Taylor (Day 10)- ELWA Hospital

Morning Devotional

This morning Dimitri, Brad, and Dave led our devotional. Brad spoke on the verse Matthew 6:33. Seeking God’s kingdom – this is first and for most the most important aspect of our mission. We went into detail as a group that God will move, without planning. Dimitri spoke about the book we are currently reading as a group called, When Helping Hurts. Since we went to ELWA Hospital it was appropriate he pulled an expert from the book relating to the healing of the sick and anointment. Dave then let us listen to two songs that have been on his heart this trip. Some of the verses he touched on were John 17:1, John 5:38, and John 11: 38-44. The verse that particularly stuck with me was John 11:40, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” If we believe, the glory of God will be apparent to all of us!

ELWA Hospital

Today we went to ELWA Hospital and spent about 5 hours there. I have to admit the hardest part about today was getting to the hospital in general. We crammed 6 people into the back of the car and had Dave sit in the front seat. We quickly found out that wasn’t going to work at all. So Dave got out and rode on the motorcycle with Rodney. Chris got in the front seat since he wasn’t feeling well and the rest of us remained squished in the back! This was a different car than our driver had been driving since we have gotten here and a stick shift at that. We asked him, “So how long have you been driving a stick shift?” All he replied was, “Today.” Well it is Liberia, so we not all surprised but a little scared! When we started off to leave, the back of the car was so low, it drug against the rocky, unpaved ground. We all had to get out of the car and walk until we reached the paved road while our driver drove on. It was an interesting ride to say the least! And this was just the first part of our morning!

We arrived at ELWA and met up with Matt, one of our friends we have made in Liberia. He is a student from the United States on a Medical Mission Trip, working at ELWA. He showed us around and took us to meet the hospital supervisor, James. James gave us a warm welcome and told us in a little more detail about the ELWA Hospital. We then decided the girls would go into the Females Ward and the boys would go into the Men’s. Our main focus was prayer as we went our separate ways.

Kristin, Rachel, and I went into the Female’s Ward. I was immediately drawn to one lady lying on a hospital bed in pain. I went over to her and asked her name. She told me it was Elizabeth and she has been in the hospital since March due to Typhoid. So for 4 months she has been lying in the same bed, too weak to do anything but lie down except for the occasional bathroom break. Her 2 daughters were with her and her sister, Dorris. Dorris stays with her everyday as her care taker. It broke my heart to see her lying there helpless. I sat next to her on her bed and held her hand and asked if she would let me pray for her. She nodded yes. I placed one of my hands on her knee and with my other hand, held hers. The first time I prayed out loud, even though she was unable to understand all that I was saying. After praying, I remained sitting there for about 2 hours. Every time I prayed for her in those 2 hours I would close my eyes and pray to myself, but I know she knew what I was doing because she would also close her eyes. My emotions got the best of me and I began to cry. She squeezed my hand and told me that my prayers were helping her. I came to encourage her, and here she is helpless encouraging me! Elizabeth was a blessing to say the least. It was awesome to spend that time with her, just to let her know how much Jesus loves and cherishes her. I will keep in touch with Matt to see if there is any progress with her and she will always be in my prayers. This was by far the most uplifting part of my day.

LATER

We met Rodney to unload a container with a huge amount of supplies on it for various NGO’s here in Liberia. The container was taking a very long time to get to the unloading spot where we all were, so Chris and Dimitri thought it would be a good idea to take Rodney’s motorcycle for a drive (with his permission). Chris was the first person to take the motorcycle for a ride. We all began chatting and carrying on when we realized that Chris still wasn’t back. William, our driver, Rodney and Rachel took the car to go find Chris. While they were away looking for Chris, the rest of the team spotted Chris running down the road toward us, but with no motorcycle!! It was hilarious! He quickly told us that the motorcycle would not start back up and had to wheel it to a nearby house (luckily we knew the people whose house the bike was at!) We called Rodney and told him where the bike was. They came and picked Chris up to go back to get the bike. They found out that the fuel cut off was in the off position and was not getting the fuel from the tank when he was riding it. I’m glad we have moments like these on our trip to laugh at!

NOW OFF TO OUR DEBREIF!

Thank you for all the much needed prayers and keep them coming!
I MISS YOU ALL! 8D
-Taylor Chahoy