March

So Here is a little update for you.
March looks a little different in Cameroon than in Virginia. There the snow is flying and folks are praying for spring and warm weather. Here the short rainy season has begun. Most days we get some amount of measurable rain. I am usually unaware as both my living quarters and working quarters are without windows. That is the price you pay to live at or below the water line. Haha. Usually when I go upstairs for meals I peek out the windows and get an idea of what the day is like. One of the nice things about rain is it washes most of the dust and pollution from the air.  So this week the air quality has been good and Mt Cameroon has been visible for the first time in a few months.  So I was sure to get some time outdoors to enjoy being able to see our volcano and enjoy the warm weather.

Other things that are happening....Surgeries continue to roll on. Some major facial surgeries occurred this week and patients are healing. As I went from ward to ward with supplies this week I watched different ones exploring their new faces in the mirrors they are given. You can see the disbelief on their faces as they try to comprehend how different they now look. It is a joy to be able to witness such moments. Another man this week was able to open his mouth for the first time in 19 years. The moment was recorded on video. I hope to be able to share it some time in the future. The first thing he did was shout for joy and raise his hands to the heavens. I cried my eyes out as I watched it unfold. May God get the glory for his transformation.
Many of you are asking about my plans to come home. I still can not answer those questions fully but hope to be able to in a week or so. It is looking very likely that I will come home for a short time and then return for another 2 years. I am very exciting about the possibility of this but it is ultimately up to God. I would love to return and continue to be a part of the amazing work that is happening here. It is so fulfilling to be even a small part of changing peoples lives. Being a tiny part of the miracles occurring in the hearts and bodies. Many ask why not do it at home? The simplistic answer is it is just different here. My hands are not tied. I am not only allowed to share my faith with my patients, co-workers and friends, I am encouraged to do so. There is nothing that can really describe the moments when you see a spark ignite in the heart of someone. When the understand that they are truly loved. That there is something more. That life and eternity can be different. That they are not excluded for being different.

There is also the joy of what God is doing in my heart and spirit. As he shows me areas in  my own life that need changing, refining and growth. New friendships  and new experiences. Learning to live with less and focus on things eternal rather than things of the world that so easily entice me. It is a daily journey and somehow seems easier for me to see or understand here. And here I am often better able to see how my gifts and talents can add to the equation. Don't get me wrong. I KNOW that all of these things are possible at home, and there are needs there too. But somehow there is a peace and a belonging that a feel here that make me know that I am where I should be for as long as God chooses me to be here.

There are hard parts to being here. Times of loneliness. Missing those I love more than I can convey. It can be challenging to witness the level of suffering we see on a daily basis. There are many we help, but so many more that we can not. Pray for them, and pray for me as it is hard to bear. There are times when I miss the freedom to jump in my car and go where ever I want. It is not easy to do that here. There are police check points, bad roads and corruption that make those things difficult. But then there is the beauty of Africa, people who are kind and generous despite having little. People who have much to share in the hearts and minds and spirits, and we are joined together by a common goal.

It is also hard to be away as I read updates from home that are hard. Things I wish I could be a part of. Things I wish I could fix. Situations that only God can take care of. Unmet needs, wandering family members and the loss of loved ones. How I wish I could be there to walk through those moments with you. To pray with you, to give generously. For now, I can only do it from here. But know that I do. I go before the throne of God, and by His spirit I pray and intercede for you. I pray that each of your needs is met. That your pain and loss is comforted. That the Fathers love for you is never doubted.

For King and kingdom,
Jennifer

Ulrich's Joy

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” someone asked 12-year-old Ulrich.
“I want to be tall like my friends,” he answered with a smile.
Even experienced nurses onboard the Africa Mercy had never seen a case quite like Ulrich’s.  He was born with dislocated knees and a condition known as Quadriceps Contracture—a condition in which the leg muscles don’t develop at the same rate as the bones, causing the legs to bend drastically backward.
His mother, Georgette, tried desperately to find Ulrich the surgery he needed. But the cost of surgery and the severity of his condition defeated her hopes. “Surgeons wouldn’t touch him,” Georgette recalls. “It was hard to see him hurting. When he hurts, I hurt.”
Despite constant stares and ridicule, Ulrich adapted to his condition. He learned to walk with sticks made from sturdy branches. He even learned to climb trees higher than any other boy in his village! “When they couldn’t reach the tallest papaya, they’d call me! I’d be able to get it,” said Ulrich.
But his determination to be like other boys took its toll. He developed pain in his hands and joints from supporting his body weight and from walking long distances. “I was worried that if I was feeling such pain now, it was only going to get worse as I got older,” he said.
It broke his heart that it was increasingly difficult for him to help his mother by helping out around the house, collecting firewood, and fetching water. “I was scared to grow up like that. I didn’t want this to be all my life was ever going to be.”
The day Ulrich arrived on the Africa Mercy for his free surgery, volunteer surgeon Dr. Frank Haydon (USA), who has volunteered with Mercy Ships for eight years, was shocked. “He moved like an insect … like a cricket. I’d never seen anything quite like it. Just when I think I’ve seen the worst case in my career, I meet the next Ulrich, and it keeps me going.”
After several complex surgeries, Ulrich woke up with two straight legs in casts. He had a hard time believing they were actually his legs. The first time he stood up, he reached up to see if he could touch the ceiling. “The first time he walked, he went straight into his mother’s embrace. It was the first time he had been able to hug her since standing tall,” said volunteer nurse Kirsten Murphy (USA).
And now, Ulrich is walking straight and tall into acceptance and into his dream of an education.
"Before, when I would walk in the street, people would stare at me. They thought I was just a handicapped person, and they treated me differently. Now, they will look again,” smiled Ulrich.
Before Ulrich left the Africa Mercy, he slowly walked up to Dr. Haydon and handed him a very special gift … his old walking sticks. He won’t need them anymore, thanks to mercy.
Written by Georgia Ainsworth
Edited by Karis Johnson and Nancy Predaina
Photographs by Saul Loubassa Bighonda, Shawn Thompson and Marina Schmid

Adama

We as a ship spent the last few days in a prayer campaign for this young women.I would ask that you help those prayers continue on into the days ahead. Her name is Adama. She had a cleft that extended from her face into her skull and brain, giving the appearance that her face was divided in two. She has already had multiple surgeries on her brain, skull and facial soft tissues and she's been an inpatient for more than 90 days due to difficult healing - longer than any other patient by far this year. She just had her 6th surgery. She has been through much to say the least. Would you please pray for her. Pray for healing. Pray for strength, endurance and courage. Pray for encouragement. Pray that the light of Christ would be seen in everyone she encounters. Pray that this 6th surgery she just endured would be successful and her healing would be complete. Pray specifically against infection or complications. Most of all pray as the Lord leads. Thank you for taking the time to go to the throne for this woman. May His name be glorified.

(A portion of this writing was taken from other writers post. authors unknown and Photo by Mercy ship photographers)