on the first day we went right away to the hospital. it was the first time i ever saw surgery and we walked straight into the hospital and saw a C section. it was weird they were trying to put an epidural in the patient- which is anesthesia in the body completely numbing it from where you inject it down.. so for example if we inject an epidural in the middle of your spine(the injections only go in your spine) so it will be from the middle down and you wont be able to feel anything.It hurts a LOT to get that shot because it goes straight into your spine. so the girl that came in (she was 22) and they started cutting her open..and it was so fascinating and amazing to see.. they would cut each layer and it was the first time I got to see the inside and organs first hand. so they go open the placenta and took the baby out.. and it was a healthy baby boy... and it was actually pretty amazing to see that- it was my first birth. The weird thing was there was no help.. there were no nurses or aides so if something fell on the floor they couldnt do anything until the end of the surgery. the conditions were not good at all. blood was on the floor.. when they would take the placenta out they just put it on top of the girl's legs- which was only covered by a sheet so it was gross but they couldnt do anything because they didnt have the help they needed to get things done more efficiently. i then saw a beginning of a birth. The girls there in Jarabacoa are not allowed to have epidurals if you are having a natural birth.
ok so then we went to the pediatrics ward and it was the first time i was taught how to take blood pressure and check ears and throat for certain things in patients and so we were allowed to do the check ups on the children and it was sad because all the kids cried and they were all sick and i would say 90 percent had a skin fungus ... which can be cured and fixed but so many of them had it. Then we went to the clinic. There is a clinic that SI(students international) rents out a room for Dr. Fernando(the doc that works with them) and that is his gyno clinic. so we studied the book of Corinthians and it really opened up my eyes to a lot of things some of the things that really caught my eye in chapter one Paul said that we should be rooted in the word so that no one could deceive us with a fine sounding argument -really have a complete understanding about God and his word... its been something going on with me because people would approach me with certain theories or assumptions about the bible based on worldly views and I would sit there speechless because I didnt really have a strong argument to support what I wanted to say... so it really sparked a new passion to really study and learn his word
in chp 2:14-154having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.[
to see how he took and forgave all our sins, canceling everything and anything against or opposing us he took away by nailing it to the Cross and then he TRIUMphed over hell and all the bondage that it has on us by resurrecting from the cross-- really amazing. Ive heard those things before but it really spoke to me this time around another thing that God spoke to me about over and over was how i need to Trust in him.
we had a message on colossians chp2 and the lady that was speaking was saying how we can doubt and question many things in our lives but nothing will make more sense than the word of God- he will never take us to a place where we will be lost..,.. and I had to keep telling myself that a few times before it really sunk in, God would never lead me to a place where I will be lost. It taught me to confirm my trust in God and allow the bible to be my true guidance and understand that he has a purpose in everything he does. i led a discussion on worry and trusting in God and I got this idea from Max Lucado that everyone has a piece of paper and we write down our worries on the paper and we pray for each item on that list (to yourself of course) and then as we come before God with each burden, we leave it at his feet- tear off that item from the paper and continue to pray and do the same for the entire list and then throw out the paper and the items ... it was a cool way to try to begin to learn how to trust God fully with everything.
