Heading Home........

Wow......I can't believe I will be home in my own comfy bed tonight. It has been a short/long two weeks. I had originally hoped to post every day while here in the DR but I couldn't get Internet access on a daily basis. And honestly, I may have not had much to say. In general, the days were the same; wake up, prayer time, breakfast and a devotional, announcements, and head off to the hospital. However, there were certainly highlights to the trip.
First off, our group was asked to help a young man named Jeffri. He is about 20 years old and has terminal sarcoma/cancer. He was found on the street by a local Mennonite gentleman and brought to the hospital for care. He has multiple open wounds all over his body and they were infested with maggots. He weights very little, is weak and in severe pain. The hospital at Las Matas did not have access to pain medication for him so we provided some Oxycontin and pain patches. The last day of surgery, Wednesday, we took him to the OR, opened up a six inch abscess on his left side and drained and cleaned it. To say the least, all we could do for him is pain control, love and compassion. As if dying of cancer at 20 years old wasn't enough, we noticed some severe scarring on his back and arms. He told the pre-op nurses that he had been burned severely as a child. Then, when asked about his family, he said that they had deserted him (we aren't clear about why). Many of my team mates commented "How can you tell some one who has suffered so much that God loves him?" That's a valid question, I suppose, but do we really only think God's love is expressed by nothing 'bad' ever happening to us or our loved ones? Life is HARD- that's a fact. Suffering exsists because sin exsists. Jesus knows and understands all elements of suffering. In fact, the best way to explain God's love to Jeffri, or any fellow earth journer, is to explain God's sacrifice of His own Son for our ETERNAL, painless, suffer free, life with HIM.
Please pray for Jeffri to know and experience supernatural knowledge that God loves him and to feel the presence and comfort of the Lord. Unfortunately, the nurses at Las Matas do not give the best comfort care. Jeffri's wounds drain onto the sheet, ants crawl around him and often, no one comes to clean him up for days at a time. Also, pray for him to actually get the medication we left for him. (Many times narcotic medications are sold on the black market instead of being given to the patients.)See yall soon...........