The New Clinic

                I returned to Korah this morning, and to my delight was handed a key to the new clinic. Last year, Emily Cornish (The other RN working in Korah) and I hauled junk out of a storage closet, bought some shelves, and opened the first clinic. It was modest, but it was all we had. A couple months ago I received word from Emily that someone had donated money to build a new clinic. I saw a picture of the building as it was being erected, and shook my head at God’s goodness.

I headed toward the new clinic with the key in my hand. Apparently the children remembered that the clinic and I go together like shells and cheese, because the moment I clicked the latch open they about stampeded me into the dust. Someday I will record the scene and post it, just to make someone’s day. With considerable effort, I pushed the mob back into the street and closed the door behind me. I looked up and was blown away by the space, the quantity, and the organization. There were two large shelves stocked with supplies and medicine. The antibiotics were in drawers in baggies with a full prescription and directions written on them. It was almost overwhelming to behold.

            I did not lock the clinic door behind me, so it did not take long for children to filter in after me. The first ones in lined up on the bench by the door. Those that followed continued to pour in and fill every square foot of available space until I held up my arms and yelled in protest. I corralled the majority of them out and closed the door again. I turned to look at the remaining children on the bench. They wiped their runny noses with their hands, coughed violently into the air, and stared back at me.

“My doctor,” One stated simply.

That was it. I rolled up my sleeves, pulled up a chair, and there I stayed for the next hour and a half. I found tonsillitis, strep throat, a twisted ankle, some random aches and pains, and several coughs. It’s good to be back. Tomorrow I am wearing my scrubs….

The Day Came

(Written on my way)

The day came. I tottered onto the plane with way too much in my arms. Up, up, and up I went over houses the size of mustard seeds. I passed over scribbled streams, undulating hills, and trees, oh so many trees. Then suddenly they were gone, and all was white. I cried again. My family, my home, my state, all out of my sight. I was again suctioned to my seat and I rose through the white-out. And then there were camels and fish, dinosaurs and creatures Dr. Seuss never thought to create. Piles upon piles of clouds like mashed potatoes at the largest Thanksgiving feast you’ve ever seen. They swirled across the sky, and lied on nothing. How do they do that? What is a cloud anyway? Dust, yes. Gas, yes. Water, yes. But really, what is a cloud? Why do they do what they do? I wondered to myself and smiled for the first time that hour.

My eyes burned with the tears I have cried today for the people I’ve left behind. (And also from the place my brother Riley head butted me this morning.) I leave so many loves in America. My beautiful family first. We hugged and cried this morning as if I boarded for the war. Then they all lined up at the chain link fence on the outskirts of the runway and waved at me from inside the plane. It is so hard to leave them. I also had a posse of my nursing classmates, arrayed in their new scrubs, coming from their new jobs as real nurses. Many dear friends stood in the airport with me and said good-bye. I was a soggy-eyed girl all day, but somehow made it on that plane and the next. I am now in Amsterdam for the next 18 hours. I plan to sleep it away and hit the ground running tomorrow.

God is so faithful to me. He brought me to this point despite my ignorance and my short comings. I am not big enough to stand in the way of an almighty God and His plans, for which I am thankful. I am looking so forward to serving this God this year, the designer of my life and of the clouds. Ready or not, Ethiopia, here I come.

1 Month Before Take-off

            The first things greeting my eyes when I opened them this morning were various maps of Africa, pictures of smiling brown children, foreign scarves, and Ethiopian flags on my walls. Some mornings I wonder if these things belong to me. Did I take those pictures? Did I bring those objects home from some faraway place? Why do I have all these maps?

            God has brought me so far in the last four years. The traces of who I was before God called me into missions lie in memory boxes in the back of my closet. The changes have been fantastic, and have surprised me every time.

            This month I celebrated my graduation from nursing school and the obtaining of my Registered Nursing degree. I can hardly believe it. I never intended to go to college. This among many other things I have done that I never intended to do. I am at the end of a goal I set three years ago. God asked me to go to nursing school to be a medical missionary on a foreign field that would eventually be revealed. Then I met Ethiopia. It became clear that this was the place I was to go and share His love as a nurse when I became one. So I returned to America and chained myself to my books for three years. Nursing school was hard, as it is supposed to be, and God pulled me closer and closer to Himself as I struggled through it. I graduated and bought my ticket for Ethiopia, committing to thirteen months. I took and passed my boards last week. Kayla Emo R.N. And now I wait for August 10^th to come.

            I am frightened for the first time. There are so many unknowns about this year. Yet, I remain excited to see what God will make out of me, how He will change me, and what He will do with me in Ethiopia. Please pray for me as I prepare physically, emotionally, and spiritually for this year. There is much to do, but I am trusting in my God, my provider, who is sending me forth as His ambassador. I fly out one month from today, and I will be ready.

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? ”And I said, “Here am I. Send me.”

~ Isaiah 6:8 ~