I remember it distinctly, I was 14 years old and I made a trip with my dad and grandfather to Baltimore to see one of the Mercy Ships that was docked there. My sister, Angela, was with the same organization in West Africa and we went to see what her life was like on the ship. I remember sitting in a tiny room onboard and watching a documentary about the doctors working to save lives on ships like that one all across the world. Something about it gripped me, I don’t know if it was the heart wrenching stories, the hope that the patients were given, the enormous size of the tumors they were able to remove or just the thought of being able to commit your life to helping others- but what I do remember is that I felt compelled to do just that. I knew then and there that I wanted to be a doctor in Africa.
It’s funny how seeds are planted in our hearts and minds when we are young, funny how they can lie dormant or even be buried so deep that they cease to live without sunlight. This dream lay dormant in my heart for years. Soon after that trip I entered high school and the life of a journalist or lawyer seemed more intriguing. I had it all planned out. I finally settled on being an English teacher, and that’s what it was going to be. But then there was Advanced Biology class, sitting in the back of that classroom watching a video about fetal development, I was in awe. That day I knew I had to be a nurse. Something from within me began to grow, that little seed had somehow gotten light. From that day forward I planned. I applied to Messiah College, was accepted and planned to attend the next fall.
And then there was Honduras. I truly view that trip as a turning point in my life, it was my first true glimpse that my heart beat for missions. It was not enough for me just to watch the injustice of the world, I needed to be the one in the clinics, orphanages and schools helping. I was the one that had to go. Honduras rocked my world so to speak, and I still have a picture of a little girl that I met there, I look at it often. She, without even knowing it, helped me to become who I needed to be. She will never know the impact she had. I came home from that trip completely wrecked. I knew I had to do something different; I signed up to go with Youth With A Mission for the next year. My story weaves in and out from there, should I staff at YWAM, should I go directly to the mission field? And then I heard of the City of Hope and we all know how it goes from there.
I fell in love with a people, a country, and most especially a boy! As I was taking a walk through my favorite park the other day and just thinking about this trip to come, I realized the dream of a much younger me, one dreamt on a cold windy day on a rocking ship in the Baltimore harbor. I dream that I had forgotten until then. But that little dream did not stop growing. I was rained upon on Tanzania and the sunlight of a love for nursing shown down on it and here I am just a week away from boarding a plane to Africa, stethoscope in hand, nursing license behind me…boarding a plane on a medical missions trip to Africa. Forgotten, buried, pushed aside, but now come to light. A dream come true. Can’t wait to tell you all about it!
