It All Started with a Book…

It is funny to me how God works to lead us for His purposes…I’m a nerd, so naturally He used a book to set me on this amazing new path in life.

Months ago…ten to be exact…I was excitedly preparing for a much-needed Christmas break from work and school.  How do I prepare for such a break? I hit up Barnes and Noble, of course! Okay, so there I was wandering aimlessly about the store, picking up new best sellers and putting them down when I pick up this book with a huge black head on the cover.  What is the What.  Hmmm…looks interesting…I think I remember hearing something about the Lost Boys…maybe…lions eating boys and a raging civil war…man, this book sounds depressing…I need to broaden my horizons, though.  Onto the growing stack of books in my arm it goes.

It wasn’t just a book; it was the book…the book that educated me on Sudan, the book that tore at my heart, the book that challenged my faith, the book that made me fall in love with the Sudanese…the book that led me to Sudan.

You see, I had been praying daily for nearly a month that God would lead me to serve Him in a big way.  I had had my first tastes of serving the homeless, and instead of filling me up, it made me so hungry for more.  I wanted to metaphorically wash the feet of the broken, wounded, and marginalized of the world.  I wanted God to show me how to love and who to love.  I was ready to go wherever He asked me to go!

So I read the book, and before I even finished it, I already knew that I had to go to Sudan.  I absolutely to this day cannot explain what on earth made me read a book about such horrors and suffering, and still want to go to the very place that it all went down…other than to say it was a God thing…the Holy Spirit working on my heart.  Was I willing to follow Him to Sudan?

Fast forward through numerous books about the Lost Boys and the history of Sudan and Africa, documentaries about the Sudanese, research on various non-profits and missions groups that go into Sudan, and prayer.

I’m officially signed up to go to Sudan with an interdenominational Christian organization called Aid Sudan.

Fast forward through months of preparations, painful shots, a tearful goodbye with my husband, a 2-hour flight to Houston, meeting the team, a 15-hour flight to Dubai, an 8-hour flight to Entebbe, and a 5-hour flight to Nasir.

I’m sitting in a mud hut under a mosquito net in Nasir, Sudan.

Fast forward through the hundreds of hand shakes, sharing of Bible stories, walks through the village, meals of rice and beans, a trip to Torpuot, barefoot walks in the mud, countless games of yit, nightly devotionals with the team, meals of beans and rice, soccer with the kids, and falling in love with Sudan and the Sudanese.

I’m sobbing as our Cessna flies us out of Sudan, and I’m wondering how long until I can get back there.

Fast forward through laughter with the team in Kampala, shopping in the market, loading our luggage into the taxi, clearing Immigrations, and sobbing as I leave Entebbe.

I’m on the Emirates flight talking with Peter about the possibility of an internship with Aid Sudan next summer.

Fast forward through an 8-hour flight to Dubai, a 17-hour flight to Texas, a 2-hour flight to Indianapolis, a tearful reunion with Blaise, several days of mourning and weeks of readjusting, emails with Aid Sudan, and prayerful consideration with Blaise.

I’m officially approved for a 3-month internship with Aid Sudan in Kampala, Uganda next summer!!!

And to think, it all started with a book…okay, and God and a lot of prayer and a supportive husband and the willingness and excitement to go! Don’t worry, I will have more details up as I get them, but for now I am just SO excited to be heading back to Uganda and Sudan next summer to serve these beautiful children…