Taking the Next Step

As I write this I am sitting in the main office of WorldVenture in Littleton, Colorado. This is the organization that I served with in Indonesia before and I am looking forward to working with them again. They are a community of more than 500 missionaries working in more than 60 countries around the globe. You can click on their name above for more information.

Over the next few days I will meet with staff members and the board to discuss plans for the future. Hopefully this will culminate in a process called appointment, which is basically an agreement that we want to work together. Then for 10 days I will do training here at the office. This will include the arrival of a mentor (my pastor's wife in Everett) and my parents. I will do all of this as part of group with 10 other units (some single, some married, and some with kids). It has been fun getting to know them today. We are going to be good friends by the time this is over. 


It is going to be an exciting next couple of days!

So Why Go?

So one of the first questions I always get when I tell people I am planning to serve as a missionary nurse-midwife is... why in the world would you travel halfway around the world to serve where the work will be hard and hours long? You are young and single. You could set-up a practice here in the US and settle down and be happy. It is a good question and a good point! So here is the not so short answer...

Maybe you have heard about cardboard testimonies – they are a simple exercise that a group does to recognize what the Lord has done in the group members. On one side you write what your life was like before Christ and on the other side what it is like after Christ. You then share them with the group and celebrate what the Lord has done. Several years ago my pastor challenged our church to write and share several of these cardboard testimonies during a service. I have been a Christian for most of my life so my testimony is fairly simple. So instead I chose to highlight the change between my faith in the early years and the later years. I wrote on my cardboard testimony, “I allowed God to be part of my plan for my life” and other side “Living the adventure of God’s plan for my life." It is only through letting the Lord take the lead (and control!) in my life that I have begun to understand the joys and contentment of walking closely with the Lord. Does this require leaving my comfort zone and letting some of some of my dreams go - yes! It also means however that when this life is over I won't have to look back and wonder what would have happened if I had given everything to serve the Lord. I am excited to see where and what God has planned for the future.

PS - Ah ha and now you know the answer to another frequent question - why the name "Living the Adventure" for this blog :)

So first a little about me...

I was born and raised in a little town in the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon. The perfect place for a childhood with lots of places to play and for imaginations to grow. I am the oldest of four girls and my family is one of my biggest joys. I have wanted to be a nurse for forever or so it seemed as a kid. So after getting my Bachelor's in Nursing and working for a year at Seattle Children's Hospital I ended up halfway around the world ministering at Bethesda Hospital in West Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia. For three years I ate a lot of rice, learned a whole new language and way of life and discovered that the world is bigger than even the imagination of my childhood could dream up. I am back in the US now working a "normal" job at Providence Everett Hospital in their Family Maternity Center. Currently I am also getting my Master's Degree in Nursing from Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing and studying to become a nurse-midwife. After graduation in the fall of 2010 I hope to return and serve in Indonesia with WorldVenture at Bethesda Hospital.

Welcome to my blog! Stayed tuned for more on this adventure known as life :)