So this past week has been a whirlwind of trips! I went to the mainland on a factory trip Wednesday and Thursday, then went to Hong Kong on Friday on my day off (and met up with a friend from UOP- see picture on left)...then Saturday I went across the border to ZhuHai for some shopping and hanging out with friends....then did another rural trip Sunday-Tuesday. I don't recommend traveling like this. I've had enough squatty potties and hard mattresses for a while. BUT I feel that the Lord has really blessed all of the trips I went on, and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to go on each trip.
This is a picture of the "pharmacy" at our clinic....Yes, it's a table covered in bags of medicine. Though it looks chaotic, we did have it somewhat organized. I filled the meds and told Jack (the guy on my left) how the patient was to take it...then he translated into Chinese for the patient. The lady in white actually was there to translate from mandarin into the local dialect. I am so thankful to be heading back to the US where I can speak directly to the patient...in English.
This picture is of me and Benjamin (one of the Residents) on the merry-go-round that was outside of our hotel. It was basically the same as Disneyland.
Dear Esther Joy, this picture is for you, since you never see cows and have no idea what they look like. This is a picture of David and his cow. He was so excited to take a picture with it. I forgot that in Macau there is really no room for farms, so native Macau people probably never see cows. It was just very entertaining for me coming from good ol' Gasport, NY.
I'm heading back for the States on Saturday....I can't believe the time has gone by so fast. I'm so thankful for this amazing opportunity to do a rotation overseas. I definitely have more stories than I wrote about in this blog...actually I wasn't that great at blogging (sorry if any of you have been checking a lot).
So an amazing friend that God has blessed me with this year sent me off to Macau with the sweetest parting gift ever- 30 envelopes filled with various devotions or words of encouragement. This is part of one I read yesterday:
This story is about a little river. "The Little river said "I can become a big river." It worked hard, but there was a big rock. The river said "I'm going to get around thsi rock." The little river pushed and pushed, and since it had a lot of strength, it got itself around the rock.
Soon the river faced a big wall, and the river kept pushing this wall. Eventually, the river made a canyon and carved a way through. The growing river said, "I can do it. I can push it. I am not going to let down for anything."
Then there was an enormous forest. The river said "I'll go ahead anyway and just force these trees down." And the river did.
The river, now powerful, stood on the edge of an enormous desert with the sun beating down. The river said, "I'm going to go through this desert." But the hot sand soon began to soak up the whole river. The river said "Oh, no. I'm goin gto do it. I'm going to get myself through this desert." But the river soon had drained into the sand until it was only a small mud pool.
Then the river heart a voice from above: "Just surrender. Let me lift you up. Let me take over."
The river said, "Here I am."
The sun then lifted up the river and made the river into a huge cloud. He carried the river right over the desert and let the cloud rain down and make the fields far away fruitful and rich.
There is a moment in our life when we stand before the desert and want to do it ourselves. But there is the voice that comes, "Let go. Surrender. I will make you fruitful. Yes, trust me. Give yourself to me."
What counts in your life and mine is not success but fruits. The fruits of your life are born often in your pain and in your vulnerability and in your losses. The fruits of your life come only after the plow has carved through your land. God wants you to be fruitful." - Moving from Solitude to Community to Ministry by Henri Nouwen
The clinic has been rather slow lately, so I have been finding ways to entertain myself. One project assigned to me was to determine what medications should be put in safety cap vials. My first thought was "easy...all of them." But it's actually more complicated than that. Here everything takes FOREVER to get implemented. So rather than overwhelming the system, they take baby steps.
2nd project: Drug information for all the formulary drugs. This is more of a project than I realized at first, but I'm plugging along on it. It's basically taking the formulary that a previous student compiled that listed all the medications we carry in our pharmacy (which isn't all that much) and adding to it the indications/contraindications/pregnancy category/dosing information/any other relevant information. The doctors here don't really have good references for drug information, and their old medication guide is from 2004. Time for some updates right?
Tonight I'm going to see the world's largest card house at the Venetian. The guy broke the record just this week in completing his replica of the Venetian with cards. I'll try not to sneeze.
