Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Moving along
Today I finally got the last of the support letters out over snail mail!!! I also just read the blog of a girl who is already in the Philippines and is doing things very similar to what I'll be doing! She was able to observe and assist during a birth today! Her blog is http://shiphramidwife.blogspot.com/ I just cannot wait to be there!!!! Also excited about my graduation on January 2nd! It feels like it's happening fast yet taking so long at the same time! Oh! and I'm turning 18 tomorrow!!!
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Support Letter
Dear Friends and Family,
I am so excited to be writing you all about going on a mission trip! The Lord has given me an opportunity in Manila in the Philippines to serve in a birthing center and a children's home there. The children's home is called the The Little Children's home (TLC) and is currently the home to fifteen orphans, ages newborn to four years old. Jeri Gunderson founded the birthing home while her husband Dennis Gunderson founded the children's home which their daughter and son-in-law now run. They, as well as their 27 staff members (for both children's home and birthing center) focus strongly on adoption. Their vision is to see children brought in, to be cared for, and then to leave again, going home with a forever family! They recognize that an institution should not be a child's permanent home, so are always looking for and praying about the right forever family for each child. The Shiphrah Birthing center, next door to TLC, focuses on giving women a fulfilling, healthy, and empowering birth. They work to provide prenatal care as well as extensive education to mothers and families. Five midwives assist women at the birthing center. The midwives focus also on allowing the father to be involved in the process, to have him in a position to support and care for the mother before, during, and after birth. The birthing center serves 100-150 women every week for birthing classes and prenatal care. For the month of October they had over fifty births at the birthing home! About 30-40 births take place there every month. The birthing center and children's home are under the umbrella of Help International Ministries. Their website is: www.helpintl.org
I first heard about this amazing ministry in January 2009. Jeri and I have now been corresponding for six months about the birthing home and children's home. From the beginning I have been praying about whether the Lord might use me there. I feel that every gift the Lord has blessed me with, every passion inside me fits perfectly with this ministry! I thank God for choosing me for this, I feel so unworthy and so blessed!
Why I feel so drawn to this particular ministry is a long story. From the time I could walk I was completely obsessed with babies! I ache to be taking care of babies, to be holding them and loving on them all the time! I work with babies for about 25 hours a week and I can never get enough! Staying up with a newborn all night would be one of the most wonderful things I could do! I've also become extremely interested in pregnancy and the birthing process. All I want to do is to be there for mothers and babies, to give them what they need during labor, pregnancy, and after birth. I have already seen two births and I feel that they were absolutely life changing for me. I cannot remember the first time I fell in love with babies, all I know is I can never ever stop loving them! I plan to become a nurse practitioner and then go on to become a midwife. I know that this formal training will not be able to teach me the completely natural methods to the extent that I will be able to experience in the Philippines. Part of my mission is to give women a birth that they do not generally receive in the hospital, one where they can be in charge and where their body can birth normally with as little intervention as possible. The birthing home is the perfect place for me to witness these principles in practice while serving women in labor.
