We have completed six weeks of our Nursing Assistant Training Program and just finished three weeks of Anatomy and Physiology. It is very interesting to watch them as they digest new material. We met with each student individually last Friday to talk about his/her progress in the program and were excited when several indicated they enjoyed so much having a better understanding about the way the human body functions.
We made rounds in the hospital Friday morning with some of the staff, so Friday afternoon as we discussed what they had observed and what they learned by making rounds, one young man timidly raised his hand to ask a question. He asked, “I noticed when ____ was going from patient to patient, he never washed his hands; is that right?” I replied, “Well, do you think it’s right?” He assured me he did not so we further discussed the whole idea of knowing the right thing to do and making the choice to either do it or not do it. We have talked a lot about ethics, honesty, doing the right thing, etc., so they at least understand the concepts; only time will tell what their choices will be when all of us are gone and they are “on their own”. Each of them has a desire to please God, so we have also talked about doing the right thing to please God and not necessarily to please another person.
I was so struck in Chapel one day last week when they sang a specific chorus that stated: When I think of the goodness of Jesus
And all He has done for me,
My very soul shall shout Hallelujah,
Praise God for saving me.
They were so joyful and radiant as they were singing, and one could feel God’s presence in that place. I was thinking about how very much we have and how very little so many of them have, and how they are praising God for Jesus and what He has done! We are so privileged to work along beside them for this short time. It’s makes one reevaluate priorities!
Philip and Angela are med students who have been here a little over a week; they are fourth year students so will graduate as soon as they return to the U.S. They are engaged and plan to be married after their intern year. Angela is staying with us, and Phillip is staying with the Ashers so we have been with them quite a bit and really enjoyed having them in our home. He is from Southern CA, and she is from LA (Louisiana, NOT Los Angeles) so they come from fairly different cultures but both love the Lord and love missions and are fun to have around!
We had a dinner party here tonight when we celebrated Bethany’s first full year of service here in Sierra Leone and Meredith’s half-way mark! It was nice for all of us to get together for a casual event that was totally not business related and also not to have the doctors get called away for an emergency!
While we are doing all the day-to-day things here, we are also thinking ahead to Zambia in the fall and trying to plan our strategies for that trip. Bud & I talked to Bud & Carol Bence the other day for a planning session which I think went very well. It’s so good to be able to actually talk to people in the U.S. at a fairly reasonable cost.
It has also been good to talk to each of our kids at least once so far and try to keep up at least some with things going on in their lives. It’s also been fun to get e-mails from several of the grandkids….I love getting those.
Well, it’s about time for bed, so I’ll say good-night. Until next time….
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