Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: That was probably the night that I realized that I was in a war zone.
But even there, it was very surreal because we didn't. At that moment, I didn't see anything. I didn't hear anything. It just felt like I was in another country, which I've been in other countries before. That night, we heard I was.
We were, like, you know, getting ready for bed, going to sleep. We were staying on the third floor. We'd been prepped on, like, safety, on how to manage or what to do. And if we heard drones, what drones sound like, like, what to do if we hear them in different scenarios. But then I was using the restroom. One of the guys knocked on the door, and I just thought he was, like, trying to see if anyone was in the bathroom. And then he knocked again a little bit more urgently. And then I realized that he was, like, calling in, telling me that there was a drone outside. So I quickly got up, and we all went downstairs to the basement and waited out the drone.
[00:00:57] Speaker B: Hello, and welcome back to Unfeigned Christianity. This is the podcast where we seek to become people who are theological, anchored in Jesus, emotionally healthy, so we can love and disciple others. Well, today is exciting because I have another sister on the podcast, Christy Whitmer. She's an rn. She has worked in a variety of different nursing settings in hospitals here in the US but about a year ago, she had the opportunity to spend some time in Ukraine helping with medical care and more specifically, training for people so they know how to care for each other in light of the war, being on the front lines. And so we have a conversation of what it was like to travel into a war zone and help with people in that way.
I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation. We had to cut it short. Both of us had a bit of a time crunch, and she's in the middle of moving, and so she was gracious enough. There was a space where it was like, well, I think I could fit it in here. Otherwise she's going to be starting her new job, probably not be able to do it for a while.
And so she was gracious enough to. To give me time.
And I share it with you all. I think you'll find it fascinating to hear what it was like.
Well, Christy, thank you for taking the time to come on Unfeigned Christianity.
You are. You've just landed in Philly a couple days now, and you. You haven't quite started your job. You've got. Obviously you're getting settled in, but you're. You're waiting on your belongings to arrive. Is that right?
[00:02:50] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah. Living out of a backpack. So.
[00:02:52] Speaker B: Living out of a backpack. And so you. We. We are headed out on a family vacation after this, and then you'll be in the grind of getting into your job.
I've been bugging you about doing this interview all year so far, and you graciously said, hey, these couple days here, in between things might work. And so thank you for taking the time to come on.
[00:03:18] Speaker A: You're welcome. Thanks for having me.
[00:03:20] Speaker B: For my audience. This is my next youngest or the sibling just under me. Christy is number four of us five, and she has the last of us to leave la. And now there are no more Whitmers living in Los Angeles. So it's been kind of a.
A nostalgic process for us to all think of none of us living there anymore.
[00:03:48] Speaker A: She.
[00:03:49] Speaker B: You've just recently moved to Philly, and now that makes three siblings living in Philly proper. All the rest of the. The Whitmers are now in pa.
I'm still here in Colorado, so I don't think we'll ever live in pa, but I don't know. I guess we'll see. We like Colorado pretty well.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: See how long you can hold down the west coast or the West.
[00:04:14] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, people from PA think Colorado's the West Coast, I guess, sometimes, but kind of a slam. I don't know if it's just PA people back east, it's funny, they'll move out here and be like, man, we're out west. I'm like, we drive as long as you drove out here and you'll get to the West Coast.
Anyway, you took a trip to Ukraine last fall. And again, for more context, you are a registered nurse.
You have worked as an rn.
Is it eight years now?
[00:04:55] Speaker A: Have you been a little over six years? Yeah.
[00:04:59] Speaker B: Is it just six years? So Covid, Covid was your introduction to nursing full time?
[00:05:07] Speaker A: Basically, yeah. I started working in 2019. Spring of 2019 is when I got my license and started my first job.
[00:05:14] Speaker B: So Interesting. That would be seven years now. Over seven years.
[00:05:22] Speaker A: Did I do the math wrong? Yeah, yeah.
[00:05:24] Speaker B: 23, 6.
[00:05:26] Speaker A: I guess so.
[00:05:27] Speaker B: I mean, it's crazy to think that that is already seven years ago.
[00:05:31] Speaker A: Yeah. Wow. It's wild.
[00:05:34] Speaker B: Yeah. And it's also crazy. I forgot how close into your nursing career Covid was, but you've been serving in la, two different hospitals, or have you served at more than two?
