jon and layne heller | Casa Ahavá and our Family

Asking for Prayer

A Layne Post

There are lots of things I could post about this week…

We lost a little boy at the hospital that we’ve known for a year.

My friend, Joanna, is suffering through her last days.

I got a new car and started driving in Africa for the first time.

We had 2 Christmas dinners with dear friends, who generously opened their families to us.

We may get to some of those things here soon, but for now I am going to focus on asking for prayer. I sat funny the other night, Christmas Eve, and somehow my back slipped out of whack; I knew the moment it happened. I have had previous back problems, but it has been quite some time now since I’ve dealt with anything.

At 2am on Christmas morning, after vomiting multiple times from pain, I decided we needed to head to the ER, where I was only given Tylenol. It gave minimal help. Since then I have pulled out my TENS unit, which sends small electrical currents through your back, giving the effect of a pain reliever without the chemicals. They are safe to use, even with Anaya, and honestly has been the only thing giving me the ability to cope.

Being 32 weeks pregnant makes everything more difficult. My OB is currently in Portugal celebrating Christmas with her family; however, she has made it clear I am welcome to call. I’ve wanted to give her the holiday weekend, and tomorrow I plan to call and talk with her, hopefully putting together a game plan of what our options are. Examples we’ve come up with:

Option 1: Try and find a Chiropractor trained in prenatal care in Nelspruit, South Africa, which is about 2-2.5hrs away, and drive there for treatment. If need be, stay a few days for multiple visits. (not sure if there is one available)

Option 2: Find a pain management medication that works and is totally safe for Anaya. (not sure if there is something strong enough I could take over a long period of time)

Option 3: Dealing with the pain and consider inducing at an early, but safe time for Anaya. (I feel like 4wks sounds manageable for me; I could count down and make it through painful days. 8wks does not.)

For now I am resting and taking things slow, trying to let my back heal naturally. We are praying for supernatural intervention. We are praying for wisdom and peace. Please pray with us. One specific area to pray for is sleep. Constant pain is hard enough; constant pain without sleep is nearly unbearable.

Thanks for standing with us. We’ll keep you updated as we make decisions and take steps forward. We praise Him and desire that He receives the glory through this situation.

December 26, 2010

Layne

Medical, Mozambique, Things we're dealing with

12 comments

Merry Christmas

A Jon Post

I know it’s “that time of year” again. To be honest, I haven’t felt it so much. I don’t want this to be one of those depressing or move-everyone-to-pity-the-poor-African posts or anything… I just want to ask you all to pray with me.
This is my prayer.

O come… O come… Immanuel.

That’s a Christmas song and I find myself praying it often recently.

…From depths of Hell Thy people save
And give them victory o’er the grave…

…Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death’s dark shadows put to flight…

…And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high,
And close the path to misery…

Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

I sat with my wife with a man who just had surgery on his tumor and who lay in agony in the recovery room hundreds of miles from his family. He looked into my eyes and said “Thank you so much for visiting me. Yesterday, I saw some people in here who had family visiting them and I just looked at my empty corner of the room and cried. I knew I had no one to visit me. But you… you are my family. You came to visit me. Thank you.”

O come… O come…
Immanuel

My wife knelt next to a girl who shares her age. She is dying. She has no family except a sister who is very poor and cannot come to visit her. She cannot sit up by herself so whenever Layne comes her contagious smile lights up the room because Layne is the only one who will put her arms around her and help her sit up, if only for an hour.

O come… O come…
Immanuel

I often hold a specific little boy in my arms. He does his best to look healthy and strong but he limps, ever so slightly as he walks. He has deep black marks on his legs and his little body has wasted away from repeated yet futile chemotherapy treatments for his Sarcoma. He’s got one chemotherapy treatment left and then the doctors will send him home. They’ll send him home to die.

O come… O come…
Immanuel

See, there’s a beauty in all of this. All of these stories have a beauty. It’s told in the end of that song.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Immanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Immanuel will come. He will come. I know it’s trite and easy to say but when we live here in a reality that is so encompassed in pain, this is our hope.
Immanuel will come.
So yes, to me, to my wife, this is a very merry Christmas. It’s a merry Christmas because we know… we know that we can follow the plea of the title of that song
O come… O come… Immanuel
With the action at the end
Rejoice! Rejoice!

Merry, Merry, Merry Christmas.

Merrry Christmas From the Hellers

December 19, 2010

Jon

Hospital Ministry, Mozambique

5 comments

Christmas Party in Oncology 2010

A Layne Post

One year ago, Jon and I visited the Oncology department at Maputo Central Hospital for the very first time; it was the their Christmas party. Little did we know how the people, the place, would captivate us. Little did we know that the Lord would tell us to stay, to give our hearts and our time right there in that hospital.

Jon playing Christmas carols last year A year ago

And yet here we are.

I am so grateful, so fulfilled, so satisfied. The Lord knows what He is doing. A year ago, I felt lost. I felt unsettled and in a temporary location, but the Lord knew otherwise. Thanks for being a part of the journey thus far. Thanks for trusting along with us and for sticking around to see the faithfulness of our God. To Him be the glory.

Christmas party in Oncology 2010

Jon and Tomé as Pai Natal

Lucia enjoyed her hat as well

Lucia feeling Miss Anaya kick

Jon playing Christmas carols, much to everyone's delight

Enjoying music... her smile is contagious

Yet even amidst the celebration, their little IV ports remain taped in place, not allowing us to forget the looming fact that we’re all together because they are in Oncology being treated for cancer.

IV ports

Tomé on treatment

There are so many to love, so many to comfort. May the Lord continue to use us.

December 11, 2010

Layne

Hospital Ministry, Mozambique, Personal

5 comments

What It’s Like

A Jon Post

I asked Javan today what he thinks of our lives here in Maputo. I am always little anxious to hear thoughts and get reactions to how my wife and I live our lives. Maybe there’s something in me looking for the validation that we’re doing something right. Maybe there’s something in me looking for a fellow American to tell me that life is pretty challenging here and all the effort I put into just living is worth it.

Maybe it’s all a reflection in my heart of a deeper desire.

Maybe… I just want to rest a weary head on my Father’s shoulder and here a soft “Well done, good and faithful servant. Come and share your Master’s happiness!” (Matthew 25:23). I really, really want to share my Master’s happiness.

Javan got the opportunity to share from the Bible at a men’s Bible study that I lead on a weekly basis at the hospital with some men who live there as patients. He spoke of perfect and complete joy. I think that scene in Matthew, where the Master says “Well done, come and share in my happiness” is one that describes what I think perfect and complete joy is.

Maybe that’s what it’s like.

I see so much that is broken and incomplete all around me. I see a broken joy in the patient Jonathan at the hospital (he and I smiled and spoke at length at how happy we were to share a name), whose tumor above his right shoulder looms over him like a death sentence. I see incomplete joy in David, a soft-spoken man whose chemo-therapy treatments sap every bit of strength he has, to where his shell of a body simply breathes and waits for it to pass.

Maybe Jonathan, David and countless others here and scattered throughout the world are all just waiting for that moment.

We’re waiting for our Master to invite us to share in His happiness.

Maybe that’s what it’s like.

So Javan, try as he might to share what he sees in our lives here in Maputo, didn’t fulfill that longing in me. That longing that I have for the Master to smile… look into my eyes and say… “Well done. Come and share my happiness!”

Perfect… Complete… Joy

I think that’s what it’s like.

December 4, 2010

Jon

Hospital Ministry, Mozambique, Personal

7 comments

Javan’s Visit thus Far

A Layne Post

Javan arrived well on Sunday, and we excitedly welcomed him into our home. With him came some extremely hot days; lucky Javan!

Monday we introduced Javan to our friends in Oncology; however, the same day we discovered our dear little friend Marcelino had taken a turn for the worse. (read his story here) Sometimes these things come so suddenly; they cannot be planned. Our usual cheerful greetings were replaced with tears and fervent prayers. Tuesday our time in Dermatology was cut short, wanting to get back to Marcelino’s side.

Javan and his easy personality captured the attention of many of the other children in the Oncology ward, and as Jon and I focused on Marcelino, the kiddos were showing Javan their beds and searching for mangoes to give him as presents.

After our visit on Tuesday, Javan began to have some pain in his chest. It seemed like a familiar pain he has had before, but while his usual pain lasts only for a few minutes, this pain continued. He rested as well as he could, with little improvement. It was difficult to distinguished between jet lag and unusual tiredness. Thanksgiving came and Javan pushed through like a champ; however, he ended his holiday feeling pretty rotten.

On Friday morning Javan actually woke up feeling better, and thought he was on the up-swing. Thirty minutes later, he had developed a fever and nausea. We decided it was time to go to the clinic to check things out. Praise the Lord we did, because after some blood tests and x-rays, it was determined that Javan had acute pneumonia and needed to be admitted to the hospital.

After some phone calls, we were able to rest assured that Javan’s short term international insurance would cover the cost, and we were able to get Javan settled into a comfy room. Boy was that a good $30 spent on the insurance!

His experience at the hospital was overall a good one. The language proved to be a bit of a barrier with the nurses, but thankfully his doctor spoke decent English. Jon and I tried to stick around as much as possible to help in that department. His IVs gave a bit of trouble, forcing Javan to be poked frequently, which is always unpleasant.

As of today, Monday, Javan’s follow-up blood work and x-rays looked so good and showed Javan was responding so quickly to the IV antibiotics that the doctor said Javan could go ‘home’/our house and continue on oral antibiotics for 7 days. His cough continues, but that can linger awhile. It could be a few weeks until he is back to normal. We’ll return for a final appointment with the doctor Friday, and then Javan can head back to the States on Monday, one week later than planned.

Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:31

Perhaps we’ll look back on this time and understand what the Lord’s purpose was. For now, Jon and I are enjoying our extra time with a special friend.

Here are some photos thus far: