Santos, Brazil :: Crew visit a cancer support centre to encourage patients and share how God has been at work in their lives.
Logos Hope's volunteers came alongside women who are at different stages of battling cancer and had simple conversations about their lives and faith. An elderly woman spoke of her happy memories visiting one of OM’s previous ships, when she was 50 years old.
Emilie Jelger (France) asked the women, “Do some of you believe in Jesus?” While some aren't yet believers, one woman named Ciunda reacted, “He is our reason to live, He is first in our lives!”
Kat King (United Kingdom) told the women what she had gone through when she was 19 years old. “I should have died,” Kat began. “I vomited up to four times a day, weighed 32kg and was small like a child. I was rushed to hospital and had to stay for several weeks. There, they didn’t know if I was going to live or die. I prayed a lot and kept asking God, ‘Why do I need to go through this?’ It was a very low and difficult time but I felt His presence when I was in the hospital. He showed me a verse from 1 Peter in the Bible, which talks about going through suffering for His glory.
“I was operated on and a tumour was removed from my intestines. After that I could eat again, I started to get better and gained weight. I wanted to go and serve God and help the Church. But I started to get ill again. I found out I was lactose intolerant and meat intolerant. Can you imagine having every single meal with no cheese, no milk and no meat?
“I kept telling God, ‘I want to serve you!’ and searched opportunities online about overseas mission, but I didn't find anything. One day, the members of my church surrounded me and prayed for me. They kept praying and God healed me. Now, I can eat anything! After I got better, I went back to my internet search and the first thing that came up was Logos Hope.”
Maria, a patient who has endured 41 chemotherapy treatments, said, “I believe Jesus is healing me. Jesus is my cure!”
Long goodbyes were exchanged as the crew left the centre. Back on board, they prayed for Ciunda’s husband to come to faith in Christ. They prayed that the women would keep reading the letters composed of Bible verses they had left with them and that they will be touched by God.