Say hello to my team!

This has been my wonderful family for the last month! We are going to have so much fun!

I'm leaving on a jet plane ... Tomorrow!

It's almost here! The past month has flown by and now July 13th is just a day away. My bags are packed and I fly out of the Dallas-Fort Worth airport @ 10:45 am!! Which means I have to be out of the dorm at 5:45, gonna be an early morning. We will make stops in New York and Brussels so I won't be in Sierra Leone until Thursday morning. This is going to be my first super long flight, I think it is close to 27 hours in all. Pray that I don't go crazy! The first two weeks we will be at a local Christian school in a small town near Freetown. Our plans are to host a vacation bible school, a dental and medical clinic and build toilets (this is when we will discover who is strong, haha). It is going to be a very busy two weeks, but I am sure it will be so rewarding working with the kids and sharing the love of Jesus with them during the VBS. During this time I will not have access to the internet so I love you all! Thank you all for your prayers and kind words through out this past month. I've said it before and I'll say it again, you guys are awesome!

Three days and then off to Africa

So here I sit staring at my closet and trying to find the motivation to pack. No luck so far, instead I came to blog! It feels kind of weird to get getting ready to go to Africa! I mean come on, I never ever thought I'd be saying I was going to Africa! That's crazy! So thank you everyone who has supported me on this mission to bring hope and healing to Sierra Leone!

As you can see it's pretty full, haha!

Are you a trader?

We were shown this video today in class. It is amazing!

I am ____.

If you had to fill in the blank with twenty words to explain yourself, what would you say? My answers were ... happy, loving, kind, beautiful, special, smart, quiet, tall, chosen, sister, daughter, friend, radiant, interesting, goofy, adventurous, strong, giving, blessed and most of all His. After I wrote all of these down I really started thinking, I have come so far in the last four years. I never would have been able to say even half of those. God has really been doing a work in me to help me realize that I am fun and He is delighted when I am happy. He loves seeing you doing the things you love. For example say you love sports, it makes him so joyous and proud to see you out on that field or court! You are the most dazzling, beautiful and smart person He knows, because He made you. Just let that soak in for a while :)

Happy 4th of July

Despite having to go to class today we had an awesome 4th of July. We attended a fireworks celebration and were able to have an awesome time of fellowship! It thundered and lightening but the rain held out til the show was over! 

The storm was rolling in.

 

It knows me

This week in class we were studying personal development, this included a personality profile. This profile is called DISC ... Dominant, Influencing, Steady and Cautious. Can you guess what mine was? It really described me very well. It said that I am a high S type with a little bit of C. The S type is described as a Golden Retriever! What does this mean exactly? According to the report we are stable and contemplative. We like small groups of people. We are sensitive to the needs of others and are loyal friends.  We are motivated by sweet and sincere opportunities to help others. But the down side is that that we need to learn how to say "No"  and quit trying to please everyone. The report also says that we become subservient, insecure and worrisome under pressure. This report really helped me to see that my personality traits are why I have always been so quiet and reserved. I seriously have a lot to work on. I absolutely hate confrontation! I mean I really, really hate having to tell someone something they might not like to hear. People who are close to me definitely know this. "Fun Kari" (as some of your refer to my confrontational side) only comes out via texting! I could make myself sick worrying about how my words could damage a friendship. To be a healthy addition to the crew, I need to be comfortable with expressing my feelings to the others on the ship. It is a ship of 400 people ... you won't be able to avoid that particular person. So being more secure, strong and courageous in the confrontation department is my goal for this time. This is what I learned this week! Thankfully I am not the only S type in the group so I am not alone in my fears :)