New experiences!

Hello dear friends and family. Here's how my life has been this past week. On Monday through Wednesday I worked at Vadamalayan Hospital in Madurai. Every day I am seeing and learning new things. This specific hospital is very large for an Indian hospital and very advanced. I have seen such things as CT scans, an endoscopy of the stomach, and many accident and emergency cases. The doctors are very helpful in explaining the procedures. In the states I would never be allowed to just walk in and watch some surgery. Yet, here they love to have students watching and observing. I am seeing and learning so much! Earlier this week an Anaesthesiologistshowed me how to put a feeding tube down through the nasal passage. Then he said "next time you try". He as well explained and showed me how to put in an I.V. Hopefully I'll be able to try both next week. The staff are well educated and eager to teach me.
The last few days(Wednesday evening through Friday) four other girls and I have been at a Leprosy Hospital. It's hard for me to put into words all I saw those two days. I've never before seen Leprosy patients so wasn't sure what to expect. It broke my heart to see the men and women suffering from Leprosy. Some of the patient's hands and feet were only knobs. Others were missing fingers or toes. And, becuase they have no feeling, in surgery the doctors just cut away and the patient never feels a thing. It's crazy! One man was missing a toe and the nurse was digging into his foot It was infected and she was cleaning it. I could see all the way to the bone. My stomach was a bit upset.The nasty wounds as I experienced with the Leprosy patients are the worse I have seen yet in India. There were many other cases but I won't write more for those with a weak stomach. :)
Now I am back in Madurai and having a more relaxing weekend. I really enjoy the family I am living with. Ish and Medu, the daughters are fun to talk and spend time with. Ish and I enjoy taking walks together. She tells me about her beliefs and culture and I share with her about mine. I think tomorrow the girls and I are going to go shopping at the local markets. There is always much to see when walking or driving down the streets in India. Horns are forever honking, dusts always assailing the eyes and people smiling and saying "hello, how are you?". A person has to be extremely alert so as to not get run over by vehicles. Pedestrians certainly to not have right of way here! I feel after two weeks I have for the most part adjusted to the Indian culture. It's such a hard culture to explain..... but if I were to explain it ,this is what I would say. Just think opposite of the American life, and this I feel would describe the Indian life.
Well, hopefully this entry gave you a better idea of what I am doing in India. Though I am enjoying myself here, it will be good to see all of you when I return! Please continue to pray for me! Thanks for reading and blessings to you all!!! Rachel

Living in India

Hey it's me again. I have had a busy and interesting week! On last Wednesday I started working at Vadamalayan Hospital. Indian culture is extremely relaxed , thus after waiting in different offices and speaking to a handful of people I finally was told to go to Dr. Muralidhran's office. His name is an handful, I still don't think I pronounce it correctly. :) It seems all the names here are super long and hard to say /remember. Oh well I just smile, nod my head and make up nick names. :) It was pretty hectic my first day because there really wasn't a set schedule yet and I didn't know where to go or what exactly was expected of me. the first unit I went into was the ICU unit. there were six beds all full of patients. The Vadamalayan hospital is a big hospital with many special areas. In ICU I patients suffering from such cases as Septic Shock and seizures.
The second day I went into the Cath lab and witnessed a Coronary Angiogram. Extremely interesting! I as well was able to go to the Emergency ward. There I fed an older Indian man his lunch, he was hypoglycemic. Two other patients had been in vehicle accidents. This does not surprise me, the driving here is insane! One of the Doctor said that the third cause of deaths in India is due to car accidents.
There is so much to see and learn at the hospital! Often I will ask the nurses questions but they do not understand English very well. Thankfully the doctors know English and are good about answering my questions. Because of the language barrier I often feel useless but try my best to assist the staff as much as possible. It seems that smiling and toiuching goes a long way in communicating! :)
This last weekend I went with six other Projects Abraod volunteers to a coastal town on the Western side. After a ten hour train ride we finally arrived at our destination. I was the only christian and so am experiencing new challenges in my walk with God. He has become so much more real to me! He truly is the only one I have right now to rely on. Scriptures that I always read over before without much thought are becoming alive. He is my sustainer and the only one to trust and believe in. The family I live with is Hindu. Please continue to pray that I will show Christs love to those I am around. I must go now. Tonight we are celebrating Ish's 18 b-day. She is one of the daughters of the family I am living with. Much love, Rach

Arrival in India!

Wow, I am finally in India! After 36 hours of flights and layovers I was ready to for Indian soil. I think I am still trying to catch up on sleep. I arrived in Chennai at 11:30 p.m. and thankfully a nice Indian man who I sat by on the plane helped me with my connecting flight to Madurai. I was a bit overwhelmed. I think he liked the idea of helping out a girl from the USA and I needed the assistance so didnt argue. He is Hindu and in the airport we talked about different religions and beliefs. He was very open to the gospel, hopefully he'll think back to our conversation. He was very heplful and genuinely kind. Then once he left I had 6 hours to wait for my flight to Madurai. Sitting in the waiting area and looking around I realized I was the only Westerner. Was pretty exciting... Thankfully when I reached Madurai there was a Projects Abroad Indian man waiting for me. We took a taxi two hours to the town ,where the Projects Abroad office is located. On the way we stopped for breakfast and I would say what we ate but cant for the life of me remember the names. All I know is that I ate a pancake of some sort dipped in a coconut sauce and something fried and yummy. ;) Then apple juice shake thing. Once at the office the I met the staff and they orientated me about what I would be doing. After lunch I took the ttwo hour ride back to Madurai where I will be living and working. Nirmala, one of the staff went with me and introduced me to the hospital where I will start working tomorrow as well as the staff. It's so different then in the US everything is so relaxed here. I had forgotten how easy going and friendly the Indian culture and people are. Next Nirmala took me to where I will be living these upcoming weeks. The Indian family is very nice and I think I'll like staying here. There as well are two other volunteer girls as well as a guy who lives on the roof with a room. ( us girls are in the basement) I have only met Emma of the volunteers. She is from France and extremely sweet and helpful. I very relieved that she will be showing my how to get to the Vadamalayan Hospital tomorrow. She works there as well in the pharmacy. This weekend I will be traveling with the other three volunteers to the West coast. They were thoughtful and booked me a ticket before even meeting me. I'm excited about observing and hopefully helping out tomorrow! Thanks everyone for you prayers and encouragement. Please continue to pray that I will be a light for Jesus in India. Rach