REBLOG: Home Again

Ali, a nurse I met on the Africa Mercy last summer, just arrived back on the ship after 14 months away. Her blog is one of raw honesty--the times patients don't make it, the dengue fever she wound up with while in South America for a few months this summer, her heart being torn between ship life and "home" life... I love following along with her life, although I doubt she even remembers me from our brief time aboard together.

I wonder if this is how I'll feel when I arrive back in Africa after being "home" on furlough. I hope so...

Home Again

I've always wanted to be a vampire!

My friend Michelle is on the Africa Mercy in Sierra Leone right now. I love her recounting of her recent blood donation experience! I never had the opportunity to give while I was on board, but I love hearing people's stories!   I am a vampire, I am a vampire, I am a vampire, and I lost my fangs...

Fistula in Ethiopia

This video pretty clearly explains about VVF, the "Hospital by the River" in Adis Ababa, Ethiopia that is dedicated to providing free surgeries for these women, and shows a bit of what I want to do after grad school.

Check out 4:05 for pictures of the physical therapy available for VVF patients, and 5:14 for a glimpse of "Dester Menda", the village I would like to build one similar to.

Switching to Africa

I'm back in Africa... yes, I'm spending Spring Break '11 in Africa. :)

So, check out katiefarr-africa.blogspot.com for updates/pictures/anything else I feel like posting in the next week!

Passports and plane tickets...

I have to say I'm in love with Google's Gmail themes. :) It seems like every time I check my email, the background's changed and shows some kind of desk detritus. This was part of this morning's Gmail theme:

Last night a couple of my friends and I somehow got on the topic of outdated IDs, horrible pictures on our A&M student ID card, our excitement over getting sideways driver's licenses, and passports. I got to thinking that since I got my current passport in 2008 the only stamps it's had are the entrance and exit stamps from Togo... one sad little page. My previous passports have been full of exciting stamps and fun stories of my globe-trotting adventures; not this one. I'll be returning to Togo over Spring Break with my parents as they serve as Associate Trainers with EQUIP Ministries to help lead a pastor's conference. I can't wait to hand the Togolese immigrations officer my little navy blue book and hear "Bienvenue au Togo."

Then yesterday as I *attempted* to clean up my room before my roommate moved back in, I came across the stubs of several plane tickets that I had stuffed in the pocket of my interview suit, the tiny Bible that I carry when I'm traveling, and the folder I took to all my PT school interviews. I love $99 same-day, round trip fares from College Station to Dallas/Ft. Worth! And then as I finished Dear John last night (see previous post) I found my ticket stub from IAW to CDG (Washington Dulles to Paris/Charles de Gaulle) from this summer... ah, fun memories.

I love passport stamps. I love airplane tickets. But what I really love is the excitement that always seems to accompany traveling. You're not quite sure if you're going to land on time, if you're going to be able to find your gate, if your bags are going to get there, or if your ticket is going to somehow get "marked" so that you get a pat-down search EVERY time you go through security. You don't know what's waiting for you on the other end of the jet bridge. But that's OK. You have the plane ticket and you know you're supposed to be on that plane.

It amazes me that some people don't have passports; my parents said I got mine at the American embassy when I was just a few days old and my picture is of Dad holding me. I've never had one expire on me, but I'm glad that now I'm 18, I don't have to renew it every 5 years! The way I see it, a passport = freedom to follow God at a moment's notice wherever He leads. What if another earthquake hits Haiti tomorrow and I have the opportunity to fly down there on an emergency relief team. What if someday when I'm in Africa the embassy's going to ask all American citizens to evacuate because of political unrest. What if there's a short term missions trip to Asia that needs a guide because their original guide got sick? If I have to wait for the Houston passport office to expedite my passport application, I might miss an incredible opportunity... or the last flight out.

Well it wouldn't be a typical "Katie post" if I didn't give you tons of links to check out. :) But I want you to check out this one... http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html

Dreams...

God, You blow me away.

Per Dad's request, my family's been reading "Put Your Dream to the Test" by John Maxwell. He and Mom have been leading a small group through the book and it's been interesting to hear what the group's been learning.

Go buy this book. Like seriously.

