Long overdue post!

I just got back to the house from youth tonight. It was a great night. They are changing up youth this year--trying to introduce a time of worship and also to make sure that the kids that are coming truly understand why youth group exists in the first place. It has been neat to be a part of the planning for the past couple of weeks. I have enjoyed watching these young people share their ideas about how to better reach the youth of this community. I must say they have a unique dynamic--denominational and cultural blending. There was a guest pastor that came and gave the message tonight. His message was about how to have passion for God. It all starts with a choice. :) Reminded me of Deut. 30:19-20, "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding to him, for he is your life and length of days." 5 young men accepted Christ tonight and it was so neat to see the young people praying over them and welcoming them into the family! Afterwards, we all hung around and danced as we played songs over the sound system. Man, I wish I had the moves some of those kids have! Maybe I can get some lessons before I leave. :)

I forgot to mention some super exciting news . . . I passed my National Board Exam!!! I found out about a week ago. I had really been experiencing God's peace about it, knowing that He was the one that called me to veterinary school and He would be the one that got me out, but I got so anxious the day I knew they were going to post the scores. Then on top of that, trying to access the website here in Africa was crazy. Evidently everyone else that took the NAVLE was trying to access it at the same time so it wouldn't let me view the page. When I finally got the page to upload, I realized I did not have my id for me to be able to tell if I passed. Then I tried to look at the scenario based on date of examination. Well, my luck 1/7 people who took the board exam on 12/1/09 failed and the only way for me to know was to have my nav id. After about 2 hours of my stomach churning I found an e-mail buried deep in my trash folder that gave me the information I needed. And praise the Lord for His faithfulness. Now all I have to do is take my state boards on April 5 (which is mostly TX laws) and I will be home free until graduation!

This week at the clinic I have been very busy working on making teaching powerpoints that Paula can upload onto an e-learning site for the students to access when they are not in clinics. I am getting really good at taking pictures of bloodsmears and cytologies. We also brought Lafonda (the Ulrich's Africanar dog) up to the school and took a whole series of radiographs in order to find the best settings to make a technique chart for the new CR machine they just got.

Now onto the really cool clinical cases I saw. If you are easily grossed out, please do not continue to read! Last Friday, a couple brought in their little Miniature Pinscher that was 2 months old. She was tiny (0.6kg) and was unresponsive. The owners said that normally she is extremely playful but this morning she had been lying like this and even looked like she had a seizure. I asked them when the last time she ate and they said 5 p.m. the day before. This sent the alarms off in my head--HYPOGLYCEMIA. I took the little one and went to ask Paula if we had a glucometer and some 50% dextrose. They did have a glucometer, but no test strips and they only had 10% dextrose solution in the dispensary. I had Aida go to the kitchen and get some sugar they use for tea, and I made my own. Later on Thato pulled out a bag of 50%, but since it was expired we could only give it orally. I spent the next 1.5 hours putting 1/10cc soln on her gums every 15sec. Finally, she started to swallow, and after lunch she was alert enough to stand. We took a blood sample about 5 minutes after I started treating her, and it was 20mg/dL! Scary low! Advised the owners to allow her access to food all the time as pediatrics have a very hard time regulating their blood sugar and her tummy is so small it can only hold enough to last her 4 or so hours. Tuesday we had a puppy (<3mo class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">bed sheet white! I am not lying! When I first looked I her I suspected PARASITES, but Paula told me that parvo and distemper are very common here. We did a bloodsmear to check for babesiosis and ehrlichia (both tick borne diseases) and I did a fecal. She was so anemic, it was very hard to really evaluate the smears. When I looked at the fecal, there were astronomical amounts of hookworm eggs. On 10x in one field, there were 200+! We told the owner that this pup needed a blood transfusion immediately, and even if she survived that, there was a possibility that with the amount of worms she had she could get an intestinal impaction and still die. The owner wanted to try even though the prognosis was fair-poor. Normally, we would ask someone to bring another dog from their place to be a donor, but because of the severity of the vermification, we felt it would be better to have a different option. Once again, Lafonda came to the rescue. (She got 1/2 a can of tin dog food as a reward for being such a giver!) We collected about 150mL and started transfusing the pup. Within 15 minutes she was beginning to perk up. We had the interns monitor her every few hours and she did well overnight and went home the following day. :) 2 happy endings. I love it when they work out like that! Just for fun, guess how much the bill for the blood transfusion was? 400 Rand which equates to <$50! The cost for a blood transfusion in the states would be about $400!