[00:05:51] Speaker A: Yeah, just basically two different hospitals. A few different positions in each hospital.
[00:05:54] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Multiple different departments and floors and stuff. But one of your passions has always been getting into.
Yeah, medicine in a missional setting. You've, you've explored things in LA directly, working with, with those in, I was going to say medically poor areas, but I don't know if that's the way.
Yeah, people who don't have access or can't afford.
But one of the big. And you've explored a few different things. You've explored going to Bangladesh and other different countries, but one that has come to fruition was going to Ukraine in war torn areas.
And so I remember you talking back as you led up to it, how there, there were people around you who wondered like why, why would you go to where a war is happening?
What, why did you go? What, what led you to want to go to a place like that? We'll get in, I'm sure we'll get into some stories. We do have limited time. I'd love to, I'd love to hear all, all those stories. But you'll talk about trying to avoid drones and hearing, hearing drones above you and stuff like that.
So it obviously wasn't safe, it wasn't easy and even what you saw and witnessed was pretty dramatic.
What led you to want to do this sort of medical work?
[00:07:46] Speaker A: It's a good question.
I think I would have to take it back pretty far to like early influences in my life.
I've wanted to be a nurse as long as I can remember and had various people in my life from a pretty young age who went into nursing in like a. Well, I wasn't say a service way. Nursing is pretty much a service job but in like in missions again as long as I can remember.
And so I think that was kind of something that probably spurred my initial interest in it as a kid. I remember saying that's what I wanted to do when I grew up was to be like a missionary nurse.
But then I think there were various life experiences that kind of led me to even just realize the ways that like nursing can even be used here in the States to serve. Living in LA definitely kind of opened my eyes to just the need for even just good public health access to.
You're kind of trying to find words.
The way that I kind of verbalize here in the States is just those with limited access to health care or. Yeah, I think even here in the States there's a lot of people that have limited access to healthcare even in urban settings.
So yeah, all that to say when, to answer your question. As far as like where that started, I feel like it started with watching Other people kind of walk that path of like, of pursuing, taking health care, taking health care skills to that. To those places and seeing that be like, an option for.
For a career, for a service.
And then I think just, yeah, really having a burning, like, desire to. To do that.
As I. As I grew and then went to college, definitely living in la, I developed a greater passion just for serving those around me.
We did a lot of service to people living on the streets and had seen various opportunities for what's called street medicine. So that was something that I had pursued in different avenues there.
And I think they're just the most. I've had different people ask with that, like, you know, even they're like, why do you care so much about homelessness or those who are, like, marginalized?
And I would like to just give a simple answer and just say, like, oh, because Jesus does.
But that's probably what everybody with a passion says, because there's so many different things to be passionate about. But.
[00:10:58] Speaker B: And then those of us who don't feel like doing that feel guilty because.
[00:11:02] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. It's very pious.
[00:11:04] Speaker B: I must not love Jesus.
[00:11:06] Speaker A: Yeah.
And I think, like.
I think, like, when I really, like, kind of try to flesh it out, it's like this desire to, like, number one, like, I have these skills that I've been given and that I'm passionate about using.
And.
And when people ask, like, why do you care about homelessness or those with limited access to health care or why do you want to go to a war zone? I think kind of the answer is the same in that, like, in that I would like to choose to use my skills and my, like, especially in this stage of my life, a season where I kind of have the freedom and the ability both in resources and in. In life. I'm single, I have a really strong support system. I have the finances to be able to do it.
I want to be able to use those skills in a way that can serve those that need it and that don't have access to it. And with regard to war zone, and specifically, an answer that I often gave people was just that a lot of people are living in war zones that didn't choose to live there.
And I don't say this lightly, but that.
I have been given skills that I can take and bless those people who didn't choose that, but by this, you know, strength and wisdom and grace of God can move into that and can enter into that scene with them.
[00:12:56] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. And we kind of tease about the piety of. Oh, because Jesus cares about those. But that's something I've seen you live out in a very genuine way, is the heart of Jesus for those in need and the vulnerable. And it's easy for us as Christians even to go to a third world country and we come back and our testimony is about how are like, oh, we have it so. We're so blessed. We have it so well, rather than being invited into and compelled into, like, walking with these brothers and sisters and how can we serve them in the situation that they have. And the fact that you're ready and willing to do that is something I've always admired.
