Ungrounded

Hi friends,

I have struggled to write this letter for the past few weeks as it's hard to explain where my heart is with missions, but I would like to ask for prayer.  I leave for a short term medical mission project to Nicaragua tomorrow, Saturday, March 3rd and will be there through the 11th.  I am going with the Christian Medical and Dental Association's Global Health Outreach, a group I travelled with three times in PT school.

In 2014, I took the next step towards hopefully being a career missionary PT by going to serve at a mission hospital in Kenya for a month.  This trip was very difficult and turned many of my ideas about missions and dreams upside down.  The past 4 years, I have struggled with missions, especially short term missions, as I fear they can do more harm than good.  That door, like most other doors in my life at the time, all seemed to close.  That part of my heart just seemed to go dark.

As I read through my previous post, I guess it started last summer.  A little stirring at church.  While other doors remained closed, glimpses of hope started coming from the missions corner and old passions started re-kindling, but I was so hesitant of what to do with that.  Afterall, it had all disintegrated so quickly in Kenya.

Last fall, I looked into possible trips with GHO and MEI, both missions divisions of the Christian Medical and Dental Association (CMDA).  But that's where it stopped - just a few emails and no decision or release to really go.

Before Christmas, I drove through the snow to meet one of my best friends for some Christmas shopping.  She's a PTA, a Christian, and former co-worker, but has told me on several occasions she preferred staying here - missions was not her thing (I'm pretty sure I recall saying that exact same thing prior to being asked on my first Czech mission trip...dangerous words :) ).  One of the first things she told me was that she was going to Nicaragua to a medical clinic on a mission trip in March with her church.  We spent the rest of the weekend talking about Nicaragua and reading through her prep materials.  I drove the 2.5 hours home, still thinking about Nicaragua.  When I got home, I checked my phone as I got out of the car.  I had a message from Dr. Ries asking if I was up for his trip to Nicaragua in March - he still didn't have a PT and would love to have me.

I signed up the next day.

I have had reservations about the trip, but I feel like God opened the door and kicked me through it, much like He did for Czech in college, so here I go.  In these last few days of prep, I have been excited.  I trust this organization to work with local groups and people, so our impact echoes past our time there.  My biggest prayer is that I will love these Nicaraguan people well, seek to understand and come along side them, NOT sweep in as the American who can save the day.  While I also have many personal prayers regarding my life and direction once I return, I don't want that to distract me from being present there and Christ shining through me. 

I write all of this to ask you to come alongside me in prayer this next week while I am in Nicaragua.  I'll keep you posted as I am able next week, but likely we'll catch up once I return.