Counseling

I've heard that one complaint about becoming a doctor is that doctors are trained to treat patients and lose touch with the humanity of their patients. Patients become nothing more than just cases in which they aim to find the correct diagnosis and prognosis. I was thinking about that because I thought it might sound a bit cold to talk about my family here as if they were counseling patients. I'm really close to everyone here, and they're so much more than the issues they've dealt with. So this post is more like a side note about my experience here. I have a counseling text book with me. I'm still early in the book. I only like counseling because it helps people. I'm enough of an uneducated beginner that my main influence just comes from being somebody that cares, and I only give marginal bits of actual counseling. Some of these people may to visit Portland someday, so I definitely wouldn't want to be using real names.

Girl A. She has struggled with an eating disorder for 4 years. She's getting encouragement from the other girls, and she's getting a hold on the underlying issues. Also, her parents are divorced. Her mom is in a wheel chair with MS. Her dad is an alcoholic who has lost his sight. Both are on welfare. She also needs work on her life outlook and plans, because at this point she doesn't dare to hope for college and a fulfilling career.

Girl B. She is very musically talented and comes from a moderately healthy family. She was sexually abused by her choir teacher in high school. Her last relationship was a 3-month relationship that was overly physical, and she's still dealing with the effects.

Girl C. Her parents are together, but they were having difficulties when she left. They appear to be doing better now. Her parents have little overt spirituality but have been improving since she left for outreach. She had an addiction to pornography for 2-3 years. She's in a relationship but feels she ought to be brake up with him. She's 19 and he's 24, and he wants to get married. She is not physically attracted to him at all, but she feels shallow for giving this any weight.

Girl D. She is 26 years old. She's in a relationship with a 36-year-old for two years. He's been wanting to marry to her for a year, but she's dragging her feet. She feels something might be wrong with her for not wanting to get married to him. She's leaning towards breaking up with him but doesn't have the heart to do it. During lecture phase, she came into a prayer circle during lecture phase for women who had been raped before, but she hasn't mentioned this since.

The other two girls aren't dealing with any major specific issues.

Guy A. He experimented with homosexuality in high school but rejected it and has had two girlfriends since. He was addicted to pornography for 4 years.

Guy B. He was addicted to pornography for 5 years. His dad left the family when he was 14. His mom remarried to a good man. His dad is still a raging alcoholic that the rest of the family hates. He has forgiven his father and is working to reconcile his family to God and to each other. He is planning on getting engaged a few weeks after DTS ends to a girl her met during lecture.

I love how we are involved in outreach ministry, but at the same time, we're ministering to each other. I feel like a lot of the good I'm doing here in Rwanda is helping my teammates with their own life journeys and encouraging my teammates so that they can be continue being a blessing to Rwanda.

I also like how there is no set of experiences that is completely beyond healing. And it's awesome that God uses our backgrounds and experiences in our ministries.