Packing Up and Tying Down

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted. I noticed it has been since the 14th of November and the time since then has flown by. It is 17 days now until I land in Illinois and I am ready. The hospital closed just over a week ago. It was bittersweet to watch the last few patients leave. Two of them included my ladies, Beatrice and Therese. They left on a Friday and although they were not being discharged with completely healed wounds it was neat to see how God has a plan in place to care for them. They went to a clinic that has been established in a building we were using as our dental clinic during the last year. This clinic has been formed to follow up with our patients that still need some care. Once that is finished the clinic will then transition to a maternity center. A former Mercy Shipper who now lives in Benin is running it. I am constantly amazed how God fits all the pieces together.

A few days before the hospital closed, I got the pleasure of going to one last dress ceremony. I got to dance with Beatrice, Therese, and Akouvi. I was reminded so vividly why I do this as Therese stood and said "I had been leaking for 50 years and now I am healed!"

I spent this last week working in the hospital laundry, scrubbing floors and walls, packing things up, playing a crazy life size game of tetris trying to get the beds to stack up, and tying things down to the floor for the sail. It was actually really fun. We played the music loud and danced and laughed. It took very little brain power, no one's life was in my hands and there was something very satisfying about seeing this all come together in the end. Knowing that in the last 10 months, I was part of something bigger than me. We performed over 6000 surgeries this past outreach and God is good.