But this time it was to a country
I just returned from one of the best trips of my life. By no means do I regret anything I've done that led me to point where I am now. It took tons of mistakes and trials to understand what God/where God wanted me. It took years of molding to lead me to this point in my life. Required me to give a lot to God. So many years I didn't know God's plan for my life. I can boldly say now that God wants me over seas serving Him in the best way that I can, and that's nursing.
I left May 21, 2010 to embark on a trip to Impfondo, Africa. There lies a 50 bed hospital started by Dr. Harvey. They get everything from gun shot victims from the war across the river, to emergency surgeries, to people falling out of trees to retrieve honey. Our trip to arrive in this region was long and involved some missed flights. Finally on May 25th we made it to Impfondo, Congo. My first thought of Impfondo: breath taking. You probably think that means it was beautiful and there were just no words to describe it. You would be wrong. I literally couldn't breath when I stepped of the plane because it was so hot. It was miserable. I immediately started sweating. Impression # 1 of Impfondo: not very good. We get the tour of everything, and get informed that we will have to take Vermox (a worm medicine) when we leave b/c we WILL have worms by the time we leave. Impression # 2: getting worse. We get the tour of our housing. Impression # 3: faith plummeting. Went to bed with a huge spider above my bed. Impression # 4: I cried. To say the least, I was not feeling too well about the trip.
The first day of work was phenomenal. I was paired with 2 girls from the US meaning I didn't have to struggle to understand French. Thank you, Jesus. The first week I was on the Surgery wards & sometimes in surgery. It was amazing. I did that for 3 days & then it was the weekend. I was able to see a lot of stuff. I was able to help out in surgery (& assist! which is doctor stuff!) Lets talk about the "air conditioning" for the OR. Well, there was a wall unit that was set at 77 degrees, but when the patient gets cold laying there then it gets cut off. If you have never scrubbed in on a surgery in the Congo before you will never know the heat that radiates from your body. You've got scrubs, a heavy jacket over that, gloves over that, goggles, a mask, and a hat. You are suffocating & you are in a sterile environment, so you can't scratch when your face itches, can't push your goggles up b/c they are falling down your nose, & most definitely can't wipe the sweat that is now dripping from your brow. Let's also talk about how they don't have anesthesia over there, so the patients are awake while you have their intestines outside their body. Awesome. Don't worry. They had an epidural so I'm sure they couldn't feel a thing! All that to say, I love the OR.
The next week I had community with Sarah Speer (& Deborah, a girl from my group) That week was such a blessing. I've never in my life met someone who has such a heart for people. Sarah just loves. That's what she does. We would go out on bikes and ride miles to visit people in the community that needed help. We would do assessments & then Sarah would prescribe some medication & then would follow up with them. She just loves the Congolese people with such a passion. I can't even describe it. She even started a leprosy center for the people with leprosy. (Yes, people still have leprosy) You may be thinking why would I go there? I'm going to get leprosy, right? False. I found out you have to carry some sort of gene in order to contract the disease, & I don't have that gene. I went and was able to love on them & even got to share my testimony. :] They were amazing, & I was able to understand the value of washing people's feet (like in Biblical time) He cleaned their toeless feet, and they were so grateful. I'm so glad that I was able to take part in that.
The third week I was meds/peds so I covered 3 wards (women's medicine, men's medicine, and pediatrics) I finally learned how to read the patient charts that week. It was a lot of giving meds & taking vitals & trying to convey English to the Africans. I try to stay humble, but one day my pride rose a lot. Two of the girls from our group were on community that week, so they weren't on the hospital grounds. The one other girl in our group was on Surgery that week and was in the OR. So me and Megan did meds and vitals for the entire hospital. We couldn't even find actual nurses to the hosptial, & no one died! I felt so amazing that I'm finally understanding what I'm doing & starting to have the confidence that I AM a good nurse. It was amazing.
That same week though we had a group meeting and were going to talk about the trip so far and what God has been teaching us. Our leader, Rachel, opened up the floor, so I decided to take the stage. What I had to say wasn't happy though. So far on the trip I had liked it, but their were a couple days that I just was in a bad mood. I was hot. I was tired. I was gross. I felt that I expected this huge moment in which God would tell me where He wanted me to be on the mission field, or some huge revalation. I got nothing. So that made me extremely frustrated, & I vented those feelings. Some of the people on our team were actually feeling the same way. We all expected God to speak to us. All of us are wanting to be missionaries, and we all have no idea where God is wanting us to go. After that day, I started praying that God would fix my attitude. Of course He did, and from then on the trip was amazing beyond belief.
The 4th week I was there I had the ER/ICU part of the hospital (which I was dreading) All the nurses in that part speak French, so I was extremely nervous. It turned out to be an awesome week. There was some downtime, so I just went around the hospital & helped everyone that needed some help. I was able to put in my first NG tube (a tube that goes into the stomach through the nose, yikes) & I put it in successfully. It was great. This week I kind of caught a bug that everyone else seemed to be catching as well, so Rachel let me rest a day, & I was able to recover :]
The final full week there I was on Mother/Baby with Amanda. One of the most rewarding and frustrating weeks. Frustrating in the fact of the French/English barrier & the nurses thinking we didn't know what we were doing when in fact we did. Thank God I had Amanda with me that week. We had TONS of laughs. Rewarding in the fact that I was able to deliver a baby! I also was able to participate in 2 different C-sections.
We also got to walk down to the circle and watch the World Cup on a big screen (not something I would have envisioned being in Impfondo haha) The Africans were so loving, and celebrated with us when the US won a couple games. It was amazing. They would grab us and start jumping up and down.
I learned so much. God opened my heart to the people there & I fell in love. You know, it's not about WHERE God wants you to go. He says GO. I went, and I want to go again. Anywhere. I've been so set on where God wants me, thinking life is going to be awful if I don't hear His call to a certain country. Wrong. God is not going to punish me if I go to India instead of Thailand, or Brazil instead of Africa. Everyone needs Jesus. I could go anywhere in the world, and I feel as though God would be happy that I obeyed and went. I would never take back this experience ever.
When I arrived back in the States (& after I got my Starbucks) I got so sad. Granted I was awake for 40 hours straight due to the annoying kid kicking my seat and the flight attendants waking you up every hour to eat. But I just laid on my bed, and of course, my mom always knows when I'm upset, & I just cried. I missed my team already. I missed Africa already, and I had the overwhelming need to toss my clothes and get rid of so much stuff. It's not fair that I have so much, and there are people in the world that have nothing. NOTHING. I had major culture shock for a month or so.
I loved this trip, & I'm searching for another missions trip to go on over Christmas break or in May. God commands that we spread the Word. & I want to obey. This trip was definitely life changing. I actually just got word this week that a patient we cared for the entire 5 weeks we were there died of AIDS. He was 16 years old. But I can rejoice b/c he accepted Christ while we were there. We may not be able to heal everyone physical, but Christ can heal their spirit & that's why I love to share about Him.
In the words of the great Jon Dupin, "Go change the world!"
