Vote

Over the past few months, I have been humbled and encouraged to have a number of my African friends tell me they are praying for America. I know America is a mission field and needs prayer, just as any other country but, at times I revert back to the mentality that America and other developed countries are without need. It is easy to view European countries and North America as the countries that are to be praying for and sending missionaries to underdeveloped nations, not the other way around. I know this mentality is completely faulty, but nonetheless, it exists. Being on the ship has been an incredible blessing and it has been awesome to see the cultural diversity in God's kingdom. It has strengthened my faith to see so many people from different walks of life, believing the same Gospel and message of salvation. In essence, the ship is a tiny taste of heaven. There are people here from many tribes, tongues, and nations; all working together for God's glory. The message we believe in is the same. There are people on the ship from Ireland, Wales, England, Norway, Sweden, Holland, Germany, Russia, Ukraine, Korea, Japan, Nepal, Canada, USA, Central America, Jamaica, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Nigeria, Togo, Benin, Kenya, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Ghana, New Zealand, and Australia. Those are just a few of the countries represented here on the ship. Over the past few weeks there have been plenty conversations regarding the upcoming election in the United States. My African friends have told me they are very concerned about our election because they know what takes place in America, influences the rest of the world. I am glad that my friends are lifting America up in prayer. America is at a critical point in its history. Other countries recognize it, but do we? We need to unite and come before God as a nation. As election day is here, do not fear. America is in God's hands, people are lifting our country up in prayer. Take your stand today, continue to pray for our country, and vote today! Forgive me, I know this post is fragmented and poorly written. I am in the middle of another night shift. My thoughts are all over the place, but I cannot stress the importance of your votes today!

So, what next?

It is November 1, 2008 and I have been in Africa for almost 7 months now! I cannot describe how wonderful it has been to be here living my childhood dream, of serving the Lord in medical missions. I have enjoyed every minute of my time here (well, not the minutes when my kidney stones were moving around). But, nonetheless, I am passionate about the work here and the work that Mercy Ships is doing for the Kingdom. I have embraced the African culture with all my heart and energy and it has been an incredible and extremely rewarding experience! The Liberian people are amazing. Their unwavering faith, courage, compassion, and gratitude encourage me in so many ways. In my mind, this trip was a trial of sorts, to continue exploring the call of missions; I feel God has placed on my heart. Prior to this trip, I had completed a number of brief mission trips, but hungered for more exposure to missions. The past 7 months here have been a great exposure to missions and at this time in my life, I cannot imagine going back to my totally comfortable life and job in America. I feel a huge part of me would be aching to be back in Africa with Mercy Ships. Therefore, after much consideration and listening to God’s leading, I have decided to continue serving with Mercy Ships! This decision was not made irrationally and I believe many of you will not be surprised at my choice to come back to Africa. So, what next? I am returning to Idaho, as originally planned for the holidays. I will be leaving Africa November 21, 2008. I will stay in Idaho through American Thanksgiving. I will then travel to New Hampshire December 3- December 16. I am hoping to connect with all my WLBC and DHMC family and friends in New Hampshire. I will also be looking to move some of my belongings into more permanent storage. I may also try to sell my car. In mid December, I will return to Idaho and spend Christmas with my family, brother, sister-in-law, my brother’s in-laws, and my Paul Baptist Church Family. In mid January, I will be going to the headquarters for Mercy Ships in Garden Valley, Texas. I will be enrolling in a course called Gateway. The course is designed to train and equip people for long-term service in missions. There is a field project with this course in the Dominican Republic. I am excited about this outreach because I will have a chance to continue working on my Spanish and my love for tortillas, rice, and beans, along with little caramel colored children remains. After the outreach to the Dominican is complete, I will be returning to the ship. In early March, I will fly to Benin and board the Mercy Ship once again. Benin, another extremely poor, West African country, is the 2009 Mercy Ship Outreach location. Benin is east of Liberia and shares its Western border with Togo and Eastern border with Nigeria. A few small facts about Benin; it is the birth place of Voodoo and the official language is French! I have also been asked to be a charge nurse upon my return. This role will be challenging for sure! My African adventures are just beginning and I am so thankful that all of you are in it with me. I love you and cherish you. I covet your prayers and support in every manner as I continue to serve our Lord. “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for ME will save it!” Luke 9:24 In His Hands and Will, Laura Ziulkowski

