My deepest apologies for taking so long to get this out. I normally wait until after the trip debriefing meeting to prepare the trip report, because the debriefing helps grasp what happened. The way this trip was structured I had to debrief myself which was a little harder than I expected. In addition to this I came home to culture shock, and a life turned upside down and backwards and it's taken a little time to get my world situated again.
All in all the trip was GREAT God moved in great ways through me, the team and those we served. As for me God revealed to me the answer to the question that been burning on my heart, internship or nursing school next? I got my answer loud and clear, nursing school. I am in the process of getting my ducks in a row for applications, unfortunately I missed several deadlines of schools I really wanted to go to so I may do the one year medical assistant program while I wait to get into nursing school. Oddly, I wasn't disappointed by this answer, I really thought I would be but I'm really excited I've grown in the mission part of preparation a lot and so I think it's time to get the school part done. I'm considering doing a year or two as a traveling nurse in the ER nursing school so I get more experience in different areas so I have more confidence to deal with whatever I may encounter in the future. My top considerations right now are TMCC( in Reno), WNC( in Fallon/Carson), and WVC (Wenatchee Valley College). While I do the traveling program I can finish my BSN online through UNR.
I saw God move through the lives of the team and change them too, but the team dynamic was very different from any trip I've ever been on and there was no open vulnerability in the end of the day meetings, so what people were going through or to say specifically how lives changed, I really don't know, cause I really never got know my teammates as much as I had hoped.
The day that I felt I could really see how God was using us to change lives was when we went to the Uganda Jesus Village (UJV). We came there because one of the translator/evangelists we were working with for the medical clinics is the pastor at this orphanage of sorts, it's all older kids, 8-19, and the majority are social orphans and the orphanage acts as a boarding school because of political issues. Within the month before we got there, the organization that had recently bought out the prior owners, decided it was time to reintegrate these kids into society and put them back in their homes up north. Most came from abusive families, no family, or elderly family that REALLY can't care for them. So they were left to care for themselves searching for food, eating dirt and grass. This resulted in worms and all sorts of digestive issues, the exposure to the elements, particularly mosquitoes, resulted in outbreaks of malaria and yellow fever. Even just a weakened immune system from poor nutrition can cause a malaria recurrence for someone who has already had it because the virus hides in the liver between outbreaks. When we heard what these kids went through we were astounded to see how many of them still had joy in their eyes as they worshiped our Lord. Though there were others whose eyes only hinted at the horrors they've been through. A brother and sister from Canada who has worked with UJV before found out about what happened pulled all their savings and sent a bus up to track down all these kids and bring them home. All but two of the 70 were found when I was there, but nearly all were sick. So Memory, the pastor, had posted on his Blog the week before we left for Uganda what had happened and asking people to pray that someone would send doctors and medicine because there was no more money to get medical help for these kids. None of us were aware of this (we didn't even know he knew what a blog was... ) but we offered to come back in 3 days and do a clinic, and that day we de-wormed all the kids because we did have that medicine with us. When we came back we found out that Memory had been praying someone like us would come. We were able to give all the necessary medicine for all the kids. This included anti-malaria medicine, Tylenol for fevers, re hydration salts to prevent having to take any more kids to the hospital, cough medicine, anti-biotic, even asthma medicine. In total we had over 50 medications available in our traveling pharmacy. I spent the majority of my time in the clinics working in the pharmacy.
This is the first of many parts of my report on the trip. The next part will be video and photos of the trip I will post links to Facebook and my blog. Then finally I will get out the detailed prayer journals for those who were on the prayer team. If there was a specific day that God moved on your heart to pray while I was gone, let me know what day and I will get you the detailed report of that day, so you too can see how God was moving through your prayers. Thank you all so much for your patience prayers and support! I will make much more of an effort to keep in contact with you all and keep you updated on the process of my education, which is ultimately the last few years of my preparation for the mission field (Lord willing...)
