This is how it starts

This isn't really the beginning of a journey for me.  I'm already on it. 

Sometime this summer, I will be leaving behind my awesome loving husband, my dog, my cat, my house, and the city I grew up in to move to Africa.  I am going to spend a year working as a missionary and health care aid volunteer with the Young Adult Service Corps (YASC) program of the Episcopal Church.  The details of my placement aren't finalized yet, so I don't even know what country I'll be in!  What I do know is this is going to be an awesome journey that will change my life forever. 

This all started years ago for me.  When I was in middle and high school, my church would take yearly mission trips around the country.  We would run a vacation Bible school for a week or help build houses.  Those trips were some of the best times of my early life.  In college, I did a service trip to Nicaragua through an organization called Bridges to Communities.  The cool thing about Bridges is that American college students are paired with a group of Nicaraguan college students, and you all go together to a rural village to help build water and waste systems.  The Nicaragua trip was also really frustrating for me because of the type of work we were doing.  There I was trying to build a latrine, and I couldn't even hold the hammer right!  I decided then and there that I would do another service trip, and this time I would use the skills I had been given in a place where they were needed. 

Fast forward a few years, and I am now a registered nurse.  One of the reasons I chose to become a nurse was that the skill set I have is applicable in almost any environment.  I work in labor and delivery now, but I am also trained to teach lay people about diseases, perform health assessments, give medication... all great skills that can be used abroad!  I chose the Young Adult Service Corps program because not only will it give me a great opportunity to use my skills, but it also allows me to be a missionary from my home diocese to the Church in a foreign country.  What a unique opportunity!  I can't wait to learn more about where I will be going and the type of work I will be doing.

Please join me in this mission by checking back often to find out how it's going!