First two weeks in India

At 3am we headed to the Perth International Airport to head to India! We loaded up and I could feel the anticipation building up for our outreach! We first thought we could check in as a group, but they wanted us to do it individually. So, we got in line and check ourselves in. It went fairly quickly and easily. We then headed to customs. Met a guy who was working there and got to talk to him and by being nice he was delighted. Kept going now to security check. It was quick and almost painless. I kept going through the sensors with some sort of metal on! Finally, after the third time going through I was cleared! Wahoo!!!!! Now it was time to sit at our gate and wait to board. Emirates Airlines is a very nice airline and I love the flight attendants uniform, too! We headed to Dubai first! Once we landed there it was so cool! They had many different types of stores there! They even had a Starbucks! I was able to get a triple shot coffee! It was not the best coffee I have ever tasted, but it was still good. We then got on the plane and headed to India! This flight was a little bit harder for me, because they only served Indian food. I couldn't eat it. The food I did eat didn't settle well with my stomach! Had GI issues at the end of the flight! NOT a way I wanted to start my first day in India! We landed in India and it was a little warm, but you could feel the cool breeze on your face. We had to get our luggage and that was a little task in itself, but it did go really smoothly for 20 people traveling together! Not one piece of luggage was missing! Praise God! We had one of our ladies friend from her DTS come pick us up. He and his friends picked us up on a bus! They even loaded our luggage on top of the bus for us. It was quite the adventure upon arrival. The smells of India had brought me to the first time I ever came to India back in 2005! It was really nice and I was just taking in this new city. We arrived at our home, for the next 3 months at least, and we unloaded and found our bed. I can't believe I am in India! How awesome is God! The first week here in India was more about getting acquainted with the area and telling people about this awesome God we serve. We went to go buy our Punjabi's and got them to the tailor. I wore the same Punjabi for 5 days before I was able to have a choice of Punjabi's to wear each day. That was actually really easy for me to do considering the fact that I was having to wash my outfit every night! I actually only washed mine twice during those five days:) We got to take a tour of the hospital we will be working at and got to meet some of the dimas(the ladies who do all the cleaning and so much more), the sisters(These were the nurses of the hospital), the doctors( the post-grads), and the madame's( the actual doctors). It was a lot of fun meeting Sister Elisabeth. She is a christian working at the hospital and she invited us to her church. During the week, we also got to do many things with Stefanie's friend from her DTS. He was our translator and got us some prime spots to do an open air for the public. The second week is where we got to actually put the things we learned in Australia into practice! I got to witness my first birth and be with the mom the whole way through it. I never thought that I would actually like to be with the mom the whole time, but I do. I remember when I was in high school I said that I love to be a nurse, but I would never want to work with the mom's in the labor and delivery ward. Look at me know! I am loving every minute and wishing I could spend more time with them. The hospital here is not like a western hospital at all. The women here are treated like they are cattle being herded into a room and then as quickly as possible send them out. All I know is that I want to be like the boy with the starfish that were washed up on the shore. He made a difference in each starfish's life one at a time! So, I want to be like that with each woman I come in contact with here in the hospital. Some days it is harder than others. I am so eager to watch many deliveries and get my hands in as much as possible, but wanting to be with one woman at a time. God has given me lots of patience and grace. It is hard some days to see women treated this way, but I know that God wants to change it. He will use us for this task even if it is to show compassion to the women. I am excited to see what God has in store for me these next 2 1/2 months! This week so far I was able to deliver one baby! It was such an easy birth. The mother was a trooper and the baby was quite eager to see this world. I was lead by God to pray for this mom and her baby before she gave birth. I believe God asked me to pray for a safe and peaceful delivery. Sure enough the delivery was peaceful and it was safe. The baby is really healthy considering what we found out after the delivery. The baby's cord had a true knot in it. She was beautiful and the mother was at the time of delivery not too happy that she had a girl. Later on after we got to stitch her up she was actually really happy that her daughter was very beautiful and that she was healthy. We prayed over the baby girl and we got the name Aina. Which means one of a kind in Finnish (I think?)! It might mean that in another language. I just can't remember exactly! I am excited to see what God does this next week. I will try my best to update as much as possible! Especially when I have delivery stories to talk about! Until then, May God bless you and your family!