The Journey and the Arrival

It feels so surreal that I am actually in South Sudan as I type this. After all of the time of preparation, and almost 5 days of travel, I am here. I made it safely and I am very grateful.

Traveling here was an adventure in and of itself. I had a flight out of Jacksonville on Saturday morning, so my parents and I drove there on Friday. When we got to the airport Saturday morning to check in, we found out that my flight to New York had been canceled. There was one a little later out of Savannah that would get me to New York around the same time, so they rebooked me for that one. Luckily, we made it to Savannah with plenty of time and I met Taylor in New York when I got there. The flight from New York to Egypt was extremely long (11 hours in the air, plus a 6 hour time change to Cairo). I was not able to sleep much, but the flight went smoothly.

Next, we had our lovely one-day Cairo adventure! Our tour guide, Laila, picked us up from the airport and took us to our hotel to check in and drop our stuff off. Then we were off to see the Giza pyramids. Laila was great and gave us a ton of information about Cairo on the way. She was telling us about the lack of tourism in Egypt since the revolutions, because many people still do not think that the country is safe to visit. This has been hard on the economy there because it relies so heavily on tourism. When we got to the pyramids, it was evident that tourism was slow because there was not that many people there. That worked out kind of nicely for us though, because it was easy to walk around, explore and take pictures.  Laila knew all of the best places to take pictures so we got a lot of good ones!

After viewing the pyramids we explored an old market place in Cairo. We walked around, went to a Mosque and got serenaded by some local boys. The last thing on the agenda was a dinner cruise down the Nile River. It was so fun! We ate a lot of good food and then they had some entertainment afterwards.

After a brief nights sleep in the hotel, we had our flight from Cairo to Juba. The airport in Juba was very very different than an airport in the US. It was not too hard to navigate though and we got through customs and got our luggage with the help of some friendly locals. After waiting for a couple of hours at the airport (and starting to worry that no one was coming to get us), Sister Bebiana got there to pick us up. We had dinner and stayed the night with the community of Salesian sisters in Juba. Our flight to Wau was the next day and we found out that we could only bring one of our suitcases with us on that plane. After some rearranging, I was able to get everything I would need for now in one suitcase and one of the sisters will bring my other bag the next time she is traveling from Juba to Wau.

When we got to the Juba airport Tuesday morning, we found out that, even though we had tickets, our names were not on the list. Luckily, a sister was flying with us so she helped sort everything out. After a lot of waiting, we ended up getting to go in business class! In business class, they offered us a fine meal of chicken, fish and pasta. Unfortunately it was also 9:30 in the morning so my stomach was not quite ready for all of that! It was a nice flight, though. The airport in Wau was smaller and a lot less hectic than the one in Juba. Sister Marie Antoinette, one of the sisters from my community in Wau, met us at the airport and helped get Taylor and I all squared away with registering in the country. Everything went smoothly and we were on our way to see our new home!

We got the warmest welcome when we arrived at the compound. Our room is absolutely adorable and the sisters made us welcome signs in our rooms as well as their dining room and the Poland volunteers made us welcome signs in our dining room. All of the sisters are amazing and I love them already. It was the perfect day to get here because it was the feast day of the nativity of Mary. We had a birthday celebration for Mary, complete with a cake. We went to mass at the parish (in Arabic!) and then did a procession around town with the Mary statue and prayed the rosary. After the procession, the children performed songs about Mary and it was so precious. There is so much joy in the community.

The sisters gave Taylor and I this week off to rest and get settled and I will start work at the dispensary (the clinic) on Monday. It was nice to have time to set up our room and get more familiar with how things are run. The Poland volunteers, Ania and Marta, have been such a huge help to us. They have answered so many of our questions and showed us a lot about the compound. It’s really great to have the volunteer community of the 4 of us to spend time together and support each other.

Life here is so beautiful-starting every day with mass, participating in such a faithful community, living simply. God is doing big things here and I can’t wait to see what he is able to do in my own heart!

PS They have a dog named Grigio and he is so cute. We are becoming best friends already!

I wanted to post some pictures, but the internet connection just isn't strong enough. Hopefully I can share some later!

Let the Journey Begin!

I can’t believe the day has already arrived for me to depart for my mission. As I sit here at the airport waiting for my first flight, I have such a mix of emotions. Goodbyes are hard and I can’t even explain how much I am going to miss my family and friends back home, but my heart is so full from all of the love that I have received, especially this last week. I have the most incredible, loving and encouraging people in my life and there is no way I could be doing this without their prayers and support. I am so excited to begin this journey.

For those of you who aren’t aware of my travel plans, I am flying into New York today and should arrive there around 2. After that, Taylor and I will fly to Cairo, Egypt where we have a 22 -hour layover. We have booked a tour there to see the pyramids and go on a Nile River dinner cruise which we are extremely excited about! Monday morning we fly into Juba, South Sudan. We will stay the night with the Salesians there and then head to Wau on Tuesday. It’s a long journey, but it’s all part of the adventure. Please continue to keep Taylor and me in your prayers!