Things God's been teaching me: 1- You can be happy wherever God places you as long as you have a good attitude about it 2- Ministry can't be done unless you first spend time alone with God every day...it's ESSENTIAL...then you need community, then ministry happens 3- It's easy to put selfish expectations on others....to expect them to treat you in the way you "expect" to be treated- when in fact, they might not see things the way you do. Or maybe it's not their culture or the way they do things. When we feel like others are not treating us the way we "should" be treated, we should first evaluate where our expectations come from.
Today I went to distribute Bibles at a popular tourist site in Macau, the ruins of St. Paul's. I included pictures today since I decided my blog needed some sprucing up :)
First is a picture of the front of the remains of the cathedral. This is a very popular site for Chinese tourists (from the Mainland) to come see and take pictures of, so it is a perfect place to go and distribute Bibles. To explain more (if I haven't already) Macau is owned by China, but was owned by the Portuguese until 99. Because of this, Macau is still considered it's own country and it has religious freedom. So, it is allowed to openly discuss any religion and hand out materials in Macau. The people from Mainland China are also permitted to carry one Bible per person across the border.
This was such an amazing experience to see these people come excited to receive the Bible...many for the first time ever. Some people came running to us, others crowded. It was somewhat humorous doing this as a "white person" because a lot of people wanted to get their picture taken with me, or just to get a picture of me...this was somewhat awkward as well. The bottom picture is a picture of me and one of the girls I gave a Bible to, who asked if she could take a picture with me. As you can see, the humidity has been getting the best of me so I look kind of disgusting. I hope those pictures that were taken of me will end up deleted...but I somehow doubt that judging by their excitement to see a white person.
The 2nd picture is a picture of one of the tour groups sitting on the side of the street, many of them actually reading the Bible they just had gotten. I think what hit me the most was just the joy these people had to receive a Bible and also their excitement to immediately start reading it. The only thing I see that is somewhat good about the communism in China is that God is using it to bring about a generation of people who cherish the Word of God in a way that seems to have been lost in Americans.
The final count of Bibles that were distributed today were 760. This sort of distribution happens at least once every week.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Random thought: Chinese graffiti is pretty neat...as in tidy. Chinese people have to have good handwriting because of the complexity of the characters...so Chinese graffiti isn't messy like it is in the US....strange.
Shout out: Happy Birthday to Miss Hannah-Rose who turned 5 today :) (mom, please read this to her)
Exciting moment: I at Shri-Lankan food this weekend and I got to eat with my hands (that is the traditional Shri-Lankan way)...it is fun in a messy sort of way. I recommend it.
Cultural note: Apparently New Zealanders (aka "Kiwi's") need translations from "American" English to New Zealand English. Weird. Also, the population of New Zealand is only like 5 million. How small. (If you can't tell there are a lot of New Zealanders here).
So I feel led to describe some things I've observed while living in Macau
1- NO ONE has napkins in their restaurants...unless it's really fancy, which are few and far between. If you want a napkin, you have to buy a pack of "napkins" which really look like the pocket pack of tissues
2- You usually can eat out for less than it would cost to cook for yourself
3- I think the bus drivers like to play a game to see how many people they can cram into their bus at one time
4- If you hear someone hacking, it's most likely someone from the Mainland China (which I'm also told is also known as the "fifth tone" in China).
5- Everyone is amazed when a white person can use chop sticks
6- When people ask if you miss "Western food" without letting you answer they immediately point out the various McDonald's
7- Mainland China seems to have more squatty potties than Macau, in general
8- it can get to be 99% humidity...really....I experienced it yesterday (praise the Lord for de-humidifiers!)
9- All the apartment buildings here are like 30 stories high...I was told it was so the owners can be "very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very very rich." (quoted from a local born and raised in Macau)
10- There are a lot of people from other countries here- I've been enjoying the Australian/New Zealand/UK accents.
11- The medical residents are willing to let me try anything. Yesterday they offered to let me try freezing someone's warts off her feet. I don't like feet so I declined.
