Attention!

Ladies and gents!

I would like to annoucence...

...that the tickets have been purchased! I leave February 11 and return May 23.

It is official!! Official official official!

The Development - Part 3

Only in Colorado can it be 20 degrees one day and 50 the next. And trying to decide whether to wear a long or short sleeve shirt in December?? I don't think I'll have the problem in Gabon. Someone recently pointed out to me that Gabon is right by the Congo! Tropical a bit? It's going to be so hot while I'm there...maybe I'll get a tan!

So to finish up the story of how the entire thing developed I'm going to keep it short and simple. I left off where I was trying to decide between telling Honduras "yes" and scrapping Gabon or go with Gabon (even though I didnt' have all of my questions answered) and tell Honduras "no", riksing both internships completely. Finally at some point I got all my questions answered by Envision and I knew pretty much all I needed to know to make the decision.

Now this is where it gets kind of silly. Remember how at the beginning of the entire process I had originally wanted to go to Africa somewhere? My heart is with that continent and I'd been hoping from the beginning for a chance to go there. So here I was trying to decide whther to go to Africa or Honduras. Looking back, I was being sort of silly as I sat on my bed nearly tearing my hair out as to which one I should choose. Then it dawned on me. "Duh, Olivia! Africa is where you wanted to go all along! Why are you trying to decide if you should be going there if you have a door opened to go??"

So it was just quite clear to me at that point that I should go for Africa. Even though some of the kinks weren't smoothed out yet (and still aren't) I know that God is going to work it all out.

That is something that has been so comforting about this entire thing. To know that God really completely has control over these next few months (well, every month of my life of course, but these in particular) has been one of the most incredible parts of this. For the first time in my life I have had to trust God with a completely life changing event and this time, instead of me having to hem and haw over what I should do or choose, God just made it so clear that I needed to go away and He has taken care of it all.

The biggest question I get is how I'm paying for all of this. This is the best part of the whole story. So last October I was rear ended...my car was totalled and I had some minor back injuries. Around this September, just when I was figuring out all of this going away stuff, the insurance company called me. They asked, "Would you like to settle your bodily injuries claim?" and I was like, "Uh....what does that mean?" and they said, "Pretty much we'll send you $6,000 if you promise never to sue us or the man who hit you for injuries." What did I say? "Heck yeah!" (not really, but it's how I felt!). And so in less than five minutes God took care of all my financial issues. At the time I didn't realize just how amazing amazing amazing! this was. But now...oh how I know now. To think, if I had had to raise $6000 on my own to pay for this? I'm not sure how I would have done it. Obviously with God's help but I am so so so thankful He gave me full check to pay for it all.

As I've said, there are still loopholes. I still have unanswered questions. But I think part of the excitement of everything is seeing how God will weave it all together.

Lord, I dedicate this entire trip to you. Everything it does to me and whatever I can do for others may it be in Your name and for Your glory! Thank you for your all consuming love, Father.

The Development - Part 2

So I realized that I forgot to mention something really important in my last post!! Oh silly me. Around the same time that I was applying through Envision to go to Gabon, my grandma got me in contact with another missions sending organization that takes interns at a medical-type base in Honduras. Pretty much the way that set up works is different medical teams come down to this site to offer clinics for the locals. As an intern, I would be assisting the on-site pharmacist, helping out the teams, and working with the children. About end of October the pharmicist called me to give me all the information and, seeing as I knew nothing about the Africa situation, the Honduras opportunity was sounding very appealling. But after the conversation I didn't know for sure if I was accepted for the internship or not...

So the first week of November was when everything got crazy! It was on either November 1 or 2 that I went to the computer lab at school to print some stuff. While I was there I checked my e-mail and found two e-mails of great importance. One was from B. (the Envision contact). I had asked her what sort of work I would be doing in Gabon and she responded in this way:

"There are various things you will opportunities to involve yourself in Gabon . . . medical ministry, AIDS work, relief projects, attending to people’s physical needs, and anything else that needs to be done or a missionary needs help with."

