Planning ahead...

Dear Aunt Alice,

Happy Valentine’s Day! When I think of what my life was just one year ago today, I find it amazing to see the hand of God shaping and moving my life in such a way as He did to bring me to this place. I certainly did not think one year ago today that, in 2011, I would be living in rural Zambia, handing out candy conversation hearts at a school where children have never seen them before, grading papers and attempting to learn Kaonde in hopes of sharing Christ with the local people.

So many have told me that they couldn’t come to this part of the world and I have to laugh to myself a little when they do, because not that long ago, I believe that I said something rather similar to someone else. Ironically, about four years ago, I ended a relationship partially because the young man felt called to international missions and I did not. Yet, in God’s sense of irony, here I am in Zambia and he, to the best of my knowledge, is still in the US (though he is probably still preparing to go overseas – I just don’t know for sure).

I wasn’t looking to come here. I, to be honest, was seeking my own comfort, looking for the things I wanted in life and had no intentions of leaving everything behind for a place so very much unlike home, but I couldn’t shake the biblical command to preach Christ to ALL nations and I couldn’t get the Kaonde people out of my mind.

If you were to ask me where I’ll be in six months or what my life will entail when I return home, I have to honestly answer that I don’t know. I plan to return to school, but at this point, my world seems to be upside down. I know only the One who has the answers and am seeking to follow Him step by step.