Easter Service with photos!

1 Peter 1:3
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead"... (NIV)

 

Christ is risen. He is risen indeed!

 

Happy Easter! This morning I went to Nzoundou Chapel with a carload of people including Pastor Jean Clement, one of the Hospital Chaplains. It was so good to have a Pastor along so he could give the Easter Sunday message and also so he could give communion. The little village rarely has the visit of a Pastor. 

 

 

There were 65 adults and children present in church. That is about twice the number of people who routinely are there on a normal Sunday. 

You know that there are some people who only

attend church on Christmas and Easter. 

There was a lot of good singing, an excellent message with an invitation and some who expressed a wish to follow Christ. 

After the message, Pastor Jean Clement gave communion. He had brought the communion cups and I had brought bread to represent the body of Christ and yes....  Raspberry Crystal Light to represent the blood of Christ. I've seen many drinks used for communion including orange soda. The importance is the meaning behind the symbol.

 

These kids were playing in the middle of the floor during the message. So cute. All the many kids in the chapel were well behaved and lasted the almost three hour service. There was no nursery.

 

Pastor Jean Clement is willing to go with us to Nzoundou other weeks which is great. Because he is one of the Hospital chaplains, he does not have a particular place to minister on Sundays.

Today's  Positives:

1. My Easter celebration started last evening with a Potluck dinner with all the Expats who work at the hospital. We ate and then had an Easter Hymns. It was great with many different languages as we were from the U.S., Canada and four different African countries.  

2. The service at Nzoundou Chapel was well attended and the message well received. We even had a Pastor with us where usually we are lay people holding the services.

3. A number of people accepted Christ today as well as others who came back to the Lord.

They're dead!

Exposed ant tunnels.

About ten days ago I paid a man to trim the front bushes and pull the weeds under the bushes. The bush trim and ground cleaning out revealed that the whole front of my house was filled with ANT nests and trails. Since that day, the big black ants have been coming into my house. I guess they did not like that their ant hills and homes were disturbed. They come in through a crack under a door opens from my bedroom to the outside.


I went online to find what would kill ants but would not kill plants. I found suggestions such as baking soda, cinnamon and corn meal. I have tried sprinkling baking soda on the ant hills but we have had hard rains every day and they soda just gets washed away. When Paul Davis, our maintenance manager at Bongolo came by today I asked him to look at my the hills. He immediately went to the garage and brought back a strong insecticide spray that he used on the whole front of my house, on the ant hills, ant trials, lower part outside of the house, the door where the ants come into the house, etc. He said that it would last a month.

An hour later I looked on the sidewalk on in front of my house. There were a number of big black ants, DEAD ANTS! WooHoo!

Today's Positives:
1. The ants are dead and not coming into my house.
2. I got some sorting done in my office this afternoon.
3. The rains that we are having right now have cooled down the hot, humid weather here. It is rainy season on the equator for at least another month or two. Then we will have three dry months. I wish we could send some of this rain to the drought areas of the U.S.

TORNADO!

Lay Pastor Wilfrid preaching in French with translation into Yinzebi.

I went to Kanda Church this morning. Had to put my Nissan in 4 wheel drive to get through the mud holes. I guess a truck had been stuck earlier. My Nissan got through fine. 

There were 76 in church, half of those were children and youth. It is a very "alive" church. The Lay pastor Wilfrid gave a Palm Sunday message.

A few weeks ago the church's parsonage had been struck by a "tornado" like wind and the whole roof had been taken off. Sure enough, the whole roof was off of the house and on the ground next to it. It had not been well anchored down to the house. Some of the materials will be able to be used again but most will need to be paid for again and they are studying how to better anchor the roof to the brick house. The Lay Pastor was given a room in the house of one of the members of the church. It's good he is single, without a family right now since there is no house for him. Pray that the roof gets put back on quickly though. Oh, and Lay Pastor Wilfrid was not in the house at the time of the storm. Praise the Lord that no one was hurt. ..... sorry I forgot my camera at home today so I could not get a photo of the roofless house Here is a photo of the red brick church. The parsonage is at it's right side but not seen at all in this photo.

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Today's Positives:

1. It rained so much yesterday, I was glad that it was not raining today. It was especially good to have a dry day because the roads were so muddy. How would I have even seen the ruts should they have been filled with water.

2. The Palm Sunday service in Kanda was very good, with a good message.

3. No one was hurt in the Tornado that took the roof off of the Kanda Church parsonage. What the Africans call a tornado is not a twister as in the U.S. It is a tropical wind storm, more similar to a Hurricane but with less rain.

   

Nursing School Graduation Photos!

