JESSIE HAURY FULFILLS A DREAM

Posted by Mercy Ships staff on May 26, 2010 at 10:12 am

JESSIE HAURY FULFILLS A DREAM

Story by Elaine B. Winn, Photos by Liz Cantu

Jessie Haury is a volunteer nurse who served with Mercy Ships onboard the Africa Mercy in Togo, West Africa. She accomplished two missions – helping people without access to health care and fulfilling a friend's dream.

Jessie and her best friend, Sarah Whitlock, went to high school together. Then they both attended nursing school at the University of North Florida.

Since 2002 Sarah dreamed of serving with Mercy Ships as a volunteer nurse in one of the world's poorest countries. She introduced the idea to Jessie, who thought it was interesting but didn't take it seriously. But as time went on, Jessie thought about it more carefully. She says, “Later, I thought, ‘Hey, we could really do this!'” So, they began to plan to do a nursing mission after graduation.

In March of 2006, Sarah called Jessie. During the conversation, Sarah surprised Jessie by indicating that she didn't think they would see the completion of that goal, saying, “ You know, I don't think we're gonna make it . ” Jessie tried to reassure her, telling her that they would be fine.

That was the last contact Jessie had with Sarah. A week later, Sarah was murdered in her apartment, brutally stabbed to death by a teenager posing as a policeman.

Both Sarah's mother and Jessie's mother encouraged Jessie to complete the mission. But, consumed by grief and doubt, she was reluctant to do so. How could she go without Sarah? How could she accomplish this mission by herself?

But Jessie possesses great strength of character and faith … and that faith was guiding her to a definite purpose. Her mission was becoming very clear.

People told her that she would never graduate from nursing school because she couldn't stand the sight of blood and she hated needles. But she proved them to be wrong. She DID graduate, receiving her nursing degree in August of 2007. She knew that she needed some practical experience and decided that her best course of action was to become an OR nurse.

After applying to every OR in the vicinity of Jacksonville, Florida, only St. Vincent's Medical Center responded. In a short while, she was assisting in up to seven surgeries a day. Ironically, the apartment where Sarah had lived was near the Center, and everyday Jessie was reminded of their shared dream as she drove by it.

Last year, Jessie attended a nursing conference, knowing representatives from Mercy Ships would be there. She learned that they required nurses to have a minimum of two years of practical experience. In November of 2009, Jessie had those two years of experience. So, she submitted her application. Along with her story explaining why she wanted to volunteer on a Mercy Ship, she added a photo of herself with Sarah and a copy of her friend's obituary. Her family prayed over the envelope before she mailed it.

A month later, she got a phone call from Mercy Ships. The dream was alive! It was really going to happen! However, there was a glitch in the plan. Iceland's volcano postponed her trip, but Jessie said, “I didn't worry about it too long, because I still believed there was just no way I was going to miss this trip! It doesn't matter … I'm getting on that boat!”

Originally, she was to complete her mission on May 1, which would have been Sarah's 28 th birthday. However, her trip was delayed by a week and half. She arrived just before May 1. So, Sarah's birthday marked the beginning of the fulfillment of the dream.

One thing Jessie wanted to do on May 1 was to bury a photo of herself and Sarah along with a bracelet Sarah had given her. She explained, “It's not like I had to do a burial, by any means. I knew Sarah was in heaven. It was just a symbolic way of saying the mission is complete.”

She spent some time going through the activities book onboard to find the right place to bury the mementos. Some thought she should throw them in the ocean. Others suggested the marketplace. Neither idea seemed right to her.

Then she saw an activity that seemed more appropriate – she signed up to go to an orphanage on May 1 with a group from the ship. Since Jessie didn't speak the language, she asked the activity leader to help her complete the task. The leader spoke with the translator at the orphanage, who then spoke to the head nun. They were invited into the nun's office, where the translator relayed Jessie's story.

Then Jessie realized that God had already taken care of the details. The nun already had a plan. In fact, she even had an appropriate little hand-carved box to hold the articles. Then she called the mason, who arrived on his motorcycle.

The orphanage had a beautiful garden with a tall cross in the center. The mason dug a hole in front of it, and the nun placed the box in the hole. She said a prayer over it before the mason covered it. The mason will be placing cement around the burial site to make a small memorial.

“Right in this beautiful garden, with this beautiful cross! I couldn't believe this was happening before my eyes. God had a plan. This was the perfect place,” Jessie said. “When I got back to the ship, I was in awe that I was alive … that I was allowed to complete that task.”

Then she realized there was still more to do. During her two weeks onboard, she was seeing new things and learning something new every day. As an admissions nurse, she had face-to-face contact with the patients and heard their stories as she prepared them for surgeries. Taking their charts to the wards gave her a change to interact with them and to get to see some of them after their surgery. Jessie sums up her experience: “God was showing me different things all the time. Every day I'm just blown away. I'm so thankful that I got to do that … that the head nun knew what I needed …that the ship is real, and I'm on it … and it's not a dream. It all exists! It's real! God's love is amazing!”

Jessie says she is learning that God's love is active. His Word is alive. “You can't just sit there!” she said emphatically. “When you take big steps, you find God meets you.”

Jessie is gradually coming to terms with Sarah's tragic death. Jessie reflects, “Her story went everywhere. It's definitely part of God's bigger plan to use her. When the Mercy Ships representative for Florida came to Jacksonville, she spoke at several different areas, and she said that everywhere she went, someone would ask about Sarah and ask, ‘What is Mercy Ships?' It's a ripple effect. It's huge.

Jessie has given some thought to coming back on a longer mission, but feels she has to go home now and get a few things settled. She also needs to pray about it before she plans her next step. “People ask me if I am coming back next year, and I really think that would be great. So, I think the answer would be ‘yes', and I'm looking forward to that,” she added.

“All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

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