A YEAR after FALLING through a ROOF! ! !

Worship at 8 am. I shared with the team what I was going through the day before. (the Raw posted prior to this blog) Just having a day. They thanked me for sharing and being honest. I felt good, heard, supported and just getting crap off my chest always helps me. 9 am we met with the The Friend (ka-wan) Center staff to find out what we were to do for the day. Since we serve breakfast (consisting of buttered bread and Milo or Coffee) we were to split up as to who would to do what. A couple people doing the bread and butter, some in the kitchen helping prepare for lunch and today some where to go out and do some street evangelism. Anna, Zack, Jenn and I went out to the streets.

The three girls split off on our own. Not before praying that God guide us and give us the words to speak. We prayed especially that He would put people in our path. (this is not our favorite thing to do) This really stretches some of us and challenges us to go by faith and to really listen to the voice of God. I ended up seeing a girl from across the street sitting on the steps of a mall by herself. She didn’t look homeless, just bored, waiting for someone.

I went to talk to her, her name is Nadia and she is an amazing 17 year old girl who is just about to begin college. She wants to be a doctor. She speaks English very well, is super sweet and pretty funny. We talked about a lot of things. One that stood out to me was Religion… of course. She is Muslim, and she told me a little about it. She doesn’t practice all the things that they teach because she doesn’t really think they are necessary. For example, wearing the head coverings, long sleeves, can’t touch a boys hand etc.

I shared with her that I was raised Catholic and I didn’t believe in all the things that they teach and rules they follow. I said that I wanted to know God and if I wasn’t going to fully believe in something (Catholicism) I didn’t want to be a part of it. I chose to be Christian. Simply follow, know, love Christ.

She looked like a normal teenage girl. One your might see in the US. Anyway. It was a wonderful conversation that had me thanking God I went out that morning.

We all got back about 11:45 made some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (a world race favorite) and rushed to our next location of ministry. The Cheshire Home for handicapped and mentally disabled people. We got there during their work time. What they did was pull little pieces of rubber out of long plastic tubes. It was really easy, kept them busy and they made money from it. It was nice and cool in the area and they didn’t seem to mind. One lady that I was particularly drawn to was pulling the little rubber things out with her teeth and spitting them out. She had a stroke and her left side was paralyzed. She spoke some English but you couldn’t understand her very well at all. I told her she had a cute haircut (she did) and I started to adopt her method of rubber removing, she really enjoyed it. I later met up with her again when she was doing some physical therapy I told her I truly believed she would get better.

There was a boy there that was severely handicapped. No one knew his name. Darci spent most of the morning tickling him, making him giggle and talking to him. I was by him during their snack time. Dave was close by chatting with another guy. So this snack time of theirs consisted of tea and these super sticky gooey patties with a corn mush inside. Very strange. I was given a few for him with his tea. I had to pour the tea in his mouth little by little so he didn’t choke. I pulled apart this gooey thing into small pieces to feed him. I put the small pieces in his mouth and he would begin to kinda chew them or tongue them around. Well, this didn’t work out well either because the pieces would get stuck to the roof of his mouth. When I saw that they weren’t going down I would ask him what I should do. He obviously couldn’t respond but thought it was funny that this was happening. I told him I wasn’t going to stick my finger in his mouth to get it down, and asked what should I do to help. He giggled and thought is was so funny. He has amazing eyes that just light up and communicate so much when he is unable to. I thought it was funny but I really didn’t know what to do. I ended up getting a spoon and fishing out the glob from the roof of his mouth a couple times for him to chew it and swallow it. I was telling him he can’t have this snack again, he should be having crackers or something that dissolves. I think he agreed.

We sang some songs for the group and later helped them brush their teeth when the dental assistants showed up. This was quite an experience as well. I helped brush a ladies teeth because she didn’t want Dave to. As Dave stood by he was bit by an ant and this lady thought it was hysterical. Her toothpaste gooping out of her mouth as she laughed at him. Me holding the toothbrush waiting to get into her mouth to get another chance to brush her rotting teeth. Her gums were bleeding and I just stopped to pray for her mouth. Prayed that she wasn’t experiencing any pain. There is nothing she could do about the condition of her teeth. I wheeled her back by some of her friends and she gave me a tight squeeze around my hips, from her wheelchair.

