Brad (Day 11) - STS Container, JFK Hospital, Neil Anderson Dinner

Morning

I knew today would be a challenge from the start by the way everyone staggered out of bed and into our devotion this morning. Rachel lead our devotion with Habakkuk 1:5 and 3:2 and how we should look and watch to be utterly amazed at what God is doing and will do. The scripture helped to energize myself and the team as we ate breakfast quickly and headed off to ELWA.

The Service to Servants container was set to unload in the morning so went over to ELWA where the entire container was being unloaded in front of an old gymnasium. With our help a group of 10 Liberian men unloaded the 40 foot container in an hour and a half. It was encouraging to see all the supplies section off for many of the organizations that we were able to work with earlier during the trip. We were also able to place the donations our team was given for Liberia in with the other supplies for the organizations. We were able to specifically bless THINK, Orphan Relief & Rescue, Rafiki Village, ELWA Hospital, and Febe Grey Orphanage with some extra supplies.

For once we completed a task with time to spare, so we all walked down to the beach at ELWA for a break while we waited for the next thing our day had to bring. Most of the team used the time at the beach to take a midday siesta after eating our sandwich lunches there. It was a well needed rest period for a tired group. I spent the time praying over our team in preparation for going to JFK Hospital and mediating on Acts 3. During our peaceful time in the sand I knew God was preparing to reveal his heart through a thunderous wave.

John F. Kennedy Hospital

We headed off to John F. Kennedy Hospital with our friend Andy, a pre-med student on mission with Hospitals for Hope. Our hope on arrival was to fulfill what God had placed on our hearts; that he would move in a supernatural way through us to heal. And with this prayer on arrival, exiting the hospital I would say that the prompt that was placed on the team was fulfilled.

Our first visit in the hospital was to the pediatric ward. The children there were suffering from anything from measles, to cancer, to paralysis. It was discouraging to see children hurting, but the hearts of the nurses and doctors for their patients helped to lift the team. The majority of our time was spent in this pediatric ward, and we left wishing God had more time for us to spend there. The team prayed for every single child and mother or family member in the ward at least once if not multiple times. A good bit of time was also spent just encouraging all the people we met. Kristin, Taylor, and Chris colored with the kids that were well enough to get out of their beds, and Dave used his Donald Duck voice to entertain one baby and her mother. Dimitri, Rachel, and myself continued with our prayer walk during this time, until Rachel stopped to spend time with a girl who was paralyzed from the waist down and mentally disabled. Following this time of encouragement, we transitioned into a time of prayer for this one specific boy who God had laid heavily on the hearts of the team.

Mishel

Mishel is a 14 year old boy who is paralyzed from the waist down. He was admitted into the hospital on June 7th with lower back pain that progressively got worse and lead to his paralysis. It’s hard to imagine that a young boy walked into the hospital and became paralyzed all during the time our team has been in Liberia. Mishel simply fell on his lower back and after a few weeks of unbearable pain he lost movement from the waist down. Dimitri, myself and a few others from the team had prayed for him many times throughout our time there, but it was about 3:00 when we were really lead to corporately pray for him. Rachel, Dimitri, and I prayed for Mishel and left him with an e-mail address to contact Dimitri right before we were planning on transitioning to another part of the hospital. Rachel overall felt out of her comfort zone in the hospital, but she felt pressed that we were not done with Mishel.

With God prompting Rachel our entire team headed back into the Pediatric ward to specifically pray over Mishel. We prayed that God would physically heal him and that he would walk, because we knew as a team that was what God wanted for him. With tears, shouts, and praise we called out to God on behalf of Mishel and his legs. Dave even brought out the anointing oil for this young boy, and the boy began to weep as the team continued to pray. We all wanted to sit Mishel up and bring him to his feet so that he could walk, but with our hearts aligned we knew that it must be Mishel that first believed for himself that Jesus would be the one to heal him with his almighty power. We left without Mishel getting up to walk, but we left knowing and believing that God will allow him to begin walking one day very soon; if not tonight. With Acts 3 in mind we still know God to be a healer, but during my prayer for Mishel he placed another Scripture on my heart. The verse was Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see”. This verse struck me as if God was saying that we must be certain that God is a healer and will heal Mishel without being able to see him walk. We will continue to pray for him, and I can’t wait for the day that he e-mails Dimitri about Jesus Christ being a healer Mishel walking again.

Surgery/ Orthopedic Ward

Leaving the Pediatric ward we were able to spend a short time praying and getting to know the nurses and patients in the surgery/ orthopedic ward. All of the patients on this floor were recovering from some time of recent surgery. Most of the patients we prayed for were from motorcycle accidents. There were also a few burn victims that Taylor and the girls did an amazing job looking after. The nurses and the patients were all extremely joyous to have us, and we were also able to give out cross necklaces to all the patients we prayed for and all the nurses we saw. Andy was a terrific guide and we were more than thankful to have him with us.

Johnson and his room

I prayed with a man named Johnson in the hallway while he was using a walker to walk and recover from a motorcycle accident that had badly damaged his leg. I gave him a cross and didn’t think much of it until 2 minutes later I see him waving and calling me over. He called me over to his room where there were 4 more men in there with him. As soon as I entered the room he told me I had more people that needed prayer. I prayed over the four other men and gave them crosses as well, but the humility and ask of Johnson really struck me. He didn’t have to do anything for those men, but he wasn’t going to let me leave without praying for them. There are some extremely amazing stories that came from our visit to JFK and it was all because of my sister Taylor and her heart for the hurting that we decided to go.

Surfing

Our final beach trip for our stay in Liberia took us back to Kendeja Hotel and Myrtle Beach for an attempt at surfing. The waves were extremely rough, so everyone got beat up again, but it was another joy. Our friends from Orphan Relief & Rescue joined us with their surf boards and tried to teach some of us to surf. Dimitri and I learned from Josh and Sam, but it was difficult to learn in only an hour time span. The closest I got to surfing was riding the wave on my knees a couple times, but at least I can say I did that much. Having an hour to learn how to surf before dinner was something I never expected on arriving here.

Dinner

We rushed from the beach to dinner with Christine our host. She held a dinner for a man that we will be going to hear speak tomorrow by the name of Neil Anderson. The food was great as always, but it was nice to eat and talk with some new folks for dinner. We also had a lawyer and a Liberian congress-woman join us for dinner which was huge for us. With Christine included with our highly-esteemed company we were able to dine with some great leaders, who were able to inspire my team.

Be Praying for my Amazing Team

Ending today I couldn’t be more proud of my team. I have pushed everyone as hard as I could they are all still standing and ready for more. I have an extremely strong team and I can’t stop thanking God for all of them. God has much more in-store for our team so please continue to pray for everyone here that we may finish strong and complete the work our Lord Jesus has for us.

Thanks and God Bless,
Brad Chahoy