Help for Jon-Ric

Written by Emma - Serving in the Philippines

Sydney and I thought it was a normal Tuesday in June…but it wasn’t. The day was meant to be our Sabbath of the week, but we had made the allowance to spend a few hours of the morning checking in on some of our elderly patients in the village before spending the remainder of the day resting. As we finished our rounds, we got a message asking us to check on Jon-Ric, a young man “who’s turning yellow.” Arriving at his home, Sydney assessed the situation, immediately diagnosed Jon-Ric with liver failure, and we were urgently on our way to the small, local hospital.

The hospital system moves just as slowly as one would expect it, in a rural place on island time, to move. Our patient was possibly hours away from death, and it seemed that no one cared. After waiting over an hour, watching Jon-Ric wilt in the sun, we were informed that the doctor was on lunch break and we should come back later. We discovered that there had been a misunderstanding with our interpreter and she had not told the medical staff Jon-Ric had liver failure. In agonized frustration, we were determined to get people into motion no matter what. 

Finding the nurse on duty, Sydney was able to explain the situation and soon, Jon-Ric was called in. The doctor took one look at him, agreed with Sydney’s diagnosis, and rang to transfer him to the larger provincial hospital two hours away. In an hour, the doctor had gotten all the necessary data charted and family members were sorted out to go with Jon-Ric.

It had already been a struggle to get to this point, and the journey was far from over. Upon reaching the hospital, Jon-Ric would need many blood transfusions. The problem is that blood seems to be in short supply and it’s been a long and difficult process every time the Russells (our host missionaries) have a patient in need of it. Jon-Ric’s vital levels didn’t have enough time for the process to be difficult. People were praying all over the world for the situation, but having seen the blood issues before, I felt doubtful, fearful, and not particularly hopeful.

Fast forward to the next morning. Plans had been pre-determined that our team would split up and do different things from Wednesday to Friday—Sydney and Jalyn in Boracay at a medical mission and school; Zion, Sangria, and I at the Aklan Agri-Aqua Demonstration Farm in Kalibo. Even with the medical issues going on, we proceeded with the plans. Rusty (our host missionary) drove the three of us to Kalibo, and after dropping off yet another patient at the hospital and all still feeling anxious about Jon-Ric, we took a moment to pray before heading to the farm.

Sir Soviet, the head of Aklan Agri-Aqua Farm, has become a good friend of Rusty’s and could tell something was troubling him when we arrived at the farm. Rusty explained the issue with getting Jon-Ric the blood and how we didn’t know how we’d be able to get it. Soviet cheerfully responded, “Well, your troubles are over, my friend!” Come to find out, Soviet is the chairman of the Red Cross for our province and now whenever we need blood, all we have to do is mention his name, and we have complete cooperation. Through such an unexpected and round-about way, God provided the answer to our prayers in a matter of minutes! And not only do we have the blood for Jon-Ric, but this is a solution to many other medical needs of our other patients. We can proceed with a surgery for Emilyn, Lola Zoila will be taken care of, and even Darwin—being treated for cancer in another city—may be aided by this new connection. God had a plan to provide in ways none of us saw coming. Even when I’m faithless and doubtful, God is faithful!

The story of Jon-Ric is just one of many ways we’ve seen God at work this summer. We’ve also gotten to build relationships with the local youth and young adults, see God provide healing for others, experience greater unity and growth as a team, be introduced to Philippine agriculture and aquatics, and learn from medical missions teams as they work here. As the pastors remind us in church every Sunday: “God is good…all the time!”