The end of a chapter...

Have you ever read a really good book where each chapter captures your attention? Do you ever get "that" feeling when you finish a chapter...the sad yet excited feeling? Sad because a section of the book that you really enjoyed is coming to a close...sad because the new chapter may mean new characters, new situations, or a different plot yet excited because you are loving this book and you want to know so badly what may happen next. You are excited because you know you can't stay in one chapter forever and that with each character or plot that continues to develop the story only gets better. You are excited for the unknown because you are holding it in light of the joy and delight of the present. That is how I feel today.
Tomorrow I will leave Mercy Ships; I will leave Benin, my home for the majority of this year. I hope you have been able to tell from my pictures and posts that I have absolutely loved my time here. I could say that Africa has stolen my heart or that my heart remains with Mercy Ships...but the truth is that my heart is most fulfilled when I am serving the needy, wherever or however that may be. This year it has been through Mercy Ships and for that I am so grateful. As sad as I am to leave (especially because I am leaving behind such dear friends) I am feeling ready. I believe this is partly because the entire ship is in "transition mode." The hospital is closing down. This week is our final week of surgery! I have been working a lot and have especially loved my little cleft lip and palate babies. :) I got some great cuddles in this week, which made me smile. Being a pediatric nurse is great!
We really need to be praying for the patients who have wounds that are not healing or who we were unable to treat. The ship must sail soon but there are always mixed emotions with this as we are leaving so much need behind. We just cannot help everyone. Please pray that God continues the work He has started here...in this country and in the lives of our patients.
Last night we were honored by the president of Benin by being invited to his "palace" for dinner! There was a lot of waiting, sitting, and speeches involved but was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The president awarded some of our leaders with the highest place of honor in Benin and thanked us for our service. The meal was so formal and beautiful! They truly went all out. They even had native dancers from different parts of Benin as our dinner entertainment! What fun.
It is also a bit sad to come to the end of the Bible study I was a part of called "Breaking Free." God taught me so much through this study and honestly it was quite painful. More than anything, though, I learned that I could trust God, trust in His goodness and love. That in itself was worth the pain! :)
Tomorrow i fly to Kenya to go on a 2 week safari with three girlfriends from the ship. Many people think we are on a vacation here in Africa but the truth is we have worked harder than ever. So, we are taking a couple weeks to see the sights and enjoy Africa...I hope. :) Please pray for safety and health if you think of it! Two weeks of "roughing it" in Kenya, Uganda, DRC and Rwanda could be tough..:)
Thank you again to everyone who supported me in my time here. I honestly feel so humbled to be used by God at all, let alone overseas. I look forward to where God will use me next! I have been praying for you my friends and family who have kept in touch and am so thankful for you. :)

I wanted to share a touching story of one of my recent patients. It was written to share with everyone!

Alba’s Tears
by Megan Petock


Ankosua was outside carefully mixing herbs and water to create a concoction prescribed by a traditional doctor in her village. It was mid-afternoon, and her daughter, eight-year-old Alba, was sitting alone in their home. “She should be at school right now,” she thought. Struggling to hold back tears, she poured boiling water over the crushed herbs and sieved the mixture into a cup.

Two years earlier, an outgoing and vivacious Alba was attending school with her friends. Now, she spent her days hiding in a dark room, too insecure to look people in the eyes.

When the drink had cooled, Ankosua walked inside the home and handed Alba the cup. Taking the cup, Alba tilted her head back, creating a small gap between her cheek and the large tumor that filled her mouth. Slowly, she poured the liquid into the small gap and swallowed in intervals.

While she watched her daughter struggle, Ankosua thought back to the day she first spotted the small bulge on Alba’s gum line. Never could she have imagined the fear and discouragement it would cause her heart.

After Alba had drunk the entire cup, she began crying.

Ankosua couldn’t bear looking into the tear-stained eyes of her daughter. Slowly, she wrapped her arm around Alba, who then buried her head on Ankosua’s chest. As Alba’s tears collected on her shirt, Ankosua did her best to be strong.

But Ankosua was depressed. Alba had performed this routine hundreds of times, but the tumor hadn’t gone away. In fact, it was growing. At times, it felt like it was shooting out of her mouth, causing her great pain. Ankosua realized the traditional herbs were not working. There were no other options. All she could do was keep trying and pray the herbs would begin to work.

***********

“When the tumor first appeared, my husband and I took Alba to the hospital, but we didn’t have money to pay for it, so they wouldn’t treat her. We had to use traditional medicine,” said Ankosua. Alba was taken out of school so her mother could give her the traditional medicine daily.