African Wildlife

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of Africa; elephants, hippos, cheetahs, giraffes, and amazing wildlife? Did you grow up thinking there are animals running all over Africa? Or that missionary kids ride elephants to school instead of a school bus and that everyone has a pet monkey? We all know geography and natural history were never my strong points in school. Therefore, I grew up thinking Africa was one huge country where animals rule the land and people live in huts trying not to get eaten by the animals. I was totally shocked to arrive in Liberia and learn that there are no wild animals here! I was hoping to jump off the airplane and see some of God’s amazing creatures roaming the land. As many of you know, I do not give up easily and if I have an idea in my mind, I do everything I can to make it reality. Over the past few months, I have heard whispers about the location of some monkeys in the area, therefore I have made it my side mission to find these little creatures and count observing them as my viewing of the African wildlife. I am proud to announce, that I found monkeys! I recently visited a place called the Wulki Farm. It is a privately owned farm, zoo of sorts. The owner has ostriches, crocodiles, and two monkeys. Everyone that visits is guaranteed to see the ostriches and crocodiles because they are caged, but it is only a few persistent visitors that find the monkeys because they roam a large plot of land and jungle freely. Our group checked out the ostrich family and crocodiles, but then we jumped in our land rover and drove back and forth on the road in pursuit of the monkeys. Now, of course, I have been to a zoo and I have seen monkeys, but never in the wild. We drove around forever and were about to give up when, in the distant trees, we saw movement and… MONKEYS! I was so excited. We got out of the vehicle and attempted to befriend the little creatures. Friendship was made and we proceeded to play for about 1.5 hours with the monkeys. We laughed and laughed as we watched them run around chasing each other and some of the guys in our group. One of the monkeys walked directly up to our group and put his hands up, like a small child wanting to be held. It was precious. Everyone took turns holding the “nice” monkey. One of them was mean and just chased people and stuck his tongue out at us, but the other one loved to be held. It was funny to watch the “nice” monkey with my friends. If the monkey approached a female, he would act like a baby wanting to be held. But if he approached a male, he would try to chew on their ankles and use their body like a jungle gym, jumping around, and climbing on them. I was afraid to hold the monkey and as many of you know, I do not even pet or hold, dogs, cats, hamsters. The only pets I play with are fish! Despite, my fear/dislike of hairy animals, I decided this opportunity may only come once and I picked up the little hairy monkey and I have pictures to prove it. Enjoy! God bless!

ORANGE-oranges

My far distance from home and the modern luxuries of a first world nation have caused me to become extremely thankful for the small, ordinary things of daily life. Let me tell you about some of the things that I have been thankful for lately. A few weeks ago, I was going through the food line in the dining hall. I was approaching the fruit section of the line when suddenly, I spotted a glorious piece of fruit in front of me. I could not believe my eyes... ORANGE, oranges! I was so excited! It was like Christmas morning! I was so pumped to have a proper colored orange. We are extremely blessed on the ship and we eat very well, but our produce section is often limited. We have oranges on a regular basis, but they are green. Can it actually be called an orange if it is green? The oranges we get are ripe and totally ready for eating, but green. I just cannot wrap my head around the idea of eating green oranges. ORANGE, oranges, are just better! The small things in life remind me how much Jesus loves me and this past week He decided to bless me with another tasty treat; carrot sticks! Oh, my goodness, I jumped up and down when I saw carrot sticks in our food line. I ran around the dining hall, with the excitement of someone who has won the lottery, telling all my friends about the carrot sticks. It is a rare treat for us to get fresh produce, partly because of the work that the food preparation takes. Our galley staff has to bleach, wash, bleach, and again wash all our vegetables before they can even begin slicing them. So, you can imagine how hard it is for the galley staff to prepare carrot sticks for 400 people. I was so excited about the carrot sticks that I skipped all the other dinner components and filled my entire plate with carrot sticks, covered them with ranch dressing, and that's all I ate for dinner. In case you are wondering, yes, Africa is changing me...Not only was I excited about a vegetable, but I also ate an entire plate full of the vegetables! Many people have asked what I want to do first or eat first when I return home. I have been craving Mexican food and steak! I have already informed my mom and dad that I want to head to my favorite Mexican restaurant as soon as I return to Idaho and then eat steak after that. To my incredible surprise, my craving for steak was met on board just the other day. We had the most amazing steak for dinner a few days ago! The dinner was complete with baked potatoes and A1 Steak sauce! Holy Cow it was so good! (soon to be uploaded a photo of me and my amazing dinner) Every good thing comes from God. I am thankful that He knows what is best for me and He blesses me with small things and bigs things too!