This morning was Nursing School Graduation for the eight 3rd year students, seven women and one man. It was held at the local church, during the morning service. Here are some photos!

Graduates entering the church doing the African shuffle to music.

Graduates sitting on the front row of the church.

Hospital Staff sang two songs during the graduation service.

American Professors in the Nursing School. I am on the far right.

 

African and American Professors at the Nursing School.

 

Graduate nurses and me.

 Today's Positives:
1. Graduation and the reception afterward both went well.
2. The Power point that I did for the graduation reception went ok.
3. After being on my feet much of the day until 2pm, my left leg swelled more than it had for awhile but this evening it is back to it's "normal". Thanks to my new recliner!



By the way, green is NOT my color. I know, I know, it's St Patrick's Day, right? And I even have a wee bit o Irish  blood in me but what can I say, I wore green because it was the chosen cloth of the graduates!
 

BBQ Dinner for Nursing Graduates!

The Senior class of Nursing Students that I teach will graduate tomorrow. Last evening we had a BBQ dinner. Here are a few photos:

Here is a photo of the graduates plus professors.

Today's Positives:
1. We had a fun BBQ dinner last night. Played the game Mafia and the students seem to really love it.

2. Tomorrow is Nursing School graduation. I need to bake a cake this morning for the reception tomorrow.
3. My computer had the BSOD (blue screen of death) again yesterday but I have been able to save my important files off of it. There is a visiting surgeon here in Africa who will return to the States next weekend. He will take my computer there for repairs. The repairs will be covered by a prepaid service agreement.  I do have a small Netbook that I will be able to use until my main laptop returns.

Thanks for visiting my blog.

My Ship Came In...!

I have lived and worked in Africa since 1977. Every few years I ship items from the States. Since I plan to leave Africa for in December 2014, for retirement, I do not need many things. I December though I shipped two cartons of items for me and two with things that the people had given me for the hospital.

I also "hand picked" a new recliner that actually FIT me. I went to Nebraska Furniture Mart in Omaha and sat in many chairs. Then I took the information down on the chair that fit me (high enough so I could get out of it, long enough for my long legs, high back for my head, etc). I emailed the chair information to my contact in Ohio. She then went to a store near the dock yards and ordered my chair. It arrived at that store THE DAY BEFORE our shipping container was going to be loaded!! WooHoo.
My shipment arrived in the capital city here and then was trucked down to the hospital where I live. I have had the things less than two weeks. It is SO nice having my new chair. Yipee!

Today's Positives:
1. Even though my computer is giving me problems (blue screen nearly every day), I have been able to save my documents off of it.
2. A visiting surgeon said that, if needed, he will transport my computer to the States in two weeks when he leaves. I am doing some troubleshooting yet. Please pray for wisdom as to if I should send my computer or not.
3. My computer's two year service agreement with the Geek Squad is still in effect until August so I will not have to pay for repairs, or replacement parts.  YES!
4. I FOUND my camera I had looked for since Saturday. YES!
5. My Ship came in! YES!

I hope you are having a good day. Stay well.

I Almost Fell TWICE!

Last weekend I went up into the attic to get some items. I came back down the stairs very carefully, taking one step at a time. I learned from my Physical Therapist that I first need to go UP with my good leg but DOWN with my bad. My broken but then operatued left leg would be my "bad" leg, even though my PT said it was "good" now!

 When I got to the next to the last step I went DOWN with my left leg but my foot SLIPPED off of the step and down onto the last step! The steps are made of wood, non carpeted. Remember, I live in Africa. I do not have carpet on my floors except a very large carpet piece in the living room. My stairs to the attic also do not have a railing and towards the bottom, there is nothing to grab onto. Although I came down hard on my left foot, it did not hurt my leg. I am very thankful that I did NOT then fall off of the last step an onto the floor! Praise the Lord!

Now for my second ALMOST fall. That was yesterday! I was making chili and beans to serve to company I was to have today. I  did not have enough tomatoes to put into my chili so I went to the local African store. It is a little "hole in the wall" sort of place. Does not have much in it. I went inside, found my tomatoes but wanted to look in the back of the store. I rarely go into this small store so I did not know that there was a fairly large step down to get to the back right of the store. There was very little light back there and so as I walked to the back I could not see the step that was there. Suddenly my right foot went 7-8 inches DOWN the step! This caused my left knee to BEND more than it has been bending for quite some time. I then lunged awkwardly towards a food stand, bumped my breast bone on it and then veered off toward the left where I was thrown onto a chest type freezer! I did not FALL down on the ground for which I was very thankful. I did cry out several times, right in front of the six or seven men who were chatting at the front of the store! I did recommend to the storekeeper that he put a light in the back area so the step would be visible.

