Welcome to another episode
of Stones of Remembrance.
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I'm Karen Pearson
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and I'm here with my
friend and co-host Pierre Quinn.
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Hi, Pierre. How you doing?
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We are going to take another
look at someone's life story,
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someone who has gone
through her own river
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and found those
stories that have helped
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to shape the direction
that her life has taken.
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Just as Joshua built an altar
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with those stones from
the middle of the river,
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when the water covered it over,
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those stones
were never seen again
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and yet they impacted
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the whole direction
of his life, didn't they?
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What a powerful analogy.
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Before I
introduce you today's guest,
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I'd like to share something
from the word with you.
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It's taken from Matthew 5:16,
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"Now that I've put
you there on a hilltop,
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on light stand,
shine, keep open house,
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be generous with your
lives by opening up to others.
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You'll prompt
people to open up with God,
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this generous father in heaven."
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Amen.
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I just love that
passage. Good verse.
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And I know that our guest
not only loves that passage
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but it actually really
typifies who she is as a person.
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Our guest, welcome.
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Hi. Thank you. It's
Emily Wilkens Poole.
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Welcome, Emily, to our program.
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Emily, tell us a
little bit about yourself.
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I know that
you're newly married.
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Yes.
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So I got married
about six months ago.
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Congratulations.
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It's been a new
adventure and it's fun,
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we're having a good time.
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We live in Walla
Walla, Washington
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and we've been kind of settling
in with a new home and things.
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So it's been
really, really wonderful.
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That's awesome.
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Emily is a gifted writer
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and she has written the
book African Rice Heart.
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She also has her
degree, Master of Finance,
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Creative writing
with the specialty in--
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Non fiction. Non-fiction.
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Yeah. How awesome is that?
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Yeah.
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And as I said, a gifted writer.
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You spend some time
as a student missionary.
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Tell us about
that experience? Yeah.
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So that was kind of the
basis for what I wrote about.
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And I really, I hadn't done
much writing before, you know.
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I've done a
little bit of writing
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but never considered
myself really a writer.
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But as I went there to Chad
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and I was actually on
the track to go to PA school.
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So for PA school,
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you have to have 2,000
hours of clinical work before.
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And so I went to work
at Bere Adventist Hospital
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and I was working as a nurse--
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Where is that?
It's in Chad, Africa.
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So it's in Bere,
Bere is a small village,
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kind of you have to
take a bus for eight hours
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and then a
motorcycling for few hours
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and, so then you get in there.
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The neat thing about that
experience in one of the things
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that shaped my life is
living with the family there,
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one of the local
Chadian families.
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And that was kind of
how the program was set up.
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And so you'd have somebody
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who would not only take
you in as their daughter
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but could help cook for you
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because I don't know
how to cook over a fire
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and that sort of thing.
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And so, so that
was kind of the set up
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and then
working in the hospital.
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Now as a student missionary,
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the opportunities to be
a missionary are virtually.
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I mean, you can go
anywhere around the world.
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What make you
decide to take Chad?
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My family had a lot of
different experiences in--
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has had experiences around
different parts of Africa.
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My Uncle, Carl Wilkens who was
in Rwanda during the genocide,
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and my dad actually
did a rotation in Zambia.
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When he was in
school, medical school.
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And so my
grandpa's worked over there.
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And I think the attraction
for this specific spot
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was that I had
followed a girl's blog
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who was working
as a nurse there.
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And I had heard
the stories you know,
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and that really inspired
me watching her live so simply
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for a period of
time in her life,
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which I think they had us
living in huts, their mud huts.
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And so kind of stepping back
from this busy college culture
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into a really slower
pace of life in many ways.
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That kind of drew me into
that experience definitely.
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So how long did it take
you to make that adjustment?
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Some busy college
student and here you are.
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And I'm sure there were
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not a lot of street
lights out there, right?
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No street
lights. The dark nights.
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And how was that for you?
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I remember that first night
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actually showing up in the dark,
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it was about 9:00 pm by the time
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we came in on motorcycles
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and a volunteer
dragged my bag in
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around into this
courtyard of mud huts
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and set it there
inside my mud hut.
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And there was nothing
in there except for a cot,
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and a mosquito net there.
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And he just set the
bag in there and said,
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this is the people
who will take care of you.
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And there was this
quiet woman and she--
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we didn't speak any
of the same language
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because I didn't
speak French yet.
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And so she was the
one, her name was Jolie,
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which means pretty,
her name was Jolie Povera,
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which is pretty poor,
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pretty much is what
her name translates as.
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And she was the
one that kind of,
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kind of
introduced me to the culture.
