Child training postponed - medical emergency

We ended up postponing the first installment of the child training until next week. One of our friends showed up on our doorstep Saturday morning to inform us of his wife's worsening condition, and when all was said and done our best guess was that she had a very serious condition (obstructed gut, for any of you in the medical field out there) and needed emergency help. That kind of took over the whole weekend, including Sunday morning.

 

I went down to Mibu early that morning and was so blessed to see the community having come together the way they did to support and encourage this family. A large number of people was needed to help carry this woman on a stretcher a very full day's hike up steep mountain trails to the nearest airstrip, where we were hoping to be able to have arranged a flight for her the next morning. It only took about a day to organize the community effort and when I went down there the morning of their departure I truly was blown away by all the people who were helping! I happened to catch out of the corner of my eye, a number of people giving small amounts of cash to the family so that they could buy food in town (at the hospitals here, you need to provide your own meals if you can). A number of people quickly put together a stretcher. Many women were there to try to provide comfort for their friend and relative. The whole thing was just a very touching scene and I consider myself blessed to have witnessed it.

 

These are great opportunities for people to come to understand the specific work and experience of God's Spirit in their lives. I was glad to be able to talk with some of the people who were helping and point out and praise their sensitivity to the Spirit's movement in them. It was so great to see this community of believers come together with such genuine concern and desire to help!

 

Then as of yesterday morning (monday), our friend and her husband and the smallest 2 of their 9 children are safely in Madang town where the hospital staff can hopefully quickly discern the cause of her condition and help resolve the issue. We are very thankful that though it was the weekend and with nobody at work, with the help of some of our friends and co-workers in town, a flight was just able to get arranged! Then once the plane arrived in Madang these friends of ours took the time out of their days to go pick the family up at the airport, take them to the hospital and offer any help and assistance they might need. A HUGE help, as the whole hospital experience is very foreign and probably adding a lot of stress to an already stressful situation. What a blessing though!

 

For those who would like to pray for her, our sick friend's name is Yoonare.