Back in the States
I thought it might be interesting for you to know a little about my first weeks back in the states after being gone for a year. The week before I left Chimala, I was anxious about leaving....couldn't really decide if it was because I was ready to see family and friends or if I was anxious about leaving Chimala. It is hard to explain. I love my family and miss friends, but Chimala is now my home and the people of Chimala are my family and friends too.
After 48 hours of travel, I was so excited to see my mother and father! I do talk to my parents several times a month. They are a great source of support and encouragement for me and the work we are doing. I am praying for lots of quality talk time with them both as this is the first time in 3 years that my mother has not been in the hospital during my visit....oops, did I say that out loud? So praying we continue to stay well!
Then there are my sister, brother and their families. Need time with them. AND most of all MY DAUGHTER and grand children. One of the worse things about living half way around the world is not staying in touch with my wonderful daughter, Bethanie and her family. My grand children do not even know who I am. And I know that they will not have time to know who I am before I leave. However, being able to see them even for a short time helps.
Trips back home are not just a vacation. Much work must be done to raise support to continue the work. It has not been easy raising the money needed for my personal support and the support needed for the work which I am involved. My first week home was very busy setting up appointments to meet current supporters and presentations to hopefully find new ones. So far I have two trips to different areas of Texas and a week long trip to Oregon. New fund-raising brochures were made, new business cards and a couple other marketing tools ordered. The key to raising money, as I understand it, is that you have to spend some money to make more money. Sure hope these presentations, trips and tools bring in a lot of support.
Then I still need to see the doctor, dentist, get a hair cut, visit the tax man and see the eye doctor. Whew, the time will go quickly and it will be full of stress. Would any of these items cause any anxiety? Oh and then lets add that the car.....the steering wheel is now on the "wrong" side of the car and I am now driving on the "wrong" side of the road. Also some people here spend (waste) more money than I need to raise. A big plus, tho, is all the variety of food available and the restaurants!
Now for the reasons coming home cause anxiety from the "leaving" point of view.
At the hospital, we have a new accountant who has only been there for a couple of months. Still pretty new at doing the accounting and I am trying to help him from halfway around the world. The CEO of the hospital is retiring and his last day was September 12th which leaves another pretty big whole while I am gone. Now don't panick, Chad Wagner, the administrator, is there to watch over things...and I know that I am disposable....but I am such a type A personality that I want things to go well and I hate to add work/stress to one of my team members.
Since I have been gone, one of my Tanzanian brothers has lost his wife to a long-term struggle with her health and the water pump/water distribution system has had lots of problems which has led to several days of no water. Things are being handled, but, again, I wish I was there to help and take some pressure from Chad.
Since I have been writing this blog over several days, I will tell you that I have received around $2,000 in one-time donations from friends. However, I am running around $1,500 per month short. Please if you have ever considered helping with a mission work in Africa, I am continuing to look for monthly supporters. If you are willing to become a monthly partner, please send in a donation to the Chimala address to the right of this post and indicate that you will be a monthly partner. Finding enough monthly partners who will help me reach my monthly budget will allow me to focus more on the work and less on fund-raising.
Also, the hospital has several "special" updating projects which we will be working on this next year. We will be needing extra funds for the following:
Building over the water purification system (which will protect the equipment and staff during rainy season)
Laboratory improvements
X-ray remodel and updated x-ray developer
Replace more of the old mattresses
Each of these special projects will need help with funding. If you would like to help with one of these areas, please send in your donation with a note of where you wish to see your funds used.
May God Bless you all and Bless this work as we continue to administer both physically and spiritually to those in need.
After 48 hours of travel, I was so excited to see my mother and father! I do talk to my parents several times a month. They are a great source of support and encouragement for me and the work we are doing. I am praying for lots of quality talk time with them both as this is the first time in 3 years that my mother has not been in the hospital during my visit....oops, did I say that out loud? So praying we continue to stay well!
Then there are my sister, brother and their families. Need time with them. AND most of all MY DAUGHTER and grand children. One of the worse things about living half way around the world is not staying in touch with my wonderful daughter, Bethanie and her family. My grand children do not even know who I am. And I know that they will not have time to know who I am before I leave. However, being able to see them even for a short time helps.
Trips back home are not just a vacation. Much work must be done to raise support to continue the work. It has not been easy raising the money needed for my personal support and the support needed for the work which I am involved. My first week home was very busy setting up appointments to meet current supporters and presentations to hopefully find new ones. So far I have two trips to different areas of Texas and a week long trip to Oregon. New fund-raising brochures were made, new business cards and a couple other marketing tools ordered. The key to raising money, as I understand it, is that you have to spend some money to make more money. Sure hope these presentations, trips and tools bring in a lot of support.
Then I still need to see the doctor, dentist, get a hair cut, visit the tax man and see the eye doctor. Whew, the time will go quickly and it will be full of stress. Would any of these items cause any anxiety? Oh and then lets add that the car.....the steering wheel is now on the "wrong" side of the car and I am now driving on the "wrong" side of the road. Also some people here spend (waste) more money than I need to raise. A big plus, tho, is all the variety of food available and the restaurants!
Now for the reasons coming home cause anxiety from the "leaving" point of view.
At the hospital, we have a new accountant who has only been there for a couple of months. Still pretty new at doing the accounting and I am trying to help him from halfway around the world. The CEO of the hospital is retiring and his last day was September 12th which leaves another pretty big whole while I am gone. Now don't panick, Chad Wagner, the administrator, is there to watch over things...and I know that I am disposable....but I am such a type A personality that I want things to go well and I hate to add work/stress to one of my team members.
Since I have been gone, one of my Tanzanian brothers has lost his wife to a long-term struggle with her health and the water pump/water distribution system has had lots of problems which has led to several days of no water. Things are being handled, but, again, I wish I was there to help and take some pressure from Chad.
Since I have been writing this blog over several days, I will tell you that I have received around $2,000 in one-time donations from friends. However, I am running around $1,500 per month short. Please if you have ever considered helping with a mission work in Africa, I am continuing to look for monthly supporters. If you are willing to become a monthly partner, please send in a donation to the Chimala address to the right of this post and indicate that you will be a monthly partner. Finding enough monthly partners who will help me reach my monthly budget will allow me to focus more on the work and less on fund-raising.
Also, the hospital has several "special" updating projects which we will be working on this next year. We will be needing extra funds for the following:
Building over the water purification system (which will protect the equipment and staff during rainy season)
Laboratory improvements
X-ray remodel and updated x-ray developer
Replace more of the old mattresses
Each of these special projects will need help with funding. If you would like to help with one of these areas, please send in your donation with a note of where you wish to see your funds used.
May God Bless you all and Bless this work as we continue to administer both physically and spiritually to those in need.
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