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But that first night
actually, I was very shocked,
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I think just-- I remember
I didn't pull out my blanket,
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it's really, it was so
hot there I just fell asleep
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and I woke up with
mosquito bites all over me
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and I was like, what is
this going to be, you know.
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Quite the experience, so.
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Well, you said in your
book that, that first night,
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they left you to eat by yourself
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and you were crying.
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Yes.
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Tell us more
about that experience?
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Yeah.
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So there, in Chad it's
a real privilege to be--
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to sit by yourself, to
have a chair by yourself,
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to have a table by yourself.
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Everybody usually eats
around one big ball of rice,
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everybody grabbing
off the ball of rice.
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And so to have my own plate
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with my own food
in their mind was,
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how you would
treat an honored guest.
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And so that's what
they were doing for me,
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they set all my
food in this dark hut.
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And I remember I could
hear all of them laughing
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and having fun out there,
and I was just all by myself.
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And so it took--
it took some time
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and it was funny because I went
back and visited later to Chad,
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a second time and I
could speak better at that--
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better French and I
told Samedi and Jolie,
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the father and
mother of the family,
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I said, you put me in that dark
hut to eat by myself, you know.
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And I told them, I was crying.
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And they said, you
were crying, oh, no.
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And they said we
didn't know either, Emily.
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We didn't know
what you would want,
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we didn't know if you'd
want to eat with everyone
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and we found out that you did.
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And that was, you
know, learning for us too.
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Right. So.
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One of the things that
I love about you, Emily,
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you have such an
infectious love for people.
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It just, it just draws
people in and I love that.
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So here you are in this
new culture that's so strange
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and I know that this family
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have become your
adopted second family.
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Do you still-- are you
still in touch with them?
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I actually got
to go back to Chad
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right before I got married.
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And that was really fun
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to be able to
deliver the news in person
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that I was getting married.
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And so I got to
stay with them again
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in their hut for
about five nights.
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It was a short trip.
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But I-- for a long time we were
keeping in touch over phone,
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but it's so hard
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with the shoddy
connections and things
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it's almost just not satisfying
to talk over the phone,
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you miss-- you know,
you miss that connection.
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So I hope to be
able to continue to visit
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and they're doing
wonderful over there,
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they are wonderfully there.
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How large was the family
that you were staying with?
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There were 19 members.
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So in Chad, families
range in size, definitely.
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The more modern
families, the newer families,
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they're having fewer children.
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But kind of before
many of the families
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were raising rice
fields, they had rice fields.
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And so the more
children you have to, you--
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that's how you have your
crew of working in the field.
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And then birth control too,
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that's not
something that's something
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that's just being introduced
and-- so it was 19 members.
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But this family actually was 19
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because they had
adopted people in,
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which I think is why I felt so.
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They were so
easy to say, you know,
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come on over and help
me cook you know, because
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you know, you're being
part of the family now.
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And yeah, they really
had an open arm mentality.
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So African Rice Hearts, where--
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how did you come
up with that title?
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Because that's a
really unusual title.
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Yeah.
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I think it kind of came--
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well, it did come out of
the process of preparing rice.
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So we ate rice
every day in Chad.
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And Jolie and Samedi
both had rice fields.
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So they would harvest
their own grain you know,
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you would plant it, you would
then you know, let it grow.
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And then once it was to
full potential or whatever,
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you'd let it die and brown
and then you'd cut every stock,
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you know, then you
thrash every stock.
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And then you pound every kernel
so that you get the chaff off.
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And it was just this process
that took-- it was difficult,
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it was such a
difficult long process.
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You didn't just go down to
the store to buy a bag of rice?
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No, it took
afternoon and into the evening,
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and then you ate in 30
minutes after it was all gone.
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And it's just this,
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their patients
with their lifestyle
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is very admirable.
00:09:40.34\00:09:41.68
But they-- so kind
of watching this process
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and in the first
chapter of the book,
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I kind of go through
that process in depth
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and say, you know,
this is life for us, like,
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even our lives, we
have two sides of it.
00:09:52.99\00:09:56.73
One second you're being
pounded and the next second,
00:09:56.76\00:09:59.76
they're washing the rice gently
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or they're letting the rice fall
00:10:01.63\00:10:03.16
from one bucket to the other
00:10:03.20\00:10:04.63
and the chaff
blows away in the wind.
00:10:04.67\00:10:06.07
So it's like sometimes
life is gentle with you
00:10:06.10\00:10:08.07
and sometimes
it just pounds you.
00:10:08.10\00:10:10.01
And this is I think what I found
00:10:10.04\00:10:12.34
in Chad was this exposure
00:10:12.37\00:10:14.68
where you're completely
exposed to both, joy and pain.
