Dear friends,
You are receiving this update because you have supported me in some way, whether financially, through prayer, by giving gifts, or through your friendship. Thank you for being there for me and partnering with me in this ministry.
I will try to keep this email brief because I am up much too late and running on adrenaline right now. Just a summary of what I will be doing and where I am going. I am leaving for Zimbabwe, Africa tomorrow. I plan to spend the next 3 weeks there working as a nursing student in the Karanda Mission Hospital. On the weekends, I will have the opportunity to work with the AWANA club in a local village, as well as to explore the area.
Tomorrow I will covet your prayers as I am flying out of Columbus at 6:10 am. This means I am leaving the house I am staying at in Fairborne, OH at 3:15 am (a time when no one should be awake, in my opinion). I will spend approximately 23 hours in flight, hopping continents from Columbus to DC to Rome to Ethiopia, and finally Harare, Zimbabwe.
As little as I look forward to waking up in such a short time, I am just so excited to share with you how God is already working in this trip, even though we have not even left year. First, God has provided several generous people in my life, including the members of the Grace Baptist Church of London, and my lovely future roommate Bethany Teixeira, who donated items that were specifically requested by the missionaries at Karanda. I hope to go into this more in future emails, but let it suffice to say that at least half of the suitcase space is filled with things I will be leaving at the hospital for the missionaries and patients to use.
Secondly, God has provided 2 great houses for me to stay (and eat!) for free over this weekend. Since Cedarville students are booted out on Saturday, I needed to find someone to live with for Saturday night through Tuesday morning. Some gracious sophomore nursing students staying for Mayterm adopted me into their household for the last 2 days, and tonight, Steph (another one of the girls on the trip) and I are staying with her brother, who kindly agreed to drive us to the airport at the unearthly hour of 3 am.
My third story is slightly amusing (more so looking back on it than when I lived through it) and a good testimony of my absentminded nature. This evening was spent shopping for items requested in a last minute email from the missionaries, and unpacking and repacking our suitcases in order to make everything fit and under the weight limit. Late into the night, I discovered my cell phone had gone missing. While I won't be using it in Harare, I wanted to be able to communicate with my family before I left, so I commenced an in-depth search of the room and all my bags. While looking through my carry on backpack, I discovered to my horror that my passport was missing. Thankfully, after some thought, I remembered leaving it in a scanner on campus, where I had been making copies of it (and had gotten distracted). Steph and I looked online and found the 24/7 campus safety life. The CS officer was very kind and let us into the building, even though it was almost midnight. On top of that, as Steph reminded me, I would not have even thought to look for my passport if I had not been looking for my missing phone. In the end, I found my phone (in my jacket pocket), my passport is safely tucked away, our flight is confirmed for tomorrow at 6:10am.
Thank you all again for how you have come around me, showing such love and support. I hope that you enjoy these updates, and that they are able to show how God is working through my life and in the country of Zimbabwe.
In His Service,
~Mary
