Winds of Change = Mercy Ships

There are some major changes happening in my life right now. I decided to leave my stable job and do some missions/nursing in Africa. It's something that I've always wanted to do and right now seems like it's the time to pursue this possibility. Mercy Ships is a floating hospital that travels around the world often to the poorest countries and offers hope and healing to those who feel forgotten and helpless. 

Back in April I applied for a position on Mercy Ships, 6 weeks after that I found out that I was accepted but needed to wait for an official acceptance which took another month. During that time I finished school, and quit my job trusting that everything will work out. 

Let's just say that all the details have yet to be worked out and it all seems very overwhelming, but I feel this is where God is leading me so I'm going to trust that He has everything under control and things will work themselves out. My biggest concern is the financial support that I must raise. 

This is a volunteer position so I work for free, but must pay for my living expenses. I know that some people will not understand why I want to do this for that reason alone. Typically, I wouldn't stress out about it just yet, but I'm suppose to be there in 4 weeks and I'm not able to buy my plane tickets until I reach at least 75% of what I need. Right now I probably have 1-2% which means I have a long way to go. 

Now that I'm not working at the hospital, I'm spending my days attempting to come up with fundraising idea's or working on getting things organized, making phone calls, and just trying to come up with everything that I have to complete prior to moving. That alone makes me feel like I'm working a full time job. 

This is something that is completely different from anything else that I have ever done, but I'm excited about the possibility and know that it will change my life in ways that I can't even imagine right now. I'm sure there will be good times, and stressful times, but I pray that even though I know I'll grow I hope that my presence is also useful in helping other regain their hope and their lives back. 

  

Fun Times with Friends :-)

It's been awhile since my last post, there are a lot of new things happening but I'll share that at a later time. Last weekend was full of spending time with old friends and making new friends. Friday evening I spent some time walking around Lancaster with a friend while enjoying an exotic food walking tour. I tried stuffed grape leaves, stewed conch, grilled lamb and chicken, pigs ears, cactus salad, stewed octopus, Indian-style cabbage, and finally a cranberry almond tart. 

Needless to say I loved the cranberry almond tart, but the pigs ears and stewed octopus weren't my favorite. If you ask my family they would say I was or can be a picky eater, I've been working on trying more foods that typically I wouldn't even consider before. Do I want to eat pig ears again? Not really, the chewy texture and crunching cartilage once was more than enough for me. 

After that exotic adventure I drove to Baltimore and spent several days with some friends. While I was there I got to know some new residents that live in the house now and that was a lot of fun. They are from different countries and so Sunday night we made s'mores. It was fun to watch those who were doing this for the first time try one, then make a second and a third. 

One morning I was there I got up extra early (for me) and went hiking with a friend and meet one of his friends. Now I like to hike but the last time I was hiking was on my trip to New Mexico and there the elevation was a challenge. The hike that I was on this weekend, was different than any other hike I've ever done. 

We start out on a really nice trail, and take the detour to a scenic overlook which was absolutely amazing!  

Potomac River

A mini water fall

White Water!

View from the scenic overlook

While I was looking out at the river I noticed a bee buzzing around, when it finally landed I was able to get close enough for the picture. The best part was that while I was trying to take the picture this older Chinese gentleman walks over with his cane to see what I have discovered. When he bends down to look and asked 'you picture?' while pointing at the bee, I just smiled and said 'yes!' He probably thought I was crazy.

This is the start of the actual 1.7 mile trail we hiked...notice I don't have tennis shoes

A view of the river from along the trail

 As you may have guessed from the name of the trail, it wasn't flat but instead climbing up rock walls, jumping from boulder to boulder. It's the type of trail you really should have tennis shoes on, but since I wasn't planning on this type of adventure I didn't and therefore was stuck with my sandals. The good thing is they weren't flip-flops or I would have had a broken ankle. 

That was the adventure of last weekend...maybe this coming weekend will bring on something new again! :-)