Missionary Medical Intensive (MMI)

The box piles that need sorted haven’t diminished in the least, but a million other things are happening! It’s great to be back at our home church and involved in our ministries there again. Lance works at church once a week and thoroughly enjoys everything he’s learning during the pastors’ meetings he attends and the interaction he has with everyone on staff. I’m involved with a women’s community group and am learning from and assisting our children’s area coordinator as I have time. The boys are settling in as much as they can, knowing that this is temporary and someday called April (whenever that is, next week?) we’ll move to somewhere called Romania (wherever that is, is it close to the cousins?). We continue on as you all do, trying to find the right balance between work and home, kids and busyness in a whirlwind called life, trying to not be distracted from what really matters and striving to not strive, but to let Him live through us. 

​In my women’s class during our missionary training year at The Master’s Mission (TMM), I learned about a two-week medical course for missionaries through Equip International. As medical training wasn’t a part of our TMM year, we were very interested in taking the course. We knew we wouldn’t be able to take it together, since it’s too intensive to bring along kids, but weren’t sure what to do since two of the sessions, out of the three more times it was going to be offered before we leave for Romania, were already full. So, we did what our pastor off-handedly commented we should do, “Well, we’ll just pray about it and see what happens.” Two days before the October training started we got a call saying there was a cancellation and they asked if one of us would be interested in coming. So, two days later Lance drove 9 hours to take a medical missions training course for two weeks. Sometimes, it’s nice to not know what’s coming next, because there’s no way a two week course on anything fits into our lives right now!

Here is a description of the Missionary Medical Intensive (MMI) course he’s taking, from their website:
Lectures, which are presented by various instructors with experience in the developing world medicine, include Patient Evaluation, Logic of Diagnoses, Infectious Diseases, Common Diseases, Lacerations and Midwifery.

Labs will give hands-on experience in physical examination, suturing lacerations, injections, calculating dosages and rehydration fluids, stomach tubes, splinting, bandaging, improvisation, sterilizing and developing personal medical kits. MMI could literally be a lifesaver. 

MMI is an intense two-weeks of lectures, labs, homework and Christian fellowship.

​This was the strangest text I got from him while he was at training, (to let me know he couldn’t text anymore): “Alright – I’m putting gloves back on. Suturing a banana and pigs foot…” Indeed.

– Ruth, for our family.