When asked how the community treated Alba, Ankosua stared at the floor and remained silent. After a 10-second pause, she looked up, her eyes filled with tears, and she painfully replied, “Some people received Alba with good hands. They prayed for her and encouraged me. But others shunned her. They said, ‘Go away, we don’t want to see you.’”

Whenever it was time to eat or drink, Alba hid herself from other people. If she went out in public, she kept the tumor covered with a rag. It served as a disguise and caught the foul-smelling and constant drainage.

After two years of watching her daughter struggle, a woman in her village told Ankosua of a hospital in Benin that was performing free surgery. Finally – a glimmer of hope! They scrounged to get enough money for transportation and traveled to the hospital, which was hours away.

However, Ankosua’s new-found hope quickly morphed into deep disappointment.

“We were there for two days, and nobody attended to us. I asked a woman who worked there why we weren’t being helped. She said, ‘They don’t do surgery for free, you have to deposit money.’ I trembled when she told me that. I had come with nothing,” said Ankosua sadly.

After Ankosua explained that she had no money for treatment, the woman told her about Mercy Ships. “This woman had heard Mercy Ships was in town, helping people and healing people for free. She gave me directions to the Africa Mercy, and I immediately went,” Ankosua added.

****
Still attached to noisy monitors and IV fluids, Alba had been dozing in and out of sleep since returning to the Africa Mercy ward. Finally, a few hours after surgery, she opened her eyes and sat up. Seeing she was awake her nurse came to Alba’s bedside and handed her a small mirror.

Alba looked down, paused in a state of bewilderment, and began touching the empty space on her mouth. The tumor was gone. After 20 seconds of staring, a single tear rolled down her cheek. With great determination, she tried not to cry. But another and then another tear soon followed. Finally, she gave up trying to hold them back and cried freely. Alba’s tears were earned through years of heartache and rejection. They were mature and raw – heavy tears for an eight-year-old to cry.

Ankosua stood next to her bed the entire time, carefully observing her daughter. When Alba began crying, she turned away. Ankosua couldn’t bear looking into her tear-stained eyes. After two hopeless years of discouragement and depression, healing had finally come. The mixture of joy and pain in that moment expressed itself in tears.

When Alba regained her composure, Ankosua returned to the bedside. Carefully, she wrapped her arm around Alba, who then buried her head on Ankosua’s chest. As Alba’s tears collected on her shirt, Ankosua did her best to be strong. But her heart was too overwhelmed with joy. Tears of relief and joy flooded her eyes as well.

They sat and cried together, each tear serving as a testimony to the transforming power of God’s mercy.

You know you're in Africa when...

You know you’re working in Africa when:
You run out of the following supplied and must find alternative substitutes for the next 6 wks:
Gloves
10ml syringes
alcohol swabs
paper towels
20 gauge needles

You’re mixing up different milks you found on the street to make a high calorie nutritional supplement

You’re working 65hours a week without getting paid overtime…without getting paid at all

Your patients are served fish heads for dinner

You go to a trash littered fisherman’s beach on your day off to lay out, relax and enjoy “nature”

You not exactly sure what the name on the medication box is because its either in German or Italian or French or Swedish…

Nursing in Africa is, well…different. ☺

These last few weeks have been life changing. Literally. I recovered from malaria, which was slow and painful, but in the process met a boy that I really like! God’s timing is amazing.
Since fully recovering I have been working a lot of hours. We are nearing the end of the outreach, which means increased pressure on everyone to see as many patients as possible. People are running on empty so prayers for endurance and perseverance are appreciated. Besides running low on morale, we are running short on supplies as well. God is faithful and our prayer is that the patients that really need to be here will come for their surgeries. What do we do with patients who need follow-up care that we will be unable to provide?
I have been learning a lot about allowing God to keep us in His perfect peace if our minds our steadfast as we trust in Him...and truly resting in His authority.
“You will keep him in perfect peace, him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord is the Rock eternal.” Isa 26:3-4
“…we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ” 2 Cor 10:5
How powerful that is, even when you are laying sick in bed, feeling lonely and miserable.

I leave in a couple weeks and am feeling slightly nostalgic. ☺ I have been so blessed by amazing friends here who challenge me in my faith, pray with me, share with me and have fun with me. It’s not often you can find girls with such similar hearts! If I have realized anything it is that we all come from broken pasts and times of rebellion and anger at God. The difference is, however, that although God allowed us to fall into a pit, He was faithful to help us be obedient in climbing out. Obedience sure isn’t easy, but the joy and peace that are rewarded are priceless!