Update - for those who missed my email update :)

Just thought I'd give you a quick update! I've been in the Philippines for a little over a month now and have settled into daily life here. Culture shock hit harder and sooner than I expected, but it didn't last long thankfully.

I'm living in a bamboo house that has running water and electricity (most of the time). Having come here not expecting that, it feels like a luxury to have it! We have a gas stove that works most of the time too. We quickly learned which burner not to use - one of them has a tendency to blow up. I'll only have these luxuries for a short time, though, as a friend and I will be moving to another, more primitive village as soon as we've been trained in. The other village, Emrang, is a 2 hour hike from where we are currently. My friend and I will be reopening the clinic and school there.

The diet here consists of roots, bananas, and whatever is in season. Currently, some fruits, rice, and a few greens are in season. There isn't a whole lot of variety here in the mountains. We are able to order staples from the lowlands that make it up here whenever the PAMAS (Philippine Adventist Medical Aviation Services) helicopter is working and has reason to come.

We actually do get sketchy cell phone service in a few places up here. It's not terribly far to hike, though, to get really good service.

A few days ago, one of the other nurses and I went on a house call. We got word that someone was sick in another village. The other nurse, Carrie, knew how to get so far to the village, and knew someone who could possibly give us directions the rest of the way. We started off hiking on the main trail that leads down to the lowlands. About halfway to the lowlands, we veered off through a rice field and followed the very muddy trail up and down the side of the mountain. Finally we came upon a church member's place. The church member accompanied us as we followed a hardly distinguishable trail asking at each house where we could find the sick lady. They kept pointing further down the mountain. As we were hiking, we had a beautiful view of the lowlands (Brooke's Point) and the ocean. We finally reached the sick lady about 2 hours after we started hiking (that gave us two hours to assess her and hike back before dark). Carrie assessed her, encouraged her to go to the hospital in the lowlands (which was probably another 15 min hike down the mountain), then we took off for home. Thankfully we made it back just as it was starting to get too dark to see. As Carrie said, jungle house calls takes home health nursing to a whole new level!

The people here are super friendly. They've had enough foreign student missionaries come through that they know how to patiently teach us the language. It's so helpful to have them sound out words as I slaughter them trying to immitate what they say! Every Sabbath they hold a wonderful worship service in which I understand maybe 5 words. It's so beautiful to hear them sing, though. A lot of familiar hymns have been translated, which helps with trying to learn the language.

My roommate and I are busy training for Emrang - we spend about 3 mornings a week working in the clinic, 2 mornings a week watching the Kindergarten/1st grade teacher, and all afternoons language learning. Teaching is definitely not our favorite, but I think we'll end up enjoying it if we can find creative ways to teach (and when we can actually communicate and know what's going on). Language learning is very difficult. Or, I should say, finding motivation to language learn is very difficult. It's a relatively easy language (compared to our friends going to Thailand or Laos), but it takes grit to go out every day and try to learn a little bit more. It's really frustrating and difficult to make friends when you can't communicate, so that helps some with motivation. Our favorite place, obviously, is in the clinic. Carrie let us practice stitching an immaginary wound on her hand. We thoroughly enjoyed that, at her expense. Now, we're learning how to diagnose different tropical diseases that are seen up here. I'm really enjoying that! It's quite a challenging process to look at all the different symptoms and find a similar thread in all of them to finally make a diagnosis.

We have started seeing some major spiritual battles here. I just ask that you keep us in prayer. We're definitely on the front lines of the battle between good and evil.

I'm excited to see what God continues to have in store for us here! Already, my faith has been challenged and tried, but God always proves faithful! It's been amazing to see tangable evidences of His work in both my character and my health.

