A note from the Night Owl

I survived my first two night shifts! All the credit goes to God. I have never done well staying awake all night, I get sick to my stomach, extremely tired, and grumpy. I never pulled all-nighters in college and I haven't had to work night shifts at my job in the USA, so I was freaked out about having to stay up all night. As most of you know, I have also been gifted with the ability to sleep. I can sleep a lot, so I was wondering how in the world I would stay awake for a 12 hour shift. I am pleased to say, I stayed wide awake, I did not feel one small desire to sleep, I never felt sick and I wasn't grumpy! I actually enjoyed the shifts. In the wee hours of the morning I had the pleasure of holding a beautiful 3 month old baby that had a cleft lip repair. He wakes often during the night to eat, because he finally can, so he cries and wants to eat all night long. I let his mama sleep and I held his precious little 8 lb body and feed him with a spoon. His little tongue was so precious he just could not get enough to eat. Now, I am on the other side of my night shifts and trying to stay awake during the day. Last night I ended up waking at 2:00am and read for a few hours, then I tried to get out of bed this morning and it was hard. I want to go to sleep now, but I start day shifts again tomorrow, so I must get on a normal sleeping schedule. The joy of swing shifts. God bless all of you who do this on a regular basis! Please pray for nurses. I received a note from our ward supervisor today. We are short about 1 nurse each shift now. 5 nurses left, 1 came. Our patient load is going to increase and if we cannot handle the pressure, we will need to cancel surgeries. Pray for our strength as nurses, but also for more nurses to come. Well, I have been sitting in one place too long again, I am about to fall asleep, I must get up and move. Later.

Market Trip

Friday was another day off. I decided I was up for more adventure, so I headed to the local market with my roommate. We wandered the market for a few hours looking at all the interesting items. We had gone in search of more fabric and a watch for my roommate. My roommate had stopped to look at some items and I was standing next to her when an African man, holding his infant girl, started talking to me. He was making small talk and the next thing I new was his baby girl was in my arms. I did not ask to hold the baby, he just dropped her in my arms. I was shocked, but held the little girl. I held her for about 5 mins and talked to the gentleman. He told me the baby's name was Blessing, a common name here. I told him she was beautiful. I was expecting him to take her back, but he didn't reach for her, so I finally said thanks for letting me hold her, but I need to go. He took his daughter back and then proceeded to tell me I needed to pay him. I was confused. I then understood, he wanted me to pay him because he let me hold his baby. Can you imagine? Someone needing money so bad, the try to collect money from letting people hold their children. I didn't know how I was going to get out of this one without offending him. I decided to just tell him the truth. I told him, "you put her in my arms, I am not paying for that, I did not ask to hold her, thank you, good-bye." I walked away and that was the end of that. Interesting. I am learning many other things about the culture here and the culture of those I live with. My roommate from Sweden is so much fun. Her English is excellent, but she is still learning. Each day we pick a "word for the day." She is expanding her vocabulary in incredible ways. The other day, we were walking and came across some lizards. I asked her if she saw them. She did not know what I was talking about. Then we found another one and I said, "that is a lizard". She was trying to spell it out loud so she new how to say it. She came up with blizzard. I corrected her and told her what a blizzard is and what a lizard is. We laughed so hard. Dinner conversations with various crew are also interesting. Someone asked me to explain baseball to them. A girl from Norway had no idea what baseball was. So with my fork, spoon, knife, and glass I made bases and tried to explain America's game to her. The best conversation by far was yesterday when my buddies and I discovered animals make different sounds in different countries. Did you know that? An American rooster says, " cock-a-doodle-do" but European roosters say, "cooc-ah-le-coo". Also Swedish pigs say "nuff, nuff" not "oink, oink". It was so funny hearing all the different animal sounds. One girl said that horses say, " eee-eee" whereas ours say "neigh- neigh". Horses in her country cannot say "neigh" because that means "no" in her language. May your weekend go well. I love all of you. A verse I found this week was Job 6:8. It is very good. Check it out. May God grant you what you hope for. Love ya!