Sweet Mama

My mom made it home to Idaho. She really enjoyed her time here and I wouldn't doubt it if she plans a return trip in the future! Everyone on the ship thought she was lovely and beautiful! My African friends called her "Sweet Mama." I know she blessed all the people she cared for. Thanks for praying for her!

Kidney Stones Update

Friends and Family, I am hanging in there and I feel much better. No more pain or fevers. I am getting stronger every day. Thanks for your prayers! I will go see the doctor again on Tuesday. It is possible that we will do another CT Scan to see if some of my kidney stones are dissolving. I am praying they are all gone! I started back to work yesterday for a 12 hour shift. I was totally tired after that shift and I slept great! Considering patient census is down and I was beat, from yesterday, the charge nurse gave me a break today and I only had to do 8 hours of my 12 hour shift. I think I will go to bed soon! Take care!

Life

For all of you have been fearing that something is wrong with me because of my lack of posts, let me ease your mind. No need to fear the unknown anymore, something is wrong with me! I will start with last weekend, I worked the 7am-7pm day shifts on both Saturday and Sunday. Then I followed those shifts with night duty Monday, Tuesday, and was graciously given Wednesday off, considering I was not feeling excellent. I saw the doctor on Wednesday morning and was started on antibiotics for a suspected bladder infection, yikes, never had one of those before. My condition was not getting better so, on Friday, I saw the doctor again. The doctor changed my antibiotics. Saturday morning, I had a wicked huge amount of pain in my back and nausea. I could not get comfortable, it hurt so bad. I was rolling in pain crying and crying (although I do have a flair for the dramatic, it seriously hurt worse than any pain I have ever had). The on-call doctor came to my cabin and decided I should go to the hospital. Lucky for me, the hospital is down the hall. An IV was started and I was given lots of pain medicine. I vomited a few times as well. I had two ultrasounds, more pain medicine, and lots of IV fluid. It was decided I should have a CT Scan. The CT Scan revealed tons of kidney stones in both of my kidneys. How they got there, we have no idea. I have had interesting health challenges throughout my life, but no plumbing challenges like these. Yikes. I attempted to rest in the hospital over night. Praise God, the pain medicine I was given, worked. It took away all my pain. I was given tons over IV fluid to flush out the kidney stones. In the wee hours of Sunday morning, one kidney stone came out. Sunday afternoon, I went back to my cabin, where I have been resting and drinking water like a fish. Today I went to the doctor for a follow-up appointment. I had a fever this morning, which should not be possible with all the antibiotics I have been taking, so we are checking for malaria (in Africa, one always has to check for malaria, even if you see no mosquito bites). We are going to continue with antibiotic treatment, rest, and lots of fluids. The crew doctor is also going to have a UN Radiologist review my CT Scan for an additional opinion on all the stones that were found. It is unknown when those stones will break loose and if they are small enough to come out naturally. Therefore, my trip to Sierra Leone, has been cancelled. I am really bummed about the cancellation of my trip. But the trip would not be fun, if the stones were to get excited again, and try to come out. I was going to check out more of this African nation that I am so fascinated with, but I guess there will be time for more adventure later. I am okay and resting! My friends here (& mom) are amazing and it is such a blessing when your doctor prays with you as you are in pain. There is no other place I rather be right now. I am hoping all of you are well! Love you lots!

