Travels with God's heart: BPs, Babies and 6 year old courage

(Heather)

It’s hard to believe only a week has passed since we last updated. We have been very busy in the last few weeks. In the 2 short weeks we have been in the hospital our girls have delivered 54 babies and we have given hundreds of women healthcare! Some days in the labor ward are marked by joy and 7 babies being delivered in a short amount of time with little problems contrasted to heavy days where we see many still births and babies fighting for their little lives.

At the beginning of this week Bruce and the kids and I and some members of our team were able to go to a YWAM run boys home to teach 19 boys (ages 4-12) hygiene and teeth brushing. Bruce was also able to do health checks on the boys and diagnose a few ear infections, eardrum perforations, skin rashes and massive cavities and decay in the boys’ teeth. We taught them basic hygiene info using songs and games to reinforce the lessons. Our kids had such a fun time playing with the boys and running around the yard at the home. They also received from the kids a little rickshaw auto toy! They are so cute and a great keepsake from India.

teaching movements to a song

helping Daddy teach about Brushing teeth

Helping Mommy teach how to wash your hands

Cheung Me from Korea who runs the YWAM home for boys

Simon says "Brush your teeth"

dont worry they didnt actually ride this.. although it wouldnt be uncommon here :)

On Weds this week I was back in the labor ward and assisted in delivering a preemie baby that sadly did not make it. It’s truly sad when you know if only the right equipment where available that they may have had a chance. This little girl was not so fortunate. We tried to resuscitate her but we didn’t even have the proper equipment to use on a baby as small as her. The truth is that even if we were able to bring her back they lack the neonatal unit to insure she has the best fighting chance. I named her Hope. She was also the 3^rd baby her mother had lost for the same issue of premature birth. With 500 women a day receiving antenatal care by 4-5 doctors in one morning clinic with each woman averaging about 30 seconds with the doctor, it is no wonder why cases like hers go overlooked. There is a desperate need for doctors to share the healthcare workload of the roughly 3 million women here. I was able to pray for blessings for this momma and pray for her to get the care she needs if she becomes pregnant again.

On Thursday I delivered a little boy! He was actually large by Indian standards coming in at 3.4kg. He needed some resuscitation at birth but quickly responded and after a day in the nursery for observation was released to his momma! I named him David because there was a lot of chaos and confusion at his birth with doctors yelling and his resuscitation, but he defeated his Goliath! I prayed that he would continue to conquer the Goliaths in his life with God’s help. (We pray and ask God for a name for each baby we deliver. It is not used by the family, but just for our purposes in praying for each baby and blessing them with a name that also helps us to remember)

David!!

look at him next to an average baby!

I followed him to the nursery to do a newborn check later

I hope that my sharing of the hospital and these precious lives is not too depressing. Our desire is to share the joys and the sorrows of our work here. These are the things that bring joy and sorrow to our Father’s heart as well. It’s our hope that by sharing these stories people will understand a bit more what it’s like here.

I spent one other day this week in the antenatal clinic taking blood pressures and trying to get the women to smile. They are mostly so efficient and composed and serious when they come in. Some of its fear; they want to know everything is going to be okay because they all know someone who has not had a good outcome at the hospital. Some of it is the direct efficiency it takes to run a clinic for 500 women a day: walk in, slap your arm on the table for your BP, hop up on the table, get your baby bump touched, the doctor takes a few notes and you are on your way! This after hours of waiting in lines!! So any opportunity I had to get a smile I took it. Pretending I couldn’t find their pulse and then acting shocked was a big hit. It was a great morning.

Friday I stayed home sick. I ended up with a stomach bug that gave me a fever and started antibiotics almost as soon as we figured out what it was. I rested and thank you Jesus I am better!

(Bruce)

When we lived in Ft. Lauderdale 6 years ago, an Indian gentleman from the ministry Gospel for Asia spoke at the local church we attended. After the service he encouraged everyone to sponsor one or two kids in India so they could go to Bridge of Hope centers and learn the Bible and about Jesus. These kids are lower-caste including the so-called “untouchables”. One of the girls we sponsored, Laxshmi, has been corresponding with us this entire time. The other child got shuffled around and we lost contact so about 2 years ago they gave us another 4 year-old boy named Hosana. Both of these kids happen to live in the province of Andra Pradesh where we are and so we contacted the ministry and were able to meet both of our sponsor children yesterday.

We didn’t know exactly what to expect but we got picked up and drove an hour just outside of Hyderabad. There they sat us down and gave us flowers and cokes while the kids at this particular Bridge of Hope center performed songs and dances for us as well as recited psalms and other Bible verses. We in turn got to teach them some other songs that we know and they enjoyed that a lot.

Our sponsor kids had come with their mothers and we found out they had come from up to 7 hours away to meet us! Laxshmi and Hosana are from small villages and you could tell they were a bit intimidated just by being near the big city of Hyderabad. So after the big program was over we were able to meet our children individually and talk with them and pray with them with the help of a translator of course.

We talked to Hosana first because we wanted to put him out of his misery. From the moment he was introduced to us he just cried and didn’t want anything to do with us. We felt bad and kept telling his mom that we understood and our children are sometimes the same way. He warmed up slightly when we gave him a present of Memory, the game. Then about 20 minutes later while we were visiting with Laxshmi he stormed back into the room and said emphatically, “I am Hosana! I am in the 3^rd class (first grade)! I will pray for you!” Then he prayed and sang all the songs he knew and recited all the Bible verses he knew. It was awesome. At the last minute he really came out of his shell. The staff told us that he’s one of the best in his class.

Laxshmi was a beautiful and shy girl. She showed us all the crumbled letters and pictures we had sent her over the years. She told us she wants to grow up to be a doctor and we encouraged her in this. We also encouraged her to study English so we can someday correspond without a translator. At the end when we prayed it was very powerful. Heather and I were talking today and saying that we never would have guessed that we would ever meet Laxshmi or Hosana, and here we just did and how amazing it was. God is just too cool for words sometimes…