00:10:14.71\00:10:18.48
You know and in
one hand this pain
00:10:18.51\00:10:24.15
that you're
exposed to is so difficult
00:10:24.19\00:10:26.49
and this vulnerability,
00:10:26.52\00:10:27.86
you almost want to shut
it off in life, you know,
00:10:27.89\00:10:29.86
you want to become numb,
you want to become bitter,
00:10:29.89\00:10:31.93
you want to become careful,
really cautious with people.
00:10:31.96\00:10:35.90
But on the other hand,
vulnerability is where we love,
00:10:35.93\00:10:39.37
it's where we have faith.
00:10:39.40\00:10:40.74
And there's an
author Brene Brown,
00:10:40.77\00:10:42.57
she's a
vulnerability researcher.
00:10:42.60\00:10:44.91
And she talks
about this and it's just,
00:10:44.94\00:10:47.34
you can't cut yourself off
and protect yourself so much
00:10:47.38\00:10:51.48
or you won't, you
won't experience that love.
00:10:51.51\00:10:54.02
And that's I think what
I experienced is this need
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to drop walls with people
00:10:57.42\00:10:58.89
so I could connect in
that God given way that,
00:10:58.92\00:11:02.09
you know, His love
flows between people,
00:11:02.12\00:11:04.26
I think, when you do that.
00:11:04.29\00:11:05.96
So you had a practical
hands-on-experience with that
00:11:05.99\00:11:09.16
in the hospital, right?
00:11:09.20\00:11:10.80
Because there are no
formalized privacy structure.
00:11:10.83\00:11:14.80
Yeah. How did
you adjust to that?
00:11:14.84\00:11:17.41
You know, I was a
phlebotomist before I went,
00:11:17.44\00:11:20.24
and I had worked as
a medical assistant,
00:11:20.28\00:11:21.64
so I had some background
00:11:21.68\00:11:23.01
and I'd been studying
you know, the sciences.
00:11:23.04\00:11:24.38
But I wasn't a full blown nurse.
00:11:24.41\00:11:26.11
And so many of the
things that I was learning to do
00:11:26.15\00:11:30.42
and having
responsibility to do were things
00:11:30.45\00:11:33.39
outside of my scope of training.
00:11:33.42\00:11:37.29
And so I think there was
you know, a lot of learning.
00:11:37.33\00:11:40.80
I'd only seen one person
die before I went to Chad,
00:11:40.83\00:11:43.63
and that was my great
grandma, and she was 96.
00:11:43.67\00:11:45.63
And so it was very different
00:11:45.67\00:11:47.87
to see a baby
die or a young person
00:11:47.90\00:11:50.91
you know, that of
something preventable.
00:11:50.94\00:11:54.14
So, yeah, that's
that side that's like,
00:11:54.18\00:11:56.18
it's just right up in
your face, this suffering,
00:11:56.21\00:11:58.05
you know, and yet
then I would go home
00:11:58.08\00:12:00.65
and I would show up at
home and Jolie, the mother,
00:12:00.68\00:12:04.29
she would say, oh,
Emily, you're tired,
00:12:04.32\00:12:06.99
you must be so tired,
come in here, come here.
00:12:07.02\00:12:09.16
And she would tell me,
lay down on the mat, you know.
00:12:09.19\00:12:11.33
And I would--
she's like, okay, kids,
00:12:11.36\00:12:13.26
everyone come,
massage Emily, you know.
00:12:13.29\00:12:15.50
And they would all
start giving me massages like,
00:12:15.53\00:12:17.63
no part of your body untouched,
00:12:17.67\00:12:19.07
all the little kids, you know.
00:12:19.10\00:12:20.54
And so you have these extremes
00:12:20.57\00:12:23.17
and I think the title of
the book African Rice Heart,
00:12:23.20\00:12:25.77
I just watched
this process that--
00:12:25.81\00:12:28.41
and these two sides of life
00:12:28.44\00:12:30.58
and it's kind of a metaphor
of how the rice is prepared.
00:12:30.61\00:12:33.58
But in the end the rice
becomes something nourishing,
00:12:33.62\00:12:38.72
it becomes something
through both of these heart,
00:12:38.75\00:12:41.29
both heart and positive
experiences we are nourished
00:12:41.32\00:12:45.93
and we grow and--
00:12:45.96\00:12:48.40
So that was, that then the
book kind of just continues
00:12:48.43\00:12:50.77
in a bunch of a collage of
those kind of stories really.
00:12:50.80\00:12:54.00
Yes, which is life.
00:12:54.04\00:12:55.40
Yeah, it really is.
00:12:55.44\00:12:56.77
You pounded in the
clinic, and then come home
00:12:56.81\00:12:59.97
and just suck into
that that circle of love.