Please be praying for my Aunt Suzanne and her family as they lost my Uncle Pat this week to lymphoma. Pray that the God of all comfort will pour out His peace and grace on them in this season as they learn to do life on this earth without him, knowing that they will be with him again someday. Thank you all for your continued love and prayers. You are the best family and friends a gal could ask for. :)

Hmmmm, lets see where to begin on this update. Sunday I went to church with the Ulrich's. Afterwards, I went with Logan and Becca to a youth planning meeting. That evening we had Josephine over for her birthday dinner. She was super sweet and it was neat to share with her about Breakaway and Mercy. She began a campus ministry "His People" which is an outreach of the "Every Nations Churches" with 4 people and it has grown to 100. I think hearing about how Breakaway started out as a Bible study with 12 young men and has grown to >6000 was encouraging. It is definetly a small world as we started talking about people within the Every Nations group that we both knew. Bethel World Outreach Center in Nashville, where I went as a Mercy girl, is part of this group. She actually remembered Nancy speaking at their conference the previous year in NYC!!! :)

Monday was back to work. I helped Opa, in charge of post mortem, with posting of 2 calves from the school's farm. One died from a ruminal acidosis and one from heartwater. Then I just helped out in the clinic seeing cases. I have been working on creating some powerpoints of different things (surgical instruments, restraint, bandaging and splinting) for Paula to put up on the web so that the students can have access to them for studying purposes. It is very hard to have anything out from under lock and key here as it has a tendency to grow legs and walk off, so the students need some other alternative for learning these things. I am also working on making a technique chart for their new x-ray machine. I never thought I would have thought I would have to create one. Putting that education to use! :) Wednesday is surgery day here. I spayed a Husky dog. She was in heat and so that made things interesting. Everything was so friable. Our only current inhalant choice is halothane and suture choice is catgut or nylon. I ended up using nylon since she was in heat and absolutely CRAZY!!! I didn't want the suture breaking down too soon, so I just picked one that won't absorb at all.

I had a pleasant suprise happen. We were visiting about sports and once I mentioned that I loved to tumble, Tim shared that at Mmabana (where he goes to work out and where Becca takes dance) they have a gymnastics gym including a ROD FLOOR!!! We went up there yesterday to ask about the possibility of me joining them during my stay here just for some exercise. They were very open to it. It cost me only 40 Rand which is <$6 for the entire month! What a steal. Yesterday I ended up tumbling with them for about an hour. The heat really got to me and I wasn't very smart and didn't bring any water with me, so needless-to-say, I was a bit woozy afterwards. After getting some water I felt much better. I am so sore now though, and I even took some prophylactic NSAID's last night. It is worth it though. :)

Woke up this morning not feeling too good. Was nauseated and couldn't eat my breakfast. Paula suggested I stay home from work. I slept from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. I am feeling better (I think). Think maybe I have just a little virus. Don't worry though, I have an excellent family that is taking GREAT care of me.

Please continue to pray for Haiti, especially for Dr. Kelly Crowdis and Dr. Keith and Jan Flanagan. They are missionaries with CVM over there (that I have gone and worked with) and have been working day and night helping the injured. If you want, you can read Dr. Kelly's blog www.vetmissions.blogspot.com to read what she has been doing since the quake. Please pray for God to continue to sustain them with His strength to continue on. Thank you all for your prayers for me. Til next time . . .

Exhausted

I apologize for not updating since Tuesday night. I have been completely exhausted the past few nights, most likely due to jet-lag, and have crashed before 9 p.m. I know it is hard to believe, but I have awakened at 4:30 a.m. every morning I have been here. The sun rises down here between 4:30 and 5 a.m.! Craziness! I think I am going to have to close the curtains in my room to block some of the light, which means I give up some airflow (the house does not have air conditioning and it is summertime). Good thing the heat doesn't bother me! I spent the past 3 days with Dr. Paula up at the school clinic. I have lots of neat things to tell you all about. I will write a long update tomorrow when my brain is functioning better. Until then, I pray God's richest blessings on you. May you rest in His love today.

