Once upon a time not very long ago when I was nervous about going to nursing school and leaving my family, another wise mother told me a story about her daughter... This sweet family is true blue {literally} and was an example of humility, trust, and love to me when they did not even know it. Thanks to Teenpact we got to meet a couple years later! These bright smiles were the highlight of my day, and the cheery handfuls of wildflowers picked for me were a close second :)
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Here is a photo journal of sorts for my week in Honduras with Medical Mission Outreach. It was such a blessing to see how God is working there! The ministry of Team Honduras lead by missionaries Matt & Dallita Goins, Jon and Sarah Stammen, and Mark and Amy Coats in incredible. Their humility, dedication, and love for Jesus radiates in all that they do. Thank you for your prayers and support! Iglesia Bautista El FaroPreparing meds at the church before clinic starts! El Progresso, YoroThe Medical ClinicThe team's reaction when they saw the early morning line as we drove up for the first day of clinic! During the four days of clinic we treated 3,618 patients. For the first time, we ran out of so many medicines we had to close clinic a few hours early on the last day. The Lord blessed greatly and even brought the most patients on the rainy day! Over 70 members of Iglesia Bautista El Faro volunteering during the week serving as translators, patient guides, registration, and did the evangelism. Triage: takes blood pressures, pulses, chief complaint, and oxygen saturation. 10 Doctors and nurses served as providers; they send patients to our lab, diagnose, and prescribe. As I saw patients come through the clinic one after another, something struck me. So many did not appear to be sick; on the outside they were smiling, carrying their children, feeding a baby, and talking amongst themselves. Granted some had obvious wounds and bandages or limps and crutches, but at a glance most seem to be doing fine. I was convicted that this is often how I can view people around me. I can dismiss the urge to talk to someone, get distracted by my phone, forget about someone sitting beside me because they seem ok. No one is dying right? Sure, if there was an emergency I would help, but they're ok; or are they? Then, once the young and older patients sit down beside you and tell you about their chronic pain since an accident 5 years ago, or the problems since delivering her last child 36 years ago, or the injury at work 2 months ago, or the inability to eat for the sake of pain, or the sudden chest pain that will not go away anymore - the seemingly normal looking patient becomes complicated. Every person has a story. While we saw many of the same diagnoses, each life has it's unique struggles; we sometimes had to dig with our questions to find the root of the complications and untreated diseases. Many patients had parasites, and all were treated for parasites. The parasites are like sin and sneak in with contaminated water using all the food's nutrients and starving the body. They grow and must be rooted out. While we treated the illnesses we could, it was a constant reminder of their greatest need, Jesus Christ. This is why we do clinics - to give them real hope. But it is often only after someone knows that you care and are listening that we can introduce them to the Healer of their sins, the One who extends to us a gift of eternal life because of His payment for our sins. As I go home, I pray I will not miss opportunities God gives to introduce others to my Father. May we live redeeming the time, be sensitive to the Spirit, and be prepared to give a reason for the hope that is within us Members from the church sat down with each patient to pray for them, and explain the gospel. MMO is careful to make sure the patients hear it in their own language from someone they can follow up with afterward in the local church. This builds a foundation for relationships with new believers. We praise the Lord for 51 who accepted Christ! While the patients heard the gospel, the pharmacy prepares the prescriptions. Here is a video I pieced together, I am not a videographer! But it should at least give you an glimpse of the week and show what the clinic days are like :) The Vision ClinicSo many patients came for the vision clinic. Many of them receiving glasses for the first time. First: they read the eye charts on the wall and either wait on the doctor if they have cataracts or pterygiums or wait for the autorefractors. After receiving a prescription, the volunteers look for a pair of reading glasses or a close prescription from the donated glasses. It is a lengthy process and hard work, but many were very thankful to see clearly again! One little boy came having injured his eye a week prior to have the doctor find a metal shard in his eye. Instead of losing his sight in that eye, it is likely it will heal with the eye drops. Other AdventuresBesides working at the clinic, we were blessed to meet all the children at Hope of Honduras Children's Home. It is an incredible ministry with 18 children with contagious