Archive for February, 2009
Thursday, February 5th, 2009
Mal’s Story, Part 1: Plan My Funeral
Mal Hasty lives near Dallas, Texas. Here today is the first part of the story of God bringing him to the 2009 Cameroon Harvest Project.
By Mal Hasty, team member
On December 28, 2004, I got up, dressed to go somewhere and was a little early. So I sat in my comfortable chair to read the newspaper, but I felt like I was going to throw up.
Three times I went into the bathroom but nothing happened. The last time I felt strongly that if I had to do this again I wouldn’t have the strength to get up.
I also had a fairly sharp pain at a point between my left shoulder and my heart. All I could imagine was that I was having a heart attack.
At the emergency room, I told them my thoughts about a heart attack and they pursued that possibility immediately and stayed on that search for many hours. They declared my heart to be in very good shape.
When they spread the search, they found that I had an infection, invasive streptococcus A. They cut my abdomen open to try to find the source, but found nothing. My son pointed out a blistery looking place on my left shoulder. They did a biopsy and they had found the source.
During this time they put me into an induced coma which lasted until the first week in February, more than a month after I was first struck. The antibiotics didn’t work. My fever was going up. My vital organs were shutting down.
The medical personnel told my adult children that they should begin planning my funeral.
Wednesday, February 4th, 2009
How Can I Help?
Attn: WFTW
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009
Not About Wheelchairs
Erica Streifel has done a similar Joni and Friends project in Romania. People, houses, traditions and language may be different in Romania than in Cameroon. But Erica’s description of life for many Romanians with disabilities could just as well have been written about many Cameroonians.
From Erica Streifel, team member:
My experience in Romania was incredible. I was so blessed to be a part of a ministry that demonstrates the love of Christ to those often forgotten or rejected by society.
The chairs meant so much to the recipients. Some of them had not had a means of independent mobility for over 20 years. Some of them spent most of their lives confined to their homes.
Even young children were confined to bed or had very limited movement in their homes. They could not regularly attend school or be outside with friends.
It was heartbreaking to see the lack of appropriate therapy, bracing, assistive devices, or wheelchairs that are really quite easy to come by in America by comparison.
I was so touched to see the tears of joy by the recipients and their families. Most of all, it was exciting to see how meeting a physical need provided an open door to meeting spiritual needs.
Joni and Friends ministry understands that spreading the message of salvation through Christ alone is any society’s greatest need and is the main goal of any outreach.
Ultimately, it’s not about the wheelchairs. It’s about pointing people to Christ!
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009
Too Risky?
by Erica Streifel, team member:
Monday, February 2nd, 2009
What is this Harvest Project?
We are a team of physical therapists, mechanics, or support people from Texas, Minnesota, California, Florida, and from Cameroon.
We’ll be working through two Christian organizations that minister to people with disabilities, one in Yaounde and one in Bamenda. Later posts will highlight the organizations and some of the people we’ll work alongside.
As with most countries in the developing world, adaptive and accessibility equipment is unavailable or is prohibitively expensive. Our goal is to minister freedom to some of those with limited or no mobility. A wheelchair or walker will mean new ability to participate in community life. The wheelchairs and walkers were donated to Joni and Friends by people like you and then restored to like-new condition by prison inmates in prisons around the US.
But even more than physical freedom, we pray for spiritual freedom for people whose disabilities may have kept them from an acquaintance with Jesus and fellowship with his body. Each person is prayed with as consultation begins and again when he or she is sitting in that “new” wheelchair. In addition, each wheelchair recipient will receive a Bible and time with a pastor.
Sunday, February 1st, 2009
Team America
Front: Elisa Horning, Bryan Reilly, Sue Murr, Gordon Crouch, Erica Streifel
Back: Nate Steller, Andrew Horning, Cheryl Hansen, Noel Piper, Bob Horning, Tim Tarchick
Not pictured: Laurence Gallarato, Mal Hasty, Dan & Faith Eriksen, Dana Croxton, Cindy Fahy, Mike Yuen
These are the team members going to Cameroon from Minnesota, Florida, Texas, California. Another post, another day, will highlight the team members who live in Cameroon.
