Feed Your Soul

Recently someone at worked asked me, again, when I would sign on as full-time staff. And again I explained how I just couldn't give up the flexibility that travel nursing gives me to be able to go on trips. We have had this conversation 3 or 4 times a year for the last 3 years, and although I love it there, I love that I can have the best of both worlds; a few months working in the US and a few months of world travel. This person looked right at me and said, "You have to do what feeds your soul." I have a feeling we probably won't have that conversation again. She gets it. Not to get extremely deep and serious, but this is what feeds my soul.

Darlin and Christian

I guess you can't be too serious when you look at those faces :). I fell in love with these boys as soon as I saw their pictures in an e-mail, and couldn't wait to meet them in person. These boys are young enough that they really had no idea what was going on, but watching Christian's mom say goodbye to his dad at the airport broke my heart. As we boarded airplanes and airport trams and escalators, the boys and their moms had wonder in their eyes at all the things they had never seen before. But when they were just sitting, quietly, you could see the anxiety on their faces. One of the moms was frequently holding back tears. They have left their families and all that they know to come to America and live with people they don't know and let someone do heart surgery on their babies, hoping that all goes well. What an amazing reunion it will be when Christian runs into his dad's arms and is no longer blue and tired.

If you want to see some more pics from the trip, click here.

Time to Travel...

I have now been in the states since November without taking a trip. Almost a whole 5 months! As much as I love my time at home, I am always itching to travel. Next week I will head to Honduras to pick up these 2 adorable little people.

As always, I'm counting down the days until I leave. I LOVE doing transports for CHP. It never fails to be a fun, challenging, and rewarding adventure! I'll let you know how it goes :)

More From Juba

Just a few of my favorite before and after pics...

This is Miriam

Peter, "The Tank"

Sweet Waro

Doctor

Rosiline

Baby Grace

Said

Sanyal

"Diva"

Buli

Juba

I recently spent 2 weeks with a surgical team in Juba, South Sudan performing cleft lip reconstruction surgeries on 78 patients. They came from all over the country, many from refugee camps. Among the 78, we took care of a father and daughter, and 2 sets of siblings. Our youngest patient was 6 months old, and our oldest was 60 years. I can't even imagine all the 60 year old woman, Miriam, had been through during her life. She told us before her surgery that she just wanted to be able to hold her head up, look someone in the eye, and not have to cover her face with a scarf. I so badly wanted to jump on a plane and go back with one of the groups and experience their homecomings with them. I was in awe every time a patient came out of the operating room. The transformations were nothing short of amazing. It never got old to watch them come into the recovery room and see their new faces.

The culture in which they live is not accepting of any kind of deformity. People with cleft lips are usually ostracized and treated very harshly. They are considered to be cursed or demon-possessed. Throughout their lifetimes, they have had very few people love them or accept them just as they are. These patients and their families are some of the bravest people I've ever met. They have endured things I cannot begin to fathom, and then one day someone tells them that they can have surgery done to fix their lips. When the plane comes to their village to pick them up, they have to decide whether or not they will trust white people they've never met, and get on a plane to a place they have never been. I wonder what goes through their minds when they arrive at the hospital and we poke them with things, take lots of pictures, and ask them a million questions through 3 interpreters. I hope that through everything they can see that God loves them enough to bring us to them from the other side of the world so that we could help them in such a tangible way. In addition to physical transformations, we were also privileged to watch many spiritual transformations occur. For the first time in their lives someone told them that there is a God that loves them unconditionally. We had Sudanese pastors working with our team that did such an amazing job building relationship with the patients and their families and sharing the gospel with them.

After talking with one group, almost all of them accepted Christ and they took
 off all of their amulets and charms and asked the pastors to burn them.

-Our God is a consuming fire- Hebrews 12:29

One day near the end of our time, we had 4 patients with the same name, a word that meant "deformed". They were 2, 13, 16, and 22 years old. Following their surgeries, they picked new names. John, Elizabeth, Grace, and Hannah now have new identities inside and out. They don't ever have to answer to "deformed" again. I can't really explain what it was like to talk with them as they chose their new names and the pastors prayed with them.

John, Hannah, Elizabeth, and Grace

It was such a privilege to be part of this team and watch these patients' lives change so dramatically. Here's a recap from our trip:

Here is a link to pictures. I am still working on a more organized "before and after" album from the surgeries, which I hope to have up soon!

Ready or Not

In less than 48 hours I will be on my way to Africa. Wait, didn't I just get back from somewhere? Well, yes, in fact I did.  And off I go again. I actually just realized yesterday that the trip was only 3 days away, and my immediate thought was, "I am so not ready!" I am so grateful for the amazingly encouraging and wise people around me who have reminded me that this is actually exactly where God wants me. If I'm honest, I still feel completely spent after returning from Mongolia. But then I think of the majority of our team who went back to full-time jobs and families, while I was blessed with time to process and cry and have coffee dates with friends.... and sleep. Even though I had that time, I still feel empty, and not ready to go at it again.