joy. The older kids were a huge help at the clinic too and several helped as translators. We enjoyed playing soccer, and jumping on the trampoline, and basketball with them. On the last day the whole team took a fieldtrip to the waterfall. It was absolutely breathtaking! So majestic and powerful. Some of the team went cave exploring and diving while some took the kids ziplining. It was great fun! Also pictured are a few of the exciting critters we met during the week :) As I flew home a beautiful array of clouds passed below. Fluffy peaks, wispy trails, golden crowns, and frosty shades of blue, and a hundred shades of white and pink as the sun reflected off a million suspended water droplets. It was a gorgeous sight and always changing with the wind the farther we flew. It is a sight we can never appreciate from the ground below. I thought of it like a picture of God's perspective. He sees an entire other side of our lives. He sees the beginning and the end. He sees the rain to come and the next sunrise. He holds blessings in store and is orchestrating tomorrow. Without going to Honduras, I would have never seen how He was working in the believers there, but God saw. He is working in Guyana, in the Middle East, in China, and so many places far from our limited sight. As I think about graduation and the future, I look up and just see clouds. From my perspective it is all still gray. I have hopes and dreams and do not want to waist any time in serving the Lord, but I wait on His direction and pray. I do not wait idly but trusting. I can trust Him who made all things, whose thoughts are above mine, whose ways are above the heavens.
Ps 37:5 Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and he shall bring it to pass. This family has been an example of generosity and hospitality to me for 3 years now,
and I consider myself very blessed to know them as friends! Why they keep putting up with me, I am not sure, but I always love the times we get to hang out together and explore :) Thank you Carsons for reflecting Christ's sacrificial love for the body of believers through your ministry to me. There will always be a special place in my heart for you all and our Sunday afternoon adventures! Day 1: Travel After traveling with Medical Missions Outreach in January to Guyana, I was very excited to go this time to the Dominican Republic for another week of clinics this summer! We flew into Santo Domingo with 50+ other team members. With such a large team of 105 people and many of us from all over the country, we had to travel in shifts! Flying over the water was a brilliant turquoise and the coastline rocky. The countryside has many rice and sugar fields. During the week we all traveled in buses which had great windows to soak in the views and if you were lucky enough, intermittent wi-fi to keep family back home updated :) I have never seen so many motorcycles or so many people riding together on one. Our team leaders and founders of Medical Missions Outreach: Bradley and Kelleigh Edmondson We stayed in the Score International Facilities where we also enjoyed our meals. Day 2 :Making visits In the morning we visited the Fundacion Pasitos de Jesus Girl's Care Home. There are 53 girls currently in the home learning that they are loved by a Heavenly Father and that they are special because God made them. Many of these girls were orphaned, abused, or rescued from the streets. Even though we didn't share the same language, we could paint water-colors together! Below is Carmen and Jessica who have been in the home for 10 years and now help take care of the younger girls. Their singing was a blessing! Another ministry we were able to visit was the Lily House. This is a home for women getting off the street and out of prostitution. It is a 3 yr program designed to teach the women a trade and how to run their own business. They provide a daycare for the women's children and a workshop for the ladies to work in. On the second story were several shops: a bakery, nail and massage salon, and jewelry and craft shop. The ministry's goal is to be self-sustaining. Currently they praise the Lord for 11 women working in these shops! Later in the week we visited a similar ministry called Mercy Workshop. In both of the ministries, money from their sales goes to support the women directly. The Mercy Safe House is pictured below where construction has begun to provide a refuge for some women in dangerous situations. We spent the afternoon walking through 4 different villages passing out invitations to the clinic. Below is the village of La Lamo, where there is currently a national pastor starting a church with only one believer. Since this village was one of the closest to the clinic, we prayed that he may be able to follow up with the many who came. Day 3: Flyers Baseball is a huge sport in the DR as many major league players have their origins here. This allows a great opportunity for ministries here to reach out to the youth with sports. We enjoyed a pick-up game of baseball and basketball before going out to pass out flyers again in the afternoon. Not sharing a language didn't stop anyone - everyone understands what to