A Day in the Life of....

... Randy Goossens!

Those of you who know Randy know that he is a man of many talents and skills.  All of which make him a vital part of life here at Kudjip Hospital Station.  I wanted to take a few minutes and tell you about some of the things he has been involved in over the last 16 months.

One of the things Randy is best at is listening to people and making them feel valued.  That has not changed.  Lately he has spent a lot of time working with and training national workers to do some of the things that he has been involved in.  He always takes a few minutes to talk to the workers and establish a friendship that goes beyond the job.  He has been training a man named Apa to work on the station phone system.  Randy was the one who recommended him for this job, looking past the fact that his hands were malformed and misshapen from birth with just a few fingers on each hand, and recognizing someone with a heart for learning new things, helping "his" missionaries and serving God in everything he does.  Randy has also been working with John, a man with an amazing work ethic and strength.  He has been doing a variety of grounds jobs around station to make things look better, work better and be safer. 

Story-ing with John

 Finally, he is working with Timothy and Yandu, two maintenance workers who have been assigned to help with much needed maintenance and renovations on the Mission Housing.  He has been working closely with them as they have re-painted and prepared one of the houses for a new family that will be coming.  Investing the time and energy to make sure they are learning the skills to be able to move on and help at the next house.

Yandu helping replace rotten shower walls in a Mission House

Oh yes, he also had a group of women from a recent Work & Witness team helping with the painting.  Randy always makes sure that there is plenty of fun mixed in with the work!

W&W Team helping paint a Mission House

Living at a hospital station Randy has been asked to help with things he probably never would have otherwise.  Like portable ultrasound units.  He wasn't quite sure how to tell if it was working correctly after upgrading this unit, but hey, he can't be amazing at EVERYTHING!

Randy & Emma upgrading a portable ultrasound machine

Being a guy who likes to have contingency plans and be prepared for almost any situation, it was no surprise Randy took on the project of fixing, re-programming and installations needed to have VHF radios in all mission vehicles and several key mission houses.  This is how we communicate with each other when we are going off station or in the event of an emergency.

Working on VHF Radios with Michael Wakefield from CRMF
(Christian Radio Missionary Fellowship)

Installing a VHF radio in the NHM Land Cruiser
(Nazarene Health Ministries)

Oh yes, how can I forget IT (you know, the computer stuff)?  That is what Randy came here to help with, isn't it?  He was able to fairly quickly get the station network and satellite internet up to a basic working level.  Of course there is always something that needs to be tweaked and technology is constantly changing, but that is part of the nature of the beast.

There you have it, a look into the days and workings of Randy Goossens.  Part-time Global Serve Nazarene Missionary at Kudjip Hospital Station, full-time Husband, Father and Friend.