My Great Commission

I've never blogged before.  I'm assuming all I have to do is share what's going on so here I go.

During my third year of medical school, I wasn't sure if I was called to be an oversees missionary.  I'd battled that path since college really but I was presented with more opportunities in medical school that began to appeal to me more.  Sure I was going to be a doctor...that was the easy part.  Figuring out where I am supposed to be a doctor still remains the hardest part.  So as a fourth year medical student, I traveled to Kenya for two months and fell in love with it.  It was satisfying. It was rewarding.  It was proof that I was going to spend my life doing medical missions .

So here I go again.  I'm just beginning my third year of residency and I have the chance to spend an entire month in Kenya doing medical missions.  However this opportunity will be different in that I am traveling and working with World Medical Missions.  It's like Doctors Without Borders but it's a Christian organization.  Such a relief!  I'll be working in an area of Kenya called Kijabe which is Masai for "Place of the Wind" (hence the title of my blog...trust me, I'm not that creative).  The hospital itself is in a more rural area but is a very equipped hospital that provides care in many different areas such as dentistry, pediatrics, general medicine and of course obstetrics/gynecology.  I'll be mainly working with two OB/GYNs and I've been told repeatedly that I'll be busy.  Great!  This time around I will actually get to practice medicine while I'm in Kenya.  Seriously, as a medical student you're pretty limited when it comes to actually providing hands on care.  Now I will actually be the one with instruments in hand, performing surgeries, and not strictly observing. Even though I'm beyond excited for my trip, I wouldn't be completely honest with myself if I didn't say that I have a couple of personal reservations about my upcoming travels.  I know it's only for a month but still. I leave behind a mother who is recovering from two strokes (last time I traveled to Kenya she had two strokes two weeks after my arrival).  Praise God that she's doing as well as she is now   I come back having to make decisions about the next steps in life in terms of my career.  Fortunately I don't have to figure that out anytime soon though.

But I'll be back soon to my beloved couch, DVR, work in Ann Arbor and friends (if you're still my friend after many years of feeble attempts to keep in touch, I appreciate it...hopefully this blog will help).  I hope to provide some humor along the way and a few glimpses of how God is present and working in ways that I often forget about.   I'm confident this is what I'm supposed to do. God said "go" and I'm doing my best to be obedient.