do with the ball! This afternoon we drove out to a more remote village. I learned how to say "Free clinic for all of your family" in Spanish "Clinica gratis todos familias." The people were always kind enough to accept the flyer and smile at my effort to pronounce the phrase :) By the time we made a loop through the whole village every child was following us eagerly collecting our invitations and chanting for more chewing gum! Meanwhile, half of the team was back preparing medications and vitamins for the week. They made little bags of a month's supply of ibuprofen, Tylenol, allergy medications to name a few. These are later labeled with directions in Spanish for administering. Day 4: Church Because the team was so large, we split into 4 groups for Sunday morning and visited separate missionaries and national pastors' church plants. Mom and I attended Iglesia Bautista Cristianain where we enjoyed worshiping with the believers there! A deacon welcomed us into Sunday school and with the help of 2 team members who interpreted for us, we studied 1 Peter 4 together. The singing and message from Matthew 25 were encouraging, and the people most welcoming! Day 5 : Clinic The Lord truly answered prayers in allowing me to go to clinic Monday. I wasn't feeling well all Sunday night, but after a few hours of sleep the Lord gave me the strength enough to sit up and walk without aches! When we arrived at Quisqueya Multi Uso at 7:30 in the morning we were excited to find a line already outside the building. We set up clinic as fast as we could, dividing the open air building into 3 sections for dental, vision, and medical. Team members worked in triage, lab, as providers, pharmacy, vision, patient assistance, and many Score employees and church members volunteered as interpreters and were responsible for evangelism. The main goal of doing the clinic is for the people who come to hear the gospel in their own language, and the other is to expose as many people as possible to the mission field. Many, if not half, of the team members are not medical at all, and many others are students. To be on the team one simply needs to be flexible to work wherever needed! I was on student rotations which meant helping in a different part of the clinic each day. I really appreciated getting to see how each part works together while still getting to interact with the patients and hear their stories. Monday we had the opportunity to pray with one patient who was a Christian and 3 yr old daughter had passed away 6 months ago. The fellowship that we can share as believers in Christ despite a different language and culture is sweet. We praised the Lord for 732 patients the first day and 13 that accepted Christ. "No Medicine Can Cure Sin" Triage: where we take blood pressure, pulse, chief complaint, name, age, and address for follow-up. Day 6 : ClinicTuesday, I was so thankful to be feeling much better! When we showed up, apparently the word had gotten around about the vision clinic because the line was around the building! I was working with the providers, and enjoyed the chance to talk with patients. Our interpreters were so faithful and patient with us! This was our busiest day - seeing 1,162 patients! Lab: where we did blood glucose, urinalysis, pregnancy test, ear lavage, and breathing treatments. Pharmacy: every patient received vitamins, and a toothbrush as well as any other medication prescribed to them by the provider from antibiotics to anti-hypertensives. Day 7 : ClinicThe lines in the morning stayed consistent. The Dental team had 2 dentist and 2 chairs so their waiting list quickly filled up! They worked non-stop and were able to see about 40 patients a day doing extractions, fillings, and cleanings. The Vision team saw approximately 1500 patients during the week - the most vision has ever had! Beginning in January of 2016 all MMO trips will have a vision team with the medical clinic. We saw several patients with Pterygium which is a benign eye growth that causes blindness - much more common in developing countries while rare in the US. While there is no cure, patients can prevent further growth of the Pterygium by wearing sunglasses anytime they are outdoors. It is amazing that with a simple pair of sunglasses, we can help a patient prevent blindness. We also matched patients with prescription glasses and reading glasses thanks to two auto-refractors. One gentleman who received a pair of glasses was 104 years old; after putting them on he exclaimed "Oo-la-la!" :) Mom worked in the vision clinic all week and learned more than I will ever know about astigmatisms and prescriptions! Today we saw another 1,003 patients. Day 8 : ClinicOur last day of clinic: we were so excited to finish strong. By the end of the day we had seen over 3,870 patients and seen at least 77 accepted Christ after hearing the gospel. Day 9 : Santo DomingoOur team split up: one group going to white water rafting and another sight-seeing. Downtown Santo Domingo had several historical sights that we walked around including the burial place of Christopher Columbus, the oldest Cathedral built in the Americas, and Christopher Columbus's son's home.