For those of you familiar with the Life Purpose Planning booklet, John Maxwell's book takes it a step farther. LPP focuses on finding the "golden thread" of God's hand in your life as you write down people that have influenced you, verses that have stood out to you, books you've read, experiences you've enjoyed, the meaning of your names, your spiritual gifting... it's actually a rather exciting little booklet and it was a good tool to kind of figure out that God's been preparing me for a life of investing into younger girls and has called me to something in the medical field and that all the traveling I've done is in preparation for overseas missions.

But "Put Your Dream to the Test" comes at it from a little more of a secular side. Mr. Maxwell says, "go dream... what's the biggest thing you can imagine... now, let's make sure it's something that is actually feasible and what needs to happen to get you there?"

I'm only on the 3rd chapter, but I wanted to share what I've come up with for the answers to the 1st chapter's questions. Maxwell encourages the reader to write down their dream and share it with others. If I can succinctly communicate my dream to those I care about and show my passion in a coherent manner that's a big first step--and a necessary skill for raising the money, personnel, and resources I'll need to carry out my dream.

The following dream has been inspired by many things; but especially by a paper I had to write last year for school, the book "The Hospital By the River," and some subsequent research I've done about that hospital.

I realize that this is not the normal type of post you'd expect out on a blog for the world to see (not that this blog is followed/RSS subscribed to by more than a few dozen people), but I want your comments.

Is this something you could see me doing? Will ya'll remind me of this when I post how much I hate PT school and anatomy lab?

And expect to see more installments as I delve into more of "Put Your Dream to the Test."

My Dream (December 31, 2010)

I desire to be a wife and mom, first and foremost.

I will, Lord willing, spend my life in sub-Saharan Africa, using physical therapy full time until I have a family (after which PT will become a part time position). I foresee myself working at a missions hospital compound, not in a small remote village.

I want to use PT with the amputee and VVF outcasts of Africa as a follow-up to surgeries performed.

After I have spent several years in Africa, have made connections, gained their trust, and built my “dream team,” I want to build a village for my patients where they can live for as long as they need PT or if they cannot return home. New patients will come to the center of the “village” to the “PT hut” for therapy, longer term patients will assist new patients, and permanent residents will help teach patients to read/sew/make crafts to bring in money.

My ideas for this village are based off a project already in existence with the International Fistula Foundation’s branch in Ethiopia, which can be found here: http://www.fistulafoundation.org/wherewehelp/ethiopia/longtermcare.html

Questions from John Maxwell’s “Put Your Dream to the Test” book:

Chapter 1

1.    The Ownership Question: Is my dream really my dream?

A.   What would I do if I had no limitations?

·         Go train with the PTs at “The Hospital by the River” in Ethiopia

·         See answers to C

B.   What would I do if I had only five years to live?

·         Graduate from A&M

·         Go to Nigeria this summer and learn alongside the nationals how to make prosthetics, and then be a lay PT there in Africa.

·         Get married

C.   What would I do if I had unlimited resources?

·         Donate money to NGOs like Mercy Ships and International Fistula Foundation to provide VVF surgeries and housing/training for chronically incontinent women

·         Build a “village” for VVF women and amputees where they share a little “hut” and there’s a PT clinic in the middle to provide long-term care.

·         Create a “dream team” of international healthcare professionals to fully staff the “village” and set it up as a clinical/training site for both international and local healthcare professionals to come train.

D.   What would I do if I knew I couldn’t fail?

·         Complete PT school

·         Get specialized in women’s health PT and prosthetic gait training

·         See answers to C

Da Jesus Book...

This is copied from Alison's blog, and was just too good to not share. Alison was an OR nurse I met while on the Africa Mercy.

This passage was shared at the missions conference from da Jesus Book. Translation: The Bible in Hawaiian Pidgin. This is the great commission, Matthew 28:18- 20, in where Christ commands us to go out and make disciples as he promises us he will stick with us until the very end of the earth... or it until it goes pow.

"Den Jesus go near dem an say, “God wen give me all da power, so now I in charge a everyting all ova da world an inside da sky. So you guys, go all ova da world an teach all da diffren peopos, so dey can learn bout me an come my guys. Baptize dem, an dey goin come tight wit my Fadda, an me his Boy, an God's Good an Spesho Spirit. Teach um how fo do everyting dat I wen tell you guys fo do. An you know wat? I goin stick wit you guys all da way, till da world goin pau.” Matthew 28:18-20

The "Hand of Hope"

Have ya'll ever seen a picture that made your heart just melt? I did last week. But, before that... a little background information...

