The First!

There have been a lot of firsts over the past few days as we have moved all our patients and medical supplies over into the new hospital. We have remained closed to all outpatient visits and emergencies except to stabilize patients as needed. That also has included pregnant moms in early labor.

I was on-call today and received a phone call at about 11:10 a.m. informing me about a woman, Anna, that came into the hospital in labor. The staff evaluated the patient and determined that this was her third pregnancy and that her cervix was already dilated to 6 cm and she was having strong contractions. Knowing that she could deliver fairly quickly we admitted her. About 25 minutes later I received a second call stating that this lady was about to deliver! I grabbed my camera and bag and headed to the labor ward. I got there just in time to see a new baby girl enter the world! The miracle of life never ceases to amaze me no matter how many times I see it!! This precious little girl will join two older brothers. She weighs 3.525 kg (7lb 12oz). Below, Dr. Bill is presenting Anna and her new baby a special certificate stating that she is the first baby to be born at the new Kudjip Nazarene Hospital.

Please continue to be in prayer for us tomorrow, Monday 11/9, we will be open and seeing lots of patients for sure!! Some will come just to check out the new facility. Pray that as we continue to provide medical services here in PNG that we do it in such a way as to glorify our Lord!

Movin' Day!

Wow!! What a day! Wish you could have been here!

We remain amazed at how well everything went on this the first day of the "big move"!! It was definitely orchestrated by God! All the patients were moved from the old to the new hospital in just a little over 3 hours! We had lots of workers who gave their all.

Now, the day is done and patients are being cared for in the new hospital wards, the ER is ready to handle patients and other areas are very close to being ready. We have anticipated that we would need 3 days to get everything settled and have posted public notices that we would be closed Nov. 4-6. However, due to the efficiency of the staff and helpers we may begin seeing patients in the outpatient department as soon as Friday the 6th!

Included here is just a sampling of what you would have seen had you been here!

Photos by Cilla Radcliffe, Quintin Shmelzenbach & Jeff Myers

Have you ever had one of those really busy Sundays with added services in the afternoon such that the idea of going out yet again seems totally uninviting? We felt like that this past Sunday. We had our Harvest party on Saturday night after which we had one of our new missionary families, the Kerrs, over for the night, which we thoroughly enjoyed! (They live at the Bible College and since we don't travel after dark needed a place to lay their heads!). We went to church on Sunday morning and then had a nice dinner with our guests and then had our monthly English service at 2pm and then...we were ready for a little rest!

It seems often times when you do what you know you should and show up for the evening service or next special event...God moves in a mighty way and realize you certainly wouldn't have wanted to miss it!! That too is how we felt!!

We had a Prayer Walk through the new hospital buildings. This was organized by Kathy Radcliffe and Dr. Stephanie Doenges and it was very moving and special for all present! We started out in the outpatient area and after sharing a bit of scripture and song we went through the doctor and nurse exam rooms and the treatment room praying God's blessing on it all. We then went through pharmacy, all 4 hospital wards , then operating theater and central supply and finally ended with the ER and orthopedic rooms. There were missoinaries and national workers, all of us coming together with the common goal of comitting all of our work to our Lord God, the Creator of all things who is all-powerful and all-knowing and all-loving and has provided this tremendous ministry that we get to be a part of !!! We wouldn't want to be anywhere else at this time in the great history of Nazarene Hospital!!

In just 12 hours we begin our move into the new hospital! Pray with us that all will go according to God's plan.

Harvest Party Fun

Here at Kudjip Compound we don't need much of an occasion to have a party. We enjoy any reason for getting together as a mission family and having some fun. But it just so happens we had a reason this time, it was Halloween, ... ah, err, I mean it was Harvest Party Time. And so we got together and had a lot of fun. Some of us, as you can see, came in costumes and some didn't. Jeff came in a costume because his wife came up with a good idea (the part Jeff hates the most, that, and collecting all the pieces and parts to make a costume), aren't we a cute pair of dominos?! Jessica created a robot for her costume and Ethan came as an Elven Warrior (from the Lord of the Rings) as seen in the picture below left.

Aunt Becky and Aunt Erin had some games that we played, like water balloon toss, a scavenger

hunt and a good ol' fashion 3

legged race! And no hobo dinner time at the park would be complete without Uncle Scott leading the kids in a good game of flashlight freeze tag, of course in the dark. There was some wonderful home made treats as well. When the fire was ready we all placed our hobo dinners (a meal wrapped in foil) in the coals and waited for them to cook. It was a beautiful night at the park Uncle Bill created for outdoor enjoyment. Since the park is elevated, you can look across the open spaces to the mountains that surround us, and they are fun to gaze upon. And the moon was a brilliant ball of light hanging in a clear sky. A wonderful time to celebrate and a beautiful evening created by our Heavenly Father!