One of my favorite summer activities is reading. I am so thankful for all the times mom hauled us kids to the library... unlike the grocery store and picking out favorite cereals, we could pick out as much as we would read! I wholehearted believe in wholesome books (not the fluff kind, life is too short to read fluff). A teacher once told me this - it is so true: "You will be the same person in five years, except for the people you meet, and the books you read." Here are a few of my favorites. OK, a lot of my favorites. I have always struggled picking just one! So, these first few are not books, but they are incredible resources I have grown up with and love. On long car trips instead of asking "Are we there yet?" it was "How many more Odyssey episodes?" :)
Lamplighter Books: Y.W.A.M books:
What do you do when it snows? I couldn't have asked for a more enjoyable afternoon than with these kiddos and my dear friend. Making banana tea cakes and reading books for hours on end was wonderful! Sitting with the kids reminded me of Christ's love for children and His commendation of their faith. We are to trust Christ - like a child. It is simple, but that does not mean it comes naturally. When I have complete trust in who God is, He brings peace, contentment, and joy. Whatever tomorrow brings, I can rest in His plan, His protection, and His Providence. 13 And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked them. 14 But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, “Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15 Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” 16 And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them. Mk 10:13-16 Banana tea cakes (or pumpkin bread) 1 c. flour
1 c. sugar 1 stick of butter 1/2 tsp. baking soda 1/2 c. milk 2 eggs dash of salt 3 ripe bananas (or 1 1/2 c. pureed pumpkin) 1 c. pecans (optional) 1 tsp. vanilla 1 tsp. cinnamon (for pumpkin version) Mix well, pour into greased muffin tins or loaf pan. For muffins: bake @375 for 20 min. For Loaf: bake @350 for at least 1 hr. (until toothpick comes out clean) Enjoy! :) I had such fun taking these pictures! We went to the beautiful Cleaveland Park in downtown Greenville. The rocks are great for climbing, and the waterfall peaceful, and the garden lovely! This family has been an incredible blessing and a joy to take pictures for :) Enjoy! I think taking the silly pictures was one of my favorite parts! Laughter truly is good like medicine :)
I love the Lord because He hath heard my voice and my supplications. Because He hath inclined His ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live. ~ Psalm 116: 1-2 I hesitated before posting this because I wondered what my motivation was. Why share? Because I am reminded time and time again reading the Psalms that I am to give praise to the Lord. "Praise the Lord; for the Lord is good..." Ps 135. Truly "the Lord hath done great things whereof we are glad." Specifically, I am praising the Lord for His answering prayers. This summer my siblings and I were given the incredible opportunity to go with the Academy of Arts Ministry on a 3 week drama camp doing 4 productions of Venture of 1620. The Plymouth Rock Foundation had invited the Academy to come perform the story of the Pilgrim's journey to the New World. The Lord prepared the way in providing donations for the hotel stay, a semi tractor-trailer to carry the ship, a charter bus for all the campers, and a group of churches who cooked for the cast and crew in MA. Before camp had already begun, so many prayers had already been answered! I had done a 3 week drama camp with the Academy several years ago, and I remember it being a time of incredible spiritual focus and encouragement. I saw God's power so clearly displayed in a way that only He could receive the glory. I was amazed by the staff's heart of gratefulness as they thanked the Lord for every little blessing like a donation of fabric for costumes or rope for backstage. So this year, I prayed for all the campers coming that they and I would be challenged in our faith and walk with Christ and see God's power. Little did I know how He would answer this prayer! The Cast of 60 kids from all over the United States worked on building a 3-story, 40 foot long replica of the Mayflower. It was in a word: epic! For a week and a half, we rehearsed the play as well as made costumes, had make-up classes, stained the ship, and built set pieces and props. At the beginning of the second week, the hall where we were performing in MA told the staff that we would not be able to set up the Mayflower until 1pm the same day that we would perform at 7pm because we would be sharing the building all week with a volleyball camp. This