Congratulations!! You have a baby!

     A couple of days back, our team leaders gave us the task of meeting with our roommates, searching the Gospels, and then going out and living as the disciples did. Darby, Ally Reed, and I decided that we were going to feed 5,000 people with 5 chapatis. Chapatis are pretty much the African equivalent of 5 loaves of bread. So we decided to buy 5 chapatis and then to pass them out to people waiting to get into the hospital.
     We first bought our five chapatis, and it was cool because there were exactly 5 chapatis left at the cart we stopped at. Then we proceeded to the hospital. We passed out some of the chapatis to women who were waiting to get their babies immunized. After we had fed all of them, we were like, “Well, where to now God?” Because we still had a lot left to pass out. Then these women who were standing under a nearby tree waved us over. So we went and started talking to them. It was then that we noticed a women lying on the ground covered in flies and looking very sick.
     We asked the women what was wrong with her. They said that she had been in the hospital, but she had been discharged and could not go back. It turned out that the woman had given birth 6 days earlier. They then pulled the blanket back to reveal her new little baby. The woman translating went on to tell me that the woman on the mat had given birth at home but that her placenta had not completely come out, so she went to the hospital to have it removed. However, the woman did not live in Lira and her husband had passed away. The Lira hospital does not provide meals, so she had not eaten in about 4 days. We gave her some chapati and water and then we went off to discuss what we should do.
     As we were sitting there thinking and praying about what to do, this man walks up to us and says, “Hello! Do you need help?” And we immediately replied, “Yes!” and explained to him the situation. It turned out that he worked for the hospital and that he was more than willing to help us. He walked to the woman and then walked into one of the hospital buildings. He got the women’s papers and got her a lot of medications that she would need. He also spoke with her doctor and was able to get her readmitted so that she could get hooked up to an IV to get some nutrients in her system. The woman was reluctant to go because she said there was no one to bring her food, but we told her that we would be back the next day to take her home to her village. Then there was the problem of the woman walking to the maternity unit because she was very weak and could hardly move. However, we had prayed over her earlier and she had eaten, so she miraculously was able to stand and walk. The coolest part was that she was lying on a mat, and she literally picked up her mat and walked like the paralytic Jesus heals in the book of John. It was great!
     When we reached the maternity ward, the woman laid in her bed. We handed her the baby, which we were told had not been named yet. As soon as Darby, Ally, and I heard that the baby did not have name, we immediately wanted to name the baby. We all decided that we wanted the baby to have a name that meant warrior, so Darby’s mom texted us some options. We narrowed it down to Harbin, which means glorious warrior, and Alexander which means defender warrior. The mother chose to name the baby Harbin, so we all got to name a baby! And it turned out that Baby Harbin was a girl, so it was good the mother did not choose Alexander. Then we had John Winter, the man who had been helping us, tell the mother that we would be back the next day and we left. We thanked John for all of his help. He explained to us that he was not even supposed to be there because he usually works night shifts, he was just there voluntarily.
     The next day we went back and were able to give the woman, baby Harbin, and her mother in law a ride to their village. On the way out, I was carrying the baby, and one of the nurses smiled at me and said, “Congratulations!! You have a baby!” I felt like it was a sign from the Lord that I was supposed to keep baby Harbin, but I don’t think the mother would have shared that sentiment. We then prayed for the family and released them to the Lord.  We knew we had done all that we could for the family seeing as they live far from Lira. It was an amazing couple of days just to see the way God worked so much in the situation. We may have set off to feed 5,000 but we ended up feeding several people, seeing a healing, and naming a baby! God is so friggin cool. Thanks for reading and for the prayers! I love and miss all of you!
 
Peace and Blessings!
 
Sarah