A Tough Day at Work

Today has been a pretty amazing day. I hope you all enjoyed Randy’s words yesterday. This entry will be from me again. We started out aiming to have a majority of the laminating of casts done today. It didn’t happen exactly how we wanted it to though. First of all, power was down at the clinic, but thankfully, thanks to Drew Killingsworth and Navarre Lumber and Supply in Navarre, Florida, we had a generator to help run some equipment. Remember, I said “some” equipment. The only thing we ran, or could run off the generator, was the “not-so-good” vacuum pump, used for laminating, and a casting saw. We had to sand the completed sockets by hand, remove plaster by hand, and so on and so forth. The group was split up for most of the day. Kraig and Jim Parker were riding around town looking for a vacuum pump. Their mission was a success and they finally returned to the clinic around 2:00 in the afternoon. Jim Parker and our friend Flavio Suoza purchased the machine for Standing With Hope and the clinic. We all thank them for their unbelievable contribution, because we will now be able to finish our lamination process. Meanwhile however, work continued to go very slowly. The clinic workers didn’t quite understand that we could all work together and get things done much faster. Drew finally gave up and took a seat. Instantly when Drew did, the Lord moved in the workers and things began to happen. They began working together with us, which some of them were not doing before, and things were beginning to move very quickly. We laminated 10 or 12 casts in around 2 hours, compared to laminating 3 in about 4 hours. Before we knew it, the time had come for us to go. Tonight at dinner, Drew led the devotional and he wanted everyone to share what they took from the day and trip so far. Everyone has their own unique story from today, but I want to share mine to you all. The majority of the team left around 3:45 this afternoon. Dad felt it necessary to let everyone go a little early, since we had such a stressful and rewarding day. However, Dad, Kraig, and myself stayed behind to finish placing a leg on a young man. This young man was 24 years old and lost his leg 14 years ago when he got an infection in his foot. We fitted his foot with his new tennis shoes and placed the leg on. He stood up and for the first time, in 14 years, he saw two feet below him. A huge smile came from his face. Meanwhile, Dad, Kraig, and I have tears rolling down our faces. There was nobody else in the clinic and this boy had sat there, patiently, all day. He then began to put his trousers back on, since they’ve been off for the fitting process, and then was able to see two pant legs full of his legs. He was now a whole man. We gave him his Life and Limb bag, prayed with him and sent the young man on his way. He took up his old crutch, placed it under his arm, like a bag, and walked out of the clinic and into the first day of the rest of his life. Dad, Kraig, and I were left in awe and were speechless. What a day. Thank you for all your comments, support, and prayers. Talk to ya tomorrow!!


Lord Bless,

Parker

*If you would like to learn more about Standing With Hope and the work we are doing in Ghana, West Africa, simply click on the title of this blog, “A Tough Day at Work,” or simply go to standingwithhope.com