“In two weeks I will be on a plane headed to
Chad, Africa, where I will be living for the next eight months.” The
thought crosses my mind, bringing with it an array of conflicting emotions. I’m
excited about all the new adventures that await my arrival, and I’m impatient
to be able to finish up all the packing and planning and just hurry up and
leave. But I’m also nervous and a little bit scared. What is it going to be
like living in Chad? Am I going to be able to really be a help to the
missionaries I’m supposed to assist? Will it take me too long to learn
everything? I don’t really know what to expect.
So, how did
I end up deciding to spend a year in Chad? I mean, I’m really just a normal
college sophomore who happens to have an appetite for adventure and an
unquenchable desire to do something different with my life. I have dreamed of
being a student missionary ever since I first knew that such a thing existed,
and I have wanted to be a missionary for much longer. Last December I started
the process of applying to be an sm, and choosing a call. I knew that I wanted
a place where I would get medical exposure, but I didn’t really think I would
get one because I have no experience in that area. I prayed about it a lot,
toyed with some ideas, but wasn’t really that interested in anything that I was
seeing. Finally a medical call opened up in Moundou, Chad that looked like an
answer to prayer. They weren’t asking for someone with medical experience! I
was so excited; I could go somewhere and learn! I got accepted to that call in
May, and started preparing to go to Chad. God had opened the way!
However,
things weren’t quite what they seemed. I had tried to email Dr. Scott, the
contact for Moundou, and hadn’t received a reply. Six weeks before I was
supposed to be leaving I discovered that I had sent emails to the wrong
address. I quickly typed up another email and sent it, this time to the correct
account. The next morning I received back a discouraging reply: “Sadly we are
already full for the coming school year as far as volunteers go.” I didn’t
really know what to think. I had been so sure that I was supposed to go to
Moundou. Dr. Scott offered to send emails to other hospitals in Chad, asking if
they might possibly have a place for me to go, I was thankful for his help, but
I was also disappointed. My friends and family encouraged me to remember that
God has a plan for me, and that maybe it was for the better if I didn’t go to
Moundou. I prayed about it, and decided to leave it in God’s hands because He
knows far better than I do.
A couple of
days later, I received another email. This time from Danae & Olen, doctors
from the Bere Adventist Hospital in Bere, Chad. They had heard about the mixup
concerning my sm assignment and were willing to put me to work in Bere. I
started getting excited again. With the new call I will be living with a native
family in their compound. I will be eating their food and drinking their water.
And I started praising God. You see, one of the reasons I am so excited about
Chad is because of a book, African Rice
Heart by Emily Wilkens. She was a student missionary to Chad a few years
ago, and wrote the book about the experiences that she had there. I had read
the book when it first came out and I was thoroughly impressed with the way
that she had been able to live with a Chadian family and get to know them and
their culture so much better than if she had been staying on the hospital
compound. And that is what I want, to immerse myself in a different way of
living, and Bere is exactly that. I believe that God knew the desires of my
heart and even though I didn’t understand what was going on when my first call
was canceled, I believe that God allowed things to happen to work out for the
best.
The last
few weeks have been a whirl of figuring out what I’ll need, getting shots and
vaccinations and keeping up with stuff at home. Mom ordered 600 pounds of
peaches to can, so it’s been a little hectic around here. Last week I went to
get my Yellow Fever vaccine. Mom thought that she was going to have to pay $140
out of pocket for the shot, but when we got to the pharmacy, the pharmacist
ended up having to call our insurance about something and insurance ended up
covering the whole bill. We were so excited! Yet another blessing from God. Then
there was my visa. I’m flying out of Portland on the 23rd so I can
meet up with Olen & Danae in Washington D.C. to fly to Chad. I have heard
stories about African embassies being notoriously slow in giving out visas, and
I was paranoid that it wasn’t going to come through in time for my flight. I
sent it in last Monday and lo and behold, it came back in the mail on Saturday!
I was so excited and thrilled. Everything is now in place for me to leave!
There is a little bit more for the funding, but I know that God will come
through.
So yes, I’m
nervous, excited, impatient, and a little bit scared. But I also know that God’s
got His hands in this. There is nothing He cannot do, and He will be there with
me all the time. I am looking forward to seeing what other miracles He has up
His sleeve for me. : )
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