would have made doing the play in MA impossible. How could have God opened all these doors for a secular foundation to invite the Academy up, then provide for the 60 campers to come and the means to take everyone up to MA, then cancel the whole thing because of a volleyball camp? The staff simply prayed. And in two days, they heard from Memorial Hall that the volleyball camp had been completely rescheduled, so not only could we set up, but also we could use the hall for rehearsals during the day. Another answer to prayer! Also, on that Thursday, we had a PAM session (or Practical Aspects of Ministry) with all the campers. As we were challenged with God's Word, it was incredible to see the Lord work in nearly all our hearts. Afterward was a time of restoration as many friends asked for forgiveness and reconciliation. The Lord WAS working in our hearts, changing our perspectives, and drawing us together as a unified team in the Spirit, another answer to prayer! The next day, Ellen came to me in the costume room and told me she had to tell me something. She had just accepted Christ as her personal Savior while in the elevator. She said she was really convicted and had been thinking a lot about what Mrs. Nicole had said in PAM. Praise the Lord! We both had tears in our eyes. Another answer to prayer. Sunday morning we all piled into a charter bus and started driving to MA. It was a great time of fellowship (and sleep for most of us who had been packing the semi into the early morning hours). For a little while we took time to sing and share testimonies of what the Lord had taught us. So many of us had been impacted by the incredible faith of the Pilgrims. I had not realized how much they were persecuted for simply reading the Bible at home and imprisoned for having services in their homes. Another camper stood up on the bus and shared how he got saved on Friday. Wow, again God was working and answered prayer! One thing that really made me think was the Pilgrim's reason for coming to America. They did it not necessarily for themselves and their religious freedom, but because they were thinking about their posterity. Us! They sacrificed so that we might benefit. They quoted this covenant: ~ We covenant with God and with one another to walk in all His ways made known or to be made known to us, according to our best endeavor, whatever it shall cost us. ~ After doing the first two performances, I really thought about the character I portrayed, Mrs. Greenwood. She visited her husband and Henry Barrow in jail to help smuggle books about the Bible into Holland. He was imprisoned for reading the Bible to others in a friend's house. This was in 1593 - thirty years before the pilgrims came to the Massachusetts. They had no idea the foundation their efforts laid nor even saw the fruit of their sacrifice. That April morning Mr. Greenwood and Henry Barrow were executed, hung for their faith. Do we have that kind of faith? Am we willing to give all for others to have freedom? We often don't talk about persecution, but it is real - even today. Finally, while we were in MA we prayed as a cast for the city of Plymouth: that influential people would be reached with the truth of the Pilgrim's heritage and faith. All 120 council members and historians who lead the historical events for Plymouth came, as well as 25 city council members, and several members of the school district! We will never know what the Lord began that weekend, but many of us campers prayed specifically for their salvation. Throughout the week, we were able to talk to many tourists, shopkeepers, and locals. For the most part, everyone was receptive; however, some were reluctant to welcome us. By the end of the week we could slowly see a change in their responses. One of the staff ladies had a time of devotions with us the morning before our last performance from Philippians 4. She reminded us that God answers prayer; if not with a "yes", with something better! Many of the churches that welcomed us said Plymouth is on the verge of revival. Could God start a revival in the city where our nation began? Only by prayer! "Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth" Ps. 124:8 "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side..." Ps 124:1
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AuthorI will be the first to admit that I am not a writer, but have a sincere aspiration to articulate Truth with grace, in love, seasoned with salt. Here is a journal of sorts, or photo documentations of a journey - one currently around the world in Papua New Guinea working at the Kunai Health Center. Thanks for visiting and your support! Archives
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