Donovan Nelson loved fixing stuff, especially servicing hospital X-ray equipment as part of his work for Loma Linda University Hospital. Though he enjoyed caring for all the radiology equipment around the hospital, what he loved most was installing X-ray machines in Adventist Health International’s hospitals and clinics on mission stations around the world. At least 40 new machines up and running at last count.
One assignment was to install a donated X-ray unit at a small Adventist hospital in the nearly inaccessible jungles of northern Madagascar.
An Adventist physician had opened a medical practice in the village of Andapa, just a few kilometers from the cloud-covered mountains that have now been designated as Marojejy National Park. In 1974 the worldwide Seventh-day Adventist Church had helped fund the new hospital here through a special Sabbath School offering.
The town of Andapa was tiny, with tin roofs and dirt streets; a place where being able to see into the body and take pictures of broken bones would be an amazing miracle.
Donovan crated up the X-ray machine, making sure all of the necessary parts and connections were safely secured in the crate; then he and the team at Loma Linda prayed that the unit would arrive safely and be exactly what the people needed. When he delivered the large wooden box to the shipping dock, he also sent a very specific letter to the physician in Andapa, a letter describing exactly how to prepare the room for the new X-ray equipment.
“An X-ray unit requires a good-size electrical wire for the power supply,” Donovan said. “And that’s just the beginning.”
Part One
Many weeks later Loma Linda received a letter saying that the X-ray machine had arrived and that the clinic was ready for Donovan to come and do the installation. There was a thanksgiving celebration in the X-ray department, and many more prayers as Donovan got on the plane for Madagascar.
“The flight seemed to take forever,” Donovan remembered. “When I finally arrived, one of the men proudly escorted me to the X-ray room, the place that had been prepared for the new machine. I looked around, but did not see the electrical power cable, so I asked my new friend, and he pointed to a small wire hanging from the ceiling. The wire was not strong enough to run a toaster!”
After all, this was God’s hospital, and He knew where we could find the necessary seven-conductor electric cables.
Donovan and the doctor prayed for wire, and then checked everywhere around the hospital to see if there might be a wire that could handle the X-ray unit. No luck.
The next morning the doctor, Donovan, and a driver went downtown to the power company and asked to speak with the supervisor. No luck. The supervisor was out of town. His assistant, however, offered to help them look around the shop for the necessary wire. He took them out back, where there were several stacks of different wires scattered around a large tree. It was quickly obvious to Donovan that nothing there would work.
“The wire I needed had to be about ¾ inch in diameter, and we needed 450 feet of it! There was nothing even close to that under the tree.”
The doctor, the assistant supervisor, and the driver continued searching in the tangles around the tree while Donovan wandered off around the building, praying deeply as he came to a large loading dock.
“There on the dock lay two large rolls of wire, exactly what we needed,” said Donovan.
He shouted, and the other men came running, hoping Donovan was OK!
“We were all in tears,” said Donovan. “Crying and thanking God. All of us! Everyone in town, and even back at the power company in the capital city, said it was impossible for the wire to be in Andapa. No one up there would have any use for that kind of wire!”
One of the men at the local train station remembered that there had been a train accident a couple years ago. “Some of the freight might have been dumped off onto the loading dock,” he said.
“Angels,” declared Donovan. “God’s hands put the wire on the loading dock. I’m sure of it!”
The assistant supervisor was so amazed that he offered to have a crew come to the hospital and string the wire, three lines of 150 feet each!
“So we had our large wire,” Donovan said. “Now for the second half of the story!”
Part Two
Back home in Loma Linda, Donovan had made up the seven-conductor cables necessary for connecting the components of the machine. Once they were assembled, he had carefully placed them in the crate with the X-ray unit. When the crate was unpacked in Andapa, the cables were missing. Now what to do?
“Well, first we prayed,” smiled Donovan. “After all, this was God’s hospital, and He knew where we could find the necessary seven-conductor electric cables.”
The next morning Donovan and the doctor went to town. The doctor knew the owner of a small store that sold pots and pans, dresses, umbrellas, boots, and whatever else people might buy. Donovan told the owner exactly what he needed, and asked where he might be able to find such cables in Andapa. The man rubbed his chin and thought for a bit, then went back into the far reaches of his store.
“He was gone a long time,” Donovan remembered. “When he returned, he had a coil of wire in his hands. It was seven-conductor, exactly what I needed and exactly the right length!”
Again, no one in Andapa would have any use for wires like these. No one except the Adventist Hospital and Donovan!
Donovan, of course, carries all the necessary tools and connectors with him on these projects, so in a few days he had the new X-ray unit up and operating perfectly!
When he told me the story, Donovan chuckled. “Only God would put exactly the right cables and wires for me out there in the dark-green jungle. He’s into miracles!”