Rachel's India Blog: I know... its too long...

So today is my day off – which means I have time during the day when the internet comes in steady – so I thought I could give an update and share some more photos!

So Last Sunday was my last update! Since then I have been working with the MEM ministry pretty regularly. On Monday we went and did a children’s program – here is a picture of some of the children and me praying over the children whose birthday it was! They can wear whatever they want to wear to school on their birthday – they don’t have to wear their uniforms! After the school program I did some medical education about blood pressures and taking vital signs. I will be doing this training with the MEM staff pretty regularly (every Monday) until the next Medical camp, which is in the middle of October.

On Tuesday, I woke up at 4:30 in order to catch my first Indian train and took a three hour journey to Dharmapuri with hopes of visiting the leper colony there and planning for a medical camp and doing some wound cleaning – however, the level of flexibility necessary in India is unlike anything I have ever experienced before. This being said we were able to go to the colony because our interpreter was taking a bath and our driver was no where to be found….ha! But I was able to spend some time visiting a children’s orphanage there. It is a home for girls because the level of female infanticide is very high in this village. Here is a picture of some of the girls from the orphanage (who can speak some English because they learn it in school) and also a picture of Veronica and I. Veronica is the person I have been spending the most time with. She is a Chilean nurse and has been working with the MEM ministry for 3 years now. She is crazy and very fun. Ha!

On Wednesday, we have a “family meeting” where all the YWAM ministries as well as the DTS students have a time of worship and there is some teaching. I am starting to meet some great people here which has been encouraging. After the meeting, Veronica and I went to ACCEPT (which is an HIV/AIDS hospice/hospital/orphanage) and planned to volunteer there two days a week. Then we went back to the MEM house and did some HIV/AIDS education to the staff before we volunteered the next day.

Thursday and Friday, the MEM team spent the day at ACCEPT, Veronica and I volunteered with the nursing staff, while the only team members did some grounds work outside and a children’s program in the evening. No pictures from here because they actually prohibit photos. Sorry. I am looking forward to this ministry opportunity. The first couple days were discouraging. Because of the unorganization it is difficult to know my role and how I am helping but I am hopeful that as time continues I will continue to connect with the staff and as they learn to trust me be more helpful to them. If nothing else, I have gotten really good at physiotherapy and giving body massages to patients. During my time so far at ACCEPT I have been really struck with the sufferings of people here. The stigma attached to HIV in India is really bad. Families will abandon other family members because of it. The orphanage is full of 20 children who are all HIV positive and whose parents have either abandoned them or have died from HIV/AIDS related illnesses themselves. On Friday, I was very heartbroken as I sat with a patient. He was a 13 year old boy who was HIV positive. He had no parents and no known family. He was transferred from a government hospital to ACCEPT essentially for the hospice program. He had been there 3 weeks already. On Friday he moaned, coughed and vomited all day. His CD4 count was at 21 and he had TB and the medication wouldn’t work for him. On Saturday morning I went to ACCEPT to do some HIV testing for a local street people shelter. When I returned after the testing, I found out that this child had died. It was really hard and the first time that the sufferings of people had really struck me.

Like I said on Saturday I went and did the HIV testing for Home of Hope (a shelter for street people – most of whom have either physical or mental disabilities). This was a very cool experience. I even got to do the blood draws! After the testing I was driving home in the back of an autoricksaw when I literally ran into Jen Wahlquist, she graduated 1 year earlier than me from Bethel. This was definitely an encouragement as I learned she stays very close to where I am staying! Sunday I went to church and lunch with Kristin and Brian, they are a Canadian couple my dad had connected with, as well as Stacie, she is from New York working for IJM. This was a really refreshing lunch as I felt very understood with my worldview, could understand all their English, and was able to laugh about crazy things that happen in India. I am really praying these relationships develop into friendships for my time here.

Today, I was sitting outside in a chair reading, which is a very strange thing to do here – sit in the sun that is – when all of a sudden I heard running and barking. I turn around to see 4 stray dogs literally chasing at full speed a cow down the street in front of my house. Only in India….

Here are some pictures of the house I am staying at and of my new favorite fruit – Guavas. Mostly because it is so readily available on the tree right outside the front door.

Prayer Requests:

- Lonliness and Friendships: While it does seem like I am keeping busy – I assure you boredom and lonliness are my biggest enemies here. It is still really hard for me being here and not having “friends.” I am starting to connect with the people I am serving with which is really great but after I come home from the ministry, I find myself getting very bored and lonely. Please pray that these new relationships develop and add more of a sense of adventure for me here.

- Trust for God’s will for me here and Patience: I am also struggling with purpose here. It is hard to have a western mentality of doing many things and doing them efficiently over here. It is just not the way things work. It is discouraging for me and at times very frustrating but I am definitely learning to not only depend on God fully but to also really TRUST His plan for me while I am here. Every day I wake up and have to surrender the day to Him, knowing that it is only Him that is going to get me through it and it is Him that is in control of whatever is going to happen that day. Pray that I am able to be open to however God wants to use me here, whether I am able to understand it or not.