Honduras MedMissions

Melissa and I just returned from our Spring Break trip to Honduras with MedMissions. The trip was really amazing and altogether different from what we expected. Before we go any further, though - we must introduce you to Dr. Brent Hambrick. He is the founder of MedMissions and has worked in Honduras for the past 8 years. God has been using him to facilitate the evangelistic visions of both the Honduran medical students and the dental students. His heart is to enable the Hondurans to fulfill the vision God has placed in their hearts in such a way that his work will perpetuate itself long after God takes him elsewhere. In addition to all of this, he and his wife have been such an amazing breath of Godly encouragement in our lives as we negotiate the waters of medical school preparing for our calling overseas. It is amazing, on top of all this, to note that Dr. Hambrick has 10 children. Yes, ten.

We were a part of an enormous team on this trip, close to 100 people! This includes 25 doctors and medical students from UC-Davis, 30 nursing students from KU in Kansas, many Honduran medical students, Honduran dentistry students, a handful of Honduran doctors and 2 Oklahoman-Africans. We were split into two school buses each day as we headed out to two medical clinic sites. On this trip, there are two vast areas of blessing for Melissa and I (one planned for and the other totally unexpected):

1 - Sit and listen
The first blessing from this trip was the opportunity to sit at the feet of a number of great physicians who love God and ask them about medicine. We spoke to the various doctors on the trip about the differences in their specialties and escpecially what it was like to operate in those specialties in a foreign country. We plied Dr. Hambrick with questions almost non-stop for the entire ten days and are excited about what we have gleaned. Medicine is not simple to learn (I already knew this), but neither is it easy to coordinate overseas. Dr. Hambrick has a wealth of experience and wisdom from his eight years overseas and he openly shared with us.
For the first time, I feel like Melissa and I have a solid groundwork of information from which to begin prayerfully seeking direction in our calling. We have asked for God to build dreams in our hearts for our future. Dreams are uncomfortable and frightening things to have, sometimes - but without them we can hope to accomplish nothing. Though I still don't know exactly what direction God is leading us - I am encouraged and confident in this: God is in control of our calling and we will he prepared and caught up in His adventure for us. Everyone always asks us what specialty I am going to enter, so I should make sure everyone is up to date on the latest concerning that question. The top three choices (only three really) are:

1. Family Practice - very versatile,
   
1. A short 3 year residency
   
2. Emergency Medicine - ability to handle life-threatening trauma
1. A short 3 year residency
2. Amazingly easy to re-enter the American medical scene at any point in the future
   
3. Surgery - "hard" skills (cannot be learned from text book),
   
1. A strenuous 5-6 year residency,
   
2. Excellent for family life (not away from home often)
   

2 - It's weird to have a twin
The unexpected blessing came in the form of another medical, "future-missionary" couple. David and Krichele Jeffcoach are a young couple who were married this summer, just before David began his first year of medical school. They are living in CA and counting the days until they can answer the calling on their lives and go overseas. They are not sure exactly where the Lord is sending them, but are willing to go anywhere. David is currently considering specializing in family practice, emergency medicine, or surgery. Sound familiar? It is rather uncanny the number of similarities exist between us and the Jeffcoaches. They also have a blog on blogger to keep all their friends and family up to date, but Krichele isn't ready to unveil it to the world so we won't link to it, yet.
The most remarkable thing, however is how refreshing and encouraging it was to my heart and Melissa's, to spend time with like-hearts. Medical school is an arduous process that taxes all resources - time, energy, marriage, friendship, rest, etc. In the midst of it all, though, God loves us so much that he bestowed on us an unlooked-for gift in this quirky friendship. So many times God has proven himself faithful to not only provide for us, but to surprise us with sudden breathes of fresh air. As we obey and submit to the call God has on our lives, he delights to reward us with lavish tokens of His love.

"If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love..." John 15:10

The beautiful Honduran scenery ( a welcome change from Oklahoma winterland)

OMM on a Honduran lady


Melissa being medical!!

More OMM

David and I seeing patients (medicine is serious work)

Melissa and Krichele (and Robin) outside the women's health clinic

The Watsons and the Jeffcoaches - future medical missionaries

An absolutely gorgeous waterfall (we went into a cave behind it!)

We got a scooter!!

Well hello faithful and massive fan base!

Melissa and I have enormously portentious news which will not surprise you at all (after reading the title). No, we are not pregnant (that is in God's hands, and He has been known to be a little unpredictable - but this update involves no babies). Melissa and I, after debating/praying/pondering/waiting/wondering/waiting, have purchased a fantastic scooter. We are now deliciously European (or so we like to think). In order to avoid becoming too European and to preserve our deep ties to Africa, we have decided to name our scooter, "Mzungu." It is Swahili for "white person." Rather apropo I think.

First let me regale you with the numerical and logical (Joelian) support for this frivolous purchase. They are in a numbered list, of course, for all logical things can be enumerated:

1. A 2005 Genuine Stella scooter gets approx. 90 mpg
2. Insurance for a scooter runs less than $100 per year (yes, year)
3. Tulsa is the ideal city for scooters with it's paucity of highways and abundance of smaller roads.
4. We plan to garage one of our cars for the better part of the next 9 months to save gas, wear-and-tear, and possibly insurance.
   

Second, let us bask in the warm glow of the delight of a scooter (a decidedly Melissian flavor). Ponder that scarves are made to flap behind scooter-drivers... Melissa has scarves, they make her happy. I think my wife looks like she belongs on a scooter. Melissa loves sunshine... in fact I think she draws her remarkable powers from it's rays. Scooters offer unrivaled sun access. And finally, le piece de resistance - two people can fit on a scooter.