Purity

Friends and Family- Thank you to all of you who got on your knees on behalf of my health yesterday. I am feeling amazing today, not a touch of illness. Praise GOD! I am doing well. I have had a few wonderful shifts this past week also. Tonight I had some wonderful coversations with my patients. Prepare yourself, I have a small small (the people in Liberia use that phrase all the time) story to tell you. I have wanted the chance to tell my patients why I am in Africa. I prayed specifically this week for my patients to understand that when I care for them and touch them, it is not a romantic touch (many of the men say they want to marry white women), but a caring touch from God. Tonight one of my patients asked me about my husband. In case you are concerned, I did not get married in the last week! I told him I was single. He then pointed to the ring I wear on my ring finger. I was able to tell him that I wear a Promise Ring or Purity Ring on my ring finger. He had no concept of what I was talking about. I told him my ring is a promise to God and my future husband to remain sexually pure until I am married. You should have seen his face. He was in shock, almost speechless, confused, lost. I continued to explain that I am waiting until I find one man and only one man to give my self away. He then said, "you mean you are a virgin?" He questioned how I could be my age a still a virgin. He had no idea about what I was saying. The conversation went on for awhile, but he finally understood that sex is for only one man and one women to share. I was also able to teach him about HIV prevention as well. Our conversation turned to other subjects and I was able to tell him the way to Heaven. He was referring to works and Christ's death on the cross. I told him that the Bible says it is by faith alone. The conversation was incredible and so not to bore you to death, I will not say much more about this. He also questioned me about getting old (26 is old, did you know that?) and not yet having children. He said I will die before I see my children grow. We then compared the North American culture and African culture related to families and priorities. In Africa, you need your family, family is life and everything. Also, the current life expectency for Liberians is around age 40. Therefore, from his prespective I could die before having grown children. We next talked about how in America people want only 2 children. He wondered what I will do if I die without have children to remember me. I told him families are very important, but in heaven I will be with Jesus and that is all that really matters. We also discussed how the church is my family. We take care of eachother if we are brothers and sisters in Christ. My current name has been Americano up to this point. This patient said he will now call me "virgin Americano" not the virgin Mary, but "virgin Americano" I thanked him for my new title and told him I am proud of my purity. He then decided he may call me "patient Americano" because I am waiting for a special person. It was funny. I love my new names. I thought I might also mention that most my patients speak English and a tribial language. Even though they speak English they are hard to understand. I would describe them as speaking with their lips almost closed and very tight. I have to get really close to them to understand them. Most the time we figure out some way to communicate. On a note of things for you to pray for. 5 ward nurses are leaving this week and only 1 new nurse is coming. We are very short on staff already. We will not be able to be entirely influential without more staff. If you are a nurse and wanting to come, talk to God and come hang out with me in Africa. If staffing is short, I may have to work more than 40 hours a week.

Pray for Health

Hello! I ask quickly this day that you pray for my health. Three of my buddies have massive colds and sore throats. I am doing whatever I can to stay healthy, but this morning when I woke up I was sneezing lots and I feel like a touch of a cold is coming on. Please pray that the touch of the illness I feel would be taken away by the touch of Jesus, so that I might have strength and health to touch my patients with the love of God. I am going to rest now before I have my evening shift. I work an evening shift on Thursday as well. Friday I have off, then Saturday and Sunday are my first night shifts. Pray for my strength to do the night shifts and pray for my emotional health as working shifts opposite the world is not easy. Your sleeping, eating, and entire life get off. Love all of you!