About this time last year, God began teaching me about being prepared in season and out, which I translate as "ready or not, be ready." I think I prefer not "feeling" ready, because I am much more consciously aware of my need to not lean on my own strength, knowledge and abilities. I tend to go to Jesus much quicker and know that I really can't do anything on my own. I also acknowledge that God is really just answering prayers I've been praying since I was little. This is what I've always wanted to do and I'm getting on-the-job training in how to do it completely dependent on Him.

I love Matthew 11:28-30 in the Message version:
"Are you tired?... Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me-watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I love that. I have a long way to go in that lesson. I know that God gives me the grace to do what He's called me to do, but I have to receive it and rest in it and "learn the unforced rhythm" of it. So ready or not, here I go.

Please keep our team in prayer when you think about it. Say a quick prayer when you read this. We are hoping to do 80 cleft lip surgeries on children and adults in the next 2 weeks. Please pray for logistics, for health, strength and unity for our team. Also for everyone who will be having surgery and their families, and anyone we would come in contact with, that they would see how much God loves them through us.

Adventures Make the Best Memories

Before our team took on Mending week in the hospital back in Ulan Bataar, we ventured out into the southwest Gobi desert, near the Altai mountains, conducting screenings for children with heart defects. This year was the 10th annual screening trip that Dr. Kirk has done with the For Hearts and Souls team. Upon completion of our searching trip this year he finished screening the ENTIRE country of Mongolia, all the while teaching local doctors how to identify these children and refer them for appropriate treatment. Over the last few years there has been a significant decrease in the number of children we find that have not yet been diagnosed, which means that these children are being found and treated, or referred out to other countries as necessary. What a great SUCCESS!

There are so many stories from the week of screening, but I'm only going to highlight one here. Last year our team cared for a young boy during mending week who had multiple complications during and following his heart operation. In the operating room there was concern that he had gone several minutes with very low blood pressure when his heart went into an abnormal rhythm, and then he required electrical pacing to maintain a normal heart rate after the operation because of the extent of his heart defect. Last year he was the kiddo that kept us up all night praying, and the following morning, his heart was functioning well enough to be able to stop using the electrical pacer. He remained in the ICU several days, and then in the hospital for weeks as he recovered. 

We all told him last year that God had a purpose for his life because he had received so many miracles. This year his mom brought him to one of our screenings. I was so surprised when I saw him waiting in line, and he looked so good! We got to talk to them for quite a while and catch up on how he has been doing. Following his discharge from the hospital last year, he remained very weak because his heart rate was still extremely low and he would need a pacemaker. A few months ago, Dr. Bush and Dr. Kirk made a trip to Mongolia for some kids who needed permanent pacemakers placed, and our little guy was one of them. Having a pacemaker totally turned Eggie's life upside down, in a good way :). His mom actually brought him in because she was concerned he was playing too much soccer! He wants to be a doctor when he grows up. As we were talking we found out that both he and his mom had accepted Christ some time in the last few months. At some point during our conversation, mom stepped out and then returned with the dad. She wanted Sara to tell him about Jesus. Sara talked with the father for several minutes and then we all got to pray with him as he chose to accept Christ. I don't know how to put into words the joy that I felt that day getting to see him and his family and know that they are all doing so well.

Here are some more pics from screening week.

I felt so privileged to be a part of this final searching trip with the team. We had so many memorable adventures out under the blue sky of Mongolia. The Russian vans and mini buses we travel in never disappoint in giving us stories to tell.

We took small planes from Ulan Bataar out to Altai where we started our journey in the vans and buses to Ulistai. That first trip took about 8 hours and included 3 breakdowns. During one of those breakdowns, our Mongolian drivers actually disassembled the front end of one of the vans when the stabilizer bar broke. We thought the van would be retired, but the drivers produced a replacement stabilizer bar out of thin air,reassembled the front end, and off we went. Once night fell, our group was close to the ger camp we were supposed to stay in, but the drivers couldn't find their way. There are not exactly street signs in the desert, so once you lose daylight it can be difficult. This place was extremely remote, up and over boulders and rivers, and into the mountains. There are so many stories from breakdowns, to hiking adventures, to claustrophobic vans, to finding our way over boulders in the dark (and narrowly avoiding cliffs because we couldn't see where they were). Ahhhh, the memories! Wouldn't trade them for the world.

If you want to see more scenery pictures and camels and hiking, click here.

Mongolia Mending Week Slideshow

Please, before you watch the slideshow, take time to read the previous post if you haven't already. It will mean so much more if you know what and who you're looking at, and the words of the song will make a lot more sense.