Screening...Freetown.

I do not even know where to begin this post. I think I will try to keep it on the shorter side just because I and each one of us here are still trying to process things in our own mind and don't know where to begin to express today's events.
For starters...here is the official report from the Mercy Ships blog:
www.mercyships.org/blog/entry/screening-day-update

We knew there would be thousands of people waiting for us at the national soccer stadium in Freetown when the first crew arrived after 4am. And yes, this was definitely the case. The line that NEVER ends is always a heartbreaking thing to see, yet encouraging in that we get to help many of them. Almost all of the ship was present to help with this huge day. Usually there is some unrest in the crowds and our team of security is able to handle it. Today however, this was not the case. By 0930 events started to unravel that caused people to storm the gate. People were pushing, shoving, and literally trampling each other. People began to climb the fence and our team turned from screening patients to triaging those who were getting hurt and attempting crowd control. Many crew have memories now of patients being trampled several people deep, and pictures that I am not going to even describe in this blog. Several of our cars started taking people to the local hospitals and one man lost his life. To say today's events were tragic is an understatement. We shut down screening by noon at which point we packed up and left quickly. About 20 of us stayed around and tried to do some pre-screening of those that were in the stadium already to get a few more patients. This worked for about 45 more minutes until the situation got unsettled again at which we piled into the back of the pick-up and landrovers and left also.
It is a very somber atomsphere here on the ship tonight. I think we only put 150 patients into the computer database for surgery before things got out of hand.
The whole thing breaks my heart. People here have no money. Many of these people have traveled from LONG distances to stand in line since yesterday morning for hope...probably not having anything to eat or drink in the meantime. Africa is full of poverty and people are desperate. It can definitely be a rough place sometimes. We are used to seeing many difficult things, but this is a whole new thing. My heart truly breaks for those who were hurt today but even more to all those who really need us and need surgery who we could not see.
Please, PLEASE, pray for the leadership of the ship as they deal with government, families, staff, in dealing with the situation. Pray for wisdom and peace. We are trying to figure out a way to do more screening in a safe manner but it is proving to be a very difficult sitation. Please pray that we can reach those who truly need us. We saw so many people in line with huge tumors but it was not safe to go out and get them. Pray that God connects us with them somehow.
Praise the Lord that all the Mercy Ships staff are safe as things could have gone much worse. God protected us! Also, we are thankful that more people did not get hurt. We have followed up with the ones taken to hospitals and they should all be ok.
I know at times like this we cannot even begin to know why this happened or why God allowed it. I do know I serve an awesome, mighty, sovereign God though. I know he will bring us through this and I know his ways are greater than ours. May we trust and rest in that.
Please pray for the crew as well as many have grave images carved into their mind. A couple of my good friends helped take care of the body of the man who passed away and will always have those images with them.
We are continuing to press on, but need ALL the prayers we can get. Thanks for all the love, support, and prayers!