Weekend adventures

It has been great to have a few days of rest and relaxation. I have been exploring the markets, beaches, restaurants, and local culture this past weekend. Saturday morning a few of my friends and I headed for a day of adventure. We asked other people on the ship how to get a taxi, they told us to contact a man named Alfred. We called Alfred on his cell phone and arranged for him to pick us up. The ship mandates that all people leaving the ship have a cell phone with them, so they loan us cell phones for the day. We had Alfred's number with us in the cell phone. He arrived with a friend in a taxi, he informed us that his car was in the shop, but his friend would drive us to the beach. We asked the price and the driver said a very high price. Before we even began to bargain, Alfred started speaking in a stern voice with his friend. They went back and forth for awhile. I didn't catch much of the conversation, but Alfred said something like, "these people are from Mercy Ships, don't you know what they are doing for our country, they are helping us, you cannot charge that much, it's not right." The driver said, "but they have money, they are American." Alfred told the man it didn't matter, we were working for free to help Liberia. So, a reasonable price was reached and we all loaded in the taxi to head to the beach. I went to CE CE beach, it was beautiful. It is connected with a hotel, so it is very nice and private. The water feels like warm bath water, the warmest Atlantic Ocean water I have ever felt! We spent a few hours in the sun and shade just relaxing. We then called Alfred to pick us up. His car was working by this time. He agreed to spend the rest of the day as our private tour guide and taxi driver. He took us to the market where we bought fruit and fabric. The women here wear the most beautiful dresses and skirts and there are tailors all over town who will make clothing for you. I am hoping to use some of the fabric I bought to have a traditional African dress made. I got 12 yards of fabric for $10. The fabric is elaborate and rich in color, we have nothing like it in America. Mom, can you guess what I want you to make with this fabric? I feel a line of African scrubs would suit me well. Next, Alfred drove us around town, pointing out local points of interest. He then took us to a supermarket. Finally, we went to a restaurant. Alfred said he would wait in his taxi until we were done. We invited him to join us for dinner. After we ordered, his phone rang, he looked as if he needed to go, someone else needed a ride. He reported he would return to get us when we were done. About 45 mins later he showed up at the restaurant with 3 more people from Mercy Ships. They had also called him to take them to dinner. Alfred is very popular and blessed by Mercy Ships even though, he is not a patient of Mercy Ships. He returned us safe and sound to the ship and agreed to drive us whenever possible. One of my friends is the current eye surgeon on board, she gave Alfred a pass to get his eyes fixed. Normally, our eye patients only get one eye fixed at a time because of the volume of people we have to serve and the limited resources of staff on the ship. The eye surgeon, Suzy, said she would fix both his eyes. No worries, he can still see enough to drive, or he knows the roads really well, because we made it out of his car alive. Sunday morning I went to a local church called Bethel Cathedral. It is huge and beautiful! The African church as a whole is so passionate and truly has the spirit of God in their hearts. We ahve a lot to learn from them. The worship is incredible! Think of the school choir in Sister Act II with Whoopie Goldberg x100. I tried to sing along, but couldn't catch all of the words. All of the church people were dancing and clapping. I tried to clap along, but white girls like me just don't have rhythum. The African lady that I came with was trying to help me clap. It was very funny! The sermon was long and powerful; complete with powerpoint. The preacher spoke about the story of Lazarus, and that God's timing is best. According to Martha and Mary, Jesus did not come soon enough, in their minds it would have been best of if Jesus would have arrived before Lazarus died. Yet, God knew best and his glory was shown because of Lazarus's death and resurrection. The preacher compared this to our lives and when we want something now, but we dont' see the entire picture, but when God completes the picture, things are so much better. I feel somehow that this is true of this being the right time for me to be in Africa. I wanted it so bad when I was younger, in school, or even last year, but God knew that this would be his time for me here. Thanks for helping me get here, thanks for your prayers that are keeping me here. I love all of you.

I had to resort to Peanut Butter

With fried spam on the menu, I graciously ate my first peanut butter sandwich for a meal. My dad told me fried spam is a good thing, but I couldn't bring myself to try it. I will have to work up the nerve for that one. I am okay with flying across the world, but my tastebuds are still a little shy. I am doing well. I finished my first two shifts on my own. The shifts went well. It is God alone, bringing me through these shifts. I am starting to get used to the routine around here. But, I am struggling with my limited ability to help these people. My patients need so much. They constantly say, "take me to America." I asked what is so great about America and they say, "America is heaven." I struggle with the fact that I was born with so much, they were born with so little. Why me? Why them????? If any of you are feeling ugly, come to Africa, here you are beautiful. I appreciate the compliments I receive from my patients, but it also makes it akward for me to care for them and keep things professional. I have had one official marriage proposal, and two intense offers of, " I will follow you everywhere and go wherever you go." YIKES. Tonight, my patients wouldn't let the issue rest so I said, "you are silly and on drugs from surgery, hush, do you need some water?" Pray that my patients will understand that my love for God and passion to serve God are the motivation for my care, pray that they will not confuse the tender touch from my hands as my own, but a touch from God. Our ship is secured on a dock in Monrovia. There is a huge guarded gate at the beginning of the road taking people to the ship's dock. Inside the gate is also a United Nations Camp, which makes the ship location very safe. The United Nations still have a huge presence in Liberia, helping secure peace. Only authorized people and our patients can come near the ship. It is about 1/2 a mile from the gangway to the secured gate. Each day I walk the little road with friends for some exercise and fresh, not so fresh air. Tomorrow, I hope to travel into the city. I have the day off and I am looking forward to a break. I wanted to thank all of you for your prayers. I am taking my Malaria medicine and have no side effects currently. Love ya!

THINGS are so DIFFERENT here

Orientation is done. I have so much to still learn. I am on my own as a nurse tomorrow. The wards are very busy. My patient load is bigger than at home, needs are different, but my assistive help is less. I am the IV team, physical therapist, nurse aid, lab team, secretary, dietary, and occupational therapy. I have to be very creative, which isn't hard for me, but so different when you would rather not have to figure out what your patient may vomit in, or what to use when you have no tape or saline to clean a wound. It is going to take some time for me to figure out what is important to do for my patients and what I need to let go of. The care here is safe and the worst I could do for these patients is better than they could ever hope for, but I aim to give 110% and to do things thorough and well, others I work with do not. The time is not available for me to do things the way I would hope because everything else takes so long. One of my patients tonight called me America because he couldn't remember my name and he asked me to take him to America. My heart breaks. The wards are serving many patients. The mom's stay in the same bed with their baby and the babies are beautiful. A lot of my patients have burns all over their bodies from war, things blowing up, and from accidents or falls into their cooking fires. Their need is intense and their strength is incredible. They will rarely complain of pain and a Tylenol makes them content and comfortable. THINGS are so DIFFERENT here. Pray for my continued adjustment, strength, and ways to connect with a Bible study group or spiritual support team because my shifts often conflict with schedules for these activites. Thanks for all of your love and for reading about what I am doing.

