Nearly Off to Poppondetta....

Hi Everyone!

Happy belated Easter! I hope it was a special and enjoyable holiday for all of you, spending it with friends and family :)

Warning: Blogger in Training

Thank you all for bearing with me as this update is going out much later than I had anticipated. I apologize for any technical problems you've encountered on my blog; the donate button is now functioning if you tried to use it earlier. I'm not an expert in IT or blogging, but I'm learning a lot as I go :) Thank you also for your patience as this update is going out much later than I had anticipated and I am somewhat in a state of shock to realize we leave for Papua New Guinea (PNG) in a mere 6 days.... HOW DID IT COME SO QUICKLY?

The IPHC team with our homemade water filter

What we've been learning

The last 5 weeks have been full of teaching and application on ruptured ear drums, corneal ulcers (eyes), malaria, TB, and just finished the oh so lovely worms and skin diseases. I'll spare you some of the descriptive details; it takes quite a bit for me to be grossed out as a nurse, but there were a few things that made my stomach 

turn.

    

Angie using her otoscope to examine Christina's eardrum

... But The Greatest of These is Love

My heart and mind have also been mulling over the reality of treating contagious diseases like  TB. The risks are incredibly real; I'm coming face to face with a disease that ravages the  bodies of men, women and children...and the reality that people die from TB. YWAM does take care to ensure our safety as a team in going, but there there are still risks involved. A friend of mine stated it well “what makes others cringe and retreat in fear is the very thing that compels us to go.” One sobering reality is that these people, dearly loved and precious to Father God, are dying of preventable diseases without knowing the name of Jesus and how much He loves them. I prayed and asked Father to show me His heart and how He feels about Papua New Guinea and the people we are going to. I saw an image of a people with long faces marked with hardship, grief, and hopelessness...waiting for life and purpose; I also saw an image of Father God with tears running down his cheeks and a deep sadness in His heart. He just longs to give a welcoming embrace, and He whispers through his tears “Do you see my people? My people are hurting... who will go?”

Three PNG kids in health care clinic

It's humbling to realize that I thought I was going to nursing school to graduate with a career, make money and have status. But Father God got me through nursing school, not for myself, but to entrust me with a precious task of taking care of His children. My eyes well up with tears thinking that He has chosen and entrusted me with something He cherishes. I pray I can love the way He loves, dressing infected wounds, or giving a hug to the woman with HIV. 

Where We Are Going...

We leave here Saturday April 13, and will return June 14 (sorry for those of you I told the 21st- that's graduation). The plan is to spend the first week in Port Morseby and then travel to Oro Province and stay in Poppondetta for the remainder of our outreach. Thank you for all of you who have been praying for me and my team! 

I will be thinking about and missing all of you while I'm in PNG. But I will be anticipating God working in incredible ways while we are there and will post the stories when I return.

Gone to PNG!
Be back in 9 weeks

God bless,

 Christina

   I Corinthians 13: 12-13 "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then      face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am     known. And now abide faith, hope and love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.