|
Staff Reports
Reports of recent Trips and Work by Godspeed Missionary Care
|
|
|
Staff Missionary Reports
Reports and Experiences of the Godspeed Staff
Timing...
"...the Lord will watch over your coming and going both
now and forevermore..." Psalm 121:8
Col 1:17
I seem to have gotten ahead of myself this week... I
am in Japan, 14 hours ahead of home time, not just working a
day later than my body clock time zone but experiencing seasonal
disorientation as well. While Christmas decorations abound in
the city storefronts and restaurants even in early November,
things seem less premature in Hakone several hours south of
Tokyo. More than 300 missionaries are here attending a
conference, and I am part of a team assembled to offer
consultation and counsel to them.
Our somewhat aged hotel is nestled in the mountains; nearby
Mt. Fuji is only rarely glimpsed through the clouds, but autumn
leaves are changing color and the scenery is lovely. Our
makeshift counseling area is a bit less so; we have been
assigned two enclosed karaoke booths as private meeting
rooms, soundproof but carrying the aroma of decades of
cigarette smoke. Time restraints on individual meetings are
reached more atmospherically than therapeutically.
But there is evidence that God knew I was coming and
got here ahead of me...
Upon arrival from the US, I am alone and on my own
to find my way via train from the airport to downtown Tokyo,
then the bus to Hakone. Having the name of one particular
missionary that I hope to meet when finally at the conference,
to get there I must first find this one bus among many waiting
outside the train station. In a city of millions, out of a
group of more than 300 people converging over several days
from multiple sites, he is standing by the bus, the first
person I greet in Japan.
I meet with a young missionary whose pregnancy is causing
severe insomnia; we determine there is one safe medication
that she might use, but it is not available in Japan. Her
mother is coming to Japan in a few days. Thanks to my being
ahead of myself (today Japan is yesterday U.S.) I am able to
use my computer to call the pharmacy in Indiana in time to
arrange for her mother to pick up the necessary medication
in time to bring it.
A young missionary couple seeks counsel hesitantly; they
have a sensitive issue that they had not had time to work
through before coming to Japan to serve in a remote area.
Their mission agency supervisor had made a recommendation of
someone to see when they return to the U.S. next year, so
they weren't sure it would be of value to get temporary input
from someone here that they might never see again. I meet
with the wife, and after some time together we have a workable
plan toward solving the problem. I offer to stay in touch
until they can get to the recommended resource next year;
when I give my card, she is caught somewhere between tears
and laughter. Godspeed Missionary Care was the name that
had been given by the supervisor. God did not wait for the
couple to get to me; He brought me to them.
Being the only medical doctor here can take me out of my
psychiatric comfort zone, as late on the last night of
the conference I am asked to see a young Asian missionary who
is quite ill. I go to his room where he is lying on a straw
mat, not wishing to converse because his head hurts so much
and talking makes him nauseous. He says he has malaria,
incurred four years ago during a trip to Africa. There is
not much I can do but provide symptomatic relief. The next
morning I go to breakfast and choose to sit at a table among
people I don't know (recall there are 300 plus people eating
together). I introduce myself to the lady seated next to me,
and she immediately asks if I am the doctor who saw the
young man; it turns out she is his supervisor. They have
watched him go through monthly relapses of malaria for most
of the past four years, and thought there was nothing that
could be done. I was able to talk with her, and later again
meet the young man (now feeling better enough to talk), to
explain that certain types of malaria have a dormant phase
in the liver that must be treated to eradicate the
likelihood of such episodes. Malaria is not endemic in
Japan, so few know about the clinical signs and treatment, but
recalling what I had learned from prior visits to Mozambique,
I was able to give them information about what laboratory
studies should be sought and what treatment could be given.
Only God could arrange for a psychiatrist from the U.S. to
be involved in arranging care for a patient in Japan suffering
from malaria contracted in Africa.
There are so many more stories I could relate as I have
witnessed God again and again do what only He can do as He
shows me that He is the God of time past, present, and future.
I am so richly blessed to have been here, and am grateful to
all of you whose prayers and gifts made this trip possible. I
look forward to hearing from you so I can tell you more...
Godspeed,
Barney
|
|
