Looking for a few good men & women...

Support Update

I'm at 71% of my monthly support goal! Huzzah! I'm looking for 23 more people who could join the team at the following levels of support:

If you're interested, please click on the Donation Page at the top right.

You don't have to begin giving immediately, since it will prompt you to enter a start date (and end date, if you so choose), but please keep in mind that I have 2 major pre-field preparation requirements coming up: January 14-Feb 9 is cross-cultural training in North Carolina, and March 15-18 is CMDA training in Virginia. Thank you for anything you can give!

Already giving?

Could you host a dessert reception or invite me to your small group, in order to give others a chance to consider partnering with me in my ministry? If so, please contact me!

Personality Testing

Have you heard of the Myers-Briggs system for classifying personality types? Do you know what your type is? SIM and Wheaton College are both proponents of knowing your type so that you can play to your strengths in teamwork, ministry and language learning, so this subject keeps coming up. I happen to be ISTJ. (If you want to take a simple version of the test to find out yours, click here.) But here is another way to think of the personality types: in Bible characters! Which one do you most relate to?

Prayer Requests

• Please continue to pray for Niger, one of the least-reached countries in Africa:

• Please pray for my last 19% to be raised so that I can be fully funded!
• Please pray for my time management as we are being asked to work more hours at my primary job, and I'm trying to prioritize my online classes 

Back to School!

On October 30th I started my next phase in preparation for SIM: the online class, "Second Language Acquisition," through Wheaton College. This requires 1-2 hours of coursework/day and Skyping with my instructors at least 2x/wk. I am also continuing my theology classes online and just completed Theology II. The current class is called "Studying the Bible for All Its Worth." Contrary to what I was hoping, this season of studying has corresponded with increasing requests from each of my employers (I am with 3 rehab companies) as occupational therapy is always in demand. Please pray for my time management and sanity.

In addition to the success of Chick-fil-A Spirit Night (see previous post below), I have more good news about support: my MedSend grant application has been approved! They will begin paying my monthly student loan payments once I go active with SIM, which is a huge burden lifted off of my shoulders! Thanks be to God! They will also subsidize my registration for the CMDA orientation for new medical missionaries in March (bonus!). Thank you for praying for this!

Sometimes in my daily activities, the fact comes up that I am moving to Africa next year. When I am asked why on earth I would want to do that, I explain that I love God and that He has shown me that I can use my skills as an OT to serve people who otherwise would not receive any rehabilitation services. To help keep perspective, this is why I do what I do:

CLICK TO VIEW VIDEO

By praying for and supporting me, you are ALSO part of something bigger! THANK YOU!

If you haven't yet heard my presentation, and would like to meet me with me, or if your small group could benefit from hosting a "real live missionary" :) please email me to set something up.

Chick-fil-YAY!!!

On Monday, Oct 30th, I held my "Spirit Night" fundraiser at Chick-fil-A of Wheaton. Thanks to everyone who came out to support my trip to Africa!!!

At peak hours, there was a huge line through the restaurant...it was mostly people to support me! 

Between food sales and the spin-to-win prize wheel, I raised $509.65 in just 3 hours! Whether you are family, church family, new friends, high school friends, or we just met-- whether you dined in or drove through-- THANK YOU! 

If you didn't make it out to Wheaton, but you'd still like to support my trip, 

you can click here to go to my donation page. 

Book review: "Found in Him" by Elyse Fitzpatrick

Between my Missionary Preparation Program at church, my agency (SIM) requirements, and the online classes I'm taking from Wheaton College and Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary, I have to read about a million books. (Seriously. Thank God for libraries!) I'm actually excited to read every one, though, and I'm still reading (or listening to audiobooks) for pleasure in my free time, so I just thought that maybe when I come across a particularly excellent volume, I could share my review. Here's a recent favorite:

This book contained excellent apologetics, not just touchy-feely self-help stuff but the real meat and potatoes of the Christian faith, and more specifically what it means to be in intimate relationship with God. It was theologically rich, and yet also emotionally satisfying; something I've rarely found in other authors as they tend to appeal to one or the other, head or heart. It struck deep chords within my woman's soul. Elyse understands what it means to "love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind" (see Deuteronomy 6:5, Matthew 22:36-40), and this book spoke to every part of my being. Highly recommended!
Find it on Amazon.com 

MissionsFest & Prayer Requests

I've had a busy month so far, and it's not letting up! It has been my privilege to be presented before the congregations of Wheaton Bible Church and Tri-Village Church, their sister church in Streamwood, as part of MissionsFest 2017. During this week I also presented my ministry before 4 small groups. This was the theme verse:

We are only God’s servants through whom you believed the Good News. Each of us did the work the Lord gave us. I planted the seed in your hearts, and Apollos watered it, but it was God who made it grow. It’s not important who does the planting, or who does the watering. What’s important is that God makes the seed grow.