00:13:00.01\00:13:03.04
And you need that.
00:13:03.08\00:13:04.41
You won't survive
the other part of life
00:13:04.45\00:13:06.01
if you do not let God feed you
00:13:06.05\00:13:08.52
through His
community of believers
00:13:08.55\00:13:10.82
and other people
who can show you love.
00:13:10.85\00:13:13.05
Right. So, yeah.
00:13:13.09\00:13:16.12
African Rice Heart
is an incredible book
00:13:16.16\00:13:19.86
and it is beautifully written.
00:13:19.89\00:13:22.86
And we're going to take a look
00:13:22.90\00:13:25.17
just for a moment how
you can get your copy.
00:13:25.20\00:13:31.37
African Rice Heart
takes a candid look at life
00:13:31.41\00:13:34.04
through the eyes of a
young student missionary
00:13:34.08\00:13:36.24
serving in Africa.
00:13:36.28\00:13:37.75
Stories of wonder and longing,
00:13:37.78\00:13:39.65
tragedy and tears are
skillfully woven together
00:13:39.68\00:13:42.75
as Emily Wilkenson
Poole shares challenges
00:13:42.78\00:13:45.49
and discoveries
common to us all.
00:13:45.52\00:13:47.62
Experiences that make us
a part of the human family.
00:13:47.66\00:13:51.33
In this remarkable book
00:13:51.36\00:13:52.99
you will feel the
heartbeat of Africa.
00:13:53.03\00:13:55.36
Sometimes strong, sometimes
irregular but always present.
00:13:55.40\00:14:00.17
With uncommon beauty,
African Rice Heart shares
00:14:00.20\00:14:03.54
how one young girl
found a sense of belonging
00:14:03.57\00:14:06.78
and discovered that in God's
hands the poor become rich,
00:14:06.81\00:14:10.55
the cowardly become courageous
and the weak become strong.
00:14:10.58\00:14:14.52
To get your copy
of African Rice Heart,
00:14:14.55\00:14:17.35
call 1800-765-6955.
00:14:17.39\00:14:22.59
Stop by your local
Adventist book center
00:14:22.62\00:14:25.03
or order online at
AdventistBookCenter.com.
00:14:25.06\00:14:29.30
Welcome back to
Stones of Remembrance.
00:14:37.61\00:14:40.21
We're here with our
guest Emily Wilkens Poole.
00:14:40.24\00:14:42.88
And Emily, we spoke a
little bit about your book,
00:14:42.91\00:14:46.11
African Rice Heart, and we
use the parallel of the altar
00:14:46.15\00:14:49.78
that Joshua set up and
that's the visible sign,
00:14:49.82\00:14:52.79
the book, if you would.
00:14:52.82\00:14:54.86
But what about the altar
that he built in the river?
00:14:54.89\00:14:58.19
What was the
experience in your life?
00:14:58.23\00:15:00.50
You have such a beautiful
00:15:00.53\00:15:03.16
and such a
moving love for Jesus.
00:15:03.20\00:15:06.77
Where did that come from?
00:15:06.80\00:15:09.64
You know I think,
00:15:09.67\00:15:11.27
I think all of us are
on this spiritual journey
00:15:11.31\00:15:13.91
where we're getting to know
Jesus better through our lives
00:15:13.94\00:15:16.64
and I think for me,
definitely when I was younger,
00:15:16.68\00:15:21.18
I remember these experiences,
a couple of experiences
00:15:21.22\00:15:24.49
that were both you
know, positive and difficult.
00:15:24.52\00:15:29.52
And through both of these
00:15:29.56\00:15:30.89
I feel like we
draw closer to Jesus.
00:15:30.93\00:15:32.59
But I think as you
get older and I don't know
00:15:32.63\00:15:34.66
if you guys
have experienced this
00:15:34.70\00:15:36.06
but I feel like, for
me there's this tendency
00:15:36.10\00:15:39.27
as you experience
loss or you are betrayed
00:15:39.30\00:15:43.41
or, you know,
these sort of things,
00:15:43.44\00:15:45.51
they make you, they
put you on the defense.
00:15:45.54\00:15:47.38
And they almost cause
you to become less willing
00:15:47.41\00:15:52.75
to be out there for Jesus
or to reach out to others.
00:15:52.78\00:15:55.95
And I think that
we have to continually
00:15:55.98\00:15:58.15
look back to Jesus
in that in His example.
00:15:58.19\00:16:00.39
And He's-- some of
the stories that I love
00:16:00.42\00:16:03.83
are Him with the
woman at the well, you know.
