Hello everyone, this is Annita again. As some of you know, I am trying to get into the nursing program so I decided to start volunteering at a hospital in order to increase my chance of getting in. I have been volunteering in the emergency room at Eagle Ridge hospital in Port Moody ever since last November and it has been a very good experience for me. Well, about 2 or 3 months ago I was in the emergency room walking past the beds, making sure that everyone had what they need, when I came across an elderly lady who didn't seem to be doing well at all. So I went over to her and asked her how she was doing. She said she had never been so sick in all her life and was very scared. So I stayed with her and listened to her talk about how she was feeling. She clearly was not doing well so I asked her questions about her life in order to try to distract her from her pain for a little while. We exchanged names (hers is Margaret) and talked about life for about an hour or so, but still she was very uneasy and kept saying how frightened she was. So I asked her if she would like me to pray for her and she said yes, so I prayed that the Lord would give her peace and ease her pain. She thanked me afterward and seemed a little bit relieved and tired at the same time. She looked like she wanted to sleep, so I told her I was going to let her rest and asked her to give me a call once she got home to let me know how she's doing.
We kept in touch for the past couple of months and I call her every once in a while to see how she is doing. It had been about 3 or 4 weeks since I had last called her, when she gave me a call last night and left a wonderful message. She thanked me again for being there for her and said that she had prayed (the day she got sick) that the Lord would send someone to her because she knew she couldn't pull through on her own - and He sent me. She went on to say that she has committed her life to the Lord because by sending me to her, He showed her that He is real and that He does care for her. Margaret lives on her own and said that her health issues have been preventing her from going out very much so she often feels alone; however, ever since she accepted Jesus as her savior she said she does not feel nearly as bad and has a lot of peace. She has a friend who goes to the same church as me (Willingdon), and this friend of hers has been giving her bible study materials and guiding her to a deeper relationship with Jesus. Margaret is very excited about her new life in Christ and said she would very much like to start coming to church with my family. How exciting!!! I was so happy when I got her message last night and am really excited to see her again! Please continue to pray that the Lord would work in the lives of the patients and staff at Eagle Ridge and that He would continue to give me opportunities and wisdom to share the love and truth of Christ.
As for Steve and I, we started marriage counseling about 3 weeks ago and it has been great so far. We have been paired with a great mentor couple and have gotten to talk about a lot of things we hadn't thought of talking through. Wedding planning is going great! For those of you who don't know, we found an all inclusive wedding package...which includes wedding coordinators! It's great not having to go crazy!
As of right now we are still looking for a place to stay once we get married. I finished school about 1 month ago and will be finishing an online course this Tuesday. Afterward I plan on going job hunting (yay) and we are praying really hard that I will get a decent job very soon.
There will be another MA (mission adventures) team coming next week, so please be praying for Steve, the YWAM staff and the students they are going to have. Also, I just realized that some of you might not know what YWAM is, so if you want to see what the organization is about you can go to www.ywam.org and to check out YWAM Vancouver's programs click here.
Thanks again for your continued prayers and support - we are very grateful!
-- Annita