Two days later and I have finally made it home!! What a crazy and yet amazing adventure.
Yesterday I took 12 showers in the Paris hotel because I was sooo cold. The heat in my hotel was not working and I couldn't figure it out. Finally I started to look around for the heat vent and I finally found it...way up by the ceiling. Of course I was cold because hot air rises...come on France. So anyways I finally wake up at 4:45am and give up on the whole sleeping thing and take yet another shower to warm up. When I got out of the shower I realized that I had accidentally gotten my only sweatshirt wet...so now I would have to adventure the day in a t-shirt(at least I took an airplane blanket). I find it ironic that I was in the fashion capital of the world and I had on a t-shirt, jeans and flip flops...with socks!:). So I finally ate by lovely french breakfast at the hotel(it was good) and got back on the shuttle to try and find the right terminal. Praise Jesus that I'm really good at asking questions now and I was able to find my way. Security was not bad, I had no wait and I made my way to the terminal and began to wait for my flight. At this point I'm pretty sure airplanes hate me because once again my flight was going to be delayed...and once again I was going to miss my connecting flight in Newark. Well it was delayed 2 hours, but I did meet a very nice couple from Kenya. We talked for a long time, they were so nice. Finally it was time to board the plane and while I was waiting (they were frisking everyone...so it took a while), I met a lady who was also on my next flight to Cleveland. She was so sweet and I will tell you more about her later. So I finally get on my flight and 8 hours later arrive in Newark(Yeah). I go through border control then go to get my bags(which never showed up and I learned are still in Paris)and then I went through customs. I finally realized when I got to customs that my plane was boarding so I needed to get there fast(this was my other rescheduled flight because I did miss my original connecting flight. I ended up running through the airport and finally did make it. Luckily there was no one on the plane and so I was able to switch seats and sit by the lady I met earlier. I learned that she is an ER nurse at Metro hospital in Cleveland and I showed her all of my pictures. She was really excited to see everything and then she began to tell me about how I should apply at their hospital for the summer and that she would put in a good word for me...isn't God so good. Just think if I would have made my original flight I would never have met her. The flight went so fast as I was talking with this lady, but I was so excited to see my parents. I headed down to baggage claim and of course no bags, so I went to make a claim and then headed out the door(my parents were late because of snow) Finally I got to hop in the car and we went out to eat. I never have appreciated home so much in my life. It is so good to be back. Praise Jesus for a safe trip home. As hard as this trip was I wouldn't change anything. I have learned so many hard, but good life lessons and God has allowed me to meet some amazing people along the way. I can't believe that this is going to be my last post...I actually have enjoyed posting and will miss it. Thank you everyone who supported me in prayer, it was well needed and accepted. God has done some amazing things, and I can't wait to see where He takes me from here. : )
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
The day I got stuck in Paris.
So beginning last night was probably one of the most stressful times of my life. I know I'm in Paris, which should be exciting, but when all you want to do is just go home, it's not fun.
This is how my day has gone. Last night we woke up at 1:30am and headed to the airport(One of the missionarie's sister and brother-in-law were on my flight as well). When we were going through immigration there was a couple there who were trying to get this little girl on the plane. The police official was resisting because they did not have any record that the little girl was theirs. Kinda scary but they did finally get through and took the girl as well. We also saw many couples who were bringing their new adopted child home as well, so great to see their excitement. We finally got to the terminal at 2:30am. In Mali there is only one terminal, so it gets quite chaotic. While we waited all I wanted to do was get on the computer and call my parents so that I could apologize for my poor attitude the night before. I will be honest and say that I did not handle the news well that I would not be going home the next day. I was very frustrated as all I really wanted was to be home. So after we waited for a while we finally found a really nice man who spoke English(yeah!!) He helped translate everything for us and we finally made it on the plane. We were scheduled to take off at 4:15am, but that did not really happen until about 5:30am. I was stuck in the middle of the plane with a family who did not speak any English. I tried my best to speak some french, but it wasn't really working to well. Finally we arrived in Paris and I had no idea what to expect. The night before my dad had switched my flight so that I would fly out a day later. This was the earliest flight that he was able to get. This meant that I would be staying in Paris for a whole 24 hours alone. Kinda exciting but also a little scary. My dad had told me that I would need to find the ticket counter and try and get compensated for the missed flight by asking for a free hotel stay. I absolutely hate doing this, but with only 2 hours of sleep in 2 days I was just ready to go to bed.
