Field Missionary

A patient comes into my room complaining of swelling of her neck for about a year.  On exam I am concerned for Tuberculosis or Lymphoma.  A chest x-ray increasee my concern for lymphoma and so I talked to her and her brother about our treatment options.  Treatment for lymphoma in PNG is chemotherapy, given about one time a month for a number of months.  This brings with it many challenges: the challenge of getting to the hospital each month, the challenge of having the money to come to the hospital, the challenge of feeling sick with the medicine and not wanting to continue, the challenge of having the cancer respond to the chemo and actually help her, and more. For this patient and her brother, the challenges were just too much.  They live in a remote part of Southern Highlands Province where they have to walk a day from their village, and then spend the night to get to a road to catch a car the following day and come into Kudjip.  They also don’t have the money for this expensive PMV ride.  They have a health center near them, but they aren’t able to treat cancer, and the hospital in their province, is also a day’s walk and PMV ride away. As we talked about the options for treatment and they explained why coming to Kudjip wouldn’t work, my heart dropped, I wouldn’t be able to give them chemo and she would likely die of her Lymphoma sooner rather…
Source: Challenges to treatment from Erin Meier – Asia Pacific

I pray:     – One day we will be able to put kids with leukemia in remission.     – One day we will see less domestic violence because of changed lives by the power of the Holy Spirit.     – One day we will see less ChopChops because lives will be changed and folks will choose love and forgiveness over violence.     – One day we will see less cervical cancer because husbands will choose to be committed to one wife and the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases will decrease.     But today is not that day. – Today I am having to tell Ambane and his family that his cancer, that we thought was responding to the chemotherapy we were giving, is back and his 5 yo life will come to an end sooner rather than later. – Today I am having to cast a women’s hand and elbow after she was beaten by her husband. – Today I am seeing a patient in followup who was chopped by a brother over a land dispute. – Today I am having to tell a patient and her family that she has cancer of her cervix and that we can’t cut it out, it is too big.  Telling them that they need to come into the hospital for a blood transfusion and maybe in a few weeks we might be able to send them to Lae to get radiation, that is if the radiation machine is…
Source: One day from Erin Meier – Asia Pacific

God has been speaking to me a lot lately about his greatness (as in size) as well as his smallness (as in caring for the tiny details of our human lives). In college, as I participated in mission trips abroad, God rocked my world with his grandeur. At this point, I had lived my entire life in Oklahoma and traveled a bit, but something about crossing the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (and even swimming in the Indian Ocean) changed my worldview. There was something so beautiful about colliding with other people groups and experiencing a whole new world. Something God has since given me a love for. At one point, I remember being so overwhelmed by God, thinking about all the planets and galaxies and stars. I couldn’t help but be in awe of God’s majesty and creativity. And yet…as we read in Genesis chapter 1, on the 6thday of creation, God wanted someone to share His creation with. So, he created man and woman in His image. Did you catch that? I know we know this, but have you really thought about it before? God who created light, water and earth, trees and plants, day and night, fish and birds, and the animals walking on the ground…created human beings. Now, we all know that our story is a long one. It’s filled with failure and forgetfulness, but it is also filled with hope and promise and second chances. It is filled with love. “God so loved the world (you…
Source: How Great Is Our God from Fothergill – Africa