I think my heart rate increased by twenty beats per minute as I read that. As someone who is considering medical missions for a career, those words held much promise and excitement.

But then I read the next e-mail, which was from the pharmacist in Honduras. She was confirming that I was indeed accepted as the intern if I could come.

Ok, so now I feel the need to state what was going on inside my head as simply as I can (not very easy, considering that my mind was working at 200 mph). Here I was in a situation where I was accepted to go to Honduras and serve with this super awesome lady I had been in contact with. I knew exactly what I would be doing, where I would be staying...every detail I needed to be at peace about it. But then here was this short paragraph from B. telling me that if I was accepted to go to Envision I might be able to do something related to what I want to do with my life!

I'm not going to even try to explain the stress my mind and emotions went through that week. I was pretty much waiting to hear from Envision all week as to 1) whether I was completely accepted to go to Gabon and 2) more detail on what I would be doing. But I knew that I had to give Honduras an answer by the end of the week because they were waiting for me to make a decision. So by the end of the week I was still at a loss as to what to do. Should I just tell Honduras "yes" and scrap waiting on Africa? Should I wait a little longer? What if Africa fell through and Honduras found a different intern?

I just want to pause to give thanks where thanks is due. I know thanks is due first and foremost to God. For like, everything. Without the His miracles and faithfulness none of this would have happened (obviously). Secondly I know that my family really supported me through it all. Well, my parents did that is (more to come on that topic later). They were there to listen to me whenever I had to think through my thoughts.

Oh, there is still so much to write about! But I'll save the money story for later as well as the story of The Decision!

The Development - Part 1

So while I have a few spare minutes I thought I'd write up a bit on the story of development of the trip. It's not a very interesting story but some parts of it are pretty cool. Or at least I think so.

So it all began this past summer. For many reasons I thought it would be a good idea to look into doing some sort of missions trip before I go to school in the fall. Right now I am pursuing nursing but I am definitely having doubts about it. So I thought, why don't I try to do a medical missions trip just to get a feel for cross-cultural missions?

It turns out that I discovered that I could graduate from high school in December as opposed to May because I have fulfilled all of my credits at the end of this semester. So I began to look into doing something the entire spring semester instead of going to school. At first, it was a fruitless search. I looked online at some orphanages that take volunteers. I knew that YWAM was an option...but an expensive one to say the least. It was quite a discouraging search.

However, around September things changed. One Sunday after church Dad called me over to where he was talking with a man I hadn't seen before. He introduced him to me as a staff at an office called Evision. Pretty much what Envision is is a sending office through The Christian and Missionary Alliance. They send 18-30 year olds from 2 weeks to 2 years to do all different types of service. There are several locations to go to and several different ways to serve. After having a brief discussion with this man I got enough information to get on the website and fill out an application. About a week later a woman (who I will simple call B.) e-mailed me with a more extensive application. Thus began about a month long process of filling out papers and asking people to write recommendation letters.

Around the end of October all the papers were filled out and all the letters were in. But the stress had just begun...and since this post is getting quite long I'll save that part for another time.

I don't know exactly...

Ok, so I know what you are thinking. At least, it is the first (or sometimes second) question people ask me when they find out I'm going to Gabon. "What exactly are you going to be doing there?" I usually respond with "I don't know exactly what I will be doing...but...". The other question I get is "How long will you be there?" That I can answer. About three months starting sometime in February. I think it's funny when people look slightly shocked and note that that is a "long time" considering that originally I had hoped to be going away for 4-6 months. Unfortunately I can't afford to go away for that long, but I'll take what I get. And I have been given a lot.

For my own purposes I am going to write out the whole story of the development of this trip on this blog. I like to record memories and already some of the details of how this all came to be are escaping me. To tell the truth, what has been happening in my life the past few months are some of the most amazing things that have ever happened to me. So I want to remember it forever as well as share the story with anyone interested enough to read about it. It's a pretty long story, though, so I'm going to write it up and post it in sections. More to come...