For those who have been given much

Last year I walked into the office of the hospital Manager. I held in my hands a proposal for a Burkitt's Lymphoma program, to start in Togo 2010. I had just made the decision to stay based on prayer during a 1 week period when I had met 4 children with Burkitt's on the ward.
God used soft kisses on my cheek from Luc to make my heart soar. He used the glares from stubborn Maddie as I hooked up her IV, or anything else for that matter, to make me smile and laugh about how much I love every child I have ever seen. He showed me through tears from eyes filled with gratitude from sweet Rachelle, that holding a hand, and having a gentle touch, all in the name of Jesus, is worth more than any medicine.
He used yovo-phobic Aime to challenge me, and again, make me appreciate kids all the more.
He started a story about this pediatric nurse, bent on never doing oncology, working with his little ones in Africa (where Burkitt's is primarily found in the world).

I passed in a proposal last year that in no way was written by words of my own. I had no idea what I was doing, I was completely naive about how to go about doing it, but God had my heart in His hands, He knew what to say, and as always, I just wrote as it came to me.
Last year the little proposal-that-could was passed.
My next job- to write the policies, procedures, and basically everything else to do with the program.
Did I mention I had no idea what I was doing? Cause that's a kind of important part to this story. I know how to love kids, I even know a thing or two about being their nurse. Pediatric oncology? Nope. Policy writing? Nope. How to start a program from scratch? Nada.

I told you about emailing my boss to at least talk with someone who knew a thing or two. One small entire course date change for the whole hospital to suite my small window of time at home later...I was certified to administer chemotherapy to kids.
Check.
Back to the ship and time to write some stuff. By stuff, I mean everything to do with anything related to Burkitt's. (Still with no clue as to what I am doing at this point)
My ADD kicked into overdrive. My mind raced as I went through (several) notebooks of everything I have ever learned on the subject, plus last years experience in working with these kids. I started with a presentation, a platform to spill out everything I know and mop it back up into something another human being might understand.

God, show me what to do. I know this is your will. Help me though, because I don't know what to do.
First the pharmacist approached me. The same one who sat with me for hours last year at the ministry of health in Benin, waiting to buy the same medication we were desperate to get this year. We had no donations, no order was placed, we've never officially done chemo on the ship, we have limited supplies, how do we dispose of the cytotoxic drug (the one we don't have anyways) can we get it here on time...You catching where this is going?
I was overwhelmed by the end of the day. I spent hours going through pages and pages of notes.
I prayed that night and the following morning.
I know this is your will, show us what to do.
In my inbox that morning I read the following;
"Some exciting things happen today. Last September we asked {not sure if I am supposed to say their name} in the UK for a donation of cyclophosphamide. Today, they chose to inform us that we were going to get that donation...The funny thing is that they called us before we called them. And, on Monday Steve had actually given up on the donation and filed his paperwork from the September request away for a later time!!! That has to be more than just a chance coincidence!"

Why yes, yes, I agree.

And now Que some medical hurdles, questions that were far above my nursing knowledge, especially because I have been officially licensed to fill this roll for all of about 2 minutes. I emailed a surgeon I met last year, one whose wife worked in palliative care, (who just happened back then to work with Burkitt's kids too. Don't get me started on coincidences associated with this story).
He replied he wasn't the right person to ask, but to email another doctor. He hadn't talked to him in years, wasn't sure the email address would even work, but, just in case, he gave it to me.
Within an hour I had a response. Who was this doctor? The one who wrote the original medical protocols for the Burkitt's kids back in 2005. I had stared at his name all last year when I referred back to what to do with each kid.
"I would like to revise this protocol, I will get back to you in a couple of days"
"Of course you would", I thought.
I got the revised protocol, in its entirety, 2 days later.

Back to a new conversation with the pharmacist...
"We have to figure out if we can burn the left-over drugs in our incinerator, is there risk for exposure to the engineers dumping it? How exactly does it work? Right, because i have so much experience in engineering and burning toxic waste.
In walks Ali's husband to have his haircut next to where I was sitting, right after talking about this little (read:huge) detail.
Phil=engineer=someone who may know what the heck I am trying to figure out.
minutes later...
"I asked the chief engineer about it, he will get back to you and we'll figure out a system for it. Sound good?"
uh, Yup.
So yes, I haven't even made it back to Africa and I have already cried over where this year is going. Despite my absolute cluelessness about the majority of what I am actually responsible for, God is laying his perfect path right in front of me. He is making it clear and obvious, I feel so loved. Undeniable, my God is.

Oh yea, my partner in all of this is a girl I met a year ago. We both come from Boston, we worked as pediatric nurses, we both attended the same concert nearly a year and a half ago where God started telling us to go to some big floating hospital somewhere in Africa, and we are both now here for the long haul. Becca is one of my favorite people on the ship, and she is just as crazy as I am with this program. She is bringing experience, zest for life and God, and overall beautiful, precious excitement for this little project.
Neither of us know what exactly we are doing, yet things keep falling into place. We prayed today, asking God to guide us, not let us get ahead of ourselves, and more than anything...Thanks.
Because we are in awe that this is even close to working.
We are excited to see the first Burkitt's kid walk up the gangway.
I can hardly wait to lay kisses straight from Jesus on the scrunched up brows of each beautiful child He places in our path.
There is still so much work to do, still many hurdles to overcome. We need a physician to oversee these kids during their care on the ship, we have so many questions, probably more than we even are aware of. The list goes on. And on.
So yes, you can pray for us. Please do.
Last week when I was making those slides of everything Burkitt's, I included slides of Luc, Maddie, Rachelle, Aime for the purpose of showing some case studies. As I looked at their smiles staring back at me I let myself soak in God's goodness.
I love you, Suzanne, those trial of last year will not be in vain. Be excited, because I am. I will show you exactly what to do. Remember, if you remain in me, and I in you, you will bear much fruit.
Last year when I held the original proposal in my hands for this program, waiting to hand it to my boss, my eyes fell on a scripture verse up on the wall in the admin office. I knew, back then, that I was not doing any of this on my own strength. I also knew I would do anything God asked of me, and I couldn't wait.

Luke 12:48
"When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required."