Hi everyone, I’m coming to you on limited sleep. So, if this doesn’t make sense, stick around, I’ll do my best to explain it to you.
Recently, I have been spending time figuring out how to manage people’s expectations. Everyone knows I try to be very honest in my blog, so I think we will keep with that theme.
Being the medical coordinator for SRI and the only medical person on staff means constantly managing or working on a lot of things. One of the biggest things I have recently been expressing frustration with my family about is how I help manage the expectations of the American teams who come, versus the reality of what is accomplishable in 4 days in San Juan.
– How many surgeries are enough surgeries, and after this week, how many are too many?
– How do you help people accept the reality of Haitians in the Dominican Republic?
– How do you help people see that even though the needs of communities have changed, there are still needs in San Juan. We don’t need to get on a bus and travel far to find need.
– How do you help people realize that even if we think it’s a great idea, it might not be so great to locals?
– How often should we be serving in different communities?
– How much medicine should we be giving?
– How do we build back up our surgery teams?
– How do we help teams that are passionate about education accept the cultural differences to best give education??
These are just a few things I think about pretty regularly, and wonder how I can best help shift the mindset to continue growing our ministry. I’m also wondering how I should be working to manage other people’s expectations, which has me wondering how I need to better manage my own expectations and acknowledge the need to identify the expectations I have for myself and others. leads me to two questions: what are God’s expectations of me, and what are my expectations of God?
I think it’s safe to say we all have expectations we have put on God to answer our prayers in our time. To give us a clear picture of where our lives are going and what the next steps are. To bless us with enough money to buy the things we want and to be able to care for our families as we want. But when we take a step back and think about what God’s expectations are of us, it’s not the same. When I think of what God expects of me, I think he expects me to be obedient to his word, to live like Jesus, full of mercy, compassion, and grace toward others. He wants my heart. So why do I often look to God when I need him to fix or provide something? As my last blog, life has been pretty busy.
The American Staff spent 3 days together away from San Juan, spending time sharing our testimonies and resting at the beach.
I didn’t get the pharmacy moved, but I did get it organized and ready for the last set of teams. I have been trying to update the email addresses I use for team communication and for our manuals. Computer work isn’t always my favorite; I usually put it off till I can’t wait anymore. So now that I’m ready to do those things, of course, I am having some issues with my computer updating and running slowly.
My friend Devon was here for a week! She quite possibly had the slowest week of her life here in the DR. It rained every afternoon and evening, but we still managed to take a few day trips. We first went to San Jose de Ocoa to pick up portable dental chairs for our team coming next week. What I thought would be a quick trip quickly turned into a day in Ocoa when we made friends with the sweetest lady. She had prepared lunch to share with Devon, Bianca, and me, and we sat and talked for a while about her life, her service as a sister in the Catholic Church, and more. I asked Bianca if we could bring her to San Juan with us. I’m certain everyone who visits the SRI guesthouse would love her as much as we did. The day made me slow down, sent reminders of my great-grandparents who have been gone for many years, and helped me remember them. The next day, we took a trip to Barahona for a beach day. I couldn’t convince Devon to eat the fish, but we both fell in love with the little puppy under the table. The beach wasn’t very busy, and we made it home before dark.
The next week, we hosted a barrio team from Louisville, a new team that did the best job for a small team!
This week, we are hosting a general surgery team. Some people are from Maryland, Florida, and Pennsylvania. We completed 20 general surgery cases, thyroids, hernias, gallbladders, and more. Because there were some complicated cases, we had some very late nights staying until 2:30am. This week has definitely taught me a lot about how to better prepare for surgery teams. I’m always so thankful for the clinic staff who go above and beyond to help us care for our patients during the week. We couldn’t do it without them! This week, we even had some help from Dr. Pena and Dr. Caceres to help us end the week with a shorter night!
Next week, we are hosting a small dental team who will work at the clinic to perform dental cleanings, fillings, and extractions. feeling well before the surgery week this week, and spent two days at home trying to rest before the long weeks. I was feeling so lousy that I decided to reach out to some friends to pray for me as I tried to rest. I’m so thankful to have friends I know I can text, who will pray and then follow up with me. It has been a long week, but recently I heard a video on social media that says, “How grateful should we be to be tired from a job that we once prayed to have?” So, that’s the mid set I’m going to carry with me as I wait to go home and rest in bed tonight. How lucky am I to serve in the position I currently do? I hope that as time goes on and stress and frustrations build, I can remember that I am lucky to serve where I am now.
Prayer Request:
– Continued prayers for my sister as she continues her cancer treatment.
– Clarity & Peace for my decision to extend my time here in the Dominican Republic.
– For times of rest during busy weeks.
