BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

Every day they traveled through the jungle to remote villages, but news of their arrival had spread through the jungle faster than the fever. In one village, 1500 people awaited them. In all, they had given 250,000 vaccinations. Like the others, this village was primitive. There was no running water, no plumbing and no electricity. The village sported one black pot, one plate and one cup. Everyone in the village tossed something in the pot and that’s what they ate. As the leader of the medical group, Jeanette was handed the plate. She was allowed to eat first. “The chief has asked that you pray for the whole village,” the interpreter told Jeanette. For the first time on their journey, Jeanette froze. She looked around at the anxious, grief-filled faces of parents who had lost children, nieces, nephews and grandchildren. She had no problem dealing with life and death. She could perform CPR, diagnose disease and prescribe medication. And, she knew how to pray. She prayed for her family, her co-workers and her patients every day. That was one thing. But standing in the jungle praying for a village was another. Jeanette felt inept—unsure what to pray, and not sure how to flow with God’s Spirit in that moment. Somehow she mumbled a prayer. On the flight home she couldn’t remember what she’d said. A Gift From God “That experience was a turning point in my life,” Jeanette recalls. “I’d been born and raised in Nebraska where I attended a denominational church. I became a nurse practitioner, married my husband, Bart, who was a policeman, and gave birth to four children in four years. Our lives may have rocked along the same way had we not become partners with Oral Roberts. “When he announced plans to build City of Faith Hospital, he put out a request for Christians to staff it. Bart and I uprooted our lives and moved to Tulsa, Okla. Bart headed the transportation department and I managed the Health Appraisal Clinic. “Working for City of Faith was the best job of my life. We prayed for our patients daily and witnessed signs, miracles and wonders. Our patients were fascinating, too. We took care of kings, queens, princes, princesses and tribal leaders from all over the world. The staff came from around the globe as well, and we were a very culturally diverse group.” At the City of Faith, Roberts provided free physical examinations for ministers. One day in 1983, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland showed up at the clinic while Jeanette was on duty. She had just finished working with a patient when one of her co-workers pulled her aside. “I mentioned to Brother Copeland that you and Jane are going to Uganda next week to give measles vaccinations and he wants to pray for you,” the co-worker said. “Great!” Jeanette said, following her co-worker into an exam room. There, Brother Copeland prayed and blessed Jeanette and Jane. Then, he turned to Jeanette, pinning her with his piercing blue eyes. “I need to do something else,” he said. “I want to give you the healing mantle that Oral Roberts gave to me.” Laying his hands on her, Brother Copeland prayed again—this time imparting that healing mantle to Jeanette. A week later, Jeanette was back in the jungles of Uganda. But despite what she had experienced at the City of Faith, she found herself still feeling unprepared to pray for a village. She had only been baptized in the Holy Spirit a short while and knew she needed to learn more about moving with the spirit. When she returned home, she enrolled in the Bible school at Victory Christian Center—working during the day and attending evening classes. Mantle for a Miracle The same year of the impartation by Brother Copeland, Jeanette and two others made a mission trip to a remote part of the jungle of Guatemala, where they established a clinic. “When we arrived, there were already about 500 people gathered around the building where we were setting up the clinic,” Jeanette remembers. “I asked to have the crowd moved back to the gate so we could work unhindered.” While her co-workers set up the pharmacy, Jeanette began unpacking the supplies for the examination room. “I was surprised to find things in the supplies that we didn’t normally take on these trips,” Jeanette said. “Things like a baby bottle, bottles of Pedialyte formula and infant suppositories that were used to bring down a fever. I thought it very odd.” BVOV : 13

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