I started to write this blog this morning, but it has been very intermittent inbetween seeing patients. However, my perspective on what I'm about to talk about has been broadened since this morning when I initially sat down to write.
Yesterday I went out with a group called Rahab (named after the harlot in Joshua 2 who hid the Israelites from the King of Jericho as they spied out the land....The Lord blessed her and her name is actually in the genealogy of Jesus- this is very abbreviated- for the whole story see Joshua 2). This group meets every week to go around to the prostitutes in Macau to basically share the love of Jesus. They also work to encourage the girls to go for medical check-ups that the group provides. It's an outreach that is very different from any outreach I've done before. Because of the nature of these girls jobs, it was more just going in and saying hello, giving them a gift with some information, and getting out of their way if clients came in. We weren't there to stop what they were doing (although we may want to inside), we were there just to show them that Someone cares about them.
My eyes were really opened to how common prostitution is here- but my heart was breaking for these girls as we were stopping by each of the hostels. These girls live this way to make a living. A lot of these girls are not from Macau, but from China or surrounding locations. It changed my perspective of these girls because many of them are not there because they want to be, they are there because they see it as the only way for them to make a sufficient income to put food on the table. These girls may not know what love is. They probably have never experienced unconditional love. They just are constantly having one-night-stand after one-night-stand.
Most people know that China has the 1 child policy. Because of this, many of the Chinese want boys so they get rid of the girls. So many of the girls end up in the orphanages (if they're lucky) or on the streets. Once they are too old to be in the orphanage, they are sent out on the streets, basically destined to a life of prostitution. To think that this could have been the life that my little sister Hannah could have ended up with just breaks my heart.
However, today my perspective was broadened even more. These girls have been abused by men, but also feeling a sense of control over men. They know how to play "the game." They that men are visual creatures, and they know how to get a man's attention. But since they don't know what unconditional love is, what faithfulness in a marriage is, or what true happiness is, they have no idea what damage they are causing. Today a patient came in and shared how her husband of 20 years had an affair with one of these girls last year. This woman was broken. There was such a deep deep hurt going on inside of her that doesn't just go away with a bandaid, a surgery or medication. She shared about how she can't even look at these girls who walk the streets and give little winks to the men or act all flirty (even when the man is with his wife by his side). She said she has such a deep hatred for these girls, though she knows it's not right to hate them, she just does. Her story just brought me to tears- it is true how we can carry each others burdens, because I just felt this heaviness by hearing her talk.
These scenarios got me thinking deeper about both sides of the story. God loves both women in this situation. He loves the married woman and he loves the girl who is a prostitute. However, His heart breaks every time the prostitute girl gives herself to another man. He has seen what has happened in the past and just yearns for this girl to turn to Him and see that His love for her has never changed. It has been the same since the beginning. However, He loves the married woman too and it hurts Him to see her in so much pain. He wants to heal her pain and He is, but it is a slow process. The married woman could pray against the prostitute girl, but God doesn't hold grudges...he slowly works to win the hearts of the ones He loves...and He loves everyone. The problem lies within our sinful nature and within our individual decisions. The fact of the matter is decisions have consequences. We may think that choices ends with us, only effects us as an individual, but that is just a lie from the enemy. I don't know the story of the prostitute girl in that situation or of how the marriage was before this affair....I have just witnessed the pain on both ends. Pain that no one should ever have to deal with, but at the same time pain that is very real. Yes, there is a third party in this whole situation who made a decision too and with whom a lot of the "blame" can be placed. But I don't want to get into that.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So those are my thoughts for today. I don't know if that is completely clear, but that's just what I'm "chewing on" I suppose.
My first night in my "flat" was interesting....there was really loud music which sounded like it was right outside my window in the middle of the night. THEN around 4:30AM it started POURING. It sounded like it was just a huge bucket of water dumping on the building. I've been sleeping in till 8am so waking up at 4:30 made me feel like I wasn't adjusted to the time. However, I haven't been too tired this afternoon. I think it's just the adjustment to being in a different (albeit far less comfortable) bed.
