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

Things I Have and Haven't Learned

This past week I have been doing a lot of learning.

           

            -I learned how to do laundry by hand, bargain for good prices at the fruit market, and hold my ground on crowded buses.

            -I have learned my way to and from the slum I work in and how to keep my eyes down when walking through the crowds of men at the bus stop.

            -I learned how beautiful the women are and how strong and courageous they are as they go home and get beat for listening to stories about Jesus.

           

            -I am learning to trust God in ways that I have never done before.

            -I am learning about God's grace and how completely it covers my wrongs and how to have grace with myself and the people I work with.

            -I am learning about how girls are not valued in this country at all. Girls are aborted all the time and if they are allowed to live they are used in every way possible. My heart hurts as I sit and tell women they are truly beautiful and they cannot fathom that being true.

            -I am learning to not see the dirt and disease and to love the kids and let them love me and cover me in hugs and dirt. I have learned to kiss the heads that haven't been washed in a long time and hold hands that are used to wipe. We pray for protection of our bodies and know that we are right where God wants us to be. The safest place to be is right in the middle of God's will.

           

            -I still haven't learned how to tell a dear women who hands me her 14 day old baby girl that I can't take the baby home with me without it breaking my heart.

            -I still haven't learned how to look at the dogs that are beaten and have broken legs without getting mad.

            -I still haven't learned how to keep a room of 60 excited kids quiet for bible story time but it is a joy to be around them!

           

God has been so faithful to us and has been teaching, stretching, and molding me. Every morning I get up at 6 and we have breakfast and devotionals as a team. My team of four girls gets on a bus and we go to the slum we work in. We take two buses to get there. In the morning we work at a preschool and support the young teachers. I am working with a teacher who has the 6 year old class. Then we have lunch and help with school preparation or rest.

In the afternoon the four of us walk through the slum to a house where we do tuition. Tuition is the program that the kids come to everyday for snack, bible stories, memory verses, and laughter. We help them with homework. We have to be really careful about how much we talk about God. Some of the men in the slum dislike us. We never carry bibles on us as a safety precaution but they know what we are doing and are mad because they see that our God actually answers prayers.

Some days after tuition we go on house visits and meet parents and fellowship with the few other believers in the slum. We have to bring a translator and the language barrier is quite difficult. We are trying to learn as much Hindi as we can; it’s hard! The evenings that we don't do home visits in the slum, we come back to our neighborhood and visit with the shop owners on the beach. Coni (one of my team members) and I are praying about reading a book of the bible to the woman we are discipling.

There is a awesome group of guys from the church that we go to that lead worship for us on Friday nights and hang out with us in the evenings sometimes. They give me hope that the men of this country will know God!

One of our team members is really sick right now and might have worms. Please keep her in your prayers and the rest of us as we are worn down and very susceptible to similar things.

           

           

            XOXO

            Madisyn 

         

The Experience of a Lifetime

These past few weeks have been the experience of a lifetime. This being my first trip overseas, I’ve learned, seen ,heard ,and  smelt many new things.  While we have been in India, we have helped foster new relationships that Rahab’s Rope has made. In the villages we traveled and carried the good news and encouragement to many unique and in-need people. In the city, we met women and children that we were able to create relationships with and pour our hearts into.

 One day during the first week, we drove to a tent where a group of prostitutes were waiting. When we pulled up to the tent we noticed that there was a group of eunuchs that were there, as well. We had been told earlier that week that eunuchs here were men who, as young boys, had been stripped of everything that gave them the identity of being a man and forced to do sex work the way that women do. The first thought that went through my head was “ Father, I don’t want to go do this.” He answered back, “ They are mine too and I love them. Go and do the same.”  Right then and there I closed my eyes and prayed that God would change my attitude and view of these men. When I opened my eyes, I saw a group of women and men who all needed to hear the same thing, that Jesus can set them free.  We all gathered underneath the tent and sat down. One of the pastors that was there introduced us and the people gave us a warm welcome. Some of the eunuchs danced for us and it was fun to see them smile and laugh. Something I’ve noticed in India is that smiles aren’t given out like they would be in America. It was a joy to see them having fun and not worrying about life.

After they danced, we taught them the song “My God is So Big” and showed them the motions, as well. We shared with them the story of the prodigal son and told them about how God is waiting with open arms to take them into His family, if only they would ask. We also performed a skit to the song “Flags” by Brook Frasier. The skit depicts a girl talking and walking with Jesus. As she is walking with him, she becomes distracted by different things. Alcohol, drugs, money, and finally suicide weigh her down, then surround her as she tries to escape them. The girl can’t be let free of these struggles by herself. After they have beaten her down, Jesus comes and stops them from destroying her, picks the girl up, and dusts her off. He then takes the struggles that she is still holding onto and, one by one, throws them to the ground. The girl thanks Jesus and then they continue on through life together.

