Tuesday, March 24, 2009

The Body

We have been blessed to have many great volunteers to come help at BMC. Roy Renfro is a retired surgeon from Nashville. Roy celebrated his 79th birthday with us the other day. Roy was gracious in helping me with an especially difficult case today. A patient came in a while back complaining of no movement of her baby. Unfortunately, fetal heart tones could not be heard and the baby had died at approximately twenty weeks gestation. We tried multiple medications to try and get her to deliver without success. We then proceeded to do a C section. We were surprised to find an extrauterine gestation. The baby had formed outside of the uterus and the placenta and membranes had densely adhered to the bowel and other internal organs. Roy helped assure that the bowel was not injured during the operation. We are so grateful to Roy and the other volunteers who give up their time to come and serve here.

The other missionary families at BMC have also been so helpful in helping us get situated. The Hewitt's, Faile's, Jane Paysinger and Tommy Harrison have all been helpful in sharing their food, helping us get supplies, making us feel welcome, and in helping getting AC set up in our bedroom :). Our closest missionary neighbors, the Esala's and Federwitz's, live in different villages an hour or so away (down some of the bumpiest roads in the world). They are with Lutheran Bible Translators and are involved in translating the Bible into a tribal language which has not had the Word. They have also helped in our transition. We are so thankful for the Body of Christ coming together.

2 comments:

Elaine said...

Exciting news! Thanks for the updates as we continue to pray for you!

Unknown said...

Thank you Joel and Hollie for sharing your lives, the ministry that the Lord has empowered you to do and your hearts that so obviously beat for HIS. Your journal here has been such a blessing and encouragement. We continue to lift you to the Lord as you continue to pour into the lives of those God brings into your path.