I got in line for Air France and waited my turn. While I was waiting I met a very nice Nigerian man who was on his way back to Nigeria for his father's funeral. He has also missed his flight and was very upset. I felt even more guilty for being upset that i missed my flight, I'm so selfish, when this man had a real reason to be upset. I finally made it up to the counter and all the lady did was tell me that It wasn't her fault and said that I needed to go to another terminal. For any of you who have never been in The Charles De Gaulle Airport, it is awful. There are all these different shuttles that you have to take to get to different terminals. So I jumped on the terminal and went to where she told me to go, it was wrong, so back onto the shuttle I go. I finally made it to the continental terminal and the man leads me down this really long hallway and no one from continental was there. I went back to the shuttle stop and tried to ask a man if he knew where I should go. This is where a mini break down began to happen again and no one who worked in the airport knew where anything was.Finally I headed back to the Air France counter and waited my turn. This time I was prepared to fight. Don't worry I was nice, but the tears did make their way out and I left with my hotel ticket. Now I had to find the shuttle to take to the hotel. It amazed me how many people I had to depend on while in Paris to help me find things, that airport is so confusing. Finally after asking many very nice people I finally found my way to the shuttle(5 hours later). A very nice American business man even let me borrow his phone to call my parents and tell them I was still alive. Now I am just enjoying alone time in my hotel room. I even took a bath!! If only I had more time during the day or I would have gone exploring. I will be so very thankful to finally make it home tomorrow. God has been good and provided strength through this all, and once again I have learned many new lessons through him. I need to get a good night sleep...home tomorrow!!
This is how my day has gone. Last night we woke up at 1:30am and headed to the airport(One of the missionarie's sister and brother-in-law were on my flight as well). When we were going through immigration there was a couple there who were trying to get this little girl on the plane. The police official was resisting because they did not have any record that the little girl was theirs. Kinda scary but they did finally get through and took the girl as well. We also saw many couples who were bringing their new adopted child home as well, so great to see their excitement. We finally got to the terminal at 2:30am. In Mali there is only one terminal, so it gets quite chaotic. While we waited all I wanted to do was get on the computer and call my parents so that I could apologize for my poor attitude the night before. I will be honest and say that I did not handle the news well that I would not be going home the next day. I was very frustrated as all I really wanted was to be home. So after we waited for a while we finally found a really nice man who spoke English(yeah!!) He helped translate everything for us and we finally made it on the plane. We were scheduled to take off at 4:15am, but that did not really happen until about 5:30am. I was stuck in the middle of the plane with a family who did not speak any English. I tried my best to speak some french, but it wasn't really working to well. Finally we arrived in Paris and I had no idea what to expect. The night before my dad had switched my flight so that I would fly out a day later. This was the earliest flight that he was able to get. This meant that I would be staying in Paris for a whole 24 hours alone. Kinda exciting but also a little scary. My dad had told me that I would need to find the ticket counter and try and get compensated for the missed flight by asking for a free hotel stay. I absolutely hate doing this, but with only 2 hours of sleep in 2 days I was just ready to go to bed.
I got in line for Air France and waited my turn. While I was waiting I met a very nice Nigerian man who was on his way back to Nigeria for his father's funeral. He has also missed his flight and was very upset. I felt even more guilty for being upset that i missed my flight, I'm so selfish, when this man had a real reason to be upset. I finally made it up to the counter and all the lady did was tell me that It wasn't her fault and said that I needed to go to another terminal. For any of you who have never been in The Charles De Gaulle Airport, it is awful. There are all these different shuttles that you have to take to get to different terminals. So I jumped on the terminal and went to where she told me to go, it was wrong, so back onto the shuttle I go. I finally made it to the continental terminal and the man leads me down this really long hallway and no one from continental was there. I went back to the shuttle stop and tried to ask a man if he knew where I should go. This is where a mini break down began to happen again and no one who worked in the airport knew where anything was.Finally I headed back to the Air France counter and waited my turn. This time I was prepared to fight. Don't worry I was nice, but the tears did make their way out and I left with my hotel ticket. Now I had to find the shuttle to take to the hotel. It amazed me how many people I had to depend on while in Paris to help me find things, that airport is so confusing. Finally after asking many very nice people I finally found my way to the shuttle(5 hours later). A very nice American business man even let me borrow his phone to call my parents and tell them I was still alive. Now I am just enjoying alone time in my hotel room. I even took a bath!! If only I had more time during the day or I would have gone exploring. I will be so very thankful to finally make it home tomorrow. God has been good and provided strength through this all, and once again I have learned many new lessons through him. I need to get a good night sleep...home tomorrow!!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
They have a zoo in Mali?
