The Count Down Begins

Only 7 days till I board to plane headed to Malawi! As I prepare for this trip I’ve been thinking a lot about how to keep my family and friends in the loop of what I am doing this summer. I hope to use this blog to share about my experiences, to share what God is doing through the ministries in which I will be involved, and to share how God is revealing Himself to me and to those I meet.

To start it all off, here is the travel plan:

 Malawi (May 15-June 15):  I will be staying with my brother Kirk in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. While he is working at the office, I will be helping at the Partners in Hope clinic. At least two days a week, Kirk and I plan to visit the people of the Dzaleka Refugee Camp. On the weekends, Kirk plans to take me on some African adventures with some of his friends. 

Togo (June 16-July 14): I will be staying with the Thompson family in Mango, Togo. Forty hours a week, I will work as a nurse’s aide at the Hospital of Hope. In the evenings, we hope to visit the children at the cuisine, which is a place for families to stay while their family members are at the hospital.

Ghana (July 15-August 13): The first two weeks I will be staying in Accra with Philip and Hannah Darko and their family. I will help Hannah sew school uniforms, visit the children in the Sodom and Gomorrah slum, and spend time at Echoing Hills center for people with disabilities.  During the second two weeks, I will be a part of the kid’s camp experience put on by Arm of Hope and the team from Hope Community Church, Mt Joy, Pennsylvania.

Thoughts as I prepare:

·         Wow. Is this actually happening? Ever since I was young, I have wanted to be a missionary nurse. Ever since I went to Peru, I have wanted to go back overseas and serve. I have learned a lot of lessons about serving well wherever God places me instead of always longing to be somewhere else. But now I get to go, and that is exciting!

·         THANK YOU. So many people have given so generously to invest in me and the ministries in which I will be involved this summer. I am humbled and honored to be sent by you to represent Jesus and share the good news. I truly recognize this as an investment that you are making in me, as I will be learning, growing, and shadowing many missionaries and health care professionals. Thank you.

·         Am I nervous? Not yet, but I probably will be when I’m dropped off in the airport. I have never before traveled internationally by myself! Before I can leave, I still have a lot of packing to do, and I am still praying that my passport and visa make it back from the embassy in time for me to leave.

  

The reason for the title of this blog:

This past year at Cedarville University, I had the privilege of leading a group of student to inner city Dayton, Ohio to visit several refugee families. There we led a Bible club (called King’s Kids Refugee Ministries), built relationships with the families, learned to cook Sudanese foods, played games, had sleep overs, etc. I adopted Paul’s prayer for King’s Kids:

“…I pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

From this past year alone, God has done immeasurably more than I can ask or imagine in several facets of my life, especially through King’s Kids. The better I get to know Jesus, the more I realize how true that He is to His Word. He is faithful, worthy, and good. We serve a great God who is more than able to transforms lives—and He does (I’m living proof). That is my prayer for my summer, and beyond!