Stitches, Skits, and Salvation!

           Well, the good news is that I have officially crossed being a nurse off of my list of possible occupations that I could have in my life. The bad news is that I had to give a poor innocent African man stitches in his hand in order to figure that out. So here’s the story, last week Dr. Henry had told me that I could help assist him in surgery the next time I was at the hospital. However, last Monday, there were no surgeries occurring because it was a holiday. Then as I was visiting patients in the male surgical ward, Dr. Henry found me and motioned for me to “come here.” He led me to an operating room where a man sat covered in bandages. The man had been attacked by his brother with a machete due to an inheritance dispute.
           Anywho, the man had gashes in his head that had already been stitched, praise God, but still had about three slices in his right hand that had not been taken care of. They were very deep cuts and they were covered in dirt, so I first had to clean out the wounds. Then I had to remove the dead tissue from inside the gashes with tweezers all while the man was kicking me because he was in so much pain. It was awful. Then after the wound was cleaned out, it was time for the stitches. Dr. Henry did a few of them to show me how to do it and then informed me it was my turn, so I stitched up his hand. It went fine and his hand was all sewn up in the end, but I was terrified and did not know what the heck I was doing, and was thoroughly disgusted. So, even though Dr. Henry said, “You know you are really good at this. If you’re not a nurse, I will kill you!” I am not going to be a nurse. Looks like Dr. Henry is going to be killing me sometime soon. Oh well!
            On a lighter note, I really enjoyed my Easter Sunday in Lira. Our team presented the Lifehouse “Everything” skit during the church service. I had never seen the skit until our team decided to perform it. I liked the skit, but I was a bit worried that the message would not transfer over to African culture very well. But God blew me away on Sunday. The whole church loved the skit and they understood it very well. A lot of people stood up and clapped and shouted their African exclamation of, “Aiy yi yi!!” It was cool to be reminded that I should not put God in a box and that God doesn’t need translation as much as I think He does.      
            Later on Easter night, we had dinner with our team, pastor’s family and the Alpha staff. I was a bit homesick that day because I was thinking of my family and what they were doing for Easter, but it was great to eat dinner with the family I have here.
            Then yesterday, Jordan, Somer and I went to Child Restoration Outreach again. We went early for “Street Walking” No no no….not that kind of street walking, lol. It is when the CRO staff goes out onto the streets of Lira and gathers the street children to go to CRO for the day. It was nice getting to see where the street children live and all that, but it was also awful. They live behind the street shops and make their home upon huge piles of trash. There were about 20 or so boys living in the area we walked to, and one girl, which makes me very nervous for the girl’s well-being. It was sad to see the filth that they live in and see the things they have to do to survive. They collect bottles every morning and sell them in order to get money for that night’s dinner and also in order to buy alcohol and glue. The CRO staff informed me that the street children spend almost all day every day drinking and or smelling glue so that they can escape from the realities of their lives. It was awful, but at least CRO gives them a place to go, if even for the day.
            The boys we ran into all ended up coming to CRO and spending the day there. Then for the rest of the day I sat in on counseling sessions. Isaac, one of the boys getting counseled, ended up deciding to give his life to Jesus during the counseling session. I got to walk him through that decision and pray with him. I have never gotten to be the one to guide someone through their decision of salvation and it was an awesome thing that God let me be a part of.
            Welp, that is just some of this weeks highlights : ) Thanks for the faithful reading! I love and miss you all!
 
Peace and Blessings!
Sarah : )