What I've been up to

It’s been a while since I last wrote. Nothing too out of the ordinary has happened at the hospital in the last two weeks. I’m really hoping to see a birth/delivery while down here. I think I’d like to work as a labor/delivery nurse in the future and I’d like to see what I can while I’m down here. I only have 4 days left at the hospital here in Quito and I haven’t been guaranteed the opportunity to go down to the Operating Room to watch a delivery yet.

I continue to get experience working in a hospital and being in the environment. My Spanish has definitely improved quite a bit and I can converse fairly easily with the patients and their family members. I’ve also been able to be more of a help to the nurses and understand what it is that they need when they ask me to get things for them.

The past two weekends we’ve taken trips to different places in Ecuador. One weekend we went to a hot springs and this past weekend we took a trip to the coast. I had a bit of a hard time accepting going on two trips to relax as part of our mission. But as I was sitting in our room at the hostel at the coast, I realized how much I needed the break. We’re constantly doing something and I took advantage of the weekend at the coast to take some time away from everyone else and spend some good quality time with God. It’s always been a struggle for me to pull myself away from spending time with people - I never want to miss out on the fun, but this weekend God reminded me that He wants my time as well.

Last night was a bit difficult. One of my roommates, Carolyn, left to go back to the US. She’s had a rough summer - personality differences with her original boss, 3 trips to the ER - stitches from a fall, rabies shots from a dog bite, and viral encephalitis (inflammation in her brain from a virus). After being in the hospital for 5 days from the viral encephalitis and being told she could stay in Ecuador but she couldn’t go on any of our trips, she decided to head home with her mom (her mom came down the day after she was admitted to the hospital). It was hard to see her go and I know it was even harder on her knowing that we’re all still down here and together. Our group has become very close this summer and to see one of us leave has been hard on everyone. If you could pray for her continued health as she recovers back home and goes in for more tests, I would really appreciate it.

We have 17 days left down here. It’s crazy to think that we’ve already been here for almost 7 weeks. We have one more week in Quito and we leave for Shell, in the jungle, in a little over a week. We’ll be spending several days working in Hospital Vozandes - Shell and as far as I know we’ll also be doing some sort of work project. I’m really looking forward to it. The hospital administrator in Quito has already invited me to come back to Ecuador and work at Shell after I’m done with Nursing school. Some of the missionaries that we’re working with this summer were down here over 10 years ago working with the Waorani Indians in the jungle east of Shell. The Waoranis are the Indians that the 5 missionaries - Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Roger Youdarian, and Pete Fleming - were attempting to reach with the Gospel when they were martyred. It’s been really interesting to hear stories from them about how radically the lives of many of the Waoranis have changed since the incident with the 5 missionaries.

I hope to write more before leaving for Shell. Maybe within the next week I’ll be able to see a birth. Thank you for your continued prayers, I appreciate them all!