Sigh.

We left. Went to eat dinner with Terrance (a ministry contact) and back “home”. This is where things get interesting. I was early evening when some of us decided to take naps and just hang out. It was a really long day already. I did some laundry, took a shower, and got an awesome time in my timed word find. We have a word find that all of us have been timing ourselves to see who can get the best score. I was timed by Zack & Jenn just before I decided to go watch the sunset and spend some time with God.

I had found this great spot on the roof top that was quiet and kinda hidden. I was up there the night before ( Thursday )away from people. About an hour or so after I wrote my last blog, the Raw one. The rest of the team went out for dinner, I heard them from the outside leaving the building. They knew I needed some time. I was up there just dealing with stuff… the day’s events and all that God was teaching me. Having me go through…

I am going to jump back to Thursday night for a bit because I was up on the roof at the same time spending it with God and going through the days emotions and things I was working through. I read the book of Jonah because later that evening Dave was going to teach me a bit about it… and go through it with me. (thank you Dave) As I read it I was really affected by the part where God said to Jonah in Jonah’s complaining, “The LORD replied, “Do you have any right to be angry?” (Jonah 4:4) God said this twice to Jonah.

It was what I needed to hear considering I was just frustrated with myself and community living. Needing to discuss things with the team before doing things etc, etc. I chose into this… I asked for brokenness. What right do I have to be upset and angry? – – – none.

So I go back up to my “hiding spot” on the roof top to watch the sunset and to Praise God for a good day and all the things He is teaching me. I told Him, I give You me” amongst my prayers to Him ( I remember). I took pictures of the sunset again and also recorded my surroundings and (for some reason) I read out loud to God Psalm 30. It goes like this…

LORD, I will give you honor.

You brought me out of deep trouble.

You didn’t give my enemies the joy of seeing me die.

LORD my God, I called out to you for you for help.

And you healed me.

LORD, you brought me up from the edge of the grave.

Your kept me from going down into the pit.

Sing to the LORD, you who are faithful to him.

Praise him, because his name is holy.

His anger lasts for only a moment.

But his favor lasts for a person’s whole life.

Sobbing can remain through the night.

But joy comes in the morning.

When I felt safe, I said,

“I will always be secure.”

LORD, when you showed me your favor,

you made my mountain stand firm.

But when you turned your face away from me,

I was terrified.

LORD, I called out to you.

I cried to you for your favor.

I said, “What good will come if I die?

What good will come if I go down into the grave?

Can the dust of my dead body praise you?

Can it tell how faithful you are?

LORD, hear me. Show me your favor.

LORD, help me.”

You turned my loud crying into dancing.

You removed my black clothes and dressed me with joy.

So my heart will sing to you. I can’t keep silent.

LORD, my God, I will give you thanks forever.

I took a couple of pictures after I read this and said good night to God again. As I was going to head down the pitch of the roof toward the building I somehow took a step or lost my balance and stepped on the opposite side of the peak of the roof.

I broke through the tin of the roof and fell about 30′ until I finally hit the second floor below me. I remember when I was falling in complete disbelief it was happening. I thought to myself easily twice during the fall… “I can’t believe this is happening, I can’t believe this is happening.” I hit a beam before hitting the ceiling and finally landing.

                                  
about 30′ – – the top of the wall to the floor was 12′ and i fell from the peak…

When I landed I thought that I was in the ceiling above a kitchenette area or over Zack & Dave’s room. (both areas would have been worse because I would have landed on furniture such as a table, desk, chair, refrigerator etc) instead I landed in the hallway in between 2 walls. Perfectly centered. I was speaking to the floor moaning Zack’s name cuz I could hear his voice. The power went out because I got caught up on some electrical wires. The injury that probably hurts the worst, besides my back is the burn on my inner left arm. It’s gonna leave quite a scar.