--1 Corinthians 3:5b-7

This particularly strikes a chord with me as I am gathering my support team, because I may be going out to work in the field of Niger, planting seeds of God's love as I meet physical needs, but I can't go without being sent--by YOU! So thank you for your encouragement, enthusiasm and support!

Here are some things you can pray about for me and the hospital:

I sent a newsletter out a few days ago, so check your spam boxes if you were expecting to receive it but didn't get it yet...otherwise, click to sign up:

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Finally, if you're near Wheaton, MARK YOUR CALENDARS for October 30th!

From 5-8pm just mention "SIM" at the counter or drive thru and Chick-fil-A will donate back up to 20% to SIM! The address is 301 E. Loop Rd, Wheaton, IL. The COW and I hope to see you there!

Recalculating...

I've completed my week of pre-field training at SIM USA headquarters, and I have to report some recalculations in my plans for ministry at Galmi. All good news, though! I am no longer required to study French before arriving in Niger, since the French-speaking therapy assistant, Barnaba, has been accepted into school for additional training. It is now more important that I complete 6 months of Hausa language study, in Niger, because the remaining apprentice only speaks Hausa.

Oumarou, on left, speaks Hausa and I will participate in his training at Galmi; Barnaba, second from left, is now in school in northern Niger! Please keep him in prayer

I now have the following timeline:
>>Ongoing: theology classes online
>>October-November: language learning class online (Wheaton College)
>>January 14-February 9: Cultural Training Institute in North Carolina
>>March 15-18: CMDA orientation for medical missionaries in Virginia
>>April?: depart for Niger; study Hausa for 6 months in Niamey

I need your support now more than ever, as each of these trainings require registration fees and some require travel. With your help and if it's God's will, I will be on a plane overseas by April!

So here is an update on my support raising:

I have currently received pledges totaling 68% of my monthly budget! THANK YOU to everyone who is giving and who has pledged to give!!! If you are interested in joining my team, you can click here to be taken to my SIM donor page. You may start your giving at any time, but as I mentioned above, it will make a big difference in registering for all of my trainings/ classes if you can start before the end of the year. Please pray about it and let me know if I can pray about something specific for you, too!

The Potter's Workmanship

Beautiful pots formed by hand by skilled artisans in a Nigerien village

While at SIM SendOff (pre-field training) in Charlotte this week, we were asked to consider the following passage of the Old Testament from Jeremiah. I thought I would share some of the wisdom and insights I gained as I reflected on it:

The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.”  Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there [s]he was, making something on the two stone slabs.  But the vessel that [s]he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so [s]he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.

Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel." 

-Jeremiah 18:1-6 (NASB)

I imagined myself in the prophet Jeremiah's place as I meditated on the passage. Every sight, sound, and smell of that Nigerien village, which some of you might remember me visiting in February, came back to me. The dust in the air tickled my nose as I walked through the village. I had to duck to enter the door of the mud-and-straw hut of the potter. It smelled of donkey dung and it was humid and cool inside. Several of us crowded around to watch. I recalled the potter's leathery skin and her pop-bottle eyeglasses as she crouched on the floor and demonstrated her skills for us, and heard the THWACK of her paddle and her occasional shouts at the curious children to clear the doorway so that she could see by the bright light of the desert sun. 

One of the potters at work; she uses donkey dung to make the clay and water to mold it, beating the shape into being with a flat wooden paddle. She works by daylight since she has no electricity

Asking God what lessons He wanted me to take away from this object lesson, I reflected on the following:

• the potter/God makes beautiful vessels for her/His use out of the available materials; dirty things (like donkey dung!) have a purpose (see Isaiah 1:16 & Romans 6:13)
• when the vessel comes out imperfect or lumpy, the potter/God doesn't throw it away; she/He reshapes it into something beautiful again (see Colossians 2:13, 2 Corinthians 5:17)
• the way to reshape it is by adding more water; in the Bible, water is the wellspring of life, or a symbol of the Holy Spirit (see John 4:10-14, Revelation 22:1-6)
• as the potter shapes the pot, she/He molds it firmly with her/His hands, and sometimes a good THWACK! (see Deuteronomy 8:5, Proverbs 3:11-12)
• the potter pulls off any unnecessary bits and tosses them away, until the pot is perfect (see John 15:1-3 for a similar analogy)

Pretty cool, right? Feel free to comment with your own insights!