Ashley's Updates

  When I was twelve my parents took our family on a trip to Disneyland, and there was this one ride called the Mali-boomer (like Malibu but boom, yeah?). It was kinda like a drop of doom, but you started at the bottom and it would launch you up and then you would free-fall, and it would do this over and over for a few minutes. That’s pretty much the best way I can describe how these last few weeks have been. There has been so much uncertainty, so many great blessings and so many challenging things all along side each other, and it keeps coming so fast I don’t even know how to process it. The last month has been an absolute whirlwind. We traveled up to Mount Hagen on October 2, not knowing if we would be there for two weeks or two months, because our plans for the last two outreaches had fallen through and we weren’t entirely sure of what God had in mind for us. We didn’t know what type of accommodation we were going to have, but that the hospital was providing it and w...

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So I know you’re all dying to hear about our latest outreach in Mount Hagen (or rather just dying to see pictures, I ain’t judging). Boy, let me tell you, it was a wild ride. Not just because we spent hours riding in land cruisers four-wheeling to remote villages on crazy mountain dirt roads. We slept in rat-infested cabins, we sped by tribal fights along the roads because of the election happening (don’t tell my mom that part), and almost all twelve of us got sick with a gastrointestinal vomiting/diarrhea illness. Honestly, it was a challenging outreach. But despite all those things, God’s goodness and protection was so evident throughout the entire time. Mount Hagen is beautiful, with amazing, loving people who are so incredible and generous. But you can also sense a lot of spiritual warfare, like the darkness is desperately trying to hold onto something it doesn’t actually have at all, because Jesus has already won the war. But the enemy definitely has a foothold, as ...

Important update: I am alive and well, and I have been aboard the YWAM Liberty in Papua New Guinea for the past week! I have spent the last week settling into life with my new ship family, and prepping for our first outreach, which is a land-based outreach to the highlands region of Mount Hagen!  It has been a hectic week of planning, packing supplies, doing inventory, and arranging for volunteers to arrive. Already God has really stretched me when it comes to trusting that He is sovereign, that He loves me, loves what I am doing, and that He will come through for me in the end.  God cares about the little details; tonight as I was trying to pack for this outreach, I felt like there was no way I would get my bag underweight and still include all the supplies we need. But as I uttered a frustrated prayer, that still small voice gave me exactly the answer I needed, and lo and behold, all of our team’s luggage is underweight and we are able to pack everything we nee...

Wow, I can’t hardly believe this, but I leave for Papua New Guinea in just one week! I feel like I still have so much to do and so little time. This last month has been wildly busy for me, because my sister just got married on Saturday! So TONS of prep work for that leading up to it, but its all done now, and it was a really lovely time. Now I’m working on wrapping things up so I can move. I have my last day of work on Thursday, which has a lot of bittersweet emotions with it. Some challenging patients have made it really difficult to enjoy my work over the last few months, but I will definitely miss my incredible coworkers. I’ve also been trying to see and connect with people before I go, along with doing a lot of logistical things. So if you’re not scheduled to see me in the next week, and you want to, shoot me a text and we can try to set something up!                                  It ...

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 secul...

I am so excited to announce that on Sunday I will be heading to Jamaica for a week! Now I know this sounds like I’m going on a holiday (and don’t get me wrong, I’m stoked to go somewhere tropical), but my purpose is actually to volunteer and spend time learning and preparing for my role on the Liberty in Papua New Guinea. Dr. Ed Kondrot is an ophthalmologist who specializes in a specific type of cataract surgery called MSICS, which was specifically developed for use in developing nations. Dr. Kondrot is helping YWAM Ships Kona set up their eye surgery program on the Liberty, and he will be visiting the Liberty in July to help us launch our program. However, prior to July, Dr. Kondrot is participating in various outreaches all over the world, and he invited Liberty staff to come join him for an outreach and learn as much as we can about cataract surgery. As the soon-to-be ophthalmology clinic coordinator, and also the person who is physically the closest to Jamaica (the rest of th...