Day 19: A tap on my shoulder before church…the wife whispers, “I know Tim won’t always have summers off during med school, but does he have this one off?” It was his first year of medical school, and we had gotten married a few months before. I say that he does, and she excitedly says, “Can you all come over for lunch after church? We need to talk to you about something.” We go, and these dear friends (who we met just a few months earlier) explain that the husband received a big bonus at work, and they had been praying about what to do with it. They wanted us to consider returning to Ethiopia that summer to experience serving together as a married couple—at their expense. ⁣⁣⁣⁣

Fast forward a few months, and we are making plans to go back to Ethiopia and help the Mission to the World (our sending organization) missionaries there with a big medical team that was coming to conduct clinics in a poor community. We worked up a budget for the trip, sent it to them at their insistence, and they then donated the WHOLE amount to MTW (have you checked ticket prices to Ethiopia? It’s not cheap). Before we go, the wife tells me that she’s been thinking about how Tim’s future work in Ethiopia as a doctor is clear, but she has specifically been praying that God would give me a vision for MY life in Ethiopia.⁣⁣⁣⁣

The trip DID give me that vision—I worked with social workers, helped in medical clinics, and saw a lot about what home life could be like with the missionaries we worked with. Our interest in returning to Ethiopia solidified, which had a great impact on the way we thought about our lives during the rest of Tim’s training. ⁣

And all of that, when we had had no plans of our own to return there any time soon. It was them who dreamed up our going that summer, them who wrote the enormous check instead of dreaming up what they could do for themselves with it (WOW), and them who prayed for my vision. God continued to work in my heart for years to make to me truly want to do this, but that summer was a pivotal start for me…thanks to God, and friends who listened to Him even when it meant great expense. Whoa. #31daysofcalling #lovesinethiopia