Mother and baby
While she was a college student at Peace River Bible Institute in Sexsmith, Alberta, Katelin Nordli took a three-month trip to Shalom Christian Birthing Home. Katelin has since graduated and hopes to pursue training to become a midwife.
Katelin writes, “I had the opportunity to travel to Antipolo City which is located on the outskirts of Manila. The purpose of my trip was to gain insight into whether God desired me to serve Him in foreign missions through medicine. Shalom Christian Birthing Home is a birthing clinic started by retired British midwife Mavis Orton in 1992 for impoverished local families. Though extremely busy with hundreds of women they see weekly for prenatal and postnatal care, family planning, and deliveries, the staff took a risk and accepted me to complete my internship with them though I had no medical experience.
“To be honest, I was terrified about this three-month excursion and was uncertain what to expect. I felt very unequipped for the journey. I knew very little about Filipino culture and even less about the language. I had no medical experience and I feared that I would be a burden to the people I was coming to learn from and help. In the months leading up to my departure, I was continually reminded of the story of Moses. Moses was also unprepared and felt unequipped for the task that God was calling him to. My Bible college mentor kept reminding me that ‘God does not call the qualified; rather He qualifies the called.’ Whether I was ready for this adventure or not, it needed to happen and I praise God it did!
“Since I was not medically trained, I did whatever I could at the clinic. Some days this meant doing administrative tasks or taking the vitals of prenatal patients. Other days I took care of short-term teams that came to help at the clinic. As I got to know the midwives better, I was able to learn more about the medical care side of the ministry.
“During my trip, I was reminded how fragile, yet strong, human life is. The day I arrived, I was able to watch my first delivery. A tiny baby boy was born with little trouble. The next week I went to my first wake, as a midwife’s mother had passed away. Life and death, in this fallen world we live in, exist side by side. I cannot tell you the joy you feel when you see little babies enter the world and take their first cries. Yet walking down the street and gazing at wooden boxes containing people who have passed away was saddening.
“God really broke my heart as I saw how needy this world is. No matter where you go, poor people exist. The need is so great that it felt impossible that I could do any good or make a dent. However, I learned that it is not the big things you do that make a difference, but rather the little things. The fact that I helped deliver a baby did not save the world, but it gave God a chance to use me in that family’s life when they needed someone. Being God’s hands and feet in this world is not about saving the world; that is God’s job. Rather it is about being willing to partner with God and let Him use you in the little things.”
