Welcome to my first blog entry!
It seems only fitting to share a part of my story and how the Lord has brought me here.
My interest in the medical field began when my brother, Rudy, was born with a heart defect called Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. At the age of 7, my childlike wonder blessed me as the severity of the situation went straight over my head as I befriended his nurses during his 7 month stay in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at UCLA. All I knew at that age was that nurses were there to take care of my little brother and play games with me. I have vivid memories of nurses coloring with me and blowing up rubber gloves to play hospital-room volleyball. It was this experience, along with Rudy’s entire medical journey, that the Lord used to soften my heart towards this profession as I would be able to serve patients and their families in the same way that nurses had done for me.
In addition to this calling, I had always had the thought of missions in my mind thanks to my parents, who met while serving in intercity Los Angeles. Nursing seemed like a wonderful avenue to pursue missions, although I was not sure what the capacity or timeline of global missions would look like in my life. Assuming I would start my career in a hospital job, I began the application process the spring semester of my senior year. The Lord gradually closed every door and then led me to an awesome gal named Maggi. Maggi is a fellow George Fox Nursing alum who spoke in an alumni panel in one of my classes. She shared about her experience doing medical missions in Bulgaria straight out of college through GoCorps and after one follow-up coffee date with her I had applied myself.
The Lord has brought this opportunity into my life with much clarity and excitement. One scripture that stood out to me during the discerning process was Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart."
How sweet it is to see God's fingerprints all over my story and how He has intricately brought me to the path I am on today.