I had a little person sneak in here and open my door and I'm going to shut it real quick.
[00:13:58] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:14:07] Speaker B: Her name is Ashira.
[00:14:08] Speaker A: Little person.
[00:14:13] Speaker B: What, so you go to Ukraine?
Here in the States, we're hearing about Ukraine. And honestly, I think this was true, even leading up to it. I've. I know, like the, the war started, what, February, January of 22, at least this version of it, But I can't remember what. So, so this, what I'm about to talk about has been a thing from the very beginning. People, you know, some people think Zelensky slipped my mind. President Zelensky is off his rocker, is out of place. Other people think that this is tyrannical of Putin, what he has tried to do and so forth. And so people have their political opinions.
You just went because you wanted to help people medically, more specifically, you guys were training stop the bleed. Is that what you said?
[00:15:18] Speaker A: That was the course that we were teaching. Yes, you were teaching.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: And so, yeah, people in the news, we're hearing of all these places, Russia's advancing, advancing. This is September of 25. You're getting ready to head over there. At that point, it's kind of crazy that Russia hasn't just wiped them out. Right.
But in terms of the size of the military and resources that Russia had against versus Ukraine.
But what, what was it like when you landed there? When did you realize you're no longer in an emergency room? Obviously you jumped into nursing, right, during COVID so maybe that prepped you for some of the triage and just kind of emergency response impulses.
But yeah, when did it become real to you? Like, this is no longer something you're hearing about over the news and this is no longer an ER at the hospital in la.
[00:16:38] Speaker A: Yeah, well, it's interesting because the organization that I went with required a lot of, a lot of various types of training before I even went over to Ukraine, so which was really Good for me because like just this is kind of an added detail. Hopefully it doesn't take up too much time. But I like for me as a nurse in the hospital setting, a lot of that was actually really good even before ever leaving for Ukraine, because that prepared me a lot of the training or the.
[00:17:10] Speaker B: Your hospital experience?
[00:17:11] Speaker A: A lot of the training. Like my hospital experience was good in knowledge, but the hospital experience is a lot different from even just simply pre hospital.
So that in itself was a really good step of just like before ever even leaving the States, like preparing myself for pre hospital.
And then they required, before ever even going to a war zone, they required war zone training and what's called like tactical emergency.
I'm drawing a blank for it. But t Triple C, which is like a basically combat casualty care and which is like even more than just like typical pre hospital care.
And so those were all just like precursor like training that they wouldn't have wanted me to go without and just did a good kind of like preparation. Hopefully you don't have to use all these things, but we're training you with this. And so as a ICU nurse who's used to just her controlled sterile environment in the hospital with a lot of knowledge, that was good for me.
But yeah, as far as to answer your question, then it was an interesting process actually getting there.
And again, I have to like say I feel like anytime you like anyone that's like listening to this and has been overseas for short term, like is going to know this. But like, it's like so different to do like a short term. I was there for like a week and a half or two weeks.
Trying to think of the length. It wasn't very long and it was like very impactful. But like my little stint there, I just feel compelled to say that my little stint there, like obviously was just a window, a small, tiny little like wink of time compared to what it's like to live there.
And so yeah, it was interesting.
I remember one of my teammates kind of using the analogy of like, I feel it kind of like a teenager that's been given all of this preparation and told all of the things that can happen and like, and now like we're going into this war zone and like kind of have to experience it to like understand the reality of it or whatever, you know.
But yeah, I actually, interestingly there had been a lot of like we had been hearing a lot of news of some of the places that we were at as far as just like air raids and some pretty intense.
Yeah, rate like artillery fire from Russia on Ukraine, directly on some of the cities that we were going to, leading up to when we were there.
Interestingly, the weeks that I was there were uniquely quiet, kind of so much so that the one city, like, as we were driving there, the one day we were hearing that they were like.
Like this. I guess even that day we had experienced a delay that was unexpected. And we were delayed by, like, several hours. We weren't even sure that we were going to be able to get into the city.
And basically, yeah, found out that the city was being bombarded and then got in, like, late that night. And our host basically told us he was going to meet us at the edge of the city and met us and just, like, drove us, like, guided us, like, fast and furiously in our vehicles to the place where we were staying.