00:16:03.86\00:16:05.63
I love that image of Him,
kind of shocking everybody,
00:16:05.66\00:16:08.96
you know, stepping out
and talking to somebody
00:16:09.00\00:16:10.53
who He's not
supposed to talk to, you know.
00:16:10.57\00:16:12.17
It was just
not-- it's not the norm
00:16:12.20\00:16:14.94
and it's pushing the borders
00:16:14.97\00:16:17.17
and yet Jesus does it, you know,
00:16:17.21\00:16:18.91
and he does it with a confidence
00:16:18.94\00:16:20.38
and a care that is so genuine.
00:16:20.41\00:16:22.44
And I think we can do that.
00:16:22.48\00:16:23.81
And with the tax
collectors, the same, you know.
00:16:23.85\00:16:27.62
The Image of Zacchaeus of Him
00:16:27.65\00:16:29.32
kind of putting
Himself out there
00:16:29.35\00:16:31.09
you know, saying,
Zacchaeus, come down,
00:16:31.12\00:16:32.65
you know, I'm
coming to your house.
00:16:32.69\00:16:34.02
Like, when was the last time we
did that to somebody, you know?
00:16:34.06\00:16:36.16
But I think that, that
verse that we talked about,
00:16:36.19\00:16:40.20
that you've
read in the beginning
00:16:40.23\00:16:41.76
about keeping an open house
00:16:41.80\00:16:44.30
and being
generous with our lives
00:16:44.33\00:16:46.90
and by doing that we
open others up to God,
00:16:46.94\00:16:49.84
by being open to others we
open them up to the Father.
00:16:49.87\00:16:52.74
And so that's something
that I by no means do perfectly,
00:16:52.77\00:16:56.21
and I continually have to
say like, Emily, be bolder,
00:16:56.24\00:16:59.95
you know, be
willing to be vulnerable.
00:16:59.98\00:17:02.28
And so I think that's somebody
00:17:02.32\00:17:05.25
I have to keep looking
back to those stories of Jesus
00:17:05.29\00:17:06.79
and how He did it.
00:17:06.82\00:17:08.16
Yes.
00:17:08.19\00:17:09.52
One of the
challenges I know sometimes
00:17:09.56\00:17:12.69
is our tendency to
take things for granted,
00:17:12.73\00:17:16.40
especially with our
relationship with God.
00:17:16.43\00:17:18.20
There are so many things
that we take for granted.
00:17:18.23\00:17:20.30
And you have this,
this thing with soap
00:17:20.34\00:17:23.41
that you talk
about in your book,
00:17:23.44\00:17:25.21
that was a
constant reminder of you
00:17:25.24\00:17:27.14
of how sometimes we
take things for granted.
00:17:27.18\00:17:28.94
Tells us a little about bars
of soap when you were in Chad?
00:17:28.98\00:17:31.95
Yeah, that was
even-- it was funny
00:17:31.98\00:17:33.75
because when I was packing
my bags, I'm a horrible packer,
00:17:33.78\00:17:36.99
like in the sense that I
wait till the last minute,
00:17:37.02\00:17:39.22
the last night.
00:17:39.25\00:17:40.59
And then, you know,
I'm putting things in
00:17:40.62\00:17:41.96
but by that time you
don't know what you put in,
00:17:41.99\00:17:43.43
what you haven't put in.
00:17:43.46\00:17:44.79
So packing for Chad, I
tried to do it ahead of time
00:17:44.83\00:17:46.86
but I remember, my mom
actually at the last minute,
00:17:46.90\00:17:52.33
she brought like
seven bars of soap.
00:17:52.37\00:17:54.40
And I don't use bar
soap ever in the States,
00:17:54.44\00:17:57.01
I use body wash or something,
you know, but never bar soap.
00:17:57.04\00:17:59.77
And I told her like, mom,
I'm not going to use that,
00:17:59.81\00:18:01.71
it's bar soap, like I don't--
00:18:01.74\00:18:03.08
And she's like, I think you'll
use it, just take it, you know.
00:18:03.11\00:18:06.51
Listen to your
mother. Yeah, I know.
00:18:06.55\00:18:08.42
And so I just I
remember getting off
00:18:08.45\00:18:11.52
and in the shower there in
Chad is an open air shower.
00:18:11.55\00:18:14.72
So you-- it's a
wall about this tall
00:18:14.76\00:18:17.09
and you can see everybody
while you're showering.
00:18:17.13\00:18:19.49
I mean, it's tall enough,
they can't really see you,
00:18:19.53\00:18:21.50
but you're kind of
showering thinking like,
00:18:21.53\00:18:23.67
you know, hey, everybody.