I came home, finished up my chili and then sat for awhile after having taken some Ibuprofen. My right ankle was slightly twisted but it is fine today. My left knee ached a bit but was fine. Praise the Lord AGAIN that I did NOT fall down on the floor! There is no way that I would have been able to get up off the floor without help.

I walk so cautiously so I do not fall, like a snail or a tortoise. I usually do not take a step without looking where I plant my feet. In the past I exercised with Nordic Walking poles. I have decided though that it is too difficult for me to watch where I am planting my feet at the same time as I am using the poles. I plan to give my poles away.

The REST of Today's Positives:
1-3 found on my first blog of the day entitled "PhotoTour of the Hospital".
4. Both times that I slipped, I did NOT FALL to the Ground!
5. I did not hurt my KNEE when I slipped in that store yesterday.

Praise the Lord for his Protection! 

Photo Tour of the Hospital!

Nursing School where I work.

Patients waiting to pay at the cashier.

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View of Hospital in front of adult medical ward, looking toward the Nursing school

Hospital looking towards an outpatient area, Xray, Insurance and administration.

 Above is a photo tour of the Bongolo Hospital where I work.... on the equator of Africa. It is in the tropical rain forest.

Today's Positives:
1. I had no car trouble getting to church at the Nzoundou Chapel this morning, unlike last week when there was car trouble with two different cars so I didn't make it to church.
2. I had company for lunch today. Our pilot flew four visitors and a patient down so I had all six of them for chili over rice lunch. Two of the visitors knew me from speaking at their church in Ketchikan, Alaska 22 years ago! The Pastor was one of the visitors and he told me that people in their church had prayed for me every Saturday for the past 22 years. No wonder I have stuck out working in Africa for so many years!!!
3. Tonight friends are coming over to watch American Idol with me. Don't tell me what is going on with the show because we are several weeks behind the actual showing. I get my TV via satellite and through South Africa.

I hope you're having as nice a Sunday as I am.

One Year ago Tomorrow!

One year ago tomorrow, March 5th, I fell and broke my left knee and left wrist. Five surgeries on my leg and one on my wrist, over three and a half months in the hospital and rehabilitation center, prayers, phone calls, flowers, cards, emails, visitors, months living in a Senior housing "village" and various helpers later and I am BACK IN AFRICA! Praise the LORD for HIS healing! An emergency room doctor was recently here at the Bongolo Hospital and he was surprised that I was already back here, knowing about the injuries that I had had. Again, Praise the Lord!

My leg is doing well. I do not need to take anything for pain. I notice that the swelling in my leg has really decreased. I do not think that my knee bends any more than it did months ago but I'm learning to adapt. This week I was excited to receive the four cartons and the glider recliner chair that I had shipped from the States. I now have a chair that actually fits me, long enough to hold my long legs and high enough off the ground that I do not have to add a pillow to it to be able to get out of the chair. It is also comfortable.

I am enjoying ministry in both the Kanda Chapel and the Nzoundou Chapel. I alternate weeks with each congregation. At least I attempt to get to the villages. Yesterday Dr. Deborah Walker and I were going to Nzoundou for church. I had prepared the morning's message. First of all, my Nissan Patrol vehicle would not start because of a dead battery. Next we got into Deborah's vehicle, picked up our passenger and got to about a mile out of town when her car had a burnt smell. We were forced to return home. She is waiting for a part for her car but the one that came down from the capital city was the wrong part. Pray that Deb get the correct part to repair her car's fuel system. By the way, my car now has a new battery so next Sunday should be a go. We again plan to go to Nzoundou.

The Bongolo Hospital 3rd year Nursing students are taking Comprehensive Exams this week, Monday through Friday. Please pray that they do well in these tests. The graduation service for these students will be held at the Bongolo Alliance Church on Sunday morning, March 17th. Pray for those of us who are preparing for all the festivities as there is much to do before then. I am making a Power Point of their 29 months in school which will be shown at their reception following graduation. Below is a photo of me with the graduating class of 2013. 

Good News: During 2012 there were 1,517 people who prayed to accept Christ at Bongolo Hospital. These were outpatients, inpatients and family members. Monday through Friday the two Hospital Chaplains hold an evangelical service in the hospital waiting room. They also visit people in their rooms. Everyone is encouraged to share Christ with the patients. Two weeks ago I showed the film, "The Life of Jesus Christ" on the porch of the Maternity after which five women prayed to accept the Lord. Praise HIM. Continue to pray for Alida, the women who I've mentioned before. She watched about half of the film but she was not one who was present when the invitation to accept Christ was given.

Thanks so much for your prayers for me during this past year, a year of great trials but also a year of great VICTORIES!