I just started volunteering at a pregnancy center here in town. I found out about it at a girls' conference this past February. As part of the Masterpiece conference, they had an evening coffeehouse setup with booths and information tables from different ministries where we could get involved. As I walked by one table I overheard an older lady talking to a couple other college girls about her ministry's need for homemade quilts and baby items. My ears perked up and I stopped to listen in. :)

The more I found out about Hope Pregnancy Center, the more I got excited about possibly volunteering with them. My summer in Africa taught me that I really do like the behind-the-scenes service; I do enough front-lines stuff and I need a break and I need to serve those who I will probably never see again and cannot do anything to repay me.

My research into VVF and women's health issues in Africa as well as the book "Half the Sky" (EXCELLENT READ!) showed me the huge needs women facing crisis pregnancies are going through. And I'm realizing that crisis pregnancies are more than girls that were stupid/got themselves into trouble. And the more I talk to people who are Pro-Life, the more I get frustrated by the fact that most people only care about the baby and overlook the intense needs the mother has!

So, as soon as I got back into town and realized that lovely bus 26 drops off right by Hope, I went to see how I could volunteer. I left with a dauntingly thick application that requested 2 recommendation letters, my salvation testimony, and an interview scheduled with the volunteer coordinator.

Then I went through a weekend with 14.5 hours of training. And then a 3-hour video on "abortion apologetics." And now I'm in weeks upon weeks of training and shadowing counselors before I will be able to counsel clients. But it's all good.

Some people have asked me why I volunteer at Hope. That's a really long conversation, but here are the top reasons:

• if I was facing a crisis pregnancy--whether because of pre-marital sex, just having moved to a new country (there are a lot of international graduate students/families here in College Station), needed some financial assistance, or just needed a Christian woman to talk with--I would want to have somewhere like Hope
• I'm accumulating tools for my "toolbox." More people skills, more counseling training, more knowledge about controversial topics, and more opportunities to pour into people.
• there's nothing like being able to offer an expectant mother a handmade baby blanket
• it's one little life at a time
• it's meeting someone at probably their greatest need so far and introducing them to Someone who will truly never leave them, will truly forgive them, and will truly provide for them
• it gets me off campus and out of my bubble of college life and into the community

So anyway... about the picture. During training we were discussing under what circumstances/if ever abortion was acceptable and how the marvels of modern medicine were making many of those pre-natal complications irrelevant reasons for abortion. Then we heard the story of Samuel who was diagnosed with spina bifida and in 1999 underwent pre-natal corrective surgery. 

And if you ever doubt that the little one inside is an independent and viable life, let this picture speak for itself... and see if it melts your heart.

The Hand of Hope

(photo copyright Michael Clancy 1999, http://michaelclancy.com/wordpress/)

refocusing....

I really never thought this would happen so quickly! I wasn't planning on being here for a few more years at least! And it's something where I will be years behind them... and it's frankly no fun sitting back and watching...


See... I have now officially entered the stage where my friends are all getting married. Let's just say 4 of my single friends bit the dust this weekend (what is it with May weddings?). Granted, I wasn't best friends with any of them, but they were all girls I'd known or had served with for the last couple years.


It seems like I'm always getting the comment, "I bet you're gonna miss your boyfriend while you're in Africa!" And I get to tell them, "well, actually I'm not dating anyone." Not now, never have. And I'm fine saying that, I really am. But I hate the reaction that I get. It's kind of this pity that sneaks into their voice as they reply with, "Well, keep holding out for a good guy, you'll find someone. Don't worry." Or even worse, "Singleness is a gift, and I'm glad you're embracing it" like they think they know all about me...


True. Singleness is a gift. Just like marriage is. Neither is better than the other. The apostle Paul seemed to put singleness above marriage, actually. But 1 Cor 7 is really about being able to serve God in either stage. Sometimes there are places and roles that we can fill better as a single person.


Amy Carmichael and Gladys Alward could not have run their orphanages if they were married. Would Amy have been able to provide a safe home for the temple girls if she was married and the girls were scared of men?


(And since this post is not a treatise on single missionaries, I'm gonna move on... I'm sure we could all list a ton of amazing missionaries who could serve God better because they were single.)


