Just when I think I’ve seen it all and can ‘t be caught off guard in Africa…today did it.
Woke up this morning…still no water in the plumbing. Had to get a big jug full of water from the front desk of the hotel and pour it into my toilet to be able to flush. Did I mention in all the plumbing problems yesterday that I discovered that I can take a Water Bottle shower in 3 and 1/2 bottles?! Try it at home for your next shower. If you can do it…you qualify for the next Missions Trip to Africa! LOL
Breakfast was the same as yesterday…eggs…scrambled and hard boiled…or you could ask for the staff to make you an omelet. Bacon…Its good too…but thats a no brainer…I’m not sure I”ve ever had bad bacon. Coffee, fresh fruit. The bananas here are to die for…they have so much taste.
I had to eat a really quick breakfast because I found out last minute that the Medical Team was headed out to a remote village to help people who needed medical attention. We drove out into Africa for 2 hours. Rough roads, packed bus…made for a pretty uncomfortable ride. As we pulled up to the village there was a brick church building where all the chairs were pulled out and the main room is where we set up camp. We had boxes and boxes of medical supplies, medicines and we were ready to take on the crowds. As they began to pour in…what I saw is just sheer helplessness. I mean…what would you do if you had 5 children…beautiful children…and they had temperatures of 104 and you had no doctors, medicine, vitamins, our cleanliness? You wait for years for someone to offer some hope.
The very first patient that came in was a little girl of around 9 years old. She had this huge infectious sore on her forearm that was full of puss and anything else gross that you can imagine. The mother told us that she had the sore on her arm now for 2 and 1/2 years. The little girl was so brave as the medical team used a scalpel to begin to cut away the infectious skin. She had no pain medicine. She would cry out in pain…but not move a muscle. She trusted us so much and knew that we were there in the name of Jesus Christ to help her. So brave and tough.
I could type on for pages at the different types of people and problems that walked through the doors begging for any help they could get. I’ll tell this one story…in comes a man with his 2 wives. He has 16 children…8 of them are with him. They all have raging fevers and are malnourished. Both the wives have STD’s from the husband. The 8 year old girl had the same STD..which means she was raped…maybe by the man of the house. The youngest of the two wives was basically a skeleton with skin and she had twin boys. The boys were just one year old. Had we not intervened today…one of the little boys would have died in our arms today. He was barely alive and the mother simply said they have no food and no money and she can’t support her babies with milk because she is malnourished too, We spent time first saving the babies lives. Giving them water, electrolytes, some bananas, medicine, etc. With in about 2 hours the baby began to come to ‘life.” We had some people run in to the town village store and buy some food, baby formula and we spent time teaching this family that they must begin to provide food and use some common sense or their babies would die. We will not leave them hanging. Hope 4 Kids will work with them until they are self sufficient. H4KI will train them and not just be a welfare program for them. That is what I love about H$KI.
We saw children with cancerous mouths, epilepsy, Malaria, Aids, ring worm and all kinds of skin diseases.
I’m not a medical person, but before I become a pastor I was desiring to be in Sports Medicine, so I was fascinated all day today watching a team of people with medical backgrounds be their very best for Jesus Christ. Nurses, Doctors, Dentists, EMTs, Physical Therapists. Amazing, sacrificial people.
I helped mostly with the dental hygienist. Which means I held the flash light so she and a local dentist could pull teeth, clean teeth and sometimes just gasp at the condition of some peoples teeth problems. The hardest subject on the dental side today was an 8 year old boy who had his far back molars on both sides rotted out and they had to be pulled. We numbed his mouth and proceeded to pull. I had to hold his arms and legs from flailing and we all cried as his teeth were removed and the whole village could hear his screams. I swear he was cussing at me when we were finished but it was in some African dialect and I pray someday maybe he’ll thank me. Man…he was mad! Poor little guy.
The best person we helped on the dental side was an 86 year old woman. She was maybe 4 foot tall. Her dark skin was wrinkled and leather. She had a total of one molar left in her mouth and it had to go. She literally jumped up on the desk, laid down and opened her mouth and we gave her some quick numbing meds and pulled. She jumped down and went about her life. I would love to hear her stories. Born in 1925 in Uganda Africa. Wow. She smiled went home. All she had left were her top front teeth. All other teeth are missing. I couldn’t help but to say to her as she left…”No more Peanut M&Ms for you!” We all laughed…she didn’t understand a word I said.
We did this all day long. From early morning until 7pm. We didn’t have lunch and not one of us complained. We got back to the hotel around 9pm…had a great dinner.
And yes…Hot Showers! The Water problem was fixed!!
I wish you were hear with me. It is life changing in a way that I never could have comprehended. Many of you are wondering what I am going to do now that I have resigned from the Parkway/CCV merger. I will not make a decision right now, because it would be an emotional decision. I will be back in the US soon. Spend time with my family and make an educated decision that is led by God. When I know…I will share it with you.
I hope your Wednesday is good. Serve the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. If you are reading this…I really do have a strong love for you and I want you to be your very best. Your very best can only be achieved through Jesus Christ being your Lord and Savior and you doing what Jesus has commanded you to do.
I will sign off with this….AWINJO…the meaning is this. “If you hear it…you must obey it.”
“Go Into all the world, make disciples, baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.”–Jesus
Trent
PS…I saw Tom Eggum’s name tag today and he had 4 different names in the African language on it. I asked how he got the names and what they meant. He told me that you have to eat a White Ant and then the African people will give you your African name. Tom told me to make sure I rip the wings of the ant off first, then when you put it in your mouth you grind it up good or it will grab the inside of your throat and try to climb out.
I want an African name. The first chance I get. I”m doing it. I’ll video tape it.
Stay tuned!
So…you walk into a gathering of people who do the same thing you do. You are asked over and over, as you meet different people, “Who are you?” Sound familiar? Have you been in this situation before? Of course you have. You’ve been asked a thousand times…”who are you?” My question is, “How have you answered?” If I approached you right now and asked you, “who are you?” I know you would give me a smile and your name. The key question is, what would you answer next? I would answer; “my name is Trent Renner and I am the Lead and founding Pastor of Parkway Christian Church in Surprise Arizona.”