Mozambique hospital ministry was one of my favorite things we have had the opportunity to do on the race thus far. I love hospitals, quite possibly why I got my degree in Biology, with the hopes of one day ending up in a hospital (working, of course).
Natalie, Kerri, Phil, and Kacie outside the hospital.
The first day at hospital ministry was a little intimidating. Our directions from our translator Lovemore were, “There are no rules. Listen to what the Lord is telling you.”
We prayed quickly before we went in to the hospital and then walked through the fence with barbed wire. Lovemore instructed us that he felt led to pray for “the Little Ones”, so we followed him in to a room full of little babies lying on regular sized hospital beds. The mothers were all sitting next to the children, the room had a heaviness. 4 beds lined on each side with an aisle down the middle. Mosquito nets hung from the ceiling were tied up so the mothers could sit with the babies. The beds didn’t even have sheets on them, just plastic mattresses. Some of the babies had IVs going to their heads, the room was lifeless.
Lovemore began to explain to the women who we were and that we were going to pray. He spoke with them in Sena (their mother tongue) and translated the important parts of the conversation to us.
He spoke about witchcraft and the bracelets the women get from the witchdoctors that are typically around the babies’ waists, ankles, and wrists. Lovemore explained about eating watermelon and drinking coke, according to him, it is poisonous. (I don’t know if that is true or not but we’ll go with it for now). He likened it to the spiritual realm, we all know that good and evil don’t mix. Where they do mix, there is trouble. He asked that the mothers remove these pieces of yarn before we pray for the babies. Most of the mothers complied and the strings were cut.
We began to pray for one little girl whose eyes were very yellow (I suspect Hepatitis) and then moved on. Lovemore told us not to pray for the baby on the next bed but I had a strong urge that the Lord wanted to heal this baby. I felt that we were supposed to pray over this child. Lovemore engaged in more dialogue with the mother and then told us that he did not have a peace about praying for the child but we could do what we wanted. We began to pray for the child and after about 5 minutes had passed the child woke up and stretch out. His body went rigid and his eyes opened wide. The mother interrupted and picked the child up and took him to the sink with Lovemore to splash cold water on his face. As they were doing this, she began apologizing to Lovemore. She had left one of the strings from the witchdoctor wrapped around her waist.
That day, we left the hospital with a handful of yarn strings that we burned. We left with a greater understanding of the ties that the culture we were submersed in with spiritual things that are not of the Lord.
We often underestimate the power of the Lord and the power of the enemy. When we are walking with the Lord and listening to His voice, He is faithful and will reveal things to us. Our jobs is to own these things and act on them. So often I feel an urge to do something or pray for someone. Sometimes I take the challenge, sometimes (I hate to admit) I ignore it. Walking in complete faith in the Lord involves a commitment to take the challenge every moment of every day. To live outside of ourselves and to find ourselves in the Lord.
