Amazing Day in Prison

What an amazing day we had in the prison! And as exhausted as I am, I just had to let you guys know about it. It's a special day when you can say you had an amazing day in prison! :) In addition to the 5 day clinic in a favela and the construction team at the leper colony, today we took a small group into a mens' prison. I actually wasn't even supposed to go with the group because Sharon was going to take them but yesterday she decided that it would be better for her to stay at clinic and for me to take the team. So I took the team, 9 Americans and 4 Brazilians, and we set up a medical clinic in the middle of the prison, complete with general medicine, pharmacy, dentistry and ophthalmology. I had visited a couple of prisons during my time in Rio but this was the first time I had ever done a medical clinic in one! And it's nothing like you would imagine... the men were so nice and the way they thanked us and talked to us, you would never think that we were inside of a prison! God worked everything out in a perfect way. Camila, a Brazilian that I worked with in South Africa, just happens to be a pharmacist and came to Rio this week to help us in clinic... since we needed our American pharmacists at the other clinic, Camila came with us and filled the prescriptions. What a blessing she was! And then God provided interpreters as well. We were limited in the number of people we could take in and I was planning on being the interpreter for both Kevin & Raja, our doctor and nurse. We got there and there were so many patients... but there were also 2 guys that spoke decent English and wanted to help. So I put them to work and let them help interpret so I could see patients as well. They were great... so great in fact that Raja had no idea that her interpreter was one of the inmates until the end of the day when she asked if Anderson could come back on Thursday and help us. We told her that he would be there because he couldn't leave! All day she had thought he was one of the church helpers! She even tried to get him to come upstairs and eat lunch with us! :)

It was a busy day! Our small group treated 128 patients and there were 30 people who gave their lives to Christ. One of those was my patient, Rodrigo. He sat down and began to tell me of all his problems. The health situation for these inmates is really tough and they have little access to medical care. As Rodrigo began telling me of his symptoms, I became convinced that he had HIV that had probably progressed to AIDS. He's been in prison for 4 years and his health is only getting worse. After talking with him for a few minutes I asked if he was a Christian. He told me that although he went to church when he was younger, he later stopped going and went down the wrong path. He shared that he was trying to get close to God but it was so hard because he had committed so many sins. I began to tell Him about God's love for him, even after everything he had done and how God would change his life, but that he was the one that had to make that first step and invite Jesus to take control of his life. Rodrigo prayed with me a few minutes later and asked Jesus Christ to forgive his sins, save him and change his life! I told him that he was a new man in Christ and that his new story started today. I am so thankful that even when I don't have the medicine to cure people of their sickness, I can share with them about the Great Healer who can heal the body and soul!

Thank you for all your prayers for us this week!! Continue to pray for us, for strength, endurance and boldness and that God would be glorified through each of us. Tomorrow we are all back at the church clinic and then on Thursday the small group will return to the prison. God has already done great things but there is still more yet to be done!!

Leaving yet again... for Brasil!!

Yes, I am already leaving again! :) It's been a crazy last few months, but God keeps giving me all these opportunities and leading me to them. I so appreciate your continued prayers and encouragement during this time! It's only by God's strength that I've been able to travel between continents and time zones, minister in the different capacities He's provided and continue working at the hospital during my time at home! After working the last 3 days and finishing packing today, I am leaving tomorrow to fly to Brasil again– this time to Rio! I am going with Sharon and a team of volunteers to minister in one of the favelas in Rio. It is a big team (over 40 people) and we are going to be doing a lot of different things in the week. A construction team will be doing some work at the leprosy hospital (some of you many remember me talking about it when we first visited there in 2008.) And we will be having a medical team in a church all week and in addition to this Sharon will be taking a small group to do a medical clinic in a local prison.

