The Beginning.

Hi!

    Yay for my first blog! I am so excited to start keeping you guys informed of all things Africa and other things going on in my life! 

    So I guess that I should start from the beginning, since that is the title of this blog. 

    As long as I could remember, I've always had a heart for missions. As a child I wanted to go to Africa. I never knew "why Africa" or "where Africa", but I knew I wanted to go. When I was around 10 or 12 I started warning my parents of my intentions of long term missions. I used to tell my mom, "Just so you know, your grandkids will be born in another country." I don't think she was too happy about that idea but she always told me to go after what the Lord had called me to no matter what. 

    As I got older my heart for missions only increased. I went on my first mission trip to Peru in 2008, when I was 17. It wrecked my life and I never wanted to come home. In 2010 I went on my 2nd missions trip to Haiti. Haiti opened my eyes so much. I saw a culture that was not Christian and worshipped other gods and chanted at all hours of the night. But by the end of the week the standoffish and distant community were embracing us, helping us clean up rubble, and letting us sit with them while they taught us their language. I got to witness His love in motion. 

    For 2 more years after Haiti (four years after my 1st mission trip) the Lord continued to work in my life and teach me so much. In 2011 the Lord started to teach me love and what it looked like. He also showed me that my "mission field" is where He has me planted, yes one day I hoped that would be Africa but in the meantime it was in Mississippi. So I was learning love and learning to be content where He had me and to love on the people around me, not just waiting for the time when I would go to Africa to love on people.

        In April 2012, an opportunity literally (or so I felt) feel in my lap. A church that I was attending was going to Africa! After praying about it for a week and asking the Lord if I could go and a meeting with the pastor, I was getting prepared to finally go to the place that my heart had longed for for 21 years. 

   And in June 2012 I was on my way to Africa! The trip was 3 weeks long. It wrecked my life. It wasn't what I thought it would be. At first I was very disappointed. I didn't want to be there and I wanted to go home. I think so often we have a picture of what the next season will look like, how it will go, how we will feel, and rely on that. Then it happens and it's nothing like we thought. It doesn't look the way we thought it would, it doesn't go the way we thought it would, and we don't feel at all how we thought we would. That's what the first several days in Africa were for me, a disappointment. 
  

    That first week the Lord showed me so much. I learned so much about Him and His people and His calling on our lives. I had always thought that a missionary's life would be glamorous. I soon found out that it wasn't. It was serving and loving, and serving and loving are not always easy. During the the time we were there, we spent so much time with missionaries. We loved on them and they loved on us. I saw first hand the struggles and the joys that come with being a missionary. It was very eye opening and heart opening. By the end of the time there, my heart for missions had not gone away, it had actually grown stronger, but I now knew that it would be a long and glorious road of surrender to the King, not free of struggles but rather a beautiful road filled with bumps that I will travel along with my Lover, Provider, Papa, and  Saviour beside me the whole way. 

    
    I am excited for the journey that the Lord has taken me on. Every step has been to prepare me for the calling He has on my life. He has written this story in only a way that He can. I've decided along the way to let Him write it and to just step out of His way and see His mighty works. I'm just the pen and He uses me how He sees fit. My heart has just grown bigger and bigger for His calling on my life. I am so excited to be on this new journey back to Africa in October. I'll be attending a 3 month mission school in the same place that I visited last year. There will be people coming from all over the world who have a heart for missions. This school will be a piece of the training ground, as well as opportunities for long term missions. 

    I pray that the Lord wrecks my life. I pray that even now He is drawing me to Him and taking me deeper everyday. I don't want this school to be a "high". I don't want to go to enjoy my time and  then move on with my life. I want to be drawing closer to Him everyday and continuing that in Africa. I want to be overflowing with His love now and when I get to Africa what I pour out on people would be the overflow of the love the Lord has giving me. 

    I look forward to this new season in my life that is coming up rather fast but I'm also enjoying the season that He has me in now. Learning to seek Him and be silent and just soak in Him (which has proven to be difficult in this fast-pace driven world).

    Thank you to everyone that made it to the end on this long-winded blog. I love you all and would love to hear from each of you!