For someone who had never been on an overseas missions trip, Leigh Blackwell’s first experience was definitely a baptism by fire.
“I had been feeling like God was calling me on a missions trip for a long time,” said Blackwell, a member of Vaughn Forest Baptist Church, Montgomery. “After the tsunami hit back in December, I was glued to the TV, and I knew I had to go immediately.”
She didn’t. After she got all her shots, finalized her arrangements and got her passport, her trip to Thailand was canceled – medical needs were beginning to wrap up in the region.
Using tree bark and duct tape
But Blackwell said it turned out that all her preparation was for something she could have never been prepared for otherwise.
“When the aftershock earthquake happened March 28, I got the call that night that we were needed in Nias (the hardest-hit island in Indonesia). That was Monday and by Friday, we were gone,” she said.
She, along with three other nurses from the state’s Baptist Nursing Fellowship (Linda Chandler, Linda Hill and Charlotte Cramer), landed in Nias “with eyes wide open.”
The airport was sheer chaos, Blackwell said, and soon the team was given their first assignment – “go start collecting the bodies.”
They froze. The men who had gone with them began to work as best they could.
But before the women could start that gruesome task, villagers began swamping them with medical needs, and they began frantically using everything they could to help. Tree bark was cut and used to set broken bones. Doors from collapsed houses and duct tape were used as gurneys.
“It was amazing the way God provided for our needs,” Blackwell said. “We went saying, ‘Here I am to help you,’ and God always had a special blessing back.”
Chandler agreed with Blackwell. “This trip was so incredible I literally have to catch my breath when I think about it. The grace and mercy of our Father was obvious.”
The group saw 97 saved during their trip.
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