Hi from me, Wolfgang! I want you to meet one of the many patients I see every day when I admit them for surgery and make sure that they are healthy enough to have the life-changing operation on the ship.
This is little Arthur, about 6 months old, and what changes the whole appearance of this cute boy is a huge benign tumor! That means on one hand that people in his village avoid him and his family because they believe there is a curse on them or some terrible sin that the parents committed - but it also means that as this tumor grows - without help - it can suffocate Arthur to death!
But little Arthur was suitable for surgery - a long and difficult procedure. It is always amazing to see the specialists as maxillo-facial surgeons or anaesthesia providers that come from ALL over the world and are able to perform such specialized medicine in a country that is so far from being able to provide surgeries like this - in our countries we just take it for granted....
The staff is very skilled and professional, and our equipment is good (thanks to many companies that donate really good things) but often we experience that all our human "excellency" is limited - and are front-line observers of how God intervenes and does miracles! You might have heard this saying : "We do our best - and God takes care of the rest!" We are witnesses of that almost every day - and even when the anaesthesia machine stopped working, God intervened and saved Arthurs life! Or on the ward - when you have done everything humanly possible for other patients and all you can do is pray - and you see a miracle take place before your very eyes!
One of the greatest miracles is to see the patients literally transformed! Not only their outward appearance, but the change you see in their eyes, their personality!
Imagine being Arthurs mother, living in a country that is in a terrible post-war condition, being too poor to even consider medical counsel - and even if there would be help, never being able to afford it. Imagine you are the mother of a child that is considered cursed, and being abandoned by your family and neighbours for you must have sinned or attracted a curse on you!
Imagine being this poor mother fearing for your son´s life, fearing to see him getting slowly suffocated to death!
And then... being the mother of little Arthur, looking completely different, being free of fear of suffocation, and having experienced God´s love for all people not regarding their status put into action in their lives!
We pray for our patients that this God will not be some distant God for them, but that they will be able to leave the ship and KNOW that this God wants to be their loving heavently father, caring for them not only for their physical needs, but also meet their inward need for reconciliation with him.
And that is our prayer for each and everyone of you! Blessings!
Andrea and Wolfgang with David and Amy
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