For my first day at clinic I was quite nervous, but found the clinic to be pretty relaxed. The highlight of my day was this particular scenario: One of the doctors I was shadowing was working with a patient who was concerned that she was pregnant. This was the 4th time she came in over the past 2 years (negative at all times including this one). I was interested to see where the doctor would go with this scenario. She first asked the patient if she was on birth control or using protection. The patient was not on birth control. The doctor told the patient that we could put her on birth control if she'd like, but would encourage the patient to continue to use protection like she was BECAUSE birth control works to prevent ovulation, HOWEVER, if the egg does get out, and gets fertilized then the pill works to prevent the implantation into the uterus wall- and this made her as a doctor uncomfortable. I was very impressed with the way this doctor handled the situation. She THEN went on to explain to the patient that our bodies are spiritual beings and G0d created sex to be between one man and one woman bound by marriage. She then encouraged the patient to consider marriage if her partner was a long-term partner and they hoped to have a future together. She also explained how statistics show that couples who are abstinent before marriage are less likely to get a divorce than couples who have sex before marriage. HOWEVER, studies have shown that couples who decide to get married but choose to stop having sex until their wedding studies have shown that the percentage of divorce goes back down.
We then were able to pray for this patient and her relationship with both her boyfriend and her family! It was amazing! It's soo cool to see this interaction between the doctors and the patients on a spiritual level as well. What a concept- to connect the physical, emotional AND spiritual to truly treat the individual as a whole.
I'm really excited for this rotation and to continue to learn. Thank you all for your continued thoughts and prayers as I am overseas.
Greetings everyone! I survived all my travels and have made it safely overseas. All my baggage made it safely as well. The flight from LAX to Taipei was very LONG, however it was nice since it's Chinese New Year and not many people were traveling. So, there were about 100 open seats on the flight and one was next to me. I had the window seat, and the man who was sitting in the isle seat told me I could use the middle seat (how nice!)...so I was able to put my feet up on the seat and get some good sleep in before landing in Taipei. My flight from Taipei to Macau was only 1hr and 40 min, so it felt like NOTHING compared to the previous flight!!
My preceptor picked me up from the airport and we hung out for the afternoon. We toured around Macau a bit and I got to see where I will be staying for the duration of my rotation. It was really fun to tour since all the decorations are out to celebrate the new year (oh yea, Happy Chinese New Year!). It is CRAZY here- fireworks exploding, people swarming the streets. I'm told Chinese New Year is like Christmas for us in the States. Pretty exciting stuff.
I can't write much now, but just wanted to update that I made it alive!
So I attempted to start blogging back in September, and that was an obvious fail. I'm now going to attempt again as I'm leaving for Macau on Saturday(!!) and I want to keep everyone updated who wants to be updated.
For those of you who have no idea what is going on in my life, here's a quick update: - I'm in pharmacy school in California and am graduating in May, so this year I am on rotations (rotations = clinical experience in different pharmacy settings)
-I'm in the Long Beach region for rotations and am living in Laguna Niguel with family friends...it's a long drive but it's worth it. The Tilley family is amazing....and living 3 miles from the ocean is a slight plus :)
- For one of my rotations, I have the unique opportunity to go overseas to Macau (Macau is about an hour ferry ride from Hong Kong off of the mainland China)...and I leave on SATURDAY!! For those of you who want to be updated on what's going on with me over there, this is the place to look.
- I found a super awesome chur-ch in Laguna Hills and G0d has been rocking my socks off. It has all the benefits of a big chur-ch, but with a small church community. I am going to be VERY sad to be leaving all the wonderful friends I've been making come May.
So this past week has been a whirlwind of trips! I went to the mainland on a factory trip Wednesday and Thursday, then went to Hong Kong on Friday on my day off (and met up with a friend from UOP- see picture on left)...then Saturday I went across the border to ZhuHai for some shopping and hanging out with friends....then did another rural trip Sunday-Tuesday. I don't recommend traveling like this. I've had enough squatty potties and hard mattresses for a while. BUT I feel that the Lord has really blessed all of the trips I went on, and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to go on each trip.
Dear Esther Joy, this picture is for you, since you never see cows and have no idea what they look like. 
