My name is Alberto Carballo and I am 28 years old. I came to Vanuatu as a nurse because I wanted to get to know the country and the type of ministry that the FCC does. I had never heard of Vanuatu before doing my DTS with YWAM so my plan was to come here for two weeks, help in the clinic and with whatever they needed and then I would go back home. However God had other plans. As soon as I arrived in Vanuatu the global situation and specifically the situation in my home country Spain, was getting complicated with the Corona Virus. I found myself stuck on an island in the middle of the Pacific with no way of coming home. I was definitely learning that a lot of the time God’s plan does not fit with our initial ideas, but if you trust him and give him the control you can rest in Him.
It has been a bitter sweet experience. I’m enjoying spending time with the locals, they look at me strangely every time I try and speak Bislama because they do not understand anything I’m trying to say. I’ve also helped to prepare the base for the cyclone. I have prayed for more patients in the clinic than in my whole life as a nurse in Spain. I have climbed palm trees with a machete to get coconuts. And I have also struggled with not being in my home country, knowing that people are suffering and not being able to do anything about it.
It has been a month since I first stepped foot in Vanuatu and I don’t know how much longer I will be here, but Vanuatu is a special country with special people. Not everything is perfect but I am sure that God has a purpose behind all that is happening. Being able to contribute to the beautiful work that this place, the FCC, is doing in the community with the clinic is an honor and I’m very thankful for that.