SEPTEMBER 2014 NEWSLETTER

FROM MAUA METHODIST HOSPITAL

REMEMBER TO RSVP FOR FT. WORTH

October 23 & 24!

Rev. Jim Jackson is the Senior pastor at the Chapelwood UMC in Houston, Texas. For the past two years, I have been gifted with his devotional book called “Lessons From Life”. I read it routinely and find it very uplifting and interesting. Just recently I read his reflection about a ‘Dennis the Menace’ cartoon that he had seen many years ago but it was a cartoon that had stayed with him. Dennis and his friend, Joey, were walking away from the Wilson’s house with their hands filled with cookies. Joey remarked, “ I wonder what we did to deserve this?”

Dennis delivered a profound answer. “Look, Joey, Mrs. Wilson gives us cookies not because we’re nice, but because she’s nice.”

Theologians call this Grace and it is what we know to be true about God as well. God is good to us because God is good.

That is one of the frequent greetings among Kenyans. Again and again I hear Kenyans say “God is good all the time; all the time God is good.” It is still a startling statement to me because we live in a place where sorrow and hardship are frequent companions. There is much reason to be bitter, cynical, and despondent here. But instead there is wide spread belief that in spite of the adversities that life imposes on them, there is a greater power at work in their world. That power is God’s goodness which cannot be defeated or thwarted.

The Kenyans know that the light of God’s love is never extinguished by the dark. It is as if they live with cookies in their hands every day. And the lesson they teach those of us who know them is that we also are given blessings far bigger than the hardships.

So as we end the summer months and move into the fall, I want to thank God for all the goodness that has been shared and experienced here at the Maua Methodist Hospital in this year 2014. We have had 10 VIM teams since January and 2 more teams are expected next month. We have also had 8 ZOE teams and 16 individual volunteers at various times throughout the year. In addition, we have had 14 medical students from many different countries (Australia, Denmark, Texas, Germany) who have come for study and they too become a part of this community of God’s Goodness. We are expecting two more medical students from Denmark in 2 weeks.

That’s a lot of people bringing God’s Goodness to bear in this corner of the world where they will also receive God’s Goodness. We are also very aware that those who come are able to do so because there are a lot of people sending them so that God’s Goodness can be exchanged. Exchanging Goodness is God’s desire for this world, is it not? Kingdom life is just that - Goodness being given and received and received and given .

So here are some photos of Goodness being exchanged just in the last month. Memorial Drive UMC team from Houston, Texas built a house and hosted a fund raising dance.

The Baton Rouge First UMC team also built a house!

They also scoured and painted the male nursing students’ dormitory and bath house.

Giving gifts to the hospital is always a concrete sign of God’s Goodness and both teams brought wonderful supplies. Medical equipment and medicines and baby hats and blankets and clothes as well as many other things. Below is a 3 pound baby who was 34 days old receiving a hat and blanket.

Some of the team gifts of supplies include paints, balls, jump ropes, crayons which bring much joy to the children who are patients and to their mothers and to their nurses on the pediatric and surgery wards Twice a week I take toys and games to the wards and we play. Below are photos of an afternoon of coloring and throwing beach balls.

God’s Goodness is seen also in the journey of healing that has taken Baby Angel and her mother, Pamela, to Galveston, Texas this past year. Angel, who was burned at age 4 days old, was a patient in MMH. Much to everyone’s surprise except her mother’s , she survived and eventually was referred and accepted by Shriner’s Children’s Hospital in Galveston, Texas. She arrived in August 2013 and over the year received 12 different surgeries.

Angel and Pamela are now home in Maua because the doctors want to wait a year before beginning the next stage of corrective treatment. Those of us in Maua were all very excited to see Angel and Pamela, but her grandmother was especially eager. God, through the skill and dedication of Shriners’ doctors and the emotional and financial support of many of you , has given Angel skin on her skull and eyelids on her eyes and I can testify that she still has her very sweet spirit. God’s Goodness is embodied in this exchange across the ocean.

One more sign of God’s Goodness at work amongst us was the commissioning of 19 new nursing students. Our School of Nursing has 130 students enrolled in its 3 year program. But this is our newest class and we rejoice in the call upon these young people to bring comfort and healing to those who are ill and suffering. They have committed themselves to God and have promised to offer their skills and their compassion to their patients. Surely God is pleased that the Light of Christ has been lit in their hearts.

We are blessed to walk with each other through our lives. We are stronger and happier because we do this journey called life together…..

and because….we exchange God’s Goodness with each other as we go.

Journeying through life does not promise us comfort or security. The truth is that we never know what lies ahead or what difficulties we may encounter…..

But what we do know is that God is good all the time, all the time God is Good and the greatest Goodness that God offers is being with us. We are never alone.

Be blessed by the Goodness that is with you and be a part of it.
Sue (and Jim)

Rev. Sue Owen is an Individual Volunteer, through the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries. She is not supported financially in any way other than the gifts of those who wish to support her ministry. If you would like to join in that support, you may do so on-line through the General Board of Global Ministries. Go to www.umcmission.org and follow the prompts for donating to Individual Volunteers, Advance Special # 982465. Be sure to designate her by name on your donation.

Jim is the C.E.O. of Maua Methodist Hospital, and you may help support his work through the same route as above…just go to Advance Special # 09613A. Again, designate him by name on your gift.

Or, if you prefer, you may donate through your local United Methodist Church.

All funds given to The United Methodist Church’s Advance Special go directly to the designated project or individual – 100%! Your support is appreciated!