We spent the past few months working through the various stages of the application for World Gospel Mission. Then we flew to their headquarters in Marion, Indiana this past weekend to attend an official Candidate Interview, and now they've informed us that we have been accepted as missionaries! We are ecstatic!
So what's next? First, 2½ months of residency. Eli's official last day of residency is August 8! The countdown has begun! We will start training and fundraising for the mission field after residency is done. Eli is currently in the process of signing a one-year contract to work at a hospital 20 miles south of Duluth, and during that timeframe we'll be working through the logistics of getting to the mission field.
Let me answer some basic questions you might have.
Where will you be working in Africa?
Kenya. Although we don't yet know the specific location, Kenya is currently the only country in Africa that WGM sends medical personnel. They know that we are called to work in a rural setting and during our interview they acknowledged and affirmed us in this. We'll be eagerly awaiting to hear where we'll be specifically sent.
When will you be going?
Sometime in the first half of 2016. We told WGM we'd be able to leave the States by then (assuming we have all our training and fundraising complete).
What kind of work will you be doing?
Eli feels a strong call to train African physicians. We're hoping to come alongside a current residency program that is expanding the work of training Family Medicine doctors in Kenya. As for me, I'll be taking care of our boys and eventually homeschooling them. Once we're in Africa I'll see how else I can get involved in the community.
Will you be working with anyone else?
Yes! We are teaming up with another family we met through the residency here in Duluth who have a similar calling to do medical work in Africa. Pete and Angela Olsen have two kids (Ella and Sam) and they've become good friends of ours the past few years. We'll be doing all our training together and heading to Kenya together. We traveled to the interview together this past weekend and WGM is supportive of us going as a team.
Eli and Pete (and Kai), & Angela and me
How can we keep track of your progress toward the mission field?
I've created another blog that will focus thematically on missions. I'll be explaining the process of getting to the field as well as telling the story of how we got to this point. More than anything, I'll be posting information about missions for anyone interested in learning more. I'll address topics like intercultural communication, theology of mission, cross-cultural friendships, the global Church, language blunders, etc. Anything related to missions is game! The new blog can be found at www.storiesinmission.blogspot.com. (I'll still be posting here too. FYI.)
We are incredibly excited to take this huge step forward in the process! Please keep us in your prayers as we continue walking with the Lord and waiting for His timing to officially move overseas.
No comments:
Post a Comment