Go With A Song In Your Heart...

Can you believe the summer is almost gone? I sure can't. And I really can't believe that it's almost time to depart for Nepal! I moved back home yesterday for the next 12 days to prep for Nepal and spend time with family and friends. But last Sunday I was incredibly blessed by a Lakeside church service and I wanted to share it with you!

We all have a song in our hearts... a song that reflects the depths of our souls. Wherever we go, we should go with that song in our heart. We are called to sing that song to the world! Why? To help people who have forgotten the melody to rediscover it. Somebody needs to hear your song. So just go... go out into the world beautifully singing and living out that song in your heart.

Ironically, it just so happened that a hymn we sang that same Sunday happened to so perfectly reflect my heart as I prepare for Nepal. 

"This Is My Song"

This is my song, O God of all the nations,

a song of peace for lands afar and mine.

This is my home, the country where my heart is;

here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;

but other hearts in other lands are beating

with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,

and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine;

but other lands have sunlight too, and clover,

and skies are everywhere as blue as mine.

O hear my song, thou God of all the nations, 

a song for peace for their land and for mine.

This is my prayer, O Lord of all earth's kingdoms;

Thy kingdom come; on earth Thy will be done.

Let Christ be lifted up till all shall serve him,

and hearts united learn to live as one.

O hear my prayer, thou God of all the nations;

myself I give Thee; let Thy will be done.

Amen. 

When God calls...

When God calls, you have no choice but to follow.

So that is what I am doing. God is taking me to Nepal for a year of service. I will be going through a program called SALT (Serving and Learning Together) which is through Mennonite Central Committee. They place SALTers throughout the world in specific placements. My service as of right now will be as an ESL teacher (English as a Second Language) in Elim Kid's School in Kathmandu, Nepal and helping with their connected church. I will live with a host family during the year. My first month will be spent in one-on-one Nepali language lessons while reincarnating myself into the culture. The following 11 months will be spent serving in whatever ways possible.

For those of you (and there are many, and that's okay!) who are saying, "Where in the world is Nepal???", it's nestled right in between India and China. It's known for the Himalaya Mountains, containing 8 of the 14 tallest mountains in the world. 



I'm so VERY excited for this journey! You may wonder how it came about. First, I'd say its roots started in high school when I developed a love for traveling. My mom and I went on a school trip to France and Italy for 12 days. But that wasn't enough. At the end of my junior year in college I went with a Bluffton group to China for a month. But that wasn't enough! For the Fall semester of my senior year in college I studied abroad on Semester at Sea for 4 months in which I lived on a ship and traveled to 11 countries, completely circumnavigating the world. But that wasn't enough either! My love for traveling is taking me on an even longer journey, a year, to Nepal. Second, I took a class called Junior Honors in college where we talked a lot about the global situation and service work around the world. The idea of serving somewhere in the world was planted in the back of my mind. Third, my semester abroad on Semester at Sea tipped the idea of serving in the world to the front of my head. I not only loved traveling, but I had a passion for understanding cultures and helping in whatever way those people needed. The passion was emphasized during and after Semester at Sea. I graduated in May 2010 from Bluffton University and felt a VERY strong tug on my heart. God wanted me back in the world.

I'm not qualified. But if God calls, He will use what is already there to help people in need. He will also help me grow along the way. I can't wait to see the ways God will use me and how I'll grow. So I'm trusting God with this. I leave in 3 weeks for Akron, Pennsylvania where I'll have orientation with all the other SALTers for a week. On August 19th I will start my flights to Nepal and arrive in Kathmandu on August 21st.

I'm excited to share my journey in Nepal with you! What I ask most of you is prayer. God is the driving force behind all "successful" service, and so the more prayer the better! I also appreciate you following my blog! I now invite you to vicariously join me as I live and serve in Nepal! :)