Lucky Charms for Breakfast...

My first 8 hour shift on the ward is complete. I have one more orientation shift and then I am supposed to know what I am doing. Oh, my goodness! The learning curve is huge. Everything is so different and supplies are very limited. It is amazing what we take for granted at home. We recycle a lot of our items on the ship, which is good, but time consuming and it changes your entire situation. We wash our medicine cups yes, those little plastic 3 cent cups, we wash and use again. We have no IV pumps or standard forms of anything, so it is back to the basics on all my nursing care. It is amazing how things in my past have lead me to this point. At school in Canada, I learned to do a lot of things manually, without assistance from extra teams or technology, I'm not saying Canada is a 3rd world country, but the British system of training is implemented there and we use a lot of those skills here. The team here is diverse! I took report from two Dutch nurses, my bunk mate is from Sweden, mom, I told her the three phrases I know and we talked about the yuchy ludifisk. I have met two of my other roommates and they are from England, and Norway. I still have two more roommates to meet. I love the diversity and accents surrounding me. For all of you concerned, I am not starving. My stomach is feeling much better and I am finally starting to eat normally again without trouble. There is a jar of peanut butter near during ever meal, but I haven't had to use it yet. I had Lucky Charms for breakfast today! I was also wrong about my night shifts. I am working evenings Wednesday, Thursday, & Friday, then I actually get the weekend off. I will start nights next weekend. There is so much to say, but not enough time. I am doing great & thank you for all your prayers. MEMO: Linda Thompson, Pat Stockwell, all my nursing friends. The ship really needs your help, we are shortt-staffed like everywhere, your earthly wage is nothing, but the eternal difference is priceless. Think about it.

Work Starts Tomorrow

Work starts bright and early tomorrow morning! I have to be on the ward at 0700hrs for the first day of my two orientation shifts. I better learn fast! I am going to get the the great adventure of doing my first night shifts this weekend as well. For all of you who know me, I don't do night shifts. You can pray me through these. One of the nurses said, it's really not bad, the unit is really quiet. that won't help me, when it is quiet, I want to sleep! Yikes. I am headed to take a two minute shower now, but I will write more later.

Safe Arrival

Salt Lake City to Chicago, Chicago to Brussels, Brussels to Monrovia, from Monrovia on a very bumpy road to the Africa Mercy ported on the Atlantic ocean. I have reached my new home! I would say I am sure happy to be on solid ground after flying for so long, but I am not on solid ground. I am on a ship! Either way, I am glad to be here. My body has no clue what time it is at this point. I did attempt to eat breakfast this morning we shall see how it settles. My stomach has been upset since Friday. I didn't think I would have to take so many trips to the bathroom so soon in my trip. Hopefully this is behind me. It was 96* F when I got off the airplane here. Slightly different from New Hampshire! Wow! This morning, I am sitting in the internet cafe on the ship, looking out the window at the Atlantic Ocean watching people come to the ship. We have our own private secure dock with the United Nations station right next to us. I don't know what my plans are for the day, but orientation is going to start soon and hopefully I will get a tour of the ship. I barely know where my room is. Speaking of my room, I have 5 roommates. We live in a small suite of sorts. I have the bottom bunk. I briefly met my roommate this morning. She is a nurse as well and from some place in Europe, her accent gives that away and her medical books aren't in English. I am sure I will get plenty of time to learn more about her later. I am going to unpack my suitcase and possibly take a nap even though I just got up 45 mins ago. I will keep you posted. I love all of you. Oh, so about the things to trip over. I tripped going into the bathroom after only 5 mins on the ship. YIKES. Take care. Love ya.

A slow start to the beginning

The journey began yesterday evening, as my family and I drove to Salt Lake City, Utah to stay the night in a hotel before my early AM departure today April 10th, 2008. And the journey got put on hold.... I was scheduled to fly with American Airlines today and all their flights from SLC were cancelled. The next flight available to Africa is Saturday, April 12th, 2008. Therefore, Mom, Dad, and I drove back to Idaho and we will set out again tomorrow evening to spend the night in SLC before my Saturday 0715 departure to Africa. Everything is in God's hands and tonight I am in my own bed and that is okay with me. Laura Z