My Prayer for Ghana

This has been my prayer during my time in Ghana. I pray that my heart's desire does not change when I get back to America.

 Father,
I give You my life. I invite You to have Your way in me. Take me and break me. Shake me and make me. Fill me and spill me. Change me and rearrange me. But whatever You do, Lord..don't leave me the same. Spirit of wisdom and revelation, I welcome Your work. Open my eyes so I can see, my ears so I can hear. I choose truth over comfort, challenge over complacency. Lord, make me forever Yours. And most of all, make me like You. Amen.

I have seen the Lord change me and break me. He has taught me and changed me. He has opened my eyes to the need here and the power of His salvation and healing in lives. We are going to a nicer hospital to help this week so it will be interesting to see the contrast between the clinic and hospital we have been working at and this new one. So far, I have learned so much about medicine and improvising in medicine but also so much about myself and my Savior. I cannot wait to see what more He is going to do in and through me.

so blessed

"I never knew what God was going to do next or whom He was going to bring into my life. I'd learned by now that sometimes people entered my life suddenly and that just as quickly as they entered, they left. I learned to accept them and adopt them into my heart no matter the circumstances. Some would become part of my world permanently and others only a short season. Some of those people whose lives interested briefly with mine made an impact that will live forever in my heart." -Katie Davis

This so perfectly illustrates how I feel right now. We just left a small village that we had been living in for the last two+ weeks and as we drove away I felt a piece of my heart left behind. I learned so much with those people. I learned a lot medically at the clinic (saw babies born, malaria diagnosed, and many wounds) but more importantly I learned to love people the way the Lord does.

The children that we loved on these past two weeks have never experienced running water. They barely have clothes to wear and just enough food to live on. Most of them have some kind of parasitic or fungal infection and none of them had ever used a real flushing toilet, so you can imagine the smells of some of them. But somehow, I didn't see any of that. The Lord allowed me to see each of them as individual and absolutely beautiful. I gave more hugs and piggy backs than I have in my whole life. I made sure to tell all of them that Jesus loves them and I prayed for as many as I could remember their names. I believe that is what God does for us. We are those kids, we are dirty and disgusting in our sinful state but God still looks on us with love. He sees each of us as a beautiful individual that His son died for. It is beautiful when You are able to show God's love in such a practical way.

We also were able to experience what it means to reach the truly unreached. We drove about an hour down an unpaved road and then about two hours through the african bush (we got stuck a few times and the darkness made a fun obstacle too)then we finally reached a tribe that had only seen white people a handful of times. None of them were educated at all so we had to share stories of the Bible because they had no way of reading or writing any kind of study of the Bible for themselves. I had no idea what it meant for people to be truly unreached. I am so thankful that the Lord opened my eyes to that reality. I'm so spoiled to have a Bible that I can read and studies and encouragement at my fingertips.

Please be in prayer for these people that they will be faithful in meeting together and that someone will rise up to teach them on a regular basis. Life here continues to be a challenge but one that the Lord has been so faithful in guiding me through.

 I can't wait to show pictures and share stories of my time here. Please continue to pray for us and the people here. That their hearts would be continually open to our words and that they will love the Lord more because of us being here. I love you all! -Mary

Marybeth

Yesterday afternoon i held a little baby girl minutes after she was born. Her mother didn't care to take care of her so we were able to love on her the first few minutes of her life. In Africa they don't name the baby until a week after they are born, so Janet and I named her Marybeth (my name and Jan's middle name). Marybeth was 2months premature and wasn't breathing well on her own. We left the clinic that night praying that she would be able to get to the hospital (about 2 hours away) and get the care she needed.

However, God had a different plan. Baby Marybeth died just hours after Janet and I spent time with her. We were the first to hold her and to talk to her. We told her that Jesus loved her and we prayed for her. Little did we know that we would be the only ones that would love on her or name her.

God has been doing so much in my heart. He has been not only letting me learn so much medically but He has been changing my heart. He is helping me to truly love, and showing me the importance of seizing every moment. We never how He is going to use us. Thank you for your continued prayers for myself and the team! We are all doing well and are truly loving our time here! God is good, even when life is hard.

  Love Always, Mary

"Our task here on earth is to show the world an accurate reflection of what God is like. To show them, through our lives who God is."

living and learning

We finally have internet for a few minutes so I wanted to be sure to update you all on my trip so far. It has been such a blessing being here with these people. They are so loving and hospitable. They share the little they have without thinking twice about it. Everytime the kids see us coming they call us "brunee" which means white people. They flock to us and we get to love on them! I can't wait to show you all pictures and tell the stories that I already have. I have been able to help at the local government run clinic just down the road from where we are staying. It is an interesting challenge helping here. It is hard because you can't understand them but once you break that barrier you are really able to help. The need is so great and it is a blessing to help in anyway. Today we were able to go to a village about 20 minutes from where we are staying and give free medicine and consultation to the people. We saw over 80 people in a matter of hours and over 90% of them had malaria. Unfortunately, there was more need than we had medicine but we were still able to pray with them and give other medication that we had. So far my time here has been such a blessing. It hasn't always been easy though..showering in the rain, flushing the toilet by pouring water down it and sweating all night is not easy, but the Lord has been so faithful to us and we are excited to continue this journey! I will update more as I can! Thank you for your prayers..keep them coming! Until all have heard, Mary PS so far, no sickness on the team! Praise the Lord!!

we are here!

We finally made it after a lot of traveling! It has been so nice to spend the last few days relaxing as a team as we prepare to head to the villages and serve tmrw. It is a 8+ hour drive on tough roads tomorrow so pray for endurance amd strength for all of us. It has been so awesome to get to know my team more as well as the Ghanaians here! Thank you for all your support and love. The internet situation here is very sketchy so I might not be able to update very often but I will do my best! I love you all! Until all have heard, Mary

and we're off...

The time has come! After such a great time in orientation and a lot of team building we are finally ready to go! We leave in just a few hours for London and then Ghana from there. I'm so excited to see what God is going to do in and through our trip! Keep praying and I will try to update this as much as I can! :)
Mary

Our team is 5 pre-med, 2 nursing, and 2 other students. We are all excited to get to know each other better :)

Orientation

Wow. It's hard to believe that the time has come for orientation and then in a few short days Ghana!! I flew into West Palm Beach, Florida today and will be spending the next four days here getting to know my team and learning more about Ghana and the trip ahead! So far I have met my team, (whom I love) I think that we are all uniquely gifted and will really compliment each other well! We have also been able to meet over 80 other students that are going all over the world with Pioneers as well! It's been a fun time of fellowship as well and worship together! (We got a little beach time in there too! My Indiana skin needed some vitamin d). We will continue in orientation till we leave for Ghana Thursday night! :) please keep praying for myself and the team! Pray also for the people that we will encounter this summer, that they would be receptive to our help as well as the gospel! Much love!
Mary

I attached some pictures of beautiful West Palm Beach :)