So today I went to the zoo. Yes, in Africa I went to the zoo. It was actually a really fun experience. I've realized how not fun the states is, I mean come on it's a wild animal, how bad could it be if it got lose? : ) So anyways, we got to pet the elephants and got really close to a lion and a monkey and it was amazing. The zoo at home will never be the same.
After the zoo we went to eat at another missionaries house. It was a good time of fellowship and then we decided to check the status of our flight that was suppose to leave at 11:45pm. That would be when we discovered that it was delayed and not expected to come in until 1:30am. I tryed to remain calm and realized all would be fine and I would still make my next flight to the US the next morning. Two hours later we checked again...now our plane will not be leaving until 4:30am. This means that I will not be making my flight to the US tomorrow. My parents tell me that God is trying to prepare me for the future now all in one trip...a flat tire, a missed flight, loniness. I'm a little scared to think about what else could possibly happen. Oh well, this is where I have to bust out the positive attitude and know that God had got this all under control once again. Wish me luck and hopefully next time I write I will be on my way home.!
After the zoo we went to eat at another missionaries house. It was a good time of fellowship and then we decided to check the status of our flight that was suppose to leave at 11:45pm. That would be when we discovered that it was delayed and not expected to come in until 1:30am. I tryed to remain calm and realized all would be fine and I would still make my next flight to the US the next morning. Two hours later we checked again...now our plane will not be leaving until 4:30am. This means that I will not be making my flight to the US tomorrow. My parents tell me that God is trying to prepare me for the future now all in one trip...a flat tire, a missed flight, loniness. I'm a little scared to think about what else could possibly happen. Oh well, this is where I have to bust out the positive attitude and know that God had got this all under control once again. Wish me luck and hopefully next time I write I will be on my way home.!
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Life Lesson's Learned in Africa: How to change a flat tire
So today was yet another adventure in Africa. We started out the day at 7 when I woke up to say goodbye to the team that I have been staying with the last few days. It was actually rather emotional as these people have been such an answer to prayer and have become almost family to me in 2 days. Last night before going to bed all of the women on the team just surrounded me with prayer and continued to encourage me. It was a great time of prayer, God really knew what he was doing.
Anyways back to today, so we ended up actually getting on the road around 9:15/9:30ish and started out adventure to Bamako. Once again there were 12 people in the van including 5 children all under the age of 4. About 2 hours into the trip we arrived in Segou. This is where we did some touristy things such as painting mud cloth. This is really cool, they have a special kind of fabric where you paint mud onto it and then wash it and it turn the fabric different colors. Its really neat. After painting we then went to order our food and began to go out to the market for souvenirs. This is always really intimidating to me because I hate bartering but the missionaries helped and I got some great things to take home. After shopping we ate some lunch and then packed back into the car to start the next 4 hour trip home. Well we only wish it took 4 hours to get back. About 2 hours after we left Segou, we were driving and all of a sudden we heard a loud popping noise. Yep it was our tire, so we try to pull to the side of the road. Well some how on our way down a hill the front of our car hit the dirt and stopped, we couldn't move it so now we had a flat tire and a car that was stuck in the dirt. We pile out and I tried to round up the 5 children and took them back into the bush trying to find shade. I'm pretty sure all of the Malians who drove by just laughed at us American's saying how many American's does it take to change a tire, well the answer to that is 4. Finally a car full of Malians stopped and tried to help. They were trying to coach the missionary through trying to get the car at least unstuck from the dirt, but they just finally told him to get out of the car and then a Malian man proceeded to drive the car out...with no problem...you might of had to be there but it was hilarious. So now we could finally start working on changing the flat. An hour and 4 American's later we finally got the tire fixed. We started on our way again trying to find a place to get a new tire. We stopped in another little town and our care was bombarded with African children. They were so interested in us, but I kind of felt like a fish in a fish tank as they all crowed around the car staring at us. By the time we left this town is was going on 6pm. This is a bad thing here in Mali because the sun goes down at about 6:30pm and apparently it is illegal to drive on the road at night because they are so bad. The next 2 1/2 hours consisted of hungry kids yelling and crying and puking. Yes, the roads are bumpy here which doesn't really mix well with a 2 year old's stomach and so he started to get car sick. We all were trying to scramble around and clean up the mess all with the light of a lap top computer screen. Finally we have made it to Bamako and everything is good:). It was quite the adventure.