Between the logic and beauty, I hope you can see why it was imperative that Melissa and I secure a scooter. We plan to be safe, to have fun, to save money, and to wear scarves.

Our Lives

Hi!

We thought we would take a moment to give a brief update of where we are in life :

Our Christmas holiday was WONDERFUL. Really refreshing for our bodies, hearts and marriage. We spent time with great friends, saw the beach and the mountains, and just overall had a wonderful time - we won't lie, it wasn't easy coming back to Tulsa and medical school! But one of the best parts of our trip was that we were able to take a step back and dream about where God is taking us - only 2.5 more years until Joel is done school!! How crazy, and how ready we are...

On getting back, Joel jumped back into medical school craziness. He's signed up for his first round of boards this summer. Just to give a brief overview of where he is in the process, here is what the medical journey looks like:
Medical School
Year 1: In classroom, studying really hard, stressed out
Summer 1: Last summer of his life (yay Kenya)!

Year 2: In classroom, learning about the "real stuff" that doctors do, getting ready for the first round of board exams (there are 3 in total). Also signing up for year 3 rotations, which are spent in the hospital -------- Joel is here
Summer 2: About a 3 week "break" where you study for boards, take boards in June

July - June of Year 3: Every month Joel will be in a different specialty (e.g. surgery, OB/GYN, ER, family practice, etc.) At least 1 to 2 of these rotations will be out of Tulsa. Joel has 10 rotations that he must do, and then 2 months that are "electives". He can choose where he would like to go and do rotations during these months, and has the opportunity to take a month off if he desires.
June of Year 3: Round 2 of boards

July - May of Year 4: Another 12 straight months of rotations. However, there are many more elective months in this set. The reason for this is so that Joel can visit places that he would like to apply for residency after med-school. The way that residency works is that the student has to pick the place, and the place has to pick the student. All the choices are put into a giant database and then the ones that match are options for Joel.
September - January of Year 4: He will have to decide what specialty he wants to go into, do rotations at hospitals around the US that offer this specialty and then put in his picks by January(ish) of his 4th year. He finds out early spring what his choices are...(p.s. at this point there are three specialties that interest him : family medicine, pediatrics and ER doc...we will see what God does!)
May of Year 4: GRADUATION FROM MEDICAL SCHOOL!!! He is now officially got a D.O behind his name and will be addressed as "Dr. Watson"
June of Year 4: 3rd round of boards - all three rounds of boards MUST be passed or his medical degree is useless - this is the official licensing for doctors.

Residency (3-4 years)
Starting in July(ish) after his graduation, Joel will go into several years of residency at a hospital. These years are usually pretty crazy, as the residents get the "brunt" of the workload and are not very respected. It will get better the further he goes into it. It will be at this point that we will most likely have to leave Tulsa, depending on where he gets matched for residency.

To the missionfield!!!
Finally, when we are about 33 years old (in about 6.5 years), we will FINALLY be off wherever God will lead us...this is what it's all been worth it for :)

Hopefully that helps explain where we are and how much further we have to go...Joel is studying hard for his first round of boards, and has put in his preferences for rotations, which we should find out about in the next few weeks, and we will let you know :)
Besides school, Joel is finishing up being the President of the Christian Medical Association this year, and is looking forward to having some really cool speakers hosted by CMA speak to his school.

Melissa got back from the Christmas trip really refreshed - ORU has been a little bit of a stress over the last few months, but it's been a blessing to see God moving!
ORU is only down less than 1% in enrollment for the spring, and there is already a different atmosphere on the campus as it moves away from a "fear-based" society. The Lord's hand has been gracious. As well, Melissa has been excited to see God renew her heart for her job - going into year 4 (crazy)! Some exciting opportunities have arisen for her to potentially get some new responsibilities with the freshman that would not only mean new challenges, but a potential pay raise. This is a HUGE blessing for us, as we are hoping to begin making some serious payments towards our undergraduate debt in May as a way to start working towards leaving for the mission field in years to come.
She is still loving her master's program here at ORU - Teaching English as a Second Language - and is on course to finish in the Summer of 2009. Every week she gets to be in a class with people from all over the world who are wanting to learn English - last night there were people from Burma, Northern Iraq and Mexico - what a GREAT chance to love people and share the love of Christ right here in the US! We are both looking as well at what other places she needs to continue getting an education. We don't have all of the "picture" complete for where God will bring us, but we both believe that Melissa has some more things that God wants for her to learn before we head out. We will keep you updated.

Speaking of heading out, we had a really great chance to head to a missions conference down in Waco, TX a few weekends ago with some precious friends of our (the Stices). It was a great time to have our hearts refreshed and challenged, as well as connect with some dear friends. We hope to work with them in the future...they are headed to Egypt this summer for an intensive 6 month visit where they will be in an Arabic language school as well as praying about long-term move there.
Another really cool opportunity has risen for us to head to Honduras over our Spring Break (in March) with a doctor that we connected with through Papa Joel and Mama Marie! This doctor and his wife have 10 kids and have spent much of their lives ministering overseas - and they have a stateside ministry to help doctors grow passionate for the worldwide need. Melissa has been given permission to take off a week of work, and on March 14th we leave Tulsa for a 9 day medical trip. Joel will get the chance to do "doctoring" things, and Melissa will....learn and pray (we are still waiting to see exactly how she will be able to serve). We are soooo excited to take our first trip together in this vein, and look forward to God moving in our hearts as well as seeing His plan for us as a couple become clearer.

One last thing - we love our church. It has become such a beacon of hope and life to our hearts. We have joined a FANTASTIC small group that is intentional about doing life together - and we are able to have a place to grow, learn and express our passion for the Lord and His work...we can't say enough how much we have loved it.

Long update, hope that its' been insightful for some!

Manly Man