The Start of the Blog

Hi, friends!!
Here it is... my very first real blog post!! Below are a few little blogs that I wrote last year when I attempted to blog, but I have finally decided that it's time to really blog.
Now for a little background on me and my sudden urge to blog... :o)
The last three years have been wonderful... I have had a wonderful job working with great people in an ER (and getting great stories out of it, like the college guys reenacting Braveheart with steak knives and the patient who tried to steal an ambulance :), I traveled to see dear friends scattered all over the globe, I developed an insatiable addiction to swing dancing, and I renovated and decorated an adorable, cozy cottage.

All that is about to change (not the wonderfulness, just all those details :o).

I'm embarking on a new adventure and following God to Haiti for a year!! I'm so excited to join God in the work that He is doing there! Here is how my life is about to be quite different:

~Job- I will be working in a 26-bed hospital that serves 100,000 people. I will take call on a rotating schedule with 2-4 Haitian doctors, and the most common ailments are HIV, malaria, high blood pressure problems (stroke/eclampsia), and machete lacerations. And I get to work in the only 2 rooms on the island with AC-- the 2 small surgical suites-- woohoo! :o)

~Travel- I will be living on the island of LaGonave, which is located in the bay of Haiti. It's only 38 miles long, but because there are no paved roads, it takes 8 hours to travel from one end to the other. To get there, I will fly into Port-au-Prince, take a 2 hour ride in the back of a pick up truck, get a 2 hour tour across the sea, and arrive at the crystal clear waters of our boat dock on La Gonave. The language of Haiti is Creole, which is a fun dialect of French and I'm working hard at it (Sa ou genyen diarre? do you have diarrhea? ;).

~Fun stuff- There will be 3 other young adult missionaries from the States with me in Haiti, and we're hoping to start a small group for young adults at the Haitian church. Few people have electricity, so most people are free to do stuff once the sun sets (at 6:30pm), leaving an awesome opportunity for us to engage in fellowship on the missions compound (which has electricity until 9pm). Also, there is a huge desire to learn Spanish on the island, and I'm hoping to start a weekly Spanish club for practice and relationship-building, since they can't practice Spanish like we can in the States (by going to a local Mexican restaurant or watching the Spanish channel on tv). I'm also excited about visiting the local orphanage, full of adorable children who have smiles so warm they could melt chocolate.

~Housing- I am excited to get to live on the missions compound with a bunch of great missionaries!! There are several families who will be there and 3 other young adults. There is very little prepackaged foods on the island, so we do have a kitchen and employ 3 cooks for when teams come down for short term trips from the States. I hear I can even get one of them to bake me a loaf of bread every week, as there's no where to buy it! But they do have peanutbutter and delicious mangoes in the open air markets where I'll shop-- I'm excited!!

I'm going through Global Partners, the missions arm of the Wesleyan church (i currently attend FWC/ALIVE... www.fwcalive.com) and the link to my page with them is www.wesleyan.org/gp/mdirectory2/WM29-0070.  I'm in the process of raising the last $7,500 out of $27,000 that I need to go, and I have been so blessed to see how the Lord is providing!! God has been bringing people into my life--without me doing anything-- who have been huge supporters and promoters. One of my nurses approached me about speaking at her church, where the pastor gave me all of this normal sermon time, I was informed at the last minute that I should give an alter call (first one EVER), and a girl got saved!!! I was approached by another coworker, who wants me to speak on her uncle's local Christian radio station!! God sent me wonderful renters for my cozy cottage, and I never advertised it!!

It has been an incredible summer, and I'm so excited to see what's next! I'm hoping to leave for Haiti by the end of the year, and I would love to have you share the journey with me!!

Ready or not, here I blog...
~diane