Now I am sitting in the same room where I began my journey two and a half weeks ago. It really did go fast, but I have learned so much in these past few weeks I wouldn't change this experience for anything. I have been challenged and stretched farther than ever before in my life, but because of this trip I have fallen deeper and deeper in love with my Savior. He is such an incredible God. I look back at all of the things I went through and all of the things I have experienced and all I can say is Praise Jesus. Last night as I was praying with my new friends one of the girls was talking to me about my experiences and she said something that really hit me hard and I honestly had not thought about it. Satan has been working, the minute I stepped in the car to go to Koutiala he started attacking. He knew just where to strike and he did so by making me feel inadequate for this work. This whole trip I honestly was beginning to question my call to missions.I felt like God had made a big mistake calling me to come on this trip. It's hard work to be here, and I felt like I was failing miserably, but I look back and I see that was Satan attacking. God doesn't make mistakes and I know that he placed that call on my life to serve him overseas. Satan was scared,he wanted to make this trip as miserable as possible for me so that I will turn away and not share the love of Christ with others. All I can say is my God is so much bigger and better and WE have won this battle. I choose to stand in Christ, no matter what obstacles stand in my way. I will patiently wait on the Lord as I still am not sure where he wants me, but that will come in time.
I want to share with you some of the little ways that God has been working while I have been here. One of the biggest things that I was dealing with before leaving on this trip was fear. I don't like to be by myself and I don't always like to meet new people when I'm all alone. I had so much fear of the unknown before coming. I learned to lean on Isaiah 41:10 "So do not fear, for I am with you;do not be dismayed, for I am your God.I will strengthen you and help you;I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." When I stepped on that airplane in Cleveland the fear was gone. I even lived in a house by myself in Africa for 2 whole weeks without any fear(I was the only person on the whole compound for a week during new years). Now if you know me, then you would know that I have never even stayed in my house in the US by myself(I know once again shameful).I would always call a friend to come stay with me because I hated being by myself and honestly I was scared(I know I'm 21 years old but still). I usually have a lot of fear when it comes to staying by myself, but God truly was holding me the whole time and the fear has been gone. I'm telling you we serve such a MIGHTY God.
I thank you so much for all of you who have been my prayer warriors while I was gone. I have felt your prayers in so many different ways. God is so wonderful. Tomorrow is my last day in Mali as I fly out at 10:30 tomorrow night. I will try to keep you informed of my journey home. God Bless!
Anyways back to today, so we ended up actually getting on the road around 9:15/9:30ish and started out adventure to Bamako. Once again there were 12 people in the van including 5 children all under the age of 4. About 2 hours into the trip we arrived in Segou. This is where we did some touristy things such as painting mud cloth. This is really cool, they have a special kind of fabric where you paint mud onto it and then wash it and it turn the fabric different colors. Its really neat. After painting we then went to order our food and began to go out to the market for souvenirs. This is always really intimidating to me because I hate bartering but the missionaries helped and I got some great things to take home. After shopping we ate some lunch and then packed back into the car to start the next 4 hour trip home. Well we only wish it took 4 hours to get back. About 2 hours after we left Segou, we were driving and all of a sudden we heard a loud popping noise. Yep it was our tire, so we try to pull to the side of the road. Well some how on our way down a hill the front of our car hit the dirt and stopped, we couldn't move it so now we had a flat tire and a car that was stuck in the dirt. We pile out and I tried to round up the 5 children and took them back into the bush trying to find shade. I'm pretty sure all of the Malians who drove by just laughed at us American's saying how many American's does it take to change a tire, well the answer to that is 4. Finally a car full of Malians stopped and tried to help. They were trying to coach the missionary through trying to get the car at least unstuck from the dirt, but they just finally told him to get out of the car and then a Malian man proceeded to drive the car out...with no problem...you might of had to be there but it was hilarious. So now we could finally start working on changing the flat. An hour and 4 American's later we finally got the tire fixed. We started on our way again trying to find a place to get a new tire. We stopped in another little town and our care was bombarded with African children. They were so interested in us, but I kind of felt like a fish in a fish tank as they all crowed around the car staring at us. By the time we left this town is was going on 6pm. This is a bad thing here in Mali because the sun goes down at about 6:30pm and apparently it is illegal to drive on the road at night because they are so bad. The next 2 1/2 hours consisted of hungry kids yelling and crying and puking. Yes, the roads are bumpy here which doesn't really mix well with a 2 year old's stomach and so he started to get car sick. We all were trying to scramble around and clean up the mess all with the light of a lap top computer screen. Finally we have made it to Bamako and everything is good:). It was quite the adventure.
