My Journey to Kenya - Part 3

All right, today I'm back on track with the story of how I came to be in Kenya.

Needless to say those mission trips as a high-school student had a huge impact on my future. I actually went back twice with TMI as a leader spending time in Madagascar, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

I was pretty sure that I was going to wind up as a full-time-medical missionary somewhere in either Zimbabwe or Mozambique.

The road to my nursing career took many twists and turns along the way. I spent time as a pre-med student, pre-PA student and then finally decided that I ultimately wanted to be a Nurse Practitioner.

After finishing my bachelor's degree in nursing I was starting to think about master's programs and about mission agencies. That's when my church decided to send a short-term team to Kenya with Empowering Lives International (ELI). I have to be honest and tell you that I never had much interest in Kenya. I always thought it was a very commercialized country with a huge tourism industry. I had a passion for the remote and wanted to serve somewhere where I felt like I was really making a difference. I also knew that I wanted to work with an organization that valued nationals and the strengths that they brought to the table. I hated the old-school model of missionaries coming in as the "Great White Hope".

So although I never thought I would have a long-term interest in Kenya I was very interested in going to do some short-term work with my church.

When I got to the village of Kipkaren I was blown away by what I found. I discovered that Kenya actually does have rural villages. I found national Kenyans striving to make a difference in their community. I found a health clinic that was doing the things I had dreamed of doing.

And I met William... We spent a bit of time each afternoon just talking and getting to know each other. At the time that I left I felt like there might be something there but also thought I could be imagining things.

I went back to the states and wound up applying to UCLA's Family Nurse Practitioner program. I also approached ELI and told them I would like to go back to Kipkaren on my own to really see what day-to-day life and ministry were like there. I stacked all of my vacation time together and did an internship in the clinic in the spring of 2005. I loved my work in the clinic. It was a privilege to finally get a taste of the work I had dreamed of for so many years. During my time there it became clear that there definitely was something there with William and I.

William told me that he was interested in pursuing a relationship leading toward marriage. I told him that I had just been accepted into a two-year master's program at UCLA. He told me he would wait for me.

When I returned to the states, William and I stayed in close contact. We spent time praying and seeking the Lord's will for our future. It became apparent to me that I was going to need to spend an extended period of time in his village before I could know for sure if this was where God was leading me. I approached the ELI leadership and told them of our situation. I told them that I wanted to be honest and up-front about my relationship with William before scheduling a return to the village.

In 2006 I spent my entire summer break in Kipkaren. The timing was perfect because ELI was getting ready to open their children's home in the village. I was able to do the medical intake on the first 60 children to enter the home. That summer William and I became engaged.

I graduated the summer of 2007 and moved to Kenya later that year to join full-time staff with ELI. William and I were married on December 14, 2007.

So here I am in Kenya living out my high-school dream of providing medical care in rural Africa. Thanks for joining me on this journey!