Last Sunday we visited the Port Moresby General Hospital surgical ward. We came with a group from Waigani United Church. We have grown close to this warm band of believers and were overjoyed at the opportunity to minister in this way with them.
The ward had between 60-80 beds in it in a large common room. The place was packed with patients (men, women, and children) and their families. In PNG the family is responsible for bringing personal items for the patient like sheets, soap, clothes and food.
Singing, Worship and Preaching
Our visit started with the group singing several worship songs. A church deacon shared a brief message, and then we fanned out to distribute bars of soap and rolls of toilet paper to the patients.
Sue went with a team of ladies to visit the women in the ward. They came across one woman lying naked under a sheet. She had no clothes, no food, and no one to visit with her. It was a pitiful sight. The lady was so ashamed she refused to speak to the team or allow them to pray for her, but she did take the soap and the toilet paper.
Sue with a Patient and His Wife
I prayed with an old man who had lost the use of his legs. In the next bed over I spoke with the young man in the picture. His name is Solomon, and his older brother had cut him up rather severely with a bush knife (machete). (This type of violence is all too common here.) As it turned out Solomon hails from around the CLTC campus in the Highlands. Sue and I knew two of his relatives. We were able to pray with Solomon to be reconciled with his brother and to start attending church again here in Moresby.
So the next time you go to a hospital and spend time in a semi-private room, remember to thank the Lord for the way He has blessed you. Also remember to pray for Solomon and for that dear lady in need.
