Update on Fundraising

!!! Support Raising UPDATE !!!

Dearest Friends and Family - THANK YOU!!!

Far beyond our expectations, over $7,000 has already been donated!!!

In this season of Jesus' birth, we also give thanks for the eternal gift of His life. From immaculate conception and humble birth, to sacrifical death and victorious resurrection, we are led by this Word of God in the way to salvation. Praise be to God! 

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death -- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."  (Phil 2:5-11)

Our goal of $24,000 is SO MUCH closer, but the World Medical Mission requires half the total ($5,000 more) by this Spring, before they will arrange our travel plans.  

Please spread the word about how God is leading us! 

All our Love,  T&R

A glimpse of Kudjip

Dr. Erin Meier lives and works at Kudjip Nazarene Hospital. She has served there for over 6 years, and writes a fantastic blog, which I have been subscribed to - learning much about the life and work I will have in our coming year in Missions. The following is her most recent posting - quite moving.

http://erininpng.blogspot.com/

A light in the darkness

At the end of clinic, the ER nurses asked me to see a 7 yo boy who was previously healthy and now wasn't responding.  A quick history and physical led me to believe he was sick from cyanide poisoning.  I quickly gave him the cyanide antidote and within 5 minutes he opened his eyes and was moving around.  Within 30 minutes he was sitting up eating. 

Later that night, I was called to the ER for an unconscious patient.  When I arrived, I found a man who only complained of a headache that morning, and now was unconscious after a seizure.  Further examination determined he had suffered a stroke, and likely wasn't going to make it.  His family told me he was a pastor and they were devastated that we couldn't reverse his illness.  2 hours later, he died.

Around 3am, I got called to the medical ward for an unconscious patient.  I went and found a man in his 30s who was known to have chronic liver disease.  He wasn't getting better despite being on the ward for 2 days, his liver and kidneys were failing and he was bleeding in his stomach.  All of this combined to make him unresponsive on exam, and once again I had a discussion with the family that their loved one wasn't going to make it. 

3 hours later, I got called back to the ward because this man was actually dying now.  As I was there, I briefly talked to an old man who had pus in his lung that we drained with a chest tube.  He was sitting up talking, his wife at his bedside.  I also stopped in to see how Joshua, the 7 yo boy, was doing from the night before.  He was sitting up smiling, he put hand out for me to shake, and was ready and anxious to go home.  I discharged him and went home to get ready for the start of my day. 

One hour later, about when I am getting ready to leave for work, I get a call that the man I was just talking to, whom had the pus drained from his lung, had died and there are 2 patients in the ER.  One of the ER pts was a 19 yo young girl who had been sick for a few days, with diarrhea, shortness of breath and cough.  She looked really sick.  I gave her some IV fluid and antibiotics, ordered blood tests and an Xray, then I went to see the patients in the medical ward.  Just after rounds, I checked back on this young girl and found out she was HIV positive.  Her parents were at her bedside as she passed away before our eyes. 

Within 12 hours, 4 people, that I had cared for, had died.  I don't always know what to do with all the death I see here.  I often wonder if there was something I could have done differently, but too often, the next patient distracts me with the attention that they need and I am forced to move on.  I wish all disease could be reversed like cyanide poisoning with a medicine that restores our health.  Death has no prejudice for young or old, man or woman - it comes for us all.  Just as within a night of death and darkness there was a ray of hope in Joshua, who lived, survived and went home.  There is also can be a ray of hope in our lives amidst the darkness and the suffering - Christ.  He doesn't stop us from dying or stop the suffering we face, but He strengthens us as we go through it and walks with us.  I don't understand it all, but I know He is with us.  John 8:12 says, "I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

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Love, T&R

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Our Support Letter

Dear Friends and Family,

EXCITING NEWS!!!  Rachel and I are answering God's call to spend 
a year in the mission field! This first letter outlines our journey so far, and toward the end, describes how YOU can join us in this mission!

First things First: Why are we going?

The Lord God alone is responsible for any success I have had in the long journey to becoming a Pediatrician. He has always provided a way, and as we have learned to seek His path for our lives, Rachel and I have learned to discern His leading. Though we were unaware of precisely when and how He would call us into Medical Missions, we have dedicated our lives training to bring the Gospel and Love of Christ to the unreached and underserved.