Tuesday .We had quiet time in the morning and I had time to reflect on Colossians 2:6-23 Verse 14 is such an amazing verse-- He forgave our sins, canceling everything and anything against or opposing us he took away by nailing to the cross and then he TRIUMPHED over it by resurrecting from the cross. That spoke greatly to me... i sat and thought about everything I have ever done that was unpleasing to God at that point and man it felt so good to realize that I no longer have to be tied to the sins I once have committed and no longer have to look back and think that I am a product of what I have done.. because I am not .. I am completely new, completely forgiven, I am cut off from my sinful nature and Jesus triumphed over every sin in my life-- Just amazing! Verse 20: We died with Christ to the basic principles of the world, then why are we then chained to it?! its crazy because we really do get chained down with all these rules and regulations of the world and the church and forget that the main thing is to be living like Christ and with him.. I reflected back and found myself still chained to some aspects of the world and so I realized I have to be careful of what I hear, see and do so that it doesnt mold me into something that will take me off the path(towards God) So this lady spoke in the morning, she works at the Social Work site. She was speaking about trusting in God. What do we place our confidence or trust in, what is guiding our lives?! A career>? An inheritance? We can doubt and question many things in our lives but nothing will make more sense than the word of God- he wont ever take you to a place where you will be LOST... wow... it was insane to hear her say that because just the night before in devotionals all of us were talking about how we were stressed or worried about where we will be, we all needed direction and guidance from God in so many different aspects of our lives and just to hear her say God wont ever lead you to a place where you will be lost was what I needed to hear
what we did was take out all the medications and set it up on the tables according to the type of medication they were. We had set up in a tiny church and people already started to fill the pews to wait to be seen. The three main lines that I learned at first was como es tu nombre (whats your name) cuantos anos tiene(how old are you) que le pasa(whats wrong/whats going on) and we asked that for everyone then we checked everyones blood pressure, heard their respiration, checked ears and throat on children. As the day went on i picked up a lot of medical terms in spanish and began to understand people without Fernando(the doctor) i administered my first shot and the lady def thought i was a doctor and trusted me but I really did not know what I was doing. Fernando was coaching me though it, the thing is if you hit a nerve- then that can cause the person to be paralyzed in the arm or leg, depending on where you give the shot so you have to hold the area in a certain way and it was so scary im like ahhhh - praying to God that I dont do it wrong, but it went fine and she lived =D These little kids came to the church and just sat around to hang out. I fell in love with this little girl Rachel. I still keep thinking about her every morning I wake up and throughout the day. The kids were sooooooooo freaking cute, they just wanted to see what we were doing and talk to us (even though i didnt understand them). Rachel was so beautiful and she would just sit next to me and talk to me and after a while i told her i couldnt understand everything she was saying and you know what she did- she took her hand and softly moved the strands from my bangs out of my eyes and put her hand on my cheek and smiled- that broke me and i tried so hard to tell her about God in spanish and that he loves her and she was saying that she knows Jesus and so I started to tear up and she was like why are you crying (all in spanish) and i told her i was happy and then she said we should laugh not cry.. anyway the rest of the day she kept hugging me .. she is only 8 years old.. and yet she melted my heart and showed me so much its amazing how much we can learn from children.
Saturday was our free day and guess what i did... WHITE WATER RAFTING my guide's name was Galo and he is one crazy guy...he would crack all these jokes and we would be laughing so hard on theraft.. the river was actually pretty wild and i was holding on for dear life. At certain times he would jump off the raft leaving usgirls hopeless lol .. we dont really know what we were doing it was funny he did it 3 times and he would joke around saying he cant swim or he cant get on..We then stopped midway the river and we all got out and he gave us fruit from a tree.. boldly we all ate it .. it was sooooo good !!he would joke around and tell everyone run to the back of the raft and we would do it because we really didn't know what was going to happen.. and when we would do that our boat would almost flip over but somehow we managed to not flip over completely - we all got completely soaked though... and then we learned all his tricks so we wouldnt listen to him, like when he would tell us all to lean onto one side, etc he tried really hard for our raft to flip over. One of the other rafting instructors would take his paddle and try to get it hooked onto my life vest and he tried to pull me into the water like 3 times from his raft.. and one time i half fell in - my head and my arms dunked in the water... but the girls pulled me back. then later Galo asked who wants to be the rafting instructor when the water was calm.. and i volunteered.. totally didnt know what i was doing and our boat almost tipped over twice.. but hey it was fun =) in the evening we went to the town and walked around. We ate at a really cute restaurant with candles EVERYWHERE>. there were mounds of wax in every corner, at first it looks weird but when they are all lit its looked beautiful and.. once again they served us a TON of food.it was a fun day to just chill and relax and enjoy the surroundings.
