Jamaica Update

So I just returned home from my week-long trip to Montego Bay, Jamaica, where I was learning about eye surgery, specifically Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery (or MSICS), which is the primary procedure we will be performing on the YWAM Liberty.

I had no idea what to expect on this journey, just that I would be learning about eye surgery and how to scrub in as a nurse. I did learn SO much, including how to scrub in, how to set up a tray, what the pre/post operative teaching and procedures are, and got some really good ideas to implement when I am running the clinic on the ship.

Learning how to apply a drape

I also learned more than just medical procedures. The trip was being operated through an organization called Surgical Eye Expeditions (SEE) International. This isn’t a Christian organization, and the other volunteers who were on the trip were not Christians. It was a very interesting experience for me to be in a mission/volunteering environment, and yet to be in a secular environment as well. God’s transforming of my heart really became evident to me when the pressure was on, people were getting frustrated and bickering, and I was able to react with calm, peace, and forgiveness.

They knew that I was part of YWAM, and am a Christian, and I was able to share a lot about YWAM and my own story with them. I don’t know what they thought about me, or if anything I said had an impact on them, but I felt a sense that they knew I was different in a way that they couldn’t quite put their finger on. I prayed for each of them a lot that week, and continue to pray for them, that the seeds I was sowing would resonate in their heart and fall on good soil.

The team!


It was challenging being the only Christian, and not having anyone around to debrief with, but I know that I was well covered in prayer, and I felt God’s presence in that operating room every single day.

Definitely the best part of the whole trip was post-ops! Taking the patches off and seeing the joy in the patient’s eyes when they were suddenly able to see again! It was also touching to hear that some of them had been asking to see me during their post-op appointment, because I had been able to make a connection with them during the surgery.

Dr. Kondrot with an overjoyed post-op patient


Ultimately this trip re-confirmed my decision to move to Papua New Guinea and to assume the role of ophthalmology clinic coordinator. I couldn’t be more excited to continue God’s work in PNG and bring God’s joy and life back into people’s lives!

Me and Shirley!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Two Days Until Launch!

Image
 I can't believe it's already time! As I'm writing this, I fly out of Kona in 48 hours for a two month outreach, split between Papua New Guinea and Fiji.  Over the past three months or so I've been fundraising and preparing to go back to PNG and to serve onboard the YWAM Koha in Fiji. I have been so blessed to see the wild generosity of people around me, who support what I am doing and want to help me get there. I am so grateful for you! I got to go home in June to visit family! The last couple months I have been leading the Fleet support office while my ministry leader Conrad has been away. It has been super stretching to be in a position where I need to lead team members spiritually, as well as make decisions and communicate with volunteers onboard the ship as well as with upper management at the base. It's been a really good exercise for me to flex that muscle that I haven't really used since I was in PNG in 2021, and it's really neat to see how the timin
Read more

Exciting News!

Image
 I just recently turned 31, and as I was praying about what would this year look like, and what does the Lord have for me in this year, I felt him explain to me that this past year had been inward; all about me: recovering from living overseas long-term, getting settled and rooted in a new place, and healing and growing. This year is going to be marked by going outward. It's very cool, because I've already seen how the Lord has started opening new doors for me to be able to serve the community in Kona as well as the ministry overseas, and I am even feeling like I have a greater capacity for giving than I did just a month ago.  The exciting news, however, is that I will get to go on outreach this year! Our medical department is putting on a medical seminar from August 21-25, as a way to invite medical professionals to come and be in a missions environment, to learn about key concepts of medical missions, and potentially get launched into medical missions. We are offering an opti
Read more

There and Back Again

Image
 It's hard to believe that I've been back from my outreach for over a month already! Time really flies.  Just in case you missed it: I took a team of nurses from Kona to Papua New Guinea at the end of August, and joined our medical outreaches happening there for two weeks. After that I flew to Fiji, where I joined the YWAM Koha (a vessel operated out of New Zealand), and served as a nurse and supported their clinic leaders for five weeks! It was such an incredible time spent in PNG. I was really nervous to go back, because of how things had gone last time, being so difficult and covid restrictions, etc., but I feel like the Lord really redeemed my time there, and I felt the joy of the ministry and the love for PNG that I had first had when I joined staff in 2019, and I was actually sad to leave and only be there for ten days.  It was such a precious time of connecting with the staff there and encouraging them, building relationships and blessing the people through the medical c
Read more