Chilling in the Men's Bathroom

Content warning: perilous situations, descriptions of war.

Concerned parent message: everyone on our team is safe and sound throughout the story

Today contained such a wide variety of activities, from meeting with the deputy health director to art therapy to allergic reactions and missiles so buckle in!

We started the day off by meeting with the deputy health director of the city/obelisk which was a bit uh awkward I guess? I don’t know. Just strange conversations and methods of communication. This deputy was volun-told to take up this unpaid government position, but was still passionate about helping his people and excited that we are here to help.

Intermittently throughout the day we packed pills. It’s a big task regardless of the size of the group but boy was it time consuming with only three people!! But we got it done! Our medical student was really having a great time with pill counting and was seriously stoked for getting to take the pill counting board home at the end of the trip ;) she’s fantastic — I’m so glad we have her!

People are definitely extremely tense, on edge, and exhausted, which caused some conflict within the group, which is interesting. I guess that’s one of the differences with this trip. Most people haven’t been working 6 days a week in a crisis for three years, so it is expected and we try to receive it with grace.

We got to take a therapy break and one of the national therapists led us through a very fun painting class it was funny — the therapist “read” my painting and told me:

• the big sky shows I am very spiritual

• The big trees (were made quite aggressively) indicate I have some anger or aggression bottled up 😆

• The many flowers mean I have so many emotions (like dude stop calling me out in front of the whole class!)

• And the harsh horizon tells her that I’m extremely determined

Anyway, so interesting. She’s doing fantastic work with refugees, formerly captured peoples, and soldiers. They are lucky to have her and it was great to meet her.

This evening is where things get a bit more exciting ;) we had crepes with mystery meat… delicious… but also made with canned tuna. Surprisingly, I didn’t really have any issues, even had a second which was probably a mistake. But after dinner, I started to feel real itchy and then while studying the ECG manual, my throat did start to close :( I popped a Benadryl and it quickly subsided, thank goodness.

I did scare the doctor, so I feel bad about that! But right as he was examining me and making sure that all was well and trying to convince me to take some more medication, our building shook from a missile which had hit the city a ways away.

We quickly made our way into the men’s bathroom where we hunkered down. Our local doctor was watching the alerts and walking us through what was happening while it was happening. The missile was far away from our building, but still in the city. Apparently this is normally a very safe city and has only gotten hit three times since the war started — this strike makes four.

The Patriot system knocked a few more drones and missiles out of the sky so only the first two hit the city and again, NOT NEAR US! While we waited in the bathroom for over an hour, our doctor shared with us about what this war has been like. She lives closer to the border and the fighting and her town has been getting hit multiple times a day since 2022. She is the definition of a frontline worker: working in the hospital seeing the most critical patients six days a week without stopping.

Pray for her and that her spirit will continue to remain strong.

We asked her what the hardest thing she’s ever seen or experienced was. She said,

I really don’t think I could pick one. At the beginning of the war, we thought that was the worst thing we could ever face. The hardest thing we would have to do. But in the following weeks we realized we had no idea what was coming. The worst thing is people who escape torture. The things those soldiers do to our people is inhuman. Whatever you think is the worst thing they could do to a person, it’s worse.

She also shared stories from the occupied territories:

An 81 year old who walked 77 km with a dairy cow moving only during the middle of the night, living off of the milk the cow provided, to escape the occupied territory.

Stories of how limited the communication and medical care is to those occupied areas. I wish I could share all that they do to help each other, but I will not for their safety.

Even the “safe passages” the enemy says refugees can use to leave the occupied regions are traps and they will not hesitate to shoot people as they try to leave.

My big emotions, angry spirit, and determination all make this so difficult to understand and swallow. How can people treat each other in such terrible ways? How do our friends keep pushing on and fighting and rebuilding? When will this end? Why? Why? Why?

It is all a cry to God who knows their sufferings so deeply and is even more grieved than any one person can be at the brokenness of war.

I don’t really know what to say, and I don’t even know how to share their stories adequately, but I do know that God is here with these people every single day and we are all grateful for the strength He gives us to face each day.

Tomorrow, we go to our first clinic and I am both excited and nervous to love on some people and see what the day holds. My job will be running all of the tests! Blood tests, ECGs, urine analysis, if it’s a bodily fluid, I want it! (Actually, yuck, please don’t give me any fluids, but you know what I mean)

I am so excited to see what God does and to meet some more incredibly strong people.