Thursday was the end of surgery for this outreach. There is one more week for faces to mend and graft sites close over, for little stomachs to start digesting food again. The ward is full of bewhiskered cleft lip babies and the leftovers from the plastic surgery rotation waiting for wound healing.
We gathered in A ward to celebrate and tel God tenki (give thanks to God) - patients and parents and nurses and doctors and day volunteers and OR sterilizers and physical therapists....and the odd stray we pulled in from the hallway. We lifted our hands in praise for successful surgeries, lifted our voices to the deckheads and up the stairwell, and danced as the ship gently rocked. Nurse after nurse was pulled into the dance circle as well, as Abu spun wildly and yelled, "shake you bodi and dance like an African!!" Later on as patient after patient shared testimonies of God's goodness in their lives, a small voice in my lap murmured through steristrips and sutures, "Amen, amen, He has turned my life around. A--MEN!"
I have wished a thousand times that I could bring you here with more than words; that you could experience the wonder of a ward worship service with me and join us in being glady boku-boku (very happy) for what the Lord has done. Deb, one of our nurse-turned-photographers, captured a few moments of worship from our Thursday. If a picture is worth a thousand words, maybe the clip below will finally give you a window into our lives. Come and join us, just for a few moments, in telling Papa God tenki :-)
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