And that was probably the night that I realized that I was in a war zone. Yeah. But even there it was very surreal because we didn't. At that moment, I didn't see anything. I didn't hear anything. It just felt like I was in another country, which I've been in other countries before.
But. And it was miraculous because we were. We made it there safely. And just hours before, they'd been getting shelled.
And then, yeah, we sat.
Sat around the table and he just explained to us. It was about how, you know, he said they. Every night they pray for their lives before they go to sleep.
He kind of looked around at us and he's like, I'm not joking. We genuinely pray for our lives before we go to sleep that night.
[00:22:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:22:05] Speaker A: Um, and then. Yeah, that night was. It was our first night in that city and we. That night we heard. I was.
We were like, you know, getting ready for bed, going to sleep. We were staying on the third floor and heard we'd been. Yeah. Prepared, prepped on, like, safety on how to manage or what to do in the. In, like, if we heard drones, what drones sound like, what to do if we hear them in different scenarios.
But then I was. I was using the restroom and one of the guys knocked on the door and I just thought he was, like, trying to see if anyone was in the bathroom. And then he knocked again a little bit more urgently. And then I realized that he was, like, calling in, telling me that there was a drone outside.
So I quickly got up and we all went downstairs and to the basement and waited out the drone.
I couldn't hear it from where, like, the bathroom was, like, kind of in. It didn't have any external windows or anything. And so I couldn't hear the drone from the bathroom.
But yeah, we went down to the basement, waited out the drone.
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Just use the link and promo code in the show description below. Could you hear it down there?
[00:24:13] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, we could hear it from the. But. And it was, yeah, it was definitely a very like just kind of an eerie sound, like, felt like, yeah, something that here in America you'd hear in like a sci fi movie or something.
[00:24:26] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:28] Speaker A: And I don't even, I honestly don't even really remember how long it lasted until we all felt, you know, comfortable with going back upstairs and going to bed. But.
[00:24:43] Speaker B: And so did that drone, like, was that drone striking anything or was it
[00:24:49] Speaker A: just flying, if I remember correctly, off, like. Yeah, the, the, the time, like while we were in that city then often like the night, it felt like a pretty regular occurrence then that. Yeah, like we would find out then. Yeah, like what had been hit the night before, four or whatever.
And that night, that particular drone I think had hit like an electric, some sort of electricity plant.
So there was a section of town that was out of power.
[00:25:26] Speaker B: So trying to.
[00:25:29] Speaker A: It's a little fuzzy. Like the details are fuzzy in my mind now, but yeah, yeah, it was just, it was pretty. Yeah, it felt like, yeah, often in the morning there would have been something that got struck the night before.
And, And like the people that we related to, like all had like.
Yeah, lots of stories of like having watched things blow up or have been present in buildings, you know, that were targeted.
And I guess that's kind of where I feel sensitive about like I didn't see any. Yeah, I heard things, I didn't see anything.
But yeah, just the fact that like this was people's reality and they would just casually tell these stories and then, yeah, the next morning you'd drive around and people would already be, you know, fixing things up. Sometimes it would be just struck, you know, simple structures, you know, somebody's gate or fence or something that got hit, depending if it got shot down and would just like.
But the level of like resilience and determination to just not let it, like.
[00:26:47] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:48] Speaker A: Kind of bring them down. They do what they could to like rebuild what they could as quickly as they could.
[00:26:55] Speaker B: Yeah.
Yeah.
Were you afraid? Like, did that. An experience like that or anything in your time there, did it. Did it cause fear or was it more. You've mentioned surreal a couple times. Was it more just kind of hard to believe you're actually there and living in it or. Yeah. What was kind of the emotion you were living with?
[00:27:19] Speaker A: I think for myself in the moment, it was like.
Yeah, more of the feeling is surreal.
I sometimes like have looked back on it and been like, was I really not afraid? Like, which I generally. I generally like.
I'm not always sure if I'm not. If I'm proud of this. Like, I feel like I don't always like feel afraid when I should feel afraid.
And like even just here in.
At home or in the States, like different people get after me sometimes because I can be a little bit cavalier. But yeah, I think there it was definitely like a very like, surreal. And again, I think it was just like this thing of like, I have no context for this and this thing of like.
