FBC Mission Story

I received a great story in my e-mail yesterday from Arnie and Mary Lou Harrell and a recent mission project that they have been doing with some refugees from our church. I thought that you may be interested in reading. Please be in prayer for the family mentioned in this story. Also be in prayer seeking ways for God to use you today.

"It's been a wonderful day. The clock alarmed at 6:30am. We were up and dressed at 8am. The Chin people were ready to go when we arrived and we left New Bern at 8:30am. The baby, 12 months, and his mom and dad sat on the back seat. Sang and Sai sat in the second seats and Arnie and I in front, I drove. We stopped in Kinston at McDonalds and they had breakfast.

Then we drove straight to Durham, arriving there at 11:30am. We parked in the parking building and when we started into the hospital we met two nurses in the elevator. We asked how to find the sick baby nursery, and they gave us directions. Before we left the area, one of the nurses came back to us, said she worked there, and would take us to the nursery. She came in and showed us what we had to do to check in. I told her the Lord sent her to us. I think she was getting off work and on her way home...

When they went to the window, and Arnie told them who they were, the lady said "thank the Lord that you are here". They had not been able to get in touch with the family at all. None of the phone numbers that they had were correct. A nurse came in and said that she was the baby's nurse. This little boy was born on August 16th, three months too early. He had a rupture in his bowl and had to have surgery, had respritory difficulty, among a lot of other problems. He weighs 2 pounds, 7 ounces. His mother is using a breast pump and was saving her milk. It should have been frozen, but she didn't know. He is now being fed with an IV.

After we had been there a while, they connected with an interpreter on the phone, and they were able to ask questions of the parents. Arnie and Sang were in the room with them. They were in there for over an hour. Sai was tending to the older baby and he had two naps in the waiting room. I was amazed at how many people were coming and going to see their baby. It was about 5:30pm when we were ready to go. It broke my heart to have to take his parents away.

Arnie drove us to Selma where we saw a Chinese Restaurant and we stopped. Arnie and I had only eaten a piece of toast, so we were hungry. They had a nice buffet and we all ate plenty. As we were leaving, our cell phone rang. I thought it was Lauren, but it was the Chaplain at Duke Hospital. Arnie had tried to get in touch, but she was not in her office. So, he left a message with the nurse about the baby. When she talked to Arnie, she had already been to the nursery and prayed for the little boy. She said he was beautiful, and that she would go every day and say a prayer for him. They talked for a while and we got in the van. Soon we were on our way home.

It was 8;30pm when we got to New Bern, and dropped off the families. The baby was sleeping, and I know he was exhausted. Everyone was, but it had been a wonderful day. We came home, fed our animals, and now Arnie is putting the finishing touches on the Sunday School lesson. Mary Lyn has found a Bible online and thinks it is in their dialect. She is printing our lesson, The Rich Young Ruler, and tomorrow we will see if they can read it.

It's time for bed, tomorrow is another busy day."

Mary Lou