Now I am sitting in the same room where I began my journey two and a half weeks ago. It really did go fast, but I have learned so much in these past few weeks I wouldn't change this experience for anything. I have been challenged and stretched farther than ever before in my life, but because of this trip I have fallen deeper and deeper in love with my Savior. He is such an incredible God. I look back at all of the things I went through and all of the things I have experienced and all I can say is Praise Jesus. Last night as I was praying with my new friends one of the girls was talking to me about my experiences and she said something that really hit me hard and I honestly had not thought about it. Satan has been working, the minute I stepped in the car to go to Koutiala he started attacking. He knew just where to strike and he did so by making me feel inadequate for this work. This whole trip I honestly was beginning to question my call to missions.I felt like God had made a big mistake calling me to come on this trip. It's hard work to be here, and I felt like I was failing miserably, but I look back and I see that was Satan attacking. God doesn't make mistakes and I know that he placed that call on my life to serve him overseas. Satan was scared,he wanted to make this trip as miserable as possible for me so that I will turn away and not share the love of Christ with others. All I can say is my God is so much bigger and better and WE have won this battle. I choose to stand in Christ, no matter what obstacles stand in my way. I will patiently wait on the Lord as I still am not sure where he wants me, but that will come in time.
I want to share with you some of the little ways that God has been working while I have been here. One of the biggest things that I was dealing with before leaving on this trip was fear. I don't like to be by myself and I don't always like to meet new people when I'm all alone. I had so much fear of the unknown before coming. I learned to lean on Isaiah 41:10 "So do not fear, for I am with you;do not be dismayed, for I am your God.I will strengthen you and help you;I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." When I stepped on that airplane in Cleveland the fear was gone. I even lived in a house by myself in Africa for 2 whole weeks without any fear(I was the only person on the whole compound for a week during new years). Now if you know me, then you would know that I have never even stayed in my house in the US by myself(I know once again shameful).I would always call a friend to come stay with me because I hated being by myself and honestly I was scared(I know I'm 21 years old but still). I usually have a lot of fear when it comes to staying by myself, but God truly was holding me the whole time and the fear has been gone. I'm telling you we serve such a MIGHTY God.
I thank you so much for all of you who have been my prayer warriors while I was gone. I have felt your prayers in so many different ways. God is so wonderful. Tomorrow is my last day in Mali as I fly out at 10:30 tomorrow night. I will try to keep you informed of my journey home. God Bless!
Monday, January 4, 2010
Deliver a Baby...Check : )
I'm pretty sure today was the best day of my life...I mean I delivered a baby, does it get any better than that? Here is what happened today.
So we arrive at 7:30 to hospital all ready for devotions. It was great as always and I actually understood them today(someone translated) The malians thanked me for my visit and wished me a safe trip home, they are so great. After devotions I went back to the labor and delivery room with Olive for my last day :(. When we arrived there was a women who came in hemmorhaging. She was only 27 weeks pregnant but the baby had to be delivered. The baby was born breach and she was not moving or appeared to be breathing. They declared her a still born and continueed to take care of the mother. About 15 minutes after the nurses wrapped the baby up, we began to notice that the wrapping was moving around, alot. We unwrapped her and discovered that she was breathing and had a strong heartbeat, but at her age, she was fighting for her life. Unfortunately she was too little to save and so I just held her until she went to be with Jesus. She was so beautiful and I had a really hard time with this case. I just wish I could save the whole world sometimes.