On another hand, would the US military be able to send men and women into combat zones if they were married? There are some missions, my brother tells me, where the servicemen are not allowed to be married. In a situation like "Blackhawk Down" would those men have been able to go back into the firefights if they were more concerned about their wives and children back home than their buddy losing blood from shrapnel in his femoral artery?


See it's all about focus.


"What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short... For this world in its present form is passing away. I would like you to be free from concern... An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord's affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband. I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord." - from 1 Corinthians 7:29-35


What am I focused on? Am I sitting here wishing I was walking down the aisle? (check) Am I sighing with discontent as I see pictures of my friends' pregnant bellies? (check)  Am I wishing away my singleness which includes an insane--and perhaps unsafe--amount of freedom to do anything, to go anywhere, and be anything I want to be? (hmmm...)


Right now I can serve God better single better than if I was married... so here I am.


This summer should be an incredible time of being 6,000 miles away from cell phone service, instant communication via text, and a whole bunch of distractions. I want to be whole-heartedly in Togo. Serving the doctors and nurses who are serving the people of Togo. Hearing from God what He would have me do after graduate school. 


And undergoing some desperately-needed refocusing.


(you can follow my summer at katiefarr-africa.blogspot.com)

What's on my bookshelf right now...

I have this ever-increasing stack of books on the shelf by my bed in my dorm room... this stack has recently undergone a growth spurt thanks to my recent discovery of $65 sitting in my Amazon.com account, and has been added to through borrowings from college friends.

Then there's the non-existent stack of books I have finished reading. It's non-existent because I've passed them on, loaned them out, or sent them home for my parents to read... good books are like a good pot of coffee--they're so much better when they're savored slowly and shared with a friend!

So here are a few of my wordy friends, perhaps you'll find something to read just in time for summer! I'm not going to do a book review by any means, but I just want to share a few thoughts with ya'll. (Click the image to go straight to Amazon.com for more information)\

Brown Like Coffee - The List Guy

I received this book as a thank-you gift from the A&M Navigators staff this past Christmas and it sat on my shelf for quite a few weeks! It's thin size didn't seem too daunting and I actually enjoyed it's warm and upbeat message that is directed to churched college students. Each section of the book starts out with a description of a specific coffee drink and then makes an analogy to the Christian life. I found it to be quickie read, and the thought provoking questions and easily applicable challenges helped get the concepts out of the page and into real life. It's a good book to read once and pass on to a college-aged friend.



Through the Dark Woods - Joann Swinney
I wish I found this book earlier. It's written from the heart of an English girl in her early 20s. She writes from the Christian perspective and incorporates a good bit of scientific data about depression and addresses the social stigmas associated with it. It's a wonderful book for those who know someone who is depressed, are worried about a loved one and aren't sure how to broach the topic, or for the depressed person themselves. One chapter provides a long list of things a person suffering from depression can do to stop the cycle ... journaling, making a pot of good tea, trying a new recipe, going window shopping, going on a brisk morning walk... This is the first book I have read that has acknowledged both physical, mental, and spiritual aspects of depression or that has indicated that returning from depression is not an easy affair that happens overnight.

For Young Women Only- Shaunti Feldhan
I've heard about this book for several years and finally bought it! I love the subtitle: "What you need to know about how guys think." Yeah, there's a lot that us girls WANT to know about guys (and we have magazines like Teen Vogue and Cosmopolitan to satisfy that), but what do we NEED to know in order to live our lives more appropriately and help our Christian brothers out? The statistics from thousands of young men from all different walks of life were really helpful and showed me a different side of the male population! The best thing about this book was that the authors give you the facts, share the Spiritual truth that correlates, but allows the reader to decide what she will do about it. It's not a book of rules by any means, but a good resource to have. Several girls have asked me about modesty, appropriate levels of sarcasm with guy friends, and have sought me out for relationship advice and it's been neat to show them what guys across the country have to say on those topics! It's also helped dispel some of the myths I've had about brothers and guys in general, even after I've grown up around so many guys!

Lies Young Women Believe - Nancy Leigh DeMoss
I haven't started this book yet, but I look forward to more of Nancy Leigh DeMoss' heart-to-heart truth! It looks like a great book for high school girls working through it on their own or perhaps with a small group of friends. It's different from "Lies Women Believe" in that it includes sections of questions and room to journal. The 25 lies tackled in this book include "beautiful girls are worth more," it's OK to one person at home and another with other people... especially online," and "I can't handle the loneliness of staying pure."

