What it’s all about.

In just one month I will be sitting on a plane headed to Cote d’Ivoire, West Africa. With me, I will be taking a few suitcases holding all I will need to live for the next twelve months. That’s right, I’m moving to Cote d’Iviore to live there for one year!

Except, I am not moving there to just live. I am moving there to serve. To serve the people there. To serve the children there. Ultimately, to serve the Lord where He is asking me to be.

Two years ago the Lord first showed me this opportunity and began to ask me to let go of the plans I had made for my college years and to embrace His perfect plan for me. As these past two years have gone by, the Lord has been infinitely patient and gracious as I have slowly grown to welcome His change of plans and become excited for this opportunity He has directed me into. And now I find myself here, preparing to move across the world to live, love, and serve in Cote d’Ivoire.

I am doing this with a Christian organization called World Venture through their Journey Corps program. Journey Corps is a ministry training program that has two main focuses. The first is serving the local community and church around the world, effectively building the global church. The second, developing the Journeyer (me!), helping them to discover how to live as an intentional, globally-focused Christian.

My hope is that I can do this through serving the children of Cote d’Ivoire. Some time has been spent looking into the different needs of the children that I could help meet. Where I do end up serving will depend a lot on the local family I join for the year. That’s right, I get to become part of a local family in Cote d’Ivoire! When I first arrive in Cote d’Ivoire I will spend two months at the Journey Corps training center in Bouake, where I will learn French and become accustomed to the culture. Then I get placed with a local family, to serve them and to serve alongside them, building relationships and living out the Gospel each day.

And that’s what this blog is all about. I want to share with you the joys, the lessons, the struggles, the praise, and the prayers of this journey of a year the Lord has asked me on.