Nurse for Vanuatu

Hi everyone,

I hope you are all doing well. It has been a whirl wind of activity over here the past several months as we continue to pioneer our ministry. A few weekends ago my dear friend/roommate/ colleague, Anna and I went away for the weekend. It was a wonderful time of relaxing and unwinding after a busy year of constant change. It was also a great time to reflect on the year, as the busyness of life here in ministry simply ceased to exist in the quite of our room.

Firstly, I realised how incredibly terrible I have been with keeping updates coming out, so sorry for that. I hope that in sharing some of my reflections of this year you will catch a glimpse of what has been happening over here and some of my heart for what I am doing.

A wee while ago I posted this;

“Looking at my life and remembering when I thought I was coming to be just a missionary nurse

I am an accountant, a plumber, builder and electrician. I am a hostess, a cleaner, a mechanic, a gardener, chauffeur, a chef, and translator, a program developer. I am a physio, occupational therapist and a pharmacist. I am a leader and a pioneer on the frontline of missionary nursing! Life here has its obstacles and challenges but it's fun to see how far I have come from that girl who packed up her life and moved over here with a suitcase with a heart just wanting to do good and love with passion.

I am doing it and proud as punch”.

I cannot remember exactly what I was feeling at the time, but I remember I felt super encouraged by looking back on where I have come from. Life here is funny, it feels as if it is moving a million miles per hour yet so slowly at the same time. Super productive and fulfilling yet you can feel as if you're getting nowhere, as change can be hard to see when your constantly emerged in what you are doing.

When I was in New Zealand at the beginning of the year I was sitting in the church I grew up in listening to a sermon of a woman that had been in my youth group years ago. A main point she referred to was this; “if the devil can’t make you bad, he will make you busy”, woaahhhh that goes straight to the heart doesn’t it?? Well it did for me, and it’s stuck around with me. It was not until a few months ago when I was feeling very tired and constantly feeling run down, I remembered it and took time to ask God if that was true in my life. I really felt that God was telling me that as different seasons in our lives come and go, we need to be in a place of getting a fresh word from Him. Kind of like in Exodus (Chapter 16:4) and the Lord said to the Israelite's that they needed to go and get fresh manna, "a day’s portion" at a time. I feel He said this knowing that the manna was only good for one day, but also He was teaching the Israelite's to have faith in Him to provide each and every day. For me, this concept can be true in the same way with Gods word, as I have found, you just can’t live off yesterday’s revelation. He wants to tell us new things daily, as what He said yesterday may only be for yesterday.

As I pondered all of this, I realized that dang I am busy, but surely this cannot be about me…? I am doing great things that I know God had asked me to do. I find that often enough in our walks with the Lord we can end up doing things with good intentions. Whether it be that we are still doing something God only asked us to do for a small season, or we feel compelled to do something because it feels like the right thing to do, regardless if God asked us to do it or not. So I prayed and asked, is there something you want me to let go of? I felt quite strongly the need to let go of village pop up clinics and hosting teams for a season. Both things I love doing, especially the village clinics. I toiled with the thought for a while because I knew God had lend me and the ministry into both of these things, and instead of rechecking in, I assumed I was to continue them on. Once I let them go I felt such a peace and lightness come over me. As I said this all happened a couple of months ago, and on reflecting on this a few weekends ago, I realised that my health has continued to steadily improve and I have been feeling so much better all round. Praise the Lord!!!

These things, that God spoke, had run their course and had become false burdens in my life that I had started to carry in my own strength. I love that even if we forget and get caught up in the busyness of life whether it be at home, work or on the mission field, God loves us enough to remind us to find rest, to allow us to release things back into His hands. He truly is a good good father!

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. (Psalm 32:8)

I know this isn’t the typical letter or update I usually send back home, it’s not filled with little childrens' faces and testimonies of Gods awesome work in this beautiful nation of Vanuatu, but it is a testimony of what God has been doing in my heart.

Sorry for the long wait between letters, I hope to send one soon about my great time on the ship, and testimonies from our clinic. I hope in some way this can be an encouragement to your heart as it was to mine. Our father sees us, loves us and cherish us.

A quick update: the volcano

Many of you have sent me messages asking if we are okay, thank you! Please be assured that the volcano is up north away from where I live. Many people have been evacuated from the island and moved to surrounding islands. All are in great need of safe drinking water and food to fill many more mouths. Our ship sailed up to take part in the evacuation of the sick and elderly, making two trips to and from Ambae to safety on another island.

At this stage, there is a lot of smoke and sulfur clouds, but no eruptions, although they have been speculated. Please pray for Ambae and its people. Pray for places to stay, food and water for them. Also pray for the communities opening up to receive them will be blessed hugely and lack nothing. Lastly that their homes, gardens and lifestock on Ambae would be protected.