with her
God becomes real as you wipe the tears from her face and yours
God becomes real as you see the beauty of her husband and her lying hand in hand with child curled up in the middle of them both.
God becomes real as you smell His perfume fill the room blessing her with comfort
God becomes real as you place groceries of her favorite foods on the table
God becomes real…
The comfort I find when there is nothing I can do, is knowing my God will welcome them in to heaven first. And that is the God I serve.
West Papua has a growing epidemic of aids and 90% of them are never told they have it from the doctors, because of the stigma it carries. Some still believe that it is a curse from God But my God has different plans; people can still be freed as the enemy takes their flesh but their sprits will be with Jesus. West Papua needs doctors, dentist, educators and more welling hearts to come and serve these people with Gods “Love”. When will you come?

I woke up in Indonesia.

Sellamat Sori! (good evening)

I woke up in Indonesia (West Papua) It has been quite an adventure. Busy roads with the sound of beeping horns and sometimes 4-5 people zooming by on one motorbike. Their version of fast food here is a man walking down a street, carrying two cases of donuts on one stick on his shoulders.

Yesterday we had an amazing clinic. We treated about 87 people in a nearby village. At the start of the clinic, while we were doing our teaching, 30 year old, Tinki, came with her two daughters. She was drenched in sweat and shivering, too weak to stand. A few of us rushed over to her. We suspected she had a really dangerous strand of Malaria. As we tested her for it, she shared with us her story. Seven years ago, she was physically blind, and a devout Muslim. But God healed her eyes and she saw again. She beieved that Jesus can heal, and he has been her Savior ever since. I checked her temperature and it was dangerously high. In between her telling us the story, she fell in and out of consciousness, having fits. I was really worried about brain damage, and we didn't have strong enough medication to help her. I asked her if she would go to the hopsital, and she spoke saying, her and her family live in the garden. And her husband recycles rubbish off the street. And that she has no money for the hospital. Our leader gave some of her own money to go buy stronger medication from the pharmacy. And we found a place for her to rest. We prayed with her for healing and I saw tears of pleading run down her face. My gut feeling inside is that only GOd can help this woman right now. I joined the rest of the team as we treated a wide range of sicknesses. TB, skin diseases, worms...but my mind was still on her. Lunch came around, and I made sure she and her girls had some food and water. I checked her temperature and Terrimikasi Yesus (Thank you, Jesus), her fever was completely gone! And she was able to eat. As I sat with her on the floor, thanking Jesus, my heart was overjoyed by the fact that we serve a loving GOd that saw her in the garden and brought her to us to be healed.

Bogei Bogei Namona! (Good Morning!)

It was the morning after Christmas and all through the base not a creature was stirring not even a gecko except the team of Primary Heath care workers.
We hopped off the plane in Port Moresby by the grace of God with a visa for 60 whole days! And an expectation in our sprits for something great. We all piled in a van stacked on top of one another and the only thought in my mind is “ I have hopped inside a book!”
As I turned each page seeing the streets lined with dark colored faces, women carrying bags on their heads and Beatle nut markets lining the streets. My heart started to pound as I realized God had really done it! Our team is here!
The next chapter of the book starts at the village of Saroa, they invited us for the weekend. One hour out of the city we entered a new world, we were greeted with war crys and dancing and blessed with a feast. The village fought over who could house the white visitors. Between the bucket showers and amazing coffee I was able to sit and share stories with these beautiful people. They shared of the missionaries that had come before and the difference they made. God did so much that the picture of the pioneering missionaries still hung on the wall in honor. I learned that the village had been one of the first to receive the story of Jesus and had spread it to the neighboring tribes. Seeing this, God opened my eyes to seeing the difference it can make. I found that a lot of the youth had just recently come back to church and stopped living the city life. I felt moved to share my story of meeting Jesus, the story of the living water, and a new beginning, to encourage them in their new journey with God.
We did skits, sang songs, and we were taught the true meaning of generosity. They said we were and answer to prayer and I believe God wants to bring more missionaries there. One of many miracles we saw were children with severe infection in their eyes. As the kids sat on our laps we prayed for them because we lacked the medication to help. The next day we hiked to the top of the mountain to see the whole village the kids followed and their eyes were healed!

To end this last year with a bang as I watched fireworks go off from the roof top in PNG I thanked God for the miracle of earlier that day. We were struggling to get our visas into Indonesia but not only did God give us our visas on new years eve we personally got invited to sit and have a friendly chat with the head man at the embassy, with a smile of welcome, he blessed us with language books and our visas.
God is amazing and tomorrow we head to a village by boat with small medical supplies and a lot of love. Then off to Indonesia by the 4th of January, to really start the medical journey.
Please continue to pray for us as we inter an Muslim country not speaking the language, and inter an even poorer nation. Pray for are health and safety and that God would use us in mighty and magnificent ways.

Bogei Namnona! (Good Night!)