day 5 it was sunday and we went to a church called La Vid (the vine). The church is run by missionaries and they welcomed our organization (students international) and they had a translator set up and everything. It was straight up pentecostal style .. i loved it.. people were worshipping so freely .. dancing, lifting their hands...it was awesome.That sunday they were focused on Missions so they had a few missionaries come up and talk about their long term trips that they have been on. the pastor spoke about stepping out of our comfort zones and having more faith. He talked about how Peter walked on water but fell in the minute he took his eyes off Jesus, and Jesus said Peter what little faith you have, but the pastor pointed out, well what about the other 11 disciples that stayed in the bOAT.. if peter had little faith imagine the rest of them.. they stayed in the boat!! He used a line that I loved.. he said "sometimes we think that God will call us to do something impossible.. Do the possible that you can do and then let God do the impossible" I just needed to be reminded that our God is such a mighty God. So by this time God has really given me boldness which i so terribly needed. Especially when it came to talking to people about God and just saying- Hey Let me pray for you right now. At the end of the day I realized how much I have changed just in such a short time and its just so amazing because it really is just the beginning of a whole new relationship with God. anyway, at night i had to lead a devotional and so I talked about worrying and leaving our burdens at God's feet... no longer carrying around excess baggage- esp baggage from our past.. how can we run to God with open arms and serve others openly when we are so bogged down with our burdens and worries... one thing Max Lucado once said in his books that I absolutely love is - Dont worry about tomorrow because you dont have tomorrow's strength yet, you only have enough for today. I know that its going to be hard to really leave everything at God's feet and I mean, hey we are only human- we always naturally stress/worry about things.. but its so amazing and comforting to know that when I do come to God about my problems he genuinely really does love and care for me- above every other person in this world ever has or ever will. And when we really do "cast all our cares on him" our lives are just so different =)
We studied the book of Colossians 1:25-2:15 My group set up at a community called La Catorce which means 14... it stands for the 14 families that set up the community, it was a really poor neighborhood but like I said and will continue to say, it was still so beautiful. As soon as we got off the truck we had to look around and stare at everything around us... really breathtaking. When our truck entered the community these little kids saw us and they ran all the way after our truck to where we stopped. Now these kids all looked straight up from the slums (it was the slums i guess), dirt covered from head to toe, clothes ripped, some had no shoes- but man did they have the brightest smiles and EYES TO DIE FOR. ALl these people in this village had eyes that were red, blue and green all mixed together-- SO GORGEOUS!!! I have never ever seen eyes like that before. We set up outside this time and it was really hot that day. People filled the area waiting to be seen. We only saw about 26 patients that day though, but all ages from infants to the elderly. I gave my first blood sugar level test. People had the same symptoms- fungal infections, cold, fevers, high BP, etc. The kids were so cute... they were being really loud at one point and the doctor had to tell them a few times to be quiet but they wouldnt listen so he got out a syringe to scare them and it was So funny, the second he pulled out the syringe they all RAN SO FAST out of there!!! but they came back haha
you ever feel like your heart just longs to be somewhere, you want to show people compassion and more importantly you want to show them our God but there is a obstacle in your way?! Thats how I felt.. i have such a hunger now to serve him and im like man this stupid language barrier.. but Fernando was great.. he taught me a lot of sayings and was just so supportive and patient with us.
At night we learned about Poverty. They served us a poverty meal and then we had a meeting after to talk about what God thinks about poverty/does he allow it/etc.
we then learned ways of how we can deal with poverty... have you ever heard of the saying "dont just give them the fish, teach them how to fish" (or something like that) ... well we were talking about how we can pray and invest time in the poor and many times we just give them money and hope for the best but most of these people dont know how to manage a lot of money at one time.. so SI shared some stories of how they helped people in poverty change their lives and get up on their own two feet.
