Thanksgiving

This year has been different then other years in the past. I have been able to experience a season in my life of continual thanksgiving. Tonight I spent the evening with a wonderful group of people at a gathering to celebrate American Thanksgiving. Several missionaries in the Mwanza area got together for a meal and fellowship afterwards. The Lord blessed me with a Canadian Thanksgiving, time spent with family and friends reflecting on all that we have been given and how we are so thankful just before I left for Tanzania and now I get to experience that wonderful celebration again. I thoughtto myself tonight, just how it truly has been a season in my life, this season of thanksgiving.
This week I became more submersed in working at the hospital, although the week was dispersed with many other great experiences such as a day trip to the Serengeti and continuation of language class. I have been truly beginning to feel at home here in Mwanza. The Lord has provided me with increased confidence in my Swahili so that greetings now are becoming more regular and I can slowly begin to create sentences. I find my self in situations where I am challenged to understand, but have been blessed also with many Tanzanian friends that speak English well and are very gracious when I make mistakes. Monday, the health centre was short staffed so the Nursing Officer and I worked directly with patients as we admitted over 10 patients in the course of two hours. It was a day of learning! And that is something I am so thankful for. I was able to learn an essential skill here at the health centre, IV insertion as many patients come to the centre with malaria and need to be treated with IV medication. I never got the opportunity to learn this skill in Canada as there are different things put in place for nurses in hospitals that I have worked in up to this point. I appreciated the guidance and direction from the Nursing Officer and look forward to more skills that I can continue to develop here. Continue to pray not only for the patients that I will interact with on a daily basis but also for the staff, as there are many different stresses on those working in the health centre here in Mwanza. I am learning that having enough money to buy the medication to treat the patients and having enough staff to carry out the treatment and monitor properly are often daily challenges that we must together overcome.
I am also very thankful for my new neighbours! An American couple is moving in to the house next to me this weekend and will be working closely with me at the AICT. Margaret and Gordon Tan will be volunteering in Mwanza for 6 months as well, through the CRWRC. I will be working on a daily basis with Margaret as she is also a nurse and Gordon will be spending his time assisting the General Secretary through the church. It such an answer to prayer that the Lord provided a Christian couple to move in and I look forward to getting to know them more.
Communication to my family and friends has been something that I continue to pray for. Having the Internet here in Tanzania has been a blessing, something that several years ago may not have been as easy to access. I thank the Lord every day for the ability to be able to communicate on a regular basis, even if that is only once a week.
As I prepare for a new week, I am continually reminded of just how blessed I truly am. I have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, there is nothing more precious then that. I was impacted this week by several verses through quite time and friends sharing insight. Psalm 96:1-2 and Psalm 4:8. It is incredible how the Lord speaks to us through His living word at different points in our lives and brings us back to those verses and concepts months later to continue to instil His thoughts in our lives. I am so thankful for His guidance in my life and continue to pray that I will remain in His presence. Thank you for all your support over the last month, I have felt all your prayers and am so encouraged by your kind words and emails.