Kentucky Represents.

My trip to Rovenki is over. My time there done. The team from Kentucky is safely back in the states and I am moving on with the now current tasks of life. It seems like a life time ago – but the experiences of the week are still quite strong in my mind (maybe because of all the reports I have written about the trip, haha).

This trip was a full scale medical mission trip. We had dozens of medicines, machines to test blood sugars, stacks and stacks of material for counseling sessions, nurses, a doctor, translators and a pharmacy technician. There was no doubt we were there to do business – and business we did. Over the course of four and a half days we were able to see and help 247 patients. That is nearly 55 people each day!

There were difficult moments. I never quite anticipated the scenario of what to do if I woke up one morning to discover both my translators and one nurse sick with a nasty stomach thing! God was gracious in our need and my friend O was able to find some other translators for the day and on a skeleton crew we worked it out. I was reminded moment by moment during the week of God’s promise … I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. It was only in His strength that I was able to put aside my own nasty bout with the stomach thing and strive to serve the people of Rovenki and the team from Kentucky. Then of course there were the procedural questions, the necessity of maintaining a schedule, keeping open communication between our national friends and the volunteer team and just all the other little things that go along with a trip like this. Through it all, I believe that we were able to be a tool of the Father’s and share His love and care with these people.

Some of my favourite moments came during the counseling sessions that the nurses from Kentucky did. They had the foresight to bring along some educational material in Russian/Ukrainian for the patients. Information on things like how to quit smoking, diabetes, heart disease – you know medical information. It turned out to be one of the greatest assets of our clinic. The doctor was able to see the patients and if he felt they needed some extra time and information about what was going on in their lives he would pass them back to one of the nurses for a time of private consultation. It was in these sessions that the nurses were able to share deeply of themselves and Christ’s love. Several times I would catch a glimpse of one of these sessions and there they would be – three women (nurse, translator, patient), who up until a few moments ago had been complete strangers, huddled together sharing stories of life, tears of struggle and fear and then finally sharing an embrace of love and hope.

I am ever grateful to the team from Kentucky for allowing themselves to be used by God among the people of Rovenki.