I could feel my face bleeding and couldn’t breathe because of all the dirt and dust that was everywhere. Tons and tons of dirt came billowing down. Darci said it reminded her of a 9-11 scene because of the dust and debri. I heard Zack behind me and saw Jenn in front of me. There was a little bit of light coming from a source behind Jenn. When I saw her I knew she wasn’t going to be able to lift me up. My hip was hurt really bad and my left leg was hung up on a cord, I didn’t want to pull her down. Thankfully Zack was already behind me and helped lift me up and Jenn guided us out. My hip was bad. I have never broken anything so I didn’t know what the damage was. There was some panic but everyone worked SO well together. It was amazing. I had to go down several stairs to finally get a chance to lay down without dust in the air. I remember having really short breaths and dull moaning of pain. I couldn’t cry. Zack was right in my face. His beautiful and comforting blue eyes helped me so much. He let me know how my body looked, what cuts and scrapes I had and how bad they appeared to be. I wanted to know cuz I couldn’t see them. He would wipe the blood that was running in my eye from my cut. My biggest concern was my hip. If it was fractured our out of place. My second concern was my eye and how bad the cut was…just thinking about scaring and face stuff.

Anna was close by. She put on my shoe that fell off and checked my pulse. She was calm and a sweet smiling face to see. Jenn had a serious look of concern on her face, but I knew she was hard at prayer too which I needed. I heard Di frantically making phone calls to 911, which isn’t 911 in Mal – aysia it’s 999. She called our ministry contact Peter and made sure an ambulance was coming. ( I said I didn’t need one, with concern about the cost) Dave contacted AIM and other leaders while Darci pulled together things I would need for the hospital. I definitely needed to go. I moved to the ground level and thought I was going to throw up. Down more stairs and finally laying on the floor waiting for the ambulance for a good 45 min to an hour. I laid on Zack’s lap and held Jenn & Anna’s hands as we waited. I was able to relax at this point for a while.

The ambulance showed up and they got the stretcher out and a stablizing board. I shifted onto the board and they rolled me into the ambulance. Darci & Di came with me. The ambulance was nothing more than an empty van with a light on top. The guy in the van didn’t speak English very well plus he had a face mask on and wouldn’t take it off for use to read his lips. It wasn’t the most pleasant ride, but it ended up being free so I can’t complain.

We show up at the hospital and the first thing I notice is how rough they were with me. Poking, pulling and twisting me asking me questions that I couldn’t understand clearly because of their broken English and probably I was distracted by some pain too at this point. I got off the gurney and they started to clean me up. Or I should say myself, Di and Darci started to clean me up. When the ER room attendants (not sure what they are called) started to clean me up they were really fast and rough. One of the men wiped my face where my cuts were and down my nose and pulled out my nose ring. Let me add that this is hard to do because it had a twist to the metal and kinda clamped in my nose. Anyway. It’s gone now. I was praying for the Lord’s patience.

I got another tetnis shot and a pain killer shot… which was a pain in the butt…literally.

Darci wheeled me to the x-ray area and I was told to get up on the stainless steel table. The guy was rushing me and I shushed him sternly. Darci thought it was funny, but I wasn’t in the mood. He said (as many of them did) “ok, no problem, no problem.” I wanted to scream. Sheer frustration and pain. Back in the ER area waiting for the next step the place started to get really busy. I was told to get up on a table where they were going to start stitching me up when I finally get up there I was told to get down because another emergency came in. Move quickly again, of course. There was a med student named Ron that was there, I asked if he could help us out. What to do next, where to go, who we could talk to.

He asked what happened to me, I said, “I fell through a roof.”

He said,”Oh really, what were you doing on the roof?”

I replied, “Praying.”

He looked at me weird and asked, “What religion are you?”

I said, “Christian.”

He said, “What denomination of Christianity prays on the roof?”

I laughed and said, “I was praying and watching the sunset, you don’t believe me? Why would l lie about that?”

He said with a smile, “It’s hard to believe.”

And he’s right… it is hard to believe.

