Bonjou! Haylee and I (Christie) will tell you about our crazy day on Wednesday in the countryside! In the morning our team (me, Haylee, Thomas, Adam, Redgi, and Astreede) hiked up the mountain to an old church that the foundation still stood after the earthquake. It was long, steep trek up, but when we got there it was absolutely breathtaking! The church overlooked the entire valley and the bay. It was so beautiful! We simply sat on the roof for awhile and pondered God's splendor and His awe-inspiring creation! We then hiked back down and stopped to talk and do blood pressure checks on some of the villagers. If they had hypertension, we would teach them ways to decrease it without medications. Several people stated that they had the fever (Chikungunya) and body pains so we distributed Acetaminophen that we had brought along. We then continued further down the mountain and stopped to do more blood pressure checks with another group of people. As we were standing there, a man came up and told our translators that he needed help. He said that there was a man up in a hut that had passed out from the fever. So our group split up. Thomas and Adam stayed with Astreede to do blood pressures on the crowd of people that had gathered. Haylee and I went with Redgi. We followed the man up to the hut, weaving through other huts, climbing up further and further. Finally, we came to a hut where a lot of people were gathered outside and also packed inside. They parted, and we walked into the near pitch-black room. We could only see the form of a man laying on his wooden bed. Haylee got her phone out to use as a light, and Redgi held it so we could see. I checked his pulses, and I felt nothing. Haylee checked his breathing, and she felt and heard nothing. We felt so unprepared for this moment. We have always had an instructor with us, giving us advice or telling us what to do. Now here we were on our own. So we put gloves on and began CPR. She started doing continuous compression, and I prayed. Then we would switch. Our training simply kicked in. We could feel God there guiding our hands. We became very emotional, knowing that there was absolutely nothing we could do for him anymore. The people that were crowded around us had that look of hope in their eyes. We cried knowing that he was gone. We still continued doing compressions and praying, not wanting to give up. We were drenched in sweat and tears. We kept checking his pulses and breathing, hoping against hope for a miracle. We had Redgi also check for pulses, because all we could feel was our own pulses. However, he also felt nothing. After that, we didn't know what to do, so we asked Redgi what's next. He said, "We leave." We felt like we had to do more, but he said that they would be thankful that we simply came and we tried to help him. We walked back down the mountain, and Redgi went to get the other team members still doing blood pressures. By this time, we were overcome with emotion. The man that had come to get us was very kind. He hugged us and kept thanking us and brought us chairs to sit on. The rest of the team came, and we started our silent walk back to the base. Through all of that, we still can see the beauty of the Lord and His power in the situation. In a span of 24 hours, we saw a beautiful new baby brought into the world and then the coldness of death. But in both places, we still felt the presence of the Lord. We know God had been preparing us for that moment. Haylee and I have always had clinicals together. We just recently had a refresher class on CPR and had been partners. We worked together so well. In addition, God had prepared us with Haylee randomly reading that day's devotional from 'Jesus Calling.' It goes like this: "I am a MIGHTY GOD. Nothing is too difficult for Me. I have chosen to use weak ones like you to accomplish My purposes. Your weakness is designed to open you up to My Power. Therefore, do not fear your limitations or measure the day's demands against your strength. What I require of you is to stay connected to Me, living in trusting dependence on My limitless resources. When you face unexpected demands, there is no need to panic. Remember that I am with you. Talk with Me, and listen while I talk you through each challenging situation. I am not a careless God. When I allow difficulties to come into your life, I equip you fully to handle them. Relax in My Presence, trusting in My Strength." Luke 1:37; 2 Corinthians 12:9
Please continue to pray for our team! Bondye beni'w!
-Christie
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