Lady in Waiting - Jackie Kendall & Debby Jones
I have not read this one either, but the subtitle also intrigued me; "Becoming God's best while waiting for Mr. Right." It's a pretty thick book but includes an in-depth workbook at the back. I think this will be a good part of my summer devotions.  :-)

The Hospital by the River - Catherine Hamlin
This is an autobiography of a woman who with her husband started the first fistula repair hospital in Africa back in the 1950s. Since then the facility has helped over 20,000 young women return to society after a procedure to correct damage done by an obstructed and prolonged childbirth process. Mercy Ships does a number of these corrective surgeries and one of the current ship crew recommended this book to me--aparently, many of these women also participate in physical therapy as part of their post-op care! I'm super excited to dig into this book and learn a little more about the incredible medical needs in Africa and I'm inspired by this woman's passion for the physical and spiritual restoration of each patient!

What I want to do with the rest of my life...

This semester in my Majors-only Writing Intensive Yoga class (yes, I know that it sounds really weird!) we're learning to write funding proposals. The semester's assignment was to write a proposal for a program that we wanted to implement after we finished college/grad school. 

Others chose to write about afterschool sports programs, mobile therapy clinics, or playgrounds for pediatric hospitals, and I chose to write about something that I really am passionate about. I hope that as you read this, you'll catch a glimpse of what I want to do with my life and where I feel God leading me!

Hope for Nigerian Amputees: Manually-Powered Prosthetic Fitment

Katherine E. Farr – Final Paper - Wednesday, April 7

Introduction

The African civil wars and conflicts of recent decades have left thousands of people injured; rural land mines that continue to explode injure people and often leave them with lower limb amputations (Arya and Klenerman, 2008). Although a prosthetic was created in 1975 to suit the unique lifestyles of third-world patients, and several organizations now provide them at no cost (Tuli, 1981), many of these amputees will never receive one because they cannot afford to take the time to travel and be fitted.

Some of these non-governmental organizations also face the problems of overwhelming need, insufficient funds, inadequate facilities, and unreliable electricity. New techniques have been developed to resolve some of the issues, but all of the techniques still rely on electricity. Current donors to the Evangel Missions Hospital in Jos, Nigeria, will receive a copy of this proposal along with the quarterly newsletter, and they will be asked to consider sending an additional donation or to earmark their next regular donation to a fund to purchase a manually-powered fitment device.

Target Population

There are approximately 7,000 physically handicapped people in Nigeria’s capital city of Jos (Ardill, 2006), and many of them support themselves by begging. Evangel Hospital's prosthetic facility has been able to provide lower limb prosthetics to many amputees who live in Jos, but many patients who live in remote areas of Nigeria cannot afford the time or money to travel to Jos even to receive prosthetics free of charge. There is a great need to increase process efficiency and mobility so as to serve the maximum number of people.

Project Description/Rationale

The current fitment procedure is very inefficient. First, the entire casting, fabricating, and fitting process takes 2-3 days—an amount of time that most low-income families and subsistence farmers cannot spare. Secondly, the process requires a large amount of plaster of Paris (approximately 8 lbs (3 kg) per fitment), which means that all plaster must be transported with the machine for field services in more undeveloped areas of Nigeria (Garcia, 2008).

A vacuum-casting procedure has been newly developed to increase efficiency by reducing the entire fitting and fabrication time to an hour and a half and eliminating the need for plaster. However, the vacuum machine is expensive and relies on electricity to provide the negative sand mold of the patient’s stump. Philip Garcia, an undergraduate student at MIT, worked with a team of 20 interdisciplinary students to explore the idea of a manually-powered vacuum machine to be used with the sand-casting technique (Chandler, 2008). The vacuum-casting procedure coupled with the MIT team’s design would provide an effective solution for Evangel Hospital.

The team’s design utilizes four bicycle pumps and 10 other readily available parts. Some of the parts could be replaced with more native materials to further reduce the cost from USD147 to approximately USD50 per machine. The device is lightweight, requires very little setup, and can easily sit on a tabletop; these features allow for extreme portability. Technicians using the machine would not need intensive training, as many of them would be familiar with hand-crank machines common to local water wells. Since the devices are simple, local tradesmen or mechanics could make any necessary repairs.