Yeah. When I would hear, you know, when we'd be teaching Stop the Bleed in the evenings and hear people's stories, it was almost this thing of like.
Yeah, I just like.
I'm trying to think of like what to explain it to but like when you like. I felt.
Definitely felt naive and so I think.
It was. Yeah. I don't necessarily remember feeling afraid, but it was also just this, like, it wasn't because I was like super courageous, but more just like, wow, this is just a reality that I just can hardly wrap my mind around, I guess. Like.
[00:29:01] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:02] Speaker A: Because it was definitely. Yeah. Definitely, like very obvious that it was.
Yeah.
A reality that we don't. That I don't live with every day and just. And I hadn't, you know, I wasn't seeing the devastation firsthand. And I guess even. Even just to kind of go back and say like when it's not like when I let you know, when we arrived there, we were seeing, you know, hand to hand combat or that kind of, you know. Because so much of what's happening there from what. From where we were is a lot of just like the devastation on structures and.
[00:29:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:48] Speaker A: The toll it takes on.
[00:29:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:54] Speaker A: Cities and countries as a whole and yeah. Psychological trauma and which is really cool. I mean, it was. In that sense, it was cool to see the way we met some really neat organizations for the way that, like, Ukrainians are even there, just, like, working on, caring for and like, even now pursuing, like, psychological care for those that are living with that every day.
[00:30:35] Speaker B: You. You mentioned. I remember at one point you sent a message where so you weren't actually doing medical care with people, but you were teaching them how to care for each other through the Stop the Bleed. And you. You mentioned something about just being amazed at the kids that are soaking up the training and how it was obvious they had seen these kinds of wounds and.
[00:31:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:03] Speaker B: What. How did that.
Yeah, I guess I'm inviting you to tell us a little bit more about that. But also, I could imagine myself feeling almost out of control, like, how can I even really help these people? Or how, you know, how did you navigate seeing so much need and so many things that people needed help with, whether that's physically or even just the trauma that they're experiencing and navigating that.
How did you navigate knowing how to let things that you couldn't help people with let that go and focus on Stop the Bleed or, you know, what you were there to do?
[00:31:54] Speaker A: Yeah, well, it was interesting. So, like, the way that I ended up there was with an organization that was sending teams specifically to teach Stop the Bleed humanitarian organization, a Christian humanitarian organization.
And that Stop the Bleed course was kind of born out of someone who had lived in Ukraine and started the Stop the Bleed courses from just a desire to do something to help.
And it was kind of that thing of, like, what can I do? Like, what. What can I do?
And. And. And this concept of, like, if I can teach.
If I can teach the person next to me how to save a life, because essentially, like, one. Like one of the greatest targets in Ukraine right now is the medical professionals and the first responders and stuff. And so it takes a lot. A long time for them to get to
[00:33:01] Speaker B: targets that Russia is trying to take. Yeah, yeah.
[00:33:05] Speaker A: So, like, they don't. You don't see, like, ambulances or anything that's, like, easily targeted like that, because they tend to, like, be very undercover.
And so.
And it can sometimes take hours for a first responder to get to someone, like, especially if, you know, a building or something has been struck.
And so basically the concept is like, if we. If you can teach someone Stop the Bleed, that can save and they, you know, they can teach someone, or, you know, if you can teach a class that could potentially a class of 30 people could potentially save 30 lives at the minimum, you know, and so we went into, yeah, high schools.
We were. That trip. We were primarily teaching in high schools and then a couple community centers and churches and. Yeah, what you were referring to was some of the high schools that we ended up teaching where I think. I think we ended up teaching over 100, 150 students from like 9th to 11th grade.
And yeah, it was just wild how casually they like, just soaked up the teaching and just flippantly would, yeah. Pack wounds and. And ask questions about, you know, pretty like, complex traumatic injuries that like, I can't imagine a 10th grader in. In the States even knowing about as a trauma nurse. I don't think I would have known about in 10th grade. Like, but all that to say to. As far as just dealing with the, like, the, like how to deal with the things that we couldn't help with.