A few hours later we recieved another women who was in labor. After checking her we discovered that she was 7 centimeters dialated. We waited around for a while, but then noticed that the babies heart rate was beginning to decrease lower than it should. Olive then broke her water and the women began pushing. This is where Olive let me take some control and coached me through it. I did what Olive told me to do and out came the baby. I got to cut the cord and then Olive taught me how to deliver the placenta. This has confirmed my desire to be a midwife. I can't even express to you the joy of delivering this baby. It was the best feeling in the world. After this things really slowed down, so I decided that I would go give some blood to help the people out. I really loved the guys in the lab. They spoke pretty good English, but I tried to speak French with them to praciticed and they just laughed at me. It was a wonderful experience. Now I am back home and beginning to pack to leave. This trip went so fast, which is good and bad. I am so ready to go home and so ready to be back in my comfort zone, but also sad to leave the expereinces I have had here. Overall this was a great way to end my stay in Koutiala. More to come as I adventure back to Bamako tomorrow! : )
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Sunburn : )
Today has been a pretty good day. We started out the day by going to church at the Bethel Bible Institue. It was a very good service, this time in French(instead of Bambara) so I was able to understand a little bit more. After church we went outside and greeted everyone. I'm starting to enjoy this more as I am catching on to some of the Bambara phrases and It's really fun to see the Malian's faces when I try to speak their language :). The team that is here also gave out coloring books and crayons to the children and they loved them. We started taking pictures of them and they started to love that more than their gifts. They would squeal with joy whenever we would show them their picture after we took it...so great! After church we then went to the hospital to show the new team members what it was like. I'm really starting to fall in love with the people here. They have so much joy when you greet them, it just radiates through them. When we got back to the house, one of the women from the team had already made lunch. It was an amazing taco soup(so much better than the ceral I have been living off of :) ) Then we did the best thing ever and layed out by the pool next door, I got a tiny sunburn(sure beats snow!!)
This team has been such a blessing and has really helped to make my last few days here in Mali great! I really feel like they are becoming family and it's only been one day. One of the mom's even kissed me goodnight...they are so wonderful!God has provided in so many ways. I am beginning to see this trip as such a blessing. I know that I am being prepared for the future in so many ways.God had a plan for me to be here, even in my suffering he is preparing me for what's to come, and I will patiently wait on him to see what that is. I can't believe my time here is almost done, and I will be returning home. I can't believe that I actually did this. If you would of told me a year ago that I would be in Africa right now, by myself, I would laugh, really hard, but God prepared me and he has done some incredible things in me on this trip. I am so thankful for my time here, even though it was diffuclt.
Here are some pictures from church this morning. Enjoy!
This team has been such a blessing and has really helped to make my last few days here in Mali great! I really feel like they are becoming family and it's only been one day. One of the mom's even kissed me goodnight...they are so wonderful!God has provided in so many ways. I am beginning to see this trip as such a blessing. I know that I am being prepared for the future in so many ways.God had a plan for me to be here, even in my suffering he is preparing me for what's to come, and I will patiently wait on him to see what that is. I can't believe my time here is almost done, and I will be returning home. I can't believe that I actually did this. If you would of told me a year ago that I would be in Africa right now, by myself, I would laugh, really hard, but God prepared me and he has done some incredible things in me on this trip. I am so thankful for my time here, even though it was diffuclt.
Here are some pictures from church this morning. Enjoy!
Saturday, January 2, 2010
What a faithful God we serve!!
So this weekend has been very lonely. There have been many times of just falling to my knees in prayer, crying out for help. Thankfully we serve a good God and He continued to tell me it would all be ok and gave me some peace. Today a team of 11 people arrived in Koutiala(Yeah I finally have company!!!) There are two girls who are close to my age and they are so wonderful. Amazingly we have learned how small of a world it is. One of the girls is he daughter of the surgeon who came to work at the hospital. They use to live in North Fairfield and they went to Norwalk Alliance. The surgeon also worked at Fisher Titus for 8 years. The other girl's brother is a senior at IWU...so crazy!! God is so faithful and after all this time of me spending time with him alone he has provided friends! Thank you Jesus for your faithfulness!!
Friday, January 1, 2010
How do you say that in French?