I'm really excited about the week for a number of reasons. First, because God has opened up some doors for some really neat ministry opportunities. I was able to visit the church with Sharon in March and they are really excited about us coming and working with us. And to have the opportunity to not only serve the people in the favelas but also people with leprosy as well as prisoners... these people need to see and hear about God's love! Second, although I have been to Rio a few times since I left in 2008, this will be my first time being back with a medical team and I can't tell you how excited I am! God has given me some amazing experiences in a lot of places, but Rio will always hold a special place in my heart and I love being able to treat and share with the people of the favelas. I am so thankful for yet another opportunity to do this!

Please pray for us this next week. The team is flying down on Wednesday and Thursday night and we will start work at the leprosy hospital on Friday. The medical clinic will be Monday through Friday, the 26th-30th. Please pray for safe travels, for health and for preparation for each team member. A few people have already had to drop out due to health problems or family with health issues so please say a special prayer for those that were planning on going but are unable to. Pray for God's protection around the whole team, for unity and that each of us would have an open, flexible heart, ready to be used however God wants to use us. Pray that all the details and logistics work out. Pray for the church members and the interpreters that will be working with us. Pray for the people we will come in contact with and for opportunities to share Christ.

I will be staying in Brasil for another week after the team leaves to see friends and for my Brazilian brother's wedding. Please keep praying for me, that God would continue to give me strength, health and endurance with all this traveling. Pray that He will continue to use me for His glory wherever I am. This has been a crazy last few months but God has been so faithful in equipping me with everything I need in order to do what He calls me to do. Pray for me as I continue to seek Him for the present and the future and let Him lead me on this exciting journey. I love you guys and appreciate you so much!!!

Back from the Amazon

What an awesome week we had in the Amazon!!! Thank you guys so much for your prayers!! We definitely saw God at work, both in the lives of the Brazilians and the Americans! It was an exhausting 7 days and we roughed it a little... we did have air condition at night and for afternoon naps but they turned it off every morning at 6 am. When someone asked the captain why, he said it was to wake us up to make sure we don't miss breakfast. :) It was tight quarters and there were 4 bathrooms for 32 people and only 2 showers actually had enough water pressure to take a shower. But the team was awesome and definitely had such a great, flexible attitude!

We got on the boat Sunday night and didn't get to the first village until the next afternoon... 13 hours by boat to get there! We visited 3 different communities and held the medical clinic, VBS with the kids, and church services at night. It was an amazing week of ministering with a group of people who had such a heart for the Lord. In addition to the Americans and Brazilians on the boat, there was a Bolivian doctor who moved with her family to Brasil 2 years earlier as a missionary and an Argentino who is a missionary with his wife to the Amazon. God has called people from all over the world to share His love and salvation to the people of the Amazon region and it was so great to be a part of this amazing team.

We arrived back in the US on Saturday and although it was great to take a hot shower, I think all of the team misses the Amazon. On Friday as we talked of all the awesome things we had seen during the team, I reminded them that this wasn't the end and that just as God had proven faithful during this week, He will continue to be faithful as He leads each one of us. Pray for the continued ministry in the Amazon and that God would continue to grow and use each of the Americans that went on the trip. As for me, my next journey is only 10 days away (Yes, my life is crazy but God keeps opening up all these opportunities!!!). I leave on the 22nd to go back to Brasil, to Rio, with a medical team. Continue to pray for me, that God will continue to strengthen me, to lead me and to use me for His glory as He takes me around the world. Pray for continued direction and that He would guide each step I take. Once again, thank you all so much for your prayers and for continuing with me on all these journeys!! Love you guys!!

