My first trip to India in 2006 was a life-changing event. I went there and fell in love with a people, culture, and country so unlike my own. At age 17, I was ready to be the next Amy Carmichael or Mother Theresa. Thankfully, my realism kicked in (along with my parents') and I finished high school.
Eighteen months later I went back to India--visiting Kashmir and Delhi--and falling in love all over again. As I returned and began college, I started praying much more seriously about where God was calling me and exactly what that meant at an age where I had a driving license that was two years old.
I entered Nyack College with a plan. (I've always got a plan :) I would major in cross-cultural studies and spend the next couple of summer breaks overseas, trying out different mission agencies. These summers took me to London and Senegal and a whole lot of internet surfing and phone calls to agencies in between. During the school year, I learned more about my passion for other cultures and meeting felt needs through development and social justice. And I had some great times with friends too :)
As I prepared to graduate from Nyack, I started looking for an opportunity to finally fulfill the dreams I'd been nurturing for years. I decided I wanted to spend one year on the mission field (a bit of a trial run before committing to 4 or 5 years). I had a long list of qualifications for the agency I would choose and knew I wanted to go to a third world country to do public health/social work.
After many phone calls with many agencies, I decided World Harvest Mission was the perfect fit and I began the application process to spend one year in Kenya. When I came for the week-long interview process, it turned into two years in Uganda in a place with a really funny name: Bundibugyo.
I graduated, support-raised like crazy for a summer, and by September I was on a plane bound for that place in Uganda that I still wasn't sure how to pronounce. You can read about a few of the crazy experiences I had in Bundibugyo and despite the difficulty of living there, after 6 months I didn't want to leave.
Unfortunately, I had to leave. My health had started going wonky about a week before I left for Uganda and it only got worse over the next 6 months. After a lot of trying to "persevere" and "tough it out" and as the medical services in Uganda were quickly exhausted, I had to come back to America. I thought it'd be for a month--see a doctor, get some tests, get back to my new African life.
Now six months later, I have been diagnosed with metastasized papillary thyroid cancer at age 22, had two surgeries, spent 6 weeks prepping for my treatment, and had a radioactive iodine treatment done. The year of September 2011-September 2012 definitely goes down as the hardest year of my life thus far.
But I continue to hope. I continue to believe. I continue to live. And I continue to try and bring light to the darkness, just as Jesus has done for me.