Reflections on the week

Wednesday through Friday during the work day, I went with Dr. Paula up to Northwest University. She is a senior lecturer there and is the main veterinarian in the small animal clinic. On arrival, she gave me a tour of the facilities and introduced me to all the faculty and staff. I must say I am on name overload and have a lot of trouble pronouncing their names correctly. They however all already know me by name! The students are not in session yet. Their school year runs February to December (in comparison to the States which run Aug-May). They are starting classes three weeks early this year because South Africa is hosting the World Cup in June and they need to have their spring semester finals finished before it begins. The students should start to trickle in over the next week for registration and then classes begin the first of Feb. Mafikeng, the town where the university is located, is in the Northwest province and approximately 15 minutes from the Botswana border. Almost all of the students at Northwest are Tswana and come from the surrounding towns and villages.

The past few days I have helped in the clinic with seeing cases. There are two small animal technicians, Tshepi and Thato, who are so much fun to be around. There are also a couple of graduates of the animal health program that are volunteering at the school in order to get work experience in hopes of helping them gain employment. (Unemployment in South Africa is 40%.) They are serving as interns, taking care of the hospitalized animals on the nights and weekends, in exchange for living accommodations. They see a lot of tick borne diseases here and do a blood smear on every dog that comes in the hospital (looking for canine ehrlichiosis and babesiosis). Parasites are also a big problem. I counted over 150 hookworm eggs on a fecal from a puppy! No wonder it was vomiting and lethargic! I went out on a farm call with one of the the large animal vets and technicians. It was really fun because we went out to a surrounding village area. The cow had just calved the previous day and they wanted us to look at her because her udder was swollen. When we got there and examined her, she had only one functional quarter (only one teat was producing milk), and it was obvious that this had been going on for a long time and it was likely she would not regain function of those affected quarters. We recommended supplementing the calf with some milk replacer and selling the cow once the calf was weaned. It is hard to recommend selling an animal to someone that has their livelihood tied up in their livestock, but in her condition she would no longer be a productive animal for them. On Monday, I will get to see my first case of heartwater (a rickettsial disease of ruminants).

One of the days, whenever there were no cases, I was up at the front desk visiting with Akofa, the receptionist. She asked me many questions and then she point blank asked me, "Why do you want to do missions?". Talk about an open door. To people who think of America as "the land of milk and honey", it is hard for them to understand why one would be willing to give upthat life, have to raise your own support, and work for a fraction of what you would in the States. Please pray for similar open doors to share with the students as they come back. Pray that I will be bold to proclaim that the reason I am here is to bring the message that Jesus Christ died so that they might have fellowship with God now and in the life to come. Pray that I can share that ultimate fulfillment in life doesn't come when you get a job and make a lot of money and live in a big house and drive nice vehicles, it comes when you know who God is and who you are IN CHRIST. Earthly possessions are nothing compared to the greatness of knowing Christ my Savior! There is a lady named Josephine who has a ministry on campus called His People. She is coming over tomorrow to celebrate her birthday and I am hoping to be able to visit with her and share about Breakaway. Hopefully, once school gets back in swing, I can go to the student meetings.

There is much potential for the school here at Northwest. Professor Beighle, a veterinarian and career missionary, invested years in the students coming through NWU and hard work getting the funds to build the current facility. He spent much time helping students write scientific papers for their Master's and PhD's in a language that was not their native tongue. Many of these students would not have gotten advanced degrees without his influence and encouragement. Rightly so, the facility is named in his honor. The Beighle's moved back to the states a couple of years ago after spending 30 years here. The exciting news is that Christian Veterinary Mission has a great opportunity to step in and help carry out the vision the Lord gave Prof Beighle for the students here at NWU. Currently there is only one veterinary school in South Africa and it is at the University of Pretoria. As of now, they only graduate around 30 graduates a year and many of them move abroad to practice in the UK or Australia, thus leaving a shortage of veterinarians in SA. There is a chance that they might start a second vet school at NWU. Dr. Paula is working (and has worked) very hard to help institute changes and get resources that will help improve the quality of education the students will receive and hopefully give the students at Mafikeng opportunities they would not otherwise get. While the facilities and equipment are improving, they are needing people with the vision and motivation to push things into reality.