The "Peace" Medicine

Raimunda is a woman that came into clinic one day and started telling me of her heart palpitations when she was upset or stressed. In Rio, I saw many patients like her and since we couldn't do further tests on her heart or even prescribe anti-anxiety meds, I shared with her my “calmante” verse (calming or peace verse) - Philippians 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, present your request to God. And the peace of God that passes all understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.” I asked her if she was a Christian and she said wasn't yet but she had been going to church. So I began to share the gospel with her and told her of God's love for her and how we are separated from God because of our sin. I told of how God sent His Son, Jesus to die on the cross for us so we could have a relationship with Him. Many times we talk of how Jesus is the bridge but someone told me before my trip that people in the Amazon have no concept of a bridge but they understand about a boat. So as we are sitting their with a view of the huge Amazon river I talked about how our separation from God is like this huge river and many people think they can “swim over to God” by their own works or by being a good person. But no matter how good we are, we can never make it the whole way because the distance is too great. But Jesus is like a boat that takes us to God but we have to make that decision to trust Him and to get in the boat. After talking to her for a while, she said she wasn't ready to make that decision today. I shared with her how it wasn't by chance that she came to see me and shared her complaints, how it wasn't by chance that I began to share with her, that I really believe that God had a plan for her and that's why she came to see me. And I told her that the promise of peace, the only “medicine” I had for her problem, was only for those who are in Christ Jesus, that she could only experience that once she “got in the boat” with Jesus. I prayed for her and asked her to think about what I had shared with her. I ask you to pray for Raimunda and others like her who heard the gospel this week. Pray that God would continue to work in the hearts of the people we came in contact with. Pray that God would lead the Brazilian missionaries and pastors that continue to work in the Amazon region. May Raimunda and many others come to know the peace that comes only through Jesus Christ!

Medical Clinics in the Amazon

One of the interesting things about being a nurse practitioner on the mission field is that you never what kind of “clinic” you're gonna be in. This week was the first time I'd ever seen patients on a boat. One day I was in a clinic, but the second two days I saw patients on the boat. At one point I felt the boat start moving and I was told we were moving offshore for a few minutes because of a thunderstorm... but I just kept seeing patients. One afternoon they brought a man who had been bitten by a piranha. They just rowed him right up to the back of the boat in a canoe. Janette, the Bolivian doctor who worked was with us, sutured him up and cauterized it with a match and gauze (Yes, this is tropical medicine!). One of my patients thanked me so much and told me that next time I come back he will bring me a fish and some bananas! :) I loved the week!!

The health care in the Amazon region is definitely lacking. Some communities have government health clinics but they often are lacking basic medicines. And other communities don't even have any basic healthcare professionals. They were so grateful for the help that we could give them. One man kept talking about how they lived “at the ends of the earth” and not many people come all the way out to help them. It took us 13 hours by boat from Manaus to get to the area where the 3 communities were. But it was important to show these people that we had not forgotten them and more importantly that God had not forgotten them!

The Amazon

My next adventure is here! I'm headed to the Amazon tomorrow and just wanted to write and ask for your prayers. I am helping to lead a medical team from Brentwood Baptist Church. We are flying into Manaus and then spending the week on a boat. We will be working with a local Brazilian church, traveling down the Amazon River and stopping at villages along the way to offer medical care. I have never done a medical clinic on a boat before and am really excited about this opportunity!

I won't be able to send out emails or write on my blog while I'm there because there's no internet access on the boat (but we do have air condition!) but will tell you all about it when I get back. Please do keep us in your prayers this week, July 2-10. I will be driving up to Nashville tomorrow (Saturday) morning to meet up with the team. Our team will fly to Brasil Saturday night. Please pray for safe travel, for me as I drive to Tenn and for us as we fly. Pray for health, protection and unity of the team starting tomorrow. Pray that everything would go well with our flights, luggage and meeting up with the people in Manaus. Pray for Roger and me to have wisdom and guidance as we lead the team. Pray that God would work in and through each of the team members during the week. Pray for us as we minister, that God would give us the knowledge as we care for the sick and the opportunities and words to share of God's love and salvation. I know that God wants to do awesome things this next week, both in our lives and in the life of every person we come in contact with. As always, thank you for your prayers!

