After you have lived and worked somewhere for 9 years, many
of the things that used to be new, shocking, challenging, interesting,
depressing, hard to handle, etc. have now become normal. Bad chops, crazy histories, domestic violence,
deaths, cancers, really really late presenting patients, lack of medicines or
supplies, shortage of staff/doctors, etc - these are just everyday occurrences
that I have grown accustomed to and think little of.
One thing that I hope never gets old is getting to share
Christ with a patient or encouraging a patient in their walk with Christ. This is the reason why I am a missionary, to
have the chance to introduce someone to Christ, or encouraging someone and
helping someone grow in their relationship with Christ. In the hospital, it is a privilege to have
the opportunity to pray with patients and share Jesus's love with them. 
This week on medical ward, I met a woman who had been
chopped by her husband to the back of her legs.
She was in the hospital because she was having pain when walking and her
wounds were infected. As I was talking
to her, I needed to examine her legs, so I asked her family to help remove the
dressings. A man stood up and gently
started removing the dressings. I asked who
he was, and he said he was her husband, and I said so you are the one who
chopped her. He said "yes,"
without hesitating, he seemed to not be ashamed of it nor did he show remorse
that I could tell, unfortunately this isn't shocking to me anymore. I talked to them for a bit, trying to find
out more about the situation, and when I asked them if they had a relationship
with Christ, they didn't. I shared the
Christmas story with them, and prayed for them and their marriage. Later I found one of our Chaplains and asked
him to talk more to this couple about their marriage and relationship due to
the chop, but also about God's love for them.
Later this week, I saw a patient in clinic who had tried to
kill himself, by drinking weed killer, a few days prior because he was angry
with his family. Thankfully, he didn't
succeed and will have a full recovery from his suicide attempt. As we talked, it became clear that he although
he was ready to die a few days ago, he didn't want to die now and was just
angry with his family. We talked about
alternative ways to deal with the anger, including praying to God, as he has a
relationship with Christ. I was able to
encourage and challenge him in that relationship and pray for him to grow
closer to God and find strength in God during the difficult times.
These might not be the medical breakthroughs that doctors
dream of, or even the spiritual breakthroughs that missionaries dream of, but we
never know what sort of fruit will sprout from the seeds that are planted. I know many seeds were planted in my life
before my relationship with Christ grew and I am happy to keep planting seeds,
as the opportunities arise. I am also
thankful that I am not alone in this process, that everyone at the Hospital
from the cleaners to the nurses to the chaplains and doctors are all working
each day to plant seeds along the patient's way, showing and share the Love of
Christ. This year as a result of the
ministry at Kudjip 100s have come to know Christ, new churches have been
planted and lives have changed as folks have grown in their relationship with
Christ. Christmas is a great time to
remember the best gift of all that God gave us and a great time to share that
gift with others.
Thank you for your continued prayers and support of our
ministry here at Kudjip.