I arrived in India this last Monday at about mid-afternoon to this familiar land of spice, smells, beautiful fabrics and of course the pollution. It is still the same India as when I left it almost 7 years ago. Everything here in Hyderabad is very similar to all that I experienced in New Dehli and northern India. The food is sometimes just a little bit different... still good and spicy of course.
Leaving Tanzania was very difficult. As I have said in most all of my past postings before, Africa has become my home and because of that my heart is still there. The question that I have been asking myself constantly is how do you move forward when your heart has been left behind? I love India and I know that what God placed in my heart 7 years ago is still somewhere in there, but my biggest fear is that I will invest again so much into this place and the people that I will be just as devastated to leave India as I am to have left East Africa.
I was talking with Beth today about my feelings of being back here and decided that it is like seeing an old boyfriend who still wants me back and wants me to love him just as much as I had before, but I have moved on and my heart has been given to someone else. That is how I feel here. It is strange and uncomfortable to be honest. I know that there is a lot for me here and a lot that God wants to show me here in the next two months, but I can't help to think about Africa and when I can get back. I need to focus on this time that I have here so that I don't miss what God wants to teach me, so please pray that God can steady my heart.
I am working on a recap of my time in Tanzania for you all. I have been processing the last 6 months and will post my thoughts and highlights for you within the next week. I will include pictures of the babies delivered, my Tanzanian family and friends, and also my mom's time here when she came to visit at the beginning of the month.
This week, Sarah and Rachel our staff have been working on getting permission for us to work in the hospital here and they think that we will be able to get a tour of the hospital on Monday and then begin our work on Tuesday. Our days will be longer in the hospital here than they were at Temeke, so I ask that you would pray that we would have the strength and the perseverance to make it through each day and the next 2 months with the heavier schedule. It will be great though to have more hospital time. It means more training time and hopefully opportunity to deliver lots of babies!
Working in the labour ward is where it is at! I feel like delivering babies is my new addiction. It is almost like a drug! Powerful stuff happens during the first moments of birth! Seeing the breath of life coming into a little person is incredible. And when there is a baby that needs extra help, that is when I cling hard to the power of prayer and am able to witness even more miracles. My name is Rachel and I am an addict.
Thank you for all of your prayers. Many blessings to you all!
No comments:
Post a Comment