Update Newsletter! (oh and fundraising toooooo!)

One year is up and I’m still here.   And still sending out the Annual Newsletter/Fundraising Update.   I suddenly realized that perhaps I should share in greater detail a bit more of HOW I LIVE or WHAT I DO.   I live and work in San Juan de la Maguana, which is located in the western half of the Dominican Republic about an hour and a half from Haiti.  I work for an organization called Solid Rock International (check us out at solidrockinternational.org) and my title is Medical Coordinator (I am also a Sponsorship Coordinator but we can talk about that at another time).   I live at a Guesthouse (upstairs in dorm room number 16!)   which is located adjacent/on site to a CLINIC where I help with American medical teams that come to volunteer/serve here.  We sometimes define my job as a “bridge” between the Dominican staff that always work at the clinic and the incoming American teams that come for one week at a time to perform needed or specialty surgeries.   I work with 3 other Americans here; Dan and Kari Straley (Guesthouse administrators) and Laura Demastus (social worker).     I work in the clinic with the surgical teams, organizing and coordinating with consults and patients and sometimes transportation and surgical prep.   Sometimes I scrub (hand over instruments).  Sometimes I circulate (assist in the operating room).  Often I am calling the patients to assist in preparing them for surgery.  Most often I am found running from room to room looking for needed things or people.   Sometimes I run the autoclave (yipes!) and sometimes I make the beds.   MEDICAL COORDINATOR is a title that possibly means many different things to many different people.  One of my favorite projects this year was helping to organize several “junk rooms” into usable (and almost pretty!) consultation rooms, one of which currently has a fetal monitor and ultrasound machine (JOY to my obstetrical heart!).   

I also travel with our mobile medical clinics when there is no surgery.  This is what we call our Barrio teams.  We head out to different, sometimes remote locations with doctors and a mobile pharmacy to see/evaluate/treat people who are often unable to receive complete medical care.   I love going out to little towns and seeing where folks live and work and struggle and triumph.   It’s a great mix for me to be able to work between the clinic and the barrio teams.    

So yeah- one year and I’m still here.  And I want to stay.   I want to commit for another year (ummm I kinda already have) and see what God has next for me.    It hasn’t been easy- there have been lots of tears and “why am I here again?” and cultural and language struggles and frustrations.  But there have been intense joys and triumphs and shared moments and just…well…there has been lots of love too.   I love it.  I feel like God is working DESPITE me (J) and that He has more for me here than I ever thought.  

So along with that…I’m asking for support again.  Prayer AND financial.   It’s the same deal as before and I don’t like this part of it but here it comes.   I can’t quite do this without the prayers and finances which come from folks who believe that God is doing Good Things in San Juan de la Maguana and that Nicole Eby gets to watch and cheer and maybe even participate in those Good Things.    I can tell you that your help makes it possible and that is incredibly appreciated.   I work for Solid Rock International and your donations/support can be sent to Solid Rock International, PO Box 20867, Indy, IN, 46220 OR you can check us out online at solidrockinternational.org and support me through the website (which is a really awesome website too!).    I also have a blog- phillynic.blogspot.com where I TRY to update  “kinda-regularly” the life and times of Nik Eby.   I also update another blog via the Solid Rock International site at www.solidrockinternational.org. 

Soooo yeah-  I want to say THANKS again for your prayers and lovin’ encouragements.  I know that I always say that I can FEEL your prayers but it’s true!    Recently I was feeling down and kinda blue about the WAITING sometimes that goes on in life….. how our timing is rarely God’s timing and how frustrated my impatient self can be with that.   One of my friends reminded me (in Spanish!) again of my favorite verse, Jer. 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you….and tell you new and unsearchable things that you did not know”.   Still new…still unsearchable.  Still on the journey.    THANK YOU for riding along with me.