Dreams Solidified!

Hello All!

I apologize for not sending an update for week two, so now I am going to make a conglomeration of the last two weeks in one update. Instead of giving you a day by day account of the past two weeks, I am going to talk about how this trip has solidified my desire and my hope to be an international nurse. 


Two weeks ago, one of my leaders and I went to a woman's house because we were told there were worms crawling out of her skin. When we got there, all the skin on her right calf was completely gone. All that was left was raw, red/green/brown flesh that was leaking yellow goo. I felt completely useless because I didn't know what she had or what to do for her. My leader and I convinced the family to let us take her to the hospital. The doctors said she had diabetes, so that is why her leg had gotten that bad. Her family was unwilling to take her to the free, government hospital that would have been able to do more. They didn't even want to take care of her because they said she was a burden because she did not contribute to the family. This woman died the night after we had taken her to the hospital.

I have been able to do some very simple things like bandage a boy's foot who had cut it on some glass in the slums. As I was bandaging his foot, an entire swarm of little boys surrounded us and were watching me and saying "teacha, teacha!", while they showed me the completely healed scars on their arms and legs that they wanted me to bandage. This simple act of putting on neosporin and bandaids made these kids so happy and excited, that it made me really happy and excited too! I was also able to take a woman's blood pressure who had diabetes and was able to instruct her on how to take care of her feet so they don't get sores.

On Thursdays, we teach life skills class to the girls (by the way, I was was placed/chosen to be with the women at the stitching center instead of with the children at the preschool and after school program) and I am the official teacher for those classes now. I had completely forgotten that I was going to teach this class, so the night before I had to decide and plan what I was going to teach. I decided to teach the Heimlich maneuver and CPR because everyone should know how to do those two things. The girls absolutely loved this class! None of them knew how to do either of these things before I taught it to them. They were really focused on what I was saying (through our translator) and were relatively willing to be volunteers. After the class, a girl told me that she would use these new skills to help people if she needed to :) 

These simple things have made me realize how much more I have to learn and how much more I want to learn. I am really excited for my next two years of nursing school because I will learn such valuable skills. I have no desire to work in an American hospital. I am not being called to stay at home where it is comfortable and where I will make a decent amount of money. This trip had confirmed that I want to be a nurse that does home visits and takes care of simple things and teaches people basic health care. I want to give simple injections and develop enough knowledge to tell if someone has TB, meningitis, malaria or a simple cold. God is calling me to India and calling me to a life of simple nursing. I am so excited about it!! I might have to be a nurse practitioner, but if that is what it takes, then that is what I will do. God has such huge plans for my future and I am so excited to see what he has in store for me. 

Thank you so much for all your thoughts a prayers, I really appreciate them! I hope everyone has a blessed week.


In Him,
Ali 

Stretch and Bless

It's crazy to think that over half my time here is already done. I've definitely started to become more comfortable here and I know it will be hard for me to say goodbye in a week and a half. On the other hand, I am really missing my family, friends, and fiancé so it will be good to be home with them :) 

Every night at dinner we go around the the table and we share what our "Happy and Crappy's" of the day were (Also sometimes called "Stretch and Bless" or as one of my teammates said, "Vegetables and Chocolate"). So, I thought I would share what my "Happy and Crappy's" have been thus far.

Crappy's:
-The starchy, scratchy feeling my clothes have after I wash them;  I have yet to perfect the art of hand washing my clothes 
-Being sick- nothing serious, just a cold, but it has been draining me a little so pray that God will give me energy.
-It can be discouraging learning about how some families here don't believe that education is important. Some won't send their kids to school, even if the tuition money is donated to them. 
-It breaks my heart to see how so many of the women here don't think they are beautiful or have worth. Pray that God will use us to show them how loved and valued they are.
-Some of the hardest times for me have been going on house visits where women will open up to us and tell us their stories. They talk about being beaten by their husbands and it makes me feel so helpless. I just want to do something to protect them, but I know that's not my job. Pray that God will comfort and protect these women and that He will change the hearts of the husbands and men that are oppressing them. 

Happy's:
-The women here and their incredible hospitality. Even though they have very little, they are so generous to us. Getting to know them has been such a humbling experience and they have taught me so much about how to give joyfully. 
-We live just a block away from a shop that sells ice cream and cookies. It makes me very happy :)
-How the kids shower us with hugs and kisses everyday.