00:18:23.70\00:18:25.87
But using those bars of soap
and I use them all the time,
00:18:25.90\00:18:29.60
you know, just after I was
constantly sweating over there,
00:18:29.64\00:18:33.17
and after shifts at the hospital
00:18:33.21\00:18:34.81
when you've injected penicillin
00:18:34.84\00:18:36.75
and you have
these different drugs
00:18:36.78\00:18:40.05
that have sprayed or
blood and things, you just--
00:18:40.08\00:18:42.32
I just, I realized how
such a simple thing, you know,
00:18:42.35\00:18:45.45
to have that bar of soap
00:18:45.49\00:18:46.82
at the end of the
day really meant a lot.
00:18:46.86\00:18:49.32
But, yeah, I had that.
00:18:49.36\00:18:51.59
I use a lot of bars of soap.
00:18:51.63\00:18:55.03
So here you
are, college student,
00:18:55.06\00:18:57.70
you hadn't finished your degree,
00:18:57.73\00:18:59.23
but you were pretty
skilled in many areas
00:18:59.27\00:19:03.34
and you find yourself in
this little village, far away,
00:19:03.37\00:19:07.11
thousands of
miles away from home.
00:19:07.14\00:19:09.78
Did you feel
like you were the one
00:19:09.81\00:19:14.38
taking them all of
the stuff that you knew,
00:19:14.42\00:19:17.89
that you were kind
of like the teacher?
00:19:17.92\00:19:20.56
By no means.
00:19:20.59\00:19:21.92
In fact I always laugh
00:19:21.96\00:19:23.29
because I felt like
a baby coming in there.
00:19:23.32\00:19:25.19
I felt like a baby
coming into that culture
00:19:25.23\00:19:29.30
and I mean, I didn't know how
to get water in the beginning,
00:19:29.33\00:19:32.73
I didn't know
where, I didn't know how.
00:19:32.77\00:19:34.87
And it was even--
even little things like,
00:19:34.90\00:19:37.61
I lived in a mud hut.
00:19:37.64\00:19:38.97
So you think about
keeping a mud hut clean,
00:19:39.01\00:19:41.38
you know, like, how do
you keep a mud hut clean?
00:19:41.41\00:19:43.08
Well, they do, they sweep it.
00:19:43.11\00:19:44.85
They sweep all as you
shuffle around in a hut,
00:19:44.88\00:19:47.12
it gets kind of dirty and
you have to sweep it clean.
00:19:47.15\00:19:49.28
And so I was in there one day
00:19:49.32\00:19:51.69
with the stock of
rice stocks bundled up,
00:19:51.72\00:19:55.09
trying to sweep out my hut
00:19:55.12\00:19:56.46
and the smoke is just billowing,
00:19:56.49\00:19:58.83
the dust was
billowing all around.
00:19:58.86\00:20:00.63
And I'm just
like kind of coughing,
00:20:00.66\00:20:02.00
it's like I can't
breathe in there anymore.
00:20:02.03\00:20:03.77
And one of the sisters comes in
00:20:03.80\00:20:05.63
and she's like,
Emily, no, no, no, not good,
00:20:05.67\00:20:08.20
this is not how you do it.
00:20:08.24\00:20:09.57
And she takes it from me
and she grabs another pitcher
00:20:09.60\00:20:12.67
and it's a pitcher of water,
00:20:12.71\00:20:14.48
and she takes and she pours
that all over the dirt floor.
00:20:14.51\00:20:17.05
Okay, so then, and
then she starts sweeping.
00:20:17.08\00:20:19.61
And instead of
billowing up in dust,
00:20:19.65\00:20:21.48
it sweeps out in clumps
00:20:21.52\00:20:23.02
and pretty soon my
floor is perfectly clean.
00:20:23.05\00:20:25.59
And so those moments
when I was like, oh, wow,
00:20:25.62\00:20:29.09
like, I am constantly learning.
00:20:29.12\00:20:31.39
And I learned so
much about family
00:20:31.43\00:20:33.06
and about really loving
others in their suffering like--
00:20:33.09\00:20:38.23
I often want to love to a degree
00:20:38.27\00:20:40.84
and then it's
somebody else's problem.
00:20:40.87\00:20:42.80
But some of those nurses
and physicians over there
00:20:42.84\00:20:45.27
are loving people till the
end, you know, and they are--
00:20:45.31\00:20:48.14
Yes.
00:20:48.18\00:20:50.15
Tell us a little bit
about some of your experiences
00:20:50.18\00:20:52.25
in the clinic itself?
00:20:52.28\00:20:53.62
What kinds of
things did you deal with?
00:20:53.65\00:20:54.98
That must have been challenging?
00:20:55.02\00:20:56.42
Yeah.