In seeking His guidance during a period of prayer and fasting (January 2013), Rachel and I unreservedly accepted God’s prompting to investigate serving in Medical Missions for one year following completion of my Pediatric residency (Summer, 2014). We go to see God's kingdom advanced, to escape the stifling consumerism of America and grow in our Faith as we live harder lives, to learn more of this World's great need, and to make ourselves available for God to show us where and how we might serve for the rest of our lives.

When we started researching options, the number of possibilities was daunting. The World is home to SO MANY lost and needy people, and the need is especially great for medical personnel.  Our attempt to narrow down options was particularly difficult since Rachel and I have remained entirely open to wherever God might lead us.  Fortunately, the members of God's Body are in perfect placement for just such occasions, and we received excellent advice from many missions-experienced believers on how to narrow the field of possibilities.

Our first step was to choose a "sending agency", an established missions-based organization that provides the infrastructure necessary to mobilize a willing volunteer from Home State to Mission Field, and back again. Standing out among its peers, we were led to choose World Medical Mission, the medical arm of Samaritan's Purse, as our sending agency. WMM's depth of experience and genuine welcome to begin their thorough application process was definite reassurance in our choice.

(Learn more about World Medical Mission HERE).

With our sending agency application in progress, we were then able to focus on reviewing each of World Medical Mission's 30 affiliated mission hospitals. As opportunity presented itself, I was able to communicate via email with many of the hospitals' missionary physicians, each of whom offered unique (and fascinating!) cultural and work environments. However, through this process, we were increasingly drawn to Kudjip Nazarene Hospital in Papua New Guinea, where Dr. Susan Myers serves as both Pediatrician and Director of Medical Services, and who very kindly fielded my many questions. God is faithful, and as we soon learned, Kudjip MORE than meets our expectations for serving a year in the field!

(Please have a look at their website HERE).  
(And check out WMM’s outline on Kudjip HERE).

Located in the Western Highlands of PNG, Kudjip Nazarene Hospital, founded in 1967, has 130 inpatient beds, and serves well over 50,000 patients annually. The hospital is staffed by about 150 men and women of God, including 5 ex-patriot physicians (1 Pediatrician, 3 Family Practitioners, and 1 General Surgeon), and hosts a Nursing School for PNG nationals.  The "Station" is nestled in a lush valley among jungle mountains, with over 200" of rain annually, and is a bumpy 1hr drive from the closest town, Mt. Hagen.

Of Kudjip Station's many attractive features, I am most pleased to share that this facility and its entire staff serve to advance the Kingdom of Jesus Christ!  Staff pray together daily, pray over their patients, and LIVE to bring God's Love and Truth to all they serve. The Nazarene Church has a rich history of World missions, and the evangelism work they have done in PNG is truly amazing. 

(Please click HERE to learn more about Nazarene Missions).

To work as missionaries at Kudjip, Rachel and I have also been completing the application process for the Nazarene Church, which most recently included participation in a Cross-Cultural Orientation. This 3-day didactic and interactive crash course on Nazarene World Missions was AWESOME! The CCO leaders shared their personal missions testimonies, opened our eyes to a REAL World View, taught us how our personalities and Spiritual giftings might best serve in the field, walked us through all the steps and pitfalls of actually getting INTO the field, and most importantly, they served as a conduit for God's affirmation - that we are indeed on the path our great Creator prepared for us from the beginning!!!

Looking forward, there are yet many steps to take before we set foot on PNG soil. With just over a year to prepare, the first and greatest initiative must be to build our support community. We need YOU, and everyone the good Lord brings our way, to commit to partnering with us. Whether in prayer, or sharing with us words of wisdom/affirmation, or spreading the word about this mission, or giving financially – ALL IS WELCOME! 

By virtue of your support, 

WE WANT TO TAKE YOU WITH US 

to Papua New Guinea!!!

To serve in PNG for 1 year, 
we must raise approximately $24,000 (by June, 2014).

...That's ~$2,000 a month, ~$460 a week, or ~$65 a day.

If 100 people committed to giving $20 a month, 

we would be COVERED!
(Click HERE, and search "Henderson" to give)

The glorious thing about serving our God is this:  We can trust HIM to supply all our needs. The wonderful thing about existing as a member of the Body of Christ is this: As we obediently use our gifts/talents to serve the Body, God perfectly and uniquely gifts every other member of the Body to serve our needs.  No matter how God has gifted you, thank you for your support!

All our Love,

By HIS Grace,

Ted and Rachel Henderson