"Home Sweet Ship..."

Well, we have been back on the ship for about 36 hours now....it is good to be back.  Some things have not changed...some things have changed.  Especially some of the short term crew.  As I looked around last nigh,t as I walked around the ship, there were many new faces...oh ship life....

One of the real joys about being back is hearing some of the patient stories.  Mike and I were taking a walk around the ship after dinner tonight and we stopped and talked with Allison.  She told us of a few amazing patient stories that just reinforced why we flew half way around the world to Africa.

The first one was about one of the VVF ladies.  She had been wet for many years.  A man came to her and told her that he would be willing to wash her rags and care for her.  She wondered why this man would be willing to do such a thing.  They started to read the Bible together...and she came to believe in Jesus.  She claimed the verse that talked about the woman that was bleeding for twelve year and by touching the hem of Jesus' robe she was healed.  This VVF woman started praying to Jesus for healing.  She came to the ship and received her healing-after praying for twelve years....God is amazing.

The second person, was another woman who had a fibroid tumor-she looked nine months pregnant.  Normally we would not have had the surgeon on board the ship to be able to help her.  Through events only masterminded by God, we had the perfect surgeon on ship for her.  In the middle of July the surgeon removed a 37 pound tumor.  Some people would say "coincidence" or "great luck"....on the ship we know this orchestration of events as God's sovereign hand moving.

Finally, this last lady is more a story of hope than healing.  Once again it is about one of our VVF ladies.  Unfortunately her surgery was not a success.  But she remained on the ship for about 2 weeks after her surgery-still wet.  Allison, would go down to the ward in the evening and read a Bible verse to the lady and then the lady would look the verse up in her Ewe Bible and read it to the rest of the women on the ward.  Through these times God was working on this woman's heart.  Before she left the ship, one of the other nurses had an opportunity to share the plan of salvation with this woman.  Even though is still is wet, she is now plugged into a church.  But more importantly, she knows she is loved by an everlasting God and will one day in eternity be healed.

Priceless....