Expected Outcome

The entire procedure has several huge possible positive outcomes. First, the vacuum-casting procedure has the potential to increase Evangel’s patient load fivefold (Garcia, 2008). Secondly, eliminating the need for plaster will reduce the cost per prosthetic limb. Thirdly, the manually-powered machine will allow the Evangel workshop to operate at all hours, independent of the hospital’s generator and its erratic running time. Fourthly, since the machines do not require electricity, the workshop technicians would be able to organize mobile prosthetic teams to travel into rural Nigeria and serve those amputees who cannot travel to Jos. As a result, many Nigerians would hear about Evangel Hospital, and word would spread about their free or low-cost medical and treatment programs and facilities. Lastly, donors from around the world will have the unique opportunity to make a difference in the lives of many Nigerians by restoring their dignity and livelihood providing them a lower-limb prosthetics.

  

Conclusion

The number of amputees can seem overwhelming, the recent economic situation that reduced Evangel’s donations can be disheartening, and the challenges of serving in a third-world country can be daunting, but the new fitment technique and device offers incredible prospects. With rural prosthetic fitment and fabrication teams many more amputees can learn to walk again, work again, and be a part of society again. Truly, advancements in medicine, engineering, and science—coupled with faithful financial partners—can offer hope for Nigerian amputees.

Works Cited

Arya, A. P., and Klenerman, L. (2008). The jaipur foot. Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery, British Volume, 90B(11), 1414-1416.

Tuli, J. (1981). The jaipur limb. World Health, 2-5.

Ardill, B. (2006). Prosthetics project. Retrieved 3/30/2010, from http://www.ecwaevangel.org/mambo/content/view/248/70/

Garcia, P. (2008). Optimization of vacuum pump device for use in rapid fitment of prosthetic limbs.  Retrieved 2/22/2010, from http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/45794

Chandler, D. (2008). A leg to stand on. MIT News, March 5, 2008.  Retrieved 2/20/2010, from http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/itw-jaipur-tt0305.html

Serving through medicine for God's glory... together

I'm reading a book called "Where Elephants Fight" written by Dr. Ardill, a missionary surgeon serving with SIM in Jos, Nigeria. The book is about his earlier missions days in Liberia during their civil war. I read it a few years ago, but it didn't really hit home like it has this read through.

I've been reading during my walks between classes, on my way to the Rec center, and on the bus ride to the grocery store... :-) and today one paragraph really hit me. I've been thinking about two seemingly incompatible desires--wanting to be a wife and mom and serve as a missionary physical therapist in Africa for the rest of my life--and wondering how God's going to work it out. It takes a special guy to want to serve in missions in Africa! I know He's going to work it out, but it's still hard to trust Him in the meantime; Dr. Ardill's words really encouraged me that God will work things out!

"...We said a tearful goodbye to our church friends in Baltimore and Dorothy's [his wife] parents and family. Saying goodbye is never easy but this time, for me, it was so much better returning to Africa with my best friend at my side. We were going together with a strong sense of God's leading and His confirmation in so many tangible ways. It had been a great nine months [since the wedding] together in the States. Now we were going out as a team to minister through medicine for His glory."

That's what I desire... a best friend to serve as a team through medicine together! But I want God's best more!!!

The first week of school I got a little stir crazy after doing so much over Christmas break and then facing so much free time! I went to Walmart, bought some paint and brushes, and started right in... :-) I had no idea what it would look like when it was done so I had fun seeing it take shape!

Here's the finished product (well, it was finished the second week of school but I didn't actually take pictures until today... )

(the whole thing)

(top right)

(bottom right)

(bottom left)

(top left)

God's Will

How do you know when you're following the will of God? One of the ways is when He confirmed things through "circumstances." Or more like incredible God-moments that just could not have been planned any better.

These last two weeks have been full of such God-moments; let me share a few with you...

Last Tuesday, I was standing in the hall outside my Anatomy & Physiology classroom waiting for class and randomly looking at the bulletin board on the wall. On the section advertising summer internships for students in the biology field there was a brochure for Mercy Ships!

Three weeks ago, the first day of Anatomy & Physiology lab, my TA asked each of us to introduce ourselves, share our career goals and say what we were doing for the summer. I said I was going to West Africa to work on a hospital ship this summer and my TA asked if it was with Mercy Ships! She has never been to the Africa Mercy but has supported several crew members over the years.