Loving My Babies

We loaded into the land rover once again, but something was different this time. I was in the driver's seat! Yup, you heard me! Just recently, I became a certified Mercy Ships Driver. This is a unique, special, and frightening privilege. For those of you who have visited 3rd world countries; you know that the roads are crazy and dangerous! Speed limits are nonexistent, drivers pass on the left and right sides of the roads, basically the road is chaos. Here in Liberia, there are no stop signs, or yield signs, and the traffic lights that exist, are not functioning. The potholes in the road are deep and filled with manky, rank, muddy water. If you hit a pothole, there is a good chance you will get sucked in it and end up in China, or need a crane to pull you out. Exciting stuff! Up until this point, I have been only a passenger on these adventurous roads. Honestly, sometimes I even close my eyes, just so I will not scream and scare the driver when I see the cars coming toward us. I never planned on driving here, but often our plans change... Let me tell you how this came to be. Remember my precious babies at the Sister's of Charity that I told you about a few months ago? In case you were wondering, I have not neglected them. I actually go to the Sister's of Charity every Wednesday morning, when I am not working. I am one of the regular members of this outreach team. My regular visits to Sisters and relatively long term status on the ship has ushered me into the role of being in charge of the children's outreach at Sisters. I love to hold the children, kiss them, sing to them, and play with them. Well, I was so touched and moved by my first visit to Sisters, that I spread the word and now many people want to come too. The desire of more crew members to be involved in this ministry required that a second driver be found to take an additional vehicle to the site. I was selected because I was one of the only people who go regularly to Sisters who knows how to drive stick-shift (thanks to my old lawn mowing business), on the right side of the road ( I beat the Brits on this one), and who was not afraid of the task! I am always up for an adventure! Therefore, I am now driving on the streets of Liberia! For all of you prone to worrying.... DON'T! I am alive to write you this story. I only stalled the car once in traffic, I made it up the big hill I was afraid of rolling back down, and I didn't end up in China! I am still in Africa... loving my babies.