00:20:56.45\00:20:57.79
It was both ends
of the spectrum again.
00:20:57.82\00:20:59.25
Like, we had-- I got
to help deliver my first--
00:20:59.29\00:21:01.82
the first baby.
00:21:01.86\00:21:03.19
You know, if
you-- I just, I'm now--
00:21:03.22\00:21:05.03
I'm doing some photography
00:21:05.06\00:21:06.39
and I just want to
shoot birth documentary
00:21:06.43\00:21:08.30
because I just think that
experience is so beautiful.
00:21:08.33\00:21:11.73
And so there was that side of it
00:21:11.77\00:21:14.04
and then there was the side,
00:21:14.07\00:21:15.54
I was often working
00:21:15.57\00:21:17.54
in the pediatrics
board on that end.
00:21:17.57\00:21:22.31
And that was just
so difficult, you know,
00:21:22.34\00:21:24.08
we would work that
18 hour night shift.
00:21:24.11\00:21:25.71
So from 3:00 until--
3:00 pm until the morning.
00:21:25.75\00:21:30.79
And the electricity
would go off at midnight
00:21:30.82\00:21:32.95
and at that time.
00:21:32.99\00:21:34.32
Now they've
improved all of that.
00:21:34.36\00:21:35.69
But at that time electricity
would go off midnight
00:21:35.72\00:21:37.53
and you would work by
headlamp and I just had this--
00:21:37.56\00:21:41.93
this heaviness when
the darkness was there,
00:21:41.96\00:21:43.60
you know, when there was--
00:21:43.63\00:21:44.97
when it was night
time and there was--
00:21:45.00\00:21:47.04
I just waited for the morning.
00:21:47.07\00:21:49.87
There were knowing if a patient
00:21:49.90\00:21:52.14
was going to make
it through the night.
00:21:52.17\00:21:53.51
There's no life support,
00:21:53.54\00:21:54.88
there's nothing that you can do
00:21:54.91\00:21:57.28
besides once you
start the quinine,
00:21:57.31\00:21:59.25
that's a medication for malaria
00:21:59.28\00:22:00.68
and you start some of
these other basic, basic things,
00:22:00.72\00:22:04.39
it's a matter of
if this person's body
00:22:04.42\00:22:06.35
is going to pull
out of it or not.
00:22:06.39\00:22:08.72
And so I think that
was a very difficult,
00:22:08.76\00:22:12.93
difficult thing
to watch and realize
00:22:12.96\00:22:15.26
that you're very out of control
in those, to that degree.
00:22:15.30\00:22:18.43
We would love-- I
hate to jump in here,
00:22:18.47\00:22:21.34
it's getting really good
00:22:21.37\00:22:22.70
and we love to hear
more about the story.
00:22:22.74\00:22:24.71
But that's encouragement
to buy the book, right?
00:22:24.74\00:22:26.27
Yes, absolutely.
00:22:26.31\00:22:27.64
So if you had
to share something,
00:22:27.68\00:22:29.58
a few things with
someone who may be struggling
00:22:29.61\00:22:31.75
and whether they can
make a difference in the world
00:22:31.78\00:22:34.28
or should I be a missionary
or discovery my purpose.
00:22:34.32\00:22:37.75
What do you want to say to
people who are watching us?
00:22:37.79\00:22:40.29
I just-- especially college
students I know, even for me,
00:22:40.32\00:22:43.76
I was on a medical track
and so there was this big push
00:22:43.79\00:22:45.96
to get through school
00:22:45.99\00:22:47.56
and but I look back
in the amount of learning
00:22:47.60\00:22:50.23
that I did in the year--
00:22:50.27\00:22:51.60
of year of service is just
incredible, it's just I could--
00:22:51.63\00:22:56.20
I can't, I could never
pay for that kind of learning.
00:22:56.24\00:22:59.61
And so I would say,
if you if you at all can,
00:22:59.64\00:23:03.58
you know, I think that God
will impress upon your heart,
00:23:03.61\00:23:07.28
but pray about it
00:23:07.32\00:23:08.78
and see if you can make
something like that happen.
00:23:08.82\00:23:12.75
Did you find that
your walk with Jesus grew
00:23:12.79\00:23:15.46
and deepened in your
months there in Bere?
00:23:15.49\00:23:18.03
Yes, definitely.
00:23:18.06\00:23:19.66
I think the amount that I
needed to pray was much more.
00:23:19.69\00:23:23.40
I felt like, praying felt
like more of a constant thing,
00:23:23.43\00:23:27.90
you know, every sigh out Lord.
00:23:27.94\00:23:30.21
That's the prayer,
that's the real prayer,
00:23:30.24\00:23:31.87
you know what I am saying?