Last night I went to the youth group at church with Logan and Becca. It took me back to my old days of youth! I really enjoyed worshipping with them and am excited to get to be apart of that fellowship. Please pray that I might be able to impart any wisdom I can to this younger generation.

Well, it is Saturday afternoon and it is raining outside. Of course, Tim has just hung out the laundry, including the sheets for their bed. He has just threatened that I might get kicked out of my bed in case they don't dry in time! :) What a blessing this family has already been to me. They have provided me with many laughs. A cheerful heart does good like a medicine. Did I mention that mangos are in season! I have had one a day--I figure it keeps the doctor away! May the Lord bless and keep you! Til next time . . .

Safe and Sound Arrival

Praise the Lord for a safe arrival to South Africa. The past week has been a whirlwind of activity. Beau and I flew home on Jan 3 to do wedding planning with Mom and then we flew back to College Station the afternoon of the 8th. January 9th was my friend Kellie Williamson's wedding near Bastrop. Somewhere in there, with the help of Beau, I was able to do laundry, pack, and shop for some necessities for the Ulrich's. Did I mention that we got an e-mail 2 days before we left stating we had to register to take Texas State Boards by Feb 19--one day before I get back to the states! Crazy time.
Sunday morning I had breakfast with some of my friends and then Beau took me to the airport in Houston. I had checked to make sure I was allowed 2 carry-on bags on-line, but upon check-in they told me I could only have 1. Praise God for His favor, the lady checked it as a "courtesy luggage" and so I did not have to pay $200 for a third bag. Saying goodbye to Beau was much harder than I imagined. I know though that the Lord will use this time to grow us closer to Himself and to each other. It took me over an hour to get through security--just in time to run up the escalator, down the terminal, hand them my boarding pass and walk onto the plane.
The first leg of my flight went from Houston to Amsterdam. I sat between a lady from India and a man from Russia. I visited with the Russian man who works for an oil/gas company in the states for about half of the flight. He was very nice. Towards the end of the flight the woman next to me woke up and I visited with her for a while. She has lived in Houston for 8 years and was flying home to suprise her mom who has been sick. Max, the Russian, was very nice and hung out with me during our short lay-0ver in Amsterdam. He flies through there often and was very helpful in navigating the airport. He even bought me a coffee (which are TINY compared to Starbucks in America!).
The second leg of my flight was from Amsterdam to Jo-burg. We were required to go through security again before boarding the plane, which caused us to be 1.5 hours behind schedule. They are trying to crack down on security after the incident that happened over Christmas. During this leg, I sat between a German man and a man from the Netherlands. They were very nice, but I was so exhausted I slept for about 80% of the flight. At one point the stewardess woke me up for ice cream. I just dazily looked at her and shook my head that I didn't want any, and the German guy said, "I'll take yours if you don't want it!". Once we landed in Jo-burg, I met a young lady from Zimbabwe who is in school at Univ. of Penn. She is a believer and we had some great conversation when waiting in line for our Visa's. She has never been to Texas and really is wanting some real "sports". I told her I could probably help with that!
All of my luggage arrived (PRAISE THE LORD). I had strategically distributed all articles of clothing evenly so that in the unfortunate event of a lost bag, I would not be without any "essentials"! They waved me through customs and I had no problems meeting up with the Ulrich's. They were decked out in their Kansas State purple so they were kind of hard to miss! We stayed in a guest house overnight in Jo-burg and the kids (Logan 15, Rebecca 14, and Micah 11) did some post-Christmas shopping. We arrived tonight, Jan 12, in Mmabatho around 7:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m. central time).
Well, I am off to bed. Going to go help my body recover from the jetlag. Thank you all for your prayers. I will keep you updated and know I am praying for you! In Christ alone!