The details are that I am planning to serve in The Little Children's home and in the Shiphrah Birthing Center for 4-6 months in the spring. I will be leaving for the Philippines in February, and will stay until June or July. My main purpose in writing and sending this letter is to let all of you know what the Lord has done in my life and to ask for your prayers and emotional and spiritual support. I'm so excited just to take the Lord's hand and trust in him! What an incredible adventure and how blessed am I to be chosen for it! If you do feel led by the Lord to support me financially for my expenses while I'm there you can make the check out to MEANS and send it to PO Box 8434, Bartlett, IL 60103. IF you would like to donate to my plane ticket or towards medical supplies write the check to me and send it to my address which I will give to you if you shoot me an email. In the check you can specify which you want to give towards, plane ticket or medical supplies. The Birthing Center is in need of hand-held fetal monitoring dopplers, stethoscopes, breast pumps, and other gently used medical supplies, . Financial donations toward these will not be tax deductible, however, ones made to MEANS will be. Feel free to contact me if you want more information, my email address is marlihivers@gmail.com
I am so excited to be writing you all about going on a mission trip! The Lord has given me an opportunity in Manila in the Philippines to serve in a birthing center and a children's home there. The children's home is called the The Little Children's home (TLC) and is currently the home to fifteen orphans, ages newborn to four years old. Jeri Gunderson founded the birthing home while her husband Dennis Gunderson founded the children's home which their daughter and son-in-law now run. They, as well as their 27 staff members (for both children's home and birthing center) focus strongly on adoption. Their vision is to see children brought in, to be cared for, and then to leave again, going home with a forever family! They recognize that an institution should not be a child's permanent home, so are always looking for and praying about the right forever family for each child. The Shiphrah Birthing center, next door to TLC, focuses on giving women a fulfilling, healthy, and empowering birth. They work to provide prenatal care as well as extensive education to mothers and families. Five midwives assist women at the birthing center. The midwives focus also on allowing the father to be involved in the process, to have him in a position to support and care for the mother before, during, and after birth. The birthing center serves 100-150 women every week for birthing classes and prenatal care. For the month of October they had over fifty births at the birthing home! About 30-40 births take place there every month. The birthing center and children's home are under the umbrella of Help International Ministries. Their website is: www.helpintl.org
I first heard about this amazing ministry in January 2009. Jeri and I have now been corresponding for six months about the birthing home and children's home. From the beginning I have been praying about whether the Lord might use me there. I feel that every gift the Lord has blessed me with, every passion inside me fits perfectly with this ministry! I thank God for choosing me for this, I feel so unworthy and so blessed!
Why I feel so drawn to this particular ministry is a long story. From the time I could walk I was completely obsessed with babies! I ache to be taking care of babies, to be holding them and loving on them all the time! I work with babies for about 25 hours a week and I can never get enough! Staying up with a newborn all night would be one of the most wonderful things I could do! I've also become extremely interested in pregnancy and the birthing process. All I want to do is to be there for mothers and babies, to give them what they need during labor, pregnancy, and after birth. I have already seen two births and I feel that they were absolutely life changing for me. I cannot remember the first time I fell in love with babies, all I know is I can never ever stop loving them! I plan to become a nurse practitioner and then go on to become a midwife. I know that this formal training will not be able to teach me the completely natural methods to the extent that I will be able to experience in the Philippines. Part of my mission is to give women a birth that they do not generally receive in the hospital, one where they can be in charge and where their body can birth normally with as little intervention as possible. The birthing home is the perfect place for me to witness these principles in practice while serving women in labor.
The details are that I am planning to serve in The Little Children's home and in the Shiphrah Birthing Center for 4-6 months in the spring. I will be leaving for the Philippines in February, and will stay until June or July. My main purpose in writing and sending this letter is to let all of you know what the Lord has done in my life and to ask for your prayers and emotional and spiritual support. I'm so excited just to take the Lord's hand and trust in him! What an incredible adventure and how blessed am I to be chosen for it! If you do feel led by the Lord to support me financially for my expenses while I'm there you can make the check out to MEANS and send it to PO Box 8434, Bartlett, IL 60103. IF you would like to donate to my plane ticket or towards medical supplies write the check to me and send it to my address which I will give to you if you shoot me an email. In the check you can specify which you want to give towards, plane ticket or medical supplies. The Birthing Center is in need of hand-held fetal monitoring dopplers, stethoscopes, breast pumps, and other gently used medical supplies, . Financial donations toward these will not be tax deductible, however, ones made to MEANS will be. Feel free to contact me if you want more information, my email address is marlihivers@gmail.com
Beginnings
I finally just got my support letter out over email and am working on getting it on here and on facebook! In the next couple days I'll be working on getting it out over snail mail. The new passport has been ordered and after that we'll be working on getting my visa! Right now I'm just resting in the Lord and believing in his promise for my life and for this trip! I just can't wait to go and see it all, to finally be there, experiencing it and to serve those mothers and babies! I'm excited to see what the Lord will do and am leaning on his promise for the great plans he has!
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