00:23:31.91\00:23:33.24
Yes, sometimes
you don't need words,
00:23:33.27\00:23:34.61
just say His name is the prayer.
00:23:34.64\00:23:38.08
Yeah, definitely.
00:23:38.11\00:23:39.98
Maybe as we close, you
can just look into the camera
00:23:40.02\00:23:42.22
and share with the viewers,
00:23:42.25\00:23:44.85
how that experience has
totally transform your life
00:23:44.89\00:23:47.39
and now how you live as a
result of having gone there.
00:23:47.42\00:23:51.23
I think if I can
share one last thing
00:23:51.26\00:23:54.93
it's just, just continue to--
00:23:54.96\00:23:57.67
if you feel lonely
00:23:57.70\00:23:59.13
or if you're looking around
for where God is in your life,
00:23:59.17\00:24:01.47
I mean, there are so many
dark places and dark experiences
00:24:01.50\00:24:04.37
that we go through but I know
that God is dwelling in people.
00:24:04.41\00:24:08.41
His home is within us.
00:24:08.44\00:24:10.81
And so if we can
reach out to others
00:24:10.85\00:24:13.01
and we can know
others more deeply,
00:24:13.05\00:24:15.15
people who may even
seem so different from us
00:24:15.18\00:24:17.85
and yet as we get
closer we start uncovering
00:24:17.89\00:24:21.29
the incredible common ground
00:24:21.32\00:24:23.46
that we have and
also the encouragement
00:24:23.49\00:24:25.46
and love that we can
draw from each other.
00:24:25.49\00:24:27.00
And sometimes that means
00:24:27.03\00:24:28.63
just getting out of the
house on a day that's hard,
00:24:28.66\00:24:30.93
sometimes that means
heading out to the park,
00:24:30.97\00:24:33.60
or talking to
somebody at a cash register
00:24:33.64\00:24:36.47
but put yourself out there
00:24:36.50\00:24:37.84
and see what that does
to connect you to others.
00:24:37.87\00:24:42.34
And then the other thing
00:24:42.38\00:24:43.75
I would say is
there's a verse in Romans 12,
00:24:43.78\00:24:46.92
it's another of my
favorites and it says,
00:24:46.95\00:24:49.38
"Take your every day
ordinary life, you are eating,
00:24:49.42\00:24:52.52
sleeping, going to work
and walking around life,
00:24:52.55\00:24:55.39
and place that before God."
00:24:55.42\00:24:57.83
It says, by embracing
what God does for you,
00:24:57.86\00:25:03.06
you are-- by embracing
what God does for you for--
00:25:03.10\00:25:06.77
You can embrace what--
00:25:06.80\00:25:08.14
Oh, I forgotten how
it goes the last part.
00:25:08.17\00:25:10.27
But basically that, by embracing
00:25:10.31\00:25:11.94
what God does in your life,
00:25:11.97\00:25:13.54
you're able to turn
things back to Him in praise.
00:25:13.58\00:25:15.81
And that's what
He's asked of us,
00:25:15.84\00:25:17.18
is to give
thanks in those moments.
00:25:17.21\00:25:18.58
So I guess that's what I
would love to say to you.
00:25:18.61\00:25:22.48
Emily, thanks for sharing
with us some of your experiences
00:25:22.52\00:25:25.49
and this captivating
book that you've written.
00:25:25.52\00:25:28.12
And one of the
things that really sticks
00:25:28.16\00:25:30.03
about Emily's
story is the process
00:25:30.06\00:25:32.49
in Chad of getting the rice
from the fields to the plate,
00:25:32.53\00:25:36.26
that has to be pounded and dried
00:25:36.30\00:25:38.60
and go through
this extreme process
00:25:38.63\00:25:41.04
in order to have
something good to eat.
00:25:41.07\00:25:43.30
The same way God
has to take our lives,
00:25:43.34\00:25:45.87
He has to sometime pound us
00:25:45.91\00:25:47.41
and wash us and
dry us out so that
00:25:47.44\00:25:50.25
when He wants to
put us on display,
00:25:50.28\00:25:51.95
we've gone
through enough process
00:25:51.98\00:25:53.72
to make a difference in
the lives of other people.
00:25:53.75\00:25:55.92
This has been another episode
of Stones of Remembrance.
00:25:55.95\00:25:59.79
I am Pierre Quinn
00:25:59.82\00:26:01.16
and with my
co-host, Karen Pearson,
00:26:01.19\00:26:02.52
we thank you for joining us.
00:26:02.56\00:26:04.19
Take care, and
we'll see you next time.
00:26:04.23\00:26:05.96
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