On with my story. Or the saga continues…

The plastic surgen came in and decided to take me to another room. I was happy to get out of the chaos. Ron followed and ended up hanging out the rest of the night. I was only allowed one person with me so Darci was with me at first and then lucky little Di got to be with me for stitches. My cuts were really dirty so Dewa (surgen) had to clean them out. The ones by my eye weren’t super deep, but the one on my left elbow was. That gash is/was about 1/4″ deep by an inch long, pretty gross.

First came the numbing shots. Here’s where the pain was insane. I have a high pain tolerance. This put me over the edge. The shots in the cuts under my eye drove me to tears. I had to take a min after each shot to gain my composure and allow him to do another. I had about 4 shots in each cut. By the 2-3 I just started picturing the cross. I gave up and gave it to God. I couldn’t take it anymore. I almost didn’t care what else was to come, and I started to literally be numb to the pain. Mentally and emotionally numb. It was a weird state to be in.

The bed I laid on was the most comfortable position my back had been in all night and I didn’t want to move. Literally. I just wanted to be left there.

Ron and Dewa provided entertaining conversation. Good guys. Ron had several questions about who we were, what we were doing in Penang, who we were associated with, etc. etc. Di and I got a little nervous about all the questions. But at the same time we were like, whatever, what were they going to do? They checked out my x-ray and said I was fine, no broken bones, no fractures. A miracle. Falling 30′ and nothing. They were amazed. As were we. Praise God.

I was all stitched up and heading out the door when Di noticed this. Apparently it’s a type of solution for surgeries or something. Cool.

 

As I got out of the shower, Darci was in the bathroom. She was still in disbelief that this happened, as was I. I looked in the mirror and for the first time really saw the cut under my eye. It really couldn’t have gotten any closer without affecting my actual eyeball. I was humbled by God’s love, His grace and His mercy for sparing me. I could only repeat in my head over and over as I cried from sheer exhaustion and thankfulness. GOD IS SO GOOD, HE IS SO GOOD. She patted my back and agreed, said I had a long day and it was ok to cry. Sigh.

I got into bed oh, so slowly and the girls prayed for me and thanked God for His amazing love.

It’s been one week. Almost to the hour I was sitting on the roof I lay in bed typing this now. I will post later this tomorrow morning (Sat May 15^th)

As of now, my stitches around my eye are out. My burn on my left inner arm is healing well, but hurts very much. It was a second degree burn and may leave a wonderful rememberance scar. My back is still numb, swollen and hurts quite a bit. So prayer for these areas would be nice.

I can’t thank my team enough for taking care of me. I can’t thank our ministry contacts, Peter, Puspa, Rachel, and Terrance enough for their prayers and support either. But most importantly… GOD.

It honestly is a miracle story. If you could have really seen where I fell from, what I didn’t hit, where I didn’t land, who I didn’t fall onto… you could really grasp the grace God had in the situation. Quite the testimony God has recently equipped me with. To fall 30′ through a beam, ceiling, electrical wires and whatnot, to walk away with cuts and bruises is something I will NEVER forget. Hence the Day I will NEVER forget… and GOD’S LOVE and MERCY upon me on that particular day with forever be in my heart.

Therefore.

As I read that night so I repeat again now… Psalm 30

LORD, I will give you honor.

You brought me out of deep trouble.

You didn’t give my enemies the joy of seeing me die.

LORD my God, I called out to you for you for help.

And you healed me.

LORD, you brought me up from the edge of the grave.

Your kept me from going down into the pit.

Sing to the LORD, you who are faithful to him.

Praise him, because his name is holy.

His anger lasts for only a moment.

But his favor lasts for a person’s whole life.

Sobbing can remain through the night.

But joy comes in the morning.

When I felt safe, I said,

“I will always be secure.”

LORD, when you showed me your favor,

you made my mountain stand firm.

But when you turned your face away from me,

I was terrified.

LORD, I called out to you.

I cried to you for your favor.

I said, “What good will come if I die?

What good will come if I go down into the grave?

Can the dust of my dead body praise you?

Can it tell how faithful you are?

LORD, hear me. Show me your favor.

LORD, help me.”

You turned my loud crying into dancing.

You removed my black clothes and dressed me with joy.

So my heart will sing to you. I can’t keep silent.

LORD, my God, I will give you thanks forever.