-Sharing the gospel with the children at Tuition- pray that God will continue to work in their hearts and be present throughout their whole lives
-How my teammates can me laugh until I cry :)
-Milk tea, milk tea, and more milk tea... so good!

-The rain and the coolness it brings
-Seeing God work in the lives of these little children and the women we work with. He is so powerful and faithful.
-How eager the kids at Tuition are to learn. I'm praying that God will give me the same thirst for knowledge that they have. 
-My whole team- they have been my family here and I have grown to love them so so much! They are an amazing group of women who have been my support throughout these past weeks. I have been learning so much from them and I can't thank God enough for putting them here with me.

God is working in so many ways here in Goa, many of which I'm probably still unaware. I feel so incredibly blessed that God has given me this opportunity to join in His work here for these six weeks.

Thank you all for the prayers and support. 

Love you all!

Hannah

Loving and Being Loved Deeply

"Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.” Ephesians 7:8

With only a week and a half left of our team’s 6 week stay in Goa, my mind and heart have begun to process more solidly some of the things I’ve experienced here – the blessings, the stretches, the joys, the sorrows, and everything on the spectrum in between. I’m walking the line of being where I am and not checking out emotionally or mentally while also knowing that our time here is running out. One thing is being driven deeper and deeper into my heart with each passing day: I am so thankful for every moment I’m spending here. 

For the last few weeks, I have been serving in the location that focuses on relationally ministering to young women through stitching, jewelry and life skills classes. Volunteers are also sent to a local pre-school in the mornings to come alongside the teachers, encouraging/empowering them in whatever ways they can. I knew from the time the Lord called me to be here this summer that my hands were completely out of it; He is the One with the perfect plan, the One who directs our steps, the One who changes hearts, the One who heals, the One who brings the fruit, the One who searches hearts and knows all things, the One who makes everything new, and the One who will draw His bride unto Himself. It is not me. It was never me, nor will it ever be me. It is not about me and it is not dependent on me; however, He WILL use those who are open to His Spirit and who make themselves available to carry out His will. That was my desire in coming here. I wanted to keep my hands out of what I was doing and to be led by Him in all things. I wanted to learn as much as I taught and to be humbled more than I could stand. I wanted to be where I was and to not hold myself back while asking others to be vulnerable with me. I wanted to trust that He was and is the One who is in control of all things and who WILL be glorified, and more than anything I wanted to trust that His vision, compassion, mercy, love, patience and kindness were and are infinitely greater than mine.

Being here has been extremely humbling and eye-opening, and I have to continually remind myself of the previously described position of my heart in coming here. Working short-term in a relationship-building ministry within a culture that is more complicated than I can express is as difficult as it is necessary. You may never know how the Lord used you, and you may never see the fruit that you desire to see. My own heart has been going through intensive refining since I arrived, through essentially everything and everyone around me. As our team serves others through teaching, loving, and just being friends, we are also learning so much about the Lord and about ourselves. It is holistically beneficial to be here – we are partnering with the Lord in what He’s doing here in the area of education and prevention, we are living in community, we are loving and being loved deeply, we are sowing seeds, we are learning, and we are being refined.

I’m believing more and more in the importance of serving long term, especially in a setting like this one where the ministry is very much relational. People let you in as they trust you, and trust is established in consistency.  I love these women and children so much, and I am encouraged by the growth I hear they have made since Rahab’s Rope began working with them. I am encouraged by the work of the ministry as well as by the testimonies here of the Lord’s faithfulness. In that, I wish I could stay longer; it’s hard to know that the people you care about so desperately may only be in your life for this short time. There is also a season for everything, and I am trusting that the Lord knows what He’s doing in calling people to all different lengths of service in the timing He does. I am also trusting that He is accomplishing all He has purposed. This season in India is just long enough to get my feet in the water and to solidify the notion that my desire is to serve long-term in this nation.  I am looking forward to what the next week and a half brings, as well as to hearing how the Lord continues indefinitely to work in this place. My prayer is that we can focus on the Lord and His unfailing love as we finish well what we came here to do - make ourselves available as His hands and feet, give Him our hearts and give Him the glory.

Kristin