let the adventure begin. part 2.

this past summer i made the move from MO to CO. it was a temporary move only lasting three short months. however, it was the best move i ever made. i worked at ymca of the rockies in Estes Park, Colorado where i was a day camp counselor. i traveled out there with one of my best friends ellyn. we truly had the best summer of our lives.

 we met some amazing people while we were out there. the kind of people that you stay friends with for the rest of your life even though youve only known each other for a very short time. a few of these people also share a passion for africa. it was amazing to see God bring us together from all over the country with such similar interests and be able to share and encourage one another. im not sure if i encouraged them, but they encouraged me in ways im sure they dont even know. this is just one more example of God working in my life and leading me to africa.

after praying and praying for literally years about africa and what i was supposed to do there i started looking into going on a mission trip for next summer. i looked at many different organizations but nothing clicked. somehow or another i was lead to my friend caleb's mom who leads mission trips. cheryl (calebs mom) and i set up a skype interview and when it was over i could not stop smiling. i knew that this was it. this was the trip for me to go on. you can read her blog here and the site for the organization we will be going with here. the trip is scheduled for july 14-26 to Ghana, West Africa. 

i continued to pray about this trip, the other people that would go on it, raising the funds to go, the people we would meet while in africa, and just that everything would fall into place. 

the Lord definitely has a bigger plan for me than i do for myself.  just the other day i read a post on cheryl's facebook wall stating that she has a friend in Ghana who has started a school and is looking for a teacher to come and help them. i wish that i could adequately explain the feeling that i had when i first read this post. my initial reaction was "wow! that would be amazing!", and then a quick thought of doubt that i wouldnt be able to do something like that, and if i could, surely this isnt it, and then a voice in my head told me to message cheryl about it. all of those thoughts happened in less than 1 minute and within 5 minutes of reading her post i had already messaged her.  there is no harm in asking questions and finding out information, right? immediately after i sent the message to cheryl, i recieved a text message from my dear friend nikki who is also friends with cheryl on facebook. the message simply said "do it" with a picture of the status cheryl had posted on facebook that i had just responded to. this was another goose bump moment. 

over the last few days i have been in contact with Di, the lady from Ghana who has started the school and is looking for a teacher. initially, i thought that this opportunity might be one that i could start after graduation in december 2012. after speaking with Di i learned that they would prefer to have a teacher there by september of 2012. this did not change my desire to go, but it does make me stop and think about what decisions i will have to make regarding school and graduating. there are many possibilities at this point that i will wait to dive into on here. 

so at this point i am in a slightly unknown spot. i absolutely 100% feel that God has opened each of these doors for me. i know that He is asking me to look into this. i know that He is asking me to consider this. i am willing to do whatever He asks of me. i do want to be sure of what He is asking and make sure that i am not just jumping at something because it is what i want. 

i ask for your prayers as i continue to seek out God's voice in this situation. i pray for an open mind. i pray that i will gladly quit school and move to africa if that is what He wants but i also pray that if He wants me to finish school and wait to go to africa, that i am okay with that as well.