I think I, I think my biggest takeaway was just like a really big desire to like, let, like, let the Ukrainians know that they're not forgotten, because that was something that was really big that, that a lot of them talked about when they were over. There was just like this thing of like, they would kind of look, they. When they would meet us. This. A lot of this happened through interpretation. But they would say, like, so do you believe this now? Like, do you believe that this is real? Or as if they kind of felt like those in the States didn't think that it was real interesting.
Or they would say, like, now you can go back to the States and tell people, you know, what has happened or what things are like.
Or they'd say, don't forget about us.
And so, yeah, like, it definitely felt like what we were in some ways, like, what we were doing was just like, you know, a drop in the bucket.
At the same time, we met a lot of people that were like, very skilled and faithful in like, what they're doing as far as. Just like paramedics that are. Have been doing things, have been serving their country since the beginning of the war.
And it was really neat to just sit and hear stories and meet Christians that have been, you know, living in their villages and cities and serving their. Their churches and villages since the beginning of the war and have stayed largely because they felt God telling them to stay.
And so I think in the same way, it was just like, you know what? Like, God has us here for this time or has me here for this time in this moment, like, whether or not I understand, like, the full scale of why I'M here, but I want, but wanting to just like let him use me and, and also let myself be changed through the experience and then, and then to I think as I left then also just like wanting to stay committed to just not. Not forgetting.
[00:37:17] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:37:18] Speaker A: And yeah, staying committed to not forgetting and even from a distance, committed to prayer. And that can feel really like trite or to say when you're thinking about like a full scale war happening and me sitting here in the comfort of my home, drinking my coffee and sleeping at night, not worrying about like whether or not I'm gonna make it through the night. But yeah.
Yeah. So I, I think leaving there, I can sometimes feel a little bit guilty but. Or like, yeah, just unsure of how to, to leave something like that, but at the same time wanting to let my heart be, I guess impacted by it and yeah.
Committed to whatever level of, of service and change I can bring.
[00:38:15] Speaker B: Yeah. What were you changed by your experience there and what did the people that you interacted with teach you things about faith, suffering, being human. Obviously you've, you've kind of alluded to some things, but I'm, Yeah, I'm curious how as you let God shape you in that way through that experience, what are some of those specific things?
[00:38:45] Speaker A: I definitely think definitely faith and resilience are two things that I will always think about when I think about the people that I met there and just, I think that with regard to just resilience, the way that like those who have chosen to stay and continue plugging in.
I've, yeah, we talked with a lot, met a lot of Christians there who have been very like, opportunistic in, in the work that they've done there and as far as just like finding ways to see. Serve their communities and serve.
Whether it's like, yeah.
Whether it's through programs that they've started both like with kind of what I alluded to as far as like trauma care.
The one organization has done a lot with like, with serving like children who lost their, like their fathers in the war and, and also with elderly people and just, even just going in and doing, yeah. Different types of therapeutic trauma services, but also just education on like helping these kids grow up and skills and things that they aren't. Might not be receiving from their parents because of either absence or you know, the toll that war has taken on them.
And then, and then just like the level of faith, like hearing families talk about, yeah. Living. Living in a war zone. And there was one family that specifically, yeah. Shared stories of things that they've seen in their village.
And I just remember being struck by just how joyful and happy their kids were and just at peace. And I remember thinking, like, wow, like, if I had nieces or nephews growing up in this context, like, I remember the mom, like, the kids wanted to go outside and play, and the mom, like, got them all ready and sent them out. And I just remember thinking, if I had nieces or nephews in this context, I would have such a hard time just letting them out of my sight, you know?
[00:41:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
Where houses on both sides of them had been bombed.
[00:41:16] Speaker A: Yeah. And their house had never. Had never been struck.
And yet I was just like. As I just reflected on it, I remember thinking, like, being struck by just the power of, like. Yes. Like, there. I can't downplay, like, the trauma that they've experienced in any way, but also just, like, the power of, like, the hand of God that's very evident in their life by the peace that I saw in them. And just.
And yeah, I still. I still think about them to this day and pray for them and just hope that those girls continue to.
To see that, you know, see God's hand in their life and.
Because it's again. Yeah. I guess just something that just feels like. You can't say flippantly after. Yeah. Being in a war zone or. Yeah.
Or to someone living in a war zone.
[00:42:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:42:19] Speaker A: And.
Yeah. And then just. Yeah. Just story after story of.