Building Teamwork

Our training group was split into three groups and given an assignment - complete this particular task together. We struggled and struggled as frustration started to mount with each other. Forty-five minutes later, we completed the task - barely, but not perfectly. This was our physical test in teamwork - we had learned in class earlier in our first week of training that teamwork was essential to overseas missions, and now we were given a chance to practice it. Our teacher gathered us around and discussed how difficult it was for us to work together as a team without getting frustrated with each other. He reiterated to us how being in a community reveals relational brokenness, but how that brokenness provides an opportunity for us to experience salvation and relational healing. We discussed how the experience affected us, had a few “learning conversations” (conversations focused on what we contributed to the situation), and continued with other tasks designed to strengthen us as a team. Two days later, we were given the same assignment, completing it in less than 5 minutes. I was amazed as I thought about the transition in our group. We had gone through several days of difficulties together, and, as a result, had formed into a team that could accomplish seemingly impossible tasks. My prayer is that we are able to form that kind of team with our career missionaries when we arrive overseas. 

Lost Yet Found

“Please pray for a friend. Her heart stopped and the doctors are having a hard time re-starting it.” I was in the middle of the second week of training at AFM when I read those words on Facebook. My heart went out to the friends and family of this person who was struggling to live. As I kept scrolling through my Facebook feed, I saw one friend after another posting the same thing, then saw that someone mentioned the girl’s name. My heart froze as my mind put the pieces together, realizing that my friend was the one who's heart had stopped. I started praying for my friend and for the doctors who were working on her. A little while later, I enlisted my friends that I’m in training with to pray with me on behalf of my friend. A few hours later, I received word that she had passed away. My heart broke as I thought through the many times she shared an encouraging word with me, how many times she would just turn and flash me a beautiful smile filled with the love of Jesus, how many times she would excitedly share what Jesus had showed her in her devotion time that morning. From what other people shared on Facebook, she did the same with everyone she met. Tears rolled down my face as my mind struggled with the question, “Why, Lord? Why her?” I realized though, that the beauty of her death is that she died knowing, loving, and serving Jesus - whereas many people around the world are dying every day without knowing or ever hearing about Jesus. Sharing the love of Jesus is why God has called me to serve overseas. My prayer is that Jesus with exude through me to the people I’ll be working with like my friend exuded Jesus to me. 

The Call

How do I begin? First off, I’m not a writer… much less a blogger, so please bear with me as I stumble through this process. I wanted to share some of my story before the time came for me to share this post, but I have not had the time to do that. Hopefully I’ll find some time to share how I’ve gotten to this point in my life.

Right now, though, I get to share the exciting news that I have gotten an assignment to go overseas to serve in a jungle clinic for a year! 

Right now, I work in an outpatient mental health clinic. It’s been a challenging position to have, and one where I’ve spent lots of time on my knees begging God if there’s somewhere else He wants me to go. It’s been difficult for me to be in a position where I’m unable to tell people about the Jesus who can heal them and who can take their burdens and who never leaves them or forsakes them. 

Last August, I had met the recruiter for Adventist Frontier Missions (AFM) at ASI who told me about some mission opportunities that were available (after I had signed up that I was interested in going as a missionary). For some reason, the timing just wasn’t right at that moment. I knew I needed to get some sort of nursing experience (having just graduated), and I also wanted to pursue a bachelor’s degree. 

But after working at my current position for a while, I knew there had to be somewhere else God could use me in a much broader way. One morning, as I was praying once again to God, where He would have me, He brought the idea of going with AFM to my mind. When I considered all the possibilities, it seemed perfect - perfect timing at least! After praying about it more and talking with different people, I decided the best thing to do would be to move forward and ask God to open and close doors as He saw fit in order to lead me to exactly where He wanted me. I started the application process back in May of this year. There have been hurdles to overcome even to get this far into the process, but I now have been approved and will be sent to the mountains in the islands of the Philippines in the fall of 2017. 

I’ve been dreaming about what this day would be like. I imagined being so excited. What I didn’t realize was how soon reality would set in - reading through the description of the place and realizing I wouldn’t have easy access to internet so I could call home if I needed. The reality of going to a foreign country - a totally different culture and language - without the support of family or friends close by hit me hard. But what also hit me was the reality that God has called me to this, and He will be by my side every step of the way. I pray that this blog will be filled with blessings and answers to prayer on this journey into the unknown. 

It will be exciting to recount how God will continue to lead!