The Beginning

"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

This verse was heavy on my heart as I thought about what I would do this upcoming summer. Since it is the last real summer vacation of my life and the idea of applying to residencies in the future hangs somewhere in the back of my mind, the decision wasn't easy--at first. I considered spending the summer at home in Fort Worth, I considered applying for research positions, I considered traveling...but it always came back to missions. And then God made the decision really easy.

 For as long as I can remember I had two criteria that must be met before I joined a mission team abroad. They are personal convictions, not something I believe everyone can or must meet. But for me, I chose not to join a missions team until I could a) go for more than a couple of weeks and b) until I had received some amount of medical training that I could bring to the team. Like I said, those obviously aren't catch all criteria for a successful mission trip, but something that God put on my heart. When I considered what I would spend this summer vacation doing, the Lord reminded me of that conviction, and I began to ask around.

 God has blessed me with an amazing bible study through Grace Bible church in College Station. Dr. Imperial, a family doctor in College Station, leads the group, and when I asked him if he knew of any mission teams going out this summer he put me into contact with the Quartemonts. The rest, as they say, is history. I first contacted the Quartemonts last November. They are the founders of an organization called Medical Missions International. I'll use future posts to explain more about the organization and give you guys more details about the trip, but in November they brought me into their home, fed me (Gold to a medical student), and spoke so enthusiastically about their past trips that the excitement was overwhelming. The joy and love in their household is tangible, and I was immediately sold on the trip. Since then, the details have started to fall into place and Lord willing, I will be traveling with them alongside one of my favorite classmates to Nigeria for six weeks this summer! I can't say enough about how excited I am about this opportunity. I know this entry is already long enough so I'll go ahead and end it here...Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. More to come soon! Katie