I'm going to Africa!

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20

God's plans are amazing and always outshine our own! 

The short story:

Its official- I will be working as a nurse in Uganda! I will be at an orphanage named Good Shepherd's Fold ( http://www.goodshepherdsfold.org) for 6 months starting in November. I'm going through an organization called African Inland Mission (AIM).

Praise God for his provisions!

The whole story:

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb" Psalm 139: 13

God has had my heart from the very beginning. Even though I was lost at times, turned away, and searched for happiness everywhere else, God was always fighting for my heart. I answered God's call to follow Jesus with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind once and for all in the summer of 2009.

God was preparing my heart for overseas missions long before I realized it though...
It started when I outgrew kid meals toys. As a young child my mom began to collect my brother and mine's unused kid meal toys, always with the statement, "I'm going to go to Africa one day and give these to all the little kids." Little did I know God was placing something on my heart!

While every Christ follower is called to be on a daily mission at work, in their neighborhood, and with friends and family, it became evident that God placed a desire in my heart to go overseas. I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to travel to Central America on multiple short-term trips where God thought me so much!

After college God strengthened that desire to consider a longer trip to use my nursing skills in Africa. For a while I ignored this desire placed on my heart and decided to pursue what culture was telling me was important- a secure job, good salary, and finding a husband. Praise God that His plans will not be stopped by our disobedience!! I went through a very hard time last year, but came out on the other side realizing that God's plans for my life will always be better than my own...

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you
and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

So in January I re-started the application process to AIM. It has been a roller-coaster of a process full of excitement, fear, uncertainty, and total dependence on Christ! Being placed as a nurse at a orphanage in Uganda is absolutely the perfect assignment for me. God opened the right doors and helped place peace in my heart throughout this entire process!

So now I have 6 months until I live in Uganda for 6 months... It is going to be an interesting year. I ask that all friends, family, co-workers, and others that read this site will share in this experience with me! Your support, prayers, words of encouragement, smiles, hugs, and laughs will be much needed!

Thank you for reading and being a part of God's journey with me!!

"He answered: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
Luke 10:27-28