No Place I'd Rather Be

I returned about a week ago from my three-week orientation in New York. It was exactly what I needed. It was a time of education, service and prayer. I learned more of what my year would look like. I served as a Salesian alongside Salesians. I let the Lord guide my heart to create a purpose for my mission. God has been very present this past month.

There were a lot of mixed emotions going into orientation. The weekend before I left, I had my going away party and felt so much love from my friends and family. I seriously have the most amazing people in my life.  It was tough to say goodbye as I made my journey to New Rochelle, New York, but I was excited to meet my new Salesian family. I was thankful to have people in Tallahassee that made saying goodbye so hard as I was preparing to say hello to people I would grow to love. I was leaving a community that helped me grow into the person that I am today and was entering into the community that will shape the next year of my life. My heart didn’t quite know what to feel as I entered into my three weeks of preparation. I was full of a lot of unknowns and uncertainties, but I was definitely excited to see what was in store.

I had no idea just how much God had in store for me. The community that awaited me was more than I ever could have hoped for. I finally had my first meeting with my site partner, Taylor, as she picked me up from the airport and it was perfect. I know that she will be a huge blessing to me on mission. Getting to know all of the other SLMs was incredible. It was amazing to hear everyone’s stories throughout the weeks and learn of the unique ways that God led us all to the same place. We got to know each other very well and the encouragement and love I felt from each of them is something that I will truly cherish.

 The first week of orientation consisted of a LOT of information, as well as cross-cultural training. I learned a lot. The cross-cultural training especially gave me a lot to think and pray about. There is really no way to fully know what to expect when entering into a different culture, but I’m thankful for the time that we spent learning how to best prepare ourselves for some of the changes. I know it is going to bring about many challenges, but it’s also exciting knowing that I get to be a part of something so unique and different for a year of my life. I know it’s going to teach me a lot about who I am and who I want to be.

Our second week, was spent doing service in Port Chester, New York. The first two days I worked at a soup kitchen and community center and the last three days I worked at a summer camp. We also centered our days around praying with the Salesian community of Port Chester. We would start our days with morning prayer and mass. After our service, we would go to evening prayer and then have dinner with the SDBs (Salesians of Don Bosco) at their residence. The prayer is what drove our service. We were able to better love the people that we were serving because we were receiving the love of Christ. It was a beautiful week.

The final week of orientation was spent in Stony Point, New York at the Salesian retreat center and Marian Shrine. It was the perfect place to be and the perfect way for us to end out time together.  About 35-40 Salesian brothers and priests were also on retreat that week and it was an absolute pleasure to get to know them. They welcomed all of the Salesian Lay Missioners into their family from the first second that we got there and I felt so at home with them. It was in spending time at the retreat center with the SDBs that I truly realized that this was exactly where I belonged.

I feel so grateful to be called on this mission. It’s so humbling to realize that out of all of the people, God chose 13 to serve in this way and I am one of them. It’s so special. Sometimes it’s hard for me to see the potential that Christ sees when He looks at me, but He has always shown me that I am capable of much more than I can see.

The Lord brought so much peace into my heart about my mission. There are still so many unknowns about what my time in South Sudan will actually look like, but the uncertainties are gone. I know this is where I need to be and there is no place that I’d rather be.

The Call to Adventure

If you were to ask me a year ago what I would be doing after graduating college, my answer probably would have involved moving to an exciting city, finding a great job as a pediatric nurse and working hard on building up my career. If you were to ask me how I felt about doing medical mission work, I would have told you that it was something I would probably do eventually once I had my life in order. If you were to tell me that after graduation, I would be moving to Africa for a year to do medical mission work, I probably would have laughed. Really hard. That is the beauty of life though, as soon as you think you have it figured out, God sends you on an unexpected adventure.

The whole process that lead me up to the decision of serving for a year with the Salesian Lay Missionaries taught me so much about being patient and trusting in God’s plan for my life. Those of you who know me, know that I am a planner. I like to have everything planned to the T and I don’t usually like things that involve a lot of unknowns.  It’s been amazing to see how God has used my weaknesses in order to show me that this is His plan for me and not my own. I know that this path is not something that I would have chosen for myself, but that provides even more comfort to me in knowing that I am following God’s will. I offered this decision up to Him in prayer and He revealed to me that I am capable of more than I ever thought I could be.

At the time of my discernment, I was reading through the gospel of Luke. The trust that Jesus’ followers had in Him inspired me. Luke 5:10-11 says, “ Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.’ When they brought back their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.” They left everything and followed him. I knew this was what Jesus was calling me to.

Leaving everything I know behind for a year and moving to South Sudan might seem crazy to some people. It might not make sense. It might seem radical. It might be radical. But, I feel called to live a radical life because of what was done in order to give me life. Jesus died for my sins. He died for me. If giving a year of my life to serve Him and love His people is His will for me, than I must go. Like the fishermen, I must leave everything behind to follow Him. Pope John Paul II said, “life with Christ is a wonderful adventure” and adventure definitely awaits.