( A note before I begin, my spell checker is not working, and if you know me this is tragic, so I apologize in advance...I will do my best :) )
So being here I have learned how much communication matters. I can't even express to you how much I wish that I could speak French. I have learned a few things about myself while being here and one of those things is how much I love to talk. One of my favorite things to do is sit down with someone and just talk about life, I love to hear about other people lives and I love to have good conversations. I'm not sure what I was exepecting when I came here because I knew I wouldn't be able to communicate but I guess I never realized how much it would hurt. All I want to do is sit down with these people and love on them by talking with them, but all i can do is smile(which I know goes along way too). I find it so funny that God knows what he is doing and that we think we know what he is doing as well....but he are completely wrong. To be honest I thought then when God called me to come out here, He was calling me here to show me that this is where he wanted me, or to confirm my call to missions once again. I just laugh at this thought now. God called me here not necessarily to help the people here, but to help myself. I'm so stubborn! I've learned more about myself in three weeks then I have in 21 years. Sure I've learned some great things medically and I've had some great experiences, but I've also had some very trying times.
I'm not saying that I think God is calling me out of missions, because I can't make that judgement call right now, but I'm not completely sure that that's not the case either.I've learned to wait on him and in time, he will show me my path.If it's on the missions field, then he will give me the strength to be away from family and the comforts of home(plus I would learn the language before coming :)), but if its in the US then I could serve him just as well, as long as I'm in his will. God has shown me a few things about myself over this trip: I love to communicate(Yes, I do love to talk!!), I love holding newborn babies and have a true passion for them : ),I love the medical field(yeah for helping others)and I can do anything with his strength. As cliche as the last one sounds its so true. Living in the US we are all about convinence. I honestly don't know how many times i can say that I've had to fully depend on God's strength(which is kinda shameful I know), but here i have nothing left and all I can do is lean on him. Where God will lead me with these things I'm not sure, but I know that I'm willing to do whatever he asks. It's been a true frustration to be here and feel like I'm not a help at all. I want to serve God with all I have, but I've learned that sometimes that just means traveling thousands of miles away to a situation way out of my comfort zone that breaks me down so much that I have no choice but to listen to his voice. We've had some great Daddy daughter time, and I'm truly learning so much from him. I'm so excited to go home and see where he leads me! I thank you all so much for your prayers and for your patience with me. I praise him that I can boast in my weakness, because through my weakness he is being made soooo strong!
So being here I have learned how much communication matters. I can't even express to you how much I wish that I could speak French. I have learned a few things about myself while being here and one of those things is how much I love to talk. One of my favorite things to do is sit down with someone and just talk about life, I love to hear about other people lives and I love to have good conversations. I'm not sure what I was exepecting when I came here because I knew I wouldn't be able to communicate but I guess I never realized how much it would hurt. All I want to do is sit down with these people and love on them by talking with them, but all i can do is smile(which I know goes along way too). I find it so funny that God knows what he is doing and that we think we know what he is doing as well....but he are completely wrong. To be honest I thought then when God called me to come out here, He was calling me here to show me that this is where he wanted me, or to confirm my call to missions once again. I just laugh at this thought now. God called me here not necessarily to help the people here, but to help myself. I'm so stubborn! I've learned more about myself in three weeks then I have in 21 years. Sure I've learned some great things medically and I've had some great experiences, but I've also had some very trying times.
I'm not saying that I think God is calling me out of missions, because I can't make that judgement call right now, but I'm not completely sure that that's not the case either.I've learned to wait on him and in time, he will show me my path.If it's on the missions field, then he will give me the strength to be away from family and the comforts of home(plus I would learn the language before coming :)), but if its in the US then I could serve him just as well, as long as I'm in his will. God has shown me a few things about myself over this trip: I love to communicate(Yes, I do love to talk!!), I love holding newborn babies and have a true passion for them : ),I love the medical field(yeah for helping others)and I can do anything with his strength. As cliche as the last one sounds its so true. Living in the US we are all about convinence. I honestly don't know how many times i can say that I've had to fully depend on God's strength(which is kinda shameful I know), but here i have nothing left and all I can do is lean on him. Where God will lead me with these things I'm not sure, but I know that I'm willing to do whatever he asks. It's been a true frustration to be here and feel like I'm not a help at all. I want to serve God with all I have, but I've learned that sometimes that just means traveling thousands of miles away to a situation way out of my comfort zone that breaks me down so much that I have no choice but to listen to his voice. We've had some great Daddy daughter time, and I'm truly learning so much from him. I'm so excited to go home and see where he leads me! I thank you all so much for your prayers and for your patience with me. I praise him that I can boast in my weakness, because through my weakness he is being made soooo strong!
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