Christmas soon!

November 27, 2011: Merry ‘premature’ Christmas!
Today is the first day of advent and our
team gathered to make Christmas decorations in an attempt to reconstruct the
Christmas spirit in hot and humid India. Though a little homesick, I am eager
to see how Christmas will be with my ‘adopted’ family even though I’m a ‘primi’
in green Christmases (I am so funny!).
I want to give a few highs and lows from
the past five months as Seini, one of my fellow BAS students does nearly every
evening during dinner:
In September I completed the first lecture
phase in Perth, Australia where we worked our way through two textbooks on
midwifery; one created with Western nations in mind and one with developing
nations; keeping the focus on normal labour and delivery. I have also managed
to keep up-to-date on my college assignments, and hope to finish those projects
early, as we will begin the second lecture phase of the Birth Attendant School upon
arrival in Tanzania, on December 28. This lecture phase will be training us in
how to deal with complications in pregnancy and childbirth; something that we already
see quite often in the hospital here in Hyderabad.
I am
currently on the home stretch of the first practical part of our school and
have been privileged to catch 10 babies as of last Thursday afternoon; which
was also this groups’ 200th baby delivered! Infant death is not uncommon here
but we have watched amazed as God brought 2 of these dead babies back to life
as we prayed. It has become a common sight to turn around and see a baby’s head
pop out unattended as there are only half the amount of doctors needed working.
I have become accustomed to high stress situations and find working in this
atmosphere both exciting and addicting.
While doing Antenatal check-ups, we have
seen extreme differences from the way Westerners receive care; beginning with
the 700 women who are seen in a space of 3 hours each Monday morning, down to
the men whose job it is to keep these women in order using sticks. While taking
blood pressures, we may find ourselves helping an educated Indian woman, who speaks
perfect English, and then turn around and look into the face of malnourished
woman from a village, who giggles nervously as we ask to pray for her in our
broken Hindi and Telegu.
I have met local Indians doing amazing
things for their own people; running orphanages and rape relief centres,
jailers teaching inmates skills while they serve their time, student nurses taking
time to comfort a woman in pain, young women starting homes for the abandoned
elderly, and church elders who drive us around on their motorcycles free of
charge. I’m learning sincere hospitality and sacrificial generosity from the
people of India.
My requests for the New Year are that you pray
that I will stay focused and be able to learn as much as possible in these
final 6 months. Please pray that I will know how to respond wisely to the many
awkward and painful situations without growing indifferent, and that I will
allow God to mould me and break off the garbage in my life without putting up
too much of a fight. Also, pray for salvations! We have had many opportunities
to share the gospel and plant seeds but I personally have only seen 3 or 4 of
the locals decide to follow Christ and that is the ultimate goal of everything
we do.
I love you guys and wish the best Christmas
you have ever had. Thank you so much as you have all had a large influence in
sending and keeping me here; from buying my home-made earrings, praying for me,
writing me random emails, supporting my dreams by voicing your excitement, and
sending me money so I could pay the school fees. I hope you realize how
significant your role is in bringing Jesus to the families of Hyderabad, India;
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; and Jinga, Uganda through this midwifery school. I am
so appreciative that you all have entrusted me with this opportunity and I do
not take it lightly(I sound very spiritualJ) .
Once again,
Merry Christmas!
Stefanie.