home.

I am home! Back in California. After 2 1/2 years of serving with Mercy Ships.

It has been the best experience of my life thus far and I am so grateful for everything I learned. I am also grateful for the challenges, the good and the bad times. 

My special friend, Jodelle!

Dancing with N'Sira.

Although I do miss the Africa Mercy & all the wonderf

ul people I have encountered over the past 2 plus years, I do feel like that California is where I am supposed to be at this point and time.

My buds Mafugie, Delamou, & Yaya.

I am not really sure what this next season of life entails. A job is most definitely a necessity, but other than that, everything is kind of up in the air. Which is exciting in a lot of ways.

Thank you all for coming along on this journey with me, thank you for being patient with me when I didn't really know what to say, thank you for sticking by me, praying for me and funding me on this incredible adventure! There seriously aren't enough words to express how incredibly grateful I am for you all. I will cherish all of the beautiful memories that have been made over the past 2 years, forever! 

I  hope you all had the Merriest Christmas and are thoroughly enjoying this Holiday season with loved ones. I look forward to seeing many of you soon!

our very first patient.

This is Ebenezer. He is a Graphic Web-Designer from Lagos, Nigeria. His tumor had been growing for 12 years. His story started with Mercy Ships while we were docked in Guinea. ( See more about his amazing journey here)

  He was the Hope Centre's very first patient. He was there before we even officially opened & before we had put together all 150 beds that our new facility holds. It has been amazing to be apart of this man's story. The other patient's and Day-Crew workers at the Hope Centre refer to him as Pastor Ebenezer. He is always encouraging to all of those around him & he loves leading worship & playing the guitar. I feel so priveleged to see the small daily transformation. Especially as the swelling goes down. 

Leah- My New Hope Centre Partner who hails from Australia, Ebenezer & me

Here is one of the Hope Centre Wards and one of our adorable cleft-lip patients Vernel!

We currently have 7 patients staying at the Hope Centre. We have become like a little family. I seriously feel like I have the best job in the world! So blessed by their smiles and warmth, each and every day!

*Sidenote- Ebony.com wrote an article on me if you'd like to check it out. 

selection day...

..is always bittersweet. So many people we are able to help & so many that we unfortunately have to turn away for various reasons. 

over 7,000 people showed up for screening/ selection day! Which is our largest number to date!

 Was a long day for the potential patients & crew as we started screening at 6am and finished a little after 6pm!

So grateful that it was such a peaceful day!

I was one of the patient escort's making sure that each patient got to their proper station. Miss Comfort (pictured in the pink shirt) made sure so many of the patients and crew were fed and had water throughout the day!

 

 Merci Beaucoup for all of your prayers on screening day!

Stay tuned.. I will have a Hope Centre update for you next week!

screening day is upon us.

screening day is here once again!

except this is the first screening day EVER for Mercy Ships in Republic of Congo, Pointe Noire!

selection day flyers that are currently posted all over town!

please pray for all those that we can help & also those that we sadly will have to turn away.

the school where we will be screening bright and early tommorow morning!

here is a video from last years screening in conakry, guinea to give you a small idea of what it is like!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBf_T7KvHZo

thank you all!

decisions.

Well...it has been quite some time since i have sent out an update.

There has been a lot happening these past few months. It's quite difficult to put it into words.

Leaving Conakry,Guinea was much harder than I thought it would be. Saying goodbye to patients, good friends, & my 21 wonderful day-workers at the Hope Centre!

I seriously cannot believe that it has been 2 years since i embarked on this journey to the ship. I remember stepping onto the Africa Mercy for the first time in Sierra Leone. It was a strange, unfamiliar place at the time. But, over the past two years, the ship has really become home to me.

Thank you for each and every single one of you who have supported me on this journey. Throughout the ups, during my medical leave time, & sticking by me. I literally could not do this without your financial support, prayers, & love. You have no idea how much you mean to me! This has been the best experience of my life thus far! I've learned & grown immensely, & have been able to love on people who have never seen or experienced love before because of their different ailments/disformities.

 I have made the decision to extend my time with Mercy Ships & continue my work at the Hope Centre! I'm very much looking forward to our Field Service in the Congo. ( Republic of Congo, Not DRC).


 As of right now, I'm looking to head home to California in December. I haven't been home for Christmas the whole two years I've served on the Africa Mercy & so I'm very much looking forward to that!

Thank you once again for sticking by me in this last stretch and I don't take your love and support for granted.

a day in my life...

i'm sure lots have wondered what it is that i actually do at the hope centre. well, today you get to see a small snippet of what i do! i had my lovely friend jay swanson, who followed me around the hope centre for a day with his iPhone & here it is.....

quarter of a century.

this past friday i turned 25 years old! what a day it was. full of love from the beginning to the very end. woke up to find so many cards and happy birthday signs on my cabin door.

 i felt so special and so very loved.

i ventured into the dining room to grab a quick bite to eat before heading out to work at the hope centre. low and behold, my roomie had the whole dining room serenading me & singing
"happy birthday" at 7:30 in the morning!

shortly after that, my teammate christoph & I arrived at the hope centre to start our day of work. Only to find that some of my lovely day-workers had decorated the hope centre in honor of my birthday!

some of my wonderful day-workers, myself, & a few patients. did i mention that they sang happy birthday to me 3 times! all in french, english, & then a local language susu.

came back from a wondrous day at work ( have i mentioned that I love my job?!) to find that some of my amazing friends decorated my cabin with polka dotted balloons & pictures of george clooney with fun captions. if you know me well, it's a known fact that I happen to think that george clooney is the dreamiest man alive. So this made my day a trillion and a half times better!

A close-up of one of my favorites.( such a dreamboat, i tell you :] )

feasting on one of my favorite things, funfetti cupcakes!

the evening continued at one of my favorite spots in conakry, jardin de guinee. it's a cute little outdoor restaurant that has live local music on the weekends. my friends were so sneaky & had the band sing happy birthday to me.

you would think that the birthday festivities would stop there. i was already so overwhelmed by all of the love, but no,unbeknownst to me, my friends had something else up their sleeves for saturday.  

 A fabulous bbq beach bash, with carne asada tacos & corn tortillas ( this was such a treat..corn tortillas & carne asada are pretty non-existent in west africa.)

 twenty-five is looking pretty good thus far!this was my favorite birthday i have ever had!  i'm looking forward to seeing what wonderful things & challenges 25 brings my way. 

i couldn't ask for better family & friends & supporters. i feel so incredibly blessed and so undeserving to have all of you wonderful people in my life. thanks for allowing me to be here & continue to serve with mercy ships & experience the best birthday of my life thus far!

thanks to my friend christina fast for the majority of these wonderful photos.

will have a special treat coming for you all soon. stay tuned later this week.