Each morning, VBS wrapped up around 10:30. The guys stayed up at the church to work on the electrical. The have a generator that they run during church services and everyone brings their cell phone and charger to charge their phone while the generator is running. The had it set up at the front, beside the keyboard, speakers, microphone, etc., so the guys ran a cord to the back and had small two tier shelf made for the power strips. They also put up lights in the middle beam and wired light switches. They worked all week in the late morning and on Friday morning, Mrs. Lynn and I took the camera to take pictures of them working, so it looks like we actually worked all week with them too. They wanted to be sure that everyone knew we didn't really do any of the work. :)
Jean Elden and Caleb did a little singing as well.
We weren't just sitting around though (although I did take a nap one day), Mrs Lynn and I painted fingernails and toe nails for the girls, then they braided our hair. FOR AND HOUR AND A HALF!!! And it HURT! So, we suffered while they worked. Ha!
They didn't realize that our hair wouldn't stay braided together at the end if it did't have a ponytail on the end, like theirs does. I ended up taking mine out that night before bed because I had a headache and knew it wouldn't be very restful to sleep on.
Lunch was served to us around 1:00 each afternoon. I can't believe we didn't take any pictures of all the delicious food! We had goat every day with a variety of sides, including peas, okra, rice & beans, fried plantains, sliced mangoes, and more!
Around 1:30 in the afternoons on Monday-Thursday, we ran a basic medical clinic. We were able to take a medical kit with a variety of medications, mostly OTC medications and a few antibiotics. Pastor Accilien's nephew is a Dr. and was planning to be with us for the week, but wasn't able to make it to Maissade. So, Ms. Ann, the village nurse helped me and Caleb was my translator. Jared, Jean Elden, and Bro. Freddy did the intake information and vital signs, they came in to see me, Mrs. Lynn distributed the appropriate meds to me for the patients, then they went out to hear the gospel from Pastor Accilien and his associate pastors.
Intake information and VS were taken out on the right side of the porch.
Here's the 'pharmacy'.
The funniest part of the clinic was when Jared was trying to tell an older man to put the thermometer under his tongue. The man finally bit down on the thermometer and broke it. And that was the end of taking temps. Ha!
We saw nearly 200 people in the 4 afternoons. We worked from about 1:30-5:30 or 6:00. It was the most exhausting part of the week, that's for sure. There were some really sick people coming through the clinic....tonsillitis in a 14 year old, awful sounding chest/pneumonia, ear infection, etc. We did have one older man (he didn't know how old he was) who was very obviously in heart failure. His 2 adult children brought him on a moto. He could barely walk, was very swollen, was breathing heavily and his heart sounded like a valve was leaking. Obviously there was nothing we could do, so we discussed his options, go to a Dr. or go home and be with his family. He told pastor Accilien that he was a Christian, but his children were not, so they heard the gospel of Jesus before taking their father home.
There were a large number of people coming through with symptomatic anemia (rapid heart rate, weakness, etc.) and we gave out all the vitamins and iron supplements we had. All the kids were also given a 30 day supply of a multivitamin. We were able to leave a few doses of antibiotics with Ms. Ann and the rest of the OTC meds. She was seeing patients on Friday when we left.
So, Caleb was the translator for me, as we saw the patients. He is 14, so he learned A LOT of things about females that he never wanted to know! He was SO calm and professional about it all and did an amazing job. He is such a special kid!
As exhausting, mentally and physically, the medical clinic was, I think this was the biggest part of our mission trip. We saw so many people who had no idea who Jesus was and why he came and each one of them listened and were prayed over. So many people who probably wouldn't have ever chosen to go to the church!
After clinic and supper, we sat on the porch until dark and bedtime. Crispin kept us entertained. He was just playing around us and walked over to the post and did this, without bottoms on. Yes, he's licking the post.
Crazy kid!!!!
Mrs Lynn and her footless chicken! She fed and played with this chicken in March, when they were there for revival and it was still hobbling along. They tried to give her the chicken to bring home, but I don't think customs would have appreciated that very much.
We didn't take very many clothes....we just washed them out and dried them. Jared washed a lot of his clothes Thur. night, then it rained for HOURS, so he had to rig up a clothes line up stairs to dry them. Too bad they didn't dry all the way because they STUNK when I took them out of the suitcase on MONDAY morning.
Friday, we had an early lunch and left Maissade at 12:00 for the drive back to PAP. After my experience in the truck on the way up to Maissade, I knew I wanted to ride in the back this time. This time, Pastor Accilien, Caleb, and Bro. Freddy rode in the truck and Jared, Mrs. Lynn, Jean Elden, Mrs. Alouda (pastor's wife), and I rode in the back of the truck. Fortunately we had less luggage, because we left a few suitcases that were broken and put some smaller ones inside larger ones, so we had 7 suitcases + Mrs. Alouda, Caleb, Jean Elden, and Pastor Accilien's bags.
Let's see, we had several 'incidents' on the drive back. First we stopped for a cold drink, then stopped for gas, then the truck skipped a gear and shut off, then the truck overheated, then the tailgate flew open and the spare tire went bouncing down the road and up the side of the mountain (fortunately no one fell out!). So, it took us 5.5 hours to get back to the Florida Baptist House in PAP. It was hot, crowded, and uncomfortable and I have never been so glad to get out of a truck in all my life!
The Fl. Baptist House had us rooms with air conditioners and bathrooms with running water, so it was AMAZING to take a shower and have a 'real' toilet.
We also had the internet, so we were able to Skype with the kids that evening!
The traffic in PAP was actually a bit smoother this year. People were actually following the few traffic lights they have around the airport. Here's a short video of our drive from the Fl Baptist House to the airport in PAP.
We flew out of PAP around 1:30 to Maimi, had an interesting time collecting our suitcases and getting through customs due to a rainstorm and several international flights arriving at the same time, and flew back to Atlanta. We got back and collected our bags around 10pm and made it back home around 2:00. It was a long trip back, but we were so thankful to be home safely!
A big thanks to all of you who made donations and prayed for us as we traveled and ministered to those in Maissade!
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