When I mentioned that I wanted to be a physical therapist at a missionary hospital in Nigeria, the guy sitting next to me (who is now one of my lab partners) asked if it was the Evangel hospital in Jos on the SIM missions compound! His family served with SIM for several years in Nigeria and he grew up there!

This past weekend at the Renewal conference for the South Central regional Navigators I was talking with one of the staff guys that serves here at A&M. We were again talking about summer plans and I was attempting to convince him that I could not do a Navigator-sponsored summer program; I already had firm plans. :-) I said I was working with Mercy Ships and he asked if I knew a girl named Allison Green who is working in the OR on board! One of my friends back home told me about her last year and I've Facebooked with Allison a little since then. Small world!

And then I've started to find checks in my mailbox... God is confirming, God is providing, God is leading... to Togo!

Mercy's on its way...

This week I am at the Mercy Ships International Operations Center at the Introduction to Mercy Ships (IMS) program--figuring out what I signed up for this summer! :-)

***If you continue reading this blog you will no doubt become very sick of hearing about Africa! As I start raising support and sending out prayer letters as the time of departure approaches I will be blogging here ; until then, this blog is where all my excitement stays! ***

I am so impressed by the entire Mercy Ships organization and all the aspects of ship life! The staff during the IMS has been incredible to answer ANY question we've had and to answer ones we didn't even think of asking! I've learned about meal times, laundry days, opportunities to get off ship, living quarters (I'll either be in a 6, 10, or 12-berth cabin!), insurance to get bodily remains back home should the worst happen to me, malaria medications, the Starbucks cafe on board, setting up my crew bank account, how long the upper deck is (for those early morning runs/walks), raising support and getting tax receipts for donors, and a whole host of other random but useful tidbits of information!

The best part of the IMS was meeting a sweet girl named Abi who is actually from about an hour from me! She will be serving aboard during the same time as me and we might even fly there together! God is so awesome to provide me a friend already!

As it stands right now, I will be joining the ship in Lome, Togo on June 13th. I will be serving as a hostess in the Hospitality department. I will be working to make sure crew cabins are prepared for new arrivals, greeting crew members at the airport/as they walk up the gangway, giving tours to first-time crew, making beds, creating goodie bags, baking cookies for events, and whatever else is needed in Hospitality. It's a job. Nothing I haven't already done, but if my off hours after I pull a weekend on call I will be able to observe in the orthopedic area of the hospital.

The ship will wrap up around August 7th (my scheduled departure date) and then after a week to tie-down items and prepare for sailing, the ship will make for South Africa. There the ship will be fitted with new generators and crew will be able to complete any needed certifications and training. Depending on when the fall semester starts back at A&M, I might be able to extend my stay and sail to South Africa and fly home from there... I may end up regretting that decision if I find I'm prone to seasickness... :-)

One of the videos that has really touched me this week is below. Calvin Nowell, a small-name Nashville wrote this song specifically for Mercy Ships and this video is from one of Africa Mercy's recent field services in Liberia, I believe. While this is not the official recruiting video and was put together from crew footage, this song is what has impacted me the most!

That's it in a nutshell... now comes all the support raising, immunizations, and the wonderful wait during this entire next semester! :-)

finally!!!!

So, sitting here on my desk is a glorious large white envelope with my MercyShips application safely tucked inside. Tomorrow morning it will be walked to the post office on the North side of the A&M campus, weighed and metered, and then dropped into a tub of mail to be sorted and sent on its way...

Oh my gosh, I am so excited!!!!!!! This has been a several year process from realizing that God was laying the African people on my heart, finding out about MercyShips, having an entire summer without summer school (first time in 3 years!), and having my parents totally on board with it.

And then the process of filling out the extensive application, getting 2 letters of recommendation, and getting a complete medical exam. (and soon will come the wonderful rounds of vaccines and the process of getting a visa :P )

It's hard to believe that instead of sitting here reading the ship's blog, watching videos, and dreaming about being a part of MercyShips, next summer I might be off the coast of Sub Saharan Africa as a part of the world's largest non-governmental hospital ship! If I am accepted to go, I will be just housekeeping or kitchen staff, but that is OK. Until I graduate from physical therapy school and pass my licensing exam I won't be allowed to do anything hands-on, but I plan to spend most of my free afternoons in the therapy/prosthetic clinic!!!

Anyway, this is a somewhat random post--an unusual derivation from my typical blogs--but I just had to tell ya'll!