Of that kind of thing. And then just the way they continually gave to us, like, and whether it was through, like, serving or hosting or giving us food.
[00:42:41] Speaker B: And even though they're under attack, their resources are few. Their food is ration. Rationed.
[00:42:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:42:50] Speaker B: They're serving you. Yeah.
[00:42:52] Speaker A: Yeah. And they would just. And then. And then a lot of their stories were just, like, full of. Just the whole thing of. Yeah. Just rallying together and, like, pooling resources and.
And it just. Yeah. It was just kind of, I think especially in the season of life that I was in when I went over there and just things I was processing both through, like, the cultural climate that we're here in. Here in America. And even just personal stuff that I was thinking about and just how, like.
Yeah. Being very challenged by that. The ability to, like, let the pressure of war make them become generous versus, like, selfish and mistrusting of each other. And I'm sure, you know, I'm sure there's those stories too. But, like, what I experienced in the time that I was there was.
Was just, like, the generosity and kindness and welcome and resilience and that was really just impactful to me.
[00:44:00] Speaker B: But yeah,
[00:44:06] Speaker A: There's various other stories that I could think of, but tight on time.
[00:44:11] Speaker B: Yeah, I know. I wish we could go a little longer to have all those stories. But thanks for sharing this little window into it and some of the things you've, you've learned if someone's listening, feeling the pull toward getting involved in this kind of work.
Yeah. I don't know if it's specifically medical care to a war torn area, but helping in a traumatic situation, I guess perhaps.
But it. Yeah.
What would you want to say to them?
[00:44:57] Speaker A: That's a good question.
I think I would. Definite. Oh, sorry. Go ahead.
[00:45:04] Speaker B: Well, I was just gonna flesh it out a little bit. Maybe they feel a little scared or like they don't have, don't have much to offer or. I mean, sometimes it can seem like we chase the excitement of a adventure.
[00:45:26] Speaker A: I think that's kind of where my mind was going, was just something that, especially in the context of the team and the organization that I've been with. I've had various conversations with various people about that whole thing of like how often sometimes there can be that like people that go to places like war zones can have this like pull or this drive for adventure.
And I think I've also seen that tendency in like certain healthcare environments too, or first responder environments. And I think something I've personally learned both through like some of the different training environments that I've been in and then even just through this trip is how like I feel like more than, more than the adventure is just how much more important. And I think what I would stress and where I've grown is just the importance of just like being ready to be used in any capacity.
Because like so much of life and service is just like mundane, whether or not you're in like a war zone or whether or not you're in LA or Philadelphia or anywhere.
And, and I think if you get locked into like a state specific way that you want to use your skills or to be used or to work is when a lot of like discontentment and frustration and even, you know, if you're on a team, a lot of team conflict then can arise.
[00:47:13] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, thank you. Thanks for taking the time to share. And Christy is on Facebook, Instagram, if you, if you are listening, you want to reach out, hear more of her stories directly.
She does not have a website. Do you have, you have a, you've been writing. Is it on a sub stack?
[00:47:40] Speaker A: I'm always saying I'm going to start writing more, but I write about like once a quarter maybe.
[00:47:44] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:47:45] Speaker A: Yeah, I do have a substack. Can't remember what it's called, but it's out there somewhere.
[00:47:49] Speaker B: Send me. Send me the link and I'll. I'll drop it in when I publish this episode. But yeah, you do. I always enjoy your writing when you do write.
Yeah. Thanks for taking the time to talk, and I get the privilege of being in touch with you regularly. But looking forward to hearing how God uses you there in Philly.
[00:48:14] Speaker A: Thanks for having me.
[00:48:17] Speaker B: If today's conversation stirred something in you, if you find yourself wanting to go deeper than just listening, the Unfeigned Christianity Membership Program might be exactly what you're looking for. It's a formation community for people who are serious about becoming theologically anchored and emotionally healthy so they can love and disciple others. Well, it's a real space where we do ongoing work together. Members get access to teaching resources and ongoing conversation through monthly mentorship calls, the kind of stuff that doesn't make it into the podcast, but shapes the people who are in it. You can join at www.asherwhitmer.com member and get started for as little as $5 a month. If you purchase an annual membership, you get a 20% discount. The link is in the show notes below.
SA.