Night Shifts

It was my fourth night shift in a row and I was tired to say the least. In my weary state I asked God for the strength to get through another night. I had 9 patients in the VVF Ward (the ward for women who have had traumatic pregnancies and now are leaking urine and sometimes stool) and 1 patient in the ICU, actually a friend and crew member who had broken his leg in a soccer match and was waiting for surgery. I was also responsible for 2 patients in a ward down the hall who were from Sierra Leone and would be leaving in the early hours of the morning. At the beginning of the shift I was honored, I guess, with being given the role of charge nurse. I was not given then charge nurse role because my nursing skills are amazing, but because out of all the nurses working that night, I had been with Mercy Ships longest. I felt the stress level rising inside of me. I prayed God would help me to have a positive attitude and strength for the busy night ahead. With shift report over, I headed to see my VVF patients first. That is where the marathon of a night started. It was one thing after another. There were two of us responsible for 18 VVF patients. One of our patients started bleeding, she was three days post-surgery and she should not have been bleeding as much as she was. The doctor had encouraged us to continue monitoring the bleeding and start and IV and check the patient's hemoglobin if we were concerned. We were really getting concerned. The patient's blood pressure was dropping and more blood was coming. As charge nurse, I was responsible for paging the doctor. Of course the pager system would not work. When we finally reached the doctor, he came and assessed the patient. We were told to continue monitoring the bleeding. We were very concerned, but kept checking the patient. In the mean time, my blessed patients, could not understand that I was very busy with an emergency and they kept yelling my name across the ward. One patient wanted lip gloss, another wanted a surgical cap to cover her braids, while another needed some cream (lotion for her skin). I love getting small things like this for my patients, but I was starting to become really frustrated because I could not get everything done when my patients wanted it done. Then I get mad at myself for feeling frustrated because I want to be able to do everything for my patients when they want it, but that is just not possible. My emotions were starting to churn and my exhausted state was hitting an all time max. I was trying to keep my focus, but having difficulty. At this point in the evening, I needed to page the lab technician to come to the lab. Again, the paging system was broken. Uggg, after extra effort, the lab tech was contacted and came to the ward. More patients yelling, "Lada, come!" They try to say "Laura," but it sounds more like "Lada or Laywer." In my hospital at home, most patients have private rooms and the nurse is not in their view all the time, but not here, all our patients are in one large room. This has benefits and drawbacks. This night, I was seriously feeling the drawbacks. In the middle of all this, I was performing the simple task of hand washing. When I turned off the sink to dry my hands, the sink made the most horrific sound. It sounded like a heard of cattle in labor. The screeching was terrible! Immediately my task focus changed, I needed to page the plumber. Yup, you guessed it, the paging system did not work...Oh well! The plumber finally came to the ward and fixed the screaming sink. Meanwhile, on the dock, a patient was found unconscious. She was rushed to the ICU where she was stabilized and sent to my ward. Yikes! It was about 10:30pm at this point on the VVF ward, the doctors decided to do an emergency surgery on our bleeding patient. Not good news for my patient, but a relief for me, knowing the doctors were attending to her needs. We called the OR nurse, anesthesia provider, and the OR staff to come to the operating room. With this patient in the safe hands of our doctors; I moved onto my next task. Time to check all my patients, take their vital signs, fill their water bottles, and empty their catheter bags. One thing after another was happening and taking my attention away from the task at hand. At that moment, when I was ready to pull out my hair, Jane, my Irish roommate, also a nurse, popped in to see how I was doing. She immediately saw the stress and chaos on the ward, went down the hall, put on her scrubs, and returned to help in any way she could. Even though it was her night off, she came to help. Jane has the heart of a true servant. Jane's help gave me the chance to break away and check on my friend and patient, Theo, in the ICU. Now, do not worry, if he was truly in critical condition, I would have checked on him sooner. I knew he was stable. While I was checking on him and attempting to get some supplies out of a cupboard, I stood up really quickly and slammed the dickens out of my head. I saw stars for a second and then the tears just started flowing. At that moment, all my stress started pouring out my eyes in the form of huge crocodile tears. I knew I needed a break. I walked down the hall to my cabin, then let the tears run freely. My roommates, all home, which is very unusual, immediately came to me and started praying. What a blessing, to have my home just down the hall and people willing to carry my burdens to Jesus with me. With renewed strength and an aching head; I went back to the ward. Back on the ward, it was still crazy. My mom, working on the ward next to me was recruited to assist with the patient from the ICU, she graciously helped out, while I was still stressed and trying to catch up on the care for my patients. At 2:00am things were finally starting to calm down. I was standing in the middle of all my patient's charts working on catching up on late medications when Clementine, a ward disciple came through the door. She had heard about the chaos on the ward and was moved to come and pray for the patients and nurses. Amazing, the way God cares for us. In the middle of the storm, God sent someone to pray over me. Clementine richly blessed me as she prayed for God's peace to come upon the ward. Wow, I work in an amazing place! The night hours quickly disappeared, not a chance for me to feel sleepy. At 6:00am I started waking the patients that would be leaving for Sierra Leone. They showered, dressed, and ate. I helped them carry their bags out and watched them drive away. At 7:00pm the night before, the last thing I wanted to do was have the responsibility of discharging patients at such an early hour. But, it was the perfect way to end my shift and start a new day... As I reflect back on this crazy night shift, more of the "busy" details fade from my mind. But the smiles on the faces of the patients walking down the gangway that morning will never fade from my memory. That is what it is all about and for them... I would do it all again.

Prayer Request

Dear Friends and Family, I am doing well. I have almost hit my 5 month mark! I am entirely content and blessed to be here in Africa. I do have a prayer request. Pray for my spiritual health and walk with God. There are so many distractions here on the ship. Helping people, fellowship time, adventures into town and across the countryside, ministry opportunities, and the list goes on. I am struggling to find a quiet place and time to meet with God. Do not get me wrong, God is in everything here on the ship, but nothing can take the place of daily time with God. In some sort of naivety, I thought I would immediately have a closer relationship with God away from the distractions of the modern world, but that is not the case. As with any relationship in life, one must take time and invest energy to make a relationship grow, pray I invest plenty of my daily time talking to God. It is my deepest desire to grow closer to God and I need prayers for discipline in this area of my life. Pray that my fulfilment comes from my relationship with God rather than from my ministry for Him. I love all of you!