A return trip to paradise and on to Tacloban

There are few things greater for me than waking up in the morning and seeing a YouTube video of my youngest daughter singing Jesus Loves Me to an appreciative audience. That just made my day. My grin is 2-km wide right now!
My apologies for the delay in posts. I decided to take the weekend and relax and reflect on the medical portion of the mission I am on. As it is on any mission, the experience is truly unique and watching God work in so many ways is uplifting.
On Friday, we saw our last 90 patients. While we saw much of the same types of conditions, we also saw some medical conditions that we ask you to pray about.

This girl is six years old and has an eye condition. We don't know what it is, but she is losing her sight. Don believes it can be rectified to an extent with surgery, but we need to ask the right people and pray for guidance. We'd love to be able to find someone that has the ability/resources to help her.

We also met a man whose leg had been broken in the past and had a metal rod. Somehow, he re-broke the leg and bent the rod resulting in a deformed leg. It has an open wound that hasn't closed in a very long time and is infected and seeping pus. We gave him antibiotics, but he too will need prayer and possible surgery to close the wound.

It is always hard on the last day to say goodbye to patients. We did leave a lot of medication on the island in hopes that we can encourage a doctor to come and follow up with some of the patients and refill prescriptions as they are able. As I've said before, one of the biggest problems in the Philippines isn't a lack of doctors and nurses, but the inability for patients to pay the deposits or for the medications they need.

We spent out last day on Limasawa in a large pumpboat touring the island, snorkeling and eating more than our fill of freshly caught flying fish, clam pulled right out of the water, rice, noodles, squid and other delights. We also had an opportunity to swim and snorkel. We saw a school of dolphins. Many fish, two sea turtles, some VERY large bats and jellyfish. I saw one very large jellyfish as I rose out of the water. My face inadvertantly came within inches of its tentacles. I didn't get stung, but was just amazed at how God could create something so simple and so beautiful.

We also said goodbye to our many new friends. There is no doubt we will see them again. Limasawa is on the World Mercy Teams radar as a place we can make a difference in. It may not mean sending another medical team, but working with local non-profits to help send medications. At this point, no decisions have been made, but we have a lot of praying to do as a team.

On Sunday I transitioned into my next adventure with New Life Baptist Missions. After riding in a minivan with 17 other people for several hours, I made it to Tacloban. I will be working with a group that is dedicated to planting new churches in communities around Leyte. Right now there are about 20 such churches with many great things happening. There is even an outreach to the deaf in several.
My job over the next four days will be to learn as much as I can about New Life and record the stories. I will do interviews, take photos and video and basically find a way to share what they are doing with others as well as create material they can use both here and when they return to the United States to share what they are doing and raise funds to continue.
Please pray that I will be able to capture the stories and find a way to tell them that will bless their ministry and God.
I also ask for your prayers as Mary continues her mission with Pastor Wen in the tribal regions of Mindanao. It's a very dangerous place for Americans, but Mary knows God is calling her to witness to and encourage believers in that region.
Thanks again for your prayers and encouragement. You are such a blessing to each of us and I'm glad to have you on my team during this trip.
God bless,
Sheldon