We were told later on that day that the people who were there understood completely what was happening in the skit, that the understanding showed in their faces. One of our team members then stood up and shared her testimony. She told the people about how she was distracted from Jesus by similar things. She told them that when she went to God that He took away her shame and she was able to have a perfect relationship with Him because of his grace. When we finished sharing, we broke out a bag of nail polish and painted their nails and ate with them. Later on, we realized how big of a deal this was. They took a day off of working to have people speak to them, be given a free meal, and have their nails done. When we sat down with them, they were so eager to have us near them. They were very hesitant to touch their hands to us while we were painting. Each hand that was extended to me I held onto and hoped that even if they couldn’t understand what I was saying that they saw God in me. I wanted to let them know that they were loved. Our team had been reading through Philippians that week and verses that I came across that stuck out were these: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interest, but also to the interest of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus.” I’m so thankful to be taught this in such a real way. I’m praying that whatever seeds we panted that day and also these past few weeks will grow.


Hannah
Bangalore Volunteer '12

Just Arrived in Bangalore!

“Greater things have yet to come, Greater things are still to be done in this city.”

           

            Greetings from India! My team and I landed in India last Thursday morning and so far Bangalore has been an exciting and definitely unique culture to experience. From the beautiful colors of Kurtas (a typical woman indian top) to the very “unorganized” driving, there hasn’t been a dull moment.

           

            Besides just immersing ourselves in the culture my team and I have been very excited to start work with Rahabs Rope. Preceding our work days we have had an orientation/Indian clothes shopping day, so this is what we did yesterday. The orientation helped us become prepared and more aware of the work we will be facing the next 3 weeks. Of course, the shopping was very fun for the group because we are girls and love purchasing clothes! It also taught us a good lesson of valuing modestly. Since we are dressing as the women of India would dress our wardrobe consist of shirts that cover the bottom and pants that don’t emphasize the figure. This traditional Indian wear conveys a modest appearance that will battle the negative perception of American women.  It also helps us realize that our value and worth is not found in revealing clothing but in Christ.

            I also want to share with you something that was on my heart that I have learned through my Bible study since I have been in India. I am trying to go through the book of Acts because its focus is on the heart of missions and proclaiming the gospel to the nations. But Acts also embraces another beautiful aspect and that is the great forgiveness of God. I found this through the testimony of Paul in reading two separate verses.

            Acts 9:1 “Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples...” and then later in Acts 9:18 “ ...he [Saul] could see again. He got up and was baptized.”

It reads that Saul at the beginning of the chapter was not just speaking murderous threats but he was breathing them. He was so against Jesus that he continuously without hesitation wanted to kill all Christians. I think everyone would agree Saul is a pretty bad guy but regardless he still a child of God that is being passionately pursued. And towards the end of chapter he has his eyes opened and is baptized; he is forgiven and cleansed by the blood of Jesus!

            This is something I want these women to know because they are not defined by their past. Like Paul, they may have some horrible events in their life but those events  can be wiped clean by the blood of Jesus. I want them to know that they are valued, treasured, and beautiful daughters of the Father. Even if my team might not work one on one with each of these women, we want to be apart of God’s big picture that will help them understand their worth in Christ.  Oh, what a glorious day that will be.

            Now on to what we will be doing this week.  We are going to be traveling to a village roughly a few hours away from Bangalore. We have packed up a weeks worth of items and will be staying in a guesthouse there. I know the leaders, my team, and I would greatly appreciate prayers for the incredible days we are about to experience.

In Christ,

Karlie 

Perpetual Youth At The Beach

 

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that perpetual youth is in nature, and indeed it is!

I love how everyones inner child and carefree spirit breaks through in nature, especially at the beach! One afternoon it was decided what a wonderful idea it would be to take all of the girls and women we are working with to the beach for a picnic. They had all been working so hard, and some fun and fresh air were in order.

The younger girls, the women and their children, our volunteer team, Libby, our amazing local staff member, and myself all holding hands headed toward the sound of the ocean.

“When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise, and imposes a rhythm upon everything in me that is bewildered and confused.”  - Rainer Maria Rilke

The path to the beach is a long dirt road through the slum community that is scattered with trash, cows, pigs, women cooking over open fire pits, and a dozen smells entering the nostrils simultaneously. It is amazing how you can walk through one world and so easily to another. From the intense poverty in the alleyways to the serenity of the beach. The community (which used to be the largest red light district in the area before half of it was torn down) seemed a world away from the calmness of the beach yet they are only footsteps apart.

What a joy to be with the girls for every little footstep. To be a part of helping forget troubles and worries, and provide an opportunity to be carefree children. Something that many of them have never had.

The pictures below are not just pictures. They are images that help tell a story about pain and struggle. Courage and strength. Happiness and joy.

Alisha  

Goa Volunteer