Just wanted to share a verse with you that I heard during Bible Study this week – Joshua 3:4-5 “Then you will know which way to go since you have never been this way before... Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” Especially in the past few years God has shown His faithfulness in leading me, as He has taken me down many paths that I have never been down before. And here I am again, both in this trip and in other things in my life, going a way I have never gone before. But God promises me, as He does to you, that He will be with me and will lead me in the unknown. And not only that but He promises to do amazing things! Wherever you are and whatever is your “way you have never been before”, know that God is with you and that He wants to do amazing things among you! Love you guys and appreciate all your continued prayers and encouragement!

Back from South Africa

Well, I'm finally writing to let you know I'm back from South Africa. I've actually been back almost a week, but with having to jump right back into working combined with jet lag and being sick I'm just now getting the chance. I want to thank you for all of your prayers during my time in Johannesburg. What an awesome experience it was and one where I really saw God at work! I spent almost 3 weeks with a group of 200 Brazilians whose goal and passion was to see God glorified and be a part of what He was doing in South Africa. And it was amazing!

I wish you all could have been there, to experience the excitement of being in Johannesburg during the World Cup, to see how many opportunities we had and how receptive people were to this group of Brazilians, and to watch South Africans worship God with such simplicity and sincerity. I can't share everything with you, but some of the highlights were – 1. Telling a South African woman at the hospital we visited that we came all the way from Brasil (and the US) not to go to a World Cup game but to visit her and tell her how much God loves her. 2. Interpreting a sermon from Portuguese into English both Sundays at 2 small and passionate African churches 3. Sharing my testimony at a church about how God has a plan for each of us and wants to continue to use us, how 8 years ago I didn't speak any Portuguese and now here I was in South Africa with a group of Brazilians translating a sermon back into English that a Brazilian pastor was preaching! 4. Laughing and hanging out with the group of crazy, fun Brazilians that love God and missions. And getting to share my story and encourage many of them that were on their first mission trip. 5. Praying and seeing God open up doors and opportunities for us to minister – in schools, in a nursing home, in a hospital, in a clinic. 6. Getting to share the Message of Hope, Love and Peace with people in a country that is still suffering from a history of hatred, bitterness and forgiveness and watching God bring unity to a nation that desperately needs to be united. 7. Watching the Brasil soccer game on a big screen in the church sanctuary crowded with 200 Brazilians and 50 South Africans and getting caught up in all the excitement!

Continue to pray for South Africa, that God would grow the seeds that were planted and the lives that were changed this past month. Pray for the leadership group that is staying until the end of next month, for the Brazilian full-time missionaries and the churches in Johannesburg. And pray that God would continue to work in the lives of each Brazilian volunteer and that God would continue to lead them and use them for His glory! I started getting excited about God using Brazilians on the mission field while I was living in Brasil but after these past few weeks I now truly believe that God is going to use Brazilians to change the world!

My next adventure is only a week away! Next Saturday, July 3, I will be going to the Brazilian Amazon for a week! I was invited to go with a medical team from Brentwood Baptist Church because they needed a nurse practitioner and someone to help lead the team because Sharon is taking a medical team to Haiti (Please pray for her this next week as she and the team will be in Haiti and also for Stephen (Sharon & Ray's son) who is in Haiti until the end of July working with teams from Brentwood). God is doing a lot all over the world and it is so amazing the doors he keeps opening up. I will send out more details about the Amazon before I leave but pray for me and the team as we prepare. Please pray especially for my health and strength... although I love it and wouldn't have it any other way, it is hard with all the traveling and having to work part-time and do everything I need to do. The spiritual warfare was so strong when I was in South Africa and especially after I got sick I was thinking how Satan definitely doesn't like all that I'm doing... I need your prayers more now than ever as I continue to go where God leads and take advantage of every opportunity He gives me. Thank you once again for your continued prayers and encouragement!!! May God continue to bless each of you and give you opportunities to share His love and salvation wherever He leads you! Love you guys!