PIGSA!
By Kelvin and Julienne Ng
‘She must be confined in hospital right away!’ By September 2019, we were almost three months into our year-long mission serving the poor in Marilao, Bulacan, Philippines. We had just gotten used to dusty commutes, living without running water, and being away from family. Every week we had fought off a different stress monster. Our ministry had finally found its rhythm. Then these words from the doctor knocked us back to ground zero. Theo had a pigsa (boil) on her forehead that had kept growing over the week despite antibiotics. The infection had spread to her sinuses, swelling up the upper part of her face. We were hapless and desperate for answers. Finally this third doctor we saw diagnosed it with accurate severity. So we made a twohour journey to the only hospital our insurance policy covered, incidentally the best hospital in Manila. We had known that bringing a two-year-old on mission to a developing country would be challenging. Yet we had not expected that the biggest challenge would be emotional, not physical. The ugly truth is we grappled with mounting frustration that she was holding us back from fulfilling our ministry potential. We had fond memories of ministry here as a young couple - late nights with skaters on the kerbside, and climbing into cardboard shelters to pray for the homeless. Now with Theo, we took fewer risks. We were taking turns being at home or in a back room with her while the other worked on the frontline. It was often lonely. For Kelvin, it was new. We also struggled with feeling less productive than we had been in Singapore.
Julienne and Theo in hospital
When Theo was hospitalized, we had nowhere to run from these feelings. God placed us in an incubator to literally do nothing but be with her. No ministry, no work. For nine days, we sat together and simply enjoyed Theo. We learned that all other ministries could be done by someone else. Only we could fulfill our God-given roles as parents. There were other upsides too. Theo was cheerful throughout her stay, while she was on a drip and all. We experienced the selfless love of our colleagues, who accompanied us for registration, brought us food, and even took a night shift so we could rest when Julienne fell sick midway. We met US diplomats who housed us, did our laundry, and sent their driver to take us home. There was even a doctor who introduced herself as an ex-professor’s disciple, and prayed for us at our bedside. All these angels let us know that we were right where God intended. Looking back, we see that God gave us this pigsa episode to overhaul our mentality towards ministry and parenthood. We now treasure the privilege of being at home with Theo. There is no greater calling than to simply worship God, whatever our roles for this season are.
Little Theo, since recovered, bonding with Kelvin.
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