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| The view from Peter's window on the 5th floor. |
At 6.30am Peter was prepped for surgery and wheeled down to wait in the corridor outside the operating theatre.
There were 3 other people in line in front of him for a similar op, involving inserting pins into broken bones.
On person number 3 the tool they needed in order to do this broke.
And so after 5 hours of waiting, Peter was wheeled back up to his room.
We immediately hit the phones, calling those we knew could influence things and get in contact with the Secretary of Health. Pastor Paulo from Dom Pedro came to visit and he started making calls as well.
And then we settled down to wait.
You would think that this would have made for a bleak afternoon, but quite the opposite was true. I don't think we have laughed more on any previous day in Brazil than we have today.
When we were in Tefè Peter and I got to know Jason and Andrea Murfitt and their 9 year old daughter Lucy.
Jason works among the Indian tribes further up the Amazon. He travels to the most remote places in order to help these tribes and tell them about Jesus. As you can imagine he has some amazing stories!
Jason travelled up the Amazon last week on one of his mission trips, leaving Andrea and Lucy in Tefè staying in the same hotel as us. Andrea came to all our lectures at the seminary and as a result we got to know her well.
They live 3 hours from Manaus, as part of a river community. The only way to get to their house is by canoe. However Lucy attends the International School in the city two days per week and so they also have a base here.
When they heard what had happenned to Peter, they immediately offered to come and stay in Manaus and help translate. In the event that I returned home earlier than Peter, Andrea also offered to accompany him back to the UK because it would also enable her to catch up with her family.
They are a wonderfully servant-hearted couple who are completely committed to sharing Jesus. I have lost count of the number of hospital staff Jason has given gospel booklets to while we have been here. He even ended up speaking with the gang members in Peter's old ward. He is a natural evangelist.
As a result they are also great company. I am convinced that to be a successful missionary you've got to have a really healthy sense of humour.
Those of you who know Peter will know that he also has a really good sense of humour. As a result, there were times this afternoon when we were almost doubled over with laughter!
One particular source of hilarity was the symbol on the side of the cleaner's bucket:
Our spirits were lifted even further when a very well dressed English speaking Brazilian lady appeared to offer the sincere apologies of the Director of the Hospital that Peter's op had not happened this morning. We were assured that the Secretary of Health and the Director of the Hospital were now personally involved and that a replacement tool would be delivered to the hospital tomorrow morning. She also assured us that Peter was now first in line to be operated on tomorrow.
Brother Silvio (I discovered today that he isn't actually a pastor in the church, although he should be!) had been at work behind the scenes again.
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| Jason, Silvio and me |
One of these is the daughter of a Northern Irish missionary called Fred Orr who is something of a legend in Manaus. He arrived in the Amazon in 1954 with his new bride. However after eating contaminated meat on the journey upriver, his wife died and so the very first thing he did when he set foot on Amazonas soil was to bury his wife.
He later married a Brazilian lady and they had children. When he died a few years ago he left a vibrant church led by a Brazilian pastor, a seminary for training pastors, and a powerful testimony to God's grace.
On Tuesday night Andrew and I spoke at the midweek meeting at Fred Orr's old church. We met his daughter Florence there, who is a doctor at the hospital. She had heard that the op had not gone ahead as planned and had come to see how she could help. Peter was told he could ask for any food he wanted for dinner and he would be given it.
This marked a good end to a mixed day.
While the fat lady may not have sung today, our big God proved once again that he is faithful.
Accepting and joyfully submitting to God's will in our lives is often the hardest thing to do. However accept and submit to him we must, because this is the only way to know peace of heart. Peter has been given grace to do that with joy today.
We covet your continued prayers. Be assured that they are being answered: not always in the way we would choose, but always in the way that is best.
We ended the